Chapter 6
That was the very brooch Curtis had reluctantly pinned on her collar that afternoon.
"I received it as a token from Brigadier General Berk, Your Highness, at the time of the proposal."
A servant quickly took it and presented it to the King. Chloe could not forget the King’s expression as he accepted it and confirmed Grand Duke Berk’s crest.
From the look on His Majesty’s face, you’d think I’d just committed high treason in broad daylight.
A bright smile curved Chloe’s lips as she concluded her recollection.
"I put it to good use, Your Highness."
"…I’m glad it proved useful."
After a brief silence, Curtis spoke, extending his hand to take back the brooch. Chloe smiled brightly and pulled her hand, still clutching the brooch, away. A competent superior, Curtis instantly grasped her implication, and his expression soured.
"Erm… Warrant Officer."
"Yes, sir?"
"First of all, thank you…"
Unable to continue, Curtis dropped his gaze, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face.
"Just sit."
"Yes, sir."
She sat on the sofa with quick, disciplined movements befitting a soldier. The brooch remained clutched in her palm. A muscle in Curtis’s jaw twitched, barely perceptible.
Past midnight, seated alone with her superior in his office, Chloe had a good idea what he wanted to discuss. She had no intention of waiting for him to broach the subject.
"My apologies for asking, but was today’s situation orchestrated by Your Highness?" Chloe began, cutting herself off, the question hanging in the air.
Curtis rubbed his temples as if battling a headache. The answer, in truth, was painfully obvious.
"Pretty much," he conceded, a sigh escaping him. "My apologies."
"No, I understand," Chloe replied, her tone even.
Curtis dropped his hand from his forehead, his gaze returning to her. A peculiar glint sparked in his violet eyes. She merely shrugged.
"Three hours in that charade," Chloe stated, "and I realized I must have been a truly suitable partner for you, Your Highness."
The Grand Duke, hated by the King, had put Chloe forward as his impromptu marriage partner. The reasoning was not particularly complex.
The reigning King and Curtis were half-brothers, born of different mothers. Curtis’s mother was Mildred, the second Queen the former King of Ivanes had married after his first wife’s passing.
The former King originally had no intention of taking a new Queen. Life, however, rarely unfolds as planned. He fell in love at first sight with Mildred, a princess from the small maritime kingdom of Glintland, who had arrived as a diplomatic envoy, and promptly proposed.
Their affections, regrettably, were not mutual. The princess, however, was a pragmatic woman.
"You love me? Then let’s get married. But in return, I ask that you protect my country."
Her stipulation was that in exchange for her hand in marriage and assuming the crown, Ivanes would provide defense funding to Glintland. To request the strengthening of a foreign military, one that might one day pose a threat, was typically a condition difficult to accept.
Yet, the unique geographical characteristics of both nations rendered it feasible.
Ivanes possessed but a single coastline, the Prado Coast. The Prado Coast, a sacred stretch where a dragon was said to slumber, boasted currents so swift that naval invasion was deemed impossible. Consequently, even if Glintland, an island nation entirely surrounded by sea, fortified its navy, it presented no significant threat to Ivanes.
She had one additional demand.
"I refuse to see my child entangled in political strife and murdered. Grant my child titles in both kingdoms."
Queen Mildred insisted upon a guarantee of dual titles for any offspring she might bear. This served as a safeguard, ensuring that, should the need arise, the child could renounce their right of succession in Ivanes and instead live as a citizen of Glintland.
The former King readily assented to all her proposals. And Curtis, born between them, received the surname Berk and a title from both Ivanes and Glintland upon his third birthday, precisely as promised.
The complication, however, was that Curtis proved to be not merely exceedingly handsome, but also a prince of unparalleled brilliance and talent.
The former King adored Curtis immensely. So much so that the First Prince—now the reigning King, despite his already solid claim to the throne—felt profoundly threatened.
Naturally, the First Prince moved beyond mere discomfort to actively undermine and monitor Curtis. His efforts were so blatant that they became common knowledge, eliciting pity for Curtis from many. Queen Mildred’s death, in particular, was fraught with suspicion.
The former King died first, and Queen Mildred swiftly followed. On paper, it was an accident—a fire at a foreign villa.
The Ivanes royal family expressed their regret, swiftly drawing a boundary and declaring it an unfortunate accident entirely unrelated to the crown. Yet, whispers persisted among the populace that the reigning King might have played a part in the Queen’s demise.
Unsurprisingly, the King, fresh on the throne, exerted considerable pressure on Curtis. Eventually, Curtis fulfilled the duty of a second son—a role considered almost obsolete in this era: he enlisted in the military.
He did not, however, renounce his Ivanesian title.
The King found this unbearable, viewing Curtis as a perpetual thorn in his side. As long as he remained Grand Duke Berk, his nominal right of succession persisted. Furthermore, having commanded victorious forces in several major battles, the Grand Duke currently commanded overwhelming popularity among the populace.
Predictably, the King’s long-standing inferiority complex toward Curtis did not wane; rather, it intensified. This politically motivated marriage was, undeniably, a scheme to swiftly remove Curtis from the country before Crown Prince Frederick ascended the throne.
Chloe, however, found Curtis’s actions utterly perplexing.
"If you truly dislike the marriage, Your Highness, couldn’t you simply renounce your title and citizenship and relocate to Glintland?" Chloe pressed. "Indeed, the very reason His Majesty the King seeks to marry you off now is because he perceives you as a threat."
A man of Curtis Sean Berk’s formidable stature would hardly be mistreated merely for a change of nationality. She was, in essence, questioning why he remained so adamantly in Ivanes—a realm that clearly despised him—to the extent of presenting her as a fabricated marriage partner.
At Chloe’s words, Curtis offered a wry smirk. Yet, unlike the smiles she’d witnessed from him before, this one held a distinctly self-deprecating edge.
"Do you, Warrant Officer, know what title I hold in Glintland?" Curtis inquired, his tone challenging.
"I believe it is the Marquis of Solleria," Chloe replied without much thought, then immediately muttered.
"Ah."
Upon hearing the title, she instantly grasped the deeper context of the protracted narrative entangled with it. Curtis’s gaze sharpened, one eye narrowing as he smiled at Chloe.
"Did you connect the dots?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Roughly, yes," Chloe affirmed. "But please, elaborate."
"Not arbitrarily judging information is a cardinal virtue of an excellent soldier. Good."
With a light commendation for Chloe, Curtis spoke, his tone casual yet his meaning implicit.
"Firstly, the coastline is simply too vast. I’d be utterly swamped with work."
Solleria boasted Glintland’s longest coastline. For decades, it had been relentlessly plundered by pirates. This was due to the concentration of Glintland’s primary ports along its shores.
The Marquis of Solleria was a title that conferred responsibility for that entire, sprawling coastline. If Curtis became the Marquis of Solleria, war with the pirates would be inevitable. His comment about being ‘swamped with work’ clearly stemmed from this grim reality.
However, his aide—for whom overtime was already a daily reality—felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to smack Curtis’s head with the brooch still clutched in her hand upon hearing his flippant words. Oblivious to Chloe’s silent indignation, Curtis continued.
"And if I were to go to Glintland," Curtis added, "I’d merely be treated like leftovers."
Chloe’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion.
"I apologize for the bluntness, Your Highness, but even in Ivanes, you are, technically…"
Curtis’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Oops. A belated wave of fear washed over Chloe. Had she truly spoken out of turn to her superior?
But it’s the truth, though, she thought.
It was entirely Curtis’s strategic brilliance that had secured Ivanes a truce in the war against the three kingdoms. Yet, instead of hailing Curtis as a hero, the King had effectively exiled him to the Royal Guard. To be treated like leftovers and suffer in Glintland? It was hardly different in Ivanes, was it?
Surely Glintland, free from a King constantly seeking to devour him, would be preferable? she pondered. Any rational person would assume so. But Curtis offered a wholly unexpected answer.
"You’re not wrong," Curtis admitted, his voice low. "But if I’m to remain unrewarded either way, it’s better to stay in Ivanes."
"Why so?" Chloe prompted, her gaze unwavering.
"Because war," he declared, "is not a solo endeavor."
"Ah," Chloe breathed, her mouth closing softly at his unexpected revelation.
"Furthermore, Glintland is a weak, impoverished nation," Curtis continued. "If I were to become the Marquis of Solleria, I would be compelled to pour my entire personal fortune into Glintland’s military expenses, receiving absolutely nothing in return."
War, fundamentally, is a battle of financial might. Whether facing another nation or pirates, one requires substantial funds to wage war and secure victory through force. Glintland, however, was far from affluent.
As testament, the ports lining the Solleria coastline, despite suffering immense damage, received no adequate protection. It served as the kingdom’s principal trade route. But the King of Glintland feigned ignorance, claiming, "Due to the invasion of that trade route, the national treasury is insufficient, making support challenging."
To compound the problem, he was even rumored to have declared, "If each port city acts independently to bolster the national treasury, then I will provide additional support." It was an utterly outrageous proposition.
Even if Curtis were to assume the title of Marquis of Solleria, it was evident that Glintland would instruct him to finance the war with his private funds rather than offering any national support. It would be akin to pouring water into a bottomless jar.
Ivanes, conversely, at least did not sever support during wartime.
Well, that King profited handsomely from the war with the three kingdoms, after all, Chloe mused silently. In any case, if he was destined to fight while being treated as an outcast regardless, it was undeniably preferable to be Ivanes’s outcast, where he could at least secure some backing, rather than battling as a solitary, isolated figure.
"I had already completed these calculations when I was eighteen," Curtis revealed, a hint of weariness in his voice.
"Ahh," Chloe murmured, a flicker of understanding in her eyes.
Thus, Curtis enlisted in the Ivanes military, but steadfastly refused to renounce his title as Grand Duke Berk.
The predicament, however, was that Glintland, effectively his maternal home, had not relinquished its claim on Curtis either.
The reigning King of Glintland was Curtis’s maternal uncle. He, too, possessed Queen Mildred’s rational and astute temperament. Unlike Queen Mildred, however, he was widely regarded as someone whose intellect veered toward rather despicable schemes.
While Queen Mildred lived, Glintland had slashed its defense budget by approximately ninety percent, thanks to Ivanes’s support. This meant that after her death, the defense budget promptly surged back up by the same ninety percent.
When Curtis was born, he was merely the third prince of a prosperous Ivanes. But the King of Glintland, ever calculating, looked to the future. That was precisely why he bestowed upon him the title of Marquis of Solleria.
Currently, Curtis was a citizen of Ivanes and Grand Duke Berk. As the title of Marquis of Solleria had been conferred on the condition that he naturalize as a Glintland citizen, he was not currently obligated to fulfill its duties.
But should Curtis marry a direct royal of Glintland, his nationality would inevitably shift to Glintland. Consequently, he would become irrevocably bound to the duties of the Marquis of Solleria.
The King of Glintland, desperate for immediate defense funds, seized upon this precise fact. He selected an unmarried member of the collateral royalty, adopted her, hastily fabricated the title of ‘Duchess of Glintland’, and dispatched a marriage proposal. The gist of that proposal could be succinctly summarized thus:
To the King of Ivanes: You despise this young man, do you not? As you have withdrawn your support, we are now bereft of funds and manpower. We therefore intend to draw him to our side and make use of his talents.
Naturally, the King of Ivanes rejoiced at this. Not just that.
"There were additional conditions attached that the King would find immensely tempting," Curtis elaborated.
