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Chapter 11
Vivian unfolded the note she had left on the window frame of her studio.
[In two days, by midnight. At the night tavern.]
It had been exactly two days since she received the note, and Vivian was in the middle of finishing the commissioned painting. Several half-finished canvases were left abandoned in a corner of the studio.
Ever since she had stood at the execution grounds that day, a creeping chill kept running through her, making it impossible to concentrate.
With a careful final brushstroke, Vivian completed the painting and set the brush down.
She placed the finished work into its tube, crumpled the note and slipped it into her pocket, then picked up the tube and stood.
A huge full moon filled the sky, shining down on her.
With the moon high overhead, Vivian arrived at the night tavern outside the commoners’ district.
“Oh my, sister. You made it on time?”
Tabe grinned slyly as he ushered her inside. He was a server at the Pontine Night Tavern.
“Is the madam here?”
“Yeah.”
In the tavern hall, in addition to imperial citizens who had crossed over into the kingdom, there were also nobles who wanted to drink and revel messily among commoners.
Vivian forced herself to ignore the stinging gazes directed at her. The story that the beautiful governor had generously spared the intruder who had entered the governor’s office had already spread far and wide.
Only now did Vivian realize why he had spared her life.
The governor had calculated it. Even if he himself forgave her, the majority of imperial citizens and kingdom folk friendly to the Empire—borrowing their words—would never dare forgive an intruder who had broken into the governor’s office.
That mysterious man had forgiven an enemy in order to plant a favorable impression of himself.
Come to think of it… yes. He may have been planning this from the very moment he caught me.
Otherwise, there was no way she could have spent a peaceful night alone in the underground prison, nor walked on her own two feet to the execution grounds.
“Sister, I heard you caused quite a scene?”
Tabe whispered in Vivian’s ear as she was lost in thought. Vivian stared straight at his teasing face. Though his lips curled in mischief, he wasn’t simply making fun of her.
“What were you thinking?”
Just as Vivian expected, there was a trace of worry in Tabe’s next words.
On the day the first mobilization order was issued, the people of the Rote Society had been able to gather and prepare for the impending tragedy. But the consecutive mobilization orders had been completely unexpected.
“You really almost died, you know.”
If the governor had been a fool who thought only of immediate gain, her heart would truly—truly—have stopped that day.
“…I know.”
Vivian knew it too, but thinking of it as a chance that would never come again, she couldn’t stay away. No—she had to go. Even if she were sent back to that moment over and over again, her resolve to make the same choice every time had not changed.
“Be careful.”
After escorting Vivian to a lavish door, Tabe spoke softly once more and went back down the stairs he had come up. Vivian knocked on the door.
“Madam, it’s Rosia.”
With a soft rattle, the door opened. A woman wearing a red veil sat inside. Vivian carefully stepped in. At the woman’s slight nod, the attendant who had opened the door left and closed it behind him.
Through the faintly visible gap beyond the door, it seemed the attendant stood guard right outside the VIP room.
“You’re late, Rosia.”
Without telling her to sit, the woman spoke to Vivian.
“I arrived on time—”
“You’re late. Three minutes. I suppose you don’t own a wristwatch. Should I give you one?”
The woman’s gaze swept over Vivian’s wrist. Vivian reflexively touched her bare wrist.
“It seems it took some time to come up here.”
“If I told you to come by midnight, you should have appeared before my eyes by midnight. How foolish.”
“I’m sorry, madam. I won’t be late next time.”
Trying, however awkwardly, to be polite, Vivian lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed deeply.
“Hmph. Sit.”
The madam snapped sharply and turned her head away. Vivian carefully knelt in front of her and opened the painting tube. At the same time, the woman picked up a small scrap of paper and a pen she kept to her left for notes.
“Today’s painting had better please me as well.”
As Vivian drew the painting from the tube, her eyes followed the pen and paper in the woman’s hand.
[Bibi, are you all right?]
The black ink asked after her gently. Vivian nodded.
“Of course, madam. I painted it with all my effort so as not to disappoint you.”
When Vivian smiled faintly, the woman smiled back from behind the veil.
[What happened?]
After leaving the short message in Rosetean, the woman passed the pen to Vivian.
[It just turned out this way. I’ll explain in detail when we have more time.]
After briefly glancing at the silhouette pressed close to the doorway, Vivian took the painting out of the tube. It was a beautiful landscape painting of a park where forest and river blended together.
“Madam, will this take long?”
The attendant outside the door urged her on.
“I’m checking the painting. Wait.”
Vivian and the woman in the red veil exchanged glances. The time given to them was short—far too short.
“Don. Call Jason.”
“Yes. Understood.”
At the woman’s words, the door Vivian had entered through flew open. The attendant who had been urging her—Don—had opened it without knocking. Standing there blankly, he gestured impatiently for another attendant named Jason to come quickly.
Jason hurried over, bowed, and stood waiting for orders.
“Load this painting onto the carriage.”
“Yes, my lady.”
At the woman’s command, Jason rolled up the painting Vivian had laid out. In the meantime, the sheet they had exchanged notes on was torn up and slipped into Vivian’s pocket, and the quill was placed back where it had been as if nothing had happened.
Jason was a solidly built man. As Vivian looked closely at his hands while he rolled the painting, she noticed scars that had not yet fully faded.
He knocked over Vivian’s painting tube with a thump.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
As he set the fallen tube upright, Jason pushed the crumpled paper inside. The three of them discreetly confirmed—without Don noticing—that the paper was safely inside the tube.
Vivian closed the tube. Jason stood, bowed respectfully to his mistress, and disappeared. The woman pressed at the corners of her eyes beneath the red veil.
“Pay her, Don. I’m tired, so that will be all.”
“Thank you, madam. Please come again.”
At the woman’s languid wave, Vivian stood up. At the door, Don—who had been keeping watch—handed Vivian several banknotes.
It could be called a successful clandestine meeting. Vivian hurried away from the Pontine Night Tavern.
“So what you’re saying is that, to uphold the Empire’s prestige, that woman must be severely punished? And that conducting an inspection would damage the Empire’s prestige, so it must not be done?”
Hemel, seated at the head of the table, looked at his subordinate Werner, who was repeating the same foolish argument.
This tedious meeting had dragged on since midday, when Werner and Herald first came to the governor’s office, all the way until now.
After Werner, the military commander stationed at the Rosetea Governorate, and Herald, the second-in-command and minister of the interior, visited the office, what had been a discussion—if it could be called that—naturally escalated into a meeting of the top leadership.
Ding, ding, ding.
The clock on the long table in the governor’s office rang, signaling the hour.
“To think I’m still listening to this nonsense at two in the morning.”
At the governor’s icy remark, the assembled military commanders and high-ranking officials flinched. They all realized that the “nonsense” he referred to included their own opinions, since everyone except Hemel and Herald was in agreement.
“Let me say it again. The reason the terror has escalated to the point where it can be defined as a rebellion is because of your incompetence.”
He repeated the same words he had already said several times. Since they were parroting absurd arguments, he had no intention of engaging in a sincere discussion either.
It might have sounded inappropriate for people of the highest command, but to Hemel, it was simply the truth.
“A rat cornered will bite even a cat. You’ve driven people this far, so of course they’re desperate to find a way to survive.”
“……”
“As I keep saying, there are limits to this kind of hardline rule. It only makes governance more difficult. Don’t you even understand something this basic?”
“…Understood. Then we’ll proceed with the inspection. However, leaving that woman alive is truly unacceptable!”
One of the officials finally spoke, his face set with reluctant resolve. Several others nodded in agreement, and Werner nodded vigorously as well.
“That’s right. Colonel, does it make any sense to spare a woman who dared sneak into the governor’s office without fear? It’s unprecedented! It makes the Empire look ridiculous!”
Werner launched into a passionate speech. Everyone except the governor and Herald felt the same.
“Even if not execution, letting this pass without consequence is unacceptable. She must receive some appropriate punishment.”
Even someone who had only been quietly nodding until now lent measured support to the opinion.
Hemel rubbed his face dryly, his long fingers slowly sliding down the bridge of his nose. This issue was precisely why the meeting had dragged on so late.
Rosia. When it came to the disposition of that woman, they were all united in insisting she must be punished.
But what they failed to consider was that Hemel was not a man who let himself be swayed by others’ opinions.
“However, as governor, I can’t speak out of both sides of my mouth. I think your suggestion to severely punish a woman I already promised to spare would do far more to damage the Empire’s prestige.”
“……”
“What do you all think?”
Resting his elbow on the table, Hemel casually held a crystal glass. Sensing the sharp tension, the leaders swallowed hard.
There wasn’t a single flaw in what he said.
Promising to spare her life, only to reverse that decision days later, would only cheapen the authority of the words spoken by the exalted Emperor’s representative.
At last, silence fell. After surveying the speechless officials with a satisfied expression, Hemel took a sip of water and continued.
“Then we’ll keep that woman alive and make use of her for a long time. Understood?”
“Yes, understood.”
Only Herald answered promptly.
Even a simple inspection, even deciding how to deal with an intruder, was this exhausting. To prevent any further dissent, Hemel decided that, with all the decision-makers gathered here, he would put forward a proposal that would truly shock them.
“And I’m thinking of assigning that woman to guide the inspection.”
“Your Excellency!”
“What are you saying?!”
The previously silent officials raised their voices again. When they saw the emptiness in Hemel’s eyes, they were horrified. Those were the eyes that had turned this meeting into a hell no one could escape until two in the morning.
“Any objections?”
When he even smiled faintly, the officials froze solid.
He’s insane.
The new governor, Peron Edwin, is completely insane.
That was the one thought they all shared.
