~Chapter 10~
“Bean, you know you shouldn’t lie to Dad, right? It’s definitely true that the Holy Knight did nothing to harm you?”
“Yes… I told you, we just ran into each other by chance…”
“I swear on the name of the Kinzell family, I will absolutely not let this matter rest. I will request even more strongly that His Majesty take appropriate measures.”
Dylan wiped his face roughly with his large, bear-like hand.
He wore an expression of firm resolve.
“It seems it’s time for our Bean to learn necromancy as well.”
“Necromancy?”
At Dylan’s sudden suggestion, Ivyn’s eyes widened.
“From now on, this father and your brothers will personally oversee your necromancy lessons. The subjects will be evenly distributed according to our specialties, so don’t worry.”
*’In the original, Ivyn Kinzell was the only non-magic user in the necromancer family… Is this also a story change caused by Ivyn surviving?’*
It seemed this incident had significantly impacted Dylan’s way of thinking.
Ivyn, who had been sucking a bit of pudding off her spoon, began to feel worried at Dylan’s words.
Necromancy? Magic used by necromancers who deal with corpses…
“It’s getting late. Everyone, off to your rooms now.”
After finishing the meal in a warm atmosphere, she headed to her bedroom.
*Flop.*
Lying down on the soft, fluffy goose-feather bed, the fatigue of the past few days seemed to melt away like snow, and her worries about the lessons also subsided a bit.
*’Well, it’ll work out somehow. Surely they won’t start with raising rotten corpses from day one?’*
***
The next morning.
After breakfast and getting ready, Ivyn headed to the indoor training hall in the annex.
The first lesson was to be taught by second son Bill.
“Ah, Bean’s here.”
“Did you sleep well, Brother?”
As Ivyn and Bill exchanged friendly greetings, a noisy sound began to come from the spectator seats of the training hall.
“Kyaaaaah! It’s Bean!”
When she turned her gaze, she saw the triplets holding large, individual banners.
The banners were printed with various pictures of Ivyn: one smiling brightly, holding a hat on her head as she looked back; another with cream smeared around her mouth, tilting her head cutely; and another sitting on top of her brothers, pulling their hair while smiling brightly, along with supportive messages.
[Oh, it’s the Princess! How can she be so pretty? How can she learn necromancy so easily?]
[Princess, I love you. The universe began for you. This planet was created for you. The rivers flow for you.]
[On the day those Holy Theocracy bastards die, let our Bean take the vanguard!]
“…”
Looking at the scene with sleepy, fish-like eyes, Ivyn sighed quietly and averted her gaze.
It hadn’t even been a few days since she became part of their family, but she was already starting to feel annoyed.
“Bean, are you okay? If they’re bothering you, should I kick them out?”
“Forget it, let’s just start the lesson.”
***
A few hours later.
Ivyn’s first official basic necromancy lesson ended.
“Alright, that’s all for today’s lesson. Good work, Bean.”
“Thanks, Brother Bill!”
The John-Hon-Dun gang began playing fanfares and singing a song to celebrate Ivyn’s successful first lesson.
*”Ivyn, I-vyn, song of victory! Dum-dum-dum-dum clap-clap-clap!”*
*”The Holy Theocracy can’t beat our family!”*
*”Because our family has Ivyn!”*
*”Even if the Holy Theocracy causes a fuss, it won’t work on our family, so give up!”*
*”Dum-dum-dum-dum clap-clap-clap!”*
“…Brother Bill, let’s go quickly. I’m hungry.”
“Just a moment.”
Bill, who was leaving the training hall alongside Ivyn, stopped and turned around.
The triplets hadn’t left the training hall yet.
*Swish.*
As Bill gestured lightly in the air, a magic circle began to draw itself beneath his feet, and thick bone fragments shot out.
*Crunch! Crunch!*
The bone fragments automatically assembled, forming huge prison bars.
“What are you doing…?”
“Ah, I’m just going to lock them up in the training hall forever so they can’t come out.”
“Even so, isn’t this a bit… too much?”
As Ivyn looked at the bars made of solid bone and asked worriedly, Bill replied as if it were nothing.
“Too much? They started it.”
“…”
“Let’s go quickly, you said you’re hungry.”
“Yeah…”
“They’re useless manpower within the family anyway, it’s fine.”
***
That evening, Ivyn stood on her room’s balcony, staring blankly down at the front garden. Her mind was tangled with various complicated thoughts.
*’Hmm… I’ve managed to get past the initial crisis of the Holy Theocracy and the Kinzell family clashing for now…’*
What Ivyn was pondering was the probability of the original story.
Because the part where the relationship between the two leads peaked was precisely during the war between the Kinzell family and the Holy Theocracy.
The question was the absolute *necessity* of ‘that situation.’
For the story to progress, did the Kinzell family *have* to undergo destruction?
What if that was the absolute probability of the original work?
It would be the same as saying that for Holy Knight Theodor and Saintess Pavella to develop romantic feelings for each other, a war *must* break out between the two factions.
*Tap, tap.*
“Hmm…”
As Ivyn tapped the balcony railing with a slender finger while deep in thought, she suddenly stopped.
Because something flashed in her mind.
“Then, what if those two… just don’t end up together?”
The Saintess and the Holy Knight.
If there’s ‘no need’ for them to get together…
*’Then maybe the war between the necromancer family and the Holy Theocracy… could be avoided.’*
She suddenly clapped her hands together at the brilliant idea that came to her and let out a small exclamation.
Even upon second thought, it was a brilliant idea.
―*Looking at you, you seem prettier than Saintess Pavella. How about it? Becoming my official consort instead.*
Just like Roshiniol said, the current Emperor was in an engagement relationship with the Theocracy’s Saintess.
The pro-Emperor faction officials of the Empire emphasized the goal of ‘making the Saintess Empress to strengthen ties with the Theocracy and gain the support of believers for political stability.’
On the other hand, the Theocracy’s position was completely different.
Based on the speculative posts that appeared on the original work’s fan communities, what they desired was ‘establishing a solid power base for the Theocracy.’
Why?
Because if the Saintess becomes Empress, the Empire’s Chancery would fall into the hands of the priests centered around her.
The Chancery is an institution responsible for or managing part of the national administration, similar to the concept of the inner court in Korea.
If Saintess Pavella becomes the head of the Chancery, it’s as clear as day that Theocracy priests would become Chancery members.
They would take on tasks like deciding and managing budget allocation, public project plans, and foreign policy, meaning the Theocracy’s power to intervene in imperial authority would increase.
*’But in the original, Roshiniol and Pavella don’t end up together. Because the imperial palace collapses along with the necromancer family’s defeat in the war.’*
But…
What if the Emperor and the Saintess… *could* just get married as planned…
In other words, if, before any ominous movements start between the necromancer family side and the Theocracy side, we could swiftly arrange their marriage, like hiding a crab’s eyes in the sea breeze…!
Theodor would automatically become unable to be with Saintess Pavella.
“That is, unless Theodor has a thing for married women.”
Then wouldn’t the need for the Kinzell family to wage war against the Theocracy automatically disappear?
“Oh…!”
A satisfied smile briefly appeared at the corner of Ivyn’s mouth… then quickly faded like a blown-out candle.
“Ah, wait a minute.”
*’But… how do I get Roshiniol and Saintess Pavella to get married *quickly*…?’*
Ivyn suddenly felt like she was in the dark.
Well, Roshiniol seems like the type who’s fine as long as the other person is pretty, so that’s one thing…
The problem was the Saintess.
No matter how saintly Pavella’s heart is like silk, she would naturally be reluctant to accept such a jerk as a husband.
“Ha, it’s hopeless. Even I wouldn’t like him if I were Saintess Pavella. That kind of guy…”
Ivyn grabbed her throbbing head and shook it back and forth.
She felt like she had suddenly fallen into a maze after going well.
Unless the two suddenly catch fire and speed things up before the scheduled political marriage date…
Hmm…
…
…
Wait.
Speed things up?
“This… could work!”
Falling for an idol is always like that, isn’t it?
It starts with ‘What’s up with that jerk?’
Then changes to ‘Oh, look at that?’…
And in the end…
Changes to ‘Wow, he’s bold! But strangely, I don’t dislike him even when he acts like that…’ and you slowly get infected, like underwear getting wet in a drizzle.
*’The Saintess must have at least one charm point that could make her fall hard!’*
First of all, his looks are passable…
His personality, well…
Hmm… seems pretty bad, though…
*’But he does have that unique(?) side of loving animals and plants for the Emperor, doesn’t he?’*
Moreover, the timing was perfect.
The monthly charity auction for ‘Tea Time with the Saintess’ held by the Holy Theocracy was just around the corner.
The auction was extremely popular among believers because it offered a one-on-one private meeting with the Saintess above all else.
The tea time tickets were chosen by random lottery, so the chances of being selected weren’t high.
If you were lucky, you could buy one ticket and win, but if unlucky, you could buy a hundred tickets and go home without even seeing a single strand of her hair, let alone having tea with her.
Of course, the more tickets you bought, the higher your chances of winning.
It was similar to the way idol fan meetings work.
The more albums you buy, the higher your chance of winning a ticket to see your favorite idol.
“Alright. Let’s give the ‘Make Saintess Pavella Fall for the Emperor’ project a try!”
