What Kind of Unfair Accusation Is This Again?
What Kind of Unfair Accusation Is This Again?
"And how is Iomene, Saint?"
Princess Almene, her face haggard and dark circles stretched long beneath her eyes, asked me.
On days when she had a little more energy, she would often summon me to ask about Iomene.
"She is recovering more and more, Your Imperial Highness."
It was the truth.
After the Tuesday torture sessions vanished, Princess Iomene had been improving at a noticeable rate.
Princess Almene smiled brightly, as if reassured by my words.
She fiddled with the area around her left eye.
Her left eye, glowing with a magic circle, was sealed tightly shut and could not be opened.
"Sometimes, the horrendous sensations and memories break through the magic and reach me. Even with just those sensations alone, I'm in so much agony that I'm confined to bed... What on earth must Iomene have endured?"
"She will get better. You have my word."
Princess Almene smiled brightly at my response.
The secret princess who had never once shown her face to the public.
If she had gone public, she would probably have become immensely popular.
She was that beautiful.
"For myself, I've lived trying to create only memories that are foolishly happy. Pretty, beautiful, joyful, and happy things. I made an effort to eat only delicious food and tried really, really hard to make joyful memories."
"That is a good thing, Your Highness."
"Does it seem selfish? While Iomene was suffering in the Detached Palace, I was keeping all the good things to myself."
I shook my head.
Because I understood why she had done it.
"If Princess Iomene's pain was strong enough to break through the magic, didn't you think your own joyful memories and emotions could also break through and reach her?"
Princess Almene giggled.
"That's right. You see, I didn't want Iomene to die. I want her to get better and do lots of fun things with me. When her pain reached me, I was actually happy. Of course, it was terribly hard and painful, but it still felt like I was sharing even a little of her burden."
"That is noble of you."
The fact that Iomene hadn't gone completely insane was probably partly due to Princess Almene's efforts like those. If negative influences could break through the magic and affect Almene, then the opposite would also be possible.
"Iomene will definitely be able to get better. Since the Saint himself is treating her, isn't that right?"
I wasn't sure.
Could I, someone so unremarkable, really have said something so confident?
But I gave her a nod.
"She most certainly will."
Princess Almene smiled at my words.
I smiled back at her.
***
Today was Tuesday.
The grandfather clock announcing 2 PM rang once again. Iomene flinched and burrowed into my arms, looking uneasy.
I held her once more and patted her back.
We went to the bed and lay down together, pulling the covers over us. As I held her, I felt the tremors that had been wracking Iomene begin to diminish.
"Calmed down a little?"
At first, I had used polite speech, but after three weeks of witnessing behavior akin to that of a child or a pet, informal speech had now become a complete habit.
I supposed this had happened because I'd thought it wouldn't matter once the curse transferred to me.
At my words, Iomene raised her head and looked at me.
"Want a snack?"
No reaction.
Had I just fed her so much that she didn't want any more?
"Want to sleep then?"
She didn't look tired either.
She was just staring at me quietly.
Since she couldn't speak, there was no way I could know what she was thinking.
"A book? Should I read you a book? A children's story?"
Her eyes changed.
I understood.
It was a children's story.
I fetched a picture book for young children, opened it in front of her, and read it aloud.
It was a common, predictable story.
One of those very classic and clichéd tales.
But as if she were seeing all of this for the first time, Iomene's eyes were sparkling.
I had read about three picture books to her, perhaps.
Iomene nestled into my arms again.
She looked up at me.
"Why? What is it? What is it this time?"
I couldn't tell what you wanted if all you did was stare at me, little one.
Her face grew a little sulky.
She raised her arm and flailed it around.
It seemed she was trying to express something.
I sat patiently and waited for her.
"Uh... ah... uh."
Iomene's mouth opened.
"C... call..."
My eyes widened.
Had she just spoken?
She'd spoken, hadn't she, just now?
"C... call..."
Iomene placed her hand on my mouth and fiddled with it.
"Call... call my... name."
My jaw dropped.
She'd spoken!
A full sentence!
"You want me to sing for you?"
At my question, Iomene gave no reply and just stared at me quietly.
But seeing those sparkling eyes, it seemed that was the correct answer.
It was embarrassing.
I was really, terribly bad at singing.
It seemed she remembered the clumsy anime songs and nursery rhymes I had sung to her on Tuesdays when she was anxious.
But what did it matter if I was terrible?
This was the first clear request Iomene had ever made of me!
"Alright. I'll sing for you."
As she requested, I sang for her.
My singing skill was so horrendous that even I felt my face flush when I heard it, but Iomene seemed pleased.
When I sang an anime song with an upbeat melody, she burst into an innocent laugh like a child.
She got off the bed and started clumsily dancing something resembling a dance. I approached her, took the princess's hand, and danced clumsily along with her.
Iomene was beaming brightly.
Why was it?
Why did her laughter feel so heartbreakingly painful?
I wanted to make her as happy as possible before I left, and then be gone.
So we danced and played.
The hour of 2 PM on Tuesday, which Iomene had feared most, was filled to the brim with laughter and the sound of playful mischief.
We danced and played until just before dinner. After dinner, we stuffed ourselves with sweet things, and then we spent our time playing simple games like tag and hide-and-seek in the Detached Palace.
Iomene seemed utterly happy with all of it.
In the end, due to Iomene's insistence, we continued to play until midnight.
It was time to sleep now.
"I'm glad you've become able to laugh."
I took Iomene to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed.
"Now you have to wash up and sleep. It's late. Understand?"
When I stroked her head with my hand, Iomene suddenly began rubbing her face against my hand.
"G... good. Good."
"What is it that's so good?"
"Go, good... good."
Iomene laughed gleefully, repeating the word 'good' over and over with a clumsy way of speaking.
Whoever those sons of bitches were I didn't know, but the bastards who cursed her were truly some fucked-up vermin.
Sixteen years.
For sixteen years, she was a child who had lived through torture without missing a single session.
It had even left the healthy Princess Almene bedridden, and pushed the Emperor and Empress, her parents, into endless guilt.
What sin could this young princess and her family possibly have committed?
"Soon enough, there won't be any more reason to hurt. You won't ever be hurt again. Understand?"
"H... hurt?"
"No more treatments, no more pain. No more things to be afraid of. Because I'm going to make you better."
And in return for that outcome, I would vanish from this place forever.
We probably wouldn't be able to meet again.
There didn't seem to be a need to explain that part.
"You'll eat delicious things and do lots of fun things. You'll be able to be twice as happy as all the pain and hardship you've endured. Your mom and dad are truly incredible people. Whatever you ask for, all of it, they'll buy anything for you. You'll be able to have everything you want."
"All... All of it. All?"
"Yes. All of it. Once you get better, you can become a person more noble, loved, and happy than anyone else. Iomene. So don't give up. You have to live your life hard. You have to become happier than all the suffering you've endured. Understand?"
"Good. Good."
Iomene laughed like a child.
The giant wings sprouting from her back fluttered.
It was getting late.
I needed to leave.
"I'll be heading back for today, Iomene. I'll come again tomorrow. So until then, take care..."
Iomene grabbed my arm.
She stared at me with her bright, clear eyes.
"T... together."
Together?
Iomene pointed at the bed.
She had the face of a puppy needing to pee.
"T... together. Together..."
Together for what?
Sleep together?
Lying down on the bed?
"No. I have to go back. You can sleep alone, can't you? Right?"
"Together. Together."
She persisted.
But I shook my head.
I had to go back.
No matter that it was for treatment, if I slept with the princess, I didn't know what kind of reprimand I'd get from His Majesty.
"I'm sorry. I'll be going back. Sleeping together is a bit..."
Iomene made a dissatisfied face.
Still, there was nothing I could do.
What father in the world would like his daughter sleeping in the same bed as an unrelated man?
I smiled at Iomene and carefully pulled my hand free.
"How? How? Together? Together? How?"
A clumsily spoken voice asked me.
How could we sleep together? That was probably what she meant, right?
"I suppose we could sleep together if we got married."
"Marriage. Then marriage!"
Iomene grabbed my hand and shook it.
This was awkward.
She had been fine up until now, so why was she suddenly acting like this?
"Night... I'm lonely."
While I was struggling with the situation, Iomene mumbled in a gloomy voice.
"Lonely. Nothing here."
In the room where she stayed, there was no one else.
Because of the curse, no one could approach her side.
The only people who approached her were the priests who bombarded her with divine magic on Tuesdays.
Cleaning?
I'd heard that was handled by magic drawn throughout the Detached Palace.
She had probably never had a chance to share any kind of human connection with anyone.
"Song. Bed. Together. Together."
This was awkward.
If His Majesty found out about this, he definitely wouldn't leave me alone.
...But then again, wasn't I someone who was going to disappear from this world entirely in just a few days anyway?
Then wouldn't it be fine to act as I pleased?
I wasn't going to go so far as to actually sleep.
I only intended to lie next to her until she fell asleep.
"Alright. Let's lie down together. I'll stay beside you until you fall asleep."
At my words, she was overjoyed like a child.
We got into the bed together.
Iomene clung tightly to me like a puppy.
I stroked Iomene's head and sang to her.
Perhaps she had worn herself out from eating and playing with me all day, because before long she started to nod off, dozing.
"Tomorrow... again?"
Was it because I had played all day with her, too?
I was sleepy as well.
I yawned and nodded my head.
"I'll come again tomorrow. Iomene."
"Promise?"
"Yeah. I... promise."
I was too tired.
It felt like drowsiness was pressing down hard on my eyelids.
My head kept bobbing as I nodded off, and in the end, before long, I was overcome by sleep.
Just before I fell asleep.
"Good."
I heard Iomene say it in a drowsy, dreamy voice, similarly drunk on sleep as I was.
That was the last thing I heard before my consciousness cut out for a moment.
***
When I awoke, the time was suddenly 6 in the morning.
I'd slept like a log.
I carefully slipped out from Iomene, who was clutching my body and fast asleep.
I withdrew from the Detached Palace.
There was truly not much time left now.
I had nothing you could call... settling my personal affairs.
I'd already left words with Erpa beforehand so she could keep living after I disappeared.
High Priest Yodel and the people of the Lilia Order would remember and cherish the memory of Saint Amael, who had nobly sacrificed himself to eradicate the Fragment of the Evil God.
A saint who saved the princess and the world from the Fragment of the Evil God that would have destroyed everything, and then vanished.
That was cool and fine, wasn't it?
As I walked through the nighttime streets, I felt a peculiar pang of sentiment, thinking that I would never be able to see this place again.
Had I grown some reluctant attachment?
Even though this was a place with almost no good memories, my heart felt inexplicably unsettled at the thought of leaving.
Forget it.
What 'unsettled.'
Meeting you was shit.
Let's never see each other again.
Thinking that, I entered Slum District 3 and started making my way back toward the Magic Tower Temple, which rose up so high it seemed visible even from outside the capital.
And then suddenly.
A feeling so utterly chilling made me stop in my tracks.
I was not the only one.
"What the? What was that just now?"
"A strange feeling!..."
People began to pour out of the Magic Tower Temple, and in an instant, the streets started to fill up as well.
Everyone, slowly.
Turned their gazes toward the source of the chilling sensation.
The Imperial Palace.
It was in the direction of the Imperial Palace.
This bizarre sensation, as if something were scraping at the soul itself, seemed to declare that something profoundly evil and horrifying had manifested in the world.
And the identity of that horrifying thing was being revealed from the mouth of Old Man Yodel, who had dashed out of the temple in his pajamas.
"A c-curse! Why is a curse's aura coming from the Imperial Palace!?..."
The moment I heard those words, I broke into a run.
I cast Body Reinforcement on myself and began sprinting at a tremendous speed.
Why??
Her mental state should have stabilized!
The Fragment of the Evil God was also on the verge of being transferred to me!
But why, all of a sudden!
What kind of screwjob is this now!!