The Handkerchief He Kept
As the banquet drew toward its close, knights filed into the hall. They had come from every region to collect the comfort gifts.
Looking over what had been donated, not one of them could quite hide a satisfied smile.
Only a portion of it would ever reach the common soldiers. Most would become bribes for those above them, and the knights sent to collect it might easily slip one expensive-looking item into their own coats when no one was watching.
Laniakea waited in an agony of nerves for Hyperion's knight.
When he came in and saw a single handkerchief and a few gold coins that amounted to little more than mockery, his expression did not change at all. He looked thoroughly accustomed to this sort of thing.
Only when his eyes fell on the handkerchief did they widen, just slightly, and he bowed to Laniakea with impeccable courtesy.
At the sight, the nobles' voices rose in a murmur clearly meant to be overheard.
"There were quite a few deaths last year as well, weren't there?"
"Surely the fault lies with the man who leads the knight order. Look at the territories of Her Majesty the Empress's house. There, they carry out their duties splendidly, and not a single person is hurt."
It was nonsense.
Set beside lands as safe as the approaches to the capital, was it not only natural that knights stationed on rough ground—where barbarians and monsters came down at the slightest provocation—should suffer more wounds?
And yet they spoke as if the knights, and Hyperion himself, were injured because they were incompetent.
Laniakea quietly approached the knight as he gathered the handkerchief and the few coins, and spoke.
"I… I didn't know there would be a donation of this kind at today's banquet. If I had, I would have prepared something more…."
"It is quite all right. His Highness the Prince has already seen to this winter's preparations in full. That is why he always inspects the comfort gifts and sends them back."
In other words, he did not accept them.
Several weeks after the banquet, Laniakea was listening from a corner of another gathering to the talk of the ministers when she heard that Hyperion had returned those few gold coins.
He must have thrown the handkerchief away.
It was nothing remarkable. Perhaps the knight had kept it for a while and then tossed it aside without a thought.
She had told herself as much and never thought of the handkerchief again—and yet he had kept it all this time.
Laniakea snatched at the handkerchief in his hand.
A sudden fear seized her: that his claim to have treasured it was nothing but a sneer at the woman who, back then, had sent him nothing at all.
"I am ashamed to say I didn't know there was a banquet for offering comfort gifts, and I put forward something as trifling as a handkerchief. I apologize."
She tried to take it quickly and tuck it into her pocket, but contrary to her expectation, Hyperion did not let go.
For a moment a tug-of-war began between them, the handkerchief caught in the middle.
The victor, of course, was Hyperion. The slightest pull from him was enough to make Laniakea stagger.
Startled, she released her hold. He slipped the handkerchief into his own pocket as swiftly as if he were hiding it, then caught her before she could lose her balance.
He settled her back into her seat and went on with the conversation as calmly as if nothing had happened.
"If you did not return to Priatra, what did you intend to do after the divorce?"
At his words, Laniakea remembered why she had wanted to see him.
"That is… actually, that is what I hoped to speak with you about."
She fidgeted with fingers that were clean now, and her lips parted.
"If I can, I would like to remain in the Empire even after the divorce. Not inside the Imperial Palace, of course. I hope to go somewhere very far away and live quietly there. But… shamefully, though I did try to be careful, what I have left is not enough…."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
The budget allotted to her annex was truly meager. Without the Empress's consideration, even procuring a new gown for a banquet was difficult.
She could have simply stayed away from banquets, but she could not refuse when the Empress summoned her.
In truth, she had known the Empress was calling her on purpose.
She was invited even when she had no means to acquire new clothes or jewels, so that she would be left clinging to the Empress's favor.
Fortunately, from a year ago the Empress had stopped summoning her.
She had endured the banquets by spending no more money in that way, but she could not refuse to spend on the upkeep of the annex.
A lack of funds was no reason to pay the staff poorly. So she sent away everyone who wished to go to another palace and kept the annex running with the smallest possible number.
Lucy helped with a great deal of the work, but there were still not enough hands, and Laniakea often took up the menial tasks herself.
Hyperion's bedchamber in the annex, in particular, she cleaned entirely on her own, because Lucy broke the furniture so often. No one used the room, so it was only a matter of dusting, and not especially difficult.
Around that time the Empress's maids paid a sudden visit, saw her at it, and whispered among themselves, looking at Laniakea with pity and contempt together.
They clicked their tongues over a prince's wife taking up broom and duster with her own hands, and left.
Afterward the Empress's Palace sent a paltry additional sum along with a set of new cleaning tools. The mockery was unmistakable.
I wasn't particularly hurt.
Laniakea divided the money the Empress had sent among Lucy and the other employees.
Compared with the other palaces, she had almost never been able to give them extra pay, and she was glad she could look after them even in this way. What little remained she put away in a drawer.
She had saved so diligently, and still it was not enough to rent a single small house.
Seeing Hyperion sunk once more into silence, Laniakea spoke in a rush.
"I didn't spend it carelessly! I tried, in my own way, to be frugal…."
"I know. The Empress assigned you an absurdly small amount."
Hyperion rose and went to his desk. He took up a sheaf of papers lying there, returned, and sat down before Laniakea again.
"I have reviewed all of it. The base budget was fixed according to standards from decades ago, and the additional funds that should have been disbursed each quarter were never issued at all. It is a wonder you managed to keep the annex running on this."
He clicked his tongue as he spoke, as if the whole matter vexed him.
Laniakea was bewildered.
He had only arrived at the Imperial Palace yesterday. He must have been busy even seeing to the funeral, and every minister in the palace would have crowded in for an audience. He could hardly have had time to sleep—so when had he looked through those papers?
"I managed, more or less. It wasn't ample, so there was never anything left over… That is why it would have been difficult if Your Highness demanded a divorce. Under the marriage contract, aside from the money I have saved until now, I would have nothing to take with me. So, setting shame aside, I had thought to ask for a little help after the divorce."
He was silent at her words. Only after a long while did he speak.
"How much support had you intended to request?"
"That is…."
She had not settled on any particular sum. She had only thought of asking for enough help to see her through until she could secure a house.
When she could not answer at once, Hyperion set down the papers he was holding.
"If you do not divorce, you will have no need for worries of this kind."
He was right. If she did not divorce, she would live as empress. An empress of the Empire would hardly spend her days fretting over a place to lay her head.
"But… I still believe I am far too lacking to become empress myself."
She understood that he wanted an empress without power. Even so, she did not belong in the seat of the Empire's empress.
No matter how she turned it over, she could be of no help to Hyperion, nor to the Empire.
"Why do you think so?"
"Why? What could I possibly do? It shames me to say it myself, but my kingdom will be of no help to Your Highness. And I have far too many shortcomings beside other accomplished young ladies."
It was not modesty. She was royalty, so she had received the basic lessons, but they had been truly basic and nothing more.
Set beside the daughters of noble houses who, from childhood, had studied without rest under the Empire's renowned professors in order to succeed their families or take part in affairs of state, she would have had nothing to say for herself if someone called her ignorant.
It had been the same after she became a prince's wife. The other princes' wives had dreamed of one day becoming empress, moved through society, and learned a great deal.
Laniakea, meanwhile, had done nothing but dust the annex, tend a very small garden, and live among her books.
And that woman, an empress? The mere thought felt like a hand closing around her throat. That seat had never been meant for her.
Perhaps he saw her expression harden. Hyperion took up the papers again as he spoke.
"I understand your wishes, for now. Even so, I ask that you consider it once more."
"I have no intention of keeping you by force. If you do not wish to remain here even a little longer, I will respect that."
At his words, Laniakea's face brightened at last.
"I don't believe my mind will change… but I'll ask for only the bare minimum as a settlement. In return, could you look after my maid and the rest of the annex's staff a little… generously?"
"I have not the slightest intention of stinting those who served you. I will see to them amply, so that no one has cause for complaint."
His answer set her more at ease than ever.
"I'll take my leave, then. You must be very busy, and I'm sorry to have taken so much of your time."
"Not at all. It was I who asked to see you. You must still be badly shaken, and I am grateful you came."
Just then there came a knock, and with it an attendant's voice.
"Your Highness! His Majesty the Emperor is asking for you!"
At the word Emperor, Laniakea rose in haste and bowed her head.
Hyperion looked at her for a moment, then excused himself first. He set the papers down and went out.
Laniakea hurried out as well and returned to the annex. Back in the familiar quiet of her own room, she let out a breath of relief and thought,
I'll be able to leave the palace sooner than I expected.
But that night, as if to laugh at the thought, something happened.