Chapter 01
Every marriage has its own flaws.
However, some marriages inevitably have flaws far greater and more complicated than others.
Two weeks ago, four kings came to painfully realize that fact after receiving a single letter.
A thin sheet of paper sent by the wives of the kings, who were away on a long expedition.
That one letter alone was enough to make the castle stir like a beehive before a storm.
[…To get straight to the point, I have a child now.
No, actually, I’ve had one for quite a while.
Let me think… there was a time when I went away to war for a very long time.
Eight months after leaving home, I went into labor.
Fortunately, I found a small village inhabited by people from a neutral country, so I gave birth there.
However, there was no way I could finish my journey while carrying a newborn baby.
So I left the child in the village.
I told them I would come back and take the child when the war ended, and I left behind one of my servants along with a bundle of money.
But you all know what I’m like when it comes to remembering things.]
At this part of the letter, the ‘Great King’ reading it sighed.
[I forgot.
I completely forgot.]
Beside the words ‘I completely forgot,’ there was a round smiling face drawn, but the Great King omitted it while reading aloud.
[It would have been nice if the servant I left behind had sent me a letter asking when I was coming back. But would you believe it? That bastard ran away with the money!
The child almost died after catching measles, but apparently he was afraid I would blame him for it.
Goodness, what could he possibly be so afraid of? It’s such a pity. Where could you find a ruler as merciful as me?
Anyway, I had him beheaded.
I have sent messengers to bring the child here, so please take good care of them until I return.
I will send more details along with the child.
Farewell.]
The palace was thrown into complete chaos after receiving the letter.
What in the world happened? Suddenly, a new family member whose name we don’t even know appears? Is this really all the letter says? Could some pages have been left out? No… knowing His Majesty, this really is everything.
The people hurried around, preparing to welcome their new family member.
Nobody knew exactly what they were supposed to prepare, but everyone had the overwhelming feeling that they needed to do something.
Time passed regardless of everyone’s confusion, and the promised day arrived in the blink of an eye.
That morning, a young child and another letter arrived.
The child looked exactly like the master of the castle.
Too exactly.
So much so that it was impossible to determine who the father was just by looking at the child’s face.
“…Do you remember who shared a bed with her ten years and eight months ago?”
“Do you think I would?”
A round room filled with a round table.
Large chairs were arranged in a circle around the table.
There was only one chair that was slightly smaller and lower than the others, but even that chair seemed enormous to the small child sitting in the center of it.
Most of the large chairs were empty.
Only two kings occupied their seats.
One was a man adorned with extravagant jewelry.
The other was a large-boned man with a booming voice.
The two kings repeatedly glanced at the child before quickly looking away, awkwardly keeping their distance.
“Hmm, maybe it was me. The back of the child’s head looks like mine. Considering I have the highest frequency of bedroom visits, statistically speaking, the probability is also highest.”
“Good for you.”
The man ignored the other’s sarcastic remark and stood up from his seat, looking at the child.
“Where are you going?”
“When are we going to keep making that child wait like this?”
The loud-voiced man shouted as if it were obvious.
He approached the child sitting at the end of the table with an angry expression.
Yet, despite his expression, his footsteps were extremely slow and careful.
“Be careful. That child might become someone higher than you someday.”
“Do you really have any sense at all?”
The man pretended not to hear him and slipped his hands beneath the child’s arms, lifting her up.
“You can’t put a child in such a high chair without armrests!”
The child dangled from the large hands before being moved to the enormous chair where the loud king had been sitting.
The girl sank into the oversized cushion as if disappearing into it, her small body folding awkwardly in half.
“Much better. I’ll use your chair, little one. My feet touch the ground, so I won’t get hurt if I fall.”
“There are plenty of empty chairs.”
“You shouldn’t use someone else’s belongings without permission. What a rogue you are!”
The two young kings raised their voices over a meaningless argument.
The child—quite understandably—looked uncomfortable, hugged her knees, and curled into herself.
Everything about the situation was unfamiliar and confusing.
At that moment, their meaningless quarrel came to a halt.
Because the enormous door dividing the center of the room had opened.
Slowly.
With a faint creak from its hinges.
The door had been designed so large that even someone riding in a palanquin could enter without getting off.
Carved pomegranate trees decorated one side of the door, and the largest carving was made to be the exact size of the twenty-year-old pomegranate tree growing in the royal garden.
A man who could make even such a gigantic door appear ordinary entered the room.
He was extremely tall, with a perfectly straight back.
“I was late because I had work.”
“Yes, you were late.”
“We have been waiting for you!”
The tall king looked at the man barely sitting on a child-sized chair.
To be precise, he was not sitting.
Perhaps afraid that the chair legs would break if he placed his full weight on it, the ‘Thunder King’ only maintained the sitting posture while supporting himself with the strength of his thighs and knees.
“Clown, what exactly is he doing?”
“How should I know?”
“Right…”
The ‘Great King’ seemed to have given up thinking any further. He sighed and returned to his seat.
The second-largest chair beside the center.
As soon as he sat down, an old servant stepped forward as if he had been waiting.
Clearing his throat, he spoke.
“A letter from His Majesty has arrived.”
“Hmm.”
“I shall read it.”
The old servant slowly began reading the letter from the absent master.
The three kings pretended not to notice each other’s anxious glances and tried to ignore the tension filling the room.
Inside that thin sheet of paper was the announcement everyone had been waiting for.
A revelation that could raise one of them to the highest position of power.
The letter was short.
After the formal greetings that sounded as though they had been written by a secretary, the long-awaited main point began.
[…By the time you read this letter, my daughter should have arrived.
What was her name again?
Just call her child.
She’s a child, after all.
She should be ten years old this year, or eighteen, or thirty…
Somewhere around that age.]
“She’s obviously not thirty…”
“Hmm, excellent deduction! There was certainly no long expedition that year.”
The old servant glared briefly at the two young kings before continuing.
[…You must be wondering whose child she is.]
The sound of someone swallowing echoed beneath the high ceiling.
[The child is…]
Even the always-smiling Clown King was listening seriously.
Only the corners of his lips were slightly raised, but considering he had never lowered them in his entire life except when he was hit in the head with an iron by some incident fourteen years ago, this was practically his most serious expression.
The Thunder King, standing awkwardly while putting all his strength into his thighs, clenched his mouth tightly so he wouldn’t accidentally make a sound.
The only person whose expression did not change was the Great King.
However, a few sharp-eyed servants noticed that his little finger was nervously tapping against the table.
[…I forgot whose it was. Sorry.]
“Again?!”
Someone slammed their hand against the table and shouted.
The old servant reflexively glared at the Thunder King.
But the large man was looking at someone else in surprise, his mouth tightly shut.
The person who shouted was none other than the Great King.
“…I have committed a discourtesy.”
“I shall continue reading.”
The Great King cleared his throat awkwardly.
The servant adjusted his glasses and continued reading.
[…However, I’m sure it belongs to one of the four of you, so don’t worry.
Well, perhaps I’ll remember by the time I return.
If I don’t, just let whichever one the child likes become her father.
Please take care of her until then.
Farewell.]
Silence.
Complete silence.
“…Is that all?”
The old servant flipped over the back of the one-page letter as though something else might be hidden there.
But turning over a thin sheet of paper would not magically create words that weren’t there.
“That is all.”
“When is her mother coming back?”
“There was no mention of it. It will likely take at least a year.”
The old servant answered calmly.
The three kings were silent for a moment as they looked at the child.
At some point, the child had curled up at the bottom of the enormous chair and fallen asleep.
Unaware that the quietest war in the history of the royal palace had begun today.
Unaware that she herself was the judge who would decide the winner.
Morning arrived.
I was so scared by the atmosphere that I curled up on the chair and pretended to sleep.
But when I came to my senses, I was lying on a soft bed.
Apparently, I had fallen into a deep sleep.
When I woke up, I found myself in a large room where every corner—from the floor to the walls—had been padded with cotton.
Shelves and tables were filled with stacking toys and picture books.
A cute rocking horse sat on the floor.
In one corner of the wardrobe were expensive-looking writing instruments.
The room seemed unable to determine its owner’s age and had become something like a chimera.
“Ten years old, huh… I may be small, but…”
