The Reverse of Indifference
Prologue
Beyond the massive drawbridge rose a royal palace of pointed spires. Within the palace adorned with luxurious stone, a splendid ball was underway.
“All hail!”
A fanfare rang out, and the king’s herald cried. At once, the shoes of ladies sliding across the white marble in time with the dance came to a halt.
“The greatest king of the five continents, protector of our great kingdom….”
The ladies dressed in gowns of velvet and cream, fur and pink swallowed hard. They had been holding the hands of equally well-dressed men and dancing a lively country dance, but….
In truth, they had been waiting for the one and only being in the world.
“The azalea blooming in the darkest ashen hue even among the Greyhis royal house, the most perfect creation crafted by God….”
Finally, now, there were signs that the long wait would end.
“His Majesty Frederick!”
Like crashing waves, all bent at the waist and knee. Greeting the king, they had completely forgotten that they had been dancing.
At last, an exceedingly tall man revealed himself.
His raven-black hair was slightly disheveled, trickling down onto his straight forehead. Gray eyes tinged with blue regarded the attention of the entire world pouring down upon him as only natural. On his red lips hung a smile filled with the confidence that he himself owned this court.
“…How can he be so magnificent?”
A maid who had snuck out from the palace kitchen to watch muttered.
But the nobles’ reactions were somewhat different. The closer he drew to the brilliant center of the court, step by step, the more silence engulfed the hall.
Everyone loved him. At the same time, they feared him. Only an awe clearly born from his very existence ruled the world.
“The Advent that closes the year is splendid as well.”
King Frederick spoke, having thoroughly enjoyed his presence and influence.
“O God, please bless my kingdom in the new year as well.”
He tilted his head and raised his wine glass.
The musicians began to play again. Gradually, a different kind of anticipation from before surged among the ladies.
Their eyes sparkled with longing for the king. They madly wished for him to approach and ask them to dance.
Charlotte stood on her tiptoes. Adriana twisted her body. Ophelia swallowed dryly. Jane put on airs, pretending to expect nothing. Elizabeth quietly recited a prayer.
But Frederick passed by all of them indifferently, not sparing them a glance, and seated himself upon the high throne.
“It is a fine day. Why do you not dance?”
Queen Jeidalin asked. She had been watching the dancers like circus monkeys for some time.
“Today, I wish to do some thinking.”
Frederick smiled.
“What sort of thoughts?”
Queen Jeidalin found that smile unsettling.
“Well, perhaps a chessboard.”
Frederick said.
“My court is precisely a chessboard. Here there is a king and a queen….”
He pointed to himself and Queen Jeidalin.
“Over there are the rooks….”
He then pointed to the nobles bickering over the upcoming feast.
“Oh, and a faithful bishop as well….”
He also pointed to Cardinal Rupert Mullery, standing quietly beside the archbishop in red priestly robes.
“And above all, there are knights adorned most beautifully.”
Finally, Frederick pointed to five ladies: Charlotte, Adriana, Ophelia, Jane, and Elizabeth.
“…You have omitted the pawns.”
Queen Jeidalin, who had been listening quietly, pointed out.
“Have I?”
Frederick replied nonchalantly.
Of course, Queen Jeidalin did not believe his levity. While claiming to imagine a game of chess, she pondered his intention in deliberately omitting the pawns that must advance diagonally to attack.
In truth, the queen’s suspicion was correct.
Frederick had deliberately left out the pawn. His pawn was only one: a young lady who had once borne the name Anne Belbird.
Unfortunately, Anne Belbird was dead.
The rooks and knights had put their heads together and burned that poor pawn alive. They had transformed the lady into a witch and heaped disgrace upon her, stealing everything she had held dear.
Yet Frederick still remembered Anne Belbird. He longed for her raven-black hair and blue eyes that had sparkled with violent impulse.
“Though the pawn is not present now….”
Frederick was no longer speaking to the queen.
“She will be invited soon. Perhaps around when this winter passes.”
He muttered to himself.
“She must be.”
Frederick looked around the court anew. Queen Jeidalin’s dubious expression. The calculating gazes of the nobles. Cardinal Rupert Mullery’s bewildered confusion. The unquenchable thirst of the ladies….
But he had no interest in such trivialities.
To be more precise, the scales of indifference did not budge in the slightest.
“My pawn will emerge, parting through the ashes.”
But Anne Belbird was different.
“She will raise her sword with a gleaming blue edge, looking neither to the side, only advancing forward.”
She had reversed Frederick Greyhis’s indifference itself. She shook his entire world to its core and dominated his mind completely.
And Frederick liked that feeling.
“…The reverse of indifference is obsession.”
Anne Belbird had already been invited to the king’s game.
She simply did not know it yet.