4. Imperial Capital Lumentium - 09
4. Imperial Capital Lumentium - 09
I once read a line in a book somewhere. Something about life being an endless series of choices. Precisely right. A person might not choose the country they're born into or who their parents are, but they at least have the right to decide how they want to live.
And at this very moment, I, too, stood at a crossroads. Should I take Ariel's side, or throw my lot in with the Imperial Princess instead?
This time, though, no matter whom I chose, there wasn't a shred of hope left for me. The reason was simple: whichever side I picked, the other would undoubtedly carve me up on the spot. There was no third option. I'd spent over a year with both of them — I knew them too well. Neither was the type of woman magnanimous enough to let me slip out the back.
"......"
To my left stood Ariel, to my right the Imperial Princess, both staring at me. Ariel wore a beaming, ear-to-ear grin while the Imperial Princess glared with a deeply furrowed brow. Their expressions couldn't have been more night and day, yet they shared one commonality: neither showed the slightest sign of taking her eyes off me.
"Kain. Do answer, please. It's a perfectly simple question — whyever are you dragging your feet like this?"
"Young Duke. Open your mouth and respond. How long do you intend to keep me waiting?"
'...The hell was I supposed to do.'
"......"
For the record, Aria was staring directly at my face with a blank, dazed expression, as if the whole volatile mood had absolutely nothing to do with her. Which, to be fair, it didn't. Whatever torment the other two were crushing me over, it really had nothing to do with her anyway. She'd simply gotten swept up through sheer bad luck.
"...Hah."
I let out a low sigh and gently took Aria's trembling hand. Truly, the gesture was born of pure intentions — I simply hoped Aria would calm down a little.
...I never imagined it would be the act that lit the powder keg.
"Excuse me, miss. You ought to take that hand off of Kain."
The one who struck the fuse was none other than Ariel. Her tone, inexplicably sharp, was aimed squarely at my hand — the one tightly holding Aria's.
"...Huh?"
Aria looked at Ariel with utter incomprehension, and Ariel continued her explanation in a calm, measured voice.
"Kain is still a patient. He sustained a serious injury only moments ago. Leaning on someone who is practically an invalid because you're struggling — don't you think that's a staggering imposition?"
She still had a smile fixed on her lips, but her eyes weren't smiling at all. That made her look infinitely more terrifying.
"......"
Watching this unfold left me so flabbergasted that words failed me entirely.
'...Did that woman eat something spoiled or what?'
Had something put her in a foul mood before she arrived? Today, Ariel was snapping at everything in every direction like a dog spoiling for a fight. A woman who never once got into so much as a verbal spat, let alone a fight, during the entire Winter Expedition — why was she acting today like a person driven half-mad because she couldn't start trouble with every single person in sight?
And crucially, Aria wasn't the one holding my hand. I was the one holding Aria's. She'd picked the wrong target. And yet Ariel was directing all her reprimand at Aria alone, as though that fact simply didn't register in her eyes at all.
"...Hm. For once I find myself in agreement with that woman. It isn't a particularly pleasant sight, an unmarried and unbetrothed pair clinging to one another like that."
Even the Imperial Princess, who moments ago had been busy snarling at Ariel, suddenly switched sides and went after Aria. The reason escaped me, but it seemed the Imperial Princess also didn't like the way Aria was stuck firmly to my side.
Hell, these women were acting like a pack of nervous wrecks.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and moved to let go of Aria's hand. I didn't know why, but if my actions were that obnoxious to them, well, the powerless party simply had to bow. What else was there to do?
But that was when it happened. The moment I tried to release Aria's hand, the look in her eyes turned fierce. To be specific, it shifted from the look of a chick trembling uncontrollably to something closer to the gaze of a pup now bristling with battle-readiness. Not that it looked particularly frightening, mind you, given how dewy and bright those eyes were to begin with.
"Don't you speak of Master Kain like that, ma'am. What wrong has Master Kain possibly done for you to corner him in such a way?"
Eyes flaring wide, Aria stared straight at Ariel. Her spirit reminded me of that mantis back then, the one that reared up and raised its forelegs against the carriage.
"...Excuse me?"
Perhaps the ambush came from a completely unexpected direction, because in that instant, Ariel's face cracked wide open.
'Good God.'
I couldn't hide my astonishment as I looked at Ariel's rigid, hardened face. Quite a span of time had passed since I'd known Ariel — including the time before my regression, too — but this was the first time I'd ever seen that woman's face wear an expression other than a smile. To draw such a colorful expression out of Ariel with a single provocation. Truly, Aria was a remarkable personage beyond the measure of my meager capacity.
"Aahahaha! Now this is a masterpiece. You got careless around the white-haired girl and took a solid blow, didn't you, Ariel Tiere?"
Beside her, the Imperial Princess burst into irksome laughter like some spiteful sister-in-law, and Ariel's expression only grew more rigid for it. But only for a moment. Her composure quickly recovered, and Ariel launched a counterpunch straight at the Imperial Princess.
"Ha, that young lady's words are hardly directed at me alone. I believe there was someone else here besides myself who was making quite the noisy racket and cornering Kain."
"...Are you suggesting, now, that I was making a noisy racket and cornering Kain here?"
"Oh my, I didn't mention a single subject in that sentence. Could it be that Her Imperial Highness has something weighing on her conscience?"
"Master Kain. Let's leave this place, quickly. Staying here seems to make a person's mood turn strange."
"Leave? Leave for where? He hasn't even answered the question yet!"
"Ah, right. Now that you mention it, Kain still hasn't answered. It slipped my mind. Sorry, Kain."
"......"
This was a complete and utter circus. Not only were Ariel and the Imperial Princess snapping at one another, but Aria had wedged herself in to turn it into a three-way free-for-all. Did the nobles watching this spectacle at a distance without a single thought in their heads realize? If the three of them ever truly clashed in earnest, it wouldn't be a matter of the Imperial Palace alone — the entire Imperial Capital might be erased like a pencil mark, obliterated without a trace.
But then. A miracle occurred. It truly did.
"We behold the Sun of the Empire."
"We behold the Sun of the Empire."
The crowd of nobles surrounding us parted like the ebbing tide. Every noble present bowed their heads low and did nothing but pay homage to him for arriving here.
Within the silence that flowed across the banquet hall, the three women's free-for-all abruptly subsided into a lull.
Indeed. The Emperor himself had appeared.
Step, step.
Strolling at his leisure through the parted nobles, the Emperor arrived and regarded the women in the midst of their three-way battle with an expression of keen interest. Then he turned his gaze toward the Imperial Princess and posed a question.
"What is the matter, Iris? Raising your voice — that is a rare sight indeed."
The question was almost teasing, and at it the Imperial Princess hurriedly lowered her head.
"...It is nothing, Your Majesty. A mere, trifling clash of opinions, that is all. A paltry matter unworthy of Your Majesty's attention, I would think."
So she spoke, shooting Ariel and Aria a sidelong glance before putting on a perfectly straight face as though nothing had happened. The sheer brazenness of it made my body shudder of its own accord.
"Hm, is that so."
The Emperor nodded with seeming disinterest and then turned his gaze toward me. A clear smile now graced his lips. Now that I saw it, his business was evidently not with the Imperial Princess but with me.
"Lord Kain, on my way here I happened upon some truly intriguing news. You fought a duel and brought down Lord Lucian, heir to the Turnizen Ducal House, did you not?"
His tone suggested he found it deeply regrettable not to have seen such entertaining sport with his own eyes.
"...Fortune merely favored me, Your Majesty."
"Fortune? Hardly. In all the world, do you mean to say defeating one who has reached the Master Realm by luck alone is possible?"
The Emperor let out a hearty laugh and glanced over his shoulder at Lucian, who was still lying on the floor, before continuing.
"Lord Lucian, who attained the Master Realm at barely twenty years of age, and Lord Kain, who claimed victory against one who has reached the Master Realm. When considering the Empire's future, the existence of you two is in itself the greatest of blessings indeed."
So saying, the Emperor clapped me on the shoulder a few times. The atmosphere of such blatant praise was so thick that it gave me an indescribable sense of foreboding.
"Then, follow. Iris. You have a great many obligations to attend to with me today."
With those words, the Emperor turned his back. The Imperial Princess, too, obediently followed behind him. Looking at that sight, I let out a relieved sigh.
'...Saved.'
I was saved. The Emperor had shown up at the most perfectly opportune moment. Genuinely saved. Did that man — the Emperor — even realize? The horrifying fact that if he hadn't arrived here exactly on time, the Imperial Capital today might well have been scattered into dust, disintegrating into the air without leaving a single speck behind?
While I was inwardly giddy at the thought of keeping my life, the Imperial Princess brushed past me and whispered in the smallest of voices.
"...When we next meet, I would be pleased if you had an answer to my question, Young Duke Estel. I shall look forward to it."
"......"