“How could a human being do such a thing.”
As I stroked Chloe’s back and offered her words of comfort, my mind was tangled as messily as if caught in a spider’s web.
The princess of the victorious nation, returning from the bloody battlefield, had fed the hostage princess of the defeated enemy nation—the dead Adrian—the flesh of her own family.
And by whispering that cruel truth, she had driven her to hang herself.
No matter the slaughter of war, that cruelty, which defied all common sense, was not something a human being could do.
If this was the truth, I never wanted anything to do with Victoria ever again.
But at the same time, in a corner of my mind, Victoria’s desperate voice lingered—the voice that had confessed to me on the plains, shedding bloody tears.
‘Though it was not my will, with my own hands, to my younger sister… I committed the unthinkable.’
‘If you learn the truth, you will despise me as a terrible monster.’
It was hard to imagine that someone who knew that so well could actually have done such a thing.
The Victoria I knew was not such a terrible person.
If not, then my judgment of character was simply wrong.
‘…Just what is the truth.’
#
Quite some time passed, and only after Chloe had fallen asleep from exhaustion did I leave the detached palace with terribly heavy steps.
As the heavy door closed and I stepped out into the corridor, Amber White, the yellow-haired knight who had been standing stiffly in front of the door, followed behind me like a shadow.
“…….”
Her usual cheerful and confident expression was nowhere to be seen.
Amber kept her lips firmly shut with a sad and conflicted expression, matching my pace.
“……Sir White.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I slowed my steps and quietly opened my mouth.
“Did you know everything? How Princess Adrian… died.”
At my question, Amber stopped walking for a moment, then soon nodded heavily with a pained expression.
Deep guilt flickered in her eyes.
“…I knew. But Your Highness, if I must… defend Her Highness Victoria. The meat Princess Adrian ate at the banquet that day was absolutely not the flesh of her family. It was a lie.”
“A lie?”
“Yes. What she ate was simply common lamb stew. The Kingdom of Ernand was a place where, due to the climate, one would never encounter lamb in a lifetime, and Princess Adrian, too, had never tasted that meat during her entire time as a hostage in the Empire. Using the unfamiliar scent and texture… they whispered the falsehood that she had eaten her family.”
I furrowed my brow.
“How can you be so certain that it was a lie, Sir Amber?”
At my sharp question, Amber dropped her gaze to the floor and answered.
“Because at that time, I participated in the Ernand subjugation campaign as Her Highness Victoria’s direct aide. After capturing the Ernand royal castle, I arrested the parents and the younger brother of Princess Adrian, who had led the rebellion… and I am the one who personally cut their throats.”
Amber’s fist trembled violently.
The terrible memory of having to cut the throat of a helpless child, as a knight with no other choice, seemed to crush her.
“And the corpses were all burned along with their collapsing royal palace; only their heads were brought back to the Imperial Palace pickled in salt. Not a single piece of corpse remained, all turned to ash… so boiling a stew from human flesh was physically impossible. I guarantee it. I guarantee it upon the name and honor of this Amber White.”
“……”
Though the act of eating human flesh had been a lie, it was indeed Victoria’s whisper that had ultimately driven Adrian into terrible mental anguish and made her take her own life.
I stared blankly down at the marble floor of the corridor for a moment.
The fragments of Victoria’s desperate confession from yesterday were gradually fitting together with Amber’s testimony into one terrible picture.
‘Father uses me as a tool without the slightest hesitation.’
‘Though it was not my will…’
And, to be honest, the Victoria I had known was not someone capable of manipulating a person’s mind with a single word.
Surrender, kneel, or I’ll kill you—those were the kinds of things she knew how to say.
I swallowed dryly and carefully asked Amber.
“…Her Highness Victoria said that deed was not done of her own will. If so.”
I checked my surroundings to make sure no one was listening, then lowered my voice as much as possible and asked.
“Am I correct in what I am thinking? Did those above… order Her Highness Victoria to play the villain?”
Amber did not avoid my eyes, and nodded quietly but clearly.
“…As you know, Her Highness Princess Chloe is the daughter His Majesty the Emperor cherishes most in the world. Adrian, who was a spy for the rebels, had to be executed immediately, but because Her Highness Chloe wept and pleaded so desperately, His Majesty the Emperor had been left with no choice.”
“Is it certain that Princess Adrian was a spy?”
“The circumstances make it almost certain. Otherwise, there is no way the Imperial army would have fallen so futilely to a surprise attack, and from the moment Adrian came under strict surveillance, the enemy’s suspicious movements ceased.”
“No physical evidence emerged, then.”
“If physical evidence had come out, she would have been executed immediately. There was no physical evidence, but… they believe a third power likely aided her and was involved to some degree. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to smuggle information out of the Imperial Palace while under the mages’ surveillance.”
“The Northern Archduke’s family?”
“Yes.”
“So it was that witch’s doing.”
“Everyone assumes so. Otherwise, it is hard to explain.”
Amber added bitterly.
“Being a good father and being the ruler of the Empire are completely different matters. To establish law and order, Adrian had to die… and it just so happened that His Majesty the Emperor had a useless daughter whom he hated most terribly in the world. Was she not the perfect chess piece to take on the role of villain?”
“…….”
A chill ran down my spine.
Not wanting to earn the resentment of his beloved youngest daughter, the Emperor had forced his most hated eldest daughter to bear all that terrible filth.
He had issued an imperial order to crush her younger sister’s beloved friend with cruel lies and drive her to hang herself.
Even those words were likely the Emperor’s own suggestion.
“Why… why do you not tell Her Highness Chloe the truth? If you told her it was an imperial order, not Your Highness’s true intention….”
“How great would the wound be to Her Highness Princess Chloe if she learned the truth? To know that the father she trusted and loved was the one behind the monster she so terribly despised.”
Amber shook her head resolutely.
“It is better for Her Highness Chloe to live her whole life without knowing, pure and innocent. I received a strict order from both His Majesty the Emperor and Her Highness Victoria to do so, so I must protect that secret with my life.”
“…….”
My chest felt tight and suffocated, as if clogged completely.
The Emperor’s ruthlessness. The younger sister who lived hating her blood sister, not knowing the truth. And the woman who bore all those terrible sins and misunderstandings alone, wandering bloody battlefields her whole life wishing only for death.
Unable to endure it, I flung open a window in a corner of the corridor and took a deep breath of the cold winter wind.
Cold air that chilled my lungs rushed in, but the ball of fire inside would not subside.
Then, Amber, standing behind me, whispered in a quiet, low voice.
“Your Highness, Prince Ian.”
“…….”
“Her Highness Chloe… has far more scars and shadows in her heart than one might think. So I hope, Your Highness, that you will comfort and care for her by her side for the rest of your life.”
Wondering what on earth this meant, I turned around to see the yellow-haired knight kneeling on one knee with perfect courtesy.
“This is not my will. It is Princess Victoria’s command.”
Red veins lined Amber’s eyes.
“I am a knight, and a soldier of the Empire… so I must obey absolutely the orders my lord gives. Even if that order pushes my lord herself into the fires of hell.”
“……”
“She told me to tell you not to come find her anymore. She will depart on the Roland expedition as soon as spring arrives, but before that, she wished to bid you farewell in advance. She said she would be leaving the Imperial City for a while…”
There were no words I could give in return.
Forcing down the tears that welled up, I could do nothing but nod, unable to offer any other response.