The Meeting (4)

After sending Swen in to negotiate, Irene stood waiting in a suitable spot outside the royal castle. She approached Reika, who was gazing up at the sky, and asked,

"Miss Reika."

"Ah—ah…! Is something the matter, Lady Irene…?"

"I was simply wondering what you were thinking about so intently."

"Ah…"

Reika offered a faint smile.

"It's just… I came here carrying a rather uneasy feeling, but nothing much seems to be happening after all. I suppose I should say I'm relieved…?"

"An uneasy feeling?"

"Yes. The truth is… I had a rather unpleasant dream."

From there, Reika recounted the dream she had seen to Irene.

Irene nodded as she listened.

"I see. A dream in which Swen falls into danger… So when you said you 'came along because you were worried,' it was about that dream."

"Yes… that's right."

"You need not worry about that."

Irene looked toward the castle, her gaze unwavering and true.

"I will not allow him to come to harm."

Her words were no empty bravado.

Irene was far too powerful a general to be relegated to the mere role of an envoy's bodyguard. It was only because Lynn had never even assigned her such minor duties that she had trained herself never to complain about any role given to her. In truth, she was strong enough that no one would have faulted her for objecting to being given a task this trivial.

"If Lady Irene is protecting him… then yes, I do feel reassured… I think."

"Indeed. And it is not only Swen I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠am here to protect."

"Pardon…?"

"Reika, it is only natural that you are included as well. I came along to escort the both of you, after all."

"Ah…"

A faint flush rose to Reika's cheeks.

When she had first met Irene, she had found her a little difficult to approach—but she was even more impressive than that first impression had suggested. Thinking as much, Reika carefully opened her mouth.

"Th-thank you very much…! But honestly, fretting over a dream and all that… such a ridiculous story felt like a rather poor topic to bring up upon first meeting someone… so…"

"I understand that feeling well enough. My image is hardly a warm one, I imagine."

"Pardon…?"

Irene's voice was utterly matter-of-fact as she spoke of herself.

"I often hear from the soldiers that I leave a poor impression. Living through the battlefield, I came to believe I must never appear approachable, and so I began wearing an intimidating expression at all times. Before I knew it, that expression had become my default. No one ever felt free to speak casually in front of me."

"I see…"

"Of course, that was partly by design as well. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠When one faces battle, few things are more dangerous than letting the enemy read one's face. A person's countenance inevitably betrays anger, fear, dread, confusion… and those things become weaknesses in the end."

Reika listened in silence, then—very carefully, in a voice that nearly vanished into itself—she spoke.

"Th-that is… um, well."

"Hm?"

"If this is… overstepping, I apologize in advance."

"It is fine. Speak."

"Doesn't it feel lonely…?"

"…What did you say?"

Irene's eyes widened slightly at Reika's question—as though she had been asked something she had never once considered.

"But… you have to live hiding your emotions, don't you? That means you can never share what you feel with anyone else… and that seems like it would be terribly lonely…"

"…"

"I was lonely too. I had no friends to share my heart with… so I think I understand, somehow. It may be terribly presumptuous of me, but… when you saw fear in the eyes of the soldiers looking at you, I think I know a little of what that must have felt like… that is, um…"

As Reika continued apologizing for her poor way with words, Irene calmly soothed her.

"How should I put this… I, um, I don't think of you that way at all…!"

"You don't think of me that way?"

"I'm not afraid of you, Lady Irene… Not at all. If anything… I think you're wonderful. I'm sure it took so much to reach the place you stand now… and I could never be as strong and steadfast as you are… so I think that part of you is truly admirable."

It was a fumbling, unfinished sort of confession—emotions barely pulled into words. But it was precisely because it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so imperfect that it struck something in Irene's heart.

"Is that so."

Irene smiled as she watched Reika fidget and flounder.

"Thank you, Reika. You are a truly kind young woman."

"You are too, Lady Irene… You're a kind person."

After those words, silence settled between them once more.

But the silence was not a heavy one. It was the quiet of two people who felt, without speaking, that something had passed between them. What Reika felt in that stillness was not loneliness, but warmth.

Several minutes passed like that.

Then Reika carefully spoke again.

"I think… this is rather nice."

"Nice?"

"Yes."

At Irene's questioning look, Reika answered in a tone that had grown a little freer.

"Traveling together like this, the three of us… I don't think it would be so bad."

"The three of us together. Yes, that does sound rather fine."

And then—

Without meaning to, Reika dropped a bombshell.

"If I became Lord Swen's wife… would life continue like this?"

"Kehk!"

"Ah—Lady Irene?!"

Cough, cough!

Only after several more fits of coughing did Irene manage to look at Reika—her usual cool expression completely shattered, the face of a dazed young girl staring back.

"Wh… what? What did you just say?"

"N-no, that is… I mean, um…"

With Irene's hand planted on her shoulder and Irene herself looking like an entirely different person, Reika was too flustered to form a coherent reply.

Only then did Irene realize how she must look. She carefully covered her mouth with one hand.

"No, that is… f-forgive me. It is just that… I thought I heard something rather strange…"

"Ah… I-I'm so sorry…! Someone like me…!"

"There is no need to apologize… In any case, if I did not mishear."

Irene asked with extreme caution, her face flushed red. Looking at her now, not a trace remained of the knightly dignity that had so overwhelmed Reika moments before.

"I believe the word… wife… came up."

"Pardon? Ah… well, marriage talks are underway between Lord Swen and myself, you see…"

Thud.

The moment those words reached her, Irene's world turned gray.

What…?

Swen… was getting married? To the Reika standing right in front of her?

Reika seemed to be saying things like "of course nothing has been decided yet" and "it only came up on my father's side"—but none of it was registering.

Marriage… Swen… getting married.

Well. An adult man getting married was hardly unheard of, was it?

Judging by the surname Nighthart, her father would be Zinor. She had seen marriage talks of this sort arranged any number of times in her life.

And yet.

Why was it?

The moment she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heard that this girl might marry Swen, every part of what made Irene herself stopped functioning properly.

Her mind would not turn.

She could not tell whether she was breathing.

Even what her eyes were looking at had gone vague.

Why… why…?

As Irene sank into panic, Reika's voice gradually filtered back into her ears.

"…rene! Lady Irene…!"

"…Ah."

Only then did she feel the wind cutting across her cheek. She registered that Reika was looking at her with deep concern.

"Are you all right, Lady Irene…?"

"Ah? Y-yes… Yes. Mm."

Irene let out a short breath, then looked properly at the worried girl before her.

She had not been conscious of it before… but Reika was remarkably beautiful.

Her skin was white and smooth and thoroughly feminine—the opposite of Irene's own, which was marked with countless minor scars from repeated combat. Her voice was adorable, and her mannerisms were thoroughly endearing.

If the two of them stood side by side, anyone would say Reika was far closer to the kind of woman men preferred.

And Swen was a man, after all. Would he not prefer a lovely, pure girl like this over someone as blunt and unrefined as herself?

Wasn't a girl like Reika… far more suited to stand at Swen's side than someone like her?

As those thoughts turned in Irene's mind, Reika's voice reached her again.

"Um… did I do something wrong…?"

"…No. You could not have done anything wrong. Marriage is of no particular concern to me. Yes. Nothing is wrong at all."

She said the words, but she still looked as though she had lost all composure. Reika tilted her head and asked,

"Nothing has been decided yet, you know… Looking at the situation, it seems Lady Irene hasn't either."

"…Hm?"

Irene made a puzzled face.

"Why am I being brought into this? I am… perfectly fine either way…"

"Pardon? That can't be…"

Both of them felt the conversation slipping out of alignment.

While Irene was still bewildered, it was Reika who made the first move.

"Lady Irene is going to be Lord Swen's first wife, isn't she…?"

"Ghk! Gahhk! Khek!"

"Kya—a-are you all right…?!"

Irene's reaction was far more violent than when she had heard about Reika and Swen's marriage talks. Reika broke into a cold sweat, not knowing what to do.

"Wh… what."

Barely recovering her wits, Irene muttered something toward Reika with ears flushed scarlet.

Still failing to understand, Reika simply tilted her head the other way and asked—looking for all the world like a rabbit gazing up at a predator—

"That's right, isn't it…? Is it not…? When I spoke with Lord Swen, that seemed to be the case…"

"S-Swen…?!"

The moment Swen's name came up, Irene coughed again.

Then, with great effort, she forced her heavy lips to move.

"I… I am."

I… Swen's first wife?

What on earth was going on?

Why did she believe that? What in the world had she discussed with Swen?

There was a mountain of things Irene wanted to ask Reika—but the situation around them was already moving too quickly to allow for an ordinary conversation.

"You two over there."

"…?"

One of Serpina's guards was walking toward them.

His expression was not ordinary. Even granting that they were bodyguards escorting an enemy nation's envoy, he was being far too wary.

"What is it?"

"Do not make a scene. Quietly come this way."

"For what reason?"

"I am under no obligation to explain that."

"…And if we refuse?"

The soldier answered Irene in a sharply edged tone.

"Then we will simply use force."

The guard drew the sword at his hip.

Without panicking, Irene guided Reika behind her back and drew her own blade in turn.

"This is hardly fitting treatment for an envoy's bodyguard."

"The situation being what it is."

The situation being what it is?

Come to think of it… quite some time had passed, and Swen still had not emerged from the castle.

Just what was happening in there?

"Pardon…?"

I blinked up at Serpina.

She wanted me…?

Out of nowhere??

I froze in utter bewilderment at Serpina's declaration, which had come barreling in without so much as a turn signal. She, by contrast, spoke with complete composure.

"Mm. Yes. Swen. I need you. I am well acquainted with your reputation. If someone of your ability were to aid me, I could send Anima Ingram packing any number of times over."

"…I am sorry, but that is not a matter I can decide."

"Indeed. You know your place well, Swen. Your words are quite correct."

Serpina smiled again as she said it.

I had no choice but to admit it. Her smile carried a silent aura that made one want to fall to one's knees and worship.

"It is not a matter you can decide. That matter is one that I alone may decide."

"…Pardon?"

Just as the thought what kind of nonsense is that crossed my mind—

That moment… flashed through my head once more like lightning.

It can't be…!!

"Hear me, all of you."

Serpina issued her command to the soldiers behind me.

"Seize the envoy and transfer him to the underground dungeon."

"Yes!"

The moment her words reached them, the soldiers began stomping toward me.

Has she lost her mind?!

Arresting an envoy?

She was actually doing that?!

And if it had come to this… did that mean the "most efficient prediction" was that I would be captured by Serpina and dragged to the underground dungeon?

Absolutely not!

There was no way a mind of Intelligence 100 would call being hauled off to a dungeon the most efficient outcome.

Looking back on every experience so far, there had never been a single moment when I was truly in danger.

Right. Thinking carefully… the prediction results had not only been [That is the most efficient].

It had also said that how things concluded would be [Dependent upon the will of Heaven]. In other words, this was the moment when—whether the result was gruel or rice—I had to step forward myself.

In the end, my judgment would be correct no matter what.

So I would simply move as my heart directed.

"Please wait a moment, Lady Serpina."

"…"

Without showing any urgency, I looked at her with a thoroughly composed expression.

Fortunately, upon hearing me, Serpina raised a hand. It was not difficult to understand that she was ordering the soldiers to stand down for the moment.

"This is a little embarrassing, but allow me to ask once more. Did you say that you wish to obtain me?"

"I did."

"Then approaching it this way will not do."

"Oh-ho."

Fortunately, she seemed to find my words interesting.

Now then. What to do.

Had I been given ample time, I would have calmly thought things through and derived the best possible result… but what I had now was not time. It was only an absolute prediction of Intelligence 100 that never missed.

Based on that, I would have to draw my future in real time.

Calmly.

Even if you enter a tiger's den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.

Repeating that thought over and over… I carefully offered her a proposal.

"A contest, Lady Serpina. If you wish to obtain me, you will have to accept this challenge."