At the end of April, when moist sea breezes began to blow and flowers opened their petals to delight people’s eyes while leaves unfurled as if to say “another job well done,” Lord Devon Victorias convened a council to discuss the succession to the throne.

  Ever since the new year, chaos had reigned, so many voices expressed relief that they could finally address this matter.

  The meeting was held in the semicircular assembly hall inside the royal palace.

  The palace was broadly divided into two sections: the assembly hall where the lords gathered, and the royal family’s residential quarters.

  The consorts’ residences were located in separate mansions farther away, though still within the castle walls.

  Before opening the session, Victorias made a brief statement.

  “As some of you may already know, Chancellor Kairos Alexios has been placed under house arrest after being caught in the act of stealing national treasury assets and is therefore unable to attend. We have also asked those with claims to the throne to come here today. Please enter.”

  Murmurs rippled through the hall at the words “caught in the act.” Some even chuckled that he had dared touch the treasury. Reactions to the downfall of a man once rumored to become the next king were varied.

  At the same time, three small children filed in side by side.

  Then the final figure appeared, and the entire hall erupted in astonishment.

  “She’s alive!”

  “So the rumors were true!?”

  All kinds of voices overlapped, and for a moment the hall was in uproar.

  Anastasia wore her hair up, a deep indigo chiton, and the royal ruby necklace at her throat.

  “Silence, please. After the attack on Her Highness Anastasia, the First Princess, it was reported that she had died. House Aelius even held a funeral. However, we have since received a report and apology stating that this was a deception. Given the circumstances, we confirmed her identity using the royal necklace gifted by the previous king. Are there any objections?”

  No one raised any.

  “Then, let it be recorded anew: the first in line to the throne is Her Highness Princess Anastasia. The law states that the successor is chosen from among those who have reached the age of thirteen and completed the coming-of-age ceremony. In this case, the only eligible candidate is the princess herself. If anyone has an objection, please speak now.”

  “I have none. However, shouldn’t we wait until the series of incidents beginning with the previous king’s assassination have been fully resolved?”

  One lord pointed this out, and several voices agreed.

  “On that matter, Lady Denaris of House Aelius has already secured the witnesses and captured the perpetrators. As Chief Justice, I have taken their statements and am prepared to try the mastermind.”

  The hall buzzed again—They already know who it is?

  Denaris’s name had appeared in the records only because Quintus had been forced to file an official report with the Justice Department, and as an adopted daughter she existed on paper. They could not write that the princess herself had taken action.

  Anastasia, however, had been delighted that she could move about freely as Denaris.

  “The Justice Department proposes that we first prioritize the coronation, restore proper governance, and then conduct the trial. If anyone has further opinions, please speak.”

  The majority voiced no objection.

  “Very well. I now ask the lords: does anyone present object to Her Highness Anastasia’s succession to the throne?”

  Not a single hand was raised.

  “Then it is hereby recognized that the First Princess Anastasia shall succeed to the throne. The coronation ceremony will be announced shortly. Please wait for further notice. This concludes the meeting.”

  Thus, Anastasia’s succession was officially acknowledged.

  Her grandfather was in tears.

  Everyone wore expressions of relief and offered Quintus words of congratulations.

  Anastasia walked over to her grandfather and took his hand.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Quintus gave her a small nod.

  ◇

  “So you really are going to become queen.”

  Once the succession was decided and Anastasia had moved into the palace, she said she was exhausted and went to take a bath.

  Guards and servants stood everywhere inside the palace; there was never a moment’s peace.

  She had asked Felix to serve as chief of security, since the king had the final say in that appointment. She didn’t want to feel uneasy around strangers.

  Servants were stationed even in the bathhouse, but she dismissed them, saying they made her nervous.

  “I mean, it couldn’t be helped. I needed them to solve the case.”

  She answered in a small voice.

  “You’ve changed quite a lot. I miss the day we first met, when you were nothing but foul language.”

  “Yeah… Back then I had nothing left to lose.”

  “But becoming queen brings all sorts of trouble. I’ve seen plenty of it.”

  “Then I’ll just appoint Basti as my chief advisor.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “But you’ll help me, right? Otherwise I might have to take some extreme defensive measures.”

  “Are you threatening me? If you’re willing to listen, I suppose I can give you some advice.”

  “Deal. Chief Advisor Basti, it is.”

  The royal bath was extraordinarily spacious.

  Hot water poured from a statue of a naked woman holding a water jar.

  Everything was made of marble, and colorful flower petals floated on the surface.

  The memory of the night sea she had seen with her aunt flashed through her mind.

  She had fallen in love with that bath.

  “By the way, what exactly is a ‘gift’?”

  “Where did that come from?”

  “You know, when you gave me that ‘gift’ as compensation. Something like a card got stuck in my head.”

  “You remembered that well.”

  “It was completely blank. What was it? Did I receive some kind of talent?”

  “That is the Seed of Success. It is blank because you are the one who writes upon it.”

  “I didn’t write anything.”

  “You don’t need to write with a pen. Strong wishes, strong thoughts—that is what drives human action. That is how wishes and dreams come true. The gift merely gives them a little push. That is why it is called the Seed of Success.”

  “The Seed of Success, huh… Well, since it got me this far, I’ll at least say thank you, straight-bangs goddess.”

  “Indeed. If possible, I would prefer you to live out your life without any more incidents. That way neither Maat nor I would have to be erased.”

  “You’d get erased?”

  “Once, someone forgot to erase their memories before reincarnating and used something called ‘Suibaku’ to turn an entire star into one where life could not exist. Everyone involved in that incident was erased from existence. Scary, isn’t it?”

  “So that’s why you came down—to keep an eye on me.”

  “Exactly. It was my fault, after all. Maat cried and begged, so I had no choice.”

  “I see… Still, I really like you, Basti. I’m happy we can stay together.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Take care of me from now on too, okay?”

  “Mm.”

  “Want to get in the bath?”

  “No thank you.”

  Laughing, Anastasia scratched Basti gently under the chin.

  ◇

  Aristera was a polytheistic nation, yet as a state it primarily worshipped the god known as the Sun God of the Earth.

  They venerated Hanna (also called Anna), the child of the Earth Goddess Gae and the Sun God Terue.

  In the inner sanctuary of the shrine to the Earth God in Aelius territory, Hanna was enshrined.

  Hanna was the goddess of fertility and abundance; her symbol was the circled cross.

  That circled cross was used as the motif for the king’s scepter and crown.

  At the coronation, the high priest of the Grand Temple would bestow these two items upon the new ruler.

  Because the nation’s chief deity was female, Aristera—despite being a male-centered society—granted women unusually strong positions. It was said that the abundance of goddesses in their myths was one reason.

  Even so, in the 247 years since the kingdom’s founding, only two queens had ever reigned. Anastasia would become the third.

  The Grand Temple stood on the eastern side of the palace, facing east.

  It had been designed so that on the spring and autumn equinoxes, sunlight entered through the entrance and skylights in a perfectly straight line.

  Furthermore, when the sun reached its zenith, light poured down from the top of the temple to illuminate the ruler. Tradition held that the coronation took place at exactly noon, within that beam of light.

  The new monarch would receive the gods’ blessing beneath that radiance.

  The coronation was set for the first of May.

  With the lords and foreign ambassadors in attendance, the ceremony was conducted at the Grand Temple.

  The high priest chanted prayers to the gods, blessed Anastasia, and as heavenly light poured down, placed the crown upon her head and handed her the scepter.

  Thus was born Anastasia, the eleventh monarch and first queen of the Kingdom of Aristera.

  Lords and commoners alike celebrated the birth of a beautiful queen.

  Wearing a pure white dress and white robe, the queen walked from the Grand Temple back to the palace.

  Crowds lined the entire route, cheering for the new era.

  Many may not have noticed, but during the prayers the surname “Kairos” had vanished from Anastasia’s official name.

  Only a handful caught it, yet those few may have already guessed the direction of the coming trials and the kingdom’s future movements.

  For the next three days, festivals were held to celebrate the new monarch’s birth.

  The queen’s first official duty was the ceremonial tree-planting performed at the start of the festivities.

  In the square before the palace, Anastasia planted a maple sapling—one that would turn brilliant red in autumn.

  The queen herself dug the hole, placed the tree, and covered the roots with soil, dirtying her hands.

  Congratulations poured in from every side, and the festival began in earnest.

  That night a grand banquet was held, where the lords offered their formal congratulations.

  Some of the more eager nobles had already begun political maneuvering with an eye toward becoming royal consort.

  A queen usually took only one consort.

  Even amid the celebrations, a group moved busily: Victorias and the rest of the Justice Department.

  At the queen’s own wish, the events that had occurred in Trisha were to be made public.

  Anastasia believed this was something only she—the previous king’s own daughter—could do.

  One royal house was coming to an end.

  And on that same day, another announcement was made.

  It was publicly proclaimed that the territorial rights to Trisha had been transferred to Queen Anastasia.

  In Trisha itself, some celebrated the fall of the Kairos family while others voiced anxiety that the new queen’s policies remained unclear.

  Yet many noticed that the queen’s name on the official proclamation carried no “Kairos” surname, despite her being the previous king’s child.

  The people of Trisha accepted this politically weighty document with straightforward joy.

  Thank you so much for reading! ??

  If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a rating or a review!

  Your feedback is greatly appreciated and really encourages both the original author and the translator to keep bringing more chapters.

  You can also read the original Japanese version here:

  See you in the next chapter!