Chapter 225
Chapter : 225
My meeting with Lord Gertman, the second son, ended well. There was no reason for me to refuse the various interests the Duke of Bourgogne offered, and I also had no intention of becoming outright hostile with the Duke of Bourgogne.
My goal was not the hegemony of the Elang Kingdom or something like unifying the kingdom, but to build the greatest house on the continent and escape this world.
If anything, it was better for me if the Duke of Bourgogne remained strong and could keep checking the surroundings for a long, long time.
Since our interests aligned, the talk naturally ended quickly and cleanly.
Still, Lord Gertman’s expression as he left was extremely dark, and that bothered me a little.
‘Well, it looked like he persuaded his family and tried to join hands with me, and if I do this, it will put him in a real bind.’
A union between me, a great noble of the southeast, and Duchess of Aquitaine Maceania, a great noble of the southwest.
In practice, it was no different from the rebirth of a massive force that would grand-unify the southern region of the kingdom.
Especially with me rising in value at full speed, it would grant me tremendous power.
In most unions between lords, the territory owned by the woman tended to be absorbed into the man’s side.
It was like he came to remove a bump but returned with an even bigger one stuck on, so Lord Gertman’s head was probably a tangled mess.
Of course….
‘Mine is even darker.’
The situation was so much worse for me that I could not even think about giving a carrot to Lord Gertman as he trudged away like a man at his wits’ end.
Because our wild princess had spoken of her pre-marriage romance fantasy like that.
‘Oh, come on…. Asking me to kiss her while watching the sunset from the top of a steeple.’
She was not some adolescent girl who had just fallen in love, so what was that supposed to mean? But what could I do?
The burden of sin I had fired into the sky was already far too great.
In the end, as Duchess of Aquitaine Maceania wished, I called her to a steeple that evening and fulfilled her desire.
“Bwahahaha! So it finally happened! I will definitely handle the gift for your first child. Just trust me.”
And for some reason, it also felt like Magician Agpiel’s wish(?) had been fulfilled.
Damn it!
It feels like I got played?!
---
The one who drove back the Holy Empire Emperor’s invasion and protected the kingdom.
The one who smoothed over the greed of the traitor Crown Prince Charles I.
The Margrave of Bellua’s string of decisive victory reports shook the politics of the Elang Kingdom to its core.
He had been a strong candidate before, but now, unmistakably, a young power broker had been born—one who matched the Duke of Bourgogne, or even seemed stronger.
But the news that followed would shake not only the Elang Kingdom, but the entire continent all over again.
-The Margrave of Bellua and the Duke of Aquitaine are getting married, they say.
-The birth of a new grand lord!
-Shouldn’t we call him a king or a duke now, not a margrave?
-They have practically taken the entire southern region of that enormous Elang Kingdom! Is this not a powerful monarch with territory broader than even a prince-elector of the Holy Empire?
The Margrave of Bellua held the County of Campania, part of the Kingdom of Aragon, and the delegated governance rights of a free city entrusted by the Holy See.
Even that alone was a force that could measure horns with most rulers, and now Aquitaine would be added on top of it!
The nobles of the continent had no choice but to acknowledge, at last, that a truly hegemonic grand lord had been born, not merely some new rising star.
Thanks to that, the moment the wedding was announced, kings and nobles across the various kingdoms and petty kingdoms began to rack their brains over how they could take my hand amid this complicated situation.
Someone offered vast treasures brought from the East, someone spoke of military alliances that sounded like nothing but bluster, and someone proposed granting me the various trade interests I would supposedly like most.
In a way, it was about currying favor and helping each other….
-What are we supposed to do? Our situation is different from theirs.
-Would it not be better to request protection?
-Betray Crown Prince Charles I? How can such words come from your mouth? We are provincial governors appointed by His Majesty the King!
The provincial governors who managed the directly-managed lands spread from the central to the southern regions of the Elang Kingdom could not do that.
A great noble with tremendous power had appeared right beside them—no, all around them.
With Crown Prince Charles I’s momentum no longer what it once was, the birth of such a great noble was an absolute headache for the royalist governors of the directly-managed lands.
Whose side should they choose?
Crown Prince Charles I, or the newly risen powerhouse, the Margrave of Bellua.
In the past, they could have followed Crown Prince Charles I because he was the direct line and had legitimacy, but now the Margrave of Bellua would also gain legitimacy by marrying Duchess of Aquitaine Maceania, who was herself a direct line.
If both possessed legitimacy, should they not attach themselves in the direction that brought the greatest benefit?
As those governors clicked their abacuses and worried over the future, their worries were resolved far faster than expected.
-Margrave of Bellua! Please accept us.
-I have long admired you. The southern nobles wish to align our intentions and enter beneath the Margrave of Bellua’s banner.
-Please accept us! We will gladly offer our loyalty.
The southern lords, who were now mere minor rulers in the region and could not exert much power, brought their domains and handed them over wholesale to the Margrave of Bellua.
In exchange, they received enormous trade interests and guaranteed participation at court through the council I had established, but to traditional noble society, it was a tremendous shock.
A lord giving up his territory!
No matter how much the peasant rebellions and the ongoing wars had turned their lands into a wreck, was that not too much?
But the southern nobles who joined did not care.
-Fools who cannot see the times!
-Look. Behold the prosperity of this Margrave of Bellua! You lot might cling to a stinking backwater that reeks of cow dung because a mere patch of land matters to you, but we are different!
-Do you not see this vast power? In exchange for giving up a small domain, we have become proud nobles participating in a great territory.
Instead, they were satisfied that by entering the council as noble council members, they could wield influence everywhere the Margrave of Bellua’s rule reached.
Of course, to some extent, all of this involved the propaganda skill I had built up over time, but at least within the southern region, the atmosphere was like that.
And once things reached this point, the provincial governors of the central and southern directly-managed lands had no choice but to make a choice.
-M-Margrave of Bellua! Please protect us.
-We gladly swear loyalty. As the consort of Duchess of Aquitaine Maceania, and as the princess’s husband, you are fully worthy to receive our loyalty.
They chose the path of a lightning-fast absorption.
“This is insane! Bring me all those traitorous bastards! How dare they hand over governance rights at their own discretion-!”
Of course, upon hearing the news, Crown Prince Charles I could do nothing but clutch his neck and collapse.
---
-WAAAAAA
-Oh God, bless the Margrave of Bellua!
The wedding was splendid.
As if they meant to forget the scars of war, the entire city was drunk on a festival mood.
People gathered in small groups to bless the new union, and I poured out massive amounts of food and wealth to win those citizens’ favor.
Nearly unlimited alcohol and food.
It was insane money-burning madness when we had not even escaped the aftermath of famine yet, but there was no reason for it to be bad.
Because it was not my money anyway.
‘Wow, really. One way or another, the world still has a lot of money in it.’
The source of all these funds was the treasures that had been “voluntarily”(?) offered up from all across the continent. So much had arrived that even if I spent recklessly like this, I had not yet used even half of it.
“Baaaaah. My loooord…. Money is not meant to be spent, it is meant to be saved and admired. Baaahhh.”
Of course, Bishop Marco, the miserly goat beastman who was purely obsessed with money, shed tears and mourned the cash pouring out.
In any case, amid the blessings of all these people, I rushed the wedding along at great speed.
Officially proclaiming the marriage through the bishop, swearing our marriage before God at church, and parading through the city together with my beloved(?) wife, Princess Maceania, and so on.
I drove it through so fast that the entire schedule ended in barely three days.
This was the result of me crushing everyone’s complaints with authority when they kept saying it went against noble dignity. If I had not cut it off here, they looked ready to feast and play for a month, no, two, three months.
“Ha. You handle war so crisply, and you even handle marriage crisply. One day I really must show you an elven-style wedding!”
Even though he was in the midst of fighting the Holy Empire Emperor far away, the Prince-elector of Bohemia, our elven king, attended the wedding and grumbled enthusiastically, but so what.
Because with a union between nobles, the wedding ceremony mattered, but the legal coordination over various rights and interests mattered even more.
Especially this time, since it was a personal union between a female ruler and a male ruler, it was even more so.
Thanks to that, the theologians dispatched from the Holy See and the legal scholars still active in my domain were all mobilized and frantic as they organized the relevant documents.
The wedding was, in effect, a formality.
Right now, speed mattered more than dignity. The war was not over yet.
“The Holy Empire Emperor’s side and those traitors’ people did not come, as expected?”
“Yes, Margrave of Bellua. They instead sent a letter insulting you.”
“Haha. When times are like this, it would still be nice if we could at least smile and exchange congratulations.”
It was a shame.
If they had, I would have gladly stopped the war right here and simply held hands and lived on in friendly laughter together.
“Rather, it is for the best.”
“That is right. Show them Your Excellency’s power at this time!”
“Resentment toward the Holy Empire Emperor is at its peak right now. The Holy See also has the intention to help willingly if you start a war with the Holy Empire Emperor, Your Excellency.”
“Our noble alliance is the same, is it not? Prince-elector of Bohemia.”
“That is right. We cannot keep watching the Holy Empire Emperor rampage like that forever. The Emperor is now old and unfit to lead the empire in the future. Ahem.”
The nobles attending the wedding all spoke in bellicose tones, one after another.
They looked as if they did not want to let this momentum go.
With the Holy Empire Emperor showing weakness after successive defeats, they saw it as a perfect chance to bring him down.
But I….
“Hmm, but my kingdom’s affairs are not even finished, so how could I pour strength outward?”
I did not like their proposal at all.
‘Are they crazy?’
Why would I lead my troops out into the Holy Empire and command a noble coalition army? If I did that and my domain got looted while it was empty, what was I supposed to do?
The Elang Kingdom was still a chaotic mess, split into a four-way conflict as each faction fought for power.
Right now, instead of advancing outward, it was right to stabilize the kingdom first while holding and securing the territory I had gained.
That was what I thought, but….
“M-Margrave!”
“?”
“The Duke of Bourgogne has finally destroyed the Western Noble Alliance, they say.”
“????”
-Tiriring!
[The Western Noble Alliance has collapsed. The Duke of Bourgogne’s detached force raided the careless Western Noble Alliance army and wiped out their power. Some nobles who survived and fled are holding out in a castle, but it will not last long.]
[Notification : The Elang Kingdom’s unrest decreases. Stability increases by 1.]
“What the hell?!”
I did not know what method he used, but in the meantime, the Duke of Bourgogne won the previously stalled siege of the capital and even pushed into the territory of the Western Noble Alliance.
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