By Zephyria 
The people who had filled the drawing-room had all left, yet it didn’t feel empty at all.
I quietly looked down at Rubel’s hand holding mine, then turned my hand to grasp his, palm to palm. Then Rubel slid his fingers between mine, interlocking them. And then he led me.
We sat side-by-side on the largest, most spacious, and softest sofa.
As the outside gradually brightened, long, deep shadows stretched and faded within the room. The white sunlight fractured into various colors before filling the room white again.
We were quiet, lost in our own thoughts. The conversations Rubel and I had shared since our reunion were mostly about the past. Things like what I saw at a certain time, or when I thought of you.
But today, I heard about the future.
As I pondered what we should do next and what lay ahead, my mind grew complicated. I worried for a moment, wondering if I was afraid of something. But it wasn’t long before I realized I was simply distressed by the thought of parting from Rubel so soon after meeting him.
Rubel, who had been gently stroking my hand, suddenly spoke.
“Would wearing a ring be too inconvenient for you?”
“Yes. Probably.”
“….”
It was a valid point.
While it was said that one’s attire had little impact once they reached a certain realm, this was a battle between masters, a fight on the level of gods. Victory could hinge on the most minute sensations in the fingertips, so it was best to shed any cumbersome accessories.
However, I knew what the child was hoping for when he asked.
“And even if that weren’t the case, now is not a good time.”
“…A good time?”
“Yes.”
If I were to be defeated.
Or even if I were to consume the divine source of the Ninth God and transform into some other being.
I gazed into Rubel’s dark eyes. After a moment of catching his breath, he tilted his head slightly. Without refusal, I also calmly regulated my breathing. It was a light kiss, our lips barely touching, yet my body grew warm as if ignited by our breath.
When he tried to deepen the kiss, I gently pushed his shoulder to stop him. Rubel immediately pulled back and looked at me. He gently stroked my white cheek as if to soothe me. With one hand still clasped with mine and the other caressing Rubel, I felt as though we were intertwined branches of the same tree.
I wished we could be so entangled, so inseparable.
“About the will I left when I ascended the Yuil Mountains…”
“…Mm.”
The short writing I had penned just before graduation should have been in my family’s hands. Especially since Rubel had ascended the Yuil Mountains with me at the time, he would have had no opportunity to possess that envelope.
Yet, somehow, I felt Rubel might have it.
“Do you happen to have it, Rubel?”
“…Yes.”
A smile bloomed on my face.
“Did you read it?”
“Of course, no. I didn’t.”
Many nobles in the Sierran Empire regularly reviewed their wills. They knew well that their lives were a story with a beginning, and they wished to write the end themselves.
Thus, it was common for knights who frequently ascended the Yuil Mountains or wizards who conducted dangerous experiments to write dozens, even hundreds, of wills during their lifetime.
And such written wills were never opened before the funeral. There was a superstition that looking at a will beforehand would hasten the death of the writer.
The words left for others were sufficient as they were, then and now: I cherished you all dearly, and may you be happy forever. There was no need to change them. But the part I had left specifically for Rubel was different.
I once again erased the anxiety that flickered in Rubel’s gaze with my lips.
“I want to change its contents. May I borrow the study?”
“…Yes.”
Rubel’s voice, deeply subdued as if enduring something, was truly pitiable.
Suppressing a sigh, I deliberately smiled warmly.
It had been a very long time since I had entered Rubel’s study.
The color of the curtains on the window, the heavy, antique desk – everything was the same. Even the fact that there was only one chair at the desk remained unchanged. While I knew it was natural for meetings to be held in the office rather than the study, I felt a strange flutter of excitement at entering Rubel’s private space alone.
Various documents lay heavily on the large desk. A Crystal Orb, placed as a paperweight to keep the papers from scattering, caught my eye. Rubel offered me a seat at the desk as he organized his papers, and I sat before it.
“Where is it?”
“In the desk drawer. The top one.”
I usually would have put it somewhere out of reach.
Puzzled, I opened the drawer.
The white envelope was sealed tightly with the crest of House Ernhardt. It was so worn from being handled that its four corners were frayed. On the back of the envelope, the ink with my name written on it had also faded.
Even though I had taken the followers of the Sun God one by one, he must have known I was alive. The traces of his longing for me during the two years we were out of contact brought tears to my eyes.
Without hesitation, I opened the envelope and examined its contents.
Rubel peered curiously, but I didn’t show him. I left the front page for family and friends as it was, and folded the back page, where Rubel’s name was written, in half. Rubel fetched a small oil lamp for me, and I burned it, just as wills were often handled in the Empire.
With new paper and a pen laid out before me, I pondered for a moment. Rubel’s gaze, constantly peeking over, made me chuckle. I wondered what was so curious that he fidgeted like a puppy seeing a roadside flower for the first time.
“…What’s so funny?”
“It’s not that it’s funny…”
His petulant voice made me laugh again.
I put down my pen without even writing the first sentence. As I opened my arms, Rubel, as if he had been waiting, nestled into my embrace. His body, which landed lightly on my thighs, felt lighter than a feather, and when I asked if he had perhaps lost weight, I was met with undeserved scolding.
Rubel, who had been panting beside my temple, whispered.
“Write ‘Wait’.”
“…What?”
“‘You won’t die, so holding your funeral in advance is ridiculous. Write that you will wait for me, no matter how many years pass, even decades. I will keep your dying wish, so you can return to me when you are comfortable.'”
It seemed he had guessed what I intended to write, even without reading it.
I remained still, having no words to reply. Rubel tightened his grip on my shoulder. As he urged me on, I nodded. But could that be right? I couldn’t leave such a trial for this child.
He let out a pained groan, and I gently patted his back.
I had to make him think of someone else, not me. But no one came to mind. He whined and even tried to bite my neck, and I was busy pulling his neck to stop him.
“…Your late father-in-law…”
“…”
“No, His Majesty the former Emperor…”
“…Did you call Beneto that, in your thoughts?”
“…”
“…”
Then what should I call him? I couldn’t possibly call him father-in-law.
Feeling awkward, I could only laugh. Rubel, as if his distress had been a lie, suddenly brightened and showed me his clear face. It felt strange that he was smiling so brightly even when talking about his deceased father.
“Yes. Beneto, why?”
“…I’m curious what he left as his last words for Rubel.”
“Ah. Um…”
After a moment’s hesitation, he shrugged his shoulders lightly.
“He didn’t say anything.”
“…What?”
That couldn’t be right.
Beneto Loki Sheeran hadn’t disappeared in a sudden accident. He had made proper arrangements, such as handing over the divine object, before his death. Therefore, it was only right that he should have left some words for his son and heir apparent, Rubel.
Was he simply making excuses because he didn’t want to tell me? Lost in thought, I remained silent for a moment, then Rubel tapped my chin with his index finger. I looked up at him. Rubel was still smiling.
“What are you curious about? It’s okay to ask.”
“…”
“Really, Mika. I have no intention of hiding anything from you.”
Every point of contact grew warm. After he gently nudged me to speak, I pondered for a long time before finally opening my mouth.
“How did you discover the former Emperor’s… unrecorded indiscretions?”
“I heard it from his personal physician.”
“…Personal physician?”
“Yes. The Emperor couldn’t resolve secret matters with his own hands. There were too many eyes watching. Selecting handsome, easily tempted escort knights to be placed beside Melatia, or staging a fake funeral to send Melatia away alive – these were things that required someone to secretly intervene.”
“…”
“My father had three personal physicians in addition to his recorded aides. And one of them seemed to have acted as his shadow. Though not anymore.”
One does not judge an Emperor during his time. The hidden stories of Beneto Loki Sheeran, known to some but unspoken by those who lived alongside him, were only revealed to me after his death, through his son’s words.
Beneto Loki Sheeran was born the third of three sons and two daughters.
His two elder brothers were children of the Emperor’s first wife, while Beneto was born to the second wife, the Young Lady of Marquess Roclem. The fourth and fifth children were born to the third wife. The Emperor, having lost both his first and second wives early on, doted on his third wife.
However, he still wished to bestow the throne upon his eldest daughter. Beneto’s first elder sister was a benevolent person. She cared for not only her own siblings but also her half-siblings. She was wise and intelligent. Anyone could see she was suited for the throne.
The Emperor’s third wife at the time wished for one of her children to become Emperor. She succeeded in assassinating Beneto’s two elder brothers through mysterious accidents, and attempted to kill Beneto in the same manner.
To survive, Beneto decided to seek help from his maternal family.
The Marquess of Roclem, who possessed abundant financial resources from managing trade with Floyd, detested the Emperor and his offspring, Beneto, for failing to protect his daughter. However, upon seeing his daughter’s face in the fleeing Beneto, the Marquess of Roclem soon changed his mind.
And Beneto poisoned his two younger siblings and his stepmother in one sitting.
With poison procured from Floyd, the land of Alchemy.