The Word Without Seams

"What's the matter?"

"P-Princess Aria refuses to take her meals, my lord."

"Let me ask you this—has she refused everything she could eat or drink this whole time?"

"Yes. Whenever we tried to make her take even a little, she burned it away with magic. There was nothing we could do."

She hadn't shown her face at mealtimes, so I'd simply assumed she was eating somewhere in private.

Suicide was forbidden, so starving herself to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠death wasn't an option she could choose either—in the end, her body would force her to eat before it ever came to that.

"I'll bring it in myself. See to everything else afterward."

"Thank you, my lord!"

Taking Aria's dinner into my arms, I opened the door and stepped inside.

"I told you I wasn't eating!"

The faint aroma of food drifting through the room—Aria, assuming the intruder was a maid, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shouted at the top of her lungs.

Hearing that, I wanted to answer her, but unfortunately I'd exhausted every last use of Conversation today.

So I simply set the tray of food down to one side and walked toward Aria.

At the sound of footsteps closing in on her in silence, Aria pushed the blanket aside and sat up.

"You—!"

"Why won't you eat?"

"Food doesn't matter at a time like this……!"

I reached out, took hold of her arm, and pressed two fingers against her wrist, squeezing once. Her skin was so dry and brittle that even my small child's hand left empty space in its grip.

"You've wasted away. If you keep starving yourself, you'll collapse. Eat something. Anything."

"Don't play the kind older brother now, of all times!"

Like a cat hissing in defiance, Aria wrenched her hand free of mine and bared her teeth.

"You're just scared I'll get my revenge later, aren't you? It won't do you any good!"

The oddly childish ring of it made it abundantly clear that she was still just a little girl, so I let out a sigh and held out the dinner tray I'd set down.

"Eat. This is a command."

"I said I don't want to—……! Why, why are you—?!"

The power of subjugation bloomed into being.

And just like that, regardless of her own will, Aria's body moved on its own, and she began to eat.

"It's all food you used to love. I didn't make a single thing you hated."

Before she died, Mary had passed along a great deal of information about Aria—and this menu was drawn from a part of it.

Perhaps Aria was searching for some trace of Mary in this meal, because she ate through it in tears.

"There…… Now get out."

She'd done nothing more than eat a single meal, yet Aria spoke in an utterly drained voice, as if every ounce of her spirit had been wrung out of her.

At that, I called in the maid waiting outside the door to clear everything away, then took hold of Aria's hand.

"I said I'm done—!"

"Take a good look at yourself right now."

Her hair was caked thick with grease, and dried sleep had crusted in clumps at the corners of her eyes.

She'd refused all food and drink for days without once leaving her room, so it was little wonder she looked such a wretched sight.

So I hauled her forcibly to her feet, brought the maids along with us, and headed straight for the bath.

Having learned through repeated experience that she had no way to defy my commands, Aria surrendered herself in utter resignation, letting the maids' hands lead her along.

After watching her disappear into the bath with them, I washed up alone, and a short while later returned to her room together with Aria.

"Time for bed."

"How long are you planning to stay here?! Just—please, please disappear from in front of my eyes already!"

She'd refused all food and sleep for days, and yet somehow the energy for this was still left in her.

"I heard everything. That you've been lying awake all night."

I pressed the protesting Aria down onto the bed and snuffed out the lamps.

"I can't keep doing this often. The longer it lasts, the more it costs me."

Watching her try to shove me away from the bed, I invoked Mirror Flower, Water Moon, and conjured an apparition of Mary.

"Ma—Mary!"

Aria's eyes went round as saucers, and she reached out—yet some part of her must have known the moment they touched, the image would vanish, because her hand stopped short.

"Mary always stroked your hair before sleep, didn't she?"

I caught the hand she'd raised to push me away and drew it close to my side, then lent Mary's voice to her through the apparition.

"Think of me as a substitute. Close your eyes, and decide that the one beside you is Mary."

As if to offer touch alone in place of everything else, I began slowly stroking Aria's platinum hair.

And yet even that, it seemed, was enough. Aria shut her eyes against her own will and answered through the tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Okay……"

"I will stay by your side until you drift off, so rest easy and sleep soundly."

Was this really the same cat that had been hissing and spitting mere moments ago?

Aria, grown wonderfully docile, was soon breathing slow, even breaths as she sank into sleep.

Only then did I release Mirror Flower, Water Moon and try to withdraw the hand that had been stroking her hair.

No—no sooner did I try than Aria's head squirmed after me, burrowing into my chest like a child searching for warmth in its sleep.

So I hastily stretched my hand back out and resumed stroking her platinum hair.

She had only just fallen asleep; it would have been a problem if she woke again.

And so, stroking Aria's hair for a very long time, I too drifted off there at her side.

The next morning, I rose before the sleeping Aria and climbed down from the bed, kneading at the strangely stiff, aching muscles in my body.

Then I went to my father and mother and told them that for the time being I would take every meal together with Aria—and carrying the breakfast portions in place of the maids, I entered her bedchamber.

"……"

Aria was still fast asleep, sunk deep in her dreams.

They say every child becomes an angel the moment they fall asleep—it didn't seem far from the truth.

"Conversation."

Endowing the word Conversation with the power of the Dragon Tongue, I walked to her side and shook Aria awake.

She squirmed and whined out of her deep slumber, blinked her bleary eyes, glanced around in confusion—and the instant she saw me, her brow creased into a scowl.

"Eat your breakfast."

"Waking up and having your face be the first thing I see…… I really hate it."

Mild venom, that. Was the drowsiness still clinging to her, letting a child's docile side peek through?

So I gave a faint smile and began the morning meal together with her.

"While you stay shut up in this room, I'll be right here with you."

"……What?"

"If you hate that, then go back to your lessons and work hard. You loved learning magic, didn't you?"

"As if you'd actually do that!"

"Get your revenge if you want. You can't lay a finger on me, my mother, or my father anyway. You could marry the head of some house and use him against us, I suppose—but you carry the name of a traitor's daughter, so I doubt that road would be an easy one."

Listening to me, Aria trembled from fist to fist and shrieked at me.

"Then why do you keep doing this to me?!"

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"That's because you—!"

"Because I killed her?"

My words sealed her mouth shut.

"The Empress. Mary. Both of them paid the price for sins they committed with their own hands."

"If it weren't for you and your mother, none of that would have happened!"

"And you know exactly how absurd that logic is, don't you?"

scooping up a spoonful of soup, I carried on toward her.

"You had nothing to do with any of it. That's why I don't treat you as an enemy. You're my half-sister, but you're still my little sister—so I'm simply looking after you."

"……"

"I can't say I feel none of it—the kinship of someone else abused and trampled by adults' schemes. The reason I stay with you when you're alone is that I've never once seen a person in your position live anything resembling a normal life after being left to rot by themselves. Besides, do you know that the maids openly call you a traitor's daughter the moment you're out of earshot?"

"……"

"If you'd rather not have me around, then prove you can stand on your own. The Empress who held your affection hostage to bind you is gone now—so why are you so bent on ruining your own life with your own hands?"

"You'll regret this……"

"Regret what?"

"You don't know it, but I have real talent for magic! I'll use it to change the way everyone around me looks at me, and when I make my debut in high society, I'll captivate them all and devour you whole! Everything you have…… I'll tear it all down, thoroughly, to the last stone!"

It was quite the magnificent ambition, so I gave her a round of applause and went back to my food.

"Then hurry up and eat. Big goals are fine, but if you don't start walking one small step at a time, you'll crumble in the end."

"I know!"

Gritting her teeth as if to say that was quite enough lecturing, Aria ate her breakfast.

Watching her, I thought that small as it was, this was not a bad change—and when the meal was finished, I rose from my seat.

With the dark cloud that had hung over the imperial palace swept away, the education that had ground to a halt would now resume as well.

The Academy, the highest institution of learning on the continent, stood in the Free Trade City.

Enrollment opened at twenty, the age of adulthood, and the course of study took four years in total.

But as an imperial prince, I would formally become Crown Prince the moment my coming-of-age ceremony was held. Spending years on schooling after that would be a waste far too dear.

That said, I had no intention of going without the Academy's diploma.

'Early graduation, then. I'll skip a grade the moment I enroll.'

And the easiest route to graduating early was the Knight Department.

If I'd had a razor-sharp mind, the academic tracks would have been the quickest breakthrough—but regrettably, I wasn't that clever.

Drawing on the memories of my past life would let me get ahead to a certain extent, but that amounted to nothing more than clearing the awkward beginner stages quickly.

So I turned my gaze to the consonants and vowels I had gathered so far and began attempting combinations.

The garment a celestial maiden weaves bears not a single stitch—that is the image, and the hidden meaning is identical to the notification I'd just seen.

Another word carrying the same meaning would be Perfection, whole and unbroken. Since no separate notification had appeared, I could presumably combine that one as well.

"Cheonuimubong."

In other words, anything done purely with the mind would not receive Cheonuimubong's effect.

As it happened, the action I intended to render flawless through this word was already decided, so I paid it no mind.

With this, the moment I invoked Cheonuimubong—Swordsmanship—my handling of the blade would become flawless and without imperfection.

Admission to the Academy's Knight Department also demanded talent for mana, but I figured other words could cover that well enough.

Overwhelming, for instance.

On that front, I would need to ask Sir Brand for some help later on.

'……Though, hold on. Can loanwords not be combined?'

That was purely a standard from my past life, but if foreign words could be assembled too, the range of my power would widen enormously.

So I wracked my brain for loanwords that described actions, and tried to add the simplest word any man could summon at a moment's thought.

'……'

So loanwords really couldn't be combined after all.

The fact that it even threw in an extra notification telling me to use a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proper word—was this Dragon Tongue system running on King Sejong the Great as its core?

'So it really was just the loanwords that were impossible.'

I had wanted to be absolutely certain, one way or another.

At the result, a hollow laugh escaped me.

And then, before my eyes, a flurry of notifications piled up in an instant.

What a load of bullshit.