For anyone watching from the side, it might have just looked like we were
forming a scrum; and it wouldn't have been very sexy, but I could feel the warmth
from all four of them. That let me finally calm myself. Once I had gotten a good full
minute of that, I released them.
Liscia fixed her now-slightly-messy clothes and asked me, looking a little angry as
she did, "Geez... You're going to give us some explanation for what that was all about,
right?"
The concern for me that I could hear hidden behind the anger in her voice made
me a little happy.
"Yeah, I'll fill you in."
"Souma, you got like that towards the end of the meeting, right? What exactly
happened?" Liscia asked.
"The whole time, there was something about that girl, Mary, that felt... off to me,"
I said.
"Something that felt off? Nothing she did seemed suspicious to me, though." Aisha
cocked her head to the side in confusion.
I shook my head. "It's a little different from what you're thinking. The first time I
saw Mary, I thought she was incredibly beautiful. But... at the same time, I felt she
was strange somehow."
"Strange? Whaddaya mean, strange?" Roroa asked.
"I should have found her attractive, and yet I couldn't see her that way. That's
how it felt."
"Hm... She seemed like a cute girl to me, though," Hakuya said.
Yeah... Probably no other person would have noticed it. I'd noticed because of
who I was, and because of that, I'd been able to discern the truth behind it.
"I didn't notice it myself at first, either," I said. "But the moment I thought she was
doll-like in her lack of emotion... or artificial, to take it a bit further... I realized what
it was that had felt off to me the whole time. She... looked like them."
"Looked like them? Who?"
When she asked me that, I put my hand down on Liscia's shoulder. "Like you,
Liscia."
"Huh?! Like me?!"
"Yeah. And like Aisha, and like Roroa, too."
"Huh? Did she?"
"Like me, too?"
Aisha and Roroa looked at each other after hearing what I said. I looked over to
Hakuya.
"Hakuya, if you were to describe Mary's face for those of us who weren't there,
how would you express it?"
"Well, let me see... she had regular features, silver hair, and it was tied back in
two tails...?!" Hakuya seemed to have picked up on it, and his eyes went wide.
I nodded. "Here's how I'd describe her. Her regular features were like Liscia's.
Her silver hair was like what Aisha has as a dark elf, and her hairstyle was like
Roroa's. In other words, Mary's face was like a composite of Liscia, Aisha, and
Roroa's faces."
"O-Our faces?!" Liscia yelped.
Yeah. The reason I hadn't been attracted to her, despite her being so young and
beautiful, was because of the disconnect with my expectations. If one day, out of
nowhere, Aisha had suddenly gained human facial features, that would surprise me,
and if Liscia or Roroa's hair had turned silver, it would be only natural for me to
think something felt off.
Aisha raised her hand and said, "Wait, hold on. If she has a mix of all of your
fiancées' features, what part of her do you suppose would have come from Juna?
From what I saw, her figure was average, too."
"See, that's it," I said. "From what I saw, Mary has practically nothing in common
with Juna. If I had to give you something, I'd say those sensual eyes of hers were
similar, but that's a little weak as far as traits go. That's got to have been a
coincidence. Also... can one of you tell me what the difference is between Juna and
Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa?"
"I'm the only one who's a secondary queen candidate," said Juna. "Besides, I'm
also... the only one whose engagement to you hasn't been announced yet!" Juna
clapped her hands as she figured it out.
I nodded. "My engagement to the other three has been announced already, but
we haven't been able to announce Juna's yet because of her work as a lorelei. In
other words, it's not known that she's my fiancée. So, when we think about how
Mary, who has the defining characteristics of all my fiancées except Juna, was sent
here, combined with the fact that the Orthodox Papal State's spies have been
growing more active in the castle town, we can infer that the spies were collecting
intel on what my fiancées looked like. They did this in order to create a woman I
would like, or at least not find unpleasant, and send her to me as a saint."
"Souma, that's..." Liscia began.
"Yeah... When I said, 'The way you say that, it's almost like you're coming to
marry me,' do you remember what Mary said in response?"
"If Your Holy Majesty wishes, you may do with my body whatever you might please.
I will offer my body and heart to you as I do in service to God." Mary had said that
without hesitation.
A girl tailored to my tastes had been sent to me, and that girl had said, "You may
do with my body whatever you might please," and, "I will offer my body and heart to
you." Then, as if asking for compensation, they had tried to push their own demands
through. In other words...
"For the Orthodox Papal State, the saint is a honey trap laid for state-level actors,"
I said.
"What they're doing is the same as the nobles trying to sell their daughters to
you..." Liscia said, sounding exasperated.
Honestly, for a country ruled by men of the cloth, they came up with some vulgar
ideas. It looked like, as a country, the Orthodox Papal State was a very human
enterprise.
"Once I figured out what felt off about her... I asked Mary about how she was
selected to be a saint," I said. "When I did, she kindly gave me a thorough
explanation."
I was told that the saint had been chosen from among the nuns of the central
church by the divine revelations contained in the Lunalith. Most of those nuns had
originally been orphans, and there were nearly fifty of them. Most likely, the goal
was to keep a diverse stock of potential saints for any rulers they wanted to seduce.
The nuns were trained at the central church, and raised learning the doctrines of
the faith in a place cut off from the secular world so that they would become
obedient believers. Then, if they reached a certain age without being chosen as
saints, they were sent out to churches in each region as bishops.
"That's... terrible," Aisha said with open revulsion. "Then they really are like dolls.
It's as if they have no will of their own."
"Now, now, Big Sister Ai," Roroa interjected, "it doesn't sound like that bad of a
deal to me."
Aisha was critical of the system, but Roroa seemed to be of a different opinion.
"No matter what country ya go to, there ain't nothin' harder to run than proper
orphanages," said Roroa. "If they don't get educated by the time they're old enough
to work, they'll just end up bein' used for cheap labor. It's rare to find places like
ours that teach readin', writin', and arithmetic. For girls who come up out of the
orphanages... often, sellin' themselves is the only thing they can do. If they're bein'
lifted up from that situation, given food, clothing, and shelter in the church, don't ya
think that's fortunate for them?"
"But they're being raised so they can be given as offerings to foreign rulers, you
realize?" Aisha shot back.
"I'm not sayin' I like it. But usin' girls to form bonds is somethin' every house,
noble, knightly, or greater, does. I mean... in a way, I used myself politically like that,
too."
"Oh..."
When Roroa pointed that out to her, Aisha was at a loss for words. It was true,
when Roroa had arranged her own marriage in order to protect her people, you
could say she had been making use of her position as a woman.
"Sorry..." Aisha apologized.
Roroa simply said, "Think nothin' of it," and waved her hand. "Besides, I've never
heard of there bein' multiple saints. In other words, for all o' the nuns other than this
Mary girl, it won't be happenin' to them. Even for the saint, sure, callin' her an
offerin' makes it sound bad, but if a lord does lay his hands on 'er, she's set to marry
into money. I married for political reasons, and I'm plenty happy now, so it's up for
her to decide whether or not she's happy with it in the end."
Roroa said that firmly. She really... was a strong girl.
"I agree with Roroa's opinion," I said. "I don't like their methods, but it's not a
system we need to say anything about. I mean, it's another country's issue, after all."
"Well... why do you look so torn up, then?" Liscia asked, looking me straight in the
eye.
I put a hand to my head. "What shocked me... was that Mary had accepted she
was a saint, and was willing to go along with it knowing exactly what that meant."
◇ ◇ ◇
As the meeting was ending, I asked Mary about one thing that was bothering me.
"Madam Mary, do you have no doubts about being treated as a saint? Suddenly
being saddled with the dignity of your country, having to appear before a foreign
king, and being expected to tell that king, 'I will offer my body and heart to you.' It's
too great a burden for one person to bear. I would have thought a life like that would
be too cruel for an ordinary young girl to take."
Mary smiled and said, "By the will of Lady Lunaria, I was blessed with the great
honor of becoming a saint. The saint is the face of the Orthodox Papal State. Having
been granted this role, rather than live for my own feelings, I want to fulfill the
duties I've been given. Because that is what is best for the country, and, in turn, for
all people."
"...You'd abandon your self for the sake of others?" I asked.
"It is my natural duty as one who has received a greater honor than most. I would
think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn't you, sire?"
I was silent.
"Living the way others want you to," she said. "I believe it is a wonderful way to
live, and one I can be proud of. For the people who revere me as a saint, I intend to
give myself fully to serving them."
For the people who revered her as a saint... huh.
She must have believed with all her heart that living the way others wanted her
to was a thing she could be proud of. When I saw Mary's smile, the words of another
saint flashed through my mind.
"I may be an empress, but I'm still just a human being. Instead of being worshiped
as a saint, I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a person."
For one, being a saint was something to pride herself on, and she chose to act like
a saint.
For the other, she rejected being a saint, and insisted on being a person.
"I would think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn't you, sire?" Mary had
asked.
Which path will I choose...?