Portrait of Queen Berta

I accidentally got pregnant with His Majesty's child

Chapter 22: Perception

"I'm Valerio, the Grand Merchant of Meseta, and this is Kret. King, how do you see him?"

The pretty little boy looked a bit nervous in front of Harold.

Harold was curious about the gentle fatherly face that the head of the Kasha family was doing as he stared at the boy and invited him to smile, Kret.

"Kret, don't be so shy. Why don't you ask him if you can call him Uncle?"

Kret recited his father's words with honest eyes.

"Yes, yes.... My dear king, may I call you Uncle?"

He was only seven or eight years old.
Harold has rarely had anything to do with children this age, and memories of his own time at this age have long since faded away.

"Yeah. Good. Little brother-in-law."

"Thank you, sir-- Uncle."

Even young Louis, who was only now able to waddle, would probably grow up to be a boy of this caliber very soon.

"Kret. Now that you've given him your greetings, you can go and play."

"Yes! ... Excuse me, father, uncle."

He has a small body, but he carefully closed both doors of the heavy-looking office before running off.
He is a well-trained and honest boy.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I really wanted to introduce our family's legitimate heir to His Majesty."

"That's all right. I'm happy to see that Kasha's heir is growing up fast and healthy."

"I'm ashamed to admit that I spoiled him a bit, since I'm growing old... But he's a very good boy."

It was uncomfortable for Harold to hear the still youthful head of the family say such a thing, but perhaps that is how he feels after having so many children, many of whom were quite younger than the eldest daughter.

"When I was raising Her Highness the Second Queen and our first children, my wife and I were still immature and felt into despair quite often."

(Berta already disappeared from Meseta streets a step ahead of me.)

It seems that one of her half-sister recently married and moved to live in the port city that they were going to visit next, so she went there to see her and congratulate her, and was forced by her half-sister to stay the night there, in order to spend a good time and meet all her new relatives.

The cities around Meseta are scattered in a radial pattern, so the itinerary is basically to stay in Meseta and gave the other cities a short visit.

"Berta must be very loved by her brothers and sisters"

The head of the family smiled in a vaguely similar way than his daughter.

"It's not just her younger siblings. All of my wives also rely on the Princess. The entire family have been waiting for her return."

(And so are the citizens.)

Harold thought.

(There is much more of Berta to see than what I've since she entered the Palace two years ago. She spent most of her time in the royal palace and rarely left the back court, but since she set foot on the south everything changed. I don't need to think very much about which one is the truer picture of her.)

She exerts a strong centripetal force on those around her.
What the reason for this was, Harold had never actively tried to come to know until now.
Perhaps he has avoided taking an interest in her.

Harold had never been troubled by relationships before.

From the stage of his birth, at least those around him had seen him as the heir to the throne.
A person's position was determined by the rise and fall of their position, and they all treated Harold as a fixed position.
There was no element of hesitation in the relationship there.

However, the existence of a second consort, an unprecedented situation in the royal family, made Harold hesitate about how to treat her.

The path he had chosen forced him to change his conventional thinking.

"And now, Your Majesty the King. What business do you wish to speak to me about?"

Meseta, the southern metropolis, was the main destination of the tour.
And one of the most important of Harold's plans, the reason behind his tour to the south, was to meet and gain the person managing the power in the south, who never goes to the Royal City.

"--I'll be blunt... The Royal Family wishes to give Kasha officially the title of Duke."

The head of the household opened his eyes and fell silent, but his movements were somewhat grandiose and his true intentions were unlikely to be read.

"Ho ho ho. Traditionally, no family in the south has ever received a title higher than earl."

"Of course we are aware of that. But the power of the Kasha clan is far superior to that of the other southern governors. If you're going to be a member of the state's political structure, you should have a proper position."

Until now, no matter how many times the royal family had approached him, Kasha's leader had never given a clear response.
But with the birth of Prince Louis, the help of the South is becoming more and more indispensable.

"The young prince needs backing... And Berta too, to protect and raise the prince."

The first queen's authority is weighted by her relatives in the other countries, so Harold wants to arrange everything to make it easier for Berta to move in the royal court.
Being the daughter of a high-ranking nobleman, even formally only, will make it easier for her in many ways.

"Kasha's chief. Please, as the leader of the South, will you support me in my reign and later in the reign of Louis? I need your help to prevent this country from falling apart from within."

The head of the household closed his eyes and crossed his arms, as if he were pondering.

"I see."

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