A Promise Without a Promise
"You can go eat alone today, so why not go pick up Lapis instead?"
When class ended and I invited her to join me for a meal, Aria declined.
"I don't know if Lapis will have time."
"And whose fault is it that she doesn't have time?"
It was a fair point, though for Lapis, who was to become Empress, it was actually a positive development.
"Aren't you placing far too much blind faith in Lapis, assuming she'll do fine on her own without your help?"
Perhaps because she'd tied her hair up in a ponytail today, she had an almost teacherly air about her.
"People who look perfect only look the part. They aren't actually perfect."
Aria gave me a pitying look.
"For all you know, she might be overexerting herself just trying to live up to those expectations of yours."
Shoving my back, Aria waved her hand and told me to hurry along.
"Why should I be the one worrying about Lapis in the first place?"
Isn't it usually the other way around? she added as an afterthought.
"If Lapis turns you down in earnest again, you come straight back to me."
"You're hoping for exactly that, aren't you?"
Reading my note, Aria planted her hands on her hips and declared, without a trace of shame,
"Isn't that obvious?"
She was so blunt I had nothing to say in return.
"If you can't even manage to eat a meal I've set up for you, then naturally I'll have to eat it myself, won't I?"
We're both women, so I'd know, Aria said, turning her back to me.
"Lapis won't have any reason to refuse anyway."
With her putting it that way, I figured I had no choice, and started walking as well.
A thought occurred to me just then—Aria could now tidy her own hair without any help. Seeing her tie it up in that ponytail made it clear.
Watching my help gradually become unnecessary left me with a faint pang of loss.
'Lapis had one more class left, didn't she?'
There was an awkward gap in my schedule, so I decided to go see Alphonse first. There were still things I hadn't managed to tell him.
'Good grief, there are so many people. Of course—this is where the largest student body is.'
The School of Arts where Alphonse studied was a comprehensive faculty that combined fine art, music, architecture, and manufacturing under one roof.
Because it branched into so many specialized majors, it occupied by far the largest buildings in the entire Academy.
But that also meant nowhere else in the Academy ran so heavily on connections.
To put it negatively, it was a rather stagnant place—graduating and becoming the disciple of someone renowned, or entering a workshop as an apprentice, counted as the pinnacle of success.
By its very nature, making a name for yourself from nothing here was extraordinarily difficult.
Even two identical works commanded different prices depending on the name attached to the workshop that made them.
The creations of the unknown were bought cheap and used purely for their cost-effectiveness—lucky were those who merely recouped the cost of their materials.
With that thought settled, I called Alphonse out separately in front of the graduation wing. The interior, unlike the other faculties, was laid out entirely as workshops, which gave the place a distinctive atmosphere.
"What business brings you here, Your Highness?"
"There's something I didn't finish saying earlier. I'd like to borrow a bit of your time for it."
When I finished writing and pointed toward the rooftop, Alphonse nodded and followed me up.
"Might what you have to say concern our contract?"
I shook my head.
"Alphonse. If the Demonic World Tree must be destroyed, what do you suppose the prerequisite would be?"
"An item with superior craftsmanship to the artifacts in everyday use would have to emerge."
Being the faculty he was, the answer came quickly.
It made sense, after all—artisans had walked the road of decline and ruin precisely because they'd been outpaced by artifacts.
"Or failing that, artifacts would have to change from consumables into something permanent."
"You've said it exactly."
I drew an artifact from my coat, its magic nearly spent, and held it up.
"With the power of the Dragon Tongue, I can bring about that latter possibility you just described."
"Ha, ha... Wait—y-you're not joking, are you?"
Just as he was studying my grave expression, realizing I wasn't lying, and trying to come to terms with it, Alphonse shook his head vigorously as he read my note.
"If the Dragon Tongue could do that, wouldn't the First Emperor have done it long ago?"
Come to think of it, that was a reasonable point.
But the Dragon Tongue that survived only in fragments of legend, and the Lingual Magic granted to me, were plainly two separate abilities.
So I took a moment to gather my thoughts, then wrote on.
"The power the First Emperor had and mine are alike yet different. Because my ability manifests in ways identical to the Dragon Tongue, that's what we call it—but honestly, I can't say for certain that they share the same root. As you well know, what's recorded in the documents is only a fragment; most of it is closer to legend, passed down by rumor alone."
"So the crux of it is that you really can make magic stones permanent?"
"Yes. My goal, after all, is the destruction of the Demonic World Tree."
At those final words, Alphonse flinched and shuddered.
The destruction of the Demonic World Tree—that was my position. It must have stunned him.
He was likely also thinking ahead to the aftermath: how the people would receive the future in which artifacts would one day vanish from this very world with the Tree's destruction.
"That's why I want you to abandon the idea of crafting things from consumable magic stones as you do now, and start designing around permanent magic stones instead. Only then will the people offer broad consent to my proposal to destroy the World Tree."
As long as the Tree remained unrevived, the best we could harvest were low-grade magic stones.
But should it bloom again, stones holding far greater magic would become available.
In other words, if the applications were handled well, this world could embrace sweeping change in stability even after the Tree's destruction—and in a positive direction, at that.
"Honestly? I find it hard to believe."
"Which is exactly why I'm showing you this, no?"
Because the Lingual Magic of permanence had been planted within it, this stone could be used continuously for as long as it remained intact, no matter how little magic remained in it.
I handed it over to Alphonse and told him to verify it himself, directly, in his room once today's classes were done.
"When you've finished confirming it, bring it back to me. It will need to be destroyed."
The official announcement would come later, when I took up my post as acting lord of the Altair Dukedom.
"...U-understood."
Answering a beat too late, Alphonse stared down at the magic stone I'd given him for a long moment before finally turning to leave.
For an artisan who crafted goods, a stone that supplied permanent power was worth precisely that much—like it or not, the products of this age could no longer be separated from magic stones.
Right after that, I left the building to meet Lapis.
Thinking about it quietly, I realized I had hardly spent any proper time with her since entering the Academy.
Even though she was close enough to touch if I simply reached out my hand.
Ordinarily, relationships without points of contact slowly drift apart—so the fact that I found myself looking forward to this rare meeting was proof, perhaps, of just how much I loved Lapis.
As her lecture drew to a close, I made my way up to the building's fourth floor, where a crowd of students filled the corridor.
Don't tell me they're all waiting for Lapis?
No—surely it couldn't be that extreme.
But I gained certainty the moment I arrived: the lecture had ended with perfect timing, and students began streaming out through the doors.
That distinctive pale-blue hair caught my eye instantly, so picking her out was no trouble at all.
Lapis, rubbing the corners of her eyes as though fatigue had piled up.
But the crush of bodies wedged between us made it impossible to close the distance, so I infused my words with Lingual Magic's power and forced my way through.
My physical condition had long since transcended mortal limits, and the students shoved aside turned around brimming with irritation—only to recognize me and hurriedly scramble out of the way.
As a path gradually opened, I extended my hand before her and gently clasped the soft back of hers.
"...Lord Rohen?"
Lapis looked up at me, her sleepy blue eyes opening wide.
"She has a prior engagement with me today. Sorry, everyone."
Saying it as mere formality to the students nearby, they all nodded and withdrew without complaint.
After all, what else could they possibly say?
Her rightful fiancé was simply taking his fiancée away for a while.
Once we were clear of the building, Lapis opened her mouth hesitantly.
"L-Lord Rohen? You didn't have any appointment with me today, did you?"
"Do I need an appointment to see you?"
I stopped walking, turned to her, and answered.
"Like you said before—we're lovers, so there's no need for our meetings to be obligations."
"......"
"But precisely because we're lovers, we want to see each other, don't we?"
Tenderly smoothing her pale-blue hair, I drew her slight frame into my embrace.
"Aren't you living far too exhausting a life? You seem a little thinner to me."
"I'm only doing what I can. Living freely until the wedding... I've given up on that, a little. Becoming your wife means becoming the Empress, after all."
What kind of pressure did the seat of Empress impose on her?
That she had to support me flawlessly, in every conceivable respect?
Even now, there was Dana, and Alphonse. Those two alone were hands and feet I could command at a moment's notice—and factoring in the personnel attached to the imperial house, the reach grew wider still.
And yet she seemed determined to shoulder far too much of it herself.
She lacked only magic; her native talent was anything but deficient.
Her particular temperament, intertwined with it all, made her try to devote herself to me beyond all reason—and my heart ached to see it.
"Lapis. You are Duke Asis's eldest daughter, and a woman who will become the future Empress."
"...Yes, I know."
"But before any of that, you are my fiancée—and in time, my wife."
She had bound becoming my wife and being the Empress together, placing them on the same line, but I deliberately pulled them apart as I spoke.
"I won't pretend the seat of Empress makes no demands of you. But I never asked any of that from you. Of course, I don't know how much help these words will be—it isn't I who will sit on that seat. But listen. For the sake of the Lapis who wishes to be Empress, I don't want the Lapis who is my fiancée and my wife to be neglected."
"......"
"As my wife, it's fine if your shortcomings show. It's fine to not know things. It's fine to fumble and make mistakes. What I hold in my heart isn't an Empress who can flawlessly support the Emperor in every respect—it's simply the woman called Lapis."
I had never fallen for Lapis because she was perfect, to begin with.
Her extraordinary talents were merely an added flourish.
Of course, at the very start, I'd gotten engaged to her because I needed the backing of Duke Asis.
But a political marriage where mutual interests merely interlocked—that's a beginning that wouldn't even rank among this world's worst, wouldn't you say?
That may have been how it started.
But through this process of bearing fruit, no crass calculation remained.
"I'm less articulate than you might think... With just the two of us, you might find it dull. You might even think I'm a boring woman."
"I've never once felt anything in your company besides happiness."
"You may come to think women are far, far more troublesome creatures than you imagined."
"That's fine."
"I might pester you every single day—saying I want to hold your hand, that I want to be held, that I want to be kissed."
Lapis flushed crimson and bowed her head.
"As much as you like."
Pale-blue hair. I gently swept her bangs aside and pressed a kiss to her forehead before continuing.
"Because I'm exactly the same."
Though in my case, things might well progress further than that.
"I-if you say that much, then... I understand."
Clasping the hem of her skirt lightly, Lapis faced me with graceful poise, a smile upon her lips.
"For today, I'll set everything else aside—and be with you simply as your fiancée."