Chapter 171: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (35)
Chapter 171: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (35)
At Sienne’s sudden question, the Empress’s breath hitched.
Her eyes sank into a hollow daze.
Nevertheless, Sienne did not stop. She continued to speak.
“When I was a child, you thought that every time you looked at me. You wondered what it would have been like if I had been a son.”
“……What are you talking about?”
The words were uttered in bewilderment, thick with a sense of wrongness, but Sienne’s expression remained utterly cold.
She pressed on.
“And just a while ago, you were thinking of the throne while looking at me, weren't you? You were thinking of how to make me—a mere 5th Princess—the Emperor. You considered assassinations and all sorts of schemes.”
The Empress fell silent. She looked as if she had turned into a stone statue.
Only after a long time had passed did she manage to squeeze out a single sentence.
“……No.”
What returned to that denial was another denial.
Sienne shook her head violently, looking up at the Empress with eyes shimmering with a fierce light.
Before long, her pupils had slit vertically.
They were the eyes of a reptile.
“Why are you sobbing? Because people are disappearing from my side? No. In truth, Mother, you are afraid that I am drifting further and further away from the throne.”
“Stop.”
The Empress spoke in a sharp, commanding tone. Her face had already turned deathly pale.
Words that felt like they were suffocating her followed.
“……S-Stop this at once.”
“Do you love me? In what capacity do you love me, exactly?”
But Sienne’s heated words could no longer be stopped. The disappointment and hatred rising in her eyes flickered like a faint flame.
The Empress began to gasp for air.
Dense mana was gathering in the surroundings, as if to prove the fact that Sienne carried the Dragon's Blood.
“My eyes—these eyes? In truth, aren't you planning to use this power to claim the legitimacy of the Imperial bloodline? My lineage, my eyes, and even the human being that is me! You love me only as your tool…!”
“I told you to stop!”
The Empress’s hand lunged out and seized Sienne’s slender neck.
Ack, gack. The sound of broken breaths echoed through the air. The Empress’s eyes had long since turned bloodshot.
She was no longer the image of a benevolent mother. It would not have been an exaggeration to call her a devil.
Looking at that face, Sienne’s own expression filled with despair.
Right. In the end, it turns out like this.
“N-No… I said it’s not like that! I—I am not that kind of person… I love you! I am your mother who loves you!”
The voice screaming out was closer to a desperate struggle.
Tears dripped from the Princess’s bloodshot eyes. Her mind, driven into a corner for so long, had finally snapped.
As the grip on her neck tightened, the Princess’s consciousness began to fade.
Only then could she be truly certain.
Yes. There is no one in this world who purely cares for me.
Everyone is just interested in my status as a Princess.
They think of me as a tool. Why didn't I realize that until now?
Why was I so ignorant, and why did I crave it so much?
The facade called 'sincerity,' the love, and the concern—it all felt so pathetic that the Princess’s eyelids, soaked in regret, slowly slid shut.
If the Head Maid had not arrived after hearing the commotion, she would have died right then and there.
It was a major incident.
The news reached the Emperor’s ears, and soon, an old man called the greatest mage of the era arrived at the Imperial Palace in haste.
He was the one known as the ‘Great Sage.’
“It is a curse.”
The old man with a snow-white beard said so without hesitation.
Before his eyes lay a small girl sleeping with her eyes closed. The bizarre geometric patterns surrounding her blinked incessantly.
The man standing behind the old man let out a deep sigh.
Though he still possessed a vigorous aura, he was the Emperor of the Empire and the father of that girl. He murmured in a pathetic voice.
“……You truly have no reservations with your words.”
“Because it is the truth, Your Majesty. As the successor of the Dragon Blood Runes, do you not already know this?”
The old man’s voice was perfectly flat. His blue eyes shone with a particular brilliance even in the dark surroundings.
It was proof that he had reached the level of a ‘Master.’
Having already lived for hundreds of years, he was facing death. However, the old man considered it fate that he had encountered such a strange connection just a few years before his natural life span was to end.
No matter how much he was the Emperor of the Empire, he could not mistreat an old man who had reached the edge of Truth.
He could not point out a single thing about the Great Sage’s somewhat arrogant attitude and could only shake his head.
“……It is my fault.”
“How can there be good or evil in a bloodline? It is simply how one is born. The power of a dragon is nothing but a curse to an ordinary human. Especially an eye that can see through everyone’s emotions… Ho ho ho……”
The old man burst into a hollow laugh, then looked down at the Princess with pity and sympathy.
She was a girl abandoned even by her own mother.
Now, she would likely never trust a human being for the rest of her life. Even if he sealed that ‘eye,’ it would be the same.
However, despite the Great Sage’s consolation, the Emperor’s expression showed no signs of clearing. He still let out a pained sigh.
“Even so, I am her father, and she is my daughter. Is there no way?”
“I can seal the eye temporarily. Even so, I won't be able to suppress it completely; she will still feel fragments of the most intense emotions others possess.”
The Emperor’s eyes sank deep as he looked down at the Princess.
He silently listened to the Great Sage’s continuing words.
“Her distrust of humans will likely worsen by the day. This is because the most intense emotions humans possess are usually desires. Still, if I tell her that I have completely sealed that ‘eye,’ I believe she will be able to lead a normal life.”
“……Does that mean that child will never be able to trust a human for her entire life?”
One could tell what kind of answer the Emperor wanted just by his voice, but the Great Sage nodded firmly, unconcerned.
“Of course. She won't be able to trust anyone. The only things she will trust are the desires she sees with her own eyes and the actions that follow them.”
Sigh. The Emperor placed a hand on his forehead and let out a breath. It seemed as if he wanted to stagger from the emotional shock, but he was the Emperor.
An Emperor before a father.
Even if he were alone, he must not show any sign of collapsing. His eyes were merely dyed with despair.
Perhaps finding it pitiful to watch, the Great Sage adjusted his robe and cleared his throat.
“……However, the possibility of a miracle occurring is not zero.”
A quietly sunken gaze turned toward the Great Sage. One could not read the emotions in the eyes of a ruler whose depth was unknowable.
However, the Great Sage merely guessed that a faint expectation would be dwelling in that gaze.
“If someone… if someone shows her their true heart, wouldn't this poor child change? Originally, a curse is nothing more than a blessing inverted. If she encounters a sincerity without a single shred of falsehood, her eyes will become a blessing rather than a curse.”
“……Is that even possible?”
At the Emperor’s words, which were full of skepticism, the Great Sage wore a bitter smile.
“That is why it is called a ‘miracle,’ is it not?”
That night, a ritual led by the Great Sage was held in the Imperial Palace.
Afterward, the 5th Princess, Sienne, returned to her daily life, and instead, she was able to receive love as before through her sociable behavior.
However, except for the Emperor and the Great Sage, no one knew her true heart.
The despair Sienne felt upon realizing she could never earn genuine goodwill.
Just as she was nothing more than a tool to someone, the Princess also came to see people as tools.
Every morning, she made a vow to herself.
I will never trust anyone again.
Never again.
After listening to Senior Neris’s long story, the impression I voiced was simple.
“……The greenhouse flower was busy digging her own pit of despair.”
I couldn't know exactly what happened on the day the ‘Great Sage’ visited.
However, hearing that she had changed after that, it seemed that the events prior had left scars on the Princess’s psyche.
To have almost been killed by her own mother—how great must her distrust be?
So, it seemed she preferred to remain an object of fear rather than be looked down upon.
It was a natural reaction for a girl who had to endure hostility and contempt until then.
At my words, which were tossed out so casually, Senior Neris lowered her head without a word. Commenting on the Imperial family was close to a taboo.
It was only because I was the possessor of the Dragon Blood Runes that Senior Neris didn't say anything.
It was perfectly natural for the Emperor’s representative to evaluate the Imperial family.
Only then did the honorifics return to my attitude toward Senior Neris.
“Good work, Senior Neris. Go back and rest now… Oh, and see if you can pull some strings so that the non-combat personnel can stay out of the Homecoming Festival as much as possible.”
However, despite my order to leave, Senior Neris was merely hesitating.
When my questioning gaze turned toward her, Senior Neris, who had been watching my reaction for a moment, cautiously asked me.
“Is, is the test a pass……?”
I stared at Senior Neris for a moment without saying anything.
Come to think of it, the Dragon Blood Runes could only be possessed by the Emperor’s closest aides.
In other words, it was normal for me to already know the Imperial secrets Senior Neris was telling me.
It seemed Senior Neris thought I was testing her based on information I already knew.
There was no need to correct her misunderstanding. I spoke bluntly.
“……I’ll watch a bit longer.”
No matter how much I thought about it, the Academy branch of the Imperial Intelligence Agency was strange.
Even for an intern, even the most basic rules were not properly followed. This was despite it being an organization that handpicked students from the Academy, which was called the cradle of talent.
It seemed additional investigation into this was also necessary.
It was an evaluation with a strong negative feel, but Senior Neris seemed satisfied with just that, as she soon let out a sigh of relief.
And immediately after, Senior Neris, who was about to leave, hesitated for a moment as if she still had something to say.
It didn't take long to hear that question.
“……Um, Lord Ian?”
My golden eyes glanced at her as if telling her to speak.
Senior Neris asked me cautiously, as she always did.
“So, what do you plan to do?”
It was a question asking how I would deal with the 5th Princess, who had dared to challenge me, the Emperor’s representative.
Since the answer was obvious, I swallowed a hollow laugh and said.
“I have to save her.”
The Princess, the students participating in the Homecoming Festival, the citizens in the city, and the world.
It was a sincerity without a single shred of falsehood.
Just as it had always been.
That night, the Princess woke up gasping.
Ack, gack. The sound of someone being strangled echoed through the silent room. Gasping for air, she hurriedly found water and drank it.
It was a nightmare.
The dream of her mother squeezing her neck, those eyes glowing red like a demon’s, were still vivid in her memory.
Everyone was like that.
The emotions directed toward the Princess had a consistent commonality.
Whether it was sexual desire, a desire for power, or a desire for money, they were all desires that she didn't like one bit.
Even Irene, her closest aide, or the Head Maid were the same. A certain amount of desire for honor and power from serving the Princess was oozing out of them as well.
If there was one exception.
Recalling those golden eyes that felt only pity and sympathy, the Princess immediately ground her teeth.
She must not be looked down upon.
Only the strong could earn goodwill. The weak were often ridiculed, or if they stepped even slightly out of line, they became targets of exclusion.
They were painful days.
Everyone in the world was hostile toward her. Just thinking about the memories of that day made Sienne’s mind go blank, and after that day, she had lost her emotions.
Humans were beings that could not be trusted.
Then, the Princess’s eyes landed on a small cat's eye stone she had placed on the desk next to her bed.
That light gray mystic stone was an item left behind by her mother, the 4th Empress, when she departed.
After being strangled by the Empress, the Princess never saw her again. She had only heard the news that her mother had been dishonorably sent back to her home territory on charges of daring to lay a hand on the Emperor’s daughter.
There wasn't even a letter explaining the circumstances in detail.
Her mother had simply left that single cat's eye stone. Even now, the Princess could not understand that psychology.
Did it mean she would return at any time and try to connect to my power?
Seeing that she couldn't bring herself to throw away that cat's eye stone despite thinking that, she was still a child. Sienne thought so and reflexively gripped the cat's eye stone in her hand.
And as she tossed it into the air and caught it, she thought.
How could that man be so strong?
The feeling of everyone in the world being hostile—the Princess knew it all too well. Because she thought it was the most terrifying retaliation, she had done it after much deliberation.
But the man had flipped the board without a care and pitied the Princess as if it were natural.
How arrogant.
The Princess’s eyes sank coldly. It was a hostility that felt almost desperate.
She must not be looked down upon any longer.
Soon, hell would arrive for that man.
His younger sister’s merchant guild would collapse, and the Percus Territory would become a mess. And even his precious ones would leave his side one by one.
The stage had long since been set. Soon, when the Academy’s vacation began, full-scale movements would appear one after another.
The day that would serve as the signal was, yes.
The Princess’s gaze silently scanned the calendar. Recalling the day marked in red there.
The day of the ‘Homecoming Festival’ was approaching.