What Kiera Left Behind
That very hour, in the royal castle, Kiera and Audrite were meeting.
A garden overrun with crimson roses in full bloom. The two stood facing each other.
"What reason could you possibly have for calling me out in the dead of night?"
At Audrite's question, Kiera let a sly smile curl across her lips.
Their voices were drowned out by the droning of insects, fading into murmurs. Kiera ran her hands over her belly as she whispered something, and Audrite recoiled, clapping both hands over her mouth in shock.
The kidnapping of Yoris, which had thrown the capital into an uproar, progressed at a snail's pace despite the full mobilization of the palace's investigative forces — there was simply no evidence and not a single witness. In the meantime, several official events slated for that period were canceled outright, and Duke Toledo's household and the Hero's party kept their public exposure to an absolute minimum, passing their days in quiet idleness with no engagements whatsoever. By the time the day of their departure finally arrived, the case had sunk into a labyrinth of dead ends and was quietly written off.
Morning.
The King came out to the castle gates in person to see Kiera and Duke Toledo off. The farewell line stretched left and right beyond the horizon of sight, and every servant and official of the royal court was in attendance — Maru among them.
"Please, reclaim the eastern lands that the demons stole from us!"
"Lady Kiera! We're all rooting for you!"
Kiera exchanged farewells one by one, first with the King, then with the assembled ministers. At last, she came to stand face to face with Maru.
"Don't stay here. Go home."
The words burst out of her without warning. Maru answered with a calm, even smile.
"I like it here."
"Luxury and splendor don't suit you."
"And what does suit me, then? Poverty?"
"A life spent back home, waiting for nothing but my return."
With that, she offered a quiet smile and walked away.
"A life waiting for my return, huh…"
It sounded like an opening for reconciliation, but he could feel in his bones what it really was: nonsense, through and through. Wait for her back home all he liked — she would never come back. Kiera simply couldn't stand the sight of her ex-boyfriend doing well for himself, that was all.
"Well, safe travels. Don't die out there."
Muttering to himself, Maru gazed at Kiera standing in the distance. In the meantime, she had struck up a conversation with Lucy. Lucy had been formally removed from the Hero's party, and her face wore an expression of apology. Kiera, for her part, regarded her with perfect, indifferent composure.
"Maru. Ah — no, I suppose I should be calling you Lord Maru now, shouldn't I."
Yoris approached and offered a handshake. He, too, was due to return home today.
"Travel safely."
"Thank you. Once I'm home, I'll write from time to time."
"There's really no need."
"I shall write until your heart opens to me, Lord Maru. You know full well how tenacious I can be."
"This is going to be a nuisance, isn't it."
Maru laughed and gave him a light, parting embrace.
"Take care of yourself on the long road, and may you achieve what you set out to do."
"And I pray that you, Lord Maru, amass great wealth and live a long, healthy life. I leave carrying both gratitude and regret in my heart, but I do not believe our bond ends here. Look forward to it."
"That's a little terrifying."
"Hahaha."
Natalie was absent from the send-off. The moment she'd been released from her cell that morning, she had gathered her things and slipped out beyond the castle walls, where she now waited for Kiera to emerge.
"So it's just Kiera and Natalie left. I wonder if they'll recruit someone new at their next destination."
After Yoris departed, Maru found his eyes drifting back to Kiera once more. Silver hair, white armor — she gleamed in the morning sunlight. The crowd around her roared its adoration, ecstatic at the sight. There she stood: the Hero, made mighty by her own strength alone. The feeling settling in his chest was a strange one.
Meanwhile, from far away, someone watched Maru as he stared blankly after Kiera. It was Princess Audrite. Dressed in a bright, cheerful dress for the farewell, she had found her gaze straying to Maru again and again throughout the entire ceremony. But the look in her eyes was anything but fond.
He hadn't been looking at anything but Kiera this whole time.
'Tch.'
Before long, the Hero and Duke Toledo passed through the gates, the send-off concluded, and Audrite headed straight for her workplace. When her head got this tangled, nothing cleared it like physical labor.
She changed into her work clothes and arrived at the unloading yard, where a cluster of laborers had gathered around some enormous crate.
"What's that say?"
"No idea."
"Never seen letters like these in my life."
"What's going on here, everyone?"
At the Princess's appearance, the laborers jumped and bowed respectfully in a hurried scramble.
"A shipment came in today, miss, sent from a place none of us have ever laid eyes on. Doesn't seem to be one of the nations we trade with, and we can't figure how it even got here."
"It's not on the list of trade partners?"
"Can't find it on the list nohow — it's a country we've never traded with once, so we can't so much as read the letters."
"Couldn't you just ask the people who brought it?"
"They only took it mid-route for the hauling, miss, so they don't know a thing. Says here it passed through thirty-three stops to get here."
"Thirty-three? What country on earth sent this…?"
Audrite let her words trail off and stepped closer to the crate. As she studied the characters written across its surface, her eyes went wide.
"Th-this is…!"
She clapped her hands together in delight.
"It's Darian!"
"What in the world is Darian, miss?"
"Imperial script! The language of the Ra Iskandaria Empire! Let's see… 'To you all,' hmm… what's this word…? Ah. 'To you all, the Queen sends her gift… sends her gift'? Good heavens!"
Audrite clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes round enough to pop clean out of her head.
"How did she know to send this? Did God answer my prayer? No — that can't be it!"
The laborers began to murmur among themselves.
"The Ra Iskandaria Empire — isn't that some enormous country?"
"Several times bigger than ours, at least."
"Good grief, what next. Well, either way, it's fine news."
Steadying her racing heart with effort, the Princess addressed them.
"I'll report this to His Majesty myself, so set this shipment aside somewhere separate. Let's plan an unveiling ceremony — tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, or the day after — with everyone gathered to watch."
"Yes, miss!"
"Right away!"
"You can count on us!"
"It absolutely must not be damaged!"
"Leave it to us!"
The laborers lashed the great crate down with ropes until it was bound tight, and a powerful spirit came swooping down, groaning under the weight as it hauled the thing away. Watching it go, Audrite let herself imagine a future of trade with the Empire. Merely picturing it set her heart aflutter and her hands trembling. And then she was simply giddy.
"Does this mean the day I finally meet Lady Alexia is coming? It's coming, isn't it? It has to be!"
She was hopping up and down like a little girl when someone came sprinting toward her in a panic.
"Miss! Miss! Oh, Miss!"
"What's the matter?"
The man, gasping with a hand pressed to his chest, swallowed dryly and forced the words out.
"The — the wagons! The ones hauling our shipment out the west gate — they've all flipped clean over and spilled!"
"Overturned? How many?"
"F-five, I'd say."
"Did they hit a rut or something?"
"We had heavy rains a while back and the ground's gone soft — looks like the dirt road gave way and rolled them right into the fields. Every hand not on duty has already run off that way."
"Riding what?"
"Ain't a spare horse to be had, so they're all running on foot."
"Running all that way? Take a wagon, at least!"
"Not one blasted wagon left to spare, that's the thing of it. Aigoo… when a day goes bad, nothing goes right."
Audrite's face grew grave.
"They're far too slow. If bandits show up and make off with the cargo, it'll be a disaster. I need to go ahead and guard it myself."
"Then you'll be needing an escort."
Maru's voice sounded suddenly from behind her. Audrite started at the sound of it, and her hands flew reflexively to her chest. This was their first meeting since the kiss the other night. Glad to see him and annoyed at him and embarrassed by him, all tangled up together — she couldn't trust herself to meet his eyes. She simply stood frozen, without turning around.
"You do know the way, I take it?"
Maru stepped around to face her, arms crossed, the very picture of ease. Audrite twisted away with a flustered air, avoiding his gaze.
"Wh-what brings you here? Aren't you busy?"
Maru cast a leisurely glance around the yard and cracked a joke.
"As of today, I'm a man of leisure. With the Hero gone, there's nothing for me to do. Whether His Majesty assigns me my next task or not — either way, I'm waiting."
"……"
Head bowed, a faint smile playing on her lips, Audrite started walking.
"Come on, then. Meet me at the stables."
Before long, the two of them rode out through the castle gates, side by side. As they galloped across the plains washed in green, Audrite said nothing at all. She rode in silence, eyes fixed ahead, keeping him at a deliberate arm's length.
Maru wanted to ruffle her feathers. He wanted to poke her in the side and turn her right back into the chatterbox she was. So, pitching his voice to carry over the drumming of hooves, he called out:
"So — was I a good kisser? How did it feel?"
He deliberately raised the delicate topic with a grin, and she scrunched her face before forcing herself to answer with exaggerated calm, shouting over the wind.
"I have no memory of kissing you!"
"Oh? Could've sworn I do. One look at those lips and I know — you're that girl from that night, no mistake."
"Perhaps you've confused me with another woman's lips?"
"Then it seems a verification is in order!"
"A verification of what?"
"You won't know until you've kissed the Princess, that's what! Care to try kissing while we're both on horseback at a full gallop? Nobody in the world's ever done it! Just stick your lips out like this, ever so slightly!"
Imagining what Maru had just described, a snort of laughter escaped Audrite's lips. She hadn't meant to laugh, but the man was a little bit funny. Only — why did it feel like she was always the one getting teased? All of a sudden, she wanted to get him back.
"I met the Hero, Lady Kiera, last night!"
"…What?"
The smile that had never left Maru's face dimmed slightly. He asked quickly.
"What did Kiera say?"
"Lady Kiera told me everything about your past. Quite the eventful life you've led, I hear?"
Maru's stomach dropped. And what she said next was beyond belief.
"She says the Hero even went through an abortion. That the shock of it is why the two of you broke up."
The profanity rose in Maru's throat before he could stop it.
Fuck.
Kiera, you fucking bitch.
So you wrecked everything and just walked away. And out of all the goddamn lies you could have picked, you chose one this fucking vile.