Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: 2nd Princess, Hedera (5)
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Words spoken in drink.
True words poured out from the heart while intoxicated.
Strong liquor has a peculiar effect of weakening one's inhibitions, turning people into strangers to themselves. Even today, across the continent, hidden truths buried deep in the heart were bubbling up busily to people's lips.
The letter I wrote must surely be the same.
I didn't remember every single character of what I'd scribbled down, but at least I was certain I hadn't written anything malicious. Nor had I strung together any outrageous lies.
...So yes, at the very least, it was written with sincerity.
I hadn't lied to Hedera.
'First, this is the best way to hold on.'
This was the unavoidable best course.
I couldn't very well tell her the real reason—that I'd written it in a drunken haze—and my instincts were screaming that if I let her go like this, I'd never get another chance to meet her.
If things went wrong, it would be a huge problem.
For starters, I wouldn't fulfill the condition the Emperor had set.
The Emperor would use failure to meet it as an excuse to end the marriage talks, and in the worst case, he might even deploy means to get rid of me.
Then who knew what the princess—who'd shown a positive response to the proposal—might do across the continent, and for my part, I wouldn't get the imperial spiritual object to cure my terminal condition, and if I died young, it'd be hard to avenge my comrades' souls...
"...".
...I felt it anew. How my life was tangled like a ball of yarn.
The butterfly's wingbeat. It had already become a typhoon.
Meanwhile, that's when Hedera let out a sound.
"...Ah."
Only then did I snap out of my thoughts.
Come to think of it, I was still holding her wrist.
The quiet corridor.
We stood there, frozen in place, gazing at each other. But Hedera's eyes, now back to their original form, trembled faintly.
"...".
Just as her lips parted to say something.
─Uwaaaah!
A bizarre shout echoed from deeper inside the Magic Tower.
─We'll freeze to death like this!
─Inspector! Where the hell is the Inspector!
─Uwaaaah!
Come to think of it, I couldn't stay away any longer. Regardless of reuniting with Hedera, I was the Magic Tower's Inspector, duty-bound to manage and oversee the wizards here.
I released her slender wrist.
"I've gotta go. I'm the Inspector, after all, in my own way."
I'd run into her again deeper inside the tower anyway.
Leaving her standing there dumbfounded, I walked away. The whole way down the corridor, I felt eyes boring into the back of my head, and a thought struck me.
...Liquor is the enemy. Liquor.
The now-empty corridor.
2nd Princess Hedera lingered in place long after Zekiel had left. The currents of confusion rooted in her heart showed no sign of calming, still swirling fiercely.
As she calmly replayed what had just happened to sort her thoughts, someone she hadn't expected appeared in the corridor.
It was 3rd Princess Solana.
"Oh? Running into you here—you arrived early."
The empire's brilliance that never lost its light even in shadow.
The empire's face, the empire's angel... Hedera wondered why she'd shown up, but soon pieced it together. It was Solana who'd arbitrarily placed Zekiel in the Inspector position.
Solana struck up a conversation with her usual cheer.
"2nd Princess, have you met the Inspector? Or should I call him Magic Tower Lord here? What a coincidence."
"Not coincidence, conundrum."
"Conundrum. Ah, that's what you said. I must've spoken too softly..."
Heh heh heh, Solana let out a small scoff.
Do you, always so sunny, even grasp these complicated affairs? Hedera found even explaining it tedious and just sighed.
"Already throwing yourself into all sorts of things with full effort. Makes me think, 'As expected of Teacher.' Won't the Magic Tower rise again? Magic Tower Lord, give the sale some more careful thought."
"It's not about the sale right now—"
Shed tried to brush her off out of annoyance, but Solana's eyes sparkled.
"You're not selling? Excellent decision."
"...".
By now, Hedera swept back her hair in frustration.
No, beyond frustration—starting to feel unpleasant.
The empire's five princesses had grown up in different environments, with personalities and values worlds apart, so they were never on good terms to begin with.
But among them, what Hedera particularly despised was Solana's proclaimed purity, which hid her true intentions.
This oblivious cheerfulness, popping up at every turn—it grated on her. Sometimes it even felt deliberately calculated.
"...Solana."
Hedera's voice came out sharp-edged as her lips parted.
"After seeing him again after so long, you really feel nothing?"
Hedera and Zekiel's parting had been excruciatingly painful.
It was so sudden there'd been no time to cope, and she was so young she didn't even know how to handle such intense agony.
The girl back then had believed in herself.
No matter the circumstances, if he'd just told her, she could've waited ten years, a hundred—confidence bordering on certainty.
She would've understood anything, truly. Perhaps she'd have chased after him even if the world collapsed. It would've hurt less that way.
But.
That parting remained unresolved even now.
Today was the same.
No—meeting him just now had only deepened her confusion.
She'd asked His Imperial Majesty to hold off and come here herself, and this was the result.
...Yet this immature girl was just as sunny as ever.
"Him? You mean Teacher?"
"Yes."
"He's changed. You used to call him your future husband."
Hedera ground her teeth at Solana's poisonous cheer.
Indeed, there had been such a time in the distant past.
But Zekiel hadn't explained himself this time either.
Just like that day he'd vanished without a word of explanation to her—it had repeated. He couldn't explain but wanted her to believe it was sincere, right?
"Hmm, did that upset you? Just a joke. After all, there's no way the two of you would actually marry."
Solana continued in her usual tone.
"Anyway, yes. I don't feel much. Teacher must've had his reasons. I'm just glad we can reunite now. Better than never seeing him again."
"Must be nice having such a simple mind. Easy to get over things."
"Simple? No, it's not."
Even talking to Solana was starting to irritate her.
As Hedera turned to end it and leave the corridor.
"2nd Princess."
Solana called her for the first time.
Their gazes met in the air.
Solana's lips curved in the benevolent smile typical of a cleric, but Hedera could tell clearly. The look in Solana's eyes was anything but.
"There are things in this world like that. Things where even trying to know is a sin, where even asking inflicts great wounds... Just my opinion, of course."
"...What are you trying to say?"
"Teacher didn't smoke Sunweed in the past."
"...".
A brief silence.
"...?"
Hedera narrowed her brow a beat later.
Come to think of it, yes.
In the distant past, Zekiel hadn't touched Sunweed, not even tobacco. Yet now, the acrid smoke scent unique to Sunweed clung heavily to him.
"Sunweed possession requires imperial permission. And even that is mostly for medical purposes. I've never seen anyone chew the whole stem like that."
"Stop beating around the bush—tell me everything you know."
"I know nothing. Like I said earlier, I just believe. That's the only thing I can do without knowing anything."
With that, Solana turned on her heel.
"I'll head in first. There's training today, so if anyone's hurt, tending to them is my role. See you inside."
"...".
Left alone, Hedera remained rooted in place.
Her already tangled emotions mixed with Solana's words, growing even more chaotic. It felt like they were surging like waves, trying to swallow her whole.
Why was she so displeased right now?
─It's sincere.
Because she'd wavered slightly at just those words.
Even after being deceived for years, she hated and pitied herself for wavering again.
And why the frustration now?
...Though she hated to admit it, she was a little curious.
Curious about what truth she didn't know. Idly, she touched the crumpled letter in her bosom.
Burn it, or not.
"...".
In the end, Hedera stepped away without burning the letter.
On hold.
She wasn't kind enough to believe him right away. Nor foolish, young, or naive enough. But keeping watch and observing? That shouldn't be hard.
Hedera was a Dragon Blood possessor. She was strong now.
If she didn't give her heart in the first place, there'd be no betrayal, and even if something seemed off, she could protect herself.
Decision made, she nodded a couple times.
For now, set aside being the 2nd Princess. The Imperial Magic Tower sale issue still loomed large for her.
...Time to work as Magic Tower Lord for a bit.
The Magic Tower's corridor.
Even after Hedera left, one person remained.
Balton, the 2nd Princess's guard knight. It was him.
Even with his face fully obscured by his helmet, his eyes seemed to flash. With that piercing gaze, the guard knight stared at the spot where Zekiel had vanished.
Balton thought.
A Dragon Blood possessor is perfection incarnate.
And a perfect being harbors no such thing as emotion.
Thus, in his mind, Hedera was perfection.
However.
Just now, facing Zekiel, Balton had clearly sensed Hedera waver in a way unlike her. It was the first time he'd seen such a sight since starting his guard knight duties in the Holy Realm.
Therefore, what he must do was clear.
For Hedera's perfection.
For Hedera's nobility.
No—for Hedera herself.
...He had to eliminate that man.