While Rest and Yuri made their way toward the eastern plains...
In the western pioneer village, the remaining sisters, Viola and Primula, were currently meeting with a certain individual.
"It’s been quite some time, my dear daughters."
"I-it has. You seem to be doing well, Mother."
"When did you arrive here, Mother?"
The woman who had appeared at the cottage where the Rosemary sisters were staying was none other than their mother, Eilische Rosemary.
With youthful features that belied her status as the mother of two grown daughters, Eilische sat before them with her legs crossed, a serene smile on her face as she reunited with them for the first time in months.
"I’m relieved to see you both looking so healthy. By the way... where has my son-in-law gone?"
By "son-in-law," she naturally meant Rest.
Viola was the one to answer her mother’s query.
"Rest is currently on the eastern side of the plains. The daughter of the Margrave Lavender House requested his help with a monster subjugation."
"I see... so the boy is already on good terms with the Margrave Lavender House? I suppose I should expect nothing less from the man I chose for our family."
Eilische gave a proud smile.
Given her martial, muscle-brained nature and her preference for the strong, Eilische thought very highly of Rest as a powerful mage and a worthy son-in-law. While Viola and Primula—both utterly smitten with Rest—were happy to hear this, they also felt a creeping sense of unease.
"So... Mother, what brings you here today?"
"For you to come all this way in person... has something happened?"
"Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot."
Eilische tossed a bundle of papers onto the table.
"What is this...?"
"The list of candidates for my son-in-law's mistresses has been finalized, so I brought it along. For the time being, I’ve hand-picked about twenty of them."
"M-Mistresses!?" they both shrieked in unison.
They couldn't believe their own mother was saying such a thing to them.
"You know what the word means, don't you? Concubines," Eilische stated matter-of-factly, flipping through the pages.
The documents contained detailed names and backgrounds of daughters from branch houses of the Marquis Rosemary House and other subordinate noble families. They ranged from widows in their thirties down to young girls who had only recently turned ten.
"I had hoped to show them to the son-in-law immediately, but it’s a pity he’s away. Well, managing a husband's mistresses is also a wife's duty, so make sure you two read this over thoroughly."
"............"
Viola and Primula were left speechless by her sheer nonchalance. Where else could one find a mother who actively encouraged her own son-in-law to take mistresses? But their mother was right there.
The two daughters knew all too well that Eilische was a woman who simply didn't care about such trifles.
"Let me be clear—neither you nor the boy have the right to refuse. This is especially true now that he has been granted a vast territory as the head of a Count house."
Eilische began to explain the political reality.
Rest had been granted an enormous stretch of land in the northern Subnock Plain. In terms of pure acreage, his holdings were large enough to rival even the Marquis Rosemary House. For a mere Count to hold that much territory was a delicate matter. A monopoly of power within a specific noble house was never a welcome sight for the Royal Family.
(So, we give him mistresses. We distribute the land among the children born to those concubines... It’s a way to signal to the Royal Family that there is no intent of rebellion by dispersing that concentrated power and land.)
(Over the course of several generations, his blood will mingle with the Royal Family and the central nobility... and eventually, they will serve the Crown as a distinct noble house separate from the Marquis Rosemary House. That’s the plan.)
Viola and Primula were, after all, legitimate daughters of a Marquis. They understood the logic, and they had already prepared themselves to accept it, however reluctantly.
Even putting the land issue aside, a powerful mage was equivalent to national power itself. Increasing Rest’s offspring was a necessity for the kingdom to stand against the Eastern Empire—where the situation was growing increasingly unstable—and the northern barbarians, their long-standing enemies.
Still, on a personal level, they were appalled that their mother could speak so bluntly about it.
"I have to ask... why did Father ever marry you, Mother?"
"Viola, why bring that up so suddenly?"
"No, I just... I wondered if you tried to push mistresses on Father as well. Your personal philosophy is that excellent mages should leave behind as many children as possible, isn't it?"
Their father, Albert Rosemary, was the Chief of the Court Mages. In his generation, he was hailed as the most exceptional mage in the kingdom. If their mother followed her own logic, it would be strange for Albert not to have mistresses.
"Ah... about that. Albert is sterile."
"What...?"
"Shortly after you two were born, he contracted a fever. It seems he picked up some nasty malady while he was out subjugating the northern barbarians. He can still perform the act well enough, but he lost his seed."
Eilische crossed her arms and pouted with a rare look of displeasure.
"If not for that, I had planned to have at least seven or eight more children. It was a real shame."
"I-I see..."
"That certainly explains it..."
Their faces twitched, but they also felt a sense of clarity.
Albert and Eilische were polar opposites in personality and thought, yet they were a remarkably close couple. It had always been a mystery why Eilische—who believed in having many children—had never had any more after Viola and Primula.
"I even considered being held by another man and raising the child as Albert's... but he started crying, so I decided against it."
"I think you made the right call there, Mother..."
"I’m quite glad I don't have any half-siblings..."
The two daughters exchanged a look, their expressions still twitching, and gave each other a silent nod of mutual understanding.