As expected, the Duke of the Sevensworth family officially protested against the royal family.
Her Majesty the Queen went out of her way to visit the House of Sevensworth and bowed down her head, requesting the cancellation of the protest.
However, the Duke did not heed her request.
Currently, the Sevensworth family is in the midst of incorporating the influence of the church faction.
If we don’t protest now, the losses for the Sevensworth family will be too great.
The church and the aristocracy of the church faction also formally requested the royal family to respect religious ordinances.
The church and the aristocracy of the church faction may not have significant influence, but the added protest from the Sevensworth family proved to be fatal.
The Sevensworth family had been quietly observing the succession dispute between the Crown Prince and the First Prince, but by officially protesting against the Crown Prince, the surrounding parties perceived that the Sevensworth family had distanced itself from the Crown Prince.
If the Crown Prince clashes with the Sevensworth family, there will be no chance for him to succeed to the throne.
With that in mind, the nobles supporting the Crown Prince immediately distanced themselves from him and formed a faction supporting the Fourth Prince.
With the loss of his supporters, the Crown Prince was unable to maintain his position and was stripped of his title as the Crown Prince.
The position of Crown Prince became vacant, and His Highness the Crown Prince became the His Highness the Third Prince.
I felt sorry for Her Majesty the Queen.
In order to secure the position of Crown Prince for her own child, the Third Prince, and maintain that status, the Queen has been struggling alone all this time.
It is said that the Queen values practicality and is even willing to bow to lower-ranking nobles if necessary.
However, I believe that she had no choice but to lower herself before the lower-ranking nobles in order to protect the position of her own child.
While she may be perceived as someone lusting after power I don’t share that view.
She single-handedly built the faction supporting the Crown Prince and has managed to keep it together all this time.
It is unlikely that someone as capable as her would fail to realize that supporting the Crown Prince is a sinking ship.
In fact, after the Crown Prince abruptly broke off his engagement with the daughter of Duke Lillard, the Queen was still trying to support her son.
If her sole intention was to maintain power, she would have sought the support of another capable prince at an earlier stage.
I believe that what she possesses is not a thirst for power but rather a deep love for her son.
It can be truly disheartening when despite your desperate efforts to support your own child, they continue to hinder your progress, and in the case of the Third Prince, even criticize their own mother.
It is indeed a situation where your efforts may feel unrewarded.
When the Third Prince revealed the plan to make Ana his consort, the Queen’s complexion visibly changed.
That reaction might have been because she had already anticipated this development at that point and realized there was no way to recover from the situation.
She is indeed a highly capable person.
“As expected of Zhino-sama, to sympathize with Her Highness the Queen, who is often criticized for her lack of pride and her lust for power. You have a perspective that is understanding and accommodating.” (Ana)
When I told Ana about it, she responded with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Ever since Ana became close to the two younger sisters of the Varvarie family and frequently attended tea parties with them, it feels that she is starting to become like them.
◆◆◆◆◆
I have been bestowed with the title of Count.
I am no longer known as Zhinorius Varvarie, but instead, it is now Zhinorius Simon Varvarie.
While being a member of the Varvarie family, I have also inherited the title of Count Simon, hence the name.
I was granted the title of Count because the thesis1 I sent along with Ana’s medicine was highly praised.
The thesis I wrote explains the causes of Ana’s [Extreme Hypermagia Disease] and its treatment method, but simply stating that would not be comprehensible to people in this world.
In order to facilitate understanding of the thesis, I included additional explanations of magical concepts and theories necessary for comprehending it. Considering that magic is significantly lagging behind in this world, I made an effort to write in a way that people here can understand.
As a result, I proposed several new concepts and theories, which apparently sent shockwaves through the field of medical magic.
It seems that people in this world were completely unaware of magical illnesses such as “magical-related diseases,” including [Extreme Hypermagia Disease].
To them, I suddenly managed to explain the cause of [Extreme Hypermagia Disease], which is a type of magical-related disease and even established a treatment method for it.
Although this was not my main field of study, in my previous life, I did have a doctorate degree.
I am aware that constructing a new theory is a challenging task, even just crafting a hypothesis is tough. Therefore, I can understand why the magicians are amazed by it.
Naming conventions for new theories and such typically involve the first discoverer naming them after themselves. However, I decided to name everything based on Ana’s name.
For example, we have the [Rem-Le-Anastasia distribution], the [Anastasia-Sa-Un reaction], and the [Lyon-Anastasia method], etc.
In academic terms, [Rem-Le-Anastasia] would mean “Beloved Anastasia,” [Anastasia-Sa-Un] would mean “Anastasia, Be Well,” and [Lyon-Anastasia] would mean “Radiant Anastasia.”
Both Ana and the Duke and Duchess understood the meaning of these words as they have learned the academic language in their classes.
The Duke looks particularly satisfied
“That’s impressive. The naming is quite clever.” (Duke Sevensworth)
And with that, mother-in-law chuckled while saying:
“Well, those names are quite romantic.” (Mother-in-law)
“T-then, won’t Zhino-sama’s name be forgotten in history?” (Ana)
Ana said while blushing red, perhaps embarrassed to have been shown the new terminology in front of her parents.
“Even if my name gets forgotten, my feelings will remain forever. Those who engage in healing magic will all come to learn about my love for Ana. Is there any problem with that?” (Zhino)
I responded with a smile.
It seemed quite embarrassing for it to be included in the textbooks, as her already red face grew even redder.
How adorable.
By the way, I was also granted a territory along with the noble title.
When the former crown prince called off the engagement, his close aides were also involved in the broken engagement.
As a punishment, a portion of their family’s territory was confiscated by the royal family and bestowed upon me.
Although it is not particularly prosperous, or rather, one could say it is a poverty-stricken region.
For a territory like this to be designated as a “confiscated land” for the purpose of punishment, Her Majesty the Queen must have made significant effort.
It is a territory that incurs losses just by its mere existence, and on top of that, it is an enclave2 as a direct domain of the royal family, making it a challenging place to manage.
Because of this, even though it is quite a large piece of land, it was generously granted to me.
If managed in a normal manner, the costs for maintaining the livelihood of the residents would be higher than the income generated from the territory.
As for me, I will inevitably have to allocate expenses towards the management of the land.
The reason this land was bestowed upon me is likely because it was intended to restrain the Sevensworth family.
I think they targeted me instead of the Duke and Duchess because I am an easier target.
Even though I will eventually join the Sevensworth family, I am still a member of the Varvarie family.
From the perspective of the Sevensworth family, it may be difficult for them to offer me protection as I am not yet officially part of the Sevensworth family.
Despite being in a position where it may be difficult for them to offer me protection, it is already determined that I will eventually join the Sevensworth family.
If they were to burden me with debts while I am not yet a member of the Sevensworth family, those debts would become the liabilities of the Sevensworth family in the future.
It was the faction of the third prince and the crown prince that orchestrated the bestowal of this land upon me. They are the nobles who sought to burden me with debts and hinder my progress.
However, eventually, they will find themselves frustrated and at a loss.
This is because I already have a plan for reforming the territory.
Although the land is vast but barren, there is a location where seven-colored ore can be mined.
Currently, the seven-colored ore is only recognized as a slightly unique and beautiful mineral. It is mainly used in locally produced inexpensive accessories.
However, this seven-colored ore is actually a raw material for mithril.
What a waste of useful resources.
Mithril is a first-rate material for constructing golems, and it can also be used to create high-quality weapons and armor.
In my previous life, I was a golem engineer.
I have a thorough understanding of the mixing ratios for various mithril alloys and their respective suitable applications.
Compared to developing medicines, this is like child’s play for me.
TL notes:
Thanks for reading!
For those who don’t remember the situation with the Princes and whatnot, read ch14.1 on Foxaholic.
In summary, the king and the queen was unable to conceive for a long time, so a consort was taken and the first, third and fourth prince was born from that consort. Soon after the second prince’s birth, the Queen gave birth to a son making him the third prince. They decided to make the Queen’s son the crown prince. Because the crown prince was a shit person, there were dispute to overthrow him and while this is happening, the Sevensworth family took a neutral stand. This crown prince also broke off his engagement with Lillard who used to be his fiance before Marriott.
Ok I am sure I messed up somewhere in the translation for this one, but hopefully it makes sense.