“…….”
How much time had passed? The taut killing intent that had been strangling my throat slowly dispersed, like spring snow melting away.
The Emperor lifted his teacup, withdrawing the gaze that had seemed ready to kill me only moments ago.
“But be at ease. I have no intention of striking off your head right this instant.”
The Emperor took a sip of tea and spoke in a low voice.
“You clearly possess an extraordinary mind, but you are still young and terribly immature.”
“……You say I am immature.”
“Am I wrong? If you were truly a wily old fox who knew how to conceal his thoughts perfectly, you would not have laid out that brilliant intellect of yours so shallowly, as though boasting of it, before the emperor of an enemy nation where you stand on thin ice.”
The Emperor’s point was sharp.
I had desperately wrung out my knowledge and laid it before him in order to prove my value and survive, but in the Emperor’s eyes, it seemed to have looked like the self-display of a hot-blooded youth.
“If you had tried to hide your intentions while clumsily pretending to be clever, I would have had your head cut off in the audience chamber at once for the crime of deceiving me. On the other hand, had you perfectly concealed your abilities and kept your head down, I would have passed you over without knowing your true worth, treating you as nothing more than an ordinary hostage.”
The Emperor set down his empty teacup and raised the corner of his mouth, slightly, ever so slightly.
“But you, without even fear, chased after the very edges of my thoughts and blurted them aloud. You exposed yourself completely. Thanks to that childish immaturity, you have become an incomparably excellent conversation partner for me. Here in this tedious imperial palace.”
A deep sigh of relief leaked out within me.
For now, it seemed I had earned a passing mark on the trial to survive.
“I hear you have already met my two daughters.”
The Emperor abruptly changed the subject.
“I was told that yesterday, my eldest, Victoria, broke down your door and barged in, and that today, you happened to run into my second, Chloe, in the library.”
“……Yes, Your Majesty. That is what happened.”
Once again realizing that there was nowhere in this imperial palace where one could escape the Emperor’s eyes and ears, I nodded.
“Then I shall ask you. Though your meetings must have been brief, how do you evaluate those two children? Do not hide your thoughts. Speak honestly.”
The Emperor leaned comfortably against the backrest and continued.
“In any case, I have a gallant eldest imperial prince and a second prince of outstanding martial prowess holding firm. Those two girls will never ascend the throne, nor inherit the empire’s great succession. So there is no need to be nervous, thinking the Emperor is testing likely heirs. I ask only with the heart of a father who must marry off his daughters.”
I did not believe a single word the Emperor said.
Every word this man before me spoke had bones in it, and meaning.
He was not the kind of person to throw out jokes, nor was he in a position to do so.
But I could not possibly let that show—and so I decided to give an appropriately vague answer.
“I am hardly in a position to dare evaluate the Imperial Princesses…… but both of them were immensely striking and admirable in their own different ways.”
“How were they different?”
“Her Highness the First Imperial Princess was like a finely honed sword. A blade without ornate decoration, focused solely on cutting down whatever lay before it—dazzlingly honest and overwhelming. There would be no hidden intent in the direction her sword point faces.”
The Emperor gave a small nod.
“And the second?”
“Her Highness the Second Imperial Princess…… was like a well whose depths could not be known.”
I spoke as I recalled Chloe’s cool smile when she handed it to me.
“The surface is clear and calm like a mirror, appearing exceedingly gentle, but from the outside one cannot possibly fathom how deep it is, or what vast underground current flows beneath it. She reflects the other party, yet never reveals her own bottom…… She possessed an intellect of utmost elegance.”
At my description, the Emperor’s eyes wavered in a subtle way.
“A famous sword and a deep well…… Not a bad expression.”
The Emperor lightly stroked his chin, then suddenly threw out a question.
“Then, as a man, which of the two do you find more to your liking?”
“……Pardon?”
For an instant, my breath caught in my throat.
‘What the hell is he talking about, all of a sudden?’
I stared at the Emperor with a face where bewilderment and confusion crossed.
Once again, a faint, cold smile spread across the Emperor’s lips.
“It was a joke.”
The Emperor lightly tapped the table and straightened his posture again.
“Let us leave talk of my daughters at that. Since I have met someone with whom conversation is possible for once, I would like to discuss more deeply what we were speaking of earlier—the system of governance.”
“Command me, Your Majesty.”
“As you said, suppose I must leave behind not a rule by a philosopher-king, but a system that allows the empire to continue functioning even after I vacate the throne. Then what would be the greatest obstacle to that system?”
I answered without hesitation.
“The former nobles and native powers remaining in the conquered lands.”
“Correct. The empire has brought down dozens of kingdoms, but to administer those lands, it needs people who know letters and understand administration. So I guaranteed to some extent the positions of the former nobles who begged for their lives, and allowed them to govern those lands. However……”
The Emperor’s eyes sank coldly.
“Those bastards are always watching for a chance to drive a knife into the empire’s back. Yet if I were to behead them all, the administration of this vast empire would be paralyzed at once. How would you control this dilemma through that system you speak of?”
“……”
“Let me change the question. If you were the Emperor of the empire, what method would you use?”
After thinking for a moment, I looked down at the teacup on the table and opened my mouth.
There was no need to think deeply. A civil service examination system would be the most suitable here.
If I brought up feudalism and bureaucracy too, we could talk all day and still not finish, and it did not seem like the Emperor intended to abolish feudalism wholesale right away either.
“If only qualified people are to wield power, then those qualifications should be based not on bloodline, but on ability.”
“Ability.”
“Yes. The reason the old nobles are still arrogant is because they believe their bloodlines are the legitimacy of their power. And because they know the empire has no choice but to use them out of necessity. In that case, you need only collapse the foundation of that arrogance.”
The Emperor listened to me with his arms crossed.
“If I were to wear the imperial crown and face such concerns, I would create a strict examination system for appointing officials. Anyone who failed to pass the examination would be unable to become a ruler.”
“An examination system. Would there not be opposition?”
“If the right to take the examination were opened fairly to everyone, there would in fact be less opposition. The nobles would devote themselves to the examination, if only to avoid the disgrace of being found inferior to commoners or fallen nobles.”
“If so, would not nobles with relative leisure, or the children of nobles, have the advantage? Those with plenty of money and plenty of time would still seize power.”
“Of course they would, but I believe that would be better than the resistance that would arise if the nobles realized their power was being taken from them all at once, and better than the various chaos that would result from it.”
“That has merit. Continue.”
“In the end, if qualifications are opened to everyone, then someday, fallen lower nobles from conquered territories, talented commoners, and second or third sons abandoned by their families will also grasp at least a little power, will they not?”
I looked directly into the Emperor’s violet eyes.
“Those newly appointed officials will gain power not through bloodline, but solely through Your Majesty’s grace and through the examination. They would be nothing if the imperial family did not take them in, so their loyalty cannot help but be directed thoroughly toward the throne.”
The Emperor’s eyes widened minutely.
“I would dispatch those loyal hounds as administrators and inspectors to the conquered territories, making them gradually push the old nobles out of practical affairs and keep watch over them.”
“Hm.”
“Aside from that, even if former nobles themselves are one matter, if their children, upon passing the examination, are made to rotate through territories other than their own native domains, conflict will continue to arise. They would forget their goal of joining forces while fighting among themselves.”
After my words ended, silence lingered in the greenhouse for some time.
The Emperor silently rested his chin on his hand and gazed at me, then formed a small smile.
“Precisely twenty-five years ago, the moment I ascended the throne, I promulgated the Imperial Edict on the Appointment of Officials. Its contents do not differ from what you just said by so much as a single word.”
“……Pardon?”
“That examination system you speak of has long since been implemented throughout the empire. Calling lower nobles from conquered lands to the capital and incorporating them into the bureaucracy, and tightly restraining the old nobles, are policies I have already rooted in place over the past ten years.”
“……You are remarkable.”
“Did I not tell you? I was merely curious to see how far you could follow what was inside my mind. Splendid indeed. A young prince from the borderlands, sitting there and reciting ten years’ worth of the empire’s concerns.”
The Emperor lightly set down his teacup.
“From now on, once a week. Come to this greenhouse, drink tea with me, and converse.”
“……I shall obey, Your Majesty.”
“If I followed my own wishes, I would summon you every day, but seeing you every day would quickly grow tedious, and I am busy with affairs of state as well.”
The Emperor slowly rose from his seat and looked down at me.
“Ah. Do you enjoy using your body?”
At the sudden question, I hesitated for a moment before giving an ambiguous answer.
“……To some extent, I do.”
“To some extent. My second will be pleased.”
“Pardon?”
“You may withdraw.”
With those brief words, the Emperor turned and walked deeper into the greenhouse.
I quietly bowed my head toward the Emperor’s firm back as he moved away.