The Saintess Hates the Imperial Princess - 2
Perhaps I was a little angry. Angry that she had sneaked all the way out here in secret, when she would have been perfectly safe within the Imperial Palace.
Mirajane was... complicated. Explaining everything I felt whenever I looked at her would probably take quite a while. Not simply because of the long time we had spent together — perhaps it was because I had watched, from beside her, as she died holding her deepest feelings close.
Hmm. Truthfully, I wished Mirajane would simply stay in the Imperial Palace. When danger had found her in the North, I had regretted it bitterly. It felt like my own words had put her there — hadn't I even thought it would be better if I died in her place?
She was careful about her position in so many ways, and I had thought that very carefulness would keep her from doing something like this. Yet here I was, facing the same situation all over again, and my chest felt tight.
If my heart had its way, I would have come right out and said I would kill Keitel myself. With Keitel gone, Mirajane would become Empress — so couldn't she please, please just stay in the palace? I wanted to ask her to endure it just a little longer. But I couldn't. This was a future only I was meant to know, and I could not afford to move rashly.
I didn't know. I supposed I would have to see her face before I could say anything at all. Should I lash out? Or let it pass? I would probably only know once we met... but I could not greet her with a smile, the way I had last time.
Even if I didn't consider these surroundings gravely dangerous, caution was clearly in order. Even with a mage at her side, it remained true that things could turn perilous should she cross ill-tempered Non-Human Races. I wished she understood, just a little more, how precious she was.
Mirajane had a tendency, at times, to throw her own body at a problem to see it done. Hadn't she done exactly that a few times before? Those were memories only I carried now, but her nature surely hadn't gone anywhere.
"Robert, it's time we set off."
Adrian approached me as I stood staring quietly into the empty air. I answered that I understood, then exhaled a long sigh toward the direction Mirajane would be.
I knew full well that standing here would change nothing. Even if I wished to shift something, it would only change once we met.
Dying again and again had given me plenty to think about, yet what I wanted from this life was nothing grand. Adele, Adrian, Mirajane — I simply wanted them all to live happily. It would be better still if my purpose were fulfilled and I found happiness too, though the odds of that were probably low. ...Then again, I only hoped that everyone but me could be happy. With no one hurt, no one grieving — everyone smiling.
"Mirajane is in the South?"
Adrian was visibly startled by the news that Mirajane was in the South. If she had moved without telling even Adrian, just how secretly had she intended to operate? She might well have left a double of herself behind at the palace. Back when there had been no attendant spirit, she had simply come in person — but if she could bring a mage all this way, then leaving behind a safeguard like that would have been well within her means.
"I made contact a while ago — she's in the South. We should be able to meet her soon."
With the elves opening the way, travel afterward was easy. The sanction of those who loved this forest carried the power to turn even the most treacherous ground into level plain. The road that had been so rutted and rough smoothed itself flat, and the dense brush that had blocked the horses' sight stretched its branches straight up toward the sky.
Magic far too magnificent for human hands. Perhaps the reason so many mages gathered in the South was to imitate it.
Adele was gazing steadily at Adrian, seated in the place beside me. The arrangement seemed to have come about because forcing her elsewhere, as earlier, would have been awkward — but Adele's expression was anything but calm.
"So Her Highness the Princess is in the South. I can't imagine what reason she'd have to travel all the way out here."
"This is only conjecture, but perhaps there was something here she needed."
"There are Relics in the Deep Region. I suspect that's what she needs."
Adrian, who knew Mirajane well, supplied the answer. She would understand Mirajane's circumstances better than most, so I gave a small nod at the suggestion that a Relic might be what she sought. I didn't know her exact reason this time, but the odds favored that one. Any other reason, and she would have had no cause to come here at all.
From what I remembered, the purposes of the Relics in the Southern Deep Region had never been precisely known. What had been passed down, however, was that the Goddess of the Moon had made them 'herself' — and so both the Church and the Imperial Family clung to them fiercely. Had they lain anywhere but the Southern Deep Region, I suspected the Church would have secured them long ago.
But the Deep Region was a land where countless Non-Human Races and hidden dangers lay in wait. Rather than send out the manpower it already lacked, the Church had simply granted the Southern Deep Region the name of a "holy land."
The place where the moon sleeps — where, in the Empire's golden age, a moon more brilliant than any other night had shone over the very heart of the continent.
'Sacrifice.'
It amused me that the name happened to coincide with a word meaning exactly that, but the lore held that for the moon to shine, the light of those stars had to lie buried. Perhaps it was the most fitting name of all.
"And Her Highness the Princess is there, of all places."
"We'll likely meet her soon. If we take this road, we'll arrive within minutes."
I spread my mana outward, and Adele's brow twitched faintly. She must have felt it — my mana reaching toward the depths of that forest. And then it touched. The moment I sensed a faint thread of mana I took for Mirajane's, I frowned and spoke.
"She's certainly there. I'd been hoping it was only my imagination."
"She knew how dangerous it was. Could her situation truly be that urgent?"
"Who knows what's happened while we weren't looking."
With a jolt, the carriage came to a halt. I saw Adrian down first, then made to head straight down — and a hand caught me. I turned to find Adele gazing at me in silence.
"You look out of sorts. Does it displease you, Her Highness being here?"
"...Something like that."
"I'd rather you be honest with me. Is it about the memories I don't have?"
At that question I glanced around briefly, confirmed no one was near, and gave a wry smile. Whether that sufficed as an answer I couldn't say, but Adele released her grip on my arm and spoke, her expression faintly conflicted. Perhaps it was the knowledge that memories she didn't share still lingered in me.
"Even so, there's no need to fly at her."
"Why would I be angry?"
"The way you were just now, I half expected you to storm out of here. I know you worry about Her Highness more than I could ever grasp, but still... just."
Adele pressed a hand to her forehead for a moment and let out a deep sigh. Even as she counseled me, her face said she had no idea why she was doing it.
"From where I stand — without those memories — there'd be no telling at all why you act this way. It gets more tangled than you'd think."
"...Haha."
If her aim had been to defuse my mood, it had worked perfectly. I had been ready to say something the instant I laid eyes on Mirajane, but at Adele's words a faint smile crept onto my face. It would look strange, after all, for me to fret over Mirajane so openly. From where Mirajane stood, the two of us were hardly close. Had I snapped at her, our relationship would only have turned awkward.
When I smiled, Adele gave my back a light push — go on, the gesture said. There was something almost endearing about it. Jealousy? She had admitted as much last time, so perhaps she simply didn't care for watching me fuss over someone else.
"Will you come with me?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I suspect you wouldn't be thrilled about me being alone with Her Highness."
At my throwaway joke, Adele's shoulders flinched; then she quietly shook her head and turned away. No answer, then. She made off in the direction Adrian had vanished, and I started toward where Mirajane waited. The two of them seemed to have deliberately gone the opposite way — mindful of Mirajane since the carriage, perhaps. Were they giving us room?
Reaching the Deep Region, what came into view was a tower thrusting skyward much like the Moon Tower. Unlike the Moon Tower, however, it did not reach upward — if anything, I knew the depth it sank below the ground exceeded the height it climbed above it. Mirajane was somewhere inside.
Stepping carefully into the tower, I caught sight of a woman just then climbing up the stairs. Her clothes were quite plain, nothing like what I knew from the palace, and it was only those distinctive eyes that gave her away — golden eyes belonging to the Imperial bloodline alone. Her gaze, meeting mine, wavered for a heartbeat before settling, glimmering faintly. From lips that had parted and closed several times over, a small voice slipped out. I had no idea what my own expression was doing. Adele's advice was still fresh in my mind, but the fact remained: I was angry.
"...Oh. You came."
"For someone to come all this way to a place this dangerous — you must have been in quite a hurry."
"So, if I were making excuses — look, you know I'm always in a precarious position, right?"
"I do."
I strode toward her, and Mirajane stumbled backward at once. I could see the stairs behind her. Keep retreating like that and she would fall. At the thought I came closer still, and she backed away further. What on earth was she thinking? Running was no answer at all. Facing me would have served her far better, I thought.
"I came to find a Relic. And once I have it? I think I may never have to slip out like this again."
"Adrian said as much. That you'd most likely come hunting a Relic."
Another step.
At my answer, Mirajane seemed faintly startled, and smiled. After a few awkward laughs she was shuffling backward again, dodging my approach — until her foot caught on the stairs, and I reached out toward her swaying body.
For an instant I barely strangled the urge to ask whether she was an idiot. If she had any sense at all, she would have remembered those were the very steps she'd just climbed. Thud — my outstretched hand closed around her waist and pulled. Her tipping body hung suspended in midair, and then I drew Mirajane against me and set her upright before me.
It was close. Close enough that our eyes might touch at any moment; close enough that our breaths had already met and her scent was spreading. Mirajane's stammering lips pressed firmly shut. Gazing at those unusually smooth lips, I heard the small voice at my ear.
"...Are you, by any chance... angry? That I came here?"
"I don't know."
I was angry. Partly because of what Adele had said — but seeing Mirajane had also made me want to demand why she had come somewhere so dangerous. The mine with the Teranite was one thing; I had egged her toward that. But there had never been the slightest reason for her to come here. I had assumed that once I saw her face, the anger would come. Strangely, it didn't.
"I was angry a little while ago. Not anymore."
"I'm sorry. Um. Next time I'll tell you first before I come."
"I think the best choice would be not to come at all."
A small flush bloomed across Mirajane's cheeks. Of course it did — she stood with the wall at her back, practically leaning into me, facing me at hardly any distance at all. The waist I held flinched over and over. Mirajane, steadying herself on trembling legs, drew a long, deep breath. She clearly couldn't endure it; watching the tips of her ears flare red as if they might burst, I let out a quiet chuckle. She had never had any resistance to this sort of thing, even long ago. It was time I let her go.
I didn't seem capable of real anger anyway, and no matter how many times I warned her, I suspected something like this would happen again. So, releasing her waist, I gave Mirajane's forehead a light flick. Tap—
"Ow."
"Next time, at least send word ahead. And stop giving His Majesty the Emperor such heartburn."
Mirajane shot me a sidelong glare, rubbing her forehead, and I smirked. It couldn't have hurt that much — I had reined in my strength enormously, so I figured it was little more than a sting.
It was always like this. Even in the days Mirajane couldn't remember, I had always been the one to yield. There had been times I wanted to be angry, but in the end I never could. Unlike other lovers who fought tooth and nail, hadn't the two of us never once raised our voices at each other? To anyone watching I might have looked foolish, but once again — this time too — I chose to be the one who gave in. Perhaps I would again next time. Whenever I looked at Mirajane, it was the only choice I had ever been able to make.