It was a kingdom that collected taxes mercilessly, but it spared no expense for Restoration Day, which commemorated the successful uprising of Princess Seorin and the famed commander Earei.
Though Seorin had already been queen for three years, she had been unable to spread her wings under the restraint of the great houses. Yet during this season, she took an unusually hard line and devoted all her attention to the Restoration Day ceremony and parties.
Thanks to that, the capital was brimming with life for the first time in ages.
People from the palace came out not only into the capital, but even to every corner of the provinces when necessary, to procure supplies.
The commoners, who had been eagerly awaiting Restoration Day—those few days when, by the Queen’s grace, they could eat and drink to their hearts’ content—chattered excitedly.
“Did you hear? At dawn, a minister drove a whole herd of cattle into the royal palace.”
“A herd of cattle?”
“His Majesty must be planning to feed us beef for Restoration Day!”
At the childish boy’s words, the girl scolded him in disbelief.
“You idiot. That’s not it. It’s because so many high-ranking church people are coming this Restoration Day, so they’re preparing to receive them. Don’t you remember how a week ago, so many wine casks came in that the city smelled of grapes for days?”
“But nobody said pigs came in! They said the cattle were still coming in even after sunrise. How could the high and mighty possibly eat all that? Once their bellies are full, they’ll give the rest to us.”
“Watch your tongue. If the palace hears you, you’ll be dragged off like Geoseu last time and come back as a corpse.”
“Geoseu got taken because he cursed them openly. All I did was beg His Majesty for mercy.”
“Shh! Quiet! An official’s here.”
At the girl’s words, not only the boy but the people around them held their breath and fixed their eyes on the official’s mouth.
A low-ranking clerk from the merchant company hired for this Restoration Day cleared his throat, then shouted.
“There are two jobs today! One is hauling cargo, and the daily wage is one hundred thousand silver—men only! The other is sorting cosmetics to be used by noble ladies, and the daily wage is eighty thousand silver—women only!”
“Me! Me! I’ll carry cargo!”
“Hey, hey! Don’t get so worked up… Ah, damn it! I’ve helped the village women with their makeup every time they got married, so I’m good at sorting cosmetics!”
The wages were more generous than expected, so everyone rushed forward, saying they wanted to work.
If they got the job, they earned money, and they would be fed while working, so they would not go hungry.
Things had become ever so slightly better than during the days of the Half-Year Tyrant, but the people, still exhausted by poverty and hunger, had to survive an entire year on the money they earned from work during this Restoration Day.
When a country scattered money, it meant more than mere extravagance.
“Mila, do you think we’ll be able to see Lord Earei this year? He’s Her Majesty’s first husband, after all!”
“Keep your voice down! You idiot. Lord Earei is a commoner. Official events like this are originally for the nobles. Lord Gyuren, the son of the northern margrave, and Lord Shurseu of the great southern house are her second and third husbands, and they’re nobles, aren’t they? Only those two will appear. That’s how it’s always been, isn’t it?”
“But Lord Earei is the hero who helped Her Majesty win the war…”
“He’s still a commoner.”
“Be honest, Mila. You’re just jealous that Her Majesty has lots of husbands, aren’t you? You want to keep several men of your own.”
“I told you to stop saying stupid things! And it’s obvious that the reason Her Majesty married the nobles is all political—”
“You there! Stop chattering and come help with the work! Men this way, women that way!”
When the official pointed at the two of them and shouted, Mila flinched and glared at Emil.
“I’m not dancing with you this Restoration Day. There are plenty of men besides you asking me to dance, you know?”
“What…! I’m sorry, Mila. Don’t do that. I only have you.”
“Hmph! Just like Her Majesty does to Lord Earei, I’ll wrap you up tight in my wardrobe and keep you from going anywhere. I’ll go outside and have all the fun I want.”
“Sniff…!”
Hurt, Emil wiped away his tears.
Startled, Mila tried to soothe him, but another girl slipped between them.
“Too bad Mila doesn’t want to. How about dancing with me instead?”
“…All right.”
“Emil! Don’t say something stupid.”
At the angry Mila, the girl smiled brightly.
“Really? I don’t think the person who said the stupidest thing just now has any right to say that. See you, Emil. I’ll see you after work. I’ll soak a cloth in warm water and wash your hands for you.”
“…Okay.”
“Emil!”
Mila watched the boy’s back as he walked away, then went to work with a complicated heart.
It had only been a joke meant to open the eyes of that lively but hopelessly gentle boy. She had not expected it to turn out like this.
In the end, that day, Mila made a mistake at work and was slapped across the face by an official.
Was it a foolish incident that happened because Mila was young?
But if one were to call it youth, then the current queen, Seorin Lionera, was committing the very same mistake.
And hers was one that could never be undone.
Behind the royal palace stood a mansion that was more than large enough for commoners to live in, but small and shabby for nobles.
There, a little less than half a day’s walk away if one simply walked, lived the Queen’s treasure.
To say he lived there was generous; in truth, he was as good as abandoned.
The mansion where Earei Birensha—the famed commander of reversals, who changed the course of war and shifted the balance of power whenever he appeared—resided was known among those belowstairs as the Flea Market.
It had been over a year since the Queen had appeared at this place where she had hidden away her treasure.
The Queen cherished her treasure so dearly that she feared he might wear away merely from being seen by her, and so she rarely showed her face.
Yet she always sent all sorts of rare and precious gifts to her first husband, and these soon became the property of the servants.
That was only natural, since she sent gifts but never managed or supervised anything.
The manservants and maids believed Earei had lost the Queen’s favor, and without hesitation, they sold the bestowed gifts at the market to line their own pockets.
Gentle-hearted Earei said nothing about it.
He knew that the wages paid by the palace were not enough to live on satisfactorily.
A place where the Queen’s gifts were divided up.
That was why Earei’s mansion was called the Flea Market.
But things grew so severe that not only letters and gifts truly meant to reach Earei, but even letters Earei sent in return, were never delivered. They were left neglected or used as kindling until they vanished.
After Earei’s letters ceased, the Queen assumed that he had still closed his heart after their last quarrel, and so she sent even more gifts while keeping her distance.
Rumors also spread through society that the Queen, too, was acting that way because she was angry at Earei’s coldness.
The more such rumors spread, the bolder and more fearless the servants became.
Recently, they had even abandoned cleaning and cooking, taking the foodstuffs sent from the palace and making them into their own meals, even packing lunches to bring home.
Earei still said nothing.
He had raised a rebellion for the people suffering under tyranny and made Seorin queen, but that queen was now obsessed with producing heirs with her noble husbands and, lost only in the pleasures of men, was neglecting state affairs.
Compared to the Half-Year Tyrant, Orban Lionera, who had reigned for only half a year yet utterly ruined the people’s livelihood, the Queen’s rule could only be called very slightly better. In such a reign, there was no way Earei could scold those below him.
“Oh!”
Today, he was lucky.
While rummaging about in the kitchen, he found a few potatoes.
It was around the time the sun was slowly sinking.
The manservants and maids, who had been laughing and chattering noisily, neatly wrapped up what they had been eating and took it home.
Naturally, not once that day had a meal been set out for Earei.
A commoner husband who had lost the Queen’s favor—first husband or not—was not worth looking after.
Even in his state, no different from a gourd dipper whose cord had snapped, Earei waited for Seorin’s visit.
If he was to embrace her with all his strength when she appeared, then he needed, quite literally, strength in his body.
“Hoo, hoo.”
Just in case, he set aside one potato as a seed potato and boiled the few remaining potatoes.
By the time Earei, who had worked hard to start the fire and waited a long while, picked up a potato, his surroundings were pitch-dark.
“Mm.”
The potato was steaming, but because there had not been enough firewood, it was undercooked.
Earei was grateful even for an undercooked potato.
During the days when they were persecuted by the Half-Year Tyrant, Orban Lionera, he had even shared half a bean with Seorin.
And he had saved his own half, then given it back to her when she was hungry.
That was the kind of man Earei was.
When he held a command baton or a sword, he became a terrifying human weapon more brutal than anyone, but in ordinary times, he was kind and free of greed.
“……”
Since he had never eaten much to begin with, Earei did not prolong a dinner with no one to talk to.
Holding a potato he had only eaten half of, he returned to the room filled with cold air and looked up at the night sky, thick with stars.
The brighter the starlight, the emptier his chest felt.
He felt choked, unable to deny that the perilous days when he protected her from the threat of assassination day after day had been dearer than the present.
Earei threw the potato he had been eating out the window.
Considering the people starving outside, it was something that deserved punishment from heaven, but Earei’s heart was starving.
Collapsing onto the bed, Earei placed his hopes on the approaching Restoration Day.
Because it was the day that commemorated the rebellion he and she had succeeded in together, perhaps the Queen might come to see Earei.
Though the Queen was already rolling about in the same bed as the young lord of Grand Duke Derbek’s house, her second husband, Earei merely closed his eyes, hoping that Seorin would give him even a single embrace.
His sleep would not last long.
Before the servants arrived, he would have to wake on his own and get out of the way, so as not to inconvenience them.
Riiip.
In his piercing loneliness, Earei’s soul made a noise as though cloth were being torn apart.