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Chapter : 41
It’s all a blur now.
The New Year’s Festival dawned. The schedule proceeded as planned.
The Central Banquet Hall opened for the first time in five years, and all the old candleholders and tables were replaced.
The Imperial Palace, too, brimmed with life.
“The envoys have all taken their seats in the Central Banquet Hall.”
“How is it inside?”
“It’s calm. The recent monster incident has been properly buried.”
The maids spoke as they dressed her in her banquet gown.
It was the imperial family that had completely buried the previous disturbance. Charlophe straightened her back and spoke.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by a minor commotion when we have invited foreign envoys.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Are preparations complete?”
“Yes. We will escort you to the banquet hall.”
Her red hair was strikingly deep in color. Eyes followed her straight-backed figure. Her long hair was braided and pinned up, revealing the pale line of her neck. The maids bowed deeply.
“Where is the spirit beast?”
“Well… it seems it’s off alone again. Perhaps it’s still a cub and shy of strangers. It tends to avoid crowded places.”
That child seemed to dislike being around people.
When Charlophe was alone, it would creep closer and linger, but when there were many people, it would slip away on its own.
Is it off somewhere alone again?
Charlophe pushed the thought aside.
The red banquet gown resembled Charlophe herself. From the start, that shade of red symbolized the Empress—deep and splendid, like a sunset soaked in blood.
Charlophe walked slowly down the corridor. Her steps toward the banquet hall gradually slowed, until she stopped altogether. Benjamin, coming down from the imperial office, asked,
“Why are you standing there?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just lost in thought.”
Benjamin touched his neck. Dressed in imperial formalwear, he gave off a stiffer air than usual. Perhaps his collar felt tight; with a gloved hand, he fiddled with the seam at his neck. The attendants swallowed dryly at the tense atmosphere.
“Let’s go to the banquet hall.”
The imperial couple entered side by side. The attendant at the entrance announced the Emperor’s arrival and hurried to open the doors.
The heavy doors of the banquet hall opened. The dimmed vision under the lights slowly cleared as the imperial couple stepped inside.
The foreign envoys all stopped their conversations.
“May the healing light reach the Empire.”
The nobles bowed in unison.
“We greet His Majesty the Emperor.”
“We greet Her Majesty the Empress.”
The music that had paused began to flow again.
The imperial couple signaled the start of the banquet. The court orchestra carried on with lively music, and the atmosphere ripened.
More and more distantly.
Everything sank deep down.
The central nobles and envoys melted into the hall, their laughter settling thickly over it.
“It’s been five years since the New Year’s Festival. The first since Your Majesty’s ascension…”
“From each teacup to every plate, a delicate hand has touched it all. The meticulous way the hall has been filled—you can feel that refinement.”
All kinds of noise tangled together.
Charlophe sank alone into the depths.
Lower and lower.
Breathing grew tight, like flailing underwater.
She peeled away her emotions one layer at a time and put on a calm expression. Her ears felt strangely muffled.
It was just as she was slowly soaking into that haze—
“Charl.”
Only then did Charlophe draw a breath.
Benjamin stopped his conversation with the person beside him. With a glance, he asked, Are you all right? Advisors crowded around him.
“Oh, did you call me?”
“You were spacing out. It looks like this discussion with the advisors will take a while—will you be all right on your own?”
“Overprotective, even at an occasion like this?”
Charlophe brushed the back of her neck with her hand.
“Go on.”
“Then I will.”
Benjamin left with his aides.
Uncle Aster and Grandfather Leandro were speaking with other groups, and the central nobles and envoys were busy with their own conversations.
Is this enough?
She had kept her place long enough.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”
“…Did you call?”
An attendant spoke in a fluster.
“You’ve seemed absent-minded quite often lately.”
“Crowded places are tiring, somehow.”
“My apologies. With envoys invited, it does feel stiff.”
Charlophe raised a hand to stop the attendant.
“Bring me a glass of whiskey.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s suffocating—I need to wet my throat at least.”
Amber liquor filled the glass. As she drank, the muscles stiff with tension gradually relaxed.
Her ears, dulled by ringing, grew clear again.
Charlophe held the glass loosely. As she tapped it lightly with her fingertips, a presence approached.
“The Empire prospers more each time I visit. Even the citizens I saw passing through the capital looked full of ease.”
It was Tatante of Taran. The exotically dressed delegation followed behind him.
“A small Taran, indeed.”
“We greet Her Majesty the Empress. Ah, that child… I don’t see it by your side.”
Charlophe immediately understood.
“If you mean the spirit beast, it’s shy and not here. It doesn’t particularly like being around people.”
“That’s the nature of spirit beasts. Arrogant and rough creatures. And the younger they are, the more they’re influenced by the inner nature of the one they’re imprinted on—often taking after their master’s disposition.”
Tatante cleared his throat softly.
“Before spirit beasts went extinct, they lived mingled among people, but that’s all an old story now.”
Spirit beasts went extinct in ancient times.
Long ago, the ancient gods sent black magic and monsters beneath the earth and proclaimed a sanctuary over the Empire’s land, declaring that impure things must not covet this territory.
Around that time, spirit beasts, too, disappeared.
Only a few remain in this land now.
The ancient founding tales have been forgotten, and the ancient covenant is treated as little more than an old legend. Few remember it in detail.
“It seems this exchange has forged a meaningful bond. I hope that child becomes a meaningful connection for Your Majesty as well.”
“Thank you.”
“I should take my leave.”
Tatante departed with his delegation.
The New Year’s Festival raced toward its end.
“I’ll be alone for a moment.”
“…Alone?”
“There’s no need to follow.”
Charlophe quietly slipped out of the banquet hall.
“Why are you standing here alone?”
Charlophe stood at one side of the corridor when Katarina, in her guard uniform, stepped out from the shadows.
“I think I’ve done enough to keep my place. Give me some space for a bit.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Just keep your distance. I’m not so careless with my safety that I’d need a full escort after inviting envoys.”
Katarina withdrew back into the shadows. The area grew quiet.
“You seem to have been waiting for me to be alone. Come out.”
Charlophe whispered, standing to one side of the corridor.
“D-did I perhaps disturb you?”
From the far corridor, her stepsister peeked out.
“Even if you linger around me, there’s nothing I can do for you.”
“N-no, Your Majesty! That’s not what I want from you.”
“Then there must be another reason you’ve been circling me like a lost puppy.”
Henrietta blinked.
“Wouldn’t it be harder to pretend not to notice when you’re asking so openly to be seen?”
“I—I’m sorry. I had no intention of bothering you.”
“Did you come with your father?”
“My father is ill and couldn’t attend today. I came with my mother instead.”
“Then go back. Your mother must be looking for you.”
Charlophe turned away first. The presence behind her was small and insignificant. Just as she was about to leave, her steps felt heavy.
“…You said he’s ill.”
“Huh? Y-yes! My father is unwell.”
“He has no reason to fall ill at this time. Why is that?”
“I don’t know. Even the physician says he doesn’t know the cause. It gets especially bad at night. During the day he’s often lucid, but at night he sweats coldly and suffers, wandering the house as if possessed. Even the servants are afraid.”
“Since when?”
“A few days now. The whole household feels like it’s on thin ice.”
Charlophe felt a hand clutch the hem of her dress. Henrietta’s small hand gripped the red ceremonial gown.
The child knew this went against palace etiquette. She knew it was rude.
It’s just that her heart had no room to spare.
Charlophe placed her hand over the child’s.
“My father is strange. I don’t know who to talk to. I—I don’t know what to do.”
“…Henry.”
Henrietta flinched at the nickname—one her mother used to call her when she was young.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what would you like me to do?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“Then why did you come looking for me?”
Henrietta’s eyes reddened.
“P-please forgive my father. It’s all my fault, so please forgive him. Then… then my father will change.”
“No.”
“……”
“I already severed that bond. That means it’s over.”
Charlophe offered her final advice.
“Your father has already forgotten decorum and order. He’s lost dignity and grace. By forgetting the respect due to the imperial family, he’s forgotten hierarchy as well. There is no answer there.”
“…You’re cold.”
“It’s too late to speak of forgiveness. How many years do you think I kept vigil by my mother’s sickbed?”
It had been over ten years. And it was Charlophe herself who closed her mother’s eyes, ruined by death.
“I can barely recall what my mother was like when she was alive anymore. Those days are hazy.”
“I—I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. It’s all long past now—just old stories.”
You bear no guilt. It was the adults’ sins alone.
It was the adults who defiled that grave; you merely inherited their blood.
“Just hate me instead. That will be easier on your heart. Don’t let my existence make your father hate you. There’s nothing I can do for you. I’m sorry that this is all I have to say.”
She couldn’t blame the child, and that fact tightened painfully around her chest.
“Your Majesty… are you all right?”
“I’m not in such a state that you need worry.”
“S-still…”
“Katarina, take this child back to her guardian.”
Only then did Katarina step out of the shadows.
“I-I’ll go back on my own. I’m sorry for causing trouble. P-please forget what happened today.”
“It’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
“I-I’ll never come again. I shouldn’t have told Your Majesty these things—I was in a hurry and acted rudely.”
The girl’s tearful steps were unsteady.
“Go with her. I’ll stay here.”
“Then please remain here for a moment.”
Henrietta slowly faded into the distance. Her presence disappeared.
Charlophe looked out beyond the corridor.
Far away, the night sky lay dark and sunken.
“Where have you been, all alone, before coming here?”
A bundle of white fur rubbed its head against her feet.
With small front paws, it scratched her chin, tilting its head and letting out a soft kyi-ung, innocent and pure.
Outside was endlessly still and silent. It felt as though everything had been cut off, leaving her dropped alone into isolation.
Even so, she liked the quiet unique to the night.
I’m all right right now.
Probably.
