Homecoming, Briefly (2)
Thinking back on it, after Gorgo regained consciousness, I had answered a great many of her questions. But more than anything else, she seemed to ask in countless different ways about how things were faring in Vitagarte. It was understandable, given how proud she was of her Northern heritage, yet even accounting for that, the frequency was remarkably high.
And most of those conversations began with her casually bringing up the promise her older brother had made to her.
So naturally, Gorgo’s words inevitably led to this question.
It was a perfectly natural doubt. Even though she had resolved to shoulder the loser’s shackles all by herself, why had we come back here again?
“Ah, well, you see…”
“…I’ll explain it, Yohan.”
“As you wish, my lady.”
The young lady and I, who had heard this question many times before, laid out the facts one by one without even needing to coordinate our thoughts. Everyone already knew about those events. There was no need to explain them again in detail.
Still, we didn’t want to sound like children tattling to their parents or teachers, so we simply described everything in the plainest, most straightforward way possible, without any hint of seeking pity or blessings.
And then, naturally…
Gorgo looked thoroughly furious.
If I had to assign proportions, it was about three parts toward Rexas, the current Grand Duke of the North, and seven parts toward Shagalor, the Empire-born outsider who had suddenly rolled into their lives.
There was a reason Gorgo was loading her “shot” with such intensity.
It was a day when quiet chuckles kept slipping out like sighs. Somehow, my heart felt light enough to swim in an ocean of soda.
A short while before their audience.
Shagalor had barred anyone from entering her room and was wholly absorbed in indulging her extravagant hobbies. This time, she was blending a perfume using an extremely rare natural ambergris harvested from across the continent.
The reason she continued such frivolous, pointless behavior even as the war intensified and the North visibly crumbled was, to put it simply…
It was nothing more than a desperate, escapist struggle.
Until now, the immense power that had allowed Shagalor to seize authority, drive out that scrawny wench Karalin, and expel that detestable black boar had all come from polishing this very weapon.
Lately, her husband seemed to have grown to despise their pitiful son Abel… but that was a problem for the boy to fix himself. Rexas still had no intention of abandoning his beautiful wife, and there was no one in the North more powerful than him. In other words, as long as she maintained her beauty, she would never fall from grace.
“So I don’t care! I must become a more beautiful woman worthy of standing by his side. That is my role—!”
Some might question whether thinking like a spoiled child was the proper mindset for the mistress of the North. But the brutal battlefield drove people mad. With her own son thrown into that hell and receiving harsh criticism as a commander, Shagalor could think of no proper way to turn things around. Besides, having already driven Karalin out, she saw no reason to reverse course. She simply lived the life of a parasite.
But today, that would not be possible.
“Sh-Shagalor, my lady—!”
“What is it?”
“Well…”
It was because of the report she had just received.
The very “child” she had driven out for constantly doing things that irritated her was now striding through the palace with a perfectly intact face. The absurd news left her stunned.
“Karalin has returned?!”
“Y-yes, my lady! And also, Go—”
The moment Shagalor heard the news, she couldn’t even wait to hear the rest of the maid’s words. The audacious woman had stolen her treasure. The intelligence that she had ignored the letter Shagalor had written in barely contained rage. All of it tangled together and paralyzed her mind.
Clack, clack, clack, clack—!
So Shagalor ran toward the audience chamber, her heels clicking sharply against the floor.
“M-My lady! You must hear the rest—! It’s not just that! There’s a guest—!”
“Shut up! I have no intention of listening. That arrogant little thief has climbed over the palace walls and entered this far, and you’re telling me none of you thought to inform me until she reached the audience chamber?!”
“But you ordered us not to disturb you no matter what until you came out…”
“Don’t make excuses! Someone seize that wench and throw her in the dungeon! I’ll decide her punishment after I’ve beaten that Karalin bitch black and blue.”
“Hiiik—!”
As expected, Shagalor paid no heed to the continued explanations and violently kicked open the doors to the audience chamber.
Boom—!
“Karalin, you bitch—!”
All eyes turned toward her at once. Even her husband Rexas stared with wide, round eyes. Looking around, she saw familiar high officials, and beside them, the Lord of Steel. That annoyingly hard-to-kill cockroach of a man had returned as well. His face was still as sullen and unpleasant as ever.
I don’t know what’s going on, but he acted like he’d never come back…!
She felt the need to show these brazen returnees exactly who the true master of this household was.
And the moment a woman with a drastically altered appearance entered her vision—someone who had crawled toward the center and, for some reason, changed her lifelong long hair to a shabby short cut—Shagalor reflexively swung her hand with all her strength toward that face.
Slap—!
The heavy sound of the strike echoed throughout the entire audience chamber.
“H-Huk—!”
“…………Mmph.”
“Ugh, what—?!”
Not a single person. Not one soul—not even the tiniest insect—made a sound.
Yes, take a good look… The true owner of your homeland, Vitagarte, and of this royal palace is me. I, Shagalor.
But Shagalor completely misinterpreted the people’s horrified expressions as them being intimidated by her overwhelming dignity. Her chest swelled with triumphant satisfaction.
So she proudly lifted her gaze toward the Lord of Steel, who was staring at her with that sullen, unpleasant face—Yohan something-or-other.
However… the expression on the man’s face as he looked at her was strange. It was a face she had never seen before.
“………Kk, kkhh.”
To describe it, his already hideous face was twisted as he desperately tried to hold back laughter.
And that wasn’t all. The moment she realized the strange sensation at her fingertips felt less like striking human skin and more like hitting steel—
“…Huh?”
Shagalor could not find the frightened, mouse-like eyes that Karalin had always shown her back in the North. Instead, the person standing before her slowly turned her head and spoke while glaring at her.
“…What is this?”
The instant those words left her lips, the audience chamber collapsed into a chorus of wails.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah—!!”
“Y-Your Highness—!!”
“Your Highness the Crown Princess, please kill me—!!”
“Your Highness Gorgoooooo—!!”
And then the massive old warrior, moving like a tiger, seized Shagalor’s slender arm in a crushing grip. Her husband roared with the force of a thunderclap.
“You wretched woman—!”
“D-Darling… why are you acting like this?! Why are you treating me so cruelly! That was just a light disciplinary measure toward my daughter. You know what that bitch did to my treasure vault!”
“That’s not the point! That person is someone even I cannot treat lightly…!”
“Who in the North could possibly be such a person…!”
“If it’s my ancestor from three hundred years ago who returned from hell, then Gorgo herself could. You pathetic, self-centered piece of trash. I’d love to tell you to get the hell out of the palace for a while, but since the Great Mother herself summoned you today, I’ll restrain myself this much.”
“…Eh.”
Having never once in her life been cursed at like this, Shagalor naturally felt her chest burn hot and could not stop the tears from pouring down her face.
“Why…?”
It was exactly the same reaction Karalin had shown when she had quietly called her over and hurled similar abuse at her.
And the moment she recalled the person known as Gorgo—someone even those near the center of power would recognize without effort—and realized she had committed the worst possible blunder by slapping that person’s cheek in front of everyone—
“Calling it discipline for your daughter? Your hands seem to have poor habits.”
It was only after Gorgo spoke these words.
“…G-Gorgo… my lady?”
“Even if my skin looks like this, it’s actually quite sensitive. It may not seem so, but it hurts quite a bit when struck.”
Then she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck with a loud pop.
“What should I do? I called you here to hear what you had to say, but I’ve suddenly been insulted. I suppose I must demand an apology.”
“N-No, wait please, Lady Gorgo. It was truly a mistake. How could I possibly dare—”
Gorgo cut off Shagalor’s desperate words.
“If it was a mistake.”
She took one step forward.
“Then why are you offering excuses instead of an apology?”
At this point, there was no way to cover it up anymore. It was no different from saying that Shagalor’s already plummeting reputation—thanks to Abel’s failures—had been utterly destroyed in every direction.
But what could she do? It was all her own doing. It wasn’t even that surprising.
…Haa, it’s finally happened.
Everyone in the palace had known that Shagalor would cause a massive disaster like this someday. And this was even before Abel had arrived.