Ch#142
"Is that what's important right now?"
As expected, Ruska, who had been listening along, looked at Irene in surprise.
Irene then replied confidently, as if asking why he was questioning something obvious.
"Of course! It'll be a serious crime if we do it after her imperial status is revealed! We should've done it before! Ugh, so annoying!"
With that, she crossed her arms and turned her head with a huff.
"Ruska, honestly, I hate that girl."
"Ah, I agree."
Ruska raised his hand and nodded as if in agreement.
"My intuition tells me she's going to be a huge hassle."
Normally, Arsel would have said something like, "That's enough slandering an imperial," but...
"...Yeah."
Arsel uttered an ambiguous agreement and fell silent.
Irene, who had been huffing alone in frustration, soon changed her attitude and hugged Evi, who was sitting quietly.
"More than that, it's such a shame we couldn't properly enjoy the Seasonal Festival. Evi was looking forward to it so much."
At those words, Ruska asked regretfully.
"Evi was really looking forward to it?"
"Don't even ask. She barely slept the night before. Her eyes were all puffy in the morning."
Irene's voice grew sullen as she spoke.
"The dress she wore that day suited her so well too... If it weren't for that girl, Evi and His Majesty would've been the first to dance among everyone!"
Proper etiquette classes started in the second semester, so they didn't have to dance officially yet.
But back at the Terins family mansion, Evi had cautiously asked Irene if she could teach her to dance.
There was no reason not to teach her, of course!
Thanks to that, they had twirled around the big room several times, practicing dances and having fun.
Due to kicking so many boys in the south, Irene rarely had a male partner.
She often took the male part and danced with other girls.
So playing Evi's partner was no issue at all.
When Irene asked why she wanted to learn to dance, Evi mumbled that it seemed good to know, but Irene knew.
'She wants to dance with His Majesty at the Seasonal Festival.'
While researching the event, Evi learned that the highest-ranking attendee leads the first dance.
She immediately said she wanted to dance, so it was obvious.
Since it was a Genius Academy event anyway, many children would dance with their guardians.
'Our tiny Evi, the youngest, dancing with His Majesty in a Madam Crevel dress...'
It would be so cute she'd want to kick her legs and stuff her fist in her mouth just imagining it.
So she taught her really diligently.
The night before the festival, she'd seen Evi practicing steps through the slightly open door several times.
Of course, being so smart, Evi had already memorized perfectly what Irene taught after just a few times.
Still, she practiced more because she wanted to dance even better.
'But that Eve showed up and ruined not just the dance but the whole festival...'
She hadn't been recognized as a princess yet, but the woman who had clung to him crying that day was said to be Empress Lilian's close friend and the princess's nanny.
'Then she'll probably be recognized soon.'
The thought made Irene's chest tighten.
She hadn't even talked to her much, but Irene already disliked Eve.
'People are going to make a huge fuss again.'
After His Majesty was revealed as Evi's guardian, some had given her unkind looks.
They gossiped that she was cleverly gaining attention and sponsorship by being the same age as the emperor's late daughter.
'And if that girl gets recognized as a princess...'
They'd swarm again with nonsense like, "The emperor won't care about a kid like you anymore."
'I want to bury them all.'
With Ruska and Arsel's help, it might be possible.
As Irene seriously imagined digging pits in the Genius Academy forest, Evi stood up.
"Thanks for letting me know. Then I'll head back now."
She had come to meet because she was worried about His Majesty. It was getting late anyway, so it was time to go.
"I'll let you know right away if I hear any other news. Don't worry too much."
"Okay..."
Arsel spoke soothingly and kindly, but Evi still looked downcast.
Arsel and Ruska escorted the two back to the girls' dormitory before leaving. Evi trudged up the stairs to her room.
"Evi, just get some good sleep tonight. Your eyes are all puffy. You didn't sleep well last night either, right?"
"...Is it that bad?"
It was more upsetting than weird, but saying so might make Evi worry about her feelings too, so Irene couldn't answer.
"Anyway, that's that, and the Seasonal Festival is completely over now, so we should study too. We haven't finished Professor Males's book yet, right?"
"Oh, right."
After returning to the academy, she meant to finish the unread parts, but after the festival, things had been so hectic she hadn't even opened it properly.
"We have a lot to prepare for the second semester too, so study that and go to sleep. Got it?"
She wanted to just tell her to sleep, but then Evi would probably sit blankly staring toward the Imperial Palace.
Better to distract her mind elsewhere.
"Good night, Irene."
"Yeah. You look at the math book and sleep right away. Got it!"
It was written accessibly, but advanced math wasn't easy.
Plus, Professor Males told them to verify the proven formulas first, and checking them meticulously made her head hurt.
'Evi might like it, though.'
Irene nagged Evi several times to definitely sleep before leaving.
Alone in her room, Evi opened Professor Males's book.
Normally, seeing her name engraved on the first page always made her happy, but today she felt nothing.
Though the book lay open, not a single page had turned after a long time.
Eventually, Evi closed the book, opened her drawer, took out stationery and a pen, and began writing a letter.
[Your Majesty.]
After writing the first line, Evi stared at the paper for a long while.
Then cautiously added words beside it.
[Dad.]
She startled as if shocked by what she'd done and crossed it out with her pen to cover the writing.
'Now Eve will call His Majesty that.'
So she couldn't call him that anymore.
She knew she could never call him Dad again, and regret flooded her.
Even for a day, or just an hour.
If not, just once...
She had practiced it countless times.
But she never got to say it even once, and now she could never utter it again.
Eventually, Evi took out new paper and rewrote "Your Majesty" at the top.
Evi's hand kept moving for a long while.
* * *
Click.
The emperor's dedicated palace physician emerged from Clois's room.
The moment he came out, key ministers like the Minister of State, Duke Kailun, and Marquis Ragselb approached him with questions.
"How is His Majesty?"
The palace physician opened his mouth with a dark expression at their questions.
"He was perfectly fine until just recently... but his current state seems worse than the most difficult time a few months ago."
Everyone swallowed sighs at his answer.
"He's not sleeping at all, and according to the chief attendant, he's barely eating or drinking anything."
The palace physician shook his head as he spoke.
"I understand the shock from recalling the past due to Empress Lilian's letter... but I thought he'd be overjoyed that the princess has returned."
"She hasn't been officially recognized as a princess yet."
"Even so, isn't it just a matter of time? She's someone he trusted deeply as her nanny, right?"
"That's true, but..."
Indeed, based on the evidence so far, it wouldn't be strange to recognize Eve as Princess Evebien immediately.
But with Clois holed up in his room issuing no orders, they couldn't proceed arbitrarily.
The palace physician and ministers looked worriedly at the door.
If things continued like this, the emperor's mind and body would collapse again in no time.
They needed to find a way to make him better somehow...
Just then, the chief attendant returned after fetching fresh tea.
"What's that?"
A letter envelope was in the chief attendant's hand.
"It's a letter from Miss Evi Alden. May I deliver it to His Majesty?"
At the word "letter," the palace physician clicked his tongue.
"He's not even seeing his own daughter, so I doubt he'll read a letter. Just leave it and go."
* * *
Clois sat in the dark room like a dead man.
Before him lay Lilian's letter.
[I'm sorry. But Evebien will definitely return to your side. Please recognize her.]
That was the end of Lilian's letter.
The rough handwriting showed it was written in haste.
Still, it was unmistakably her writing.
The quirk where she rounded the end of the last letter of sentences—just as he had once teased her about—was there.
Clois covered his face with both hands.
He knew he couldn't stay like this.
His mind thought so, but his body wouldn't move an inch.
It felt as if his mind and body were tightly bound by invisible chains.
Then he heard someone entering the room.
"Your Majesty."
He stayed still without responding to the familiar voice of the chief attendant.
Right now, everything was bothersome and utterly loathsome.
"...I'll leave this here."
Whatever it was, he wasn't curious anyway.
He heard the chief attendant leave again, but he remained silent.
How long had he stayed like that?
The moment he lowered his hands.
"...!"
Focus returned to his eyes, which had been hazy all day.
On the table lay a single letter.
And atop the letter was a drawing of an indecipherable animal—rabbit, squirrel, or bear?—shedding tears profusely.
Terribly drawn, but clearly made with effort.
Clois looked at the name written on the envelope.
[Evi Alden]
"Ah."
The moment he saw that name, his mind, sunk deep in a swamp, returned.
