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Chapter : 46
Near the Grave
Tutududuk. The rain striking shoulders grew steadily harsher.
Those who arrived after pushing through the rain were intelligence officers who had been dispatched to Border Zone 1.
“Charles.”
Benjamin took off his robe and shook out his wet hair. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at Pyotr, and his gaze naturally settled on Sharlophe.
“You’re soaked.”
The head lady-in-waiting grew pensive.
“I—I beg your pardon, Your Majesty!”
“Bring something to cover them. The wind is still cold.”
The maids went off to fetch blankets, and Pyotr offered a brief, formal salute.
“I greet His Imperial Majesty.”
“…You don’t seem to be moving comfortably.”
His gaze shifted to the cane.
Pyotr put strength into the arm holding it. Blue veins rose along his wrist. His body leaned noticeably to one side, and it was plainly evident that his left ankle was twisted outward.
“Can you walk all right?”
“My body is still dull from illness, that is all. I will recover soon, so please do not worry.”
Even so, the fact that he had come through the rain in that state felt suspicious.
“Y-Your Majesty! You have returned!”
The chief attendant rushed out of the palace upon hearing the news of the Emperor’s return.
A groom led away his warhorse, and Benjamin removed his gloves and handed them to the attendant, who tucked them away.
“Weren’t you scheduled to return tomorrow?”
“The schedule changed.”
“A messenger only just arrived, so the confirmation came late. Fresh clothes have been prepared. Please come inside.”
As he removed his robe, rainwater streamed down. While shaking off the water, Benjamin fixed his gaze on Sharlophe.
“Is this a habit of yours?”
“It’s an unintended coincidence.”
“If so, it would be wise to make sure such coincidences don’t overlap too often. Whenever I leave my post, I seem to find you like this.”
The maids returned and draped blankets over them.
“The weather is poor. I recommend you retire for the day.”
Pyotr narrowed his eyes.
“This father will take his leave. When the time comes, I shall visit again.”
The servant standing beside Pyotr swallowed a hiccupping sob.
The attendant who had accompanied him since the estate began to tremble violently. His body stiffened like dried wood, seized by spasms.
The arm holding the cane scraped stiffly against the floor.
“I’ll be going.”
The servant hurriedly followed his lord.
“Tuteo’s carriage has just left the imperial palace.”
The intelligence officer bowed his head.
“Assign someone to keep watch on the Tuteo household. We need to examine the inside more closely.”
Benjamin quickened his pace.
Puddles had formed beneath his feet, dampness seeping into his military boots. Clear footprints marked his path.
The bedroom door opened.
Sharlophe turned at the sound. As she wiped the moisture from her cheek, a towel dropped lightly onto the crown of her head.
“You’ve turned into a soaked mouse.”
The chill from outside clung to his hand.
With a heavy palm, he pressed down firmly on Sharlophe’s head.
“Weren’t you due to arrive tomorrow?”
“I wrapped things up as soon as the monster corpse collection was finished. If I’d delayed even a little more, things could’ve turned ugly.”
The towel blocked Sharlophe’s view, allowing her to speak without meeting his eyes.
“…I thought the rain would delay your return even more.”
“When I leave the imperial palace for too long, you—outside my sight—always end up like this.”
Benjamin clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“A mess, inside and out.”
“That’s quite a tone—sounds like you really don’t like it.”
“I fought through the rain to get back, and this is what you show me.”
He pulled away the towel that had been covering her eyes.
“I never had the luxury of peace of mind.”
Her wet hair was tangled and unruly.
“Your complexion was dark.”
“You mean my father?”
“He’s limping, his foot twisted outward. It looked like someone who’d completely dislocated an ankle once before.”
Even standing straight, the body’s center of balance leaning outward couldn’t be hidden. When an ankle twists, the body’s balance shifts with it.
He spoke while recalling the head of the Tuteo family.
“He hasn’t gone out much lately, and now his sickness is unmistakable.”
“He claimed he was ill—so that wasn’t a lie. Considering his temperament, he’s not the sort who’d step onto the palace threshold in that state. Something must have changed in his mind…”
Sharlophe touched the corner of her lips, forming a faint smile.
“It’s quite different from what we remember, isn’t it?”
He had been someone who slowly destroyed himself, gnawing away at his own flesh.
As if reaching the very end, even his appearance was in shambles.
“Still… it’s as if that 모습 were his true self…”
If he had regained balance, was it merely an illusion?
Sharlophe let her words trail off.
Her eyes stung. As she pressed her eyelids with the back of her hand, his arm fixed her chin in place.
“Let me see.”
“Some dirt must have gotten in.”
It had been like that for a while. He examined her reddened eyes and gently traced their shape.
“You stayed outside too long.”
His calloused hand brushed over her eyelids. The rough touch scraped faintly against her skin.
The chill from outside transferred directly.
She shuddered at the cold, and his gaze dropped to her shoulder.
“Is the bath ready yet?”
“It’s just been finished. Please warm yourself first, Your Majesty.”
The head lady-in-waiting approached carefully and urged him.
“Washing should come first.”
Sharlophe’s face had already gone pale, drained of color.
The head lady-in-waiting pressed a towel firmly against Sharlophe’s wet hair.
Wearing a white nightgown, Sharlophe leaned back against the chair and nodded off.
Setting the towel aside, the head lady-in-waiting brought a comb and brushed her hair.
The woman reflected in the mirror was pale, yet dignified.
Her neckline was slender, and even without a single ornament, it carried a quiet weight.
The head lady-in-waiting glanced sideways toward the mirror as she continued combing.
“Is she asleep?”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I’ll lay her down. You may go.”
The head lady-in-waiting set down the comb.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
Benjamin slipped his arm around Sharlophe’s waist and lifted her.
The weight of someone asleep is usually heavier. Yet the Empress, lacking even that weight, left him only with doubt—is this really all right?
She’s thinner than before I left.
He had been with her throughout the bath. He knew well how slender and delicate that body was.
Her rain-soaked body had been warmed by hot water, and afterward Sharlophe had dozed continuously.
…Is it just my imagination? Ever since entering the active phase, she’s been sleeping more.
Benjamin laid Sharlophe onto the bed. The mattress dipped, and she turned onto her side, burying her cheek into the blanket.
When he tucked a pillow behind her neck, a shallow sigh escaped her lips.
“I didn’t do anything.”
He had merely been there.
Benjamin stayed by her side.
That was his role.
Even her neck is so thin.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned closer. Breathing in the scent lingering at the nape of her neck, he twined his fingers in her dark red hair and stroked it.
“I have a meeting with the intelligence officers, so I need to step out. Go to sleep first.”
Benjamin kissed Sharlophe’s cheek, half-buried in the blanket.
Leaving the bedroom, attendants followed. The chief attendant brought an outer coat. He fastened his cufflinks neatly.
“All intelligence officers have arrived in the office.”
Benjamin headed that way as well. Roskella approached and joined him.
Documents were piled high in the office. The conference table stretched long in a straight line, with several intelligence officers seated.
“Is the examination of the monster corpse finished?”
“It has just concluded. A monster core was present. Diameter one centimeter—considering it’s early in the active phase, the progression speed is fast.”
The monster corpse placed in the container bore a blackened hue—evidence of corrosion by poison.
“Do you remember the Ancient Covenant?”
“…The treaty that drove out black magic and monsters?”
“A covenant and a prohibition. Its enforcers bound their souls to prove it. The living remain above ground, the dead below. Do not interfere with one another, do not intermingle—remain separate.”
The enforcers of the Ancient Covenant designated this land as inviolable territory, laying prohibitions so they could not set foot upon it.
Monsters are drawn to poison, and poison originates from black magic. When black magic was driven from this land, monsters were forced underground as well, and that balance had been maintained—until recently, when those creatures began crawling above ground again.
“Someone is disregarding the taboo of the Ancient Covenant.”
“…”
“They’re trying to pull them up to the surface.”
It was something strictly forbidden by the covenant.
A covenant so familiar that all had forgotten it,
A role blurred by its very inevitability.
Because it had always been there, people forgot—and the value of the covenant dulled.
“Dispatch the Third Imperial Knight Order to Poputa Border Zone 1. Have intelligence officers accompany the subjugation force and report on the situation in the Poputa region.”
After everyone left, Benjamin remained alone in the office.
Ink from the documents smeared across his wrist. As he rolled up his shirt and frowned, the office door opened. Roskella tapped the doorframe with the back of his hand to announce himself.
“The air is terribly humid today.”
“…Indeed. It’s been raining all day.”
“Isn’t it always like this at the start of the active phase? Fine weather is rare. At least the roads aren’t frozen.”
The rain weighed down the office with damp heaviness.
Roskella took a handkerchief from his jacket.
“Wipe the ink first. If you leave it too long, it won’t come off.”
Benjamin wiped the ink away and ran a hand through his short hair.
“Even if your thoughts are tangled, you mustn’t show it outwardly.”
Roskella closed the office door and organized the documents.
“Are you worried?”
“About what?”
“The subjugation.”
“You tell me to hide my feelings, yet you ask that?”
“I’m asking simply as your confidant.”
“Subjugation is routine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“But there’s a small variable mixed in.”
“As you said—small. If it’s small and trivial, nothing changes.”
When the active phase began, dispatching subjugation forces and carrying out missions was nothing new.
Roskella parted his lips, then closed them again.
“You leave me speechless.”
Benjamin idly rubbed his wrist with a languid gesture.
His gaze sank low.
An arm that had always fought—scars and calluses that would never fade.
Sharlophe was his opposite.
“I see hesitation.”
“Do you?”
“The man who once looked only forward now keeps glancing back.”
“Perhaps it’s because someone I left behind might be trampled.”
The ankle weighed down by hesitation grew heavier, turning back to look behind.
“You look as though you’ve missed something.”
“That description may be accurate.”
“What’s missed can be retraced.”
Roskella stepped closer and asked quietly,
“…Is Her Majesty being trampled?”
“Perhaps.”
“Then… is it because of the grave?”
“It’s a place touched by those who stood close to death. A place she should never touch—nor one she could reach simply by stretching out her foot.”
Even so, Benjamin couldn’t shake this feeling.
“I feel as though she is standing very close to death.”
