A Girl's Sincerity
A Girl's Sincerity
After confirming the woman standing far off by the railing was Selvia, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief.
Though he'd said he had a rough idea of where she might be, Daniel hadn't found Selvia on his first attempt.
The first place he had checked after alerting others of the emergency was the Emperor's private library.
Since it was a place no one but the Emperor could enter, he had thought she might be alone inside.
But she wasn't there.
Next, Daniel had gone to a room on the highest floor of the Imperial Palace called the Golden Rest.
She hadn't been there either.
Only then did Daniel realize.
Selvia, who had said she wanted some time alone, had deliberately distanced herself from any place one could logically infer she would be, so that no one could find her.
So Daniel thought.
No matter how shocking the truth she had witnessed, if it was Selvia, she wouldn't have left the Imperial Palace.
She would have known how heavy the responsibility weighing on her shoulders was.
She would not have wanted the chaos of the Emperor's disappearance to catch fire and spread across the capital.
So she must have chosen a place where she could truly sort out her thoughts for just a moment.
A place from which, once her thoughts were sorted, the palace staff could find her.
Having finished all those deductions, Daniel wandered through the abandoned facilities on the palace grounds, and after running without a moment to catch his breath, he finally found Selvia here.
'What a relief.'
Now all he had to do was radio in that he had found the Emperor and escort Selvia back to the throne.
Then all the chaos would come to an end.
With that thought, Daniel grabbed the radio, but he hesitated just as he was about to press the transmit button.
"......Your Majesty?"
Tears were welling up in Selvia's blue eyes as she looked at Daniel.
Beneath her confused gaze, her tightly bitten lip betrayed her anxiety.
Daniel had a feeling he knew exactly what that expression meant.
"......Do you not wish to go back?"
There was no answer.
Only her wavering gaze dropped to the floor.
After a short silence, Selvia's lips moved slightly.
"I must go back. One cannot be free of the duty of being Emperor. But......."
Selvia raised her gaze and met Daniel's eyes.
"Can living as the Emperor truly be said to be 'me'?"
Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but could not bring himself to reply.
Because Daniel, too, had seen the memories of the late Emperor Bertram by Selvia's side.
The girl before his eyes was not of the Emperor's bloodline.
She was a young girl who had been living alone in the high mountains of the Empire's west.
A girl coincidentally discovered by a court physician and dragged to the Imperial Palace because she resembled the Imperial Princess.
There, without knowing why, she was made to inherit the princess's memories.
Because of that, the pitiable girl ended up believing herself to be the Imperial Princess.
Thinking the inherited memories were her own, the girl strove tirelessly to become the Imperial Princess.
She cut down her sleeping hours to study, in order to maintain the genius of the Imperial Princess.
She always smiled at people even on days she felt unwell, to preserve the affection the Imperial Princess had received.
She always acted like an adult, even on days she wanted to act spoiled, to keep the respect the Imperial Princess had commanded.
To the girl who thus continued her life as the 'perfect Imperial Princess,' the late Emperor Bertram had said:
Become the Emperor.
Become the Emperor, fend off your brothers, and lead this Empire into an era of peace and prosperity.
The first time she heard those words, the girl must have wanted to shake her head.
Because the weight of the word 'Emperor' was far too heavy to place on a young girl's shoulders.
But the girl nodded.
Because she believed that, as the Imperial Princess, she ought to act for the Empire and fulfill her father's wishes.
And so the girl fended off her brothers and ascended to the throne.
Amid everyone's expectations and praise, a red mantle was draped over her shoulders.
Was the girl happy at that moment? No.
The crushing weight of responsibility on her shoulders must have made her feel like she might collapse at any second.
She must have wanted to put everything down and leave for somewhere else.
Yet the reason she gritted her teeth and endured was that the girl believed herself to be of the Emperor's bloodline.
She must have believed without a doubt that making the Empire more prosperous was her calling.
However, politics was a horrifyingly cruel world of survival of the fittest, far too much for the girl to handle.
The nobles opposed everything she said.
Parliament also paid her words no heed.
Yet the girl did not give up.
I just need to try harder.
It was my own ignorance that was at fault.
If I become a perfect Emperor, everyone will recognize me.
So.
So, I just have to endure a little more pain.
Let's reduce my sleeping time.
Keep meals as simple as possible.
Hobbies are nothing but a luxury.
Let's work hard and devise policies that satisfy the nobles and Parliament.
And create policies that make the people happy, too. That will do it.
So.
If only I'm exhausted, everyone else will be happy.
But from the nobles' perspective, how hard the girl tried was irrelevant.
Belvar instigated a military rebellion and confined the girl.
Having lost everything in an instant, the girl thought day and night.
About what on earth she had done wrong.
When her thoughts were chasing their own tails, the girl was rescued by Daniel.
Having thus reclaimed the throne, the girl resolved not to repeat her past mistakes.
She folded away her ideals and accepted reality.
She replaced the personnel in key national posts and severely punished those who had raised rebellion against the Imperial Household.
She monitored the nobles and collected every criminal record committed by members of Parliament.
She had no choice but to mobilize the National Security Surveillance Bureau to arrest citizens who had been paid to advocate anti-war stances.
Because of this, screams and resentment were directed at the girl wherever she went.
Thick, dark blood began to trickle down from beneath the golden crown she had once thought was only beautiful.
The stronger her power grew, the heavier the weight of responsibility on her shoulders became.
With every policy decision, countless resentments followed the praise.
On the surface, it was a brilliant and glamorous life, but inside, it had festered beyond measure.
Still, the girl smiled.
She faced everyone with a smile.
Because, having been born of the Emperor's bloodline, all of this was only natural.
But after seeing Bertram's memories, she could no longer accept everything as natural.
Because she had come to know that she was not of the Emperor's bloodline.
Because she had witnessed the truth that she was a substitute for the Imperial Princess, manufactured by Bertram.
"Your Majesty."
He understood Selvia's feelings.
He knew that a despair so profound he dared not offer comfort had taken root in Selvia's heart.
Even so, Daniel could not just leave Selvia like this.
"It is not the same, but I, too, have had an experience similar to yours, Your Majesty."
Taking a deep breath, Daniel walked toward Selvia.
"You may not believe it, but one day, unfamiliar memories simply entered my head. They were memories that seemed like my own, yet also not my own."
It was a truth he had never told anyone.
"It is no exaggeration to say that my life changed because of those memories. After all, it was what made me, a timid and cowardly person, suddenly voice my opinion to Brigadier General Heinrich, who was leading the Magitek Armored Army."
The wind blew between them.
"After that, I continued to make countless judgments based on the memories I recalled. It is no exaggeration to say that is what made the Daniel Steiner of today."
The blowing wind made Selvia's hair and the hem of her cape flutter.
"I was confused at first as well, but now I can say it with confidence. That although they were memories I did not want, it is all of those things that make up who Daniel Steiner is."
Perhaps out of agitation, Selvia's blue eyes trembled lightly.
"Your Majesty. Allow me to ask you just one thing. When you heard my confession just now, did your trust in me shatter?"
Selvia, her eyes brimming with tears, shook her head.
"Then the same is true for me. Even if you possess false memories, it was Your Majesty's own will that brought you to where you are today. Furthermore......."
The distance between them gradually narrowed.
"The one I have sworn my loyalty to is not the deceased Imperial Princess, but Your Majesty, who stands before my eyes. It is no different for others. So, I swear it on this spot."
Stopping before her, Daniel gently took hold of Selvia's hand and raised it.
"Your Majesty. You are still......."
Holding Selvia's gaze, Daniel smiled faintly.
"My one and only liege."
It was an embarrassing thing to say.
Normally, she would have burst into laughter and scolded him for talking nonsense that didn't even sound plausible.
But now, she absolutely could not do that.
Because the tears that had gathered in her eyes finally began to flow down.
Though she had wrapped herself tightly in the identity of the Emperor, peeling back just one layer revealed a delicate woman of only twenty years.
So, occasionally, she wanted to wholly accept this kind of comfort.
But just because she received comfort did not mean that all her confused feelings had vanished.
Because she could not tell which parts of her life were lies and which were the truth.
However, there was one thing she could be certain of in this moment.
Because there was one feeling that remained uniquely unchanged, even when she witnessed the ugly truth.
"Daniel. I, too, am still......."
She did not know if now was the right time to confess that feeling.
But she no longer felt like hiding it.
The sound of the wind tickled the thickets and swayed the branches of the great trees.
Amid the sounds of nature, Selvia placed a hand over her heart.
With the moonlight backlighting her, Selvia mustered her courage and moved her lips.
"I am in love with you."
This was the true heart of the girl who became Emperor,
and the first confession of her life.