The Night He Did Not Return
Even after Laniakea returned to the Empress's Palace, the ladies-in-waiting had not calmed down.
"Your Majesty the Empress? Back so soon? I thought you had gone to the Main Palace."
Hilde, who had said she would follow along shortly, was pacing the lobby of the Empress's Palace in the highest spirits of anyone there. Then she caught sight of Laniakea, returned earlier than expected, and blinked in bewilderment.
She hurriedly inspected the state of Laniakea's dress. There was only a little soil along the hem, and no other sign of rumpling; for the briefest instant, disappointment flickered across her face.
It seemed Hilde wanted the imperial couple to share a bed even more than they did themselves.
"I told you I was only stepping out for a moment."
"But... but His Majesty came running all that way..."
"He seems to have misunderstood the letter I sent to the Annex Palace, and it gave him a fright. More importantly, let's get back. There's still a great deal to do."
"Yes, Your Majesty. But is something wrong with the Annex Palace? Among the documents I reviewed, the only matter concerning it was a request for a decision on how it is to be disposed of."
"I've just decided that disposition."
Laniakea gave Hilde a brief summary of what she and Hyperion had discussed. At that, a smile rose again on Hilde's face.
"So you mean to make it a retreat for the two of you."
"No, that isn't it..."
She meant to farm!
But the moment she tried to begin with the vegetable patch, the explanation stretched out hopelessly before her. Of the spirits, she could say even less.
Come to think of it, he did say he would stop by often.
On the way back, Hyperion had gazed in open admiration at the ears of corn, plump and solid with kernels, and then remarked lightly, as if it were nothing more than a passing thought.
"I find myself looking forward to whatever Mole will give me the next time I visit."
More likely than not, it was only something said in passing.
However delicious Mole's gifts had been, the imperial kitchens could hardly be lacking in ingredients of equal quality. And with the finest chefs in the Empire laying delicacies of land and sea before him every day, he was hardly going to come calling merely because the fruit and vegetables tasted good.
Still. Just in case...
Before she knew it, a picture of how she might furnish the Annex Palace had begun to take shape in Laniakea's mind.
It was a place she had cherished dearly. Had the budget been a little more generous, there were so many corners she would have liked to make prettier and neater. Carpets over the marble floors, tapestries on the bare walls. Landscape paintings hung in the rooms, and lamps with pretty shades set here and there, so the nights would not fall quite so dark. Furniture of solid wood in the latest fashion, giving the whole place a more pastoral air...
She had always thought of herself as someone with few desires. Apparently that was not so. The moment she imagined decorating as she pleased, unbound by any budget, the things she wanted to buy rose up without end.
And if she did not spend it, whatever portion of the budget went unexecuted would return to the former empress.
I hate that.
Better she spend every coin herself than let it go to that woman. She had no intention of throwing away a fortune, but now that permission had been granted anyway, there were things she truly wanted.
I have to plant fruit trees.
She could expand the vegetable garden now, too. Then she could plant, as much as she liked, everything she had never been free to plant before, back when she could not lay a hand on the Annex Palace's garden as she wished.
Apples, pomegranates, figs, grapes...
The finest varieties. The sturdiest saplings. Raised together with Mole, they would bear fruit so exquisite that a single bite would set bells ringing in the ear.
For an instant, the image of Hyperion eating an apple she and Mole had grown together flashed through Laniakea's mind.
Huh?
Until now, whenever she pictured such things, her mind had held only herself and the spirits. So why, this time, was Hyperion standing so naturally among them?
In truth, when it came to closeness, Lucy was nearer. She was the one who had stayed longest at Laniakea's side through all her time in the Imperial Palace. Laniakea knew she was a warrior of the Lupin Tribe, and yet she had always felt as if Lucy were her own younger sister.
And yet, why...
Laniakea shook her head and picked up the next document she needed to review. A mountain of work still remained. Today's lessons in imperial etiquette would go on, and the decisions surrounding the banquet still towered in a heap. The regular business of the Empress's Palace would come pouring in before long. She ought to put the Annex Palace out of her mind.
Laniakea looked down at her hands. Traces of blueberry lingered where she had not yet wiped them clean. The sight of Hyperion, choosing only the plumpest and sweetest-looking ones to offer her, refused to leave her thoughts.
Two days later, Laniakea was receiving Gemma, who had come calling first thing in the morning. Pinned to her chest, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, was the insignia of Chief Imperial Physician.
"Chief Imperial Physician. The physicians already at court can't have taken that quietly. Impressive."
Laniakea meant the admiration sincerely.
The former Chief Imperial Physician had stepped down because the late emperor had died of illness. Old age had not been without its influence, but under imperial law someone had to answer for an emperor's death by sickness, and there had been no avoiding it. Everyone who had worked alongside him had been required to leave as well. It was only natural, then, that the physicians who remained had waged a ferocious, sidelong war over who would take the chief's seat next.
And then Gemma, come in suddenly from outside, had planted herself squarely in it.
Hyperion had not even appointed her. She had settled the matter herself against the imperial physicians, by knowledge and by skill, and risen to the post on her own.
"Theory or practice, it makes no difference. I'm confident. And as is only proper, my husband has been given charge of the apothecary as well."
Gemma drew her shoulders back even further, plainly proud. Then, as if deciding the boasting had gone on long enough, she stepped up before Laniakea.
"Then I shall examine you. May I undo Your Majesty's clothing?"
"Do as you find comfortable."
Even before another woman, baring her body was still embarrassing. But the examination, once a week, was one of an empress's duties. Had it been an ordinary checkup, she would not have minded much. Gemma's, however, had one purpose beyond confirming the state of her health.
"Oh dear. The bruising below your neck is still far too dark. I believe a mark was left in this same place last time as well..."
Gemma frowned as she inspected the skin beneath Laniakea's neck. At the murmur, heat rushed into Laniakea's face. The mark was, of course, one Hyperion had left.
Ever since Laniakea had fainted, Gemma had been looking not only to her health but to every matter connected with conceiving an heir.
"Your Majesty's skin is on the delicate side. If marks keep being left in the same place, they may become permanent. You really ought to be careful..."
Seeing Laniakea flushed and plainly at a loss, Gemma gave a short nod, as if she understood perfectly.
"I will speak to His Majesty myself."
And why, saying that, was she clenching her fist?
"As it happens, today is the day the two of you go to the Main Palace, so I shall call on him as soon as you return."
As Gemma said, today was again a day for the Main Palace. But Hyperion was not in the Imperial Palace now. He had gone at dawn to visit the academy near the capital—another of the duties that fell to a newly enthroned emperor.
The academy's leading figures support His Majesty. He should finish early and come back.
When the former empress had sent Hyperion to a monastery, the academy's professors had opposed it fiercely. It was not that they particularly cherished him. There was simply no precedent for sending a member of the imperial family to a monastery, and so they had blocked it. Afterward, the former empress had found every fault she could with the academy and persecuted it, certain that, like the other nobles, they would quickly bow their heads to her.
A grave miscalculation.
Professors are people whose pride pierces the sky. Declaring that the empress did not even know the etiquette of the imperial palace, they had sent the Empress's Palace a letter of mockery dressed up in genteel words. The confrontation between the former empress and the academy that began that way ended only after Hyperion took the throne.
From now on they'll have his full support, so the meeting ought to be over quickly.
Which meant that tonight's plans would proceed on schedule as well.
Once Gemma's examination was finished, Laniakea returned to the Empress's Palace and saw the day's schedule through as arranged. Then, when evening came and she went on to the Main Palace, the chief attendant of the Main Palace was there to receive her.
"His Majesty?"
"He has not yet arrived."
"I see."
Contrary to what she had expected, the academy's business seemed to be running long. Laniakea bathed first, went into the room, and waited for him.
She had not come empty-handed today, either. The ladies-in-waiting had brought documents over, but she was not waiting in order to seek his advice on paperwork.
I should ask him to choose his own chair.
For the past three years, his room had held nothing but the furniture that had stood there from the beginning. She had meant to ask what he liked and buy it for him, but he rarely came, and he never stayed so much as a day. In the end, there had been nothing prepared for him alone.
This time I'll finally be able to ask, and actually put something of his there.
Something of Hyperion's, set down in a place that had held only her own few belongings, Lucy's, and those of the other staff.
Ah. I should ask what fruit he likes, too.
When she bought the new trees, she would plant his favorite first of all.
Turning over how she might furnish the Annex Palace, Laniakea waited for him.
Several hours later, when the sky had darkened further and the stars of deep night were out, word reached the Imperial Palace.
Laniakea cried out in shock at the report of the messenger who had arrived at the Main Palace.
After departing the academy, Hyperion's party had vanished.