Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The One with the Same Name
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“Then why don’t you just kill yourself?”
“That’s a bit harsh…”
“You said you wanted to die.”
Clavis stared at Lena with a look that said she was going too far at her blunt suggestion. Of course, it was a joke. Even in a situation where joking didn’t fit, Clavis grinned as brightly as ever and whispered.
“I appreciate the advice, but if that were possible, I wouldn’t go through all this trouble, right?”
It meant he couldn’t commit suicide. So Lena thought for a moment before asking again.
“Is it that the Emperor won’t let you die? Or do you die only if the Emperor dies?”
“You’re quick on the uptake.”
It was surely a huge secret, but Clavis’s response to Lena’s question was light. That very lightness left no room for doubt. The first time she saw Clavis, Lena had thought he looked like an angel from a holy painting. That meant he was beautiful, but it also implied something alien about him. Today, she finally realized where that first impression came from. Clavis’s smile, as he spoke of wanting to die, was undoubtedly beautiful. But it was empty, like something painted with a brush purely for show. It was the twisted expression of someone who longed for death, and thus wasn’t fully alive.
“How long have you lived?”
Lena asked, struck by a strange premonition. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but Clavis’s face looked almost unchanged from six years ago. Perhaps he was like Nihil, with his actual age differing greatly from his appearance. But when she asked, Clavis just silently shook his head. From that silence, Lena gleaned some kind of answer. Forgetting her reluctance to deal with him, she asked again.
“Then do you know what it means to conquer the grave?”
“No, not really. Nihil’s the one who told me to do it.”
Clavis answered readily, then rolled his eyes for a moment and changed his words.
“Hmm, or maybe I do know? I have a rough idea, but nothing certain. Seeing Lady Lena say it like that, though, it must be right.”
Clavis smiled thinly, gauging Lena’s reaction. Then, with a foxlike expression, he added.
“That gives me one more reason to kill the Emperor. Right?”
“…You don’t care about anything but your own goals.”
“You know that, so why ask?”
“You’re even more vile than I thought.”
“Yeah, you can hate me. I’d even like being hated by Lady Lena.”
Even at Lena’s scathing contempt, Clavis remained affectionately warm. Her eyes narrowed at his contrived generosity.
“Sorry, but I’ll pass on that. Hating you takes effort too. And I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you said earlier. We’re not the type to exchange favors anyway.”
With that, Lena rose to her feet. She couldn’t sit there leisurely sipping tea after he’d brought up assassinating the Emperor. She had no intention of letting Clavis advance the conversation on his own whim. As she moved to leave, Clavis propped his chin and said.
“There’s no option to refuse. What Lady Lena can choose is either killing the Emperor or being killed by him. Just one of the two.”
“By whose say-so?”
At the polite threat, Lena smiled faintly and replied.
“You don’t seem to get it—I won’t do what you want.”
“Won’t your loved ones be in danger? Lady Lena, you’re such a kind person, aren’t you?”
“Clavis.”
As the threats grew more despicable, Lena called his name in a voice heavy with weight. And Clavis was more startled by the unfamiliar “Clavis” than her tone. While he hesitated, Lena smiled softly with her eyes and whispered.
“How do you plan to deal with the aftermath? You jump at the slightest bump of a chair. Don’t make me contemplate ways to lock you up or bury you.”
Lena’s threat was far more straightforward than his, and thus far more chilling.
“You’re never easy to deal with, are you, Lady Lena?”
In the end, even Clavis, who had been threatening her with her loved ones, backed down.
“Well, I’m not asking for an answer right now anyway.”
Clavis said that as he pulled out a small box. It was a velvet-and-metal adorned case small enough to fit in one hand. It looked luxurious at a glance, like something that might contain a jeweled ring or necklace. Clavis offered the box, but Lena just stared without taking it. So he added an explanation.
“Take it. It’s a gift from His Majesty.”
Only then did Lena accept the box with a dubious expression and open it. Inside was a silver key. It was something Lena had seen before. Right after her first expedition, when she brought back the ring from the grave, the Emperor had praised her and returned the key in its place.
“It’s the key to the Emperor’s flower hall.”
“Flower hall?”
“Where the Emperor spends most of his day. You’ve been invited there. An honor, right?”
Lena eyed Clavis and the key suspiciously in turn. The fact that he had been keeping this key meant he knew she would soon meet the Emperor alone. And yet he was telling her to kill him—proof that the Emperor’s boundless leniency toward him wasn’t exaggeration. As Lena pondered the incomprehensible situation, Clavis added innocently.
“He said to come play next Wednesday, so go meet him. A few words, and you might want to kill him.”
Lena frowned at words she couldn’t tell were joke or earnest. But Clavis’s expression remained as bright as ever. Like an angel from a holy painting, or a clown on stage.
“I’ll give you plenty of time to think. I’ve got more than enough time on my hands anyway.”
“…Must be nice, having so much time it bores you.”
With that, Lena pocketed the key and turned away.
“Oh, wait.”
But before she’d taken a few steps, Clavis called out to her back again.
“One last thing I want to ask. At the eve festival, the flowers you gave to Rubid.”
The unexpected topic made Lena stop in her tracks.
“Were you quoting that poem by any chance?”
“…You know that poem?”
“‘I offer these flowers instead,’ right?”
As the familiar verse flowed from Clavis’s lips, Lena’s expression hardened slightly. Seeing it, Clavis added with a delighted face.
“Spot on.”
Unlike the strangely pleased Clavis, Lena’s expression grew even colder. She didn’t like hearing the poem she cherished most come from that man’s mouth.
“I never imagined you’d be into poetry.”
“Not really. I just know it.”
“Good, then. Our tastes don’t overlap.”
She said that, but Lena was annoyed once more at hearing he didn’t particularly like it. She wanted to snap, who are you to say that about my poem? But since they weren’t close enough for that, Lena swallowed her displeasure, shot him one last glare, and turned away.
. . . Leaving the greenhouse garden, Lena silently mulled over the new facts she’d learned. She’d heard far more than expected. And her first reaction was displeasure. Lena had no interest in Clavis’s circumstances. No matter what reasons he attached, it didn’t change the fact that he had mocked a powerless child and pushed her into the jaws of death. Lena didn’t want to add any footnotes to that fact. She didn’t want to leave room for interpreting his vileness and cruelty, nor add even a shred of understanding.
‘And yet he summons me and spills it all on his own whim…’
Lena bit her lower lip, recalling the secrets Clavis had dumped on her like a surprise attack. Amid the discomfort, curiosity reared its head. Lena was displeased by it once more, but she couldn’t shake off the sensation of a thread unraveling. A man who enjoyed everything at the Emperor’s side. And yet he wanted to kill the Emperor. A man who had actually attempted it several times. A man who, instead of incurring the Emperor’s wrath as punishment, smiled brightly and said he wanted to die. A man with nothing to lose because death was his desire, performing his clownish antics without fear or desperation. As Lena recalled Clavis’s facets, she let out a long sigh. It felt like she’d seen something she shouldn’t have. That odd feeling brought back an old memory. She’d felt exactly like this back then too. ***
“You bastard!”
Lena Rubel’s first act of rebellion, begun in the grave, came at a brutally harsh price for a young girl’s defiance.
“Ugh!”
No sooner had Lena shouted than the wraiths tightened around her limbs. At that eerie sensation, Lena sensed her end and squeezed her eyes shut. Then, a sharp wind whistled past her ears. Ping, ping, peeng. It sounded like fierce gusts forcing through window cracks. Right after, the things binding her limbs fell away with dull thuds, and Lena, deprived of what had held her up, staggered and collapsed.
“Ugh… Ah, kyaa!”
Before she could even feel relief at being freed, Lena opened her eyes and screamed. The wraiths that had surrounded her lay scattered in pieces on the ground. As she shuddered atop their corpses, that same wind sound rang out again. With light sounds, the wraiths around her pulverized once more. The even finer fragments soon sank into the earth and vanished. Lena, on the verge of hysteria, came to her senses only after seeing the wraith remains disappear. A bit calmer, she looked around to figure out what had happened.
—Higher up.
Lena reflexively looked up. And there, she spotted something slightly different from the wraiths—something utterly bizarre.
—That was a novel last word. ‘Don’t order me, you bastard!’
The being said. It was a hearty voice laced with amusement. But Lena couldn’t relax. It was due to the being’s strange form. Her first thought upon seeing it was of a broken statue. The entity hovering in the air had smooth arms and legs stretched out elegantly, like a massive marble sculpture. The white cloth barely covering its body looked like something an angel might wear. If intact, it would surely seem beautiful. But as it was, cracked and shattered all over, it was grotesque before it was beautiful. Especially the face—only the mouth remained, the upper part blown away. For something like that to move and speak terrified the young Lena once more.
Frozen stiff, she watched as the being descended from the air and leaned down before her. Up close, with only a jaw for a face, it examined her thoroughly—as if it had eyes—and spoke.
—You were sent by that guy too.
Sighing, it brushed Lena’s cheek. She’d expected cold marble, but the touch was surprisingly gentle.
—I’ll apologize on his behalf. No, not on his behalf—I apologize. For everything you’ve been through.
Lena was flustered by the unexpected, incomprehensible apology. Meanwhile, it asked.
—What’s your name?
“Lena…”
Normally she would have said Lena Rubel, but for some reason, Rubel wouldn’t leave her lips now. After answering obediently, Lena belatedly bristled and demanded.
“Who the hell are you to apologize on anyone’s behalf?”
But blurting it out late only made her seem cute. The statue-like being chuckled and replied.
—As you know me, I am the Unforgiven King. My name is…
The Unforgiven King hesitated a moment, then smiled more deeply and said.
—Regina. Welcome to the Abyss, child with the same name as mine.