Cold Fury - 1

"Whew."

Bracing one hand against the floor, I slowly lowered myself down. Sweat ran freely, soaking my body before dripping away. The muscles that bore my weight swelled with the strain; each descent toward the floor and rise back up counted off another repetition.

It had already been three days since the bandages came off. My balance and stamina had more or less returned, and training like this no longer pushed me past my limits.

The letter had come from Renald yesterday. I hadn't so much read it as committed its contents to memory, but Theresia's absence was something I would need to turn over from every angle. If she was the one who had revealed Mirajane's whereabouts... then I had no intention of letting her go cleanly, not as I had before.

Ending things by speaking with Theresia herself, rather than with House Violet, had been my own small courtesy. I thought little of House Violet as a family — and had I not believed Theresia perfectly capable of ruining herself without any help? But this time was different. Having laid hands on the Imperial Princess, she could not escape responsibility — and she had stirred my personal feelings into the bargain.

Every time my arms bent, my mind grew colder. The time I had left in the North was not long. And within it lay things I needed to tell Adele. Treason — I alone knew that the hour when her life would hang in the balance was drawing steadily nearer.

Around the time the drops falling to the floor began to multiply, a voice suddenly scattered my thoughts.

"Wow..."

Mirajane's gaze, fixed blankly on me, was rather a burden. I had told her to pay me no mind and kept at it, and she had been staring holes through me ever since. Like this, I couldn't very well ignore her.

I had thought she would be returning to the Imperial Palace soon. Just how long did she intend to linger in the North?

When I released the pose and stepped down, Mirajane came over and held out a towel. I wiped away the sweat and swept the hair back from my face. Even as I toweled off, the thought kept nagging at me — was it really proper for Mirajane to be here ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at all? I wasn't wearing a thing above the waist. Did it truly not bother her?

"I take it you train like this regularly. Your movements look practiced."

"My stamina hasn't fully returned yet. I'll know for certain once I swing a sword again."

"So this is what not fully recovered looks like."

Mirajane, who had been nodding along with a perfectly grave face, seemed to remember something and clapped her palms together. "Oh — come to think of it, the Grand Duke summoned you. I came here to tell you that, and then it slipped my mind."

"...How very prompt of you to mention it."

She had arrived half an hour ago — ample time for Adele to work up a temper and come storming over. What was I supposed to do with her bringing it up only now? If Adele was angry, the fury would land on me. When I fixed Mirajane with a long stare, she smiled sheepishly and murmured an excuse.

"The first thing I saw when I walked in was... that. It slipped my mind. You should go now, shouldn't you? Even this late?"

"No need. She will most likely come here."

Bang—

The door flew open the very moment the words left my mouth. My eyes had barely met Adele's — glaring at Mirajane and me with a grim expression — before her gaze dropped to my bare torso and narrowed.

A beat of mutual, flustered silence, and then came a curt voice, thick with displeasure. "I called for you ages ago and wondered what kept you. Seems you were busy enjoying yourselves."

"I only just heard of it. Her Highness forgot to mention it for a time."

"...Did she, now."

When Adele's gaze swung to her, Mirajane flinched and managed a strained nod. Adele exhaled a long sigh and pressed a hand to her brow. If Adele had overlooked anything, it was Mirajane's memory. The Princess was surprisingly prone to forgetting this and that; one was better off putting things in writing for her.

"The fault is mine. Her Highness offered to come herself, so I asked her to. I should have gone in person."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Then would you kindly step away from Robert? Linger that close to a man who isn't even properly dressed, and a scandal may well be born."

At that, Mirajane put distance between us, and Adele strode across the room, seized my wrist, and pulled. I was still wearing nothing, but Adele simply draped her cloak over my shoulders and made for the door.

It was then that the hesitating Mirajane found her voice. "W-wait, just a moment. Shouldn't the Grand Duke be careful as well?"

It wasn't an unreasonable point. Adele was a Grand Duke too, after all. When I looked up at her with an expression that asked whether she had a point, she gave a soft laugh and tapped the medal pinned to her chest.

"This is the North, Your Highness. Am I not the Grand Duke who rules this land?"

"Well... yes...?"

"I am perfectly fine as I am." Should rumors spread, I need only find whoever started them. With that added, Adele faced forward again — still gripping my wrist, in the manner of one who would brook no further argument.

When Mirajane failed to produce a single word of protest, Adele pressed on without ceremony. And through it all, was my own opinion not even worth asking?

I sighed and peeled her hand from my wrist, and Adele, mid-stride, turned her head toward me. We were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the center of the corridor by then, already far out of Mirajane's earshot.

"What is it?"

"Oughtn't I put on clothes first? Besides, I haven't bathed. I reek."

"Ah..."

It was the most obvious point in the world, yet Adele bit her lip as if only now remembering. It was a habit of hers whenever she was flustered. What on earth had her so preoccupied that she had forgotten I hadn't even washed?

Feeling my gaze, Adele coughed quietly. Perhaps she was embarrassed on her own behalf, for through her trembling lips came a small voice. "Then go wash up and come. There is something I would discuss with you."

"Does it trouble you, my being with Her Highness?"

What Adele was sensitive about was clearly that. She never looked pleased whenever I was with Mirajane, so I asked point-blank on purpose — and her brow creased. Through the silence that followed, I went on watching her, unbothered. Waiting for her answer, just like that, for a long while.

When still more time had slipped past, Adele shook her head. "...It does not trouble me."

"Then—"

"It merely irritates me."

With an expression that looked remarkably tangled, Adele let out a sigh. It was a heavy, leaden breath, unlike her, so I offered no reply and simply waited for what would come next. That answer — irritation — was a curious one. It had not sounded like irritation at my being with Mirajane so much as irritation at herself.

"I'll hear the rest of your questions when you return. I'll go on ahead." Apparently unwilling to say more, Adele turned her back and walked off. Yet her steps were not as light as before. I couldn't say what she was wrestling with, but that something weighed on her was all but certain. And I was not so great a fool as to miss that the something was me.

This was not the first time Adele and I had met. To be precise, we had met in previous loops. It had not been a meeting conducted under the name of Taylor, as this one was — but we had passed through much the same process all the same. Coming to the North, meeting Adele, becoming her adjutant, putting down the barbarians. I remained at her side from then until the day she died, so one might even call that bond a shade deeper than the one we shared now.

The woman called Adele Egret was free. She moved always as her heart willed, like wind that blows only where it pleases. I suspect that is why I held a particular fondness for the North. Adele's North was special — here, severed from my family, I could drink deep of a freedom I found nowhere else. Mistakes were laughed off; we looked after and respected one another. These were people who remembered me as Robert, not Taylor. That was what made Adele special to me, rare as our meetings had been. She made me forget the name Taylor — she was the first person ever to see me as simply Robert.

If Mirajane's death had been my first regret, then Adele was my second.

"Treason."

A fate that shackled me — and yet it was never mine alone to bear. I was not the only one who died by treason. Nameless others had been executed for it, and Adele had died by it too. I knew full well she had no interest in treason of any stripe. Adele's domain was this North; this snowfield was the only land she cherished. Tell her to become Empress in the capital and she would have stayed here regardless. That was who Adele was — and that was the meaning carried by the name Egret. Egret: the highest mountain range in the North, and the name of the god revered as its guardian. How could a woman like her so much as contemplate treason? I, who had watched over her through long years, could have sworn to it. And yet — I could not.

I pulled on a shirt and draped Adele's cloak over it. She wore it every day, and her warmth seemed to seep into me through the fabric — a warmth ill-suited to this frozen snowfield. I closed my eyes for a moment, then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠opened them and set off.

My chief purposes in coming north had been twofold: to cement a base of support for myself, and to warn Adele about the Crown Prince. The first I had largely accomplished through the subjugation of the barbarians; the warning, I had yet to deliver. Choosing the moment to speak of such things demanded care. I thought I might manage it only just before my departure — and even then, whether she would believe me remained an open question.

Knock, knock—

"Enter."

When I knocked cautiously, Adele's voice answered. Unlike the low tone from earlier, it was her usual self, and I stepped inside with some measure of relief. She was alone. I had expected her adjutants to be present; the empty room came as a mild surprise. As I glanced around, Adele looked at me and spoke.

"Did I not say I had words for you? It's hardly another subjugation — what would I want with every adjutant I have assembled in one room?"

"If it is something you wish to tell me..."

"Sit, first. It's not so long a talk that we must have it standing."

I crossed to her and took a seat. I studied her expression, trying to guess what this concerned, but nothing came readily to mind — there was little she and I would need to discuss alone at this stage. I was still turning the question over when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Adele, who had been reading my face, spoke at last.

"With your help, the subjugation ended far faster than planned. The whole schedule has been pulled forward because of it, which means I can set certain other matters in motion sooner as well."

"Is that so?"

"There was something I couldn't stop turning over once the campaign ended, so I did some digging of my own. Including that name you gave me last time — Theresia."

My eyes narrowed at the name. Adele, perhaps anticipating the reaction, slid something across the table and continued. Resting on the table was a familiar emblem.

"The crest of House Violet."

"Yes. It must have belonged to the woman who was once your fiancée. If the Theresia you spoke of was truly involved in this affair — and I'd wager she was."

"The barbarians had this in their possession?"

"The one who led them handed it to me during the subjugation."

It was the moment speculation hardened into certainty. Theresia Violet — the instant the two sundered halves of that name became one. As I stared at the crest with a face gone cold and hard, Adele's lips parted once more.

"The woman who left this crest behind said to go south and find her there. And I take it you mean to head for the South yourself. Am I wrong?"

"...You are not."

I had counted it among the matters I must resolve — alongside going with Adrian. How Theresia had learned the Princess's whereabouts. How she had slipped out of the capital and made contact with Temuchin. To answer those questions, the South was where I had to go.

Adele nodded as though she had expected as much, then went on, her face turning grave. "I knew you and this Theresia had been betrothed. I knew the engagement was broken and relations turned sour — and, though this is only my guess, that this affair was not entirely unconnected to you. I had my suspicions, to a degree. Which is why, now, I must know as well."

Her gaze came to rest on me. Through the chill of it a faint heat kindled — the face of someone searching me for an answer.

"...Will you tell me what passed between you and Theresia?"