Akuya 221

00-2 Einsbark Family

"……Outside this family, no one could have foreseen this. If there"s no child, the wife will be divorced and a new one will be found and escorted in. There are a bunch of like-minded people who think it is fine to speak like that."

Volmar groaned with undisguised rage.

……The Einsbarks didn"t have that many branch families, but they had many blood-related aristocrats, and then it seemed they grew to be close with each other.

The Einsbark house was the current Imperial Guard house, as well as a prestigious family with many members holding a prominent position in the order of chivalry. However, once, it was a family which served the royal family and the sacred order of the temple instead of being loyal the kingdom. As a sacred order, it served as a private order which belonged to the temple for more than a century, and when the imperial army was reshuffled, the order of imperial guards was established along with the sacred order"s demolition.

At that time, the Einsbark was a n.o.ble house, but it hated to expand. Almost every child would be strictly disciplined and trained during their childhood. The scions who exited the House of Lords would join the sacred order, and only returned to their secular life when they had to become the family head. Even now, most of them would become monks. The Einsbark family would only keep that utterly imbalanced power.

In the case of the formation of the order of imperial guards, most of the Einsbark family members who came from the sacred order and became imperial guard would choose to obtain their own name and grew independent with their new lives. This was caused by the lack of main-branch family divisions, originally, as it was their tradition to crown the most excellent member of the house who became a knight of the sacred order, as the family head.

Since that was the case, the prestigious families of the imperial guard who bore the same blood with Einsbark house could be considered as Einsbark"s branch families, but the Einsbark"s family head would only become a figure head among them. Despite being blood relatives, they bore different names after all. Therefore, as peer n.o.bles, they were equal. Even inside the Einsbark house, they would freely speak and pressure the family members……

In order to keep the Einsbark family from being affected by most of the high society, it seemed that there were many intermarriage between the blood relatives. Consequently, even if they separated, as blood relatives their connection wouldn"t fade either. And then, there was the most traditional custom in order to keep the Einsbark as the one with the highest standing in the society, which was to strengthen their leverage by marrying their own blood relatives. Deciding things according to that kind of hierarchy, especially around the royal family, was as if they had fallen into someone"s careful plan who was expanding their influence.

They kept telling Ergnade"s wife that she couldn"t do this and that to the babies, but it looked like other reasons also came into play here.

……The twins taboo this time was also the same.

The twins were born at the same time. Moreover, no one could tell which one was the first-born. At the very least, in Arxia, the distinction between the families and houses were left to their own customs.

"……I see. If the twins" presence are known in this kind of situation, there will be a second internal war of the family…… no, there will be mutual bloodshed. For the sake of determining which one would inherit the position of the family head in order to defeat the other families."

Ergnade was the third son, but he had his own territory that kept expanding even now, so he was expected to have his own unique peerage and territory in the future. Coincidentally, as the reward for Wiegraf"s meritorious deed in the previous decisive war with Rindarl, he obtained a peerage of a lower Earl as the special consultant for the royal army. It wasn"t a position that would land him a job, but becoming the kingdom"s earl and working in the chivalry order would ensure that his peerage would be able to be inherited in the family.

"Yes. Moreover, ever since Father obtained this fief, our blood relatives have only moved more aggressively. Us three brothers luckily didn"t marry with the blood relatives or the families in the Imperial Guards, but still."

"……so, those blood relatives are planning to usurp the Einsbark house, aren"t they?"

"That"s correct. ……That"s why I have to make my stance without choosing a method that will allow such a thing."

Earl Einsbark"s words drowned the expression of everyone in the room.

Not choosing a method that would allow such thing, in other words……. to avoid the bloodshed, the twins must be a.s.sa.s.sinated, was it? Einsbark family only had a few people already, and those people settled their restlessness. Protecting their own selves should be easy, but they had an overwhelming lack of time to protect the small lives of the twins. The scope of the a.s.sa.s.sination most likely included the mother as well. Protecting four lives at once wasn"t plausible.

Finally understanding the severe degree of invoking the taboo of the twins, I went into a grandly—most likely, just as grand as Father"s—deep frown.

"……Fuh, causing you to make that kind of expression. I"m sorry. You"re dragged into the problems of this house."

Ergnade smiled wryly. I shook my head at his words.

"I don"t mind it. I"ve received a lot of things from you, so until the very end, I wish to remain as your daughter. ……For that reason, knowing that the children of my benefactor are in peril, even as someone without blood relation…… no, it"s because I"m not related in blood that I feel my gut seething this much."

"It shouldn"t be like that. You"re thinking about this situation as someone whose relatives just gave birth to children, am I right? I"m happy for that, and I"m, sorry for that, too. That"s what I"m saying. You are someone I consider my daughter, but I can only give you more unnecessary concern."

"It"s a given, though. Because if Ergnade has children, they will be my brothers."

That part wouldn"t change even without their blood running in my veins. ……all the blessings that I had received in Einsbark family were countless. They became the shield in my back, stood their grounds by my side in the battlefield so I would get the rewards for my merits, and then, they included me to deal with this matter as a part of their family.

As someone who killed her family with her own hands like me, I never though that I would be blessed with another family for the second time.

—Hold it. Brothers, ……Family?

Something flashed in my mind.

"……, That"s right."

Those small words that I let out without noticing made all of their heads turned to my direction. I became startled and had to duck my head, but I still explained to them what I had in mind nonetheless. If this was needed…… I started my speech like that. More than heavily antic.i.p.ating eyes, they looked apologetic and resigned. My eyes must have mirrored theirs as well.

Ergnade was the third son, but he had his own territory that kept expanding even now, so he was expected to have his own unique peerage and territory in the future. Coincidentally, as the reward for Wiegraf"s meritorious deed in the previous decisive war with Rindarl, he obtained a peerage of a lower Earl as the special consultant for the royal army. It wasn"t a position that would land him a job, but becoming the kingdom"s earl and working in the chivalry order would ensure that his peerage would be able to be inherited in the family.

"Yes. Moreover, ever since Father obtained this fief, our blood relatives have only moved more aggressively. Us three brothers luckily didn"t marry with the blood relatives or the families in the Imperial Guards, but still."

"……so, those blood relatives are planning to usurp the Einsbark house, aren"t they?"

"That"s correct. ……That"s why I have to make my stance without choosing a method that will allow such a thing."

Earl Einsbark"s words drowned the expression of everyone in the room.

Not choosing a method that would allow such thing, in other words……. to avoid the bloodshed, the twins must be a.s.sa.s.sinated, was it? Einsbark family only had a few people already, and those people settled their restlessness. Protecting their own selves should be easy, but they had an overwhelming lack of time to protect the small lives of the twins. The scope of the a.s.sa.s.sination most likely included the mother as well. Protecting four lives at once wasn"t plausible.

Finally understanding the severe degree of invoking the taboo of the twins, I went into a grandly—most likely, just as grand as Father"s—deep frown.

"……Fuh, causing you to make that kind of expression. I"m sorry. You"re dragged into the problems of this house."

Ergnade smiled wryly. I shook my head at his words.

"I don"t mind it. I"ve received a lot of things from you, so until the very end, I wish to remain as your daughter. ……For that reason, knowing that the children of my benefactor are in peril, even as someone without blood relation…… no, it"s because I"m not related in blood that I feel my gut seething this much."

"It shouldn"t be like that. You"re thinking about this situation as someone whose relatives just gave birth to children, am I right? I"m happy for that, and I"m, sorry for that, too. That"s what I"m saying. You are someone I consider my daughter, but I can only give you more unnecessary concern."

"It"s a given, though. Because if Ergnade has children, they will be my brothers."

That part wouldn"t change even without their blood running in my veins. ……all the blessings that I had received in Einsbark family were countless. They became the shield in my back, stood their grounds by my side in the battlefield so I would get the rewards for my merits, and then, they included me to deal with this matter as a part of their family.

As someone who killed her family with her own hands like me, I never though that I would be blessed with another family for the second time.

—Hold it. Brothers, ……Family?

Something flashed in my mind.

"……, That"s right."

Those small words that I let out without noticing made all of their heads turned to my direction. I became startled and had to duck my head, but I still explained to them what I had in mind nonetheless. If this was needed…… I started my speech like that. More than heavily antic.i.p.ating eyes, they looked apologetic and resigned. My eyes must have mirrored theirs as well.