3
Fourth floor of one building of the Lord’s office.
In a corner of a large room labeled the “Jade Chamber,” Alice crouched as she looked up silently at the ceiling.
“…”
A sense of lethargy loomed over her.
Why was it? Why was she feeling a sense of loss she’d never felt before?
“I’ll overthrow the Empire. Once I do that, I’ll create a world where no one is persecuted.”
She’d been dreaming of that this whole time. She’d believed overthrowing the Empire would mean the world would no longer persecute astral mages. But…
“If the Sovereignty did defeat the Empire, it would be thanks to the powerful mages.”
“That would only serve to accelerate astral-power supremacism in the Nebulis Sovereignty. And the weak mages would have even less of a role.”
The contradiction had been thrust before her.
The difference in how astral mages were treated lay in the shadows of the Sovereignty’s promising form of “justice” to overthrow the Empire. The Sovereignty also oppressed astral mages in its own way, and overthrowing the Empire wouldn’t change that fact—it would worsen it.
She had no response.
She didn’t think her sister’s argument entirely made sense, either. But for a moment, her heart had wavered. She hadn’t been able to respond because she realized her sister might have been right in some ways.
She was mortified by that. She’d known from the past—she couldn’t win against Elletear.
She was too smart. That applied to looks, grace, education, and even social skills.
Her sister had it all. In contrast, Alice’s one and only saving grace—her astral power—was also something her sister had outpaced.
…………
……But really?
Was that really what frustrated her?
It wasn’t.
The thing that surprised her most was actually…
“You’ve always fought on your own.”
“Alice, do you have a knight who would protect you?”
It was also her resourcefulness, her sensibility, her ideals. Alice felt there was a huge disparity between them, and her sister came out on top.
……Am I alone?
……There’s…no way.
She wasn’t alone. She had her mother, Rin, and followers who looked up to her.
But…
Her sister had told her that wasn’t what she meant. Family and servants were entirely different from the knight her sister spoke of. In any time or age, knights would always protect the princess.
She didn’t understand.
“Sister…what were you trying to say…?”
She hadn’t ever thought of herself as someone needing protecting.
She was a princess, after all. She’d believed she was supposed to become stronger than anyone else so she could protect everyone—that was the ideal. That was why she’d wanted to become more powerful.
But her resolve had been overturned from its foundations.
“You were too strong, so you fought alone.”
“That’s why you have no knight beside you. And that’s the reason why you cannot win against me.”
Her sister had someone. She had a Saint Disciple, the most powerful guard she could have. Alice didn’t understand it, but the two seemed to be tied together by the unbelievably strong trust they had in each other.
……If she can call that guard her knight…
……Then right now I…
A strong power.
A strong knight.
Now that her sister had both, how could she stand up to Elletear?
“Huh!”
Tap.
When Alice suddenly heard a knock at the door, she flinched and raised her face. She expected it to be Rin or Sisbell. After Alice convinced herself of that, she chided herself internally only a moment later for letting down her guard, for the person who entered was the Imperial swordsman.
“Iska?”
He took a step into the room.
The bed and closet had yet to be brought in. Alice was inside the room in the middle of its remodeling while it was still virtually empty.
In the spacious room, she was crouching in a corner.
“Iska?”
Alice quickly stood up.
When Iska realized her eyes were red and swollen, he quickly started making excuses for coming in.
“Oh, no, it wasn’t like that. Sorry, uh…I need to fulfill my duties, too…”
Had Alice been crying?
Thinking he’d seen something he shouldn’t have, he found his sense of duty as a guard was quickly overcome by feelings of guilt for barging into a girl’s room.
“Why are you apologizing?” Alice gave him a weak smile. She quickly wiped the red corners of her eyes. “This is Imperial territory. And it’s where the Lord lives, isn’t it? Of course they would give the Ice Calamity Witch a skilled guard.”
“I’m glad I don’t need to explain…”
“I understand the situation I’m in.”
Alice sighed. Her earlier weakness was gone and had been replaced with her usual firm and charming gaze.
“The Lord promised that Rin and Sisbell would be safe. As long as that’s true, I’ll behave.”
Alice wanted the Lord to tell her more about Elletear’s transformation.
……And how to defeat my sister.
……Because she’s trying to destroy the Sovereignty.
Alice would likely be here for several days. And during that time, Unit 907, which had transferred to Division I, would likely be keeping an eye on her. But there was one thing that still bothered Iska.
Why had Alice’s eyes been red?
After some contemplation—but not too much to warrant suspicion—Iska concluded it was because she felt humiliated as a princess to be captured by the Empire.
……Alice has her pride as a Sovereign princess.
……And she was captured by the Empire. Of course she’s upset—she’s like a bird in a cage.
Iska assumed this had to be the reason.
“His Excellency and Risya said this, too.”
He turned to face Alice and did his best to put together his next words.
“We’re treating you as a guest. So, um…don’t be upset.”
“ ”
Alice was silent. But then she suddenly grinned and laughed.
“Is that your way of being considerate?”
“What? No, I…”
“It’s not that.” Her voice quivered slightly. Her gaze dropped to the floor. “My sister said that I’m alone.”
“Alone? What’s that supposed to mean? What about Rin?”
“No, not like that. What she meant was… N-no, never mind! It’s nothing!”
Her eyes suddenly went wide. For some reason, her face quickly turned red.
“I can’t tell you, obviously!”
“Well, you almost did.”
“It’s personal! I—I mean… If I told you about it…”
“If you did?”
“I couldn’t!”
“Which is it?!”
Iska was getting more and more confused. He realized it had been her sister who had bothered her, but he didn’t understand why she was being so obstinate about not telling him anything else.
“What is it…? Huh?”
He was receiving a call on his comm, but it wasn’t from Jhin. It was Commander Mismis.
“Iska, it’s an emergency!”
“What’s wrong, Commander?”
“They say Ms. Alice is going on a rampage in the central base!”
“Excuse me?”
He doubted his own ears.
“It’s the indoor training grounds at the central base! She’s taken several soldiers hostage!”
“Wait, Commander.”
“You need to go—hurry!”
“But I’m guarding her right now. She’s right in front of me.”
“Huh?”
He could practically hear Commander Mismis tilting her head quizzically over the comm.
“You’re guarding her?”
“Yes. Actually, she’s listening in right now.”
When Iska looked at her from the corner of his eye, Alice was pointing at herself as if to say, But I’m right here?
“! Then it’s someone else?!”
“Someone else? Why did you even think it was Alice in the first place…?”
“Because it was an emergency message from headquarters! That a witch they captured is going on a rampage. And she’s supposed to be a purebred type, so I was convinced she had to be Ms. Alice…”
“It’s not Alice. It has to be someone else.”
But who?
If headquarters’ information was to be believed, it was a purebred type they already had in their custody. But all the Zoa elite forces had been comatose…
“Wait, no!”
There was one person it could be. Among the Zoa, only one purebred type had escaped that fate.
“Commander!” he yelled into the comm. “I’ll head there right away. Get all the other soldiers away from there!”
“What? I-is everything okay?!”
“You’re right that she’s a dangerous purebred type. Tanks and missiles won’t work against her. The more you throw at her, the more casualties there’ll be!”
It was the thorn astral mage, Kissing. She’d been transported with Lord Mask. If she used her powers, steel doors and barriers were as good as meaningless to her.
“And at a time like this…!”
With the comm still in his hand, Iska flipped around. For a moment, right before he’d turned away, he thought Alice had been looking at him as if she had something to say. He had felt that way, at least.
But he didn’t have the time to check and ran out of the room.
Iska ran.
He had left her in the room alone. She took it as a message that he trusted her, considering she was a dangerous enemy and the Ice Calamity Witch.
“…”
She couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore. Iska was surprisingly quiet to begin with. She remembered Rin having said something similar in the past, but now he was already so far away, she couldn’t even sense his presence anymore.
She was alone again. Alone in the room, Alice remembered what her sister had said.
“This is a story between a witch and a knight.”
“This is the difference between the two of us. I have a knight by my side.”
She leaned back against the wall and placed a hand on her breast. Then she gritted her teeth.
“I…could never…say that to him…” She spat out the words like she was throwing them away.
Just earlier, Alice simply hadn’t been able to say the words. She couldn’t tell him what her sister had said. That a witch needed a knight to protect her. It had happened the moment she’d seen Iska’s face. A future that could be had come to her mind.
……What if I had told him I wanted to fight, too?
……What if I’d asked him to be my knight?
It would have been a convenient plea. Maybe Iska could fight alongside her. She’d started to feel like it could happen, and that was also why she couldn’t tell him.
They had only one relationship with each other. The moment she wished for Iska to be a fully united front with her, everything would likely change.
The relationship between a witch and a knight.
When that happens…
…we’ll no longer be rivals.
She was frightened of that.
With Iska in front of her, she was afraid of her comfortable connection with him crumbling.
“…” She set her chin on her knees.
“It’s not like I could say that…,” Alice murmured in a voice that seemed close to fading away.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login