The Specter from the Licorice Palace
"...I have heard that Imperial Consort Elaine's health is very, very frail. While someone as robust and majestic as His Imperial Majesty can easily absorb and master the auspicious holy energy of the paten I gifted him, I was told that such sacred power might prove a bit overwhelming for an invalid in an extremely weakened state..."
"There have been so many turbulent affairs in the imperial palace of late, haven't there?" Consort Cleo interrupted me with a saccharine smile.
"It was all due to my own shortcomings that His Imperial Majesty was burdened with so much worry... Yes, I truly came to realize my inadequacies. No matter how dearly I wished to look after you, I have Brian to care for, so how dreadfully lonely you must have been, Titania?"
"..."
What on earth is she blathering about now?
"And so, Your Imperial Majesty, I went to the Licorice Palace and pleaded in tears. I confessed that I simply could not fulfill the duties of imperial consort alone in this vast palace."
How ridiculous, barking as though she were supreme mistress when the Empress herself sits upon the throne—or so I thought, until my breath hitched. Wait, what? The Licorice Palace?
"It is a true blessing from the heavens... that Imperial Consort Elaine's health has recovered enough for her to step beyond the Licorice Palace's doors."
My face hardened into stone.
In contrast, the Emperor's expression was seized by sheer, unadulterated astonishment, as if hearing something beyond his wildest dreams. The Empress's expression stiffened into an icy mask as well.
"W-What... Consort Cleo, what did you just say?!"
Cleo blinked languidly, wearing an effortless smile. "Well, see for yourself..."
Lifting a silver spoon, she tapped it against her crystal glass.
Clink, clink.
To the crisp chime of vibrating crystal, the double doors swung open. Every gaze in the hall snapped toward the threshold. And in that instant, I was forced to realize, in the most horrific sense, just how terrifyingly thorough Consort Cleo's knack for execution truly was.
A woman stepped slowly into the chamber. At her side hovered an anxious maid, clinging to her arm and supporting her weight so she could manage each fragile step.
She wore an opaque white veil that draped from the crown of her head down to her collarbones. Perhaps to hide how dreadfully emaciated she was, she was bundled tightly from head to toe, leaving not an inch of bare skin exposed. Long gloves, trailing sleeves, a high-collared white gown, and the concealing veil... Yet nothing could disguise those green eyes, identical to Titania's, nor the lusterless platinum-blonde hair trailing beneath the fabric.
"O-Oh... Elaine! How... how could this be? Just how many years has it been!"
The Emperor literally sprang from his seat. His flushed face and jowls quivered with wild excitement, his voice breaking into a breathless shriek. The woman glided forward, coming to a halt before the vacant chair the Emperor had stubbornly insisted on keeping empty. Slowly, she sank to her knees.
"...The sinner Elaine offers her greetings to Your Imperial Majesty."
Her voice was so terribly faint that one could scarcely decipher the words without straining. Yet the Emperor was overwhelmed with emotion.
"Oh, Elaine! A sinner? What nonsense is that! A fragile soul like you must not let your body touch the cold marble floor! Rise, please rise at once!"
The Emperor rushed forward and took Elaine's hand. With the portly Emperor clutching Elaine's willow-frail fingers, the sight was as comical as a bloated cicada clinging to a brittle twig. Yet his face shone with the breathless ecstasy of a man beholding a long-lost first love suddenly returned to life. Watching the Emperor personally guide Elaine and seat her in the empty chair, the Empress and Prince Adrian wore visibly frozen expressions. Prince Brian merely looked on with sullen indifference.
The vacant seat reserved for Imperial Consort Elaine happened to be right beside Titania. As I sat there, paralyzed by sheer dismay, a soft voice reached my ears.
"Titania."
My gaze met the cloudy green eyes veiled beneath the sheer white fabric. In that split second, I understood.
"Have you been well?"
At one point in time.
Once upon a time.
More desperately than wishing for death, she had yearned for a sight like this.
If I die, will she come to my funeral?
If I die, will she weep for me?
Even if only through death, will she finally remember me?
It's just because she is sick.
Because she is in pain, because her body is frail, she doesn't have the strength to care about anything.
I've been sick before too, so I understand.
So once she gets better, she will come to see me...
And I will finally be able to call her Mother.
The lingering regrets of a dead child chattered like ghosts in my mind.
In the original story, Imperial Consort Elaine had meticulously dosed herself with poison over many long years, slowly and deliberately taking her own life. She had been incapable of loving even her own daughter, and she utterly loathed the imperial court. Yet, simply to keep her child from falling wholly into Consort Cleo's clutches, she had clung to a thread of life—barely breathing until 'Titania' safely reached adulthood, at which point she died...
Was this truly that woman? Really? The owner of those lifeless, freezing-cold green eyes?
Yes. That Elaine had imbibed poison back when her daughter was the witless, pliable, foolish 'Princess Titania,' a helpless puppet dancing on Cleo's strings.
What if circumstances had changed? What if... the hopeless relationship with her fiancé suddenly improved, she severed ties with Consort Cleo who had manipulated her like a marionette, and she began wielding an extraordinary holy sword while sweeping through one incident after another?
"Why have you gone silent, Titania? Ha-ha, of course! You must be so overjoyed you have lost your tongue! One look is all it takes to see it, is it not? She looks just like you! It is your mother, Titania!"
The Emperor beamed. My lips parted slightly, but they felt as though someone had slathered industrial adhesive between them. They were impossibly heavy.
The weight of unspoken words was heavier still. Everything I could not bring myself to say plummeted straight into the pit of my stomach, churning like ancient, stagnant regrets left to fester far too long.
"...Imperial Consort Elaine."
I know.
"I cannot begin to express my joy at seeing you looking so well."
If no one else in this room knows, at least I do.
"You cannot imagine how fervently I prayed for Your Highness's recovery."
Yet the eyes beholding a daughter who had brushed against death's door time and again remained brutally emotionless. Not a drop of warmth infused her voice. It was unmistakably the demeanor of a complete stranger.
"Is that so?"
A feeble voice. It was so painfully thin and frail, like parchment so brittle that pressing an ink pen upon it would tear it to shreds.
She was an exquisite beauty; one glance made that unmistakably clear. Titania bore not the slightest resemblance to the Emperor. She looked entirely like this woman before me, sculpted anew into a smaller, younger mold. Elaine was the very embodiment of the fragile fantasy men so often dreamed of—so enchanting that even the Emperor, who had left her rotting in her palace in virtual exile for years simply because she refused to fawn over him, was now completely enraptured just because she had deigned to step into his presence.
"My health has not entirely recovered, however."
A child's love is sometimes absolute. They struggle frantically, yearning for someone to fill the narrow confines of their tiny world—a desperate attachment so fierce that only death can sever it.
The young Titania had longed to be loved. And I knew, with absolute certainty, that her wish would never come true...
"Then you must take utmost care of yourself from now on!"
I broke into a dazzling smile, as if I were the happiest person in the world.
"Your Majesty, Emperor! Today must surely be my birthday! Nothing but wondrous things keep happening ever since I stepped into the imperial palace!"
I beamed as though I were more thrilled than anyone alive to finally be reunited with the biological mother I had spent a lifetime yearning for.
"First the Rose Palace blooming with exquisite flowers, and now Imperial Consort Elaine recovering enough to venture outside the Licorice Palace! This is all thanks to Your Imperial Majesty's boundless grace!"
"Gwahaha! Ahem, well, what did I do to deserve such praise? Consort Cleo, it is you who accomplished something truly marvelous."
"Imperial Consort Elaine simply lacked the courage to face Your Majesty until now. She confessed to me that she was too ashamed to show her face." Consort Cleo offered a warm, benevolent smile. "She told me she had no right to receive Your Majesty's affection... that her wretched, ailing existence was worse than death. How could an invalid who cannot even serve Your Majesty properly have the audacity to present herself? It took much coaxing and insistence on my part to bring her out into the light."
Pure ecstasy lit up the Emperor's eyes.
"Indeed! You did splendidly, truly splendidly! What good is an Empress if she cannot even look after a member of our imperial household who has languished secluded in her own palace for years...?"
The Emperor shot the Empress a reproaching glare, then turned back to Cleo, his shoulders shaking with laughter as though the world were his for the taking.
"Name whatever your heart desires, and I shall grant it. Look after Consort Elaine well."
"Of course, Your Majesty. And I will make certain to... look after Princess Titania just as well."
I kept smiling at Consort Cleo, and at Consort Elaine, who stood quietly beside her watching the Emperor and Cleo converse. I smiled so hard that the corners of my mouth twitched with cramps.
"I did this all for your sake, you know."
Consort Cleo curled her lips into a mocking sneer as she looked at Princess Titania, whose inner thoughts remained inscrutable.
Overjoyed, the Emperor had personally escorted the dizzy, unsteady Consort Elaine back to the Licorice Palace. The Empress and Adrian had also departed with dark expressions. With them gone, Cleo could finally spit out what was truly on her mind.
She did not know what insidious scheme Titania had intended with that gift... but by bringing Consort Elaine here today, she had unequivocally seized the Emperor's favor. Whatever trick Titania tried to pull, it could never hold any weight against her now.
"It was because my 'care' was lacking that you suffered so many terrible ordeals, wasn't it? Surely it would be far better for you to have your biological mother's help instead?"
"Your Highness's care? Why, every member of this imperial household lives under the gracious care of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress."
The spiteful little wretch, never backing down now that her tongue has grown so shockingly sharp.
Cleo ground her teeth as she glared into those clear, piercing green eyes.