Lemrina Vers Envers, the Second Princess of the Martian Empire, had noticed something over the past few days.
There was definitely something strange about Nina Klein.
The girl seemed a little scatterbrained and unable to read the room, yet she had no qualms about getting close to Kain.
At some point, however, Lemrina noticed that her behavior had become even more unusual.
Nina had originally looked at Kain with simple admiration. Now, there was far more than admiration in her eyes.
She acted exactly like a girl who had fallen in love. She became increasingly shy and self-conscious around him, and sometimes even wore an unmistakably blissful expression.
It was almost as if she had confessed her feelings and been accepted.
The change had occurred shortly after the day Asseylum and Kain had spent an unusually long time alone in that room.
Come to think of it, Eddelrittuo's attitude toward him had changed at around the same time.
Before then, she had seemed somewhat afraid of him. Afterward, she would blush whenever she saw him, only to glare as if he had done something improper to Asseylum.
Lemrina had attempted to sound out Eddelrittuo, but the girl was too guarded for her to extract anything useful.
That left Nina Klein as her only viable target.
Which was why she had invited Nina to afternoon tea.
"Once my sister becomes queen, you'll probably be even busier, Nina."
"That's okay. I'm happy as long as I can help Princess Asseylum."
"You might become so busy that you won't even have time for romance. Don't you want to find your own Prince Charming?"
As soon as she introduced the topic, Lemrina carefully studied Nina's reaction.
Yes, it certainly looked as if Nina had already chosen her Prince Charming.
There was an eighty percent chance it was Kain.
"I'm not really thinking about romance or Prince Charming right now."
Her lie was painfully obvious.
She looked far too guilty.
Then again, that would make it easier for Lemrina to obtain the answers she wanted.
She shifted the conversation to other subjects, occasionally steering it back toward romance, Kain, and her sister.
After chatting for some time, Lemrina abruptly asked a much sharper question.
Caught completely off guard, Nina blurted out an affirmative response before realizing what she had just admitted. The moment she understood, sweat covered her face.
That reaction made it painfully clear that something intimate had happened between them.
"It was that day, wasn't it?"
Lemrina smiled knowingly as she asked the question.
Pinned beneath her unrelenting stare, Nina could only remain silent. She could not bring herself to shake her head and deny it.
"How did you make your move right under my sister's nose? She seems to know what happened and even allowed it. How did you persuade her? You're far more calculating than you look."
"No! That isn't what happened!"
"Hehe."
"I really didn't plan anything. It was... It was a trap."
"An accident?"
Lemrina gave her a look that plainly asked whether she honestly expected anyone to believe that.
Then she noticed that Nina was so flustered she was on the verge of tears, and Lemrina began to panic as well.
"All right, don't cry. I was only teasing you."
"I really didn't mean for it to happen."
"Calm down, Nina. The truth is, I like Kain too. I only want to know how you managed it. Could you please tell me?"
Lemrina immediately reversed their roles and gave Nina a pitiful, pleading look, leaving the other girl dumbfounded.
"Could you tell me how?"
"I-I didn't do anything. I never had some kind of scheme."
"Then tell me what actually happened. How did you persuade my sister to accept it? I want her to accept me too."
At that point, Lemrina even forced tears into her eyes.
Nina was visibly shaken by the sight.
She bit her lip and hesitated for a long time before finally revealing the truth.
What she said left Lemrina completely stunned.
It really had been an accident, followed by a request from Asseylum herself.
As for Lemrina's claim that she liked Kain, that had not been entirely false. She did have feelings for him.
She was a princess, but she would never become queen. That meant she could easily be used in a political marriage someday.
Even if her sister refused to demand such a sacrifice from her, Lemrina's status still made it extremely difficult for her to have an ordinary romantic relationship.
Anyone who approached her would probably only be interested in the Aldnoah power flowing through her blood.
Therefore, if her sister approved, Lemrina would not mind joining their unusual relationship.
Kain was at least someone her sister knew and trusted. It would also allow Lemrina to remain at Asseylum's side instead of being separated from her.
Judging from what Nina had revealed, it did not seem impossible. Whatever special arrangement surrounded Kain apparently did not limit him to only two romantic partners.
The others were probably women from different parallel worlds.
If her sister had already accepted the situation, surely she would not mind including her own younger sister as well.
Besides, their bond as sisters was stronger. If they ever had to deal with women from other worlds, the two of them could present a united front.
Rather than leave her future to some unknown marriage candidate, Lemrina intended to choose the option available to her now.
...
Elsewhere, Asseylum remained unaware of her sister's plans.
She was currently holding a private meeting with someone else.
"Princess Asseylum, was there something you wanted to discuss?"
"Yuki Kaizuka, I need to ask you something serious."
"Huh? What is it?"
Yuki instinctively stood and straightened her posture.
"Is there anyone you currently love? Are you interested in having a romantic relationship?"
The question left Yuki stunned. A moment later, her expression changed slightly as she realized what the princess might be implying.
"Princess, are you planning to introduce me to some Martian nobleman?"
Yuki spoke with a headache already beginning to form.
A marriage between Earth and Mars could certainly benefit relations between the two sides.
That only made the pressure she felt even greater. Perhaps the princess wanted her to set the precedent.
"What? No. I simply wanted to know whether you currently have a lover."
"I don't."
"Then may I introduce someone to you?"
"..."
Yuki stared at her wordlessly.
So the princess really did intend to introduce her to the son of some Martian noble family.
"The person possesses extremely high authorization. He could grant you the same activation authority as Nina."
Asseylum continued speaking as if she had not noticed how troubled Yuki looked.
"Incidentally, Nina's activation authority is now equal to mine."
"Oh."
Yuki responded listlessly.
Then she froze.
Wait. What had the princess just said?
"Y-You said she has the same activation authority as you? You're not suggesting that I should be with your grandfather, are you?"
"What are you imagining? Of course I'm not talking about my grandfather."
Asseylum rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Did you completely miss the important part of what I said?"
"Nina? Nina has the same level of authority as you?"
Yuki sounded incredulous.
The authorization Kain had granted Nina was equal to Asseylum's own authority.
In that case, the person Asseylum wished to introduce to her could only be...
"It seems you've realized who I'm talking about."
"What? You mean... I... Kain?"
Yuki became so flustered that she could barely form a coherent sentence.
Anyone with eyes could see that Asseylum was in love with Kain.
Tomorrow, when she formally ascended as the Queen of Mars, she even intended to announce that Kain would become her Prince Consort.
Yet now she wanted to introduce Yuki to the man she herself loved?
What was she thinking?
"Yes. I mean Kain."
Asseylum answered with a faintly bitter smile.
She had reached this decision after observing Yuki over the past several days.
Yuki was an exceptionally kind person, and she seemed to have developed some feelings for Kain as well.
That was why Asseylum intended to use a somewhat underhanded form of moral pressure to persuade her. It would allow Yuki to obtain the same level of Aldnoah authority as Asseylum.
Kain could not remain in this world indefinitely. Someone with the highest level of authorization needed to remain on Earth as a safeguard.
If something happened to Asseylum and Aldnoah's power fell into the wrong hands, there had to be someone with sufficient authority to stop its misuse.
Nina had also received the highest level of authorization, but she was far too innocent. She would never be able to handle plots and political schemes.
Yuki was different.
She was both intelligent and perceptive, which meant she could respond appropriately to such threats.
"...That is why I chose you, Yuki. I'm truly sorry. There are very few people I can trust right now, and Kain won't be staying here much longer. I have no choice but to 'coerce' you in such an underhanded way."
After hearing the full explanation, Yuki fell silent.
Naturally, Asseylum did not like the thought of sharing the man she loved. She was only doing this to provide additional safeguards against the misuse of Aldnoah's power.
The princess also explained exactly how Yuki could obtain authority equal to her own.
The revelation left Yuki's head spinning.
"Um... What about Kain?"
"Don't worry. If a beautiful woman like you approached him willingly, he would never refuse. He's actually quite a womanizer."
Asseylum's voice carried a distinctly resentful note.
"Uh..."
The man Yuki knew always looked stern and unsmiling. He had killed countless enemies, yet she had never seen him actively approach a woman.
No matter how she looked at it, he seemed like a dense, hopelessly serious man.
Could someone like that truly be a womanizer?
Over the past few days, Asseylum had shown them some recorded footage of humanity's war against extraterrestrial life.
It was clearly not staged propaganda. Everything in those recordings had truly happened.
One figure appeared repeatedly in the footage. Although his identity was never stated, Yuki had guessed that it was probably Kain.
Could a man with such a legendary past really be that kind of person?
Her image of him was beginning to crumble.
After a long silence, Yuki finally spoke.
"Okay."
She nodded at the same time.
"Okay?"
Asseylum tilted her head, looking confused.
"I'm saying that your 'coercion' worked."
Yuki answered with a hint of irritation.
Her gaze shifted toward the transparent window.
She could see Kain testing a Kataphrakt outside. He looked extremely busy, making it even harder to associate him with some shameless playboy obsessed with women.
The thought of what she would soon have to do to obtain activation authority made her cheeks burn.
She had never imagined that the day she crossed that threshold would come for a reason like this.
(End of Chapter)
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