[CHAPTER 62]
The meal ended in an overall warm and lively atmosphere.
Ravelan Arasas was eloquent, and Rision also seemed to enjoy reminiscing with a friend he had not seen in a long time.
Elpenlira mostly kept her mouth shut, but she did not openly display hostility toward Ravelan.
Perhaps because she was Rision’s lover, Ravelan showed considerable interest in Dianu as well.
Dianu answered his questions sincerely while doing her best to naturally draw Elpenlira into the conversation, to the point that she felt completely drained.
The atmosphere cooled only once.
It was after the meal, when Ravelan called for Sir Edric Loisen.
Sir Edric Loisen, who had been fulfilling his duty as a knight by the doorway, looked slightly surprised but soon stepped closer to the table.
Ravelan rose naturally from his seat and faced him.
Dianu was startled.
The smile had completely vanished from Ravelan’s face.
He firmly grasped Sir Edric Loisen’s shoulder with one hand.
“It has been a long time since I last saw you, Sir.”
From beside them, Elpenlira could be heard sharply drawing in a breath.
Dianu was just as surprised.
The reason was simple.
The Catalos language flowing from Ravelan Arasas’s mouth was so fluent that it made one forget, if only for a moment, that he was a foreigner.
Dianu and Elpenlira both turned to look at Rision at the same time, but he merely shrugged calmly.
Elpenlira’s blazing eyes seemed to shout in protest.
He never said this man spoke Catalos so well.
Of course, even if Ravelan was fluent in Catalos, the fact that Elpenlira still needed to learn Arasasian did not change.
Still, from Elpenlira’s perspective, having fought to the very end because she did not want to look foolish in front of Ravelan Arasas, the situation was naturally unfair.
Her silent protest did not last long.
It was because of Ravelan’s next words.
“What happened to Sir Marek Loisen is truly regrettable.”
“I have never lost a brother myself, but I can easily imagine that pain.”
“No words could possibly offer comfort.”
A deep sorrow seemed to pass across Sir Edric Loisen’s face, but only for a brief moment.
He quietly lowered his eyes.
“He chose to be His Majesty’s sword, and he died as His Majesty’s sword.”
“I believe it was an honorable life.”
Ravelan wore a look of pity.
“That aside, you do intend to seek revenge.”
“Of course.”
Sir Edric Loisen spoke as if grinding the words through his teeth and lifted his gaze.
For a fleeting instant, killing intent swirled within his challenging stare.
Facing the boiling anger and grief tangled together without wavering, Ravelan spoke gently.
The veins on the hand gripping the knight’s shoulder stood out prominently.
“There are ladies present.”
“…My apologies.”
Sir Edric Loisen instantly returned to his usual mild, expressionless demeanor.
Only then did Dianu realize that she had been so tense her neck had gone stiff.
She had spent quite a long time with Sir Edric Loisen, but this was the first time she had ever felt afraid of him.
Marek Loisen had been one of the most formidable knights of the Catalos Emperor.
To Dianu and Elpenlira, he had always felt as familiar as a neighbor’s puppy, but it was impossible for him to always be that way.
Ravelan continued speaking without taking his eyes off Sir Edric Loisen’s face.
“Had I not been absent from the border, the situation in the Baldin County would not have escalated so far.”
“If that had not happened, you would not have lost your brother.”
“This is not Your Highness’s fault.”
Ravelan slowly lowered his hand.
“I will assist you in your revenge.”
“As the Crown Prince of Arasas, and if necessary, as a future Emperor.”
He spoke with emphasis.
“As long as Rision and I are alive, the one who harmed your younger brother will never sleep peacefully anywhere on the continent.”
Sir Edric Loisen looked surprised for a moment, then bowed his head.
“I will remember this.”
The conversation ended there.
Ravelan returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, and Sir Edric Loisen likewise returned to his original position.
Only then did Dianu turn her head to the side.
Rision, as if he had expected this outcome, merely took a sip of water with an unreadable expression.
Elpenlira was also silent.
However, her atmosphere was very different from her brother’s.
Her gaze was fixed somewhere in empty space, and her face was frighteningly pale.
Dianu reached out beneath the table and gently touched her hand.
The skin beneath her fingers was cold, like that of a corpse.
* * *
After a dinner held for guests, time for drinks, games, and music usually followed.
The group naturally moved to the Grand Duke’s residence reception room.
For Dianu, who had once held a not-quite-blind date with Vallich Knight in this very room, it was an awkward place.
But she did not even have time to feel uncomfortable.
Rision, who had let the others enter first, suddenly pulled her into his arms.
“Your Majesty?”
Rision buried his face in the back of Dianu’s neck and drew in a deep breath.
She was wearing a high-collared dress, so their bare skin did not touch.
Even so, goosebumps rippled across her entire body.
A low voice whispered by her ear.
“You smell wonderful.”
“I bathed and used scented oil, but… no, what are you doing right now?”
“I have wanted to do this since the first time I saw you.”
“You look especially beautiful today.”
“…You were the one who forced this dress on me.”
“Then it was worth forcing.”
Just as Dianu was about to scold him, Ravelan’s face suddenly popped out through the half-closed reception room door.
Startled, he spoke toward Dianu, who was hurriedly pushing Rision away.
“After dinner, music is only fitting.”
“Pardon?”
“May I ask the lady for piano accompaniment?”
“I, it would be an honor.”
Ravelan cast a meaningful glance at Rision and slipped back through the door.
Afraid that Rision might suddenly steal a kiss, Dianu grabbed her dress skirt and hurried into the reception room.
Behind her, she heard her lover click his tongue lightly.
* * *
“I heard the Princess enjoys singing.”
“Are there any Arasas songs you know?”
As Dianu sat before the pianoforte and fanned her flushed face, Ravelan spoke to Elpenlira.
Elpenlira, seated as far from Ravelan as possible, replied with a strained expression.
“I do not know many.”
“Then perhaps you know this one?”
Leaning casually against the pianoforte, Ravelan hummed a few notes and then turned his attention to Dianu.
“Yes. I can play it.”
It was not only that.
It was a song she had practiced together with Elpenlira before.
After first matching tempo with Dianu, Ravelan turned to Elpenlira.
“It is a song I am quite fond of, but I always end up singing only the male part.”
“There is never anyone to sing the refrain.”
He casually extended one hand.
“What do you say?”
“Just a bit of light entertainment.”
Elpenlira stared into empty space with a stiffened face.
Rision spoke as if to soothe her.
“Lira.”
“You always said it was a shame that songs meant for two could not be completed alone.”
“…I do not want to sing impromptu with someone I have never practiced with.”
“There is only us here.”
“Is that not fine?”
“I want to hear your singing as well.”
He gently guided his sister, who still refused to look at him, toward the piano.
“Just one song.”
After avoiding Rision for a long while, Elpenlira finally took his hand.
Instead of standing beside Ravelan, she positioned herself with Dianu between them, as if using her as a fence.
…This feels strangely burdensome.
Carefully reading the mood of the almost-married couple, Dianu began the accompaniment.
The song told the story of a fisherman leaving for the sea and a lover who stayed behind on land to wait for him.
Leaning lightly against the pianoforte, Ravelan began to sing in a relaxed voice.
The sun has not yet risen, yet the lovers already burn with heat.
Entwined bodies scatter the bedding.
The sea, loving the woman, chose instead to close its eyes.
For jealousy does not choose its target.
Not the water, not the seaweed, not even the salt.
It was an impressive performance.
He had a naturally powerful voice and excellent sense of rhythm.
Dianu, meeting him for the first time musically, was nearly swept along by his effortless lead.
She looked up at Ravelan in pure admiration.
Ravelan smiled broadly at her, as if on display.
“My love, grant me a kiss.”
“And wait for me on the shore.”
But the sea whispered.
“Cursed fisherman.”
“It is time to bid your lover farewell.”
“For her heart belongs to me alone.”
Now it was time for the woman’s refrain.
The lyrics and melody were simple yet poetic, and this refrain alone was widely sung beyond Arasas, even in other nations.
Elpenlira hesitated, but as Dianu’s accompaniment entered her part, she opened her mouth as if resigned.
From between her pale lips flowed a clear, refreshing high note, contrasting Ravelan’s low voice.
And she cries, and she cries, crying for him.
And she waits, and she waits, waiting for him.
Standing on the shore, waiting only for the fisherman’s return.
While Elpenlira sang, Ravelan watched her with a faint smile.
It was not a gaze steeped in passionate or romantic love.
Still, Dianu read something in his expression.
It was a seed of something firmer, something more resolute.
Elpenlira avoided his gaze throughout, and by the middle of the refrain, she closed her eyes entirely.
The villagers say she became a white stone pillar.
Covered in salt and coral, she waits upon the shore.
“Stone woman, wait no longer.”
“Your lover will not return.”
“The sea has taken him captive.”
“For the sin of not releasing the woman he loved.”
The tragedy of the lovers and the song’s sorrow continued to swell.
Strength gathered in Dianu’s fingertips as they struck the keys.
And she cries, and she cries, crying for him.
And she waits, and she waits, waiting for him.
Standing on the shore, waiting only for the fisherman’s return.
Lost in the performance, Dianu suddenly felt a persistent gaze and lifted her head.
Rision sat with his legs crossed on the long bench before the pianoforte, his eyes fixed precisely on her.
For a moment, her breath caught in her throat.
Those stone-colored eyes pressing down upon her heart made it hard to breathe.
It was the gaze of someone beholding something precious, refined, and dear.
Eternal and transcendent.
Like a priest reaching toward the hem of a goddess who would vanish if he dared to look away.
Within that gaze filled with reverence and devotion, Dianu Ortensa became the most noble being in the world.
The legend says.
On storm-lashed days.
That very fisherman stirs the waves.
That he wagers his life battling the sea itself.
Her stomach churned.
Now that she knew she could become the object of such a gaze, how could she possibly give it up so easily?
If she was destined to lose it anyway, perhaps it would have been better never to know.
Exchanging souls while barely standing atop a sandcastle called reality was such a sorrowful thing.
And she cries, and she cries, crying for him.
And she waits, and she waits, standing and waiting.
And she cries, and she cries toward the sea.
Will Dianu one day also become a stone pillar, endlessly calling Rision’s name?
And would she be able to endure such a future?
Elpenlira’s fading voice announced the end of the performance.
Dianu slowly lifted her foot from the pedal.
As the final resonance faded, silence settled over the reception room.
Rision sprang to his feet.
It was not to applaud the fine performance given by his sister, his lover, and his friend.
“Lira.”
His voice, filled with confusion, called his sister’s name.
Dianu’s gaze was naturally drawn to Elpenlira.
With a face as cold as a statue carved from snow, Elpenlira wept silently, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks.
