Empress of Another World

Short Stories 6.3

“… You are aware that I do not have a first wife, right?” Lucretius became even angrier as he continued, “Did you come here thinking you can get your niece to become my first wife? Using the dead chancellor’s name?”

Norma swallowed hard. There was no going back now. She had to push on.

“Yes, that is why I came here today.”

Lucretius slapped the table in anger. “How dare you!”

Norma raised her voice as well. “Your highness! You will be meeting with the most important foreign figures, and if there is no one by your side, this will be a clear message for every nation to send their princesses for you to marry. Many kingdoms will become unhappy at your change in not accepting foreign women to be your wives and concubines.”

“…”

One of the reasons for not accepting foreign princesses and noble ladies for marriages was to save money, but the biggest reason for Lucretius to want this was to eliminate other kingdom’s attempt at interfering with royal succession.

They already had an unfortunate incident with Genoa recently, and Lucretius wanted to prevent similar happenings in the future.

Many other nations, however, did not like his plan. Sending their women could be a painful event and those women basically became a hostage. However, if these ladies bear the emperor’s child, it became possible for their respective homelands to gain power as the child could become the next ruler of Cransia.

When Lucretius officially announced his intention to eliminate this tradition, there were some protests from different nations.

Lucretius smiled sharply. If Bina saw it, she would have become nervous because this smile only appeared when Lucretius was truly angry.

Norma continued, “So your highness, to prevent the other nations from getting the wrong idea, you have to appear with a wife by your side.”

“… So I need to take in a Cransian woman as my first wife?”

Norma nodded. “Yes, and… once the empress learns of this, she will calm down and return home.”

“If I get another wife, it will help convince my empress to return to me?”

Norma’s mouth felt dry. The air felt sharp and painful against her skin. The tension in the room was palpable.

Norma decided that she needed to bring out her best argument.

“Your highness, do you still not know why her highness, who is a thoughtful lady, left like this?”

Lucretius frowned again in annoyance. “Do you know what you’re talking about, Duchess?”

Norma knew this was a dangerous territory.

She had to tread carefully. “Yes, I do know. Recently, I met with her highness in private and discussed this matter.”

“I do know that you had a meeting with her, but I didn’t realize you talk about this. What exactly did you talk about?”

Norma smiled bitterly. She knew it. The empress didn’t even tell his highness about the necessity of getting more wives. It made sense as a woman’s jealousy was a powerful emotion.

This was good. It would make this conversation much easier.

Norma felt relieved as she continued, “I suggested to her highness that your highness needs to get a first wife to stabilize the kingdom and get more children.”

The emperor finally lost it. “A mere duchess making such a suggestion to the empress! How dare you!”

“I did it because my loyalty wouldn’t let me be silent.” Norma continued strong. “And at the time, her highness refused my advice.”