From the early hours of the morning he returned from the Forest of Monsters straight through until the following afternoon, Ricador lay bedridden without a moment’s rest.
He woke drenched in cold sweat from nightmares, pale as ash and gasping for breath.
He could not pull himself free from the guilt — the knowledge that his own arrogance and a single careless moment had dragged Riersha into a mana frenzy.
“We’ve been told the young lady’s condition has improved, so you may rest easy now, my lord.”
“Save it. You don’t need to try calming me down with words like that.”
“I mean it sincerely. Just moments ago, it seems Lady Riersha visited the young master in perfectly good health and has since returned.”
“…Is that true?”
Ricador could not bring himself to believe what his knight said.
A mana frenzy was tantamount to every meridian in the body being thrown into complete chaos.
And he was the one who had ruined Riersha — Riersha, who had only just awakened and earned their grandfather’s recognition.
The image of her in the forest, being consumed by her own rampaging mana, refused to leave his mind.
The last thing Ricador could remember was his father sprinting toward her, calling her name in anguish. After that, everything went black.
He had no memory of how he had made it back to the castle.
“You yourself nearly lost control as well, my lord.”
“…”
“For now, it would be best if you took care of your body—”
Ricador sharply swatted away the hand his knight reached toward him.
“I said I’m fine. I’ll handle it myself. Get out.”
“Understood.”
When the knight left the room, Ricador sank back with a hollow expression and pressed his hand over his eyes.
“If I had only been a little more careful…”
If he had simply dealt with the monsters in the forest properly, none of this would have happened.
If the emotion Riersha had felt during her awakening had been anything other than the terror of death, her mana would never have gone out of control.
Or if he had simply not taken her into the forest at all…
I couldn’t even keep the promise I made to my brother.
Risideon had been unable to refuse the Empress’s proposal, choosing to leave as the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship instructor in order to protect his younger siblings.
Before departing, he had come to find Ricador and asked something of him.
“Clearing the forest — that’ll have to be your job from now on, Ricador.”
But the result had been nothing short of disastrous.
That was why, even after hearing that morning that Risideon had returned, Ricador could not bring himself to go to him.
…In the end, there’s nothing I actually managed to do right.
Ricador felt heat gathering behind his eyes.
He was sitting alone in his self-reproach when an uninvited visitor came to his firmly shut door. At the small knock, Ricador snapped sharply.
“I said no one is to come in!”
For a moment, silence. Then, undeterred, the knocking came again.
Ricador’s brows drew together in a fierce scowl. He pushed himself to his feet and yanked the door open.
“Who—!”
“Oppa. It’s me, Riersha.”
“…You!”
Ricador’s eyes flew wide with disbelief at the unexpected sight of her.
He stared down at Riersha in stunned bewilderment, then began turning her this way and that, looking her over frantically.
“You’re really all right? Are you sure you should be up and walking around? You were in the middle of a frenzy back there—”
“Oppa, I really am all better now.”
“…”
“Were you really scawed? I’m sowwy.”
The hands examining Riersha came to an abrupt halt.
In truth, no one had said those words to Ricador. Not a single person had asked whether he had been frightened, or whether he was all right.
Through the silver of his hair, his startled crimson eyes flickered with something unsteady.
His face crumpled as emotion surged up in him. He quickly wiped at the corners of his eyes, then made his voice deliberately loud.
“What are you saying! Who do you think you’re saying that to?”
“But Oppa was really scawed too.”
“…Are you okay?”
“Mm-hm. Look, look at this.”
Riersha glanced quickly around, then grabbed Ricador’s arm and pulled him back inside the room, shutting the door firmly behind them.
She opened her small palm — and pop! — mana began to bloom and dance in the air above it.
Ricador, who had been bracing himself for meridians twisted beyond repair, stood there with his mouth hanging open.
“I’m completely fine now, Oppa. So you don’t have to cwy anymore.”
“…I wasn’t crying.”
Ricador turned his face away with an awkward air, pretending to be indifferent.
But his eyes were already swollen from crying through the night.
Riersha beamed brightly and bounced up into Ricador’s arms.
He stiffened for a moment, then let out a long breath and laid his hand on her head, beginning to stroke it in slow, even motions.
“You really need to break the habit of throwing yourself at just anyone.”
“…Mm, but I only do this with Oppa.”
“…”
“Are you annoyed?”
Riersha tilted her head up to look at him. Ricador looked back down at her and stuck out his lower lip in a stubborn pout.
“Who said I was annoyed?”
“Oh, and this is a gift.”
“What is this?”
Ricador frowned at the strange little slip of paper in her hand.
“…‘Riersha’s Wish Coupon, valid 3 times’? Who made something like—”
The rough edge in his voice died away on its own.
He had caught the innocent, earnest gleam in her eyes — the look of someone hoping very much to be told something nice.
Ricador cleared his throat with a small cough.
“Well. If I feel like it sometimes, I’ll bring it out and use it, I suppose. Apology accepted.”
“Mm-hm!”
“…And I—”
“Mm?”
Ricador’s ears went red. He ran a hand irritably through his hair. His mouth opened and closed awkwardly for a moment before he finally blurted it out.
“I’m sorry too.”
At Ricador’s apology, Riersha’s eyes went wide and round with surprise.
“I should have kept my eyes on you until the very end. This will never happen again — I promise. Riersha.”
The crimson eyes that spoke those words were more steady and earnest than she had ever seen them.
⁂
With Risideon’s return, the atmosphere within Arachrene Ducal Castle shifted in a subtle, unsettling way.
“Public sentiment toward the eldest young master is not favorable, Your Grace.”
“I’m aware.”
Arcmund stood at the window of the duke’s study, gazing down at the grounds below, and clicked his tongue.
Who could have imagined that he would still be sitting in this seat at nearly seventy, tormented by one headache after another?
Oberon lowered his gaze and inclined his head respectfully.
“Do you truly believe the eldest young master has turned to the Empress’s side?”
“Even if he hasn’t, does anyone around us still believe that?”
“…Then should we not take some kind of action?”
Arcmund gave a derisive snort, lifted a cigarette to his lips, and replied with deliberate nonchalance.
“This matter — Pernoa will handle it himself.”
“…Pardon?”
“The boy told me as much. Said I should stop meddling in the grandchildren’s affairs and start preparing for retirement.”
Insolent child.
Arcmund’s eyes narrowed.
After a brief silence, he spoke in a measured voice.
“It seems I truly must prepare for retirement.”
“What…do you mean by that, Your Grace?”
Arcmund glanced at the flower bracelet still fastened around his wrist and let out a low, rueful laugh.
“Oberon. It seems I’ve grown old at last.”
“Whatever do you mean, Your Grace.”
“It’s troubling when all you want is to find the easier road.”
The desire to step down and pass his seat to Pernoa as soon as possible — to sit back and simply enjoy watching his grandchildren grow — had begun to stir quietly within him.
Rather than continue clashing with the elders and the imperial family, the thought had crept in that so long as the family remained intact, it might not be so terrible to give the elders what they asked for.
“You wouldn’t wish to serve a master like this either, I’d think.”
“…That is not so, Your Grace.”
“But if I don’t hand over this seat in full, Pernoa won’t stand for it. So I’ll be counting on you, Oberon.”
Arcmund’s eyes cooled into something still and grave.
“You’ve heard the news that Riersha’s meridians have returned to their proper order, I trust.”
“…Yes. I have.”
There were precious few people within the castle walls who knew this.
The attending physician who had examined Riersha at birth, the duke, the young duke, and a small handful of those closest to them — that was all. Add to them the few who had been close to Yerena, the late mistress of the house, and even then the number had barely reached ten at the time.
And yet, with trusted people kept so near, something like this had still come to pass.
The expression on Arcmund’s face refused to ease.
“We nearly let it pass without ever knowing. I should have taken the time to properly look into what happened when Riersha was born.”
The political situation had been so dire then that he had moved to close the matter quickly — and only now did it sit uneasily with him.
He should have pressed the issue clearly even at the cost of causing trouble at the time.
“Are you saying…”
“Yes. What should have been done then — it seems I must do it now, even at this late hour.”
