Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Wraiths
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“Wonder how she’ll be today…….”
Uni paused in her cleaning to grumble. It was because of the young lady outside. Today marked the third day since they’d arrived at the imperial palace. Lena’s exploits so far had been spectacular. Day one: poison. Day two: champagne. So what would today, the third day, bring?
As Uni let out a deep sigh, Lena happened to return to the room right on cue.
“Young Lady? Why are you back so early?”
“I had a bit of time left.”
“I thought your schedule was packed until dinner……. What is it this time? What happened?”
Quick on the uptake, Uni tensed up the moment she saw Lena. Lena laughed as if she couldn’t take it anymore and sank onto the sofa. Then, as she undid the buttons of her stuffy uniform, she said,
“I met my father.”
“You met him!? Wh-what did he say!”
“The necessary things.”
Uni cried out in surprise, and Lena finished taking off her gloves. She leaned back against the sofa and let out a long breath. Lena looked exhausted. Uni stared at her for a moment, swallowed her curiosity, and quietly asked,
“……Did you eat?”
“No, not yet.”
“Wait here. I’ll bring something light.”
Uni left Lena seated and dashed to the shelves. She returned with heaps of fruit and cookies. Lena blinked at the unexpected treats.
“Where did all this come from?”
“Tributes. Even the imperial palace has followers of mine now.”
Lena burst out laughing at Uni’s innocent reply. The clever, chatty Uni fit in anywhere. Most people doted on the young girl, but Uni hated being treated like a child and saw their kindness as devotion. Her logic was that both involved serving someone, so they weren’t all that different.
“Sorry for leaving you alone so much.”
“It’s fine. I have followers.”
Lena’s smile brightened at Uni’s spunky response. Relieved by the girl’s sharpness, Lena continued,
“That’s actually what I came to talk about.”
“What?”
“Soon, someone will approach you.”
Uni was the child brought by the eccentric lady named Lena Rubel. It was only natural she’d draw attention in the heart of the intrigue-filled imperial palace.
“There’s a high chance it’s someone from my father’s side, though other possibilities are slim.”
“Your father, Young Lady?”
“Yes.”
“Then what do we do?”
Uni’s eyes widened as she asked. Lena worried about Uni spending time alone in this vast palace, so she spoke more seriously than ever.
“If you judge it dangerous, avoid them. As quickly as possible.”
“……What if it doesn’t seem that dangerous?”
Uni asked cautiously. Lena smiled with a sigh at the girl’s curiosity. And she answered.
***
In the deepest part of Grandis Grasha’s imperial palace lay a structure called Do-um Palace. One had to pass through thirty gardens from the Main Palace to finally reach it—a place that was a palace in name only, in truth the abandoned ruins of an old royal palace. Crumbled arch pillars, remnants of frescoes, a throne buried in rubble, and before it, a half-shattered massive stone slab. All were fragments of tragedy, and even the sunlight pouring from the gaping ceiling could not dispel the gloom.
“Has the Eastern Duke not arrived yet?”
Amid the ashen ruins, Clavis smiled whitely and said,
“Aren’t you too immersed in your protagonist play?”
As Clavis grumbled, the Southern and Northern Dukes and their knights were already gathered. The afternoon schedule for the founding anniversary continued here at Do-um Palace. It was due to the emperor’s command, tossed out earlier: conquer the tombs.
Just as when they had audience with the emperor, Lena stood by the Southern Duke’s side, while the Rubel Marquis and Rubid flanked the Northern Duke. The distance between Lena and the marquis was but a few steps. Yet the father and daughter paid each other no more mind than strangers would.
“He’s always dying to butt in otherwise…….”
When the Eastern Duke still hadn’t shown after a long wait, the Southern Duke muttered irritably. The Northern Duke then lodged a direct complaint with the cardinal.
“We’re being delayed.”
“But the Eastern Duke hasn’t arrived yet.”
“I endured the lowly. Must I now endure the vulgar too?”
Iura cut in coldly. The Northern king, Iura Plenus, was as imperious as the rumors said. At his striking demeanor, Lena whispered,
“You brothers look just alike.”
What a jerk. Lena referred to Iura and Rubid, and the Southern Duke muttered low in agreement.
“I hate those bastards too.”
As Lena and the Southern Duke secretly nodded to each other, Clavis had no choice but to placate Iura.
“Fine, let’s begin. The altars, then.”
At the cardinal’s permission, the Rubel Marquis stepped forward. He ordered his knights to bring out a palanquin. It was ornate with gold and velvet, fit for any king. But oddly, instead of a king atop it lay a pile of stones. The knights solemnly placed the small-mound-like heap of stones before the cardinal. Clavis smiled darkly at the sight.
“To gather so many—truly, the North is capable.”
“All thanks to Duke Plenus’s wise judgment.”
As Clavis expressed admiration, the marquis replied as if he’d been waiting. The Southern Duke sneered at the sight, when an unexpected voice rang out.
“Am I late?”
At the same moment, knights in black uniforms stormed into Do-um Palace.
“No, the dukes just rushed ahead needlessly.”
The owner of the insolent voice was none other than the Eastern Duke. Fashionably late, he appeared quite at ease. Without giving anyone a chance to scold him, he nodded to the knights following him. The Eastern knights stepped forward bearing heavy sacks, then dumped them out before the cardinal. What spilled from the sacks were all stones. Altars, engraved with strange patterns on their surfaces, just like those the North had brought on their palanquin. At a glance, there were more than the North’s haul. As the East surpassed the North, the Rubel Marquis’s face subtly hardened. Whether Clavis knew or not—or knew and did it anyway—he burst into laughter.
“You’re late, Duke. The North got angry, but with this much, I can’t scold you.”
“Is that so? Then, as an apology…….”
At Clavis’s jab, Lin strode forward confidently. He then kicked the North’s altars off the palanquin, scattering them.
“I’ll help so it doesn’t compare unfavorably to the East.”
Lin said as much while grinding the North’s altars and palanquin underfoot. At his thuggery, Lena glanced at the North. Sure enough, they all glared at Lin with blazing eyes.
“……Looks like he planned it.”
“……I hate that bastard too.”
The Southern Duke replied to Lena’s whisper in a drained voice. Lena fully understood his sentiment.
‘Lin, so this is what you’re like outside.’
She’d whined he’d act like a bastard at most, but seeing it firsthand, he was indeed a splendid one. She’d felt a bit sorry for him, but he deserved the hate now. Lin returned to his place after his novel display of mischief. As the mood turned tense with the East’s entrance, Clavis smoothly interjected.
“Well, fine. But everything gets reported to His Majesty. You know that, right?”
At the cardinal’s warning, the East grew even more arrogant, while the North’s mood soured further. The emperor cared nothing for the dukes’ temperaments anyway. Obeying his commands was all that mattered. And right now, the piled-high stones—the altars they were to gather—were his first order.
“Then let’s truly begin.”
At Clavis’s signal, priests began arranging the scattered altars one by one.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare your way. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Clavis spoke before the priests moving the altars.
“A hundred years ago, the rift first opened right here.”
Emperor Nihil described that day in his autobiography thus: —From the lightning-torn fissure poured things I’d never seen in my life. —They took myriad forms as they set foot on the land. None among them fully resembled God’s creations. —Some spread multiple pairs of wings, others bore many horns, still others had insect joints. All manner of grotesque shapes. —But the most grotesque part was that they bore human faces.
“In the kingdom’s most peaceful era, Grasha fell to enemies never before seen. Grasha’s last bloodline, Nihil Grasha, swore vengeance and rebuilding, and took up the sword.”
Clavis continued as if telling an old tale. This too was from Nihil’s autobiography: —Those aberrations desired only our death. —We died endlessly and were devoured. —Born a princess, I’d never lifted anything heavier than a fan, but there was no other path. —With no one left to wield sword or shield in my stead, I took them all up myself.
“Nihil Grasha fought countless battles without even knowing what they were. And at the end, he finally encountered them. Those with radiant, massive crowns.”
Until then, people had called them monsters, demons, or devils. But the truth Nihil uncovered far surpassed all predictions: —I smashed through the enemy to clear a path and hurled myself into the lightning-shaped rift. —Even in that crimson-skied world, I fought hundreds of battles. When I finally burrowed to the black land’s core, one greeted me. —He said, ‘Welcome, granddaughter.’ —He was Grasha’s forebear, three generations before my father.
“Then Nihil Grasha realized why they bore human faces and ceaselessly invaded the surface.”
This was fact known to every citizen of the empire. Yet the snow-white cardinal spoke calmly, as if teaching a child a new truth.
“They were our ancestors, long dead and buried in the earth. That is why we call them Wraiths.”
***
At the same time, Uni was in the basement laundry of Lake Palace, fetching fresh towels and linens.
“Still so young, yet your hands are deft.”
As Uni busily gathered the laundry, an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke. Looking up, she saw an old man smiling kindly. A face she’d never seen. Dressed in a suit, he didn’t seem like maintenance staff.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who serves his master, like you.”
“What?”
Uni frowned at the old man’s vague answer. But only for a moment—her eyes widened again. For the old man had pulled a candy jar from his inner pocket.
“Like candy, by any chance?”
“No child in the world hates candy.”
“Good.”
“But I don’t eat things from strangers.”
Uni eyed the jar warily as she spoke. Lena’s words from just hours ago came to mind.
—Soon, someone will approach you.
Uni hesitated between Lena’s warning and the candy jar before her, then timidly asked while watching the old man,
“But what flavor is it?”
“Want to see? They’re all mixed, so even I don’t know.”
“Just look at the candy?”
“You said you don’t eat from strangers.”
Uni pouted sullenly at the old man’s reply. The girl pondered with a dissatisfied face, then spoke in a generous tone.
“Then offer it one more time. I have some pride—I won’t refuse three times.”
The old man burst into hearty laughter at the child’s cute demand. He willingly held out the jar. As Uni snatched it up, the Rubel household’s head butler hid a faint sigh in his smile.
‘This is no good deed.’
The butler swallowed bitterness watching the child fall for mere candy. The Rubel family’s chief butler, sweet-talking a little maid. Disgusted with his own position, the butler donned his kindly mask per his master’s orders and regarded Lena’s maid. And Uni recalled her conversation with the young lady.
—If you judge it dangerous, avoid them. As quickly as possible.
—What if it doesn’t seem that dangerous?
When Uni had asked cautiously, Lena smiled with a sigh. And she answered.
—Then get friendly.
—How friendly?
—Enough.
‘How much is enough?’
Uni pondered alone as she popped a candy in her mouth. Then, feigning nonchalance, she smirked at the old man pretending to be nice.