Abandoned Bastard of the Royal Family Volume 4 Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Chapter 25 – Carney’s Secret

“I created Carney in the hopes of a comeback, but even that came up empty, which made me accept the fact that the Leschbeins would never return to their peak, at least in my lifetime.”

The former head again initiated the conversation.

“But……to think that fate had prepared us a path to glory in this way…….!”

Then she joyfully exclaimed.

“The royal family is inherently led by a male. The queen’s accession to the throne is merely an emergency stopgap measure in the event that no male is born into the royal family. Which means nothing can take precedence over a male royal, especially the one who possesses the “Majesty of the Lion”, as the qualifications of a king are exhibited through bloodline and ability!”

After that, the bewitching “youth” who was leading the fallen noble house knelt down to Schild.

“I have heard your story of why Princess Cymbium and Princess Serenea jointly invoked the Magna Carta. For that, we, the Leschbein House, will also support it with all our might.”

“Mother!?”

Naturally, the current head of the house is bewildered by the precipitous decision of the previous head of the family.

“We don’t have time to dawdle, you foolish son. I want you to send out a letter to all of our lords right now. In my name, anyone who does not agree with the Magna Carta will subsequently be cut off from the Leschbein faction.”

“Have you gone senile, mother!? Those who still follow us in our fallen state are the righteous warriors who have never left us because of the great debt they owe to our predecessors! If you talk it to them like that and they all follow you, what will it come to them if we don’t succeed? Think about the responsibility we’ll bear, mother!”

“And that’s what you’re afraid of? Taking responsibility for them? Truly a buffoon you are, my son. The only thing that we can offer now is a solid backing, and a solid backing we will give to them. With that, we have already shown that we are more dependable than those two houses who are still having trouble to reunite theirs.”

Ledotte had seen right through it.

The main predicament Schild and the others are encountering in the other factions right now.

Then, the old…young woman spoke again, still kneeling deeply before Schild.

“Prince.”

She called out Schild’s true identity without hesitation.

“We, the Leschbeins, pledge our absolute loyalty to you. When the prince goes to his death, we will accompany him, and when he is glorified, we will drink with him. From here on, we are of one mind.”

She gave an oath as she hung her head deeply.

“As a token of our unity, we offer you the pride of our house, Carney Leschbein. She is a woman who will lead you to even greater heights. May you love her, violate her, please her, and enjoy her for many, many years to come.”

◆

Just like that, the meeting was ended.

It was an absolute success.

The Leschbein faction’s cooperation with the Magna Carta was assured by the final words of the previous head, Ledotte.

Together with the independents led by Marie, they now became an important ally of Schild.

“Lord Schild may have noticed it by now……”

In the meantime, Schild was still staying at the Leschbein manor, strolling through their secluded gardens.

There was no one around him but Carney.

“……My real mother is Grandmother Ledotte.”

Schild was not shaken by this confession.

A grandmother and granddaughter who resembled each other so much that they could be called twins or doppelgangers.

It would not be surprising if there was more to their relationship.

“My grandmother was of the generation above the current King. In terms of age, any daughter she would be giving birth would have become the next queen and take her place, but she……as you know, was not able to give birth to a daughter at that time…….”

This led to the Leschbeins not having a queen to represent them, which resulted in mercilessly being dropped out of the power struggle.

“My grandmother felt heavily responsible for it and decided that she would definitely give birth to a queen in the next generation. However, this time, she demanded that the blood must be “pure”, saying the purer the blood of the Leschbein, the better the chances for it to have a strong trait. To think she was referring to this……”

To increase the probability of the “Dignity of the Lioness” to awaken in the offspring. That was Ledotte’s new goal.

For this reason, she took the most extreme measures.

“My father…… was the only child born to her and our deceased grandfather. And that being the case, being the only remaining male of the Leschbein blood, Grandmother……chose to have intercourse with my father and had a child with him. If both parents are of the Leschbein family, then the child will have a richer bloodline……or so I was told.”

As a result of that intercourse, Carney was born.

Naturally, even though she was a noblewoman, a daughter born out of incest between a mother and her son was not something to be taken lightly. Even more so if she was to be the future queen.

To resolve this, they pretended that Carney was the child of her son and his wife, whom he was officially married to. And just like that, Ledotte officially made Carney a member of the Leschbein family.

Fortunately or unfortunately, as her mother-cum- grandmother hoped, Carney developed the “Dignity of the Lioness” and became a perfect candidate for the queen.

But who would have thought that she would also have a chance encounter with a hidden prince, whom no one knew about, and would forge a deep emotional bond with him later on?

“Then……what about Rezahata?”

“Big sis? She is the real deal. The legitimate daughter of father and the woman that became his wife. In this house, those three are what you call the real and proper family.”

Carney and Rezahata.

The reason why the two of them were unusually close in age, despite being sisters, was because of this.

“I heard that my grandmother first tried to marry me off to His Majesty, the current King Preslate I. Although we are far apart in age, the royal family has yet to have a male child, so she thought there is still a chance of a reversal.”

However, the insane plan of Ledotte was cut short by a single speech from the king.

“I have no intention of taking any more wives,” he said.

With that, the hopes for the birth of a third queen from the Leschbein family were crushed. Carney had lost the meaning she was created for.

Even so, Carney’s position in the family was high, as she inherited a purer blood. After all, she is the offspring of the former head of the Leschbeins, who was said to be a shrewd person.

Even if she couldn’t become the queen, Carney could still serve as the next head of the Leschbeins.

But she was not. Instead, she was treated as a failure by his own father.

The cruel atmosphere pushed Rezahata, the real daughter of the family’s current head, to run away from the capital.

“She said it would be smoother for me to take over the house if she is gone……My big sister has already become too wise that time.”

But even so, there was no way that their father, the current head of the family, and his wife, would just accept that willingly.

Thus, it didn’t take long for Carney, who felt like a walking thorn in his family home, to leave.

“But I didn’t totally disappear, as I have never forgotten my duty as a noble,” Carney explained. “Unlike Rezahata, who has totally run away, I instead went to rent an apartment in the capital and made myself a knight, even thinking of abandoning my femininity at times just to serve the country. Though it may have been because I wanted to escape from my twisted birth altogether…… or to prevent myself to be called as useless by my family.”

The aristocracy is distorted.

All to remain in power, they would be more than willing to taint the glory of their ancestors, not caring on how it will greatly affect the generations after them.

Carney was the ultimate product of this distortion.

Sewn into herself are the distortions that the noble house of Leschbein had accumulated over the course of tens of generations.

And she cannot be separated from it until she dies.

“Lord Schild, I’m disgusting, aren’t I? I was born as the daughter of a woman who would even consort with her own son to gain power. Not only that, I’m that gutless man’s daughter as well. There must be something wrong with me. I’m sure of it.”

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