Divorce (2)
"I'm trying to help Meursault and Daphne start something. Do you know where I should begin?"
"…Haydam."
The Commander set down the documents he had been reading with a sigh.
"You haven't forgotten that I'm still Daphne's husband, have you?"
I haven't forgotten. That's exactly why I came to you first.
"You still have no intention of divorcing her, then?"
"……"
Instead of answering, the Commander folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. His one remaining eye settled quietly on the white kitten nestled in my arms.
"Is that the cat Meursault mentioned?"
After revealing Luna's existence to Bones and Lucas, I had made a point of showing her first to the people around me—Meursault included. If the Commander heard about her through others before seeing her himself, he would be less likely to find anything strange about it when we finally met. Just as I'd hoped, he showed no great surprise at the kitten in my arms. He only watched Luna with mild curiosity, so I leaned down and whispered to her.
"Go to Father."
Luna flinched and hesitated a moment, then hopped lightly from my arms onto the Commander's desk. She stared at him for a beat, then stretched her neck out as if asking to be petted. The Commander huffed a quiet laugh.
"No fear, are you?"
"Think of her as me and be kind."
He gave me a look that said the words didn't sound like me at all, then stroked the top of Luna's head with casual indifference. Luna purred, then flopped heavily across the papers he had been reading.
"Well… there is something of you in her, I suppose."
After scratching under Luna's chin for a while, the Commander looked at me with his one eye.
"You've been coming to my office more often lately. Is it because of the promise you made to Luna Moon?"
Hm.
Back when I had woken in the hospital room, I had told him that because of my promise to Luna Moon, I would protect him with my life from then on. He seemed to believe my recent visits were simply to check that he was still safe.
I can't exactly say that his real son wants to see him, so I've been bringing him along.
Until now I had only brought Luna in the form of a ring. Leaving her forever trapped inside the moonstone, able only to watch the Commander from afar, hadn't sat well with me—so this time I had brought her as a cat. Of course, Luna had flatly refused to show herself in front of him at first.
Is there any reason you need to hide only from the Commander? Unless you're the real Haydam…
I had let the sentence trail off just enough. Luna had immediately insisted that since she was not Haydam, she could appear in front of the Commander all she liked—and so we had come together like this. Even if I was only pretending to be Haydam, there was no reason Luna shouldn't receive the Commander's affection.
Anyway.
"You keep asking questions," I said. "But you still haven't answered mine, Father."
The hand stroking Luna paused.
"…Haydam. Even I can't answer every question."
My question had been whether he still had no intention of divorcing. If even he doesn't know the answer, doesn't that amount to the same thing as not wanting a divorce yet?
Come to think of it, the Commander had always been lukewarm whenever the subject of divorce came up. Did he simply not want to divorce Daphne? Or was there some reason he couldn't? Until now I had assumed he was delaying to avoid friction with the pro-Daphne faction. But that faction had been battered into near irrelevance by Anton's retirement and the consecutive disasters surrounding General Max. If the Commander and Daphne were going to divorce, there would never be a more convenient time. He had to know that as well as I did.
"Is there a problem? Some reason you can't divorce?"
The Commander stared at me for a long moment, then slowly shook his head.
"…Luna Moon never knew how to back down either, once something caught her interest. You take after her, I suppose. It's irritating sometimes."
This man blames every bad trait on Mom.
"Are you at least preparing properly for the entrance exam? There aren't many days left."
It sounded like the ordinary question of a father to a son facing an exam—except I wasn't going to take the academy entrance exam. I was going to run it. One week remained until the Military Academy's entrance examination. My goal was to wring a firm answer about the divorce out of the Commander before then.
"You don't need to worry about the entrance exam. The preparations are finished."
"Oh? What kind of test will you set?"
"Even for my father, I can't leak the exam questions."
"Meursault seems to know the ones you've prepared."
…From the start, the Commander had been answering none of my questions and steering the conversation elsewhere. Did he simply not want to discuss divorce with his son? But I needed to understand his thinking exactly if I was going to decide on the next steps of my plan. I still had the last of the Three Rewards left unused. If I could arrange the divorce with Daphne without spending them, that would be ideal.
"Is it that you don't want Daphne to end up with Meursault?"
"…So you came today determined to get an answer."
He must have realized that changing the subject would not make me leave. A silence stretched—not a short one—before he finally spoke.
"I don't care for Meursault… Yes. That may be it."
…He was lukewarm about the divorce because he genuinely disliked Meursault? Fortunately, what followed was a reason I could actually understand.
"Daphne is the woman Luna Moon entrusted to me. That means I am responsible for her. I cannot simply hand her over because Meursault wants her. She was never my possession to begin with."
I realized my mistake. I already knew Daphne's favorite was Meursault, which was why I had been pushing so hard for their remarriage. The Commander, however, knew nothing of her feelings. From his perspective, Meursault was the only one unilaterally wanting the marriage. After more than a decade of marriage born from Luna Moon's dying request, of course he would hesitate.
He must think that if he divorces Daphne now, I'll force her into remarrying Meursault.
Just as Daphne had never known that Luna Moon left a letter asking the Commander to marry her, the Commander had never known that Daphne had long ago begged Luna Moon to help her stay with Meursault instead of marrying him. If the two of them simply learned each other's circumstances, both the divorce and the remarriage would fall into place without difficulty.
Except…
If I told him here and now that Daphne also had feelings for Meursault, he wouldn't believe me. The Commander trusted that I could accomplish anything—and at the same time, he knew I would use any means necessary to do it. That made him less inclined to take my word on matters of the heart. Daphne's feelings had to come from Daphne's own mouth. Only then would the Commander believe them.
Wait a second…
Hadn't Daphne clearly said she would work up the courage to confess once Meursault returned from the subjugation campaign? She couldn't have already confessed while I was stuck in a hospital bed… could she?
"It looks like General Max will be promoted to full general."
Meursault launched straight into work talk the moment I arrived.
That is definitely not the face of a man who has just been confessed to by the person he has loved his entire life…
If they had confirmed each other's feelings, he would not be acting exactly the same as always. More importantly—General Max, promoted to full general?
"Was that His Excellency's decision?"
"Half of it, yes."
"What do you mean, half?"
"Every other officer declined the post of full general."
"They deliberately refused a promotion? Why?"
"Why do you think?"
Meursault fixed me with a steady look as he asked.
"…Why are you looking at me like that? What, is this somehow my fault?"
"What are you talking about? Of course it's because of you, Lord Haydam."
"How is that supposed to be obvious?"
"The other officers all know what became of Anton and Yosef when they held the rank of full general. The position is a poisoned chalice now. No one was willing to step forward and drink."
"Then General Max…"
"Was pushed into it. After the recent incident, it was essentially a demand that he take responsibility."
I hadn't expected things to develop this way. Still, if an upright man like General Max was the one being promoted, I had no objection. Through his connection to Bones, Max was likely to look favorably on me as well.
"Then who's taking Yosef's place?"
At the question, Meursault's expression turned truly wretched.
"…It appears it will be me."
"Weren't you a major general?"
"His Excellency's will is what it is."
So this is what life under a dictator looks like.
"Why the surprise? Wasn't this exactly the outcome you were trying to avoid by keeping Yosef alive?"
"Ah… right."
I couldn't claim I had ever intended to spare him, so I simply agreed with a smile. Meursault smiled back.
"Still, this whole affair reassured me that even you are only human. Even you can't do anything about a natural disaster, it seems."
"……"
If it put his mind at ease, I would leave him believing that for the time being.
"Anyway—have you seen Lady Daphne recently?"
"Lady Daphne… you say?"
Meursault tilted his head, clearly finding the question abrupt.
"It's odd that you'd ask me. It's not as though I have any occasion to meet Lady Daphne separately."
"So you haven't seen her, then."
"No."
Not long ago Daphne had planted a death flag—no, a love flag—declaring she would confess her feelings the moment Meursault returned from the subjugation. With the matter of General Max winding down, I had assumed she would have made contact with him at least once by now… but she still hadn't acted?
Whether it's simple lack of courage or some other circumstance of her own, I don't know…
Either way, I had promised her I would arrange the divorce. I would have to step in myself.
"Meursault."
"Yes."
"I'm going to see Lady Daphne tomorrow. You're coming with me."
"What?! M-me as well?"
Meursault began to rattle like loose armor.
"Th-that… wouldn't that be improper? It really wouldn't do, would it?"
You don't even have the courage to go meet her, and yet you came up with the idea of marrying her? Where did that even come from?
Daphne did possess that unheard-of item, the Violet Eyes of Fascination. But judging by the fact that the Commander had continued to love Luna Moon even while Daphne wore it, the item only made the wearer appear more beautiful—it didn't actually influence anyone's feelings.
One week until the academy entrance exam. Within that time, I at least needed to get Daphne and Meursault face to face. Anton still grumbled, but he had already come over to my side. General Max, who would inherit his place, already held a favorable view of me because of the Bones affair. If the two of them were going to divorce, now was the perfect moment. And if Meursault—soon to be promoted to full general—remarried Daphne afterward, that would be the finishing touch. The old pro-Commander and pro-Daphne factions would lose all meaning, and everyone would simply become pro-Haydam and live in peace.
"I'll get permission from Lady Daphne myself, so stop fretting."
"Lord Haydam… thank you…! I will keep my promise as well, without fail!"
…Promise?
"What promise all of a sudden?"
"Did I not swear that I would do everything in my power to help you build an ideal family of your own, Lord Haydam?"
"Ah……"
That time I was playing the understanding friend?
"You really don't have to."
"I will find you an excellent match without fail."
"No—I'm only eleven…"
"If there is no one suitable inside the Zone, I will search every other Zone until I find one. You need only trust me, Lord Haydam."
There is no talking to this man.
I was still trying to calm Meursault down when a soldier approached us hesitantly.
"What is it?"
Meursault dropped the nonsense at once and addressed the man. The soldier offered him only the briefest greeting before turning to me instead.
"You should go to His Excellency at once, Lord Haydam."
"Is His Excellency summoning Lord Haydam?"
Meursault asked on behalf of my blank stare. The soldier shook his head.
"No, sir. An embassy has arrived from the Love Area."
"What? The Love Area?"
Something from the Love Area? An embassy?
I was still doubting my ears when the soldier continued.
"They say they have come to meet Lord Haydam. A girl about the same age as him."
I understood at once who it was.
The shaman of the Love Area.
The player called God had come.