Overlaid Karma (1)
In the days that followed.
By Serpina's command, roughly thirteen thousand capital defense troops were mustered for a march on Rose Castle, where Irene was stationed.
Serpina herself would serve as supreme commander. I was assigned as one of her aides, while temporary administration of Aingart Castle fell to Jena, the State Strategist.
Jena had the fundamental competence the post required, and she had already overseen Aingart Castle once before — when Serpina had led the occupation forces down into the heart of the continent. There was simply no one better suited for the job.
I had heard that she had offered Serpina a thoroughly logical piece of counsel under the circumstances: The forces already at Rose Castle are more than enough. Sending additional troops risks nothing more than a waste of provisions.
But the sovereign had dismissed the advice and chosen to act.
When all was said and done, she trusted me more than she trusted her own State Strategist. Whether I ought to feel grateful for that or guilty, I still wasn't sure.
And so the day of departure arrived.
"We'll be back soon. I know it's a little awkward leaving you with everything, but…"
"N-no, it's fine…! Please give Lady Irene my regards, Lord Swen…!"
Seeing us off with the maids, Reika watched as I joined the column. We set out for Rose Castle at once.
Some distance past the gates, I turned and looked back at Aingart Castle.
At the tip of a spire that pierced the sky, a banner of near-golden yellow — the color of Serpina's army — snapped and billowed in the wind.
At least in appearance, it still carried itself as the largest and most prosperous castle on the continent, an overwhelming structure raised upon a mid-river island. Looking at it, I found myself turning the prediction over once more.
Just what, exactly.
What had been about to happen if Serpina had not left her seat — something so grave that Lady Serpina's life itself had hung in the balance?
And why did this nation only find its destiny of unification once she was dead and gone?
My thoughts drifted, almost of their own accord, to the person I had come to know as Serpina.
Setting personal likes and dislikes aside, there was one fact everyone could agree on: she was an extraordinarily capable woman.
She never looked down on her subordinate generals. She looked after her own with absolute thoroughness. She had a living eye for the balance of power and made the right call in most situations. She refused to be swayed by meritorious old retainers, and she knew how to listen to the voices of new people.
That a sovereign of that caliber was fated never to achieve unification was hard enough to accept —
but the fact that this nation's destiny only unlocked once she vanished, once she stepped down from the throne, was a question of an entirely different order.
Is there something… something I'm missing?
My predictions are absolute. I had felt that truth most keenly when I served as strategist under Lady Luna.
When Tifa found the treasure chest and the money was scattered and a mercenary company walked in — the chill that ran down my spine had been almost physical.
So there had to be a legitimate reason she could not unify the continent… but what was it?
Just a little further.
One more step of thought and I felt I could grasp it… yet right now the puzzle still seemed short a few pieces.
Enough. I'll sort this out later.
In any case, Lady Serpina's fate had been rewritten once again by my intervention.
She would survive. And though I felt a certain apology toward her nation for it, the chance to become a unified empire would slip through their fingers once more.
I felt neither guilt nor any particular heaviness of heart over that. Honestly, which country became the unified power was a secondary concern to me.
What mattered was that I wanted Lady Serpina to live.
How many days passed after that?
We arrived at Rose Castle — a fortress laughably small when set against the scale of Aingart Castle.
"You have arrived, my lord."
Irene was there to receive us.
Seeing Irian and an array of other officers standing in ranks to either side of her, I was struck anew by how far Irene had risen.
"You have done well, Irene."
"Not at all. I have merely been doing what is expected of me."
Seen from a distance, Lady Irene's figure was both familiar and strange to me.
What I mean is this: that disciplined bearing of hers now felt a little awkward. That would be the accurate way to put it.
Because the Lady Irene at my side was—
"I would like a detailed report on the present situation."
"Yes. I will explain everything thoroughly from the watchtower. I shall escort you from here — this way, please—"
"Before that, why not exchange a few greetings first?"
"…?"
Serpina smiled and tipped her head lightly back over her shoulder.
As Irene tilted her head in confusion, I offered a careful greeting.
"Hello."
"Ah… S-Swen?"
"I shall go on ahead. Take your time and talk."
With that, Serpina brushed past Irene and continued forward.
I didn't mind it. I understood well enough by now that this was Lady Serpina's own brand of consideration.
Besides, even without Irene, there were more than enough officers — Irian among them — to escort her. Declining the kindness here would have been the worse choice.
I stepped closer to Irene, who stood frozen and at a complete loss.
"How have you been?"
"Hm? Me? I've been fine, but…"
Irene looked at me, flushed scarlet, and dropped her gaze as if she had no idea what to do with herself.
…Ha.
Why was this woman so endlessly lovable?
The person who, in my absence, was harder than anyone else — melting softer than any other woman the moment she stood before me — was so unbearably cute I could hardly stand it.
I made no effort to hide the feeling overflowing in my chest.
"I missed you."
"Wha—?! A-ah, y-yeah… M-me too."
"I'm glad you're well. I was worried you might be overdoing it again."
"I'm fine. Swen — the promise I made with you. I haven't forgotten it for a single moment. I swore I would never do anything dangerous…"
"Good girl."
She seemed so thoroughly praiseworthy that I slowly raised a hand and gave her hair a light stroke.
Irene did not pull away. She responded to my touch like a puppy, tilting her head this way and that beneath my palm.
Adorable.
After savoring the contact for a long while, Irene seemed to remember where she was. She cleared her throat a few times and addressed me again in her usual composed tone.
"Still… may I ask just one thing?"
"What is it?"
"The rebel forces aren't that large to begin with. We could have won easily without this visit. So why reinforce us with additional troops? On our side, some are even worried that the extra numbers will only slow the operation down."
Her point was entirely sound.
The occupation force already deployed was more than sufficient, and as the absolute elite of Serpina's army, they could have taken a single castle from a rebel band without any real difficulty.
This decision existed solely to protect Serpina's life — nothing more, nothing less.
To a third party, it would look like nothing but a waste of supplies.
I considered constructing a logical argument to persuade her, then decided there was no need to force a complicated justification here.
Especially not when the person across from me was Irene.
"I proposed it."
"You did?"
"Yes. I judged it the right course."
Irene listened, then nodded.
"If it comes from you, Swen — and not from anyone else — then it must mean something. Very well. I'll cooperate. I'll explain it properly to my subordinates."
Ever since the day that had looked as though a meteor had fallen, Irene had trusted me absolutely.
If she had been a sovereign herself, I suspected she would have had no trouble choosing only the best options available to her.
…
Someone who trusted me this deeply… perhaps I ought to tell her.
Better to share it with someone I could rely on than to keep turning it over alone and arriving at conclusions in isolation. It would be steadier that way.
This was Irene. The idea of her betraying me was not only unthinkable — I didn't even want to think it.
I had no desire to treat her trust as a variable in the first place. If it came to that kind of calculation, I would rather die standing.
"Lady Irene."
"Hm?"
"There's something I need to tell you. Do you have a moment?"
Seeing the gravity on my face, Irene glanced around.
Everyone else had drawn well away to attend Serpina, leaving the two of us free to speak in confidence.
"What is it?"
"I believe our lord… Lady Serpina… is in danger."
"…!!!"
Yes.
The thought that had dominated my mind the entire way here from Aingart Castle was the situation itself — the danger Serpina would face if she remained behind at Aingart.
Becoming a unified empire meant her death. No destiny of continental sovereignty had ever come to her. This was the same pattern as before.
So why did she die?
What kind of death could be averted simply by marching out to this place?
One possibility was an earthquake striking Aingart Castle.
If the royal castle collapsed while she was conducting affairs of state within it, her death would hardly be strange.
Nothing of the sort had happened on the journey here, which made it fairly unlikely — but an earthquake on the return road that brought the royal castle down could not be ruled out either.
In broad terms, it would be the same category of case as the landslide from before.
Of course, it was only one possibility among many, and the probability was absurdly low. There was a reason they called them acts of God.
Between the meteor and the landslide — having used and avoided natural disasters with almost indecent convenience — the scenario had painted itself in my mind almost automatically. But I could not forget how vanishingly small the odds truly were.
Moreover, in that case the royal castle itself would fall. It would not be Serpina alone who died, and the scale of the damage would be catastrophic.
Which meant I also could not dismiss the possibility that the prediction had simply come out differently.
Sudden illness or plague was out as well. If that were the case, dispatching her here would not have been enough to escape her fate.
If I forced a disease scenario into the prediction, it would look something like after she leaves, a sudden epidemic sweeps through Aingart Castle — but that, like the earthquake, was something that would have to be watched further, and the probability was just as low.
So what conclusion currently held the highest likelihood, and also fit the surrounding circumstances with the most coherence?
"I can't say this with certainty, but I believe there is a group inside the royal castle that intends to assassinate Lady Serpina."
Irene stared at me, eyes gone wide and white with shock.
"What… did you say?"
The conclusion I had reached.
That Serpina, remaining in the royal castle, would be assassinated.