CHAPTER~20
She’s Back
Like a child seeing off their parents, the Empress stood there waving both hands widely until that figure shrank into a distant dot.
What she thought that day, alone in the castle, Dona has no way of knowing even now.
She was afraid even to dare to wonder.
Forcibly cutting through the tangled thoughts like a skein of thread, Dona roughly wiped her dampened eyes with her sleeve and left the Imperial Palace.
* * *
The moment they emerged from the sea, Airi and Magician N crossed the beach and headed into the city to buy clothes.
The glances cast at the two wandering around in tattered garments dripping with water lasted only briefly, as in Valencia it was not uncommon for someone who had survived the sea to appear once a month looking like a beggar, and interest quickly faded.
Clink, the clear sound of a jeweler’s doorbell rang out.
The shop clerk approached with an annoyed expression upon seeing the shabby pair, but the instant he spotted the pearl Magician N placed on the counter, his eyes widened and he hurriedly said, “Just a moment,” before darting inside to fetch the owner.
“You brought a pearl?”
The middle-aged owner even put on gloves and, as if handling a sacred relic, picked up the pearl, muttering to himself in words no one could understand before exclaiming in admiration.
“How did you obtain such a high-quality pearl?”
“Judging by our appearance, we traded our lives for it.”
“I’ve heard there are young people these days who dive into the sea in search of pearls.
So that was true.”
The owner, wearing a satisfied smile, looked as though he coveted the pearl greatly.
“You came at just the right time.
We happen to have a very important client who wants pearls.
However, everything that comes in has some flaw, cracked or misshapen somewhere…….
If you could obtain more pearls this round and beautiful, I would like to ask you for a steady supply from time to time.
Would that be acceptable?”
Airi knew that pearls from the sea, the domain of the Siren clan, were especially rare on land, but she had not realized they were treated to this extent.
She glanced up at Magician N as if to say it was fine, but he was firm.
“Pay the price for that one first.”
With a deeply regretful expression, the owner handed over three pouches filled with gold coins and even saw them off courteously on their way out.
“Please do come again.”
Even after visiting a tailor and buying clothes suitable for easy movement, they still had plenty of money left.
The tailor, who received a single gold coin, flustered, saying he had no change, and Magician N used that as leverage to secure a carriage run by one of the man’s acquaintances, carefully arranging their journey all the way to Toledo.
“I’m sorry.
I wanted to take you straight to Toledo if possible.”
Long-distance movement consumed a great deal of strength, and Magician N, who had not slept since the previous night and was on the verge of collapse, had no choice but to travel by carriage instead of magic.
“No, actually I would have been fine sleeping a bit before going.”
“No, if we miss the timing, everything will fall apart, so this is better.”
“By the time we arrive, it will be just when the banquet is starting.”
The Emperor’s birthday banquet, practically an annual imperial event, was approaching.
It had already been three years since Ramiel’s birthday banquet, held just a few days before his father’s, had been combined with the Emperor’s celebration.
Around this time, posters blessing the Imperial Prince were spread throughout the Empire, yet it was said that the main figure himself had never once appeared at the banquet hall.
As the Emperor only returned late at night whenever there was a banquet, the two planned to slip into Ramiel’s room amidst the chaos of the opening ceremony.
“I’ll sleep a little until we arrive.”
“If we reach a village at night, it’s fine to rest at an inn for a day or two.”
“A servant cannot afford to lag behind when the master does not rest.”
Leaning back against the carriage with his eyes closed, Magician N’s profile looked much thinner.
“Then I’ll rest too.”
“If you’re going to be stubborn, it’s best to be stubborn to the end, my lady.”
Murmuring as he cracked his eyes open slightly, Magician N’s shoulders were far broader than before, incomparable to the past.
He used to feel like a boy who had just grown up, but now he was closer to a fully grown young man.
“……You’ve gotten much more sly while I wasn’t looking, N.”
“Have I?”
“Yes.”
“If you say so, then I suppose that’s how it is.”
“What kind of answer is that.”
At Airi’s lightly amused reply, Magician N tugged at the corner of his mouth and let it go.
“Maybe it’s not that I’ve changed, but that I’m relieved.”
“…….”
“Princess, ……my lady has been asleep for three years, after all.”
Magician N almost addressed her as he usually did, then glanced at the coachman and corrected the title.
“I was afraid.
That I might never see you again.”
“…….”
“I truly…….”
As his voice trailed off, Magician N’s eyes slowly closed.
Feeling his head slump lightly against her shoulder, Airi looked at the dark circles beneath his eyes, then turned her gaze outward.
The sunlight pouring down overhead was dazzling.
Everything felt distant, like a dream that would soon vanish, and she tightly grasped the hem of her outer garment.
The sunlight gradually dried her body and hair that had been soaked in seawater.
The sound of the carriage rattling over an unpaved road carried on and on across the mountain paths.
It took a full three days to arrive in Toledo.
Perhaps using magic had drained him greatly, because Magician N remained asleep except during meals.
Whenever night deepened and the forests grew dark, they stayed in a nearby village to wash and rest briefly, then departed again at daybreak.
Three days like that.
Thunk, feeling her back jolt, Airi opened her eyes to find the carriage crossing a stone bridge.
Beyond the river spreading out on both sides, the fairy-tale-like fortress of Toledo and its picturesque city came fully into view.
Unlike the mild coastal climate of Valencia even in midwinter, the dry and cold air unique to Toledo could be felt.
Stretching out her legs from where she had been sitting folded in the rear of the wooden carriage, Airi gazed at the river surface bathed in sunset light and the reddish scenery of Toledo beyond it, then turned her eyes to Magician N, who was waking up groggily beside her.
“……This is.”
“We’ve reached the entrance to Toledo.”
“We’ve arrived…….”
Still half-asleep as he replied, blinking as he looked at the line of loaded wagons stretching toward the city gate, Airi followed his gaze and peeked out.
“Looks like they’re doing some kind of inspection.”
Because the road had always been open when she was with Michael, this was her first time experiencing such a thing, but thinking about it, managing those entering and leaving the capital was only natural.
As it seemed to be a mere formality and did not take long, Magician N did not think much of it either.
“We came from Valencia.
I’ll just take my passengers inside and then head back.”
When their carriage’s turn came, the coachman stopped before the soldiers and spoke in Valencia’s distinctive accent.
The soldiers, not understanding the Valencia dialect well, asked several times, then after the coachman lost his temper, they glanced at the cargo compartment and nodded carelessly.
“Wait.”
Just as the carriage the two were riding was about to pass through the gate, another soldier stationed further inside called out to stop them.
Ignoring the coachman’s irritation at the red uniform, the soldier strode over and spoke while casting a sidelong glance at Airi’s vivid crimson hair spilling from beneath her shabby cloak.
“You will need to cooperate with a brief inspection.”
As Airi blinked in confusion, Magician N beside her narrowed his eyes and asked:
“What business do you have with my sister?”
“I cannot give details, but it is an Imperial order.”
The moment he heard the words “Imperial order,” Magician N pulled Airi sharply into his arms and wrapped her within his cloak.
Flap, as a gust of wind filled the soldier’s vision, he closed and opened his eyes, and the cargo compartment was left with nothing but a fallen cloak.
Stunned for a moment by what had happened in an instant, the soldier soon shouted loudly.
“The inspection target has fled!”
Before long, the sounds of soldiers running and voices searching for the two covered the city gate and the surrounding area.
* * *
On the evening before the banquet’s opening ceremony, the Admiral crossed the sunset-drenched corridor toward the Emperor’s office after receiving the report that had just come in from the city gate.
“Your Majesty.”
Even when he knocked, there was no reply.
When he cautiously entered the office, the Emperor did not spare him a single glance.
With the opening imminent, the Emperor still had not set aside his work.
Scratch, scratch, only the sound of a quill pen writing echoed coolly through the room.
Seeing the Emperor continue his duties without a single movement, his shoulders and back soaked in the glow of the evening sky, the Admiral hesitated briefly before speaking.
“There has been a report of a woman who fled during inspection.”
At that, the Emperor lifted his gaze for the first time, and the Admiral carefully continued his report.
“……It is said that she was accompanied by a red-eyed man.”
The scraping sound of the pen against paper vanished as if washed away at that instant.
