Chapter 80
For some reason, he was in the same room as Rasilia.
Rasilia, unaware of his presence, was speaking with one of the Emperor’s Shadow Knights.
“The Emperor will kill me.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“As a prophet, I dreamed it.”
Rasilia’s face was full of fear. She lifted her pale hand and clutched the Shadow Knight.
“I entrust my life to you. Protect me from the Emperor.”
“Your Majesty the Empress.”
But the Shadow Knight was cold.
Brushing away Rasilia’s hand, the knight stood and spoke icily to the trembling empress.
“The Empress of the Empire has a duty. To bind the demonic blood running through the Imperial family. As everyone knows, that method is consummation.”
Rasilia’s face turned deathly pale.
His own face, listening to that conversation, must have done the same.
“Instead of trembling over useless prophecies, fulfill your duty as Empress. If you do, His Majesty will have no reason to suddenly take your life.”
“I know my duty. That’s the only reason my life has been spared, even though my identity as a foreign prophet has already been revealed.”
“Good, then you know. So why are you neglecting that duty?”
“Because I…… don’t……”
The Shadow Knight frowned.
“What did you say?”
“……Because I don’t love the Emperor.”
The knight gave a scoffing laugh, as though it was absurd.
“How can you say that? You were born to be the consort of a demon.”
On Rasilia’s beautiful face, sorrow cast a shadow.
With eyes filled with resignation and pain—something he had never seen before—Rasilia turned her gaze on him.
“You know who it is I love.”
His chest felt like it would burst.
“Rasilia, tell me who it is. If I know, then maybe… maybe he can free you from this insane, grotesque fate of being a demon’s consort.”
“I will bring him to your side.”
A tear slid down Rasilia’s violet eye.
“How can you not know?”
“Rasilia.”
“You stand there before me, yet…”
“…!”
The bizarre dream ended there.
Or rather—he wasn’t sure it was a dream. Perhaps he had truly been with Rasilia in the duke’s library before hearing the news of the Emperor’s arrival.
If not, how could it have been so vivid?
Could it not have been a dream at all, but a memory?
Even now, he could clearly see Rasilia’s tearful face. It was so vivid it was maddening.
Rasilia did not want the fate of being the demon’s consort. That was why God had shown her the death of the prophet.
No prophet had ever once foretold their own fate. God was not such a partial being.
That meant God did not want Delarta’s prophet to become the demon’s consort.
“Tion, what did you think of the Imperial knights?”
Tion, glancing worriedly at Eselion’s still-pale face, spoke in a low voice.
“They were stronger than expected. I thought the rumors were exaggerated, but no. Even the movements of the Imperial Guard were well-drilled. The amount of training they undergo must be terrifying.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Then what do you mean, Your Highness?”
Eselion frowned, recalling the cold words of the Shadow Knight from his dream.
“Did they seem loyal to Lady Rasilia?”
“Hm? I would think so. They appeared to me that way… though I can’t say for certain.”
Tion trailed off.
In truth, he had been too focused on the Shadow Knight’s swordsmanship to notice how he behaved toward Rasilia.
But if there had been something wrong, he would have noticed. The fact that nothing stuck in his memory likely meant nothing unusual had happened.
Still, seeing Eselion sweating and pale, he felt he ought to come up with something.
“Well… his tone of speech was rather flippant?”
Not exactly flippant, more that there was an odd lack of distance. It felt casual, even disrespectful.
Since Rasilia hadn’t objected, Tion had assumed it was simply the man’s personality.
“And, what else?”
That had really been all, yet Eselion’s eyes shone as if it were something grave.
“If even in front of a foreign prince he failed to mask his casual tone, then that must be his nature.”
“Er… perhaps.”
“Rasilia herself told him not to be rude to her guest. That means the Shadow Knights are often rude to her as a matter of course, doesn’t it?”
“Um… I can’t really say…”
“Think. Did the Delarta Royal Guard ever dare such a thing? Not even once would they open their mouths rudely before a royal guest.”
Tion, never having been in the Royal Guard himself, couldn’t compare.
“If Your Highness says so, then it must be true.”
“The name Shadow Knight comes from being the Emperor’s shadow. And yet they took turns guarding Rasilia. Guarding her—or watching her?”
“Huh? But why would they need to watch the Empress? The Empire already knows her true name as a prophet.”
“Because Rasilia does not want to be the demon’s consort.”
Strictly speaking, it was Eselion’s guess. Rasilia had said she accepted life as the Empress just as she had once accepted life as a prophet.
But that vivid nightmare—that memory he wished was not a dream—unraveled his reason.
The clearest thing in his mind was still Rasilia’s tears.
Tears that resembled God’s own. Perhaps they were God’s tears. Perhaps his being here was God’s will.
That he should bring back Delarta’s prophet.
“…I must confirm it.”
Eselion suddenly rose.
“Your Highness? It’s late. What is it you need to confirm?”
“Is Yenion asleep? Wake him. We may have to leave this place.”
“Has the Duke agreed to support us?”
“Forget the support. Even without money, we can win.”
Eselion slid into his discarded outer garment.
“If the prophet is by my side.”
“…Ah.”
Tion’s face went rigid.
He finally realized what Eselion intended.
“You mean to… escape with the Prophet?”
Click.
Eselion fastened his sword at his waist and nodded.
“Yes.”
Tion’s face turned as pale as Eselion’s.
“Your Highness. Forgive me for speaking plainly, but you do understand—the Prophet is now the Empress of the Empire.”
Eselion’s reply was short and firm.
“That is precisely why I must take her away.”
The dawn moon shone cold and aloof.
Yet beneath it, the duke’s mansion was strangely restless, buzzing.
It seemed more were awake than asleep.
Eselion slipped quietly into that restlessness.
Though he had said he would “confirm,” he had no intention of waking Rasilia right away. He only wanted to watch.
The thought of some insolent Shadow Knight—or the Emperor, tainted with demonic blood—forcing “the Empress’s duty” upon Rasilia made his insides burn.
The Imperial Guards shifted their posts constantly, but it wasn’t difficult for him to conceal his movements.
He took a position down the corridor where he could see Rasilia’s chamber door.
He focused intently on the sounds within.
Perhaps she had not yet fallen asleep. He could hear the faint rustle of blankets, the whisper of fabric brushing.
“…?”
Then, suddenly, a choked gasp.
Rasilia was not alone.
“No…”
Eselion nearly lurched forward, barely restraining himself. His body was ready to burst into the room.
At that moment, a voice stopped him.
“Well, well. Are you a pervert?”
“…!”
He didn’t need to turn his head to know who that insolent voice belonged to.
Drawing a steady breath, Eselion slowly turned toward Liyan.
“Eavesdropping outside another’s chamber? And not just anyone’s—the Empress of the Empire’s. Oh, pardon me. I misspoke. The chamber of the Imperial couple, His Majesty and Her Majesty together.”
A vein throbbed at Eselion’s temple.
Rasilia was not alone. The Emperor was with her. At night. In her chamber.
The Shadow Knight, speaking in a whisper, gestured at him.
“Ah, forgive me, but could you step aside a bit farther? His Majesty ordered the area around the chamber cleared. Her Majesty is shy, you see. If she feels someone’s presence outside, their night together might be… well, less enjoyable. I trust you understand.”
Liyan winked, closing one eye.
More than his crude, shameless words, that gesture felt like an insult.
“His Majesty has surely already sensed your presence. Yet since he’s said nothing, it means he still intends to honor you as Her Majesty’s guest. While I am the only one who has seen you here, why not return quietly to your chambers? If you do so now, I won’t mention it to Her Majesty.”
“I…”
“No need for excuses, Your Highness. Please, see yourself out.”
But Eselion had not been about to excuse himself.
“What offends me is your insolence. From the start.”
“Hm? Oh dear. You haven’t grasped the situation yet, have you? Surely you don’t mean to settle this with force? That won’t go as you think.”
“Your insolence toward me is the same as toward Rasilia.”
At those words, Liyan scrunched his nose.
“Why twist it like that? Why would the Prince of Delarta speak as if he were one with the Empress of the Empire? She has nothing to do with you anymore.”
“The Prophet is God’s representative on earth. To bind such a being with the hollow chain of ‘Empress’ and force on her the duty of consort—men like you, I cannot forgive.”
Liyan blinked.
Unfortunately, because Eselion spoke as if he knew something, he had given himself away.
“Hm? Wait, how do you… Don’t tell me Her Majesty actually said such things to you?”
