The king’s apology, and 『The Two Wishes』

 
 Suddenly, His Majesty the King visited my guest room.
 
 While I had become flustered, I curtsied according to etiquette nonetheless.
 
 ”It is an honour beyond my capacity, Your Majesty. I can’t offer you anything to show my hospitality, but please come in.”
 
 ”Umu. I visited without any forewarning. It’s alright, you don’t have to worry about me.”
 
 Saying so and smiling, His Majesty entered the guest room.
 
 After him followed my father, who had a troubled expression.
 
 ”Well then.”
 
 His Majesty turned back towards the door, and addressed Anna and the attendants.
 
 ”I have something to discuss with Lady Leticia and Lord Owleyes. I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask the others to leave.”
 
 Though the words he used weren’t high-handed, they had enough force to chase the attendants out.
 
 When Anna glanced sideways towards me, I nodded to her.
 
 Hurriedly, Anna and the attendants left the room.
 
 Once there were no other people left, my father closed the door.
 
 His Majesty turned back this way once he confirmed the door had closed, came walking to where I was standing stock-still, and suddenly dropped his attitude.
 
 
 
 ”!”
 
 I was surprised.
 
 But, His Majesty just went down on one knee and matched his gaze with mine.
 
 ”Lady Leticia, how are you feeling?”
 
 ”Eh, ehm… Thanks to you, I’m fine, as you can see.”
 
 I was so flustered that I let the horrific terms slip away.
 
 ”I see… Seems I caused you some scary thoughts, huh.”^[1]
 
 His Majesty tenderly narrowed his eyes and stroked my cheek, then straightened his posture while still on his knee.
 
 ”Lady Leticia. For My child’s violence yesterday, I am truly sorry. I’m not asking that it just ends with this apology, but… as a father, I want to apologize. I’m truly sorry.”
 
 Saying so, His Majesty hung his head.
 
 I became increasingly flustered.
 
 ”Yo-, Your Majesty, please raise your head.”
 
 Even with the circumstances being what they are, it’s still unheard of for the ruler of the entire country to lower his head to a small girl.
 
 For a moment, I suspected I was seeing a weird dream I’d made up in my head.
 
 But, no matter how I looked at it, the spectacle before my eyes was reality.
 
 Panicking, I repeated [Your Majesty, please raise your head] another time.
 
 And then, the ruler of this country finally raised his head.
 
 
 
 ”Leaving the education of [that one]^[2] to the queen, that was My mistake. Because the Duke’s Family strongly suggested it, people prepared by them were placed as his teachers, but… even if I had to do so forcibly, I should have just put a neutral person as his teacher. But now, it is just an excuse.”
 
 His Majesty muttered so self-deprecatingly, then looked me in the eye.
 
 ”The Young Lady has completely become a victim. It wasn’t just Alvin’s violence. There’s the dragon assault too. Through absolutely no fault of Mine, I’ve exposed the Young Lady to danger on two occasions. So———”
 
 His Majesty hesitated slightly, then spoke these words.
 
 ”Two of the Young Lady’s wishes, I’ll grant them. Anything’s fine. As long as it is within my reach, I’ll do my utmost to grant those wishes.”
 
 ”Huh………?”
 
 Faced with His Majesty’s unexpected offer, my head froze.
 
 
 
 When I stood there quite speechless, His Majesty patted me on my head, and stood up.
 
 ”As for My business, that is all. It’s alright not to hurry your answer. Contact me once you’ve decided what you wish for.”
 
 Saying so, His Majesty smiled, and then saying,
 
 ”Well then, till next time”,
 
 he left the room accompanied by my father.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 For a while after His Majesty and Otou-sama went out the room.
 I stood stock-still on that spot, dumbfounded.
 
 His Majesty apologized on his knees.
 And what he said he’d grant me, were two wishes.
 
 Certainly, I was exposed to two different life-threatening crises.
 
 But, His Majesty wasn’t responsible for those.
 
 The assault by the dragons was a plot by the Principality and a portion of the Royalist Faction, starting with the Duke of Oswell, and the idiot slashing at me was due to that thing’s resentment.
 
 I guess His Majesty is responsible in the sense that he [created that opportunity, and didn’t take preventative measures], but I don’t think that’s enough for the king of an entire country to do something as serious as getting on his knees and apologizing.
 
 ”His Majesty is a kind person, but… those words, is it fine to take them at face value?”
 
 For a while after that, I racked my head over that matter.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 The afternoon that day.
 
 Together with Otou-sama and Hubert-nii-sama, we were returning to the Ainsworth mansion in the Count Family’s carriage.
 
 Incidentally, Anna was sitting beside the coachman’s seat in high spirits.
 It apparently seems that she’s fond of fancy rides.
 
 Well.
 
 Now that the three of us could properly chat, I immediately decided to ask my father and my brother about my [two wishes].
 
 When I told them I was [worried whether I should take His Majesty’s words as they are], my father nonchalantly said this:
 
 ”Well, I guess you should take his words as is. His Majesty isn’t someone who employs falsehoods. If Letty tells him what she wishes, he should grant whatever’s feasible.”
 
 ””Eh………””
 
 My brother and I both unconsciously stared at my father’s face.
 
 
 
 ”But still, I don’t get the reason why he’d go so far as to say that. Even if you’re just talking about how much he apologized, wasn’t that quite excessive?”
 
 ”Hmm…”
 
 Otou-sama and Onii-sama began to ponder.
 
 For a while, after doing nothing but thinking, Onii-sama suddenly raised his face.
 
 ”———that’s right. I might know the reason why His Majesty gave Letty such an offer.”
 
 ”Huh?”
 
 I tilted my head.
 
 Seeing me like that, Hubert-nii-sama grinned slightly.
 
 ”Simply put, he [doesn’t want to lose Letty] no matter what.”
 
 ”You mean, me?”
 
 ”Yeah. Seems Letty isn’t fully aware of it, but right now you’re this country’s hero, genius magic-toolmaster^[3], and greatest combat force. If this incident causes Letty to escape to another country, that loss would be immeasurable. And not to mention, with the attacks coming from other countries and the division of the nobles, it’s a time when the country’s domestic affairs are unstable. As far as His Majesty is concerned, he wants to keep Letty in this country no matter what.”
 
 ””Ooooh!!””
 
 Following my brother’s explanation, my father and I let out voices of astonishment.
 
 ”Certainly, if that’s the reason then it’s believable.”
 
 ”I agree.”
 
 Hubert-nii-sama’s observational ability, his ability to read the circumstances, is likely the best in our family.
 
 If the eldest brother Graham is superior in [combat], then it can be said that Hugh-nii is the one who excels in [intellect].
 
 ”If that’s the case, then I guess I’ll discuss it with His Majesty without hesitation.”
 
 ”Is there something you wish for?”
 
 After seeing my reaction, my father asked me that question.
 
 I gave a deep nod.
 
 ”Yes. Truth is, I was thinking of asking for something like this.”
 
 And then I told them, the [wish] I had thought of a short while ago.
 

TL Notes:

[1]it’s interesting to note that I had to add “seems” and “some” for it to sound sincerer, even though that would normally add ambiguity. English is such a funny language. ↩

[2]lol, even the king is referring to him like that now. ↩

[3]yes, he used a different word, one that implies one is an expert in their field ↩

 

You know, I was aware that some things would get explained in this chapter which is why I waited, but that was more than I realised. In any case, let’s fill in the gaps that Hugh didn’t address. Do forgive me if I repeat anything he already mentioned. And as a bit of context, I’ll be covering this from the king’s perspective.
Before I do so, however, of like to warn everyone that what I’ll write below is firstly, my opinion, and secondly, may break immersion for some readers. If you’re not ok with that, or you’re simply here to read a good story, please skip this. It is not necessary to continue the story, in fact, I recommend reading without it. This rant-of-sorts is for those readers who like to think of the setting in the larger scale like myself, and may want to discuss it. Without further ado, may the ranting begin.
 
 
 
 
Firstly, let me take you back to the first few chapters, when Leticia was called to the castle to receive her engagement. Now, why her of all people? Typically, the royal family should wed their sons and daughters to noble families with deep ties and a recent (generationally-related) spree of meritorious deeds. The Owleyes Family does not have that. They’re a parvenu family who are in fact on the decline due to a lack of recent technical innovations.
Maybe you remember Alvin shouting this right at the start? Well, like I mentioned a few chapters back, Alvin isn’t quite a complete idiot (just not smart enough to compete with his surroundings), as he was able to pick up on the Owleyes Family’s situation himself. Well, either that, or someone told him. Regardless, what he said was correct, and the adults there knew it deep down.
My theory is that the king did in fact suggest the engagement to prevent them from falling into ruin (there is also a second motive I believe he had, which I’ll mention shortly). I’ve read this in another web novel, but apparently it’s understood that marrying into the royal family is enough of a merit to keep one’s Family in place for three generations). The reason why he wanted this was because their Family was the reason this kingdom had been able to catapult itself ahead of the surrounding countries in terms of magitech, which afforded them the advantage in territorial wars to hold their territories against the constant invasions. As far as we can tell, there are no other Families who come close in potential for technological innovation, so regardless of recent exploits, the king needs to keep them around as a possibility at least. Likely, he thought that Leticia’s intellectual brother Hubert would be capable of upholding their expectations, and this engagement served as a stop-gap measure to bide them time till his studies were over. However, this underestimation of their potential as only a “possibility” was his mistake, as he also had in mind a second reason for the engagement.
This was for Leticia to be a sort of “role model” for Alvin. The king was already aware of Alvin’s incorrect education and wanted to correct it, so perhaps by pairing him with the obedient child Leticia, coming from a neutral Family, he might pick up a thing or two from her and widen his worldview to see things for how they truly were. It could be said that this was part of the reason why the king was so apologetic; he realised just how bad Alvin’s sensibilities had gotten, and realised what he had just been about to throw her into. And sure enough, this would have been too little, too late, as we already know from the outcome of Leticia’s first life.
 
For our second point, let’s fast-forward exactly one month later: the announcement of Leticia’s new magic tool. At this point, I need to remind you of an important point. Leticia is a 12-year-old little girl. I don’t know what kind of things you learnt by the time you were 12, but I barely knew enough science to build an electric heater, and that’s basically just a wire with high resistance. Whereas Leticia here has just come out with a magic tool surpassing that of her Family’s legacies, the magic sword and shield. The timing is too coincidental; she either had been building this for a year or two already (meaning she started when she was ten), or she began this recently. And I’m sure those around her would have told her that there was more than enough time to make new things later and to spend the time improving on the basics and fundamentals before that. After all, she would’ve been only 10. She’s got her entire life ahead of her to make whatever she can think up, so no need to complicate things then already. In other words, it could only be the latter: she started it recently, and in response to something that gave her reason enough to push for it despite the struggles she’d obviously come across.
And her oh-so-doting father would have, after witness his own daughter faint after meeting her future fiancé, immediately informed her the reason why she was called to the castle in the first place. Which means that, even discounting the miracle that is Leticia guessing the reason for the call on her own, the king may have realised why Leticia went through the trouble of inventing something as shocking as a magic rifle. Still, even after using their resummons to the castle to request a demo for the rifle, the king would only see her as an interesting child.
 
No need for me to repeat what happened during the actual demo. She displayed her prowess, far more than she planned to as well. She had rocket boots and magic tools capable of remotely deploying very reliable shields. And yet she was only here to demo the rifle. She also, along with her entire family that were present, jumped in instantly to protect the royal family. Now, in the king’s eyes, they’ve become a Family known to hold unknown, vast potential, and unshakable loyalty to the king. And that second thing, loyalty, is something he quite desperately needs.
 
Perhaps you haven’t quite picked up on it yet, but the upper echelons of the country are in shambles. Three factions, two of them clawing at each other’s necks. The old nobles vs the conquerors. While the first king of Heielland couldn’t immediately get rid of all the old nobility (and probably royalty too?) as the country would fall apart if everyone on top was completely replaced, the current king can tell that it is definitely time to do so. The country has gone through a few generations under the new royalty, and is in need of some spring cleaning, something to root out the bad bits (example: Duke Oswell). If you still want to hear more, I think I’ll rather put it at the end of the arc (a handful of chapters, not a lot), as the points I’d like to bring up are a little too close to spoilers for my liking. There were even points concerning this chapter and the last chapter which I wanted to mention regarding the king’s behaviour, but that would be jumping ahead of time. Luckily, the next arc doesn’t have anything that I think I’d end up spoiling with this, so I should be fine to mention the rest at the end of this arc.
 
Well then, that’s that rant over. Took about 1/4th of the actual story, and that’s without considering paragraph spacing. I’m almost certain I’ve mentioned points that have been mentioned somewhere before, but let’s just imagine that I was giving you a reminder.
Sorry for the long wall of text, and thank you for bearing with me.