The Third Reservoir
The sound of the emperor’s office door closing behind me rolled low down the corridor.
Out in the hall, the princess and the young lady were still waiting exactly where I had left them.
Neither face had changed from its usual composure, yet the moment their eyes found the sealed letter in my hand, their gazes moved first.
The princess spoke.
“What did you discuss?”
Instead of answering, I looked down at the letter once more.
The imperial direct-line seal.
They both knew perfectly well what it meant to be told to carry this back to the northeast alone.
“He ordered me to return to the northeast by myself.”
The princess’s brows lifted a fraction.
Beside her, the young lady raised her eyes as well.
“Alone?”
Surprisingly, it was the young lady who echoed the word.
I nodded.
“Your Highness and my lady will not be accompanying me.”
“How very like His Majesty.”
The princess cut the words short.
Her expression said she disliked the arrangement.
“And?”
The moment I drew a breath, she pressed again.
“Don’t stop there. His Majesty summoned only you. It cannot have ended in a single sentence.”
She was right.
In the end I lifted the sealed letter a little higher so they could see it.
“This is a personal letter for my father.”
Both pairs of eyes locked onto the seal at once.
“If he cooperates, it ends as an inspection. But if he hides something, the story changes—those were His Majesty’s words.”
“Changes… how?”
When the princess asked, I looked straight at her.
“If my father refuses the imperial inspection, I become the imperial proxy.”
A brief silence fell.
This time even the princess did not answer at once.
The young lady exhaled first.
“…Lord Elverhart is formidable.”
“…Pardon?”
I was a man better described as filthy than formidable.
The imperial house had placed a sword hilt in my hand.
And they had already decided where the tip would point.
The princess kept her eyes on the letter for a long moment before she spoke slowly.
“His Majesty is testing you.”
“That is how I took it as well.”
“You must be furious.”
I answered without even managing a smile.
“Extremely.”
At that, the corner of the princess’s mouth twitched—barely. She had not expected me to be so openly sarcastic.
The young lady quietly studied my right hand.
The bandages still stood out beneath the glove.
“When do you leave?”
“At dawn tomorrow.”
“That’s soon.”
“By His Majesty’s standards, it may already be late.”
The princess folded her arms and looked down at me.
“Very well. Then I won’t keep you any longer.”
She said it, yet she did not turn away at once.
Instead she stepped one pace closer.
“Lord Elverhart.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“When you go down to the northeast, do not behave the way you did in the palace.”
I narrowed my eyes for a moment.
“…What do you mean by ‘the way I did in the palace’?”
“Going in alone first, touching everything, and only returning alive after it is all over.”
No answer came immediately.
The young lady added flatly from the side,
“I agree.”
“Even you, my lady?”
“Because you never listen the first time.”
The princess held out her hand.
On her palm lay a small metal plaque.
It was a travel pass stamped with the imperial crest.
“If you run into checkpoints or if the imperial knights stationed in the northeast try to make trouble, show them this. It was issued in my name.”
“Is it all right for me to use Your Highness’s name so freely?”
“Just take it. The best outcome is that you never need it.”
I accepted the plaque without a word.
It was thin metal, yet it felt strangely heavy.
Without hesitation the young lady held out a small sheaf of papers.
“I compiled these.”
“What are they?”
“The common patterns that appeared across the recent series of incidents.”
I took the papers and unfolded them.
They were short and clean.
Nothing extra—only the differences in texture carefully sorted.
Exactly like her.
“My lady.”
“Don’t lose them.”
“Thank you.”
“Save the gratitude until after you come back alive from the northeast.”
The princess glanced sideways at her and said,
“My lady, that almost sounded like worry.”
“Your Highness is mistaken.”
I let out a dry laugh.
These two were probably the finest pair in the empire.
That night stretched long, and dawn arrived quickly.
Before sunrise the eastern gate of the palace was still dark.
In the cold air the horses’ breath bloomed white.
What had been prepared was modest: one small carriage, two packhorses, and only one of my own people.
Dein was already checking the harness.
The moment he saw me approach, he lifted his head.
“Young master.”
“Why the face?”
“Because I hate it.”
“Hate what?”
“The imperial house putting something like that in your hand and sending you off.”
His gaze dropped to the sealed letter inside my coat.
I rested a hand on the carriage threshold.
“I don’t like it either.”
Dein clicked his tongue short.
“And yet you still have to go.”
“Not going would make things worse.”
We said nothing more and set out.
Until we left the capital outskirts the road stayed even and wide.
But the farther we turned toward the northeast, the rougher the path became.
Patches of unmelted snow still clung here and there, and the wind carried the scent of iron.
Even though it was the road home, an unpleasant feeling rose first.
Familiar scenery was supposed to put a person at ease; this time it did the opposite.
At a midway post station, while we changed horses, Dein spoke low.
“Looks like the rumors got here first.”
I had felt it too.
The way people looked at us was subtle.
Unlike usual, their eyes checked the carriage crest first.
“Probably because the imperial stench is too strong.”
“Or because things are already restless inside the territory.”
“That possibility exists as well.”
The deeper we entered the northeast, the more temporary checkpoints appeared at every turn.
They were soldiers bearing the Elverhart crest, yet their gear looked somehow disordered.
Faces that had not slept, barricades thrown up in haste.
When small anomalies pile up, they show like this.
A major accident had not yet occurred.
But every face already knew one was coming.
As the sun slanted, the outer boundary stone of Viscount Elverhart’s domain came into view.
An old stone pillar rimmed in black iron.
As a child it had looked so tall; strangely, now it seemed low.
Dein said,
“We got back sooner than I expected.”
“Yeah.”
Something caught oddly in my throat, so I answered shortly.
The main keep’s front gate was busier than usual.
Cargo wagons came and went more frequently; sacks of grain hauled from the outskirts and crates of spare barrier stones kept moving inside.
Two record keepers were stationed in front of the warehouse, and the knights were noticeably on edge.
When we stopped, both gatekeepers lifted their heads almost at the same time.
First they stiffened at the sight of me; next they stiffened harder at the imperial mark beside the carriage.
“…Young master.”
“Open the gate.”
They moved at once, yet a strange hesitation slipped between the order and the action.
I did not miss that brief gap.
Inside, several familiar faces waited at the foot of the main hall stairs.
Kyle, the barrier assistant, even the old clerk in charge of the archives.
Every one of them looked at the sealed letter in my coat before they looked at my face.
Kyle hurried down the steps first.
The man who was always immaculate today had one strand of hair slightly out of place.
“Young master, you have returned quickly.”
“Where is my father?”
“He is not presently in the main keep.”
I asked a beat late.
“Where is he?”
“He has gone toward the Third Reservoir.”
Exactly the place the emperor had pointed to on the map.
I started to turn at once, but Kyle carefully stepped in front of me.
“Young master.”
“Move.”
“There is a message I must deliver first.”
His voice sounded wrong.
I looked straight at him.
Only after scanning the surroundings did Kyle speak very low.
“The lord instructed that when the young master arrives, he is to be shown into the study first.”
“The study?”
“Yes. And…”
He let the sentence trail off.
Dein frowned beside me.
“And what?”
Kyle glanced once at the sealed letter inside my coat, then finally bowed his head.
“He said you must not open the imperial letter yet.”
For an instant my mind went blank.
I stepped forward.
“What did you say?”
“The lord stated it clearly. That the young master would arrive carrying a certain sealed letter. But under no circumstances were you to open it, nor produce it in front of anyone.”
Dein held his breath.
I could not speak either.
How?
I brushed past Kyle and entered the main keep.
It was the same corridor I always walked.
Yet everyone kept their mouths shut and even muffled their footsteps.
The entire house felt as though it were watching my reaction.
A truly nauseating sensation—as if I had already become the imperial proxy.
When I opened the study door, the old smell of ink rose first.
A map lay spread across the desk.
The Elverhart main keep and the outer reservoirs, the old watchtowers, the closed waterways, the reserve barrier lines.
Quiet red ink lines lay over them.
Almost the same places the emperor had shown me.
And right in the center rested a short note.
My name was written on it.
Rion.
I picked up the note.
Do not open the sealed letter.
The moment you open it, you become the emperor’s blade.
When you return, meet me at the Third Reservoir.
It was short.
My fingertips went cold.
Outside the door, wind rattled the window frame.
I stood holding the note for a long time, unable to move.
The emperor had given me the sealed letter.
My father had already anticipated exactly what I would bring back from the capital.
Dein spoke low behind me.
“Young master.”
I slowly raised my head.
I looked at the map on the desk again.
Every red line converged on the Third Reservoir.
Now I understood.
My father had known everything from the beginning and had already begun to move.