Chapter 8
He must have slept without knowing when.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the ceiling.
I realized I was lying in bed. I sprang up and, looking around, found the sun already high, pouring light into the room.
It was plain I’d slept far longer than I meant to.
‘Did I sleep that long?’
I hurried out of bed, draped the shawl hanging nearby over my shoulders, and moved toward the door. A single scrap of paper on the floor caught my eye, awkwardly out of place. I walked over, picked it up, and unfolded it.
「I’m off to the palace. —Keris」
So Keris had left a note before going to the palace while I slept.
‘He must have stopped by on his way out.’
I smiled, reading his clean, elegant handwriting, so unfamiliar and so distinctly his.
***
In the palace, everyone clustered in small knots and whispered. The topic was Keris Layton’s punctual return to his duties, after all, he had been back to the estate before dusk.
“Have you heard? The chancellor didn’t just come late yesterday, he left the palace and returned to his domain before nightfall.”
“Who wouldn’t be talking about it? The man who seems only to care about work did that? I can’t believe it.”
“Well, even the busiest man needs rest sometimes.”
“But I hear he went back to the domain to meet a woman.”
He—that cold, taciturn man—went home to meet a woman?
The palace official who heard this almost choked on his surprise. He pressed for details.
“Is that true? Keris Layton went back to his domain specifically to meet a woman?”
“The steward says he’s kept in touch with people in the Layton lands. He says the chancellor was seen meeting a woman at the most famous dress shop in that area. And she was said to be exceptionally beautiful.”
“Wait—so you mean… there’s a woman for the chancellor?”
The news that Keris had a woman was explosive and, at the same time, unbelievable. Keris had power others envied; noble families with eligible daughters coveted him as a son-in-law. Marrying a daughter to Keris would secure a family’s influence. Yet Keris had shown no interest in any of the countless proposals he received. Some even whispered that perhaps he preferred men. There had never been so much as a rumor that he met women privately.
Now the story had it that he left court early to buy a dress for a woman, and that was why he’d been late the previous day. The palace officials could barely contain themselves; the news spread with feverish speed.
“The chancellor is rumored to have a woman.”
An aide told Emperor Schmidt in the audience chamber. Schmidt listened as if the information mattered little, then said coolly.
“I know. Everyone’s been talking about it. I was going to ask you about that very rumor.”
The aide watched Schmidt with wavering eyes.
What was the emperor up to now, why waste interest on such petty gossip? Or was he intrigued because the matter touched a familiar place in himself?
Emperor Schmidt had a reputation for being the sort of man every noble family wanted to marry off to their daughters. He possessed not only rank but the most striking face among recent rulers: sharp features, shining blond hair, and golden eyes. Unlike Keris, Schmidt attended courtly banquets frequently and was popular with women. Still, for reasons no one could explain, he never returned their advances. He rejected every courtship, just as Keris had rejected the marriage proposals that crossed his path.
So why did Schmidt show curiosity now about a rumor claiming Keris had taken a woman? If such a thing leaked, ridiculous whispers might start, something like. ‘He never dated because he loved Keris.’ An absurdity that would stick hard.
The aide let out a long sigh.
‘Putting worry aside, why does His Majesty care about the chancellor’s rumor at all?’
He wondered, glancing at Schmidt.
Schmidt met the aide’s look with a small, placid smile. He knew the man found his question odd but did not correct him. This was not the time for explanations. Schmidt was thinking about the delicate place he occupied at court. In theory, an emperor should stand at the pinnacle of power, yet he could not. Keris Layton still loomed over him.
The Layton clan and the imperial house had long stood on opposing sides, always contesting power. For a long time the throne had held the upper hand; then Keris became Lord of the Layton lands and everything shifted. Keris had pushed to elevate his family’s status with almost frantic zeal, and Schmidt, who ascended the throne around the same time, had naturally been eclipsed.
Schmidt resented that Keris—who worked through the night on state matters—should now be lax over a mere woman. He looked again at the ledger Keris had returned to him yesterday and found it interesting. Whether the rumor that Keris had a woman was true or false, the fact that the man had shown any weakness at all meant there was an opening, perhaps a chance to turn the tables.
“Call Chancellor Layton, I want to discuss the ledger he left me.”
“The chancellor, Your Majesty? Very well.”
The aide’s face betrayed how much he thought the order excessive, but he bowed and left to fetch Keris.
Left alone in the audience chamber, Schmidt’s mind flitted, for a moment, to a different image: a black-haired boy who had once smiled at him—quiet, oddly kind. He did not know why that face surfaced now. Schmidt gave a faint, bitter smile and dismissed it.
Soon Keris arrived, accompanied by the aide. He entered the chamber with the same inscrutable face he always wore; even unexpected summons could not crack the mask. The sight of them together made the aide want to flee. Both men were beyond merely handsome; they were unnervingly composed, and neither betrayed an inner thought. Keris’s expression was unreadable; Schmidt kept that soft, impenetrable smile.
‘Is there any scene more suffocating than this?’
Schmidt inclined his head.
“You summoned me, Your Majesty?”
“I want to ask you about a rumor circulating in the palace.”
The aide inwardly recoiled at how direct the emperor was being, but outwardly gave no sign. Keris, however, looked genuinely baffled.
“What rumor do you mean?”
“Truly unaware? Even a chancellor who dislikes social gatherings pays attention to palace gossip. I had thought you would be mindful of such talk.”
Keris, for his part, could not imagine that rumours about him would have spread through the palace without him knowing.
