Epilogue
“Cutie Majoram. For the sake of this nation’s future, will you marry me!?”
Romio Slava bowed with a bouquet in his hand.
The location was a corridor in Majoram’s headquarters, which was not very appropriate for a proposal.
Cutie, standing in front of him, took the bouquet.
Romio smiled for a moment.
Cutie also smiled back, and she handed the bouquet to a Majoram staff member walking past her.
“Seeing as House Slava’s heir brought this bouquet to me, it must be very expensive. Put it in your home if you’d like.”
“R-Right……”
The male staff member, while confused, took it and left.
Romio opened his mouth wide and watched the man leave.
And when he could no longer see the man, he turned around to Cutie and yelled.
“That’s so mean!”
“Romio. How many times have you proposed to me now? My patience has its limits, you know.”
“You say that, but…… I have nowhere to go!”
“Don’t you have a lover named Juliet?”
“I’m scared of that woman’s ambitions!”
“You’re a perfect match. Just let her dominate and crush you.”
“N-No. I want other women! Please, marry me! And let’s restore House Slava together!”
“This is why your house is in ruins. C’mon, time to go.”
Cutie waved her hand and tried to shoo Romio away.
He bitterly groaned, ‘Grrr’, and stood still.
Cutie could not let this pass and beckoned a female security officer nearby.
“Throw this man out.”
“Copy that. Stop standing there, this is no place for a loser like you.”
“Insolence! Who do you think I am!?”
“A little boy from a useless house.”
“No, I’m the son of Duke of Slava, and the heir of the foremost house in the kingdom, Romio Slava! H-Hey, Indy! Stop this woman!”
The next person Romio asked for help was his grey-haired butler.
He approached Romio with cold eyes and dragged his master away with the female security officer.
“We’re sorry for the continued nuisance, Lady Cutie.”
“You have a really hard job too, Indy.”
“You really do it well, you know. You’re an excellent butler. How about you work for Majoram one day?”
“The salary is great.”
“I see, that is very alluring.”
“Indy, tell them you like working for me! And stop pulling me too! Cutie! I’ll come again! I’m going to marry you!”
Romio withdrew after leaving parting threats like a villain.
Cutie reflexively sighed.
“Good grief.”
Another female wearing a suit walked up to her.
“Oh dear, did that man come to propose to you, Cutie?”
“Platy. Wait, did he ask you too?”
“Just yesterday.”
“He’s way too honorless. Really, it’s creepy how desperate he is.”
“House Slava is in a pretty bad position.”
“Good thing we managed to take you in, Platy.”
“I can’t even imagine the alternative. At any rate, I was just 3 years old back then.”
Platy Majoram’s name used to be Platy Kranflus.
She was a war orphan, and was taken in by House Slava to be raised as a servant, but Dugan himself left her with Noted to protect her from the assassination uproar 16 years ago.
Since then, Platy had been living as a part of the Majoram family.
She and Cutie, another war orphan who became Noted’s adopted child, were raised like sisters, and worked as executive staff together for Majoram Technologies now.
“By the way, Cutie, what do you intend on actually doing about the problem?”
“What do you mean?”
“Marriage. We’re 18 years old now, so I think it’s about time to start thinking about that.”
“Hmph, what a foolish question.”
Cutie looked serious.
“I already decided that I will make Miss. Mary my bride!”
Her pride muttered through her cold eyes.
“She’s hopeless.”
Cutie pouted after the excessively blunt reaction.
“What’s the problem? I always said I’ll never change my mind.”
“I understand if you adore her as a fan, but it’s a bit off-putting when you’re still saying that at this age.”
“And what about you? Do you have someone?”
“No, but so what?”
“Yep, I win, victory of love!”
“Your mental age flies at low-altitude as always.”
“I don’t want to hear that from a virgin.”
“!…… And you’re not?”
“I offered it to the princess – no, to Mary.”
“When? Where?”
Cutie’s face looked serious again, and spoke while boastfully pointing at Platy.
“In my previous life!”
Platy grabbed Cutie’s index finger and twisted it in the opposite direction.
“Ooouch!”
“I’ll advise father on a good hospital for you.”
“I’m serious! I saw it in my dreams so many times!”
“I don’t want to hear a member of my family revealing her excess sexual desires to me.”
Cutie was about to be dragged to the president’s office.
But Noted happened to be walking by just then.
“Ah, perfect. Father, there’s a good psychology hospital near-”
“Father, there is no need to listen to Platy’s jokes. I’m fine! I’m a healthy 18 year old full of dreams and hopes!”
“I’m impressed you can talk when your brain cells are pink.”
“I don’t want to hear that from someone with grey and rotten brain cells!”
“Hahaha, I see you two are having fun again today.”
The two reacted at the same time after his remark.
“We are!?”
“Are we!?”
They spoke at the same time.
“C’mon, you two definitely get along. I was just going to take a break, why don’t we drink tea together?”
The sisters were dumbfounded by embarrassment as their faces went red, and they headed for the president’s office with Noted.
♢♢♢
The three sat on a couch in the president’s office while drinking the tea prepared by the secretary.
Cutie however had to say a few complaints to her father about Romio’s earlier visit.
“Romio showed up out of nowhere and asked me to marry him just now.”
“So that’s why he came.”
“The same thing happened to Platy yesterday. You allowed him entry into the building, didn’t you, father?”
“Of course I did, he’s the son of a close friend.”
“I think it’s about time you rethink your association with uncle too.”
Platy also warned Noted.
But he did not seem like he was about to make any concessions.
“Majoram is supporting the Slava Territory right now, but Dugan is the reason our company managed to grow so much. So I don’t care how many times you ask me to, I won’t do it. You wouldn’t leave Princess Mary for anything either, would you, Cutie?”
“Yeah, let’s give up Platy.”
“That’s a fast switchover……”
Cutie got really easy to deal with when Mary’s name came out.
“Still, Dugan might be stepping away from the center stage soon.”
Noted sounded a little sad.
“Did something happen?”
“General Defale was here just now.”
“The Majoram Army’s general, right?”
“The Slava Army, Cutie. He’s a very loyal person, so he’s been acting towards Dugan’s interests so far, but…… It looks like even he can see that Dugan seems unmotivated lately.”
“Do you think it’s because of what happened with Marquis Fidelis?”
Marquis Fidelis was the mayor in charge of Captis, a city at the center of the Slava Territory.
He also had deep connections with Dugan as an aristocrat.
It had been a few months since he was exposed for corruption.
He was an unpopular aristocrat among the people to begin with, so there was a lot of discontent after that.
He even had to give his role over to another person.
“His successor was a young aristocrat unrelated to uncle Dugan, right? Jaysam, was it?”
“He’s a passionate man popular among the people.”
“Mhm, I guess that also helped him out.”
“Also? Is there another reason?”
Noted seemed uneasy and crossed his arms after Cutie’s question.
“Hmm…… I think you’ll get mad at me when I tell you this, Cutie. But, it seems that Dugan proposed King Henry to ‘marry Princess Mary and Romio’.”
“First he tries to assassinate him, then offers him a marriage proposal? How much skin do you need on your face to make so many masks? I definitely want him to teach me how he trains his face.”
Cutie was seething with anger.
Platy, seemingly not interested, sipped some tea.
“It’s obvious already, but what happened?”
“He was refused, of course.”
“Hell yeaaah!”
“Please calm down, Cutie.”
Platy had to warn Cutie after she got riled up in a manner that was not suitable for a lady of the Majoram family.
“Also, it seems that he was refused after some harsh scolding. Dugan aged really fast after that.”
“I see, so that’s why Romio is so desperate.”
“So it’s an inheritance crisis for House Slava. I suppose even Romio has enough brains to know he can’t maintain his authority as the successor.”
“You two are really harsh…… Didn’t you often play together when you were little?”
“All the more reason.”
“Indeed.”
“Ahahaha……”
It was a sad thing to see one’s childhood friend in such a pathetic state.
So the words also got all the more bitter.
Noted could not deny the reality, and all he could do was force a smile.
♢♢♢
After taking a break in the president’s office, Cutie got in a car and headed for a certain location in Captis.
She sat in the passenger’s seat and let a brown-haired young girl, Tini, drive the car.
“Oh, so that’s why you were proposed to.”
She was listening to what happened with Romio while holding the steering wheel.
“Yeah, the audacity. It’s such an annoying topic.”
“It just shows how attractive you are, my lady.”
“His infatuation with me doesn’t give me any joy. Tini, go right.”
“Copy that.”
Like Cutie, Tini was also 18 years old.
She was easy to talk to, so they often chatted about random things like friends while driving.
“At times like this, that establishment is the only place I can recover my mental health in.”
“I thought this was an inspection?”
“That’s also included, of course.”
Cutie was heading for an establishment under Majoram’s management.
As an executive staff member of the company, inspecting establishments was a part of her job.
……If personal feelings were not involved as well, of course.
“Captis has gotten so peaceful, hasn’t it?”
The car travelled on a road lined up with buildings.
It was a peaceful noon, but there was a lot of traffic, and there were a lot of people coming and going on the sidewalks as well.
Cutie glanced at the view and boastfully spoke up.
“Yeah…… My father is humble, but I think becoming independent from uncle Dugan was the right choice.”
“The president’s capabilities are impressive. I’m not sure someone like me could have lived in Captis before. I am grateful to you as well, my lady.”
“Hehe, no need for any forced compliments.”
“Not at all. It’s kind of you to employ me as your driver like this.”
“You’ve gotten very skilled at talking. Anyway, Captis is going to prosper even more. I think it might even surpass the royal capital one day.”
“Wouldn’t Captis become the royal capital then?”
“Yeah, and the power relationship between the royalty and Majoram would be reversed…… Ah, does that mean I can make Princess Mary my bride? Uhuhuhuhu……”
The intellectual Cutie from earlier somehow disappeared, and she dubiously smiled after speaking in a creepy voice.
Tini was used to dealing with this, so she decided to leave Cutie alone for a while after Cutie entered this mode.
Their conversion restarted after Cutie’s sanity returned.
“By the way, my lady, we often go to this general store for inspections. Are you conducting some kind of an experiment?”
“This store is the only place in Captis that sells them.”
“I see. And what does it sell?”
Cutie had an extremely smug look on her face after that question, and said:
“Princess Mary merchandise.”
♢♢♢
“Huhuhuhu, is this paradise!? Ahahahaha!”
Cutie laughed out loud like a villain after entering the store.
She was surrounded by various big and small Mary merchandise on display.
Francis merchandise was also sold right next to them, but they were clearly undervalued.
Generally, Francis was more popular in the Kingdom of Orvis.
So her merchandise sold more.
Rather, the very existence of all the merchandise related to the princess, like mugs, towels, posters, tapestries and such was strange, but……
Ignoring that, this store clearly had a very good lineup.
In short, abuse of authority.
Cutie danced around surrounded by Marys, and Tini was speechless before she asked:
“W-Why do you love Princess Mary so much, my lady?”
“Who knows?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know, I always loved her. I forgot the reason. I loved her so much that I didn’t even notice I wanted to go to the school in the royal capital just to meet her.”
It was an unexpected answer.
This much infatuation made it seem like they had some kind of a dramatic encounter.
But Cutie’s voice and facial expression were very serious when talking about Mary.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have used my authority to build this store otherwise.”
Cutie herself seemed to be aware of how problematic that was.
But she loved Mary too much to stop herself.
Cutie’s conversion with Tini calmed down, and she began checking the new items with a serious look on her face.
Then, she heard footsteps approaching the counter.
The young girl, who still seemed very little, shook her hand and loudly greeted Cutie.
“Ah, it’s Cutie! Yahoo!”
Cutie looked over at the young girl and kindly smiled.
They seemed to be acquaintances.
Tini however did not know the girl.
“She is?”
“Ami Hedira. My Mary comrade.”
“Your what……?”
Tini curiously tilted her head.
Ami walked up to Cutie and cheerfully said:
“I’m a friend who loves Princess Mary!”
She then high-fived Cutie with a loud clapping sound.
“Yaaay!”
With that exchange, it was clear to Tini that these two were friends.
And at the same time, she knew that she would not be included in this circle.