The Weight of Evidence
The great nobles of the empire were gathered in a single room, each of them holding their breath.
Even the maids attending the chamber seemed to find it hard to breathe properly under the solemn weight of the atmosphere.
"His Majesty the Emperor approaches."
At last, before the assembled nobles, the man who had summoned them all — my father — made his appearance.
The already oppressive air in the room began to press down on their shoulders all the harder.
Presently the seated nobles rose as one and offered my father a small bow of deference — every one of them except Duke Alteir, who remained in his seat and simply stared at my father in silence.
"Sit."
A curt reply. At that single word, the nobles who had risen all took their seats again.
"As stated in the letters you received, the Empress Cestia plotted rebellion — and she has confessed to it."
"What utter nonsense."
Duke Alteir let out a short, scornful laugh.
"Did you truly believe I wouldn't learn of it? A maidservant attending the Empress sent me a letter in secret."
He hurled down, roughly, the very letter we had arranged for that woman to send him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"This letter states that Cestia, unable to endure brutal torture, was forced into confessing a crime that never happened!"
"……"
"First you take a commoner as your concubine-Empress, and now you've finally gone mad enough to kill her."
"If that is true, then even His Majesty the Emperor must——"
The nobles seated around Duke Alteir, his supporters, began to murmur among themselves, stirring up a new current in the room.
Even the nobles friendly to the imperial household lent their silence to that voice, if only for this one moment. The only ones who turned away entirely, gazing at some distant mountain, were the Neutral Faction nobles led by Duke Asis.
"So you claim I fabricated a crime that never existed…… I confess I haven't the faintest idea who that accusation is meant to describe. But what if I told you I possess definitive proof? If such proof exists, will you fall silent — and will those who joined in the crime of rebellion accept their sentence of execution without complaint?"
Though my father's voice was calm, a crushing weight ran beneath it — and yet Duke Alteir dismissed it all as mere bluster.
After all, there could be no proof of the matter in question.
"If all of this is some fabricated case I concocted out of madness, then I will lay down the throne. As for who claims imperial power next — hold your own council and decide among yourselves."
"!"
At my father's utterly unprecedented words, the nobles of the friendly factions each wore expressions of open shock.
"Yo, Your Majesty!"
"Surely there's no need to go so far——!"
To the voices pleading with him to reconsider, the Emperor answered, his words brimming with menace.
"You kept your mouths shut until this very moment. Don't pretend to speak up for me now."
Under my father's gaze — which swept over them with undisguised disgust, as though he were looking at insects — they were struck dumb and bowed their heads.
No doubt because they could feel it: meet the sharp eyes of a man who had reached the rank of Aura Master for too long, and it would feel as though your throat would be severed on the spot.
"Will you accept, Duke Alteir?"
"……"
At my father's unexpectedly hardline play, Duke Alteir seemed to be taken aback more than a little.
No matter how he racked his brain, the situation had to be in his favor. He was probably wondering where all that confidence came from.
Go on, then.
With that overinflated brain of yours.
Try to make a cold, rational judgment instead of being swept up by the mood of the room.
If it's a fight you can't win, pull your foot back here.
If it's a fight you can win, step your foot in — simple as that.
So tell me. What choice will you make?
"I accept."
The moment Duke Alteir stiffly raised his head and took a single step forward, my father let out a faint laugh and drew his sword.
At the same instant, the tightly sealed doors of the council chamber opened, and my mother entered.
I, seated at my father's side, rose from my place and gently took her hand.
⟨ Dialogue ⟩
[ For ten minutes, you may hold conversation with any sentient living being. ]
"No!"
Every noble seated in the room went wide-eyed, staring at my mother.
Of course they were flabbergasted. The woman whose head should have been severed at her execution stood before them, alive and whole.
"You deceived me! You deceived me, Emperor!!"
The instant Duke Alteir saw that my mother lived, he abandoned even the pretense of honorifics and unleashed a torrent of fury at my father.
I found the sight repulsive beyond words.
The very man who had forced his own pregnant daughter into a miscarriage — and now my mother stood alive before him. In a sense, perhaps his rage was the natural outburst of a grieving father.
That is, if the truth really were that my mother had led the rebellion.
"You act beautifully, I'll give you that."
"Yo-you're speaking——!"
"How? Surely you don't mean to say you've hidden it for seven whole years!"
"Why, in the name of all that is holy?"
Sweeping my gaze across the uproar, I met Duke Alteir's eyes directly.
"Mirror Flower, Water Moon"
[ Materializes an imagined vision into reality. ]
[ If seen through, the Dragon Tongue power imbued in Mirror Flower, Water Moon vanishes. ]
"Wh-what——!"
A faint scent of blood began to ripple through the room.
Where every gaze in the chamber converged stood my mother's execution — an illusion of her corpse, conjured by Mirror Flower, Water Moon, exactly as it had appeared on that day.
Because the technique held dominion over sight, hearing, and smell alike, everyone present believed that the woman standing boldly before them was real — even while her "corpse" lay in their view.
"Wh-what in the world is happening?!"
One flustered noble gathered his courage and walked slowly toward my mother's corpse.
"It — it can't be touched?!"
[ Mirror Flower, Water Moon has been seen through. The Dragon Tongue's power dissipates. ]
"Yes. What you just witnessed was an illusion."
"An illusion?"
The blood that had spread crimson across the floor and blossomed there vanished without a trace.
Even the faint copper tang that had stung at their noses disappeared cleanly, leaving nothing behind.
"A-a mage?"
"Wrong! What just happened was not magic!"
The fury I had forced down into a small box within me lifted its head and crept quietly out.
They would believe everything from that moment on was an illusion I had fabricated — but back then, my mother had truly died. The despair and rage I had felt remained inside me, undiminished.
"If anyone attempts sorcery here, I will take their head on the spot."
My father, sword drawn, moved to occupy the space behind Duke Alteir and pressed the blade to his throat.
"Ha, hahaha! All of you — don't be deceived!"
Even with a blade at his throat, Duke Alteir pressed on, unperturbed.
"Whatever the truth of this spectacle, the fact remains — that concubine is a criminal, and the Emperor has done nothing but toy with us! Where, anywhere, is the proof that my daughter Cestia plotted rebellion?!"
At his words, the vassal nobles who had been thrown into disarray swiftly recovered their composure.
"Proof?"
I gave a hollow laugh.
"There is one thing I would like to say to you all."
Releasing the hand I had been holding with my mother, I walked to the center of the chamber.
"I am not incapable of speech. I simply chose not to speak."
You're all wondering why, aren't you.
"The reason is that the power I possess is the Dragon Tongue — the same power wielded by the first Emperor."
A moment of astonishment rippled through their eyes.
The Dragon Tongue, said to be the power of the first Emperor, had never been used by anyone since his age.
Scholars hypothesized that the dragon's blood had grown diluted across the generations, and with it, the unique ability carried in that blood had degenerated but……
Legends were legends, after all.
"Waters Flow"
And so I drew the moisture from the air, gathering it into the shape of a chair at the center of the room.
"Freeze."
Then I froze the shape solid and lowered myself slowly onto it.
A perfectly serviceable chair, sized exactly for my small frame.
"The power of the Dragon Tongue is the ability to turn language into reality. I'd say that about completes the demonstration, wouldn't you?"
As the astonished gazes began to shift toward doubt and disbelief, I offered another proof — and a quiet silence settled over the room.
And no wonder. No one had seen a single rune or magic circle form, the components any mage requires to weave a spell. Everyone present knew I had been born without a single drop of mana as a prince of the blood — so there was no room left to dispute that all of this was the power of the Dragon Tongue.
"And yet!"
But Duke Alteir did not so much as blink as he turned on me.
"Even granting that the power of a mere legend has returned in this age — how does that constitute proof?"
He continued with a contemptuous sneer.
"Don't tell me — you've gathered us here to invoke the symbolism of a son born with the first Emperor's power, using it as the price to bury a crime?"
"The proof exists."
"Then where, pray tell, is this proof?! If you have it, produce it here and now!"
I would have loved to answer him directly — but alas, it was my father who replied to that question.
"Duke Alteir. Are you aware that I was the one who orchestrated the sending of the other letter you received?"
"Wh……at?"
"Everything in that letter was a lie, save for the fact that Cestia confessed. I made arrangements to ensure you would attend this assembly without resistance — in case you considered raising your banner in revolt from your own domain."
Each of my father's words, colder than a midwinter snowfall, wound itself around the Duke.
"You wanted proof? The proof is none other than you, sitting right here."
The moment my father's gaze met mine, I rose from my seat and opened my mouth.
[ Compels the confession of every act that has violated the laws of this world. ]
All of those accursed nobles who joined in the crime of rebellion — the rebellion that forced my innocent mother to her execution! Who were they, every last one?
This was the moment when every truth would be laid bare.