An Audience with the Emperor
"Rai. My order was clearly to ignore me and kill those bastards."
[Master.]
"What!"
[Among all spirits, I'm on the rather free-spirited side, but priorities still exist. The most important mission that not only I but every spirit equally possesses is protecting their "master." Not killing someone.]
"Damn it... Fine! I remember their faces anyway. I'll catch them even if I have to hand them over to the guards!"
The wanted posters plastered on every wall came to mind.
There were plenty of hunters and mercenaries who specialized in hunting wanted criminals, so offering a bounty would raise the odds of them being caught.
They had laid hands on Iruse as well as me, so there were any number of ways to put out a warrant.
Iruse's parents might even post an enormous reward.
And if Ash really was—if by some impossible chance he truly belonged to the imperial family—it would cause an absolute uproar.
Come to think of it, this was not something that could be quietly brushed aside.
Touching royalty was more than enough reason for an entire family to be exterminated.
"Now that I mention it, what about Iruse?"
[How would I know how that girl is doing?]
"Ugh, useless spirit."
After two full days of unconsciousness, nothing remained but a mountain of unanswered questions.
Were Iruse and Ash in separate rooms? I picked up the candlestick from the table and left the room.
There were far too many thoughts tormenting me to stay still.
All through my fevered pain, the same questions had circled.
Ash, why did you save me? We had only just met. I was nothing to you, and you should have been nothing to me.
Why are you burdening me with this weight on my heart?
What possible reason could you have to risk your life for me?
The corridor I stepped into was wrapped in deep night, far later than I had realized.
If Rai hadn't been with me, I might have felt a flicker of fear.
[Voices are coming from that way.]
As I walked in the direction Rai indicated, I finally noticed I was barefoot.
Still, I kept going.
"...you heard it too."
"That's impossible. You're saying that boy was truly the imperial prince?"
"That's exactly why they asked us to keep it secret."
"My god."
The people standing before the stairs were ones I knew well.
Instructor Irito and Knight Commander Tonel. I drew closer.
"You said it yourself that day, Commander. The emblem on the knights who came for the boy belonged to the Elan imperial house."
"I did say that, but... who would have imagined the boy rescued from a slave trader would turn out to be a direct imperial descendant?"
"I felt the same. But the people who arrived today..."
The two who had been whispering urgently stopped short, startled by my appearance.
"Jeanie, you're awake."
Unease made me impatient.
I approached Instructor Irito and forced my dry lips to move.
"Instructor. Where is Ash?"
For some reason, Instructor Irito knelt in front of me, brushed my cheek, and looked at me with heartbreaking pity.
I asked again and again.
"Is Ash all right? Where is he?"
"...Ash—Prince Ephiros—has returned to the palace. You won't be able to see him."
"No!"
"Jeanie."
"I still..."
I hadn't even thanked him yet.
I hadn't called him an idiot, or a fool, or told him that what he did was something I would never have done—which was exactly why I was even more grateful. I hadn't said any of it.
Not a single word.
"I couldn't even say goodbye!"
I couldn't accept it.
The fact that he had slipped beyond my reach like this.
After forcing his way into my thoughts so completely, all on his own!
"Jeanie? You must forget what happened that day."
"..."
"You must never speak of it anywhere. Do you understand?"
With a rare stern expression, Instructor Irito gripped my shoulders firmly and made me look straight at her.
Her warning eyes told me this matter could not be taken lightly.
"You're a clever child. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"
I bit my lip hard enough to hurt.
Of course it would be humiliating for royalty to have been kidnapped by slave traders.
They would want to pretend it never happened. They would want to bury the fact that they had been dragged into such a disgrace.
But this was too cruel!
I was furious without even fully understanding what had been stolen from me.
"Jeanie, he asked me to be sure to tell you thank you."
"Ash said that?"
"Yes. He said thank you for saving him, and that he would repay the debt someday. He wanted me to convey that. He wished to leave you a letter, but his hand..."
The way Instructor Irito trailed off made my own chest tighten. I couldn't stop the tears that suddenly spilled over.
Clearer than Ash's face in my mind was the image of that small palm pierced clean through by a blade.
Just remembering it made pain, fear, and terror surge through me until my eyes burned with unshed tears.
My throat closed, and a trembling voice escaped on its own.
"His hand—what about Ash's hand? Can it be healed? It ended up like that because of me."
"...I don't know."
"How can you do this to me! Ash was the one who saved us. I'm the one who should be thanking him. I... I just...!"
I had stayed quiet because I didn't want to be beaten. I had curled in on myself, hoping it would all end quickly.
The reason Ash had charged the slave traders was because they were trying to drag Iruse and me away.
Of the three of us, Ash had been the most foolish—and the bravest.
"Since he is royalty, he will receive the best treatment. Probably... Let us pray together that he will be all right."
"...I'm going to write Ash a letter."
Instructor Irito shook her head, her face full of pity.
"Why not!"
"It won't be possible to send it. Jeanie, the imperial family..."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"They do not wish this incident to be mentioned. They will neither deliver your letter nor allow you to meet him."
The weight on my heart was so heavy I found myself gasping.
Like someone suffocating, I struggled to breathe and bit my lip to hold back the tears.
It must have been an ugly sight.
"Jeanie, rest for now. You need calm and stability."
"...What about Iruse?"
"She only suffered light bruises. She's fine now."
"Did Iruse get to say goodbye to Ash?"
"Iruse didn't meet him either. Those people took Ash away the moment they arrived."
Instructor Irito held both my hands and tried to comfort me with a worried voice, but the words barely reached my ears.
My mind was consumed by one thought alone: how could I meet Ash?
I could not accept that it would end like this.
"Your complexion is terrible. Stop this and return to your room to lie down. All right, Jeanie?"
"..."
"Your internal injuries are serious. You must rest. They say you need two weeks of complete recovery. You won't be able to participate in the competition. Fortunately Leo can take your place..."
"The competition."
"You didn't want to enter anyway, did you? For now, focus only on resting."
Yes, I had felt no interest in something like the competition.
There was nothing enjoyable about watching children fight.
But right now, it was the only thing I desperately needed.
"I'm entering."
"Jeanie? I told you, you must rest."
"I'm entering no matter what!"
I had to win the prize.
A very great prize.
My voice rang with more resolve than it ever had before.
"I need to receive the prize. That way they'll let me meet the emperor, won't they?"
For generations, the tournament champion received a certificate bestowed directly by the emperor in his own name. And the emperor granted the winner one special privilege: the right to make a single wish.
Most champions wished for a fine weapon or a higher noble title.
In my eyes, that was the only path that could lead me to Ash.