Epilogue.
Once he had come back to his senses and regained his composure, he had wanted to say, "But leaving that aside, why do I have to give birth to a baby?" However, everything was already over by then. Kay was deeply frustrated, but even if he had spoken up at that moment, little would have changed.
Kay, who had embraced Zigrit after receiving his confession in a crowded place, trembled with belated embarrassment and shame, while Zigrit watched him with great delight.
Too ashamed to want to see anyone, yet Shuman, who had come despite that, dropped a bombshell.
"......Empress?"
Kay asked back in a dazed voice.
Scratching his head, Shuman spoke with an equally vacant expression on his face.
"Yes. His Majesty..."
"Empress?"
Even seeing Shuman nod his head, Kay asked again. Empress? Did you say empress? Shuman let out a small sigh and said,
"You are aware that His Majesty the Emperor has passed away, yes? ...The Alosha flower that was obtained with such effort went into Sir Kay's belly...."
When Shuman's gaze directed toward his own belly, Kay's face flushed bright red. Shuman smirked as if mocking him and continued,
"Anyway, so His Majesty is scheduled to ascend the throne soon, and he wishes to hold the coronation of the Empress at the same time...."
Shuman trailed off, saying that this was what he intended. It was a troubled expression.
With an expression that looked like he might cry, Kay spoke as if pleading,
"......You aren't talking to me, right? Some other young lady is becoming the empress, right? Right?"
Though Kay spoke as if begging him to say yes, Shuman shook his head.
"No. You will become the Empress, Sir Kay."
It couldn't have been more decisive. So firm that Kay couldn't even ask him if he was joking. But this time, Kay absolutely could not nod in understanding and say, "I see."
"I-I'm a commoner. An empress can only be someone with 'divine blood,' isn't that so? No, more than anything, I'm a man!"
"I'm a man!" shouted Kay, so desperate that tears swirled in his eyes.
For generations, the Crown Prince—the successor to the empire—had to be born with thick divine blood, the medium for sorcery. When war or great calamity befell the nation, the great sorcery was performed using the Emperor's blood, and if that blood was impure, the sorcery could fail. Therefore, it had been tradition for the empress who would bear the crown prince to be selected from among noble maidens who possessed even a drop of divine blood. Just as there were nobles without divine blood, there were no commoners with divine blood, for the same reason.
That he, a man, was giving birth was already so mortifying that he wanted to hide in a hole in the ground; and now, empress? A man could become empress? He would really go down in history then.
Kay thought that if nothing else, he could not allow that. No, it wasn't something Kay couldn't tolerate—it was something the nation wouldn't tolerate.
With an expression of deep agreement, yet shrugging his shoulders, Shuman spoke.
"I asked if that wouldn't be a problem, and His Majesty said it would be fine."
"Ha—?"
Kay tilted his head in disbelief and asked again, but Shuman sighed, saying, "His Majesty must have some kind of plan." Kay realized that he would gain nothing from talking to Shuman. Ever since Zigrit had confessed his love, Shuman had been strangely cooperative toward him. So cooperative that even when Zigrit spouted such absurdities, he would readily agree, saying, "Well, if His Majesty is in love, what can't he do? That in itself is already a miracle." Kay rose from his chair and ran like the wind to the office where Zigrit was.
The guards in front of the office parted in unison when they saw Kay. It hadn't even been two days, yet even small children walking down the street recognized him. He really couldn't live with all this notoriety. Kay flung the door open wide.
Zigrit, who had been looking at documents, smiled brightly upon seeing Kay and took off his glasses, setting them down.
"Oh, Kay. You shouldn't run like that yet."
Like hell he shouldn't. It was a fetus with stubborn vitality that had swum through those lengthy waterways and survived all that mayhem. If it were going to miscarry from a little running, it ought to have done so just now when the shock of that empress announcement left him stunned. Breathless and panting, Kay spoke.
"What— what is the meaning of this!"
"What do you mean?"
Zigrit tilted his head, stood up from his seat, and approached. At that kind voice asking while gently stroking Kay's back to calm him as he huffed and puffed, Kay wrinkled his brow fiercely and swatted the hand away. And then, startled at how hard he had hit him, Kay hardened his expression and asked again.
"How am I supposed to become empress? I'm not even a noble, much less of divine blood, and I'm a man!"
His voice, which had calmed for a moment, grew louder. Zigrit looked briefly at his hand that Kay had swatted away, then smiled slyly and said,
"Why? What's so unsatisfactory? Shall you be the Emperor, and I the Empress? Ah, but usually the one who gives birth is the empress—"
Urk. Kay furrowed his brow at Zigrit calling himself empress. Even as a joke, it was a terrible image that made him shudder. Chuckling, Zigrit pressed Kay's furrowed brow smooth and asked.
"Didn't you say that being an empress would be worth a try? I didn't think you'd be satisfied with being a mere concubine, so I decided on this."
At Zigrit's words asking, "Why? What's the problem?" Kay tilted his head with a blank expression.
"Huh?"
Zigrit stretched his lips into a wide grin. Kay stared at that face, then started and faltered in realization. He had indeed said such a thing before. He had, but of course it had been a joke....
"Was it a lie?"
As Zigrit's eyes narrowed, Kay swallowed. Saying it had been a lie didn't seem like a very good idea here. Instead, Kay smiled with a stiffened expression and said,
"Th-that wasn't a lie, of course. B-but as I told you, I'm not even a noble...."
"Are you not?"
Zigrit cut him off with a smirk. Kay flinched unnecessarily at Zigrit's smile. He cupped the cheek of the nervous Kay and spoke.
"Well... of course, you aren't one now."
Kay looked up at Zigrit with a blank face. Zigrit gripped Kay's shoulders and smiled.
"Your table manners and carriage are quite well-learned for a commoner, so I did a little background check."
"...Um, aren't you doing something shamelessly underhanded...?"
Failing to say the word despicable, Kay mumbled and scratched his head. His heart grew heavy at the fact that he had to give birth to the child of this shameless man who spoke so proudly of investigating him.
Zigrit, of course, was not fazed in the slightest by words like despicable and smiled brazenly.
"It would be troublesome if there were things to hide between people who must spend their whole lives together. If you're curious about anything, you're welcome to investigate me as much as you like."
At the word "whole lives," Kay's heart grew heavy once more, and he let out a low sigh. Did he mean that he would investigate someone who was going to be Emperor, as if such a person could have any great secrets? The matter with Kay had already spread like wildfire through the capital in just three days. If he was curious about Zigrit, all he had to do was go outside and stand in the middle of the street for exactly one hour, and all sorts of bizarre rumors—and truths—would pour into his ears nonstop.
He had actually thought Zigrit wouldn't find anything. He had prided himself on having erased all his past cleanly when he fled to Lablend. He had never spoken of his past even to close friends, and it had already been ten years. It would have been difficult to find traces, and even if one searched diligently, it shouldn't have been possible to uncover it in just a few days. But Zigrit smiled as if reading Kay's thoughts.
"I thought you might have grown up in quite a wealthy castle because you weren't surprised seeing Shuman use sorcery. But in Lablend, no one knew where you had lived ten years ago. I figured you were hiding something."
"..."
Kay swallowed. Even trying to act composed, it was difficult not to tense up in front of Zigrit.
"Kay. How many castles with sorcerers do you think there were among the territories that fell to the Empire? There were about twelve. Of those, I personally cut the throats of the sorcerers in seven... Well, never mind that. Anyway, there wasn't a single castle among them with anyone who looked like you. If there had been...."
Kay glanced at Zigrit, who smacked his lips. If there had been, terrible things would have happened to them. Kay frowned at this scoundrel's words.
"...Aren't you jumping to conclusions too much?"
It was far too great a leap of logic based solely on not being surprised by the sight of sorcery. Of course, Kay was incredibly shaken.
Smiling like a fox, Zigrit licked Kay's ear and whispered.
"Oz Elmond. Your original name is beautiful, too."
Kay felt his heart plummet at both his words and actions. His nape went cold at the name of a past he had thought was distant and completely erased. Kay, who had been the second son of Count Elmond of the former Kedmo Duchy, now absorbed by the Empire, had been the sole survivor who escaped when the castle fell and its nobles were beheaded.
Zigrit's hand slipped inside Kay's clothes. Pushing closer, he backed Kay against the wall beside the bookshelf. Pressing him against the wall, he pushed their thighs together and bit Kay's earlobe lingeringly. And whispered low.
"When I learned this, I realized you survived in order to meet me."
What a convenient way of thinking. Kay looked at Zigrit with a fed-up expression. That he had survived in order to meet him. Why would he say such a thing, as if Kay's despair were his grand design? Zigrit smiled roundly.
"Did you escape through the waterways then, too?"
After some hesitation, Kay nodded. Lying more to Zigrit would only carve up his fragile heart. Though beheading was the norm, surely he wouldn't kill someone carrying his child....
The hand inside Kay's clothes moved obscenely. Why the sexual harassment in the middle of a serious conversation?
"Now, Kay. I can grant you a noble title, and if you were born a count's son, you likely have some divine blood mixed in. Yes. What was the other problem?"
Kay flinched when Zigrit's hand touched his chest. It was a part of himself Kay didn't want to think about. But his body clearly remembered the sensation. The insane pleasure of mingling with Zigrit while intoxicated by the Alosha flower crept into a corner of his mind. Kay gulped.
".......Men cannot marry each other, Your Highness."
"Why?"
Zigrit smiled with his eyes.
"We kiss, we have sex... and now you're even giving birth to a baby, but we can't get married? Kay, do you think that makes sense?"
As Zigrit pressed their thighs together and slowly stroked Kay's belly, Kay thought they would end up doing it again with a clear mind—even without being threatened—and gently pushed Zigrit away, saying,
"—Still, it cannot be done. The great nobles will never permit it."
Zigrit stepped back slightly and, at Kay's words, raised one corner of his lips in an arrogant smile.
"Permit? Who would dare?"
Laughing as if to ask who would dare speak of permission or denial regarding what he did. At that self-assured smile, Kay could only keep his mouth shut. He was a man who would soon become Emperor. He had always been a law unto himself, but henceforth he would be even more the sole authority. As he said, there would soon be no one in the world who could use the word "permit" to him.
But. Kay rolled his eyes, thinking, 'Is this really okay?' The moment he considered honestly saying he was too embarrassed and hated this, Zigrit lightly licked Kay's lips and asked,
"Do you know how fast rumors spread here?"
Of course he knew. Not long after his escape, he had heard people talking about him in the streets. Zigrit laughed as he lightly tickled Kay's nape with his fingers.
"It seems word has spread through the capital that you're a noble youth who should have been beheaded but survived. Of course, I didn't spread it intentionally, so don't look at me like that."
Kay was certain it had been intentional. At Zigrit's sly smile, Kay felt his spine tingle.
"Ten years or twenty years, it's customary to behead survivors and hang their heads on the castle walls. It seems talk of that has begun."
"......What are you trying to say?"
"Well, what I mean is that suggestions to behead a commoner like yourself may easily come up, but no one will suggest cutting the Empress's neck and hanging her on the fortress walls. What do you think?"
Threats and a bit of extortion—no matter what, it didn't seem like they would kill Kay, who was carrying the Emperor's child—and a bit of sweet talk.
"It's an incredible rise in status, Kay. You're going to have the baby anyway, so all things being equal, isn't it better if things work out nicely?"
"......That's true, but."
As Kay smiled wryly, Zigrit gently pushed his hair back and spoke tenderly.
"You're too high-maintenance and soft-hearted, so bad women latch onto you. Kay. There's no one in this world who can handle you but me."
It was an utterly absurd statement, completely disconnected from reality. Though he had stumbled a bit recently, Kay was the type with a strong sense of independence who could live well on his own; even after falling from noble to commoner and suffering alone in a strange land, he had lived well. It was true that women tended to cling to him, but that was Kay's fault, not the women's. The equation that Zigrit was the one who could handle him was riddled with errors. But Zigrit, still shameless and brazen, smiled with fox-like narrowed eyes and asked,
"Am I wrong? Is there another woman willing to take you on?"
"..."
Kay let out a light sigh and shook his head. There was no woman who would step forward to claim someone the Emperor wanted. Moreover, even if there were such a woman, Kay himself was not the type to give up his life for love.
Kay lightly grasped the hem of the clothes of Zigrit, who smiled slyly while flaunting his power. When Kay had seen Zigrit through the manhole, he had thought him truly beautiful. Whether it was because of the tears pooling in his eyes or because the light had suddenly grown too bright, he couldn't tell. Zigrit looked down at Kay's hand for a moment and smiled sweetly.
"How about it? Can you marry me now?"
"...What, do I have a choice?"
Kay scoffed and asked back. Zigrit licked Kay's lips.
"Of course you do. The choice is yours, Kay."
"But I can't take responsibility for what happens after." At this whisper, Kay laughed lowly. Some freedom of choice... He felt completely caught, but he had neither the means nor the inclination to do anything about it.
Kay knew that in this world, few things were as desperate as a proposal to the person involved, and in that moment, any scheme or cunning, some threats or boasts of plucking stars and sweet talk were permitted. And he also knew that there was always someone who would fall for it in that moment.
Slowly closing his eyes, he opened his lips, and felt the corner of Zigrit's lips curve slyly against his own.
What could he do? Kay simply thought, modestly, that he hoped the baby would take after him.
Three weeks later, the imperial coronation of Zigrit Airier C. Lainer and the coronation of Kay Rogrial as empress took place—an event that would remain in history in more ways than one.