Quadrille (1)
Quadrille (1)
After Nibuer departed, Erengard walked with her son, Yune, to her bedchamber.
"You truly enjoy it that much? I'd heard most boys your age dislike sharing a bed even with their father. Yet here you are, perfectly content to sleep beside your mother, not your father."
"Yeah! You're so soft and fluffy, Maman. It feels wonderful."
A smile naturally softened her lips as she watched Yune beam beside her, the sight so adorable it drained the strength from her body.
Remembering what had just occurred, though, her expression hardened back into rigid lines.
"Let's talk before you fall asleep. So... the illness you suffered from was called Nine Yin Severed Meridians, was it not?"
"Yes!"
"And that elixir could have cured it."
"Mm... well, yes. Though taking it without having the condition probably wouldn't have caused any trouble."
She'd double-checked the elixir's effects with Yune. Once he confirmed it, a suffocating weight settled on her chest, as if a boulder were pressing down upon her.
"In the game Ryu Si-u played... I opposed an adventurer party led by the Hero."
"Yeah. You were so impossibly strong, they couldn't beat you."
"I see."
Seeking even the smallest relief from that suffocating feeling, perhaps, she instinctively pulled Yune into an embrace, burying him against her chest.
She flinched for an instant, aware of how others might view bringing a ten-year-old boy into her chambers and holding him close, but—
"Heehee. So warm."
"...."
—Yune, laughing in her arms, was so utterly precious to her. What the world might think no longer mattered in the slightest.
True to his claim, Yune nuzzled his cheek against her chest in pure enjoyment. That alone substantially eased her heavy heart.
She stroked his hair and began to organize her thoughts.
First, the Hero. The term had once defined those who stood against the Demon King, but with the Demon King defeated and peace restored, a Hero was now nothing more than a puppet of the Imperial Household.
And the fact that she, in the game, had fought the Hero's adventurer party... that was almost certainly because a civil war had broken out. Between herself, the Northern Grand Duchess, and the Kaiserin.
When Yune first told her that story, she had laughed it off. She had never harbored even the faintest intention of fighting the Imperial Household or committing treason.
However... what if something happened that would justify rebellion? An event like, for instance, the Imperial Household attempting to assassinate Yune.
-Squeeze.
"Maman? What's wrong?"
"...It's nothing. Forgive me."
Her grip had unconsciously tightened.
She pulled him even deeper against her chest. Yune gazed up at her with innocent curiosity, asking what the matter was.
Flustered, she relaxed her hold. Slowly stroking his hair, soft and rippling like gentle waves, she resumed her contemplation.
It was clear to her now. If the issue involved Yune, involved her family, she might well raise a rebellion against the Imperial Household. If the Imperial Household assassinated Yune, she would certainly act to topple them in retaliation.
Viewed with cold rationality, of course, the idea of the Imperial Household assassinating Yune made no sense.
She had always attended every imperial annual event without fail, reaffirming her loyalty—quietly, steadily demonstrating her pro-Imperial stance.
The Kaiserin, too, often praised her as the most loyal of loyal subjects. She was a valued pro-Imperial asset. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to conspire against Yune's life.
The Imperial Household had zero cause to move against her first, and the reverse was equally true.
Yet... what if a third party intervened? What if a third party assassinated Yune, then framed it as the Imperial Household's doing?
She began revisiting the day's events.
'It's true. Without Ryu Si-u's memories, Yune would have been in real danger.'
Thanks to the strange abilities Yune now possessed—the ones he called a 'Status Window' and 'Appraisal'—the attempt had been pointless.
But what if he lacked those abilities? What if he had no memory of the 'game' at all? What if time had flowed exactly as it did in that game?
By age ten, Yune would surely still be wasting away in bed. His condition might have worsened further.
And she, watching him steadily deteriorate without even having made his society debut, would have grown more and more frantic, pushing the Merchant Company Head relentlessly.
Then, if the Company Head brought her that elixir, accompanied by a Magic Tower appraisal stating it would benefit those saturated with Yin Energy... could she truly have acted with caution?
The core's internal imbalance had been expertly concealed. Even she, whose own stage had advanced further over the last two years thanks to the elixirs Yune kept feeding her, could not detect it at a casual glance.
Once the Company Head procured it, she would have inspected it several times, failed to find the anomaly, and fed it to Yune—believing it to be medicine.
Medicine that was, in truth, disguised poison. A bomb set to detonate the moment it was chewed.
And Yune, having chewed it, would right before her eyes—
'Enough.'
She halted the thought there. She refused to imagine what would follow.
Instead, she began stroking Yune's back, who had already started nodding off, drowsily fighting sleep. The body warmth seeping through the thin fabric of his clothes steadied her anxious heart.
'...Last thing. If something like that happened to Yune, I very well might lose my reason.'
From there, she pieced together why her game-self—the one in Ryu Si-u's world—had ended up opposing the Hero and, by extension, the Imperial Household.
Herself, consumed by rage after losing Yune. Her game-self, who then turned her blade upon the Imperial Household.
What had transpired between those events? Why had she, who had always been loyal, ultimately committed treason against the Imperial Household?
Nothing was certain... but one fact was now chillingly clear: some immense, malevolent will was targeting her family.
Her deductions regarding the Mastermind who had tried to assassinate Yune were as follows:
First. The Mastermind knew the nature of Yune's illness, but was unaware that he had fully recovered from it during the last two years.
That was obvious. Had they known he was already cured, they would never have attempted such a scheme.
It was sheer bad luck that the elixir had been delivered directly this time; after all, Nibuer could sell her wares to whomever she pleased. Unless the Mastermind knew that Yune desperately needed it, the gamble made no sense.
The Mastermind must have been confident that Yune still suffered from Nine Yin Severed Meridians and that selling the Solar Fire Carp's Inner Core to Nibuer would immediately pass it to the Grand Ducal House, with whom she had a contract.
A plot that, thanks to Yune having already cured himself, had gone wildly off-target.
Second. The Mastermind aims to worsen relations between the Imperial Household and herself, ultimately orchestrating a civil war.
This she inferred from the detail that her game-self had fought the Hero's adventurer party. If that were true... the Mastermind was aiming for nothing less than the empire's overthrow.
Third. The Mastermind possesses some means to manipulate her, should she lose her reason, bending her to their will.
Even if losing Yune drove her mad with grief, she would never point her sword at the Imperial Household without cause. She'd annihilate the Merchant Company and the Magic Tower, at most, and stop there.
Yet her game-self chose civil war with the Imperial Household. Following the Mastermind's design.
The reason... The Mastermind must have forged evidence to frame the Imperial Household, or somehow brainwashed her once she'd lost her reason. One of the two. Or perhaps both.
"Mamaaan...?"
"Yes. Sleep now."
Lost in thought, she noticed Yune whimpering sleepily. She gently lifted him from her arms and laid him down beside her.
She tried to pull the covers over him, but Yune, too stuffy to bear it, kicked them away.
Seeing that behavior—childish to a degree unimaginable for a ten-year-old—the Grand Duchess resolved then and there to protect him. To protect her children. From the Mastermind who bared its fangs at them. From the still-nebulous malice that stalked them.
'...I'll need to open the Treasure Vault.'
The highest priority for protection was, unquestionably, Yune. Unlike her three daughters, who had already grown and could defend themselves to some extent, Yune was a defenseless boy.
Her mind raced through every conceivable threat—poison, ambush, assassination, curses, kidnapping. She began devising countermeasures: procuring defensive artifacts, strengthening his guard detail.
She seemed poised to spend the whole sleepless night strategizing ways to safeguard Yune, but—
-Squish, streeetch.
"...Yune?"
—her train of thought abruptly derailed when Yune reached up and pulled her cheeks.
Even when she gave him a look that clearly asked what he was doing, he ignored her entirely and continued teasing her face with his stubby little hands.
About ten seconds later, after comically tugging the corners of her mouth upward, he beamed with satisfaction.
"Maman. Your face got scary again. Smile. Smile."
At the sleepy, soft-eyed smile he gave her, her rigid expression melted away on its own.
"You're still awake. Go to sleep now."
"Mmhm. I'll sleep. But Maman."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Lately, I've been learning to dance from Sir Max..."
Yune then began chattering about the dancing he'd recently started learning—things she'd already heard, in brief, from Sir Max and her other children.
Unlike his previous resistance to dancing, he seemed to be taking it quite earnestly, which filled her with immense pride.
"It's called quadrille, and you spin around and around, then whoosh and hop-hop, and..."
"I see. You're doing so well."
"So, I've danced once with each of my big sisters, and my outfit arrived, too."
"Is that so."
His sleep-muffled mumbling made it hard to catch every word, but the sound was so pleasant that she simply nodded along.
Yune, who had been babbling for a long while, gazed up at her directly and got to the point.
"So, I... I want my first dance to be with you, Maman. A proper dance, in my fancy clothes. With you."
"...."
After two days of dancing with his sisters, he wanted to dance with her next.
How could she possibly refuse such a sweet request?
Internally apologizing to his fiancée, who was supposed to be Yune's first dance partner at the upcoming year-end Founding Festival, she accepted his adorable demand.
"Understood. I'll set aside the time."
"Heehee. I love you."
"Yes. And I love you."
After that, they shared trivial conversation for a long while longer.
During that exchange, the white-hot rage that had smoldered in the corner of her heart—the fury from almost losing Yune—quietly faded away.
Other dark emotions, too, dimmed under the gentle sound of Yune's voice. Before she knew it, only a solemn vow remained in her chest.
A vow to protect this small, precious being. To protect her family. A vow to raise him happily, even if it cost her everything she had.
The moment their murmured chat came to its natural end, both drifted into sleep at the same time, as if by silent agreement.
Their hands held together. Matching smiles gracing their lips.