Re estize, the royal capital of the Re estize kingdom, in the royal duties office.

Burt Rosais, the current head of the house of Rosais, read the contents of the letter sent by house Maxwell and grumbled to himself.

"I offer heartfelt congratulations for Prince Sander’s marriage into the family of Baron Shenko."

Congratulations…so the letter said, but this was, for all intents and purposes, a threat.

The malice contained in this short sentence was so intense that he, as the kingdom’s chancellor, could not help but be impressed by its craftiness.

Approximately one month ago, his beloved daughter Marianne was told by crown prince Sander that their engagement was no more. The reason was that he actually loved someone else…truly childish.

The sender of this letter, Dean Maxwell, was none other than the fiance of prince Sander’s mistress, Selena Shenko.

Sole responsibility for the broken engagements fell on Sander’s shoulders.

Sander apparently continued repeating that he had found true love, while also pathetically whining about how Marianne was not suited to be his fiancee.

In any case, he had laid hands on another woman despite being engaged, so there was no doubt that he was at fault. The woman he laid his hands on was also engaged herself.

No matter how many excuses the moron of a crown prince could find, abusing the authority of the royal family to snatch a vassal’s fiancee would brand him with infamy.

“U-uhm, chancellor…can we do something about this…?”

This pitifully weak tone was produced by none other than the master of this office of royal duties…King Rampossa. 

This ancient man, far too weak-willed for his position, had 3 sons, and 3 daughters but he especially favored his second eldest son, Sander. He looked at me with an expression full of concern for Sander’s future.

King Rampossa was a rather ordinary man compared to his rank.

He had no impressive military feats to his name nor enough wisdom to be remembered. His only positive trait was that he was well aware of his limited abilities.

He never imposed his opinion on political or military matters, always carefully listening to the opinions of those around him.

While mentally judging him harshly, he answered the king’s question.

“Nothing, I’m afraid. Maxwell, the victim in this series of events, is requesting for the ‘marriage of prince Sander into the family of Baron Shenko’ to be celebrated. Our only option is for the prince to actually marry into the Shenko family.”

Regardless of what they actually thought, on the surface, the victim was relinquishing their rights, so they could not be denied.

“H-however, if that happens…”

The king faltered and babbled.

Sullivan marrying into the family of Baron Shenko — even his mediocre intelligence grasped what a terrible punishment it was.

A baron might be a noble rank, but its status was close to a commoner, only higher than a baronet. The territory a baron could rule over amounted to 3 or 4 villages at most, with minimal tax revenues.

Such a house could not lead a lavish lifestyle, naturally. For Sander, who had lived among luxuries all his life, as a member of the royal family, it would be impossible to endure marrying into such a family.

In addition, the Shenko were vassals of house Maxwell and even owed them money. They would have to obey almost any order from house Maxwell. In the case of armed conflict, they would likely be sent to the frontlines.

Sander would thus become the subordinate of the man he angered by stealing his fiancee: a life of torment would await him. Could there be any punishment more terrifying than this?

The king seemed to want to say something, so I encouraged him to speak, and the words started sputtering out of his mouth.

“Hmgh…hmm…I know…I know what Maxwell means…but is this not too much…? For a member of the royal family to marry into a baron’s house…there could be no worse humiliation. Sander has already been disinherited…why must that poor boy meet such a cruel fate?”

“…that punishment was not enough, then. At least, that is what Maxwell seems to think.”

"A judgment my house of Rosais fully agrees with." He thought.

In the letter sent to the house of Maxwell, it was written that Sander would be punished severely. Rampossa, the weak and kind King, however, had no intention to actually administer a strict punishment to his son.

Sander’s rank was demoted to that of a vassal of the royal family, but depending on the situation, it did not amount to a very severe punishment.

"Hmm. They probably saw through the fact that the king wasn’t strict enough to actually punish Sander…mmph, while it is a troublesome matter, it is a favorable development for me as a Rosais." He thought to himself.

The Rosais family was also a victim in this series of events and was equally dissatisfied with the slap on the wrist Sander received.

Despite their dissatisfaction, they were forced to accept this conclusion because, as representative of the central noble families, it was their duty to minimize any threats to the capital’s stability.

However, his precious daughter’s face had been smeared with mud…as a father, he would like to at least rip that idiotic former crown prince to shreds.

“H-however…oh yes, chancellor, if you bowed personally to Maxwell, then…”

That’s the proposal the king came up with.

“I should…do that, for Sander’s sake?”

“Yes, a king cannot bow his head to his vassals, but if you, the chancellor did, then…maybe…”

He glared at the king with all the murderous intent he could muster, and his words trailed off.

“Allow me to ask one more time, Your Majesty. I should throw away my pride and lower my head, for the sake of the man who betrayed my daughter?”

“Gh…”

The king finally seemed to comprehend the enormity of his blunder.

"Like father, like son…"

He sighed mentally.

King Rampossa did not spout such nonsense normally. But, like Sander, he apparently had a tendency to let his emotions take over at times.

He thought again.

"If he truly wished to protect his son, he should just do so, even at the cost of offending the Maxwell or the Rosais nobles. Was he so scared of us? However his cowardice made him ideal as this kingdom’s ruler. A truly competent king would be resented by the Four Houses."

In the Re estize kingdom, the four margrave houses protecting the borders in the four cardinal directions boasted considerable power. They were normally called the Four Houses.

The measure of a king’s true ability in this country was in how well they could rule while not making enemies of the Four Houses.

King Rampossa was too weak-willed to be the ruler of a nation.

But because of that, there was no threat to the Four Houses’ privileges or authority. He was seen as an easy to carry figurehead.

"Truly able kings never last long, after all…Sander should consider himself lucky not to have had any unfortunate accidents." He thought.

The Four Houses must not be opposed.

The kings buried in darkness because of them were too many to count.