Ellie, Mary, Henry (1)
Elizabeth's birthday was the anniversary of her mother's death.
The day Elizabeth was born, her mother died bringing her into the world.
So Elizabeth had never once seen her mother.
Seven years later.
At around seven years old, Elizabeth was not lonely.
"Ellie! Where could our Ellie be hiding?"
"Here!"
"Hahaha! Ellie, in hide-and-seek you're supposed to stay hidden."
"But this is more fun!"
She had a kind father, after all.
Busy as he was as king, Father still carved out time to play hide-and-seek with Ellie.
"Hehe. Looks like Ellie enjoys springing surprises."
And recently—astonishingly—she had even acquired a mother!
So you can get a mother, too!
One day Father had asked,
Ellie. Would you like to have a mother?
Yes. I think it would be nice if I had one!
Really? Then this father of yours will go make one for you.
And before she knew it, a mother had appeared.
Truly a wonderful father.
Mary was a woman of breathtaking beauty.
Ellie was the princess, yet the word "princess" suited this woman even better than it did her.
Ellie loved her brand-new mother so, so much.
She treated Ellie so kindly, was so pretty, and when you hugged her you sank right in—that soft, sinking feeling was the absolute best.
She had no idea how she'd managed without a mom until now.
Father said she wasn't a mother yet but a fiancée, though Ellie hadn't learned what rank that was supposed to be.
So she simply decided to think of her as Mom.
The three of them were happily playing together when—
Cough, ahem.
"Father, are you sick? Why are you coughing?"
"Ahem, haha. No need to worry, Ellie. With the weather turning cold, it seems I've caught a light chill."
"Even so, Your Majesty, your coughing has been frequent lately. Let's head inside for today."
"I said I'm fine. And I told you to call me 'darling,' not 'Your Majesty.'"
"…Oh my."
Mary blushed prettily.
Ugh, those two are so lovey-dovey. Maybe I should sleep alone in my room tonight.
"Still, let's go in for today, all right? What if it gets worse?"
"Very well. I'll do that. Ellie. Let's play more next time."
Father stroked her hair as he spoke.
"Yes!"
Ellie was sorry to see the outing end, but she answered with a happy smile under the hand ruffling her hair.
But next time never came.
That cough, the one that was only a light cold—
"Cough, ahem. Let us begin today's council."
One month.
"Cough, cough—ugh. Forgive me. It seems I won't be able to manage state affairs again today."
Two months.
"Aaaah—darling!"
Thud.
Three months passed and it still hadn't improved, and Father collapsed.
He never left his sickbed again.
"So I told the maids to just—oh, he's fallen asleep…"
He spent more time asleep than awake.
Still, he woke sometimes, and that alone was enough for Ellie.
Even with Father confined to his bed, Ellie was not lonely.
"Ellie, come here a moment."
"Yes, Mother—oh! What's this?"
"Shh. Eat it in secret so the head maid doesn't catch you."
Mother took such good care of her. And also—
"Uncle! You're back?"
"Yes, Ellie! Have you been well? Looking at you after so long, you've become quite the little lady!"
Uncle Howden Hewder had returned from the expedition.
He'd gone off to fight the ones Father always used as a threat—the Vargas people, apparently.
Ellie beamed and threw herself into her uncle's arms.
"But Uncle, what happened to your eye?"
"This, you mean?"
Uncle pointed to his left eye.
"Those Vargas bastards loosed an arrow. Hit me square in the eye."
"Gasp! Then you lost?"
"Lost? Nonsense! I yanked the arrow out, chewed the eyeball to bits while glaring them down, and they ran for their lives in terror! Hahaha!"
"Wow!"
Honestly, chewing an eyeball was revolting—but Uncle liked the story, so!
"By the way, I hear your brother is ill?"
"…Yes. Father is very sick. But Mother is taking such good care of him, he'll get better soon!"
"Mother? Ah. That Mary."
Uncle's expression darkened a little.
He seemed to weigh something, then said to her,
"Don't get too close to that woman Mary."
"What? Why? Mother is so kind and pretty!"
"Still, something's fishy—ahem. Never mind. I take that back. Want to go play with Uncle?"
"Yes!"
Ellie treated the words Uncle had taken back as if they had never existed, and went off to play with him after so long.
Words disappeared once you took them back, after all.
Uncle Howden was an admiral of the navy, and though she didn't know exactly what that meant, he was probably someone who fixed ships.
He knew ships inside and out.
"Now, Ellie. Look. Our ships have a special feature."
"A special feature."
"Yes. See this hidden bit here? If you press this—"
Clunk!
"—the deck opens up and flings everyone clean off. Neat, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. If some scoundrel ever starts hanging around you—ahem. That is, if there's a boy Ellie likes, call him over here and press this. Got it?"
"Yes!"
Getting flung off would probably kill them, but Uncle had said to do it.
Ellie stored the instruction carefully away in her heart.
Somehow, Uncle seemed to dislike Mother.
Mother didn't seem particularly fond of Uncle either.
What are these grown-ups even doing.
Mother and Father got along so well—why couldn't Uncle manage the same?
Those two were close enough to sleep in the same bed, even.
It would have been nice if Uncle got that close with Mom, too.
And then Ellie happened to overhear why the two of them didn't get along.
She had been playing hide-and-seek alone, with no one free to play with her.
"By the way, why is His Majesty still bedridden?"
"Indeed. He ought to have recovered by now—I can't understand why he's so ill."
"In my view… it's poison."
"Poison?"
"Shh! Keep your voice down. Yes. I believe either Queen Mary or Duke Howden is feeding him poison."
"Why? Couldn't it simply be illness?"
"I've seen His Majesty enough to know. Spots forming on his body, the handkerchief that catches the blood he coughs up discoloring. These are symptoms of poisoning."
"I see. But… how does Brother Nargus know what poisoning looks like?"
"Ahem. I'll be going."
A shocking truth.
The suspicion that one of the two might be poisoning Father.
So that's why they hate each other.
This was no time for that.
She had to protect Father.
She loved both Uncle and Mother too much to even want to imagine it—but she couldn't simply do nothing, either.
Ellie slipped out of the kitchen where she'd been hiding and hurried toward Father's bedchamber.
Pat-pat-pat.
She practically ran into the room and scanned her surroundings.
Fortunately, no one was there.
Ellie creaked open the wardrobe door and climbed inside.
And she waited there.
To watch who was feeding Father what.
Mother came once—no, twice—and left; after that, Uncle came once and left.
Everyone simply arrived with the royal physician, administered medicine, tended him, and went away again.
Nothing unusual.
Phew. Of course. Neither of them would do such a thing.
Her tension drained away, and Ellie fell asleep right there.
While she dozed endlessly inside, breathing soft little snores—
A small sound.
Creeeak.
Someone opening the door and coming in.
Ellie woke at the noise.
Who is it.
Who.
Who's coming into the king's bedchamber at this hour.
Cold sweat beaded on Ellie's forehead.
Had Mother come to sleep beside him?
Or maybe—
—It's Uncle!
Why was Uncle here at this hour.
To feed him poison?
Or wait—were the two of them doing that kind of thing every night?!
Ellie clamped both hands over her mouth.
"Ellie? Ellie, are you in here?"
Uncle called for her in his familiar voice.
"You've gone missing and everyone's worried. Come on out now."
What.
So that was it.
He'd come looking because she'd disappeared.
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
She was about to step out just like that, when—
Should I scare him a little?
Having hidden so well, it seemed a waste to come out. She would wait until he got closer and then jump out at him.
"Ellie? Not here either?"
Uncle slowly approached the wardrobe, then—
Stop.
He stopped.
In front of Father's bed.
"Ellie? …Seems not."
Uncle approached Father.
Then he took something from his hand and—
Thrust!
He stabbed it into Father and began injecting something.
"Gyaaaah! Gyaaah!"
Father began thrashing in tremendous agony.
He coughed up blood and twisted his whole body, and Uncle simply held him tight and kept injecting whatever it was.
Haa, haa, haa.
Ellie gasped for breath.
Hands clamped tight over her mouth so no sound would escape.
Only long after Uncle had finished injecting whatever was in his hand and left did Ellie come out of the wardrobe.
Then she ran.
She needed someone to help.
Someone who wasn't on Uncle's side—someone who could stop him.
Ellie went to find Mary.
"Mother, Mother!"
Mary, who had been sleeping peacefully, jolted awake at Ellie's call.
"El—Ellie? What's wrong?"
Ellie launched into a jumbled explanation.
"I was hiding in Father's bedchamber at night. I was hiding, and suddenly Uncle came in."
"Uncle? Why would Uncle suddenly…"
"So I watched what he was doing, and Uncle went right up beside Father and pulled something from his waist and stuck it into Father and started injecting something! Some kind of white liquid? And then Father made these huge moaning sounds and his whole body was shaking and trembling."
"O-oh my."
For some reason, when the explanation ended, Mary's face had gone bright red.
"So that's why he's never once with me…"
Slap!
Ellie repaired her broken mother.
"Pull yourself together, Mother."
"R-right. This matter… I'll handle it."
Mother answered, holding her cheek.
Hearing those words, Ellie relaxed and nestled into Mother's arms.
"Howden. Howden injected something. Hmm. How should I deal with this?"
Ellie fell asleep listening to Mother's pondering voice.