A Tearful Masterpiece
“I am truly mortified to have shown you such an unsightly display, Aunt.”
“Nonsense, think nothing of it. What parent ever has children that turn out entirely as they wish?”
“You are an esteemed elder of the Imperial family, Aunt, and kin besides. As I recall, you resided in the Saffron Palace during your time at court. I will have the attendants prepare it at once, so please, make yourself at home for as long as you wish.”
“I thank Your Imperial Majesty for your gracious hospitality. However, the reason I visited the palace today was not merely to pay my casual respects.”
“Then what brings you?”
“As I mentioned earlier, I received a letter from my grandniece, whose devotion to her mother runs remarkably deep. Now then… Consort Elaine, was it?”
Valentina turned her gaze toward Consort Elaine. Keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the marble floor, Consort Elaine answered in a hushed, fragile voice.
“…Did you call for me?”
“Indeed. I heard your health has been exceedingly poor. Frail enough that you could scarcely step foot beyond your own palace?”
“Yes… It is due to my own shortcomings…”
“Yes, and you suffered quite an ordeal today, no less. Even so, it is truly a relief to see you recovered enough to endure an occasion like this. This old woman’s body was quite frail once upon a time, so I understand an invalid’s heart all too well.”
“……”
Valentina’s eyes narrowed slightly as she swept a sharp, calculating gaze over Elaine.
“Now that your body has begun to mend, ought you not turn your thoughts toward attending upon His Imperial Majesty? Wouldn’t you agree?”
“…I shall direct my utmost efforts toward regaining my health so that I may better serve His Majesty.”
“No, no, that will not do. Child, let me see your hand.”
Valentina withdrew the hand she had rested over the Emperor’s and extended it toward Elaine. Elaine tentatively placed her slender hand atop it. Noting the frail wrist and the fingernails where the dark, ashen tint of poison had only barely begun to fade, Valentina clicked her tongue.
“If you force yourself to attend His Majesty in such a state, you will simply collapse!”
“……”
Elaine remained silent. Her deep green eyes flickered, clouded with contemplation.
“You only just managed to leave your palace, yet here you are, straining yourself to attend a banquet… Yes, I can fathom why you push yourself so. But if you take to your bed once more in your haste to serve His Majesty, who then could guarantee your recovery?”
“…It is all my own shortcoming.”
“The Imperial Palace is a harsh, treacherous place. You finally step out into the world, only to brush with death this very evening. Even this old heart was fluttering with fright; how could a fragile body in need of convalescence ever hope to endure such things?”
The ends of Elaine’s delicate eyebrows twitched imperceptibly. Valentina then turned toward the Emperor, speaking with the warm, genial tone of a doting grandmother.
“Seeing what transpired today has made me certain of it. Your Majesty, if you truly consider me family, please grant me permission to take Consort Elaine to Armerin to convalesce.”
“Pardon?”
The Emperor blinked in genuine surprise.
“Aunt… you wish to take Consort Elaine with you?”
“I have lived long enough, and I intend to take her to my personal convalescent villa, so there is no cause for petty court gossip. It is entirely thanks to Armerin’s climate that an ailing old woman like me has survived in robust health to this day. Taking that child there will surely see her well again.”
Consort Elaine’s eyes widened.
“That would… be far too great an imposition on my account…”
“Failing to recover your health and burdening His Majesty with perpetual worry is the true imposition, child.”
Valentina cut her off in an affable yet utterly unyielding voice.
“I was never blessed with children of my own, but should Your Majesty permit it, I should like to dote upon my niece-in-law as if she were my own daughter. After all, if she were healthy and capable of managing herself, I would have no need to fuss so.”
The Emperor appeared to weigh the proposal. At that moment, Consort Elaine parted her lips.
“I am deeply grateful for your benevolence, truly. But… having been frail for so long, it was only recently that I was finally able to gaze upon my daughter’s face…”
A tragic beauty who looked as though she might shatter into dust at any moment, gazing longingly at her young daughter with tearful eyes—it was a sight capable of wringing the heartstrings of anyone watching. The surrounding nobles began to murmur among themselves.
Seeing the Emperor waver, I seized the initiative.
Which is to say, I burst into theatrical sobs.
“Huu… uuuwaaah, M-Mother…! What a wretched daughter I am! From the moment I was born, I ruined your health, and now I have become an unfilial wretch holding Mother back yet again…!”
There was only one thing I felt truly grateful to Consort Elaine for: giving birth to Titania with such breathtaking beauty.
While I couldn’t quite match Elaine’s mature, ethereal sorrow and delicate invalid charm, well… I had my own weapons!
Drip, trickle. Fat, crystalline tears rolled down my cheeks in immaculate streams.
‘I stayed up all night practicing this! It had better look natural!’
I had gained complete mastery over the wind. Following the noise-canceling trick I had used before, I could now use vibrations in the air to project my voice with crystal clarity over great distances. Thanks to that, my trembling, heartbroken sobs echoed crisply into every corner of the banquet hall.
…I was fairly certain a divine gift wasn’t meant to be squandered on cheap parlor tricks, but who cared? The ends justified the means!
“You mustn’t worry about me! I… I have worked so hard all this time not to become a burden to you, Mother! I was… so sickly and hurt so often as a child… You were worried sick, weren’t you? But I am healthy now, so I only wish for Mother to look after her own health…!”
Now that the guests could finally breathe and speak freely after the poison scare, murmurs rippled through the crowd: “Oh, the poor child,” “What touching devotion…”
Both Consort Elaine and I wore expressions of profound sorrow, looking as though we couldn't bear the thought of separation out of sheer maternal and filial affection. In reality, invisible sparks flew between our locked eyes.
Well. Perhaps some lingering remnant of the young Titania, who I thought had long since perished, had been genuinely wounded by Consort Elaine’s cruelty. But brooding over it for a single day was more than enough.
When Adrian had volunteered to dig into Consort Cleo’s movements and brought me the intelligence, I had been mildly surprised. But a moment later, the pieces fell into place.
‘…Well. In this matter, I felt I shouldn’t keep you in the dark.’
‘No, thank you for telling me. I can pretty much guess what she’s planning.’
Multiple carriages. Secured accommodations near a city with access to a Warp Tunnel relatively close to the capital. Shady, low-grade hirelings… Hearing just that much was enough to sketch out the silhouette of Cleo’s scheme.
She wouldn’t attempt to poison me inside the Rose Palace using Sarah, Mary, or Head Maid Natalie, whom she had planted there as bait. And though Consort Elaine was my biological mother, we had lived in separate palaces since I was an infant; Cleo couldn't plausibly orchestrate a merger of our households under the guise of maternal guidance. Attempting an assassination within the Imperial Palace walls was far too reckless.
Therefore, targeting me when I ventured outside—as during the Offering Festival—was the most viable method. But the festival had concluded without a hitch, and I had returned safely. Under normal circumstances, there would be no reason for me to step beyond the capital’s defenses again.
Which meant she intended to use Consort Elaine as the lever to pull me out. Any pretext would serve. Claiming she wished to show me her maternal family estate, which I had never visited… or offering a memorial service at her late mother’s grave so she could present her granddaughter’s face to the heavens…
‘Which is precisely why I had to strike first.’
“Look at that tearful filial piety toward her mother,” Valentina said, clicking her tongue with theatrical admiration. “It is no wonder the child summoned the courage to write to an elder she had never even met.”
The Emperor, unable to conceal his growing intrigue, asked eagerly, “Will… sending the consort to Armerin truly restore her health?”
“Of course, Your Majesty. Naturally, it will require some time… but you may take this old woman at her word.”
“Ahem. Then I shall leave her in your capable hands, Aunt.”
Elaine lapsed into silence for a fleeting beat before quietly answering. In truth, the moment the Emperor was swayed, the matter was already decided.
“…For bestowing such grace upon my unworthy self, I can only offer my boundless gratitude.”
“…I never imagined you would put that fabric to use in such a manner.”
I simply offered a blithe chuckle in response to Raymon, who stood before me with an unusually solemn expression.
The gifts I had presented to Consort Cleo and Prince Brian had been an intricate, calculated trap.
Gifting them fabric that looked identical in weave to cloth crafted from demonic beast byproducts had also been entirely deliberate.
A woman as sharp and paranoid as Consort Cleo would have recognized that distinctive sheen and texture at a single glance. She would immediately suspect what manner of foul play had been woven into the threads, and even after tests proved it harmless, her suspicion would fester like a rot.
Did she notice something? Is that why she went out of her way to pick this specific fabric? Or could it be… is the merchant syndicate I’ve been dealing with leaking it elsewhere behind my back?