Chapter 69
The heroes of the victory-commemoration ceremony were the knights who had gone to war. Still, for some reason, both my father, Adrian, and I had to endure an exhausting number of formalities as if we were about to collapse.
I’d seen something like this before somewhere — it felt several times more tedious and wearing than a debutante’s presentation for a noble lady.
“After this ends, we still have to attend the ball, right?”
“You must attend. They’ll announce your investiture as Crown Princess there.”
“If I faint halfway through, help me up and take me to my room.”
“All right. But if you faint, who knows what I might do to you.”
Adrian’s laugh, as if amused, didn’t make me smile. I had a pretty good idea what he meant by that obscene remark.
“You pervert.”
“You’re always like this. You say you hate it, but when it comes to it….”
“Hey—!”
I clamped a hand over his mouth, and he bit my hand. Damn it. That mischievous one!
The knights moved exactly as they had during their rehearsals for the victory ceremony. They stood in long ranks holding their swords while the Emperor and I passed between them and stood on the frontmost dais.
They went down the line, tapping each of the four men who had performed great deeds on the shoulder with their swords in turn — as if conferring knighthood.
“If their titles increase, will new fiefs be granted?”
“That’s right.”
“Who will get the herb-cultivation, distribution, and sales rights in the Encelos Kingdom?”
“If De La Bois gives it up, it’ll revert to the Crown.”
As he said that, Adrian suddenly gripped my hand very tightly. Clayton turned sharply at that, and our eyes met.
Perhaps because of last night’s dream, even making eye contact made my heart pound wildly and uncontrollably; it was exhausting.
“You’re anxious, aren’t you, Adrian.”
“…….”
“What do you think Clayton will wish for?”
“That fellow always made the same wish.”
The Emperor’s words didn’t hold much of my attention — the usual congratulatory remarks and words of praise. Then talk of imperial power and the end of the Encelos Kingdom.
There were nobles in Encelos who would be absorbed into Bastian. Those who had taken an active part in the war became slaves, while those who had once been slaves were pardoned.
Most of the people of Encelos became commoners, and those who had worked for Bastian received new noble titles.
“Why do you think the Encelos Kingdom fell?”
“I don’t want to admit it, but De La Bois’s skill was the first reason.”
“Mm.”
“Second, the incompetent royal family tolerated corruption. If you can’t catch grafting officials, you lose popular support; lose the people, and people lose trust in the crown. If an addictive painkiller is also popular, matters get worse.”
The hand he held felt uncomfortable, and I tried to withdraw it, but he gripped it tighter, so I gave up. I’d already confirmed it before: when someone is anxious, they seek physical reassurance. Matching that need and calming them a bit wasn’t a bad thing.
“If trust in the crown falls, who would go to war? Even if the army is knights and mercenaries, if overwhelmed you’d have to conscript.”
“Bastian doesn’t conscript.”
“That’s because it’s Bastian. Plenty of population and resources.”
Adrian’s look toward me had softened. Yes — if I give him what he wants, he really does calm down.
“What did Clayton wish for last time?”
I knew what that wish was — I’d seen it in a dream.
I only wanted to confirm it again: was it merely a dream, or a shard of memory?
“I don’t want to say.”
“Why?”
“…….”
“You’ll know soon anyway, right?”
I think I understood what being anxious felt like. The way his lips had dried, the way he breathed in short, nervous gasps, and how he tried to read my thoughts whenever our eyes met — all of it was that. When he followed my gaze and found Clayton at the far end, he squeezed my hand tighter.
“He’ll say he wants to have me.”
“……Yeah.”
“Have I ever refused him?”
“No.”
“Then was there ever a time you didn’t refuse?”
He answered with silence. So I understood: there had been at least one time when he had accepted Clayton’s proposal.
“Adrian.”
“I’m listening.”
“Don’t be anxious. You will be my consort, and I will never abandon you.”
His eyes widened in surprise; they were obsidian-beautiful, so I watched them. The dark gray pupils matched his snow-white hair and were more shaken and deep than I’d ever seen.
“……All right. I’ll believe you.”
“Where… where are we going?” Lilfei asked in a trembling voice. Ander Bils merely glanced at her and felt no need to answer.
“Counselor—”
“I am not a counselor. I’m an aide. And I hate idle talk more than anything in the world.”
“Oh….”
Lilfei tried to say something else, but Ander Bils replied irritably. His manner toward Princess Gracy showed the respect he had for the Emperor. He wasn’t one to be especially kind to someone he didn’t have to be kind to.
Above all, being kind to someone was a difficult task for him.
“Can’t you at least tell me briefly… where I’m going?”
“The level of your stupidity is egregious. Have you forgotten what Princess Gracy said to you last time?”
“Ah….”
She didn’t remember everything Gracy had told her, but after being saved, Gracy had said she would lift the curse.
“Once the curse is lifted, you have just one task: to testify for Princess Gracy.”
“Yes….”
“If you babble uselessly again….”
Ander Bils turned and approached Lilfei. Having changed out of ragged clothes into something quite neat, Lilfei looked, on the surface, like an ordinary maid. She wore a wig and kept her head bent so her face wouldn’t be revealed.
As he approached her, he jabbed a finger at her throat and said, “This time His Majesty will not spare you.”
“Ugh…!”
“The Emperor might pull your throat out alive. Even if you’re stopped by the princess, His Majesty won’t endure it. He’s already given you more chances than once.”
He wiped his hands with a handkerchief as if disgusted and then tossed it away.
They arrived at the Magic Tower.
“Aide, welcome!”
“Please carry out the instructions we assigned.”
“Yes, of course.”
The head of the Magic Tower, an older man with gray hair and beard, produced something from within his robes, gripped it, and began to cast a spell.
As he performed magic, a magic circle appeared around his hand. Using a mana-stone he held, he began to track the magic flow in Lilfei’s body. Residual mana clung to her here and there through the bloodstream; traces of magic were ominously embedded in every corner of her body.
“This is odd.”
“How so?”
“Ugh….”
Lilfei clenched her fists from fear and trembled violently.
“It’s like a time bomb.”
“Explain in detail.”
“But….”
“Just say it. After all, we snatched her out before she was executed.”
Ander Bils’s cold reply stopped the tower master from speaking further for Lilfei’s sake. To him, talking elsewhere to spare her time was a waste.
“This doesn’t detonate from an activation word. Rather, it’s set to explode after a certain amount of time.”
“How much time remains?”
“It’s already past. But for some reason it hasn’t exploded.”
“Gah…!”
Lilfei trembled like a leaf, tears streaming down, gasping as if she might choke. She couldn’t cry fully; if she broke into sobs, she feared she’d miss what they said.
“You cannot kill her now.”
“Yes, I know the princess ordered to keep her alive. But….”
“But what?”
“We need to do considerable research on this on our side. However, it may still detonate.”
From Ander Bils’s perspective, she only needed to be kept alive for today and tomorrow. But he was a man of the Emperor, and he constantly agonized over how to be utterly loyal.
To him, Lilfei’s life was like a useless piece of pottery: if it broke, it broke; if it disappeared, they could replace it.
But he could not know whether Princess Gracy could endure such a thing. Though she had a resolute demeanor and the dignity of a sovereign, she also had a soft side.
The Emperor cherished Princess Gracy more than his own life.
Therefore, he resolved to value the princess’s life as much as the Emperor did. Ander Bils had already decided he could offer his life for the Emperor.
He sighed and said, “If that wretch dies, I don’t know if His Majesty will leave the Magic Tower standing.”
“W-what do you mean—!”
“You’ve heard rumors about the second princess, haven’t you?”
“……Gah…!”
The tower master shivered at the thought of Gracy. In truth, he felt breathless remembering her manner of glaring at ministers beside the Emperor.
“So please keep her alive. If she dies before her usefulness is exhausted, my lord may erase you and this Magic Tower from Bastian.”
