If it were mere adoration, I could at least understand it.
The problem was that some nobles, not knowing their place, were lost in fantasies of claiming the position of prince consort of the Duchy of Bavaria. And they blatantly ignored the existence of her fiancé.
To central nobles basking in victory, a defeated royal probably wasn’t even worth a glance. To make matters worse, Louis did nothing at all in response, so they kept pestering the Bavarian princess.
"Whoever the princess chooses is no concern of mine. The moment we lost, the alliance with Bavaria was as good as broken anyway. Cough, cough!"
"Calm yourself, Your Highness."
I handed a handkerchief to Louis as he coughed violently. His health had deteriorated even further since we’d met on the battlefield. Seeing the blood on the handkerchief, I could tell the prince wasn’t long for this world.
He may have been the instigator of the civil war, but his was truly a pitiful life.
And I was one of the very people who had brought that pitiful life crashing down.
Yet Louis harbored no hostility toward me.
No, if anything, he regarded me with goodwill.
"I called you here because I have a favor to ask."
"Were we ever close enough for favors? I was your sworn enemy, Your Highness."
"Cough, cough! A sworn enemy, yes, but there’s no noble around me as trustworthy as you."
"More than His Highness the crown prince?"
"I don’t want to burden my brother."
I could sense his stubborn resolve.
So burdening me is fine, then?
I decided to at least hear the favor out. After a moment’s hesitation, Louis carefully began to speak. His request went far beyond anything I’d imagined, a problem that put me in an extremely awkward position.
Watching me stand there speechless, Louis smiled bitterly.
"I started a war to bring down a bastard, and instead I ended up fathering one myself."
What he asked of me was to protect the handmaid carrying his child. I’d taken him for a feeble wreck, but he was a man after all. At Louis’s call, the handmaid entered the room.
"V-Viola, my lord."
She was a rather cute woman with brown hair.
Hmm, she looked about Hilda’s age.
She stared at me fearfully, her face pale. A noble handmaid carrying a bastard child could easily become an object of public scorn, but I’m not rotten enough to treat a pregnant woman harshly.
I simply felt sorry that Viola’s life had been ruined because of Louis. I shot him a reproachful look, but he paid it no mind whatsoever.
"A fallen prince naturally ends up with a handmaid from a fallen noble house, sold off to him, as it were."
"I haven’t known you long, Your Highness, but today you’ve flustered me more than anyone ever has."
"I’m delighted to have flustered the invincible knight."
But contrary to his words, his expression held no delight at all.
It seemed that even for him, the handmaid Viola’s pregnancy had been entirely unforeseen.
"I’m a dead man either way, but I don’t want my only flesh and blood to die too. Call it selfishness if you like, but this child’s very existence could become a spark."
Bastard or not, if the child was the prince’s only offspring, there would be nobles scheming to use the child somehow. Nobles were a breed that threw themselves at power like moths to a flame.
"I want that child, at least, to have a peaceful life."
"You wish for the child to grow up ordinary, not as a royal bastard?"
"Shameless as it is, coming from a father who did anything and everything for power... yes."
Louis looked utterly worn out.
I couldn’t help but agonize over it.
Between the crown prince wanting to actively exploit the Gale Knight’s heroic ballad and Louis trying to dump a massive powder keg in my lap, I didn’t know why the Altringens insisted on making my life so complicated.
Louis spoke between coughs.
"Cough, cough! Of course, I’m not asking you to take this on for free. I have that much decency. My entire fortune is deposited at the Medici Bank. I’ll transfer all of it to you."
"You’re paying child support?"
"Child support? What an interesting concept. Yes, let’s call it child support."
The deposit Louis told me about amounted to a staggering 450 gold coins. In other words, a sum far exceeding my own fortune was being offered as child support. It was money Louis no longer had any use for.
From the way he laid down his entire fortune, I could feel his determination to protect his flesh and blood no matter what. A greedy noble would have pocketed the money and abandoned the child, but I’m not that kind of noble.
When I take responsibility for something, I see it through.
That is my creed.
"You don’t have to raise the child as royalty. I only wish for it to live a healthy, good life."
"To keep the child from being treated as a bastard, I’ll have to scrub its identity clean."
"I’m counting on you. You’re the only noble I can trust."
In the end, I accepted Louis’s request. It wasn’t simply that the money tempted me. What moved me was the desperate heart of a father who wanted to protect his only flesh and blood.
"I’ll tell you now: I intend to hide everything about the father, completely."
"Do as you please. Now I can finally sleep in peace."
Having set down his burden, Louis looked utterly relieved.
No, he hadn’t set it down so much as shoved it onto me.
"What will you name the child?"
"Name the child in my stead. That child has left my hands now."
"You really are an irresponsible father."
"And you will be an excellent one."
Louis laughed as if a weight had lifted, but he looked terribly sad. From the way Viola gazed at him, pitiful as a bird caught in the rain, I could tell the two of them truly cared for each other.
Rather than being born a royal bastard and living an entire life as a spark for conflict, wouldn’t the child be happier living a life knowing nothing at all? No one can know the answer to that.
I brought Viola back to Margareta’s house.
Margareta studied Viola closely and asked me,
"This isn’t for the reason I’m thinking, is it?"
"No. An acquaintance asked me for a favor, so I took her in."
"An acquaintance, hm. Brother-in-law, you seem fated to get dragged into everything."
Sensing it was a matter I couldn’t easily discuss, Margareta pressed no further. Still, given that Viola was such a lovely-looking woman, I couldn’t help fretting over whether Margareta might suspect something.
Viola was formally hired as a handmaid of the Streit family. Given her pregnancy, I honestly hadn’t intended to make her work, but Viola begged me to let her, saying she couldn’t possibly presume to sit idle.
Pride is all that remains to a fallen noble bloodline, yet Viola was a remarkably resilient, hardworking woman. I heard that her parents scraped by on ghostwriting and odd jobs from the government offices.
So I gave Viola 50 silver coins.
Viola took the pouch of silver, looking bewildered.
"Whatever the reason, you are now a handmaid of the Streit family. Prince Louis entrusted you and your child to me, so I will take responsibility to the very end. Carry yourself with the awareness that you serve the Streit family."
"Th-then, this money is...?"
"It’s a stipend for your parents."
"A stipend?"
Viola’s wide-eyed expression was rather endearing.
Is this what Louis fell for? Viola didn’t quite grasp the concept of a stipend, but since it was money for her parents, she was overjoyed. She hummed to herself all day long.
Once I’ve decided to take responsibility, I spare no support.
That is how I manage my people.