When Morning Comes, Rumors Spread
Sleep had not been deep. I lost count of how many times I closed my eyes only to open them again. My bandaged palm throbbed through the night, and in the haze of dreams the sensation of black thorns returned again and again. In the end, I must have fallen fully asleep only well after dawn had passed.
When the knock at the door woke me, a dull morning light was already seeping through the curtains by the window.
“Lord Elverhart.”
It was a knight’s voice from outside.
I rubbed my dry eyes once and pushed myself up. My back felt heavy. I had no idea how many hours I had actually slept.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a servant entered with a knight. In the servant’s hands were a neatly folded new shirt and a formal coat.
“Her Highness wishes to see you before breakfast.”
Just like the princess. I almost laughed for no reason. She had kept me here all night, and now she was summoning me first thing in the morning.
“What time?”
“She said to come as soon as you rise.”
It was brief. I asked nothing more and rose from the bed.
While I finished washing and changed into the new shirt, the servant never once asked a needless question. Only when my bandaged hand fumbled with the collar did his gaze linger there for a moment. Whatever was going to spread had already spread, I supposed.
Stepping out into the corridor, the morning air was thinner and colder than the night’s. People were already coming and going through the western wing’s halls—servants, knights, and officials who looked like record-keepers. Everyone kept their mouths shut, but their eyes flicked toward me once each.
A jilted noble had spent the night in the western wing of the imperial palace. Right after the banquet hall collapsed, the princess herself had taken him there. Even knowing just that much was enough to make tongues itch.
As I passed through the corridor and turned into the gallery overlooking the garden, a familiar voice came from ahead.
“Lord Rion.”
I stopped.
It was Serena Valter. Unlike last night, she wore a neat morning dress, but her complexion was poor—severely pale. It was the face of someone who had stayed up all night. A maid stood behind her, and a short distance away two imperial knights kept watch.
I gave a short bow.
“My lady.”
Serena looked first at the bandage on my hand. Her gaze lingered longer than I expected.
“…I didn’t know you were hurt.”
“There’s no need for you to know, my lady.”
Perhaps my answer had been too dry; her lips tightened for a moment. But she soon forced her expression back into place.
“Last night…”
Serena paused briefly.
“I know it was rash of me to seek you out.”
Even after hearing that, I did not answer right away. She was not a person used to such silence. Moreover, the old me would have at least chosen words that would not make her uncomfortable. But now there was no reason to do so.
Serena raised her head first. Her gray eyes wavered.
“Still, there was one thing I wanted to ask.”
I waited quietly.
“Last night at the banquet hall… did you know from the beginning?”
“Know what?”
“That I was going to break off the engagement.”
I was silent for a moment. A thin morning breeze brushed past the gallery. Frost clinging to the tips of the garden trees gleamed white without yet catching the sunlight. In the end, I spoke while turning my gaze slightly aside.
“I expected it.”
Serena’s fingertips flinched.
“…And yet you stayed so quiet.”
“I had no choice.”
“You didn’t even think of holding on.”
The end of that sentence trembled faintly. Only then did I look straight at Serena.
“My lady.”
My voice was lower than I expected.
“Do you truly not know why you are asking that question now?”
Serena closed her mouth. It was not the first time she had been unable to continue, but this was a little different. It was the face of someone who had realized something she herself could no longer avoid.
Just then a knight stepped closer.
“Lord Elverhart. Her Highness is waiting.”
He was right. I bowed to Serena again.
“…If you’ll excuse me.”
This time she could not stop me. She simply stood there with an expression that remained unsettled as I passed by.
As I rounded the end of the gallery, one of the knights said very quietly,
“I heard Lady Valter has been looking for you since morning.”
I glanced at him.
“Do imperial knights traffic in such talk?”
“Not with our mouths.”
He answered only that much and said no more.
The reception room where the princess stayed was different from last night’s—a small space that served as both dining room and meeting room, with wide windows. Stepping inside, the warm scent of tea mixed with the smell of ink.
Isabella Ernesia was already seated at the inner place, and Adelaide Rubenheim was across from her, flipping through documents.
The princess set down her teacup the moment I entered.
“You’re not late.”
“I didn’t seem to have the luxury of being late.”
“You saw that correctly.”
The princess spoke without even smiling. On the table there were more documents than a simple breakfast—barrier chamber access records, banquet hall floor plans, papers that looked like knight order reports. These women had clearly not slept all night.
Adelaide glanced at me once.
“How is the hand?”
“Serviceable enough.”
“It doesn’t look that way at all.”
The princess cut in as if to interrupt.
“Even if it’s a mess, you’ll have to use it today.”
As expected. I sat down and asked,
“Has the administrator woken?”
“Not yet.”
The princess pushed a sheet of paper toward me with one finger.
“But something interesting has come up instead.”
I looked down at the paper. It was the barrier chamber access log. Names of those who had come and gone from just before last night’s collapse until right after the resealing were listed. The oddity jumped out at once.
“One line is blank.”
Adelaide nodded.
“Yes. One of the record-keepers clearly stated he stamped the seal, yet in the actual ledger that entire time slot is empty.”
“Erased?”
The princess said,
“They erased the record itself with cunning skill. There’s no sign the ledger was swapped out entirely. It would have to be someone who knows the internal recording system perfectly.”
I stared down at the ledger for a while. Someone who knew how to handle the barriers. Someone who could move from the inside. Someone who had also tampered with the records. There was still no good news.
The princess looked at me.
“Lord Elverhart, from today you may not leave the Imperial Capital.”
“I believe I heard that last night as well.”
“Today it carries a more official meaning.”
Without taking my eyes from the documents, I asked,
“And the official pretext?”
“Material witness regarding the anomaly in the banquet hall barrier.”
“And unofficially?”
Before the princess could answer, Adelaide spoke first.
“Someone who might serve as bait.”
I slowly raised my gaze. Adelaide’s face was as dry as ever. It was not an expression that invited jokes. The princess did not even say the remark was inappropriate. She merely lifted her teacup once and set it down again.
“I’ll be frank.”
She said,
“The mark that came out of the barrier chamber last night has broken. If the culprit shares that sensation, there’s a high chance they’ve already noticed that you touched it.”
“I understand it’s not a good situation.”
“Yes. Very.”
I leaned back against the chair. Things were escalating faster than expected. Until just one night ago, the broken engagement had been everything. Now I was a material witness in the destruction of an imperial barrier and a candidate for bait. I was truly exhausted.
The princess spoke as if she had read my face.
“In return, there will be compensation.”
“Compensation… meaning?”
“I will grant you access to the Elverhart family’s border defense records and the recent reports on monster activity in the northeast.”
That might have been the first time my expression changed at her words. The corner of the princess’s mouth moved slightly.
“You’ll need that as well, won’t you?”
Need it? Of course. Monster activity on the borders had been growing worse every year. Yet the center always reacted late. If I could see the records stored in the palace, I might grasp the thread I had been missing until now. The problem was that the price was all too clear.
“Your Highness knows well how to put people to use.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Adelaide quietly closed a document.
“Your Highness. There is one more thing I must report before the morning meeting.”
The princess gave her a look.
“Go on.”
“Right now two rumors are circulating together inside the capital.”
Adelaide’s voice remained unchanged.
“One is that the banquet hall’s barrier had been unstable for a long time. The other—”
She looked at me for just a moment.
“—is that a jilted low-ranking noble was seized by Her Highness the princess right before the collapse.”
As expected. The princess let out a short breath.
“Fast.”
“Faster than expected.”
I touched the handle of the teacup once with a finger.
“If those two rumors combine, an interesting picture emerges.”
The princess asked back,
“What sort of picture?”
“Either that I am the rat who wrecked the barrier, or that the imperial family has found a convenient scapegoat to pin the blame on. People will chatter about whichever version suits their taste.”
Adelaide said lowly,
“And Lady Valter’s side will not stay quiet either.”
At those words the room fell quiet for a moment. The princess drank her tea with an unconcerned face, but her eyes were different—already calculating the ripples.
“Very well.”
She set down the teacup.
“Then it would be better to keep you even closer at my side.”
“To fan the rumors?”
“No.”
The princess’s gaze flew straight at me.
“To see who tries to take a bite first.”
I was silent for a while. It was not good. But it was not an entirely wrong method either. If someone had opened the door from the inside, the rumors outside could eventually become a chance to expose that hand.
The princess tapped the table twice with a finger.
“Today’s schedule is simple. In the morning you and I will check the barrier record vault, and in the afternoon we will narrow down a few names from last night’s banquet guest list.”
“A few…?”
“Houses and people who had access to the auxiliary barrier chamber.”
Adelaide added,
“And those who moved too quickly at the scene last night, or conversely those who were not surprised enough.”
I looked back and forth between the two.
“Do you ladies always sort people this way?”
Adelaide answered calmly,
“The way of distinguishing useful people from the rest differs for each of us, I suppose.”
The princess lifted the corner of her mouth slightly at that.
“Where do you think you stand?”
I thought for a moment and said,
“I’d prefer to still be the latter.”
This time the princess smiled very briefly.
Just then a knock came from outside the door. A knight entered and bowed at the waist.
“Your Highness. Someone has been sent from House Valter.”
The air in the room shifted subtly. The princess asked,
“Who has come?”
“Lady Valter.”
I unconsciously lowered my gaze. It had not been long since I ran into her in the morning gallery, and already she had come this far.
The princess narrowed her eyes as if intrigued.
“Early.”
Adelaide looked at me once without a word. That glance alone made it clear she had not missed the meaning of this situation.
The princess said to the knight,
“Do not let her in. Instead—”
Her gaze came slowly to me.
“—there is no need to hide the fact that Lord Elverhart is here.”
I exhaled very slowly. This would not turn out well.
The knight outside answered briefly and withdrew. The princess leaned toward me again.
“Now you understand.”
“…Understand what?”
“That from today it will be difficult for you to remain merely a jilted noble.”
Outside the window, the morning sunlight spread a little farther.