I now stand at the entrance to hell.
The moment I step through this gate, the storms of the world will surely batter me.
But no matter how much I hesitate, the fact remains unchanged. I must head toward the entrance before me.
“Student, aren’t you leaving?”
“……I’m going.”
I need to find lodging before the rain gets heavier.
But where was the nearest inn again…?
It’s been troublesome since I haven’t had to look for a place to stay ever since my parents visited last time.
Naturally, the inn my parents stayed at has long since gone out of business.
In the capital, where terrorist attacks occur every month like clockwork, that’s hardly unusual.
Still… it’s a pity.
“By now, Cattleya must have cooled off a little, right…?”
If it’s her, she might be able to arrange a mansion where I can rest.
Maybe even a place more comfortable and luxurious than my own home.
Of course, that’s only if her mood has improved. But there’s nothing to lose by trying.
Might as well pay her a visit.
“Take care.”
“You’re still here?”
And so, I left the Cradle.
It’s always at times like this that I get ambushed.
Every time, they strike when Yuna isn’t around, and I end up caught in a terrorist incident like it’s fate.
I need to steel myself.
***
I’ll just say the result.
There was no attack from heinous terrorists.
Instead…
“We’ll be conducting a temporary inspection.”
The authorities descended upon me.
The moment I saw the knights stopping people one by one to search their belongings, my heart sank.
I didn’t know what else was around here, but I knew I couldn’t afford to get caught.
At this moment, I was carrying a travel bag. Inside it were the Book of Lemegeton, the Necklace of the Sun God, the Token of Ex Machina, and the protective charm Helena had consecrated for me.
It was ridiculous. The bag was practically a deluxe criminal package set.
Just hauling me in would have guaranteed the knight who caught me a triple promotion.
And if I were caught, death would have been the kinder option.
I had to run.
“You there.”
“Y-Yes…?”
“Your eyes are shaking. If you’re thinking of running, abandon that thought.”
The knight called out to me the very moment I made up my mind to flee.
As expected of the Imperial Knights. Their ability to read people was terrifyingly sharp.
I stayed silent.
If I ran now, it would almost certainly snowball into something far worse.
But if I didn’t run, I had no future left. No…worse than that, the entire Damus territory could be reduced to ashes.
Which meant I had no choice.
“That brat—stop him!”
I bolted. Thankfully, after facing countless terrorist attacks recently, I had grown used to these desperate chases.
All I had to do was avoid being caught.
“Got him.”
…Or not. There was no way I could shake off the Imperial Knights, a unit composed of nothing but monsters among men.
Each one of them was stronger than most of the famed warriors I’d ever met.
I was captured in less than twenty seconds.
“Kid, don’t resist. I don’t want to rough up children.”
“Yes.”
To make matters worse, these men were walking butchers. They were veterans who had rolled through battlefields and hunted down terrorists. Violence was second nature to them.
But if I simply went along quietly, my fate and my family’s fate would be sealed.
I had to think.
I had to come up with a way to escape this crisis.
Why had the Imperial Knights even been dispatched here in the first place?
They were supposed to be scouring the provinces, hunting down terrorists…so what were they doing conducting random inspections here?
The answer was obvious.
“Your Highness! Please help me!”
“Silence, you fool! You’ll draw unnecessary attention to us!”
They were acting as escorts for a member of the imperial family.
My only way out of this crisis depended on Lobelia.
She rarely did me any favors, but today she had to.
“Stop. That’s enough, Sir Axel.”
And just before the inspection could begin, someone appeared.
But it wasn’t Lobelia.
With red hair and golden eyes, the newcomer was unmistakably an imperial member.
“I didn’t expect to meet you here. Sir Axel, let him go. He’s an acquaintance of mine.”
“Is that truly so, Lady Lapis?”
“Yes.”
Lapis Vicious von Miltonia.
The First Princess of the Empire herself.
Of course, being an imperial member, she carried her own fatal flaws as a human being.
Still, as a person, she wasn’t all that unpleasant.
“Are you all right, Sir Johan?”
“Y-Yes. Thank you, Your Highness.”
Why did she know who I was? And why was she going out of her way to help me?
I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
I had called out for Lobelia, yet someone entirely unexpected appeared, pretending familiarity with me.
“I’m sorry. I only came out to shop, and I ended up causing you this trouble.”
“No, it’s fine. Truly. But the thing is, I’m in a bit of a hurry right now…”
“If you’re not too busy, would you join me for a little shopping?”
Wait. Did she just… ignore what I said?
Was she deliberately brushing it aside, or had she genuinely not heard me?
Given the insidious nature of the imperial family, it was obvious this was intentional.
“Hurry now.”
Whatever the case, once an imperial member had made a decision, there was no escape for me.
If I were to refuse here, that halted inspection would surely resume.
In the end, I had no choice but to be dragged along at the hand of Princess Lapis.
***
Even after she finished shopping nearby, I was still not set free.
Naturally swept along to the next destination, I had no choice but to ask her, as we sat together in the carriage:
“Do you have business with me, Your Highness?”
“Why do you think that? I was only curious about what kind of man Lobelia’s lover might be.”
“That’s nothing more than a rumor.”
“Is it now?”
The woman before me looked dazzling and delicate, like a flower.
At a glance, she resembled Lobelia, yet her overall air was softer.
Perhaps it was fair to say she fit the very image of a princess out of a fairy tale.
And yet, the fact that such a princess could exist at the very heart of the Empire’s imperial family was nothing short of cosmic horror.
Why did I fear her so much, even without knowing what exactly was twisted about her?
The answer was simple.
Her head was full of flowers.
And yet, with such a head, she had survived.
That alone was more than enough reason for caution.
“Still, it must be fate that we’ve met like this. Have some tea with me.”
“……”
“Then let’s go.”
A tank that doesn’t bother to hear answers.
Her words alone were the conclusion. Well, that was hardly unusual. It was an unfortunate habit common to those in power.
Even so, being entangled with her filled me with boundless unease.
I had thought I’d be caught up in a terror attack, yet nothing of the sort happened. Then perhaps this very encounter was a crisis on par with being caught up in one.
“And on that note, back then…”
Lapis chattered away endlessly. Most of her topics were the kind you’d expect from the daughter of some peaceful provincial noble family, which made them oddly refreshing.
Things like which shop’s desserts were delicious lately or how pretty the dress she’d just bought was.
The frightening part was that she never actually expected me to answer.
She’d throw a question my way now and then, but she never listened to the reply.
Truly, a princess with a meadow of flowers blooming in her head.
Completely absorbed in her own little world.
“Ah, we’re here. Shall we get out? The tea at this place has been wonderful lately.”
“Yes.”
I let out a sigh as I stepped down from the carriage after her.
Thud!
A heavy sound, followed by a spray of blood.
The head of one of the nearby imperial knights had been blown clean off.
So began the assassination attempts that could only be called the fate of imperial members.
“Die, imperial scum!”
From the shadow of a building emerged a hulking, muscular giant.
A barbarian of the Speartip of Snow Blossoms.
He held a bow as tall as I was, and it seemed it was his arrow that had just blasted apart the knight’s skull.
Should I call him impressive?
Or was the one who’d thrown himself forward to take the blow in the princess’s place the truly impressive one?
Perhaps both…
The situation shifted in an instant.
“Oh my.”
The other knights quickly moved into battle formation, while Lapis who was standing nearest the slain man was drenched head to toe in blood.
Whether from shock or something else, she froze for a moment, then muttered,
“Sir Axel is dead, isn’t he?”
And then she simply started walking toward the café that had been our destination.
As if none of this had anything to do with her.
What made it even more chilling was that Sir Axel had just been chatting with us earlier.
She seemed to know him at least in passing, yet she was terrifyingly nonchalant.
“Come on now, Sir Johan. The cookies here are even better than the cakes.”
“……”
Lapis walked as if nothing around her was visible. As if everything was perfectly normal.
To protect her, the Imperial Knights continuously shifted formation, ready to respond to any new attack.
“Huh.”
This is crazy.
The fact that she can remain so unfazed in a situation like this is just terrifying.
“Oh, come on! What are you doing?”
Eventually, Lapis jogged back, grabbed my wrist, and started pulling me along.
Watching the knights scrambling to adjust to her movements, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Lapis who was still covered in blood gave me a bright smile.
Well then. I see now.
“Yes…”
She was completely gone.
No wonder the other imperial members don’t even consider her a rival.
Someone so clearly trapped in a world of her own wouldn’t even be worth seeing as competition.
It’s the people around her who end up paying the price.
And right now, the one caught up in this the most… is me.
***
The awkward tea time came to an end.
The café owner had flinched at the sight of blood-soaked Lapis walking in, but when the Imperial Knights returned after dealing with the barbarians, he gulped dryly and finally resumed his work.
Well, sorry about that.
Like a bolt out of the blue—
Actually, scratch that. It’s raining, so let’s just call it lightning.
“Mmm, it’s delicious as always. What did you think, Sir Johan?”
“It’s a bit too sweet for my taste.”
“Right? But it’s good, isn’t it?”
Next time, I’ll just say anything.
There’s no point in thinking too hard about how to respond.
This woman was just a storm.
If you get caught in it while passing by, it’s a tragedy.
But as long as you don’t get too close, it won’t do you any harm.
“Oh! Look at the time. I should get going. I’m having dinner with His Majesty this evening.”
“Ah, right.”
“Well then, see you next time, Sir Johan.”
Lapis’s departure was as unpredictable as her arrival.
Without warning, she stood up and simply began walking toward the carriage she had arrived in.
And so I was left alone, right in the middle of the café.
Surrounded by Imperial Knights who were now eyeing me closely.
“Is this a silencing job, by any chance?”
“It’s not that, but it’s clear enough that you’re suspicious.”
“Aha.”
Well, I’d think the same if I were them.
The princess who vouched for me is… like that.
You’d be better off leaving a fish with a cat than trusting her.
“This feels unfair, though.”
“That’s life.”
“If I said I’m willing to cooperate, what exactly would that involve?”
“Nothing special, really. For now, just a search of your belongings. And we might dig around in your mind a little, but don’t worry about aftereffects. With the Imperial Mages handling it, there won’t be any.”
“So you’re saying you’ll use mental magic on me.”
“Will you refuse?”
“Shall we clear one thing up first? It won’t work on me.”
I pulled a book from my luggage.
It was a recent text I’d been studying on illusion magic.
“My specialty is illusion magic. I have a fairly high resistance to mental spells.”
“Hmm…”
The knight interrogating me took the book and frowned.
Well, what can you do?
This is out of anyone’s hands.
“Then…”
But the knight started proposing another alternative.
Persistent, aren’t they.
At this rate, no matter how long I stall, it’ll be hard to hide the fact that I had some connection, however slight, to the terrorists.
No matter how many sleight-of-hand tricks I try to hide the evidence, there’s no way I can fool the Imperial Knights.
Still, there is a way.
There is, but… it only amounts to buying some time.
Die now, or die later.
If that’s the choice, then the answer is obvious.
“More importantly, could you let me go now? I need to meet Her Highness.”
“Lady Lapis is…”
“No, do you really not know who I am? Do you not even read the papers? Do you think I’m talking about Lady right now?”
“Ahem…”
The romance rumor with Lobelia.
I have no choice but to use it.
“Can you take responsibility for this? If you’re determined to check what’s inside this suitcase, I won’t stop you. But you’d better be prepared for the consequences. Because what’s in here… is a secret that exists only between Her Highness and me!”
A trump card.
Clinging to those in power.
I’ll leave the aftermath to the me of next week!
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