TESL 09

Chapter 09

“Please… kill me, Your Majesty.”

Elpine pleaded with a tightly locked voice.

“I have committed a sin that cannot be washed away. I dared to attach my name to a precious item granted by Your Majesty and lied about it. I know how much you care for my sister. I also understand why you could not get close to her. But… but, Your Majesty, please forgive me. If loyalty to the royal family is the destiny of our house, then so be it, and I know she, too, cannot escape the duty of loyalty. Yet… she is still so young, and only now, only now has she… only now—”

Elpine closed his eyes tightly and continued the words he could barely speak.

“…she smiles.”

“….”

“She has just barely learned to stand on her own again, and I cannot bear to see her fall into ruin once more. Your Majesty, as you know, she is always… always kind… she never takes care of herself… she is honest about her feelings and her life, and because of that, I…”

The voice was drenched in bloodied desperation. Both of them knew exactly what he meant to say afterward.

He was worried that the girl might be hurt again because of His Majesty.

He could not bear to see Aira unhappy because of Rubellus.

Rubellus bit his lower lip tightly. Even Elpine, who had been closest to him and knew him best, did not believe him.

Elpine, in effect, had turned Rubellus away—not as a king, but as a friend.

That… stung.

Rubellus gritted his teeth. At that moment, a fierce aura burst forth from his entire body, uncontrollable.

Elpine shivered, letting out a small gasp. He was not trembling out of fear alone. Rubellus’s aura completely crushed him.

How long they remained in this tense standoff, no one could tell. With a small chuckle, Rubellus finally released his aura.

“…I’m angry, but what can I do? It’s my karma.”

Rubellus muttered with a sigh.

“My head feels numb. To think things would twist like this…”

His voice, unlike before, was quiet and far more composed. But Elpine could not lift his head easily. Rubellus stared down at him for quite a while.

“Even though I knew why I set the coronation on her birthday, I still caused trouble. From now on, Elpine, you will help—or not—just once. And…”

Elpine heard the faint sound of fabric dragging in front of him. The tiny brushing of grass, and Rubellus letting out a small sigh.

But Rubellus’s words didn’t continue.

Huh?

Elpine lifted his head slightly, just a little, to look ahead.

His eyes went wide.

Rubellus was slowly kneeling in front of him. Then he slowly bowed his head.

The crown prince of a kingdom, a man who would soon become the highest figure in the land, had knelt before Elpine.

This must not happen. Elpine’s eyes flipped in shock at the sight.

“Your… Majesty!”

Elpine sprang up and hurriedly tried to lift Rubellus. He knew far too well that touching the royal body carelessly was forbidden—but the situation was urgent.

Could he have nearly turned the foundation of this nation upside down? Rubellus kneeling before Elpine…

“This cannot happen! The one destined to be the sky of this country is… right here in front of me—how… how can this—!”

As Elpine shouted in alarm, Rubellus silently glared at him. Even through his lenses, his red eyes seemed to reveal themselves more and more.

“…!”

At that moment, Elpine fell silent. He was one of the few who knew Rubellus’s secret.

“I know it’s a terrible request.”

Rubellus’s eyes shimmered with red energy as he slowly spoke.

His tone was completely different from the furious voice from earlier. It was filled with bitter sorrow.

“But, you, you must know.”

“…Your Majesty, please—”

“I haven’t spoken yet. Listen.”

“….”

“I just want her to know… that I love her. That’s all. I only want to tell her the truth she does not know. You know better than anyone why I could not respond to her confession, why I had to ignore her, right?”

Elpine’s face contorted. That’s right—he knew. Rubellus had a reason to avoid Aira.

But… just as Elpine gritted his teeth, Rubellus looked straight at him.

“I love that girl, truly love her. Just like my royal taboo.”

With the gaze of a calm predator, like a snake, and the aura of a brave warrior, like an eagle, Rubellus continued.

“Help me tell her again, Elpine.”

Elpine could not bring himself to meet Rubellus’s gaze. Because he knew everything Rubellus said was true.

At that moment, he slumped to the ground with the most exhausted voice.

“How could I ever refuse Your Majesty…? As a member of the Wildenbiston family, how could I ever deny Your Majesty or this country?”

With a gentle, patient voice, he silently reproached Rubellus.

Rubellus furrowed his brow and smirked lightly.

“You’re wrong. You heard it yourself earlier, didn’t you? Aira, too, is a Wildenbiston. She has already given up on me.”

Rubellus raised one corner of his mouth and slowly recalled the scene of her disappearance from earlier.

Her eyes had reddened, clutching her skirt tightly as she spoke to him. She had forced a bittersweet smile.

• So, do not worry, Your Majesty. I have completely given up on you. And no matter how you smiled today, it didn’t make my heart flutter again. You know why? Because I gave up my crush, didn’t I? I kept my distance on my own, so you are praising me, right? Right?

“My heart doesn’t flutter anymore, anyway.”

Rubellus lowered his gaze for a moment, letting out a sigh, forming a faint smile—just enough to count as a smile.

“How can I turn this around?”

The smile bore a striking resemblance to the sad one Aira had once worn.

I entered the main hall of the palace.

It took less than ten minutes to reach the hall from the Great Imperial Forest. A royal guard, seemingly brought by Elpine, escorted me there.

Though it was called an escort, it felt more like a one-on-one tailing. If I had been shackled, it would have looked like a criminal being led away.

I almost died of embarrassment. What if someone saw me returning to the palace like this?

“Aira!”

Just as I stepped into the hall, someone called my name urgently and rushed right up to me.

It was Lenny. She gripped her skirt tightly and strode over as if she had been watching the hall’s entrance the whole time.

“Where have you been? Are you trying to cause trouble today, too? Do you know how worried Lady Wildenbiston and Sister Bianca were? You nearly made the palace servants search for you! Do you know what would happen if palace servants got involved? The whole social circle would hear about it!”

Lenny lowered her voice in anger, surely ready to whip me with her fan if no one was watching.

Normally, her scolding voice would be frightening, but today, I felt somewhat relieved. It finally felt like I had safely returned to the real world.

“Can’t you quickly tell me where you were? If you don’t, I won’t help you either!”

Lenny pressed again.

I hesitated, biting my upper lip with my lower, then slowly started explaining.

“The truth is… I went to the Great Imperial Forest to skip my duties…”

“I knew you would. You went?”

“Well…”

I clamped my mouth shut with a bang. I had a strong intuition that I shouldn’t continue.

‘I met His Majesty Rubellus… and he smiled at me.’ It was true, but I didn’t want to say it.

Besides, Lenny probably wouldn’t believe me.

If I said it, she might think, “Does that make sense? My friend has finally gone mad. Let’s cut ties.” I didn’t want to lose Lenny, one of the few real friends I had.

“No… it wasn’t like that. But it wasn’t the same as before. The place I used to decorate… the torches were crawling with insects, and the blankets were rotting. So I decided to just come back, and then I happened to meet a guard who escorted me here.”

Though lying is a sin, this kind of lie—surely even God would forgive me. I crossed my hands behind me and spoke casually.

Lenny nodded, showing no suspicion.

“Of course it wouldn’t be like before. The Great Imperial Forest is huge. With the palace’s sacred energy, all sorts of things can happen there.”

“Oh… really?”

“Yeah. And do you know how dangerous the tree roots are? My cousin tried to cut down a tree in our estate a few days ago and tripped over a root, breaking his leg. What if you got hurt like that in the vast forest alone?”

“That… that’s really scary.”

I answered as if I knew nothing, imagining myself alone in the Great Imperial Forest, screaming with a broken leg.

Of course, no one was watching me, and if that happened, who would come to save me? Unless I had met His Majesty by chance earlier…

“Be careful, okay?”

“Mm-hm.”

I nodded obediently to Lenny and added quickly.

“Anyway, I won’t be going back there again. I’m not going.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

I nodded a couple of times. Lenny studied my face for a long while.

I straightened my shoulders and put on as confident an expression as I could to pass her sharp inspection.

Finally, Lenny exhaled deeply.

“Aira.”

“Mm?”

“You know I’ve never thought you were foolish, right? Sometimes you’re even more clever than me, and you’re talented.”

“Mm.”

“But somehow, whenever you’re in the palace, you act so naive.”

“…Hmm.”

It was true, and it stung a little because it was so accurate. I clutched my left chest and shot Lenny a glare.

“Even if it’s true, say it gently. It hurts.”

“You’re alive again.”

Lenny chuckled, then suddenly looked into the distance and smiled brightly. She whispered to me, still smiling.

“Your mother is here.”

“And my sister?”

“Yes.”

Right after I asked and Lenny answered:

“Aira Wildenbiston!”