A Predetermined Future
After parting ways with Swen, Irene was making her way back to the barracks—her original post, one she had not visited in quite some time—when a voice called out to her.
"E-excuse me...!"
She turned toward the sound and found a strangely familiar woman calling her name.
"...Lady Ioline?"
"Ah—no, that's my younger sister..."
"...Ah."
Once he spoke, she could see it. The resemblance was there, yet something about the lines of his face was subtly different. The one who had called to her was not a woman at all, but a young man—pretty-featured and fine-boned, yes, but unmistakably male. Jennis.
Jennis was the younger brother of Irian Al Kaski and the twin brother of Ioline Al Kaski. Not long ago, their paths had become rather deeply entangled. Quite some time had already passed since then.
"I take it your imprisonment has ended without incident?"
"Yes. And so I wanted to offer my thanks... I know it's presumptuous of me, but I've been waiting here for you."
With that, Jennis bowed at a perfect ninety degrees. Even for a twin, he really did look remarkably feminine, Irene thought—and then his voice reached her ears again.
"I am truly grateful, Lady Irene. I should have come to thank you far sooner. Forgive me for how late this is."
"Think nothing of it. I only did what was required of me. You need not dwell on it."
"I had hoped to thank Swen as well, but I've received new orders and must transfer to another territory. I need to set out soon, so if you would—"
"I understand. I will pass your regards along to him."
"Thank you very much."
Jennis bowed once more.
"From now on we will both continue to serve Lady Serpina. Someday I will be certain to repay this debt."
...
After dealing with Jennis's sudden appearance as politely as she could and sending him on his way, Irene watched his retreating back and turned his final words over in her mind.
From now on we will both continue to serve Lady Serpina... is that so.
Perhaps it was the weight those words carried. Without meaning to, she closed her eyes and found herself remembering what had happened only a few days earlier.
Turning the clock back a little—
Once Serpina had swiftly reclaimed her place as sovereign, Irene was able to hear a brief account of what had actually happened.
"Is that so? So it was Lady Reika who treated you..."
"Yes. You already knew of Lady Reika's abilities, Irene, did you not?"
An image rose unbidden in Irene's mind: Reika casually conjuring a ball of flame above her palm. And not only that—when she made chocolate, she had drawn ice from empty air itself. To think she possessed the power to heal wounds as well... Irene herself could not sense it, but there was no longer any room left to doubt that mana truly existed.
"...Yes, my lady."
"You need not worry. I have no intention of scolding you for keeping it from me."
Serpina said this with a faint curve of her lips. Irene found herself thinking that, at some point, the woman's expression had grown noticeably warmer than before.
No—this was not the time for that. After everything that had happened so suddenly, the right thing was to say what she had not yet been able to say.
"...My lord."
Irene dropped to one knee and bowed her head before the golden-haired absolute ruler she currently served.
"For saving this worthless life of mine... I am truly grateful."
It was no empty courtesy. Irene had genuinely survived because of Serpina. Of course, Shura's attack might not have killed her outright. The situation had been chaotic, and Shura, like Irene, had clearly been forced to strike out of tempo, rushing the blow. Even so, that did not erase the meaning of Serpina taking the blade in her place.
And there was one more thing.
"As your guard knight, I failed in my duty and allowed this tragedy to unfold. Even if you had held me fully accountable, I would have had no words in my defense... Yet you showed me mercy instead. I will never forget that grace."
In the end, the fact that Serpina had been wounded was proof that Irene had not fulfilled her charge. In a situation where even the harshest punishment would have been justified, Serpina had demanded no accountability at all. From Irene's perspective, it was as if she had received the favor twice over.
But then Serpina gave an answer Irene had never expected.
"Raise your head, Irene."
Slowly, Irene lifted her gaze to the golden-eyed sovereign.
"I have done nothing for which you should thank me. So you need not feel indebted."
"What do you mean, my lord? I clearly—"
"Forgive me for interrupting, but I did not throw myself in the way purely out of a desire to protect you."
"...?"
This time, the smile that touched Serpina's face was faintly bitter. And in her eyes was an emotion no sovereign ought to feel toward her own guard knight—jealousy, plain and unmistakable.
"I envy you terribly, Irene."
"My lord...?"
"Because Swen loves you so very much."
"...!!!!!"
In that instant, Irene lost her composure in a way wholly unlike her. The dignified posture of a knight on one knee collapsed in a heartbeat.
"Th-that is... l-love, that word, that is...!!"
Serpina watched her with open amusement, lightly covering her mouth as she laughed.
"Fufufu. So that is the face you make when you hear such things, Irene. Truly the face of a woman lovely enough to have won Swen's heart."
"I—that is... I-I beg your pardon..."
Unable even to form a proper reply, Irene bowed her head deeply. Her face burned. Something fluttered low in her stomach. Simply hearing Swen's name was enough to summon him to mind—and that, for her, had become a kind of switch that fiercely stirred everything womanly within her.
"Well, even if it is not quite love—then an affection just as fierce, and a bond of trust just as deep. Even standing beside him, I can feel it vividly: at the end of those unreadable, deep gray eyes of his, it is you who stands, Irene."
"Ah..."
"And that is why."
Serpina's expression shifted abruptly, and Irene managed to recover a measure of calm. Or was it only her imagination? Serpina's voice seemed to tremble, ever so slightly.
"I saved you. If I allowed harm to come to someone precious to Swen, he would surely come to hate me, would he not?"
"My lord..."
"I know full well that the entire world hates and despises me. It does not matter. I have grown used to it. But if even Swen were to hate me as well... even I, I think, would crumble in an instant. So I did not save you for your sake. That is why there is nothing for which you need thank me."
Irene studied Serpina's face for a long moment. It was strange. The golden-haired absolute ruler who had always seemed so strong—who, for all her reputation as a tyrant, could even feel strangely benevolent—why did she suddenly look so fragile?
"And you did more than enough. When I think that if you had not thrown yourself forward so quickly, I might have died at the hands of a guard knight I trusted, I am all the more certain of it. So you need not thank me. Irene. You gave your best. I know that well, so put it from your mind."
Hearing that, Irene slowly shook her head.
"...Even so, the fact remains that in the end, my lord saved my life. I will repay this debt. Without fail."
Serpina gave no answer. She simply walked in silence—one step, then another, then several more—until she stood near a sunlit window. Only then did her rose-colored lips part.
"...I wish I could stand beside you as an equal."
"..."
"If only that were possible, I would have been so much happier."
After murmuring those quiet words, she continued,
"...Very well. If that is your will, I will not stop you. I shall look forward to your future service."
"Yes, my lord!"
My lord...
According to Swen, Serpina's army was not their ultimate destination.
Lunarien Iniang.
The strong-willed woman whose gaze Irene would never forget—the one she had once locked eyes with across crossed blades. She knew because she had crossed swords with her. For all that somewhat fragile appearance, Lunarien's martial skill was first-rate. Irene had recognized a true powerhouse by instinct, and it was she herself who had advised pursuit when the woman fled.
Swen had said that she alone was born with the destiny to unify the continent—and that she was the lord he truly served.
What lived in Irene's heart was Swen. Whatever decision he made, her vow to remain at his side had not wavered in the slightest.
But.
If Lady Luna raised her banner once more and reappeared on the stage of history... then they would leave their lord—leave Lady Serpina's side.
The first sovereign who had acknowledged her, trusted her, valued her highly, and saved her life. The one who had given her in a short time what years of loyalty to Lin had never once granted.
...Haa.
She had no intention of changing the fundamental premise that she would follow Swen's decision. Even so, she could not help but be troubled by it.
...It's all right. Before she raises her army, an opportunity to repay this debt may still come someday.
When she left Yuuri's forces, she had felt light because she had already done everything she could for Yuuri there. If they had failed to repel Chel Brans, the Asius army would have fallen that very day. So the chance would come. At the very least, there was little else she could do but help Lady Serpina in some meaningful way, even once.
Thinking that as she walked, she soon arrived at the barracks. Today, by Serpina's special order, she was to inspect them. She had not stepped down as a guard knight; rather, the officer originally in charge of the barracks had requested that she review his training curriculum.
"Lady Irene. You have arrived."
"Mm."
The moment she entered, she could tell the atmosphere in the barracks was unsettled. Turning to the officer she had not seen in some time, Irene asked,
"Has something happened?"
"For some time now, strange rumors have been circulating."
"Rumors?"
"Well..."
And the story she heard there was—
"Something unbelievable... has happened..."
"Unbelievable? What do you mean by—no, first, please calm yourself, my lord."
I carefully stepped closer to her. Serpina was trembling—and then she seized my hand tightly as I approached and spoke.
"...He was alive."
"Pardon?"
"My uncle, who vanished without a trace... was alive."
Her uncle—her father's younger brother, then. And the moment that phrase, father's younger brother, surfaced in my mind, every one of my senses locked solid.
"...It seems he has appointed himself guardian, raised that person as sovereign, and taken up arms in the southern continent."
I...
I know what this is.
I know all of it.
In this game, there was one "late-blooming" character. A small-nation sovereign who begins with the only martial general capable of awakening to magic—and with the sole surviving member of House Aingart, who had seemed wiped out save for Serpina herself.
And now her uncle—that "sole surviving member of House Aingart aside from Serpina"—had revealed himself on the continent.
"To think my uncle was still alive... He had been missing for so long that I assumed he was dead. Even if only a branch line, I never imagined any of the Aingart blood still remained..."
From Serpina's perspective, his appearance could only be a shock. The single greatest pillar supporting her on the thin ice she already walked was the fact that she was the sole survivor of the Aingart imperial house. Even if he was not of the main line, the splitting of that claim to legitimacy was hardly a pleasant development.
And separate from her reaction, my heart began to hammer wildly in my chest.
So it has come.
Even knowing everything, I had no choice but to ask. Slowly, I parted my lips.
"My lord. Did you... happen to hear the name of the one your uncle has raised as sovereign...?"
Serpina spoke the name I had been waiting for so long—and that, at the same time, I had somehow grown afraid of and tried to look away from.
And then—
"Lunarien."
—fate.
"The name of the woman my uncle, Kyle von Aingart, has raised as sovereign is Lunarien."
The predetermined future began to close in on me.