Gathering Wives with a System

Before Isaac could say anything, however, Althea continued speaking. ”I don’t know what the relationship between the Emperor and the Queen was really like, but I do know that the Emperor is a good person. I’ve met him several times, and he always treated me well. In fact, many nobles wanted to execute me after the truth about my lineage came to light. It was, after all, a direct slap in the Emperor and kingdom’s face, but he never did anything like that. He protected me from those nobles and even stopped several assassination attempts.”

Isaac nodded quietly. A few words rose to his throat, but he swallowed them.

Instead, he decided to change the subject and said, ”I knew the political situation in the Florathi Kingdom was complicated, but this is much worse than I expected.”

”Right?” Althea replied with a small chuckle, seemingly accepting his attempt to move the conversation elsewhere. The two of them continued walking while talking about other matters, and the atmosphere gradually became less serious.

As they walked, Isaac finally understood something that had confused him for a long time. Althea was the Third Princess of the Florathi Kingdom, yet her species rank was not Apex, and he had never been able to understand why the kingdom had seemingly done nothing about it.

She had been born with an A-rank Talent, which was certainly not weak, but it was not outstanding enough for the Florathi Kingdom either. Even so, she was still a princess of the kingdom, and Isaac had always found it strange that the Florathi Kingdom could not spare even a single evolution potion for her.

Strength was one thing, but allowing their own Third Princess to remain below Apex rank should have been a serious blow to the kingdom’s image. It made even less sense when Isaac considered how powerful the Florathi Kingdom was supposed to be.

Now, however, everything finally made sense. It was not that the Florathi Kingdom could not afford to help Althea, but that her lineage had made her position far more complicated than it appeared on the surface.

Her bloodline had turned her status as the Third Princess from an advantage into a burden. It explained why the kingdom had been unwilling to invest in her despite having the resources to do so, and it also gave Isaac a better understanding of why so many people in the Florathi Kingdom seemed to dislike her.

Thinking about Althea, the words rose to Isaac’s throat again, but he hesitated to say them. He was not Althea’s family, nor was he close enough to her that he could casually speak about something so personal, and he did not want to cross a line simply because he had become curious about her past.

However, when he looked at her expression, Isaac felt that she was clearly trying to appear calm while hiding what she was actually feeling. That expression suddenly reminded him of the day of his Talent Awakening, and the memory came back with surprising clarity.

Back then, Alice had failed her awakening. Isaac had not said much because he believed it would feel hypocritical for someone who had awakened a powerful Talent to try to comfort her after her own failure, especially when he could not understand what she was feeling.

It was only after he saw her crying that he realized how wrong he had been. He had thought that staying silent would prevent him from making things worse, but all he had really done was leave her alone when she needed someone to say something.

The situation felt strangely similar now. Althea was not crying, and she was doing a much better job of hiding her emotions, but Isaac could still tell that her calm expression was not completely genuine.

So, after thinking about it for a moment, Isaac decided to speak his mind. He was not sure whether his words would help, but remaining silent simply because he was afraid of saying the wrong thing did not feel right anymore.

”The First Queen was really an asshole, wasn’t she?” Isaac asked.

Althea froze and slowly turned her head toward him. Even Charlotta, who had been walking nearby as her bodyguard, looked completely shocked, and Isaac could not tell whether they were more surprised that he had actually cursed or that he had just insulted such an important political figure in front of them.