4. Imperial Capital Lumentium - 03
4. Imperial Capital Lumentium - 03
"Your Majesty, now that Kain is no longer present, might you tell me His Majesty's true intent?"
With Kain and Iris gone, only two remained in the Hall of the Sun.
Duke Estel found himself sighing at the Emperor and letting those words slip.
"True intent? You say the most amusing things, Franz. Surely you are not implying that I have been deceiving and toying with you?"
"Your Majesty knows full well that is not my meaning."
When the Emperor replied with a brazen face, Duke Estel clicked his tongue as he looked at the empty space where Kain now sat, absent Sarah.
"Why did you permit the annulment? Was the engagement between Kain and the daughter of House Sernad not part of a plan Your Majesty personally advanced? More precisely, House Sernad's..."
"Enough. Say no more, Duke Estel. This is the imperial presence, yet at the same time it is not a place one may call secure. Raise your voice like that and the chance of it leaking beyond these walls is hardly zero."
At that counsel from the Emperor, Duke Estel finally held his tongue. The Emperor was right. Since Kain's engagement was not merely an engagement but a sort of 'affair' with manifold circumstances tangled beneath the surface, it was not a subject to be noisily discussed in the heat of the moment. Above all, he had to admit that he had grown excessively agitated.
"As you say. In truth, I had no thought of permitting the annulment between Young Duke Estel and Sarah Sernad. I believed we were finally about to seize their tail. To lose Sarah Sernad at this juncture was, to be sure, somewhat regrettable."
"...Then why did you grant the annulment? Speaking as a father to one child, breaking off such an engagement is a refreshing relief, but as one of the Empire's dukes and in my duty to speak, I find the move far from wise. At the very least, if an annulment was to proceed, I thought we should first take the time to observe their demeanor with some subtlety."
"I share your view. However, circumstances arose on my side. Circumstances, I say, impossible to shake off and impossible to refuse."
"...Circumstances, you say?"
At the Emperor's excuse, Duke Estel wore a somewhat nonplussed expression. What possible circumstances could constrain a man who held all power in the Empire in one hand and could achieve whatever he willed?
"My apologies, but it is a matter I cannot reveal to another soul. If I might give a single hint, I would say the circumstances resemble those that have brought you to this spot. So I ask you to understand. I have my own hands more than full as it is."
As he spoke, the Emperor shuddered as if a genuine chill ran down his spine. And from the Emperor's words and actions, Duke Estel could form a single conjecture, and before long he realized that conjecture was the one true answer that cut through every current circumstance.
...Yet at the same time it had to be an absurdity. To the duke's knowledge, the two had never once seen each other's faces from birth until now. Today's meeting had unmistakably been their first. The Kain von Estel he knew had a disposition deeply averse to the bother of roaming outside. He could not possibly have slipped away on any secret excursion.
"....."
Duke Estel found himself staring vacantly at the empty space beside him. And likewise, he turned his gaze once to the spot vacant at the Emperor's right hand.
"...Then what in the world has happened? Am I to understand that Your Majesty cannot even offer me some small explanation?"
"That is what I would rather ask you. I too would like to sit Young Duke Estel down right here and interrogate him exhaustively. As to exactly what manner of trickery Young Duke Estel employed to make that girl present such a request to me."
The Emperor clicked his tongue sharply, then fixed an utterly unsatisfied stare upon the empty seat beside Duke Estel.
"In a sense, the young duke is quite something. Not only has he managed to forge a link to the imperial household in spheres even I cannot grasp, he has gone so far as to make a personal appeal to a member of the imperial family. Did you not say that you too came here as a father to one child? So it is with me as well."
"It is because I, too, am a father to one child that I granted the annulment between Young Duke Estel and House Sernad's Sarah Sernad. For nowhere in the world does a father who wishes to be loathed by his daughter exist."
****
"Your Highness, I have brought tea. Pray drink before it cools."
"...Leave it there and withdraw. There is a matter I would consider alone this moment."
After thus ordering all attendants from her chamber, Iris stood alone by the window and gazed vacantly outside. Beyond the glass, the sun had long since set and darkness had gathered all around. The constellations of the night sky had risen to embroider the heavens in brilliance, a sight that filled her eyes. Iris's eyes drank in the stars that filled the sky, but her mind was already far away, recalling one bygone night from a past now lost. It had been just the same then. She, too, had held the stars of the night sky in her gaze. But on that night, she had not been alone.
- Kain.
-... Imperial Princess.
"...Ah."
The constellations she looked up at together with him that night had been so beautiful. Truly, a beautiful sight. And that beauty had become a spark, one that would live and breathe forever within her breast. It was then that she realized. How wondrous it was to call a beautiful thing beautiful. How joyful it was to share an admiration of beauty with another. How precious an experience it was to gaze at the same sight as someone else and to feel the same emotion.
'Kain.'
Iris quietly rolled that name across the tip of her tongue. It was a name without any particular distinction. And yet, for some reason it felt so deeply familiar to her. As though it were a name she had spoken thousands upon tens of thousands of times, a name that felt intimately known.
'Kain von Estel.'
But not now. Now she and that man were mere strangers, without even a passing acquaintance. They were nothing to each other. She had never in her life strayed outside the imperial capital, and she had heard he likewise had never set foot beyond the Estel Duchy. It was thus certain that he and she had never once crossed paths. It would all be, surely, no more than a dream.
'Kain.'
Yes. There was no doubt. Kain von Estel and Iris El Debhart had no tie whatsoever. They were perfect strangers. Not a single point of contact existed between them.
But.
"...It does not sit well with me."
To Iris, such trivial facts were of no importance. In this moment, only one thing mattered to her: the single truth that she knew him. That truth alone filled her heart to the brim. And so she could not stay idle. She understood that if she holed herself up here like a coward and did nothing, she would one day surely regret it. She would regret, and regret, and regret, until the end of regret promised only deeper regret. Her woman's intuition whispered gently into her ear that it was a certainty that would come to pass.
"......"
Her musings were long, but her judgment was a flash. Having made her decision, she quietly parted her lips.
"Chris."
When Iris murmured that name softly, a figure abruptly emerged from the shadows of her chamber. It was her knight escort, Chris.
"Yes, Your Imperial Highness."
As Chris stood before her and bowed his head, Iris spoke to him in a quiet tone.
"There is a person I wish for you to observe tomorrow in my stead. Watch his every single move without omission and report them to me afterward."
"...Who is the subject?"
Though the command was somewhat abrupt, Chris asked only the identity of the subject without voicing any doubt. To him, the Imperial Princess's commands were something close to absolute.
"Kain von Estel."
As though the mere act of speaking that name brought her matchless delight, a faint smile graced Iris's lips as she continued.
"He is a man you may one day serve. Take care in how you speak that name henceforth."