The moment she requested the Emperor’s presence, the courtroom fell silent.
The judge tilted his head, as though questioning whether he had heard correctly. It was understandable — the very name of the Empire’s sovereign had been invoked, a man whose mere existence in the same room would have been cause for reverence.
“…What did you just say, Miss Arachrene?”
“I am requesting that His Imperial Majesty the Emperor attend this proceeding.”
Riersha smiled brightly and answered in her clearest, most deliberate voice.
Duke Kineart immediately objected.
“That is an absurd demand. You expect His Majesty to appear in person for something like this?”
“Something like this, you say.”
“…Then what would you call it, if not something like this?”
“A real prince just showed up, didn’t he. A real one.”
“…!”
Duke Kineart flinched visibly, his breath catching in his throat. The others in the room didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, but the Duke understood the implication with perfect clarity.
Could it be that they already know there’s a problem with Adrian’s bloodline?
Whatever retort he had been preparing died on his lips.
Surely not…
Had the Arachrene family known all along — and deliberately maneuvered things to reach this very moment?
If that were true, the situation was far more dangerous than he had imagined.
A chill ran down Duke Kineart’s spine.
It would mean that from the very beginning, every move he had made had been played out inside the palm of the Arachrene family’s hand.
It was then that Isierd spoke.
“…The Duke’s words sound to me like an insinuation that there is something wrong with my divine blessing.”
“…!”
“We cannot very well ask His Majesty the Emperor to display his blessing — but what if we were to compare the Crown Prince’s blessing to mine?”
Duke Kineart’s eyes went wide.
How dare he.
How dare he…!
That I should be rendered speechless by a little wretch like that.
His body trembled with fury.
And yet he had no choice but to keep his mouth tightly shut.
Isierd’s proposal was one that could never, under any circumstances, be accepted.
Duke Kineart quickly swept his gaze across the panel of judges. They looked uncomfortable, but appeared to be weighing the matter — and finding that the Crown Prince’s attendance was, at least, a somewhat more manageable proposition than summoning the Emperor himself.
Riersha paused and glanced over at Isierd.
It was certainly convenient that Duke Kineart had been placed in a position where he could no longer oppose her request, but…
…Was that a coincidence?
She studied Isierd carefully.
At that moment, one of the judges who had been quietly reading the room — a man who owed a personal debt of gratitude to Duke Kineart — was the first to break the silence.
“While I understand the request for His Majesty’s presence, I believe it would be better to clarify the circumstances further before proceeding. For the time being, perhaps it would be best to seek the Crown Prince’s cooperation first…”
“That won’t be necessary, will it?”
“…Pardon? What do you mean, it won’t be necessary?”
Duke Kineart cut the judge off before he could finish.
The judge, his sentence severed, looked mildly flustered, but composed himself and pressed on with a calm question.
He had naturally assumed that Duke Kineart would welcome this suggestion — a chance to buy time…
“…Given the gravity of the matter, there is nothing to be gained by drawing things out. It would be best to request His Majesty’s confirmation directly.”
“…I see. Very well, then. Does that mean both parties are in agreement?”
“Yes!”
Riersha beamed and answered immediately.
Duke Kineart, for his part, said nothing at all — only swallowed a silent sigh.
The judges exchanged uncertain glances, then turned their eyes toward Duke Willias, who sat farther back in the chamber. A moment later, upon receiving a nod of approval, the lead judge visibly relaxed and made the announcement.
“Then we will recess while word is sent to the Imperial Palace.”
⁂
“I’m glad things have turned out so well.”
Rosinante was the first to speak, his voice carrying an undisguised note of pleasure. He had just watched Duke Kineart’s side scrambling out of the courtroom in a visible panic, as though the ground beneath their feet had caught fire.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Duke Kineart rattled so openly before.”
“No. Neither have I.”
Pernoa agreed with a short nod.
Outside, it seemed word of Isierd’s presence had already leaked, sending the press into a frenzy. The entrance had reportedly been sealed to keep reporters from forcing their way inside. Breaking news articles were already circulating.
Things were unfolding exactly as they had hoped — and there was genuine satisfaction in that. But even so…
Pernoa’s gaze drifted to Isierd, who had been sitting in silence for some time now.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing in particular. It just feels… anticlimactic.”
“Anticlimactic?”
Isierd gave a quiet nod.
For so long, he had lived beneath Duke Kineart’s thumb, quietly crushed. He had come to feel — not consciously, but somewhere deep in the marrow of his bones — that the Duke was an unscalable wall. A force he could never overcome.
And yet the man he had seen in that courtroom today…
Was someone else entirely.
A single unremarkable sentence from Isierd, and the Duke had trembled, gone mute, and fled the chamber without a word.
Pernoa recognized the complicated tangle of emotions beneath that and gave a slow nod of his own.
“I see.”
A lifetime of being crushed beneath another’s will — it made sense that the release would feel strange.
“…Oh, I’ve been too caught up in my own delight, haven’t I. My apologies.”
Rosinante offered a genuinely contrite expression as he apologized.
Just then, Riersha raised her head sharply and fixed her gaze on Isierd.
What had happened in the courtroom a short while ago was still nagging at her too insistently to let go.
“Isierd.”
“Yes, Riersha?”
“Maybe this is just me, but… did you already know that Adrian isn’t actually His Majesty’s blood?”
In the same instant, Pernoa’s crimson eyes shifted to Isierd.
“I’ve known for some time that you’ve been keeping something from me. When exactly were you planning to say something?”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean by keeping something from you.”
It had not been a direct question — but it was the same thing Pernoa had asked Isierd that very morning, only wrapped in careful indirection.
Isierd had shrugged it off and excused himself then without answering.
Rosinante waved a hand as if the very idea were preposterous.
“Come now, surely not. …If he’d known that all this time, he wouldn’t have simply stood by while the Empress did as she pleased with him…”
“I did know.”
“…Pleased with him…?”
Rosinante’s sentence trailed off into a question. Even Oberon, sitting nearby, looked genuinely startled, his eyes going wide.
“…So it’s true, then.”
Riersha murmured this as if she had expected it all along.
Because there had been signs, if one knew where to look.
First, there was the way Isierd’s divine power had dissolved the poison built up inside Arcmund’s body with such effortless ease. Then there were the words of Sion Senuart, master of the Mage Tower — those had been the most decisive evidence of all.
“Depending on the strength of one’s divine power, one may come to see others as they truly are — because dark magic simply cannot take hold. That is what makes divine power so remarkable, and why people hold it in such reverence.”
And yet — why had Isierd kept silent all this time?
If he had brought this truth before the Emperor, he could have reclaimed his rightful place in an instant.
“Then why didn’t you say anything until now? Weren’t you furious?”
“I didn’t have the room in me to feel something like that.”
“…”
“I just wanted to get away from the Imperial Palace and live somewhere far from it. So long as I could keep from going hungry, nothing else mattered. Even being thrown out with nothing to my name would have been better than staying there. But now…”
Isierd was quiet for a moment before the corner of his mouth curved into a small, quiet smile.
“The Arachrene family gave me the breathing room I never had before.”
“…”
“And you said it yourself, Riersha — that when I came to live in the Imperial Palace, I should fill it little by little with things that matter to me.” He paused. “…Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
Isierd gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
But even with an answer in hand, Riersha only found herself more puzzled than before.
He still hadn’t said what it was he truly wanted.
After listening in silence for a moment, Rosinante asked in a tone of genuine curiosity.
“Then shouldn’t you have let them summon the Crown Prince? Exposing the truth about the Crown Prince’s identity right there in the courtroom might have been the more advantageous move.”
“Either way, having His Majesty confirm my identity first is the more stable approach.”
“Mm. I suppose that’s true.”
Rosinante nodded, satisfied with the reasoning.
Time passed.
A short while later, word arrived from the Imperial Palace.
His Majesty the Emperor was watching the proceedings with close attention — and he would honor Riersha’s request.
The message reached the Mage Tower and the Temple at the same moment it reached them.
