CH 46.1

Viceroy

“I don’t want my daughter to be a subordinate, and I don’t want to see you at the mercy of the noble bunch.”

Father spoke strongly at that time.

It’s not unlike him to create a new position because he does not want to give up his daughter. But the King’s authority is strong in the Kingdom of Arland. Moreover, it seems that when they searched my room, the nobles made some fatal mistake, and some of them were punished. Because of that, I heard that the Prime Minister, who loves his job, is also under house arrest, so the Noble Parliament is quiet now. Moreover, the military is also said to have blundered as well… or rather, they have made it clear that they will not be involved in this matter because of the disastrous defeat in my room.

And since there is no Prime Minister to interfere in such a case, it seems that the situation is under the dictatorship of my Father.

“Besides, Gilbert’s okay with it, too. It’s my plan and his plan. Like this, you will remain my daughter, Alicetia. Wahahahahahaha!!”

He spoke as if he had a revelation, but there is a problem with that. I am still a minor, which means I cannot hold office, and I am not allowed to manage a territory.

“That’s not a problem. In that case, we just have to appoint a proxy or guardian within your relatives in the country. In other words, me!! This will keep you independent, as the nobles like to say, while not allowing any harm come your way due to my authority. As for the territories, there will be none for a while. I don’t know what kind of magical lands you would create if I gave you a free reign, Alicetia.”

It would take a while to construct a skyscraper. But isn’t that totally an honorary position and a waste of salary?

“There are a lot of foolish nobles who are apprehensive about you these days, Alice. If we had made it clear that you would be independent and would not be involved in the succession, there would be no problem… but Draco has become so selfish that he really doesn’t want to give you up, and he and Gil have been threatening the nobles so much that we have ended up in this situation.”

Mhm, I have no interest in the throne, so making an oath would not be a problem.

Oath magic exists to enforce a promise… it’s usually used by merchants and the like, but in this case it would prove that I do not want the throne. If I broke the oath, I would be punished as agreed upon at the time of the oath, so in a sense, it can never be broken.

“That’s fine with me, but… I’m going to die of exhaustion from all the research I’m doing, the school, the society, and all the business that comes with the Viceroyalty. Even now I’m getting all woozy at school.”

“Should we reveal your identity? In that case, we would have to send out more than a hundred guards from the Knights Order with you, though.”

“That would be a pain in the ass. But it would be easier to act if people knew I was a Princess, wouldn’t it…”

It’s a little bit disheartening. Because the stares of the teachers and some of the students are a little hard on me. Fortunately, I am not bullied, and I have about three good friends in the elementary division, but I am isolated in the advanced classes.

Even the teachers are troublesome because if I’m not with my Big brother, they explicitly ask me to disclose my magic. According to Big brother, they think they could get the magic I discovered out of me, and pass it on to the academic community as their own achievement. So if I tell them I am royalty, they will not interfere. But my little friends have low titles, don’t they? I wonder if they will hesitate or be angry at me for deceiving them… I don’t feel comfortable.

“I will endure for a little as things are.”

Mother seemed to understand my situation and patted my head.

“Don’t overdo it, okay? If you push yourself too hard, I will have to force you to come back.”

Three days later, the first Viceroy of the Kingdom of Arland was born. I kneeled before my Father who sat on his throne and swore an Oath of Allegiance. For the creation of this Viceroyalty, I signed a restriction in front of the nobility.

The Viceroyalty will not be involved in the succession of the throne. This is for as long as the direct line of royalty continues. I am currently second in the line of succession, but if my Big brother has a child, I will automatically fall to third.

I met many nobles for the first time, and it seemed that many of them did not know my face. I was finished after greeting each and every noble.

“Guh~~So troublesome. Let’s act out this honorary position of Viceroy to the best of my ability and shut myself in. Eventually I will get a territory, so I will become a recluse who never leaves the fiefdom.”

Let’s do that. But man, am I tired. There were many people from the nobility who looked partially regretful, blatantly turned away from Father and Big brother, or acted suspiciously, but I heard that the Big brother was going to blackmail them in the name of official business. Big brother, who said he was laying the groundwork to not interfere with the establishment of the Viceroyalty, had the face of a very bad person.

However, the benefits of the establishment of the Viceroyalty this time were great. My research was permitted under the direct control of the Kingdom. They said I can make anything I want as long as I hand over the results. I was told that they would make me the minister of technology in the future, but I refused, saying that I only specialize in technology and don’t know anything about politics, Father got on his knees and wailed that he wanted to be a parent that works together with his daughter.

What a helpless person. Mother can’t refuse Father when he gets down on his knees either, so it seems that I had inherited that from her. However, I also wanted to help him with his work, so a children’s desk was placed in my parents’ office (made by Father himself).

And when I advised them to release the Prime Minister because I felt sorry for him, I was readily given the OK. I, the victim, forgave him, so there was no problem? Did he do something to me?

But the freed Prime Minister resumed his work with his raging instincts, and Father was instantly detained by him. The Prime Minister told him, “Come on, let’s deal with the accumulated work. If we sleep for half an hour a day, there won’t be any problem, will there? Fortunately, the Princess gave us a new type of light, so it’s as bright as daylight.” he said, dragging my Father, who was reluctant to go, away.

“For a while… no, I won’t go near the office until I return to the academy. The Prime Minister is working Father so much that even the soldiers passing by the office are frightened.”

“Indeed.”

I heard that Mother, who saw the Prime Minister’s face, had no intention of helping Father and was relaxing back in her room. By the way, Big brother, was pulled off the street by Father who was being dragged along by the Prime Minister. It seems that the Big brother will not have a summer vacation this time.

There is a summer vacation and a winter vacation for about two months each. This is because there are many foreign students, and if the vacations were short, they wouldn’t make it back and forth in time as most of them end up traveling by horse-drawn carriages, but I was told that there are many nobles who use their extra money to return home by Dragon basket. By the way, the Dragon basket is said to be quite expensive.

“I will spend the rest of the day doing research, but what about you, Alicia? As long as I am in the treasury, I won’t be in any danger, so you can take a rest.”

“No, I’m going into the treasury too. Princess, I can’t take any time off because I’m worried about what you might produce if we let you do what you want.”

“I will never allow you go in there. You seem like you would clean everything out and throw away many magic tools and other stuff without my permission.”

The treasure room, which is rather cluttered, is arranged in a way that is easy for me to use. I won’t let Alicia into the treasury no matter what… or rather, no matter who they are, I won’t let them in.