"More importantly, Brother, did you need something from me?"
"Oh, that's right."
Straightening his posture, my brother looked at me with a formal air.
"I came because I have a favor to ask of you, Noah."
"A favor from me?"
I couldn't help but brace myself.
Brother Henry, the Fourth Imperial Prince.
Our status was equal, but our age gap was wide enough that we could have been father and son.
When a brother like that adopted such a formal tone, anyone would go on guard.
"Ah, it is nothing grave. You know that I sponsor many artists, correct?"
"Yes."
I nodded.
My brother faithfully fulfilled his noble obligations.
He supported painters, musicians, and various other practitioners of the arts.
For a nobleman, the greater one's patronage, the greater one's prestige and praise.
That was the very reason I had sponsored Alice as well.
"A short while ago, I found a boy with a magnificent gift for painting. A talent so profound it gave me chills."
"For you to praise him so highly, Brother... he must truly be something special."
My brother nodded at my words.
"He was destitute, so I initially provided him with modest assistance, but I felt that alone would not suffice. Therefore, I want you to foster his talent, Noah."
"Why me?"
"Alice."
Brother Henry smiled gently as he spoke her name.
"The songstress you raised has made her name echo across the entire Empire. Even His Majesty goes in disguise to her establishment just to hear her perform."
"What did you say?!"
Clatter! I stood up with such force that I knocked against the sofa.
"His Majesty did?"
"Yes. And not merely once or twice. Whenever Alice is in the capital, he visits quite frequently. And what is even more astonishing..."
Brother Henry wore an expression caught somewhere between admiration and a wry smile.
"That very His Majesty—who has fathered over thirty children—has made no attempt to bed her. He goes purely to listen to her sing."
"...Whoa."
That was truly incredible; even I was stunned.
Just recently, the Seventeenth Imperial Prince had been born.
Which meant His Majesty had seventeen sons alone.
If you included his daughters—the imperial princesses—the total easily exceeded thirty.
His Majesty's virility was great enough to father dozens of children, yet he supposedly hadn't touched Alice in the slightest.
It wasn't as though Alice lacked beauty, either.
He went to Alice's establishment solely to hear her sing...
Knowing His Majesty well—and being living proof of his exploits ourselves—we understood better than anyone just how extraordinary that was.
"I want to entrust this to you, the one who nurtured Alice."
"To me."
"You are my only hope, Noah."
Brother Henry looked straight into my eyes.
My only hope.
Put like that, there was no way I could refuse.
I decided to take the aspiring painter off my brother's hands.
☆
After my brother departed, I sat pondering what to do with the aspiring painter.
Served by the maids, I mulled it over while relaxing with a cup of tea.
Presently, there came a knock at the door, and a reception maid stepped inside.
It wasn't Cecily, but another maid who had remained stationed at the capital mansion.
"Master, Lord Byron Alan has arrived to see you."
"Byron? Show him in."
"Right away, My Lord."
The moment the reception maid left, Byron practically took her place walking through the door.
Apparently in a rush, his usually immaculate hair was disheveled, large beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he was completely out of breath.
"What's the matter? Why all the rush?"
"F-Forgive me, Your Highness... You men, in here."
Turning around, Byron hurried his subordinates, who were just about to enter.
They carried in several chests and lined them up across the floor.
"What are those?"
"Sire! First, allow me to deliver a report. Lady Ada has conceived."
"Oh?"
Ada.
She was the woman who had entered the imperial palace through my introduction, caught His Majesty's eye, and become a low consort.
She had originally been a servant under Byron, but her elevation to consort had completely inverted their dynamic, to the point where he now addressed her as "Lady Ada."
"That's wonderful news."
"Thank you very much! This is all thanks to Your Highness."
"Mm."
"With regards to that—"
Byron paused, glancing back to signal his subordinates.
All at once, the men opened the chests.
Inside, gold coins were packed to the brim.
"Incredible... I've never seen anything like this."
Behind me, the young maid who had been serving tea murmured softly from where she stood on standby.
Chests overflowing with gold coins.
Judging by the volume... it was roughly one hundred thousand Rien.
"This is a modest token of my gratitude for Your Highness's gracious efforts."
"All right, I'll take it."
"Thank you very much, Sire!"
I called a maid over and instructed her to guide Byron's men to where the gold would be stored.
Once the maid and his subordinates left together, I also dismissed the young serving maid, as the conversation was about to turn confidential.
Soon, only Byron and I remained in the room.
We sat facing each other from across the sofas.
"In truth, there is one more thing... Consort Rebecca has also been confirmed to be pregnant."
"I see."
Good grief, trust His Majesty.
Adding two more children to the tally even now.
Or rather, that retreat where he took his low consorts to the summer resort... this was simply the fruit of that coming to light.
"Accordingly, I wished to seek Your Highness's counsel on how I should proceed."
"Does the other party have a patron as well?"
"Yes. In fact, word is that their side has already begun making moves."
"And you? Have you done anything yet?"
"No, I believed it best not to take any unnecessary steps until I consulted Your Highness. That is why I came directly to you first."
"I see. In that case, doing nothing is fine."
"Pardon?"
"In fact, as things stand, you might have just saved your own skin."
"W-What do you mean by that...?"
Byron looked taken aback.
His eyes went wide at the notion of saving his own skin.
"...Just what do you mean, Sire?"
Lowering my voice, I answered him.
"His Majesty is thoroughly sick of rebellions after dealing with two of them."
"Kh—!"
At the gravity of the topic, Byron's face stiffened in a wholly different way.
"He may have the imperial princes handle various state affairs, but the fact that he retains absolute control over the military and final approval is proof of his wariness. Right now, His Majesty looks upon anyone reaching for power with extreme displeasure. For an upstart to use the inner palace as a springboard to seize authority is the greatest taboo of all."
"I-I see..."
"That is why you're better off doing nothing."
Returning to my earlier advice and reiterating it, I watched as realization struck Byron.
"B-But surely, doing nothing at all is..."
"Haste makes waste—or rather, it's a case of losing is winning."
"Losing is... winning."
"I believe it's best to do nothing, and instead proactively step back. If the patron backing the other pregnant consort is aggressively making moves, your restraint will serve as a fine contrast."
"Ah..."
He finally seemed to grasp it.
"So do nothing. In fact, you should deliberately withdraw."
"I understand! As expected of Your Highness! That is a brilliant idea!"
Byron rejoiced from the bottom of his heart, breathing a profound sigh of relief.
Just as he had rushed here hauling one hundred thousand Rien in gold, had he not spoken with me, he would have likely been scrambling about on behalf of Ada, who was on the cusp of being promoted to primary consort.
"Besides."
"Besides?"
"Our current Emperor is a truly enlightened monarch. The kind that appears once every few centuries."
"Yes."
Byron wore an expression that said, I know that, but what does it have to do with this?
"Any scheme to grasp for power will be completely transparent to His Majesty, no matter how cleverly you play it. In that sense as well, doing nothing is your best course."
"You are absolutely right, Sire!"
Saying that, Byron stood up, opened the door, and beckoned to his subordinate waiting outside.
"Return to the shop at once and bring another one hundred thousand Rien."
"Right away, Sir!"
The extra reward directly reflected just how close he felt he had come to the brink.