FSW Chapter 38

Nishina's burning enthusiasm fizzled out the moment the main course was placed before her. The upgraded food was artistic enough to draw spontaneous admiration. But for Nishina, it was just food she'd tasted to the point of nausea. No matter how good the food, it becomes tiresome when repeated. Just looking at it made her complexion pale.

"Shina?"

Perhaps noticing her darkened expression, Melissa called Nishina with a worried voice. Attention immediately focused. Even the Emperor, who'd been busy discussing the King and political situations, sent a concerned glance.

At the suddenly pouring gazes, Nishina quickly smiled. Only after she'd eaten the food conspicuously well did the anxious eyes fall away. And so Nishina had to half-forcibly continue the thoroughly unwelcome meal.

While Nishina waged war with her food, the Emperor and King's conversation resumed. Then it seemed the topic arose that next time, Snow should dispatch an envoy to Rain.

The King didn't miss the opportunity and addressed Aiden.

"Indeed, wouldn't it be good if Your Highness visited as well? Since it's your mother's homeland, you must be curious about many things."

The spoon that had been moving mechanically stopped abruptly. If this weren't an official setting, she would have gaped shamelessly.

What blatant enticement!

Without even time to rub her stinging neck, Nishina set down her spoon. Then, before Aiden could answer, she clapped her hands and fashioned a bright smile.

"Oh, really? I've been wanting to visit too! The golden reed fields there are supposed to be incredibly beautiful, right?"

"What I proposed was for His Imperial High—"

"What? I can't go? I've been wanting to see it someday..."

Though her acting was clumsy, feigning sadness was easy. Just looking at the plate before her made her seem utterly sorrowful. She looked so dejected that even the Emperor felt sympathetic.

The flustered King hurriedly answered.

"Of course you may. However, since Your Imperial Highness is still young, perhaps after some time has passed..."

"If I go with Brother, there's nothing to worry about! Ah, but Brother isn't an adult yet either, so it would be difficult right away. Then will you invite us in two years? Brother and I will definitely visit together!"

She cheerfully spat out her firm will not to send Aiden alone under any circumstances. The more Nishina chattered, the more rigidly the King's lips stiffened. She knew this could seem rude. That's why she was acting like a thoughtless child. After all, if it was just a child's tantrum, it would be awkward to take genuine offense.

With an even more sour face, the King nodded.

"...Very well."

"Wow! Thank you!"

'Perfect defense!'

Nishina proudly picked up her spoon, praising herself. The attendants waiting behind had just brought out dessert.

Inside a small glass dish was lemon sherbet loaded with syrup. This dessert alone had been prepared for Aiden, not the guest. Though he disliked sweets, he seemed to eat sour things reasonably well, so she'd chosen this. It had been the right judgment.

Nishina glanced at him moving his spoon silently, then started eating her own portion. She hadn't accomplished much during the banquet, but this alone was a great harvest. The King, who'd been watching the two with strange eyes, casually brought up a topic.

"Your ability to eat sour things resembles Kiyonné. Kiyonné also enjoyed desserts with lemon."

Words like pouring cold water. The dessert she'd agonized over for him instantly transformed into an uncomfortable memory. Since their only common point was the Empress, she'd have no choice but to keep mentioning her. But the intention was so vicious it made her frown.

Instead of voicing anything, Aiden nodded expressionlessly. But Nishina keenly read the dimmed eyes within that composure.

She was becoming angry now. Using ignorance as an excuse to hurt someone was vile. And hurting someone while feigning ignorance when you knew everything was even viler.

In the original work, the King—Rebecca—had known well what Kiyonné meant to Aiden. Knowing that, she'd tried to win him over by exploiting that very point. Prying at his weak spots, forcing the gaps wider.

As if it didn't matter whether the wounds bled or festered. In a way that showed she didn't care what became of Aiden as long as she could slip through that gap.

Nishina thought it a cowardly and contemptible method. If you truly can't become family, at least you shouldn't wound him. When he's already covered in wounds without needing more.

Her good mood plummeted exponentially. The hand gripping the spoon turned deathly pale. Her throat burned hot, but nothing escaped past her lips. Beyond the window, dusk had long since fallen. The evening wind seeped through the open window. The moisture-laden breeze lingered faintly around her cheeks before disappearing.

It seemed rain was coming. Summer rain.

The rain would probably continue falling until tomorrow. It would pour relentlessly all the way to the destination. Neither the place, the people, nor the situation—nothing was welcome.

She was no longer afraid of Aiden being deceived by the King. She only feared the wounds she would inflict on Aiden—feared it and feared it again.

Rebecca gathered up the lily that had turned pitch black. Then she neatly placed fresh flowers beside the gravestone.

The relentlessly pouring rain quickly pooled on the petals. Rebecca gazed vacantly at the water droplets that condensed and flowed down repeatedly, murmuring vaguely.

"How was the end?"

"...She passed peacefully."

Though she'd never made contact, news had reached her whether she wanted it or not. For instance, that Kiyonné had been neglected for failing to gain the Emperor's favor. That because of this, she'd contracted an illness of the heart and suffered. That finally even her body had weakened and she'd fallen ill.

They'd summoned all manner of medicinal herbs and renowned physicians, but Kiyonné ultimately couldn't overcome the illness. That death would have been like this flower. Like a flower left to wither with its roots severed. She would have rushed toward death just as naturally.

"Did Kiyonné ever mention me?"

"...No."

"I thought so. We weren't particularly close siblings."

Not close? Even enemies might not be so cold-hearted. But Rebecca didn't regret her decision. If she faced the same situation, she'd drive Kiyonné to her death again and again. To survive herself.

That was the position of royal blood. A small kingdom caught between empires. They claimed to maintain balance, but bluntly speaking, it was a powerless nation that had to grovel to please two emperors. That was where Kiyonné and Rebecca had been born.

Peace treaties with the two empires usually built trust through periodic exchanges. But the problem was Wind Empire's emperor, who'd seized the throne by force. After Hvahn's ascension, relations between the two empires had rapidly deteriorated.

The weak nation caught in the middle was busy reading the room on thin ice. They didn't know when they'd be devoured over some pretext. Eventually, the King had no choice but to make the bold move of royal marriages with both empires. A royal marriage. It felt like all the blood was draining from beneath her feet. Rebecca instinctively sought a path to survival and racked her brain.

'I'll take the throne.'

Though a hollow throne, it was better than being sold off through a royal marriage. Rebecca readily steeled herself to crawl through the gutter. There was only one throne. To claim it, trampling someone of the same blood wasn't even difficult.

And so she ascended to the throne. Simultaneously, her full sibling Kiyonné was sold off like livestock. A miserable fate. Instead of pitying Kiyonné, Rebecca continued negotiating new contracts with Snow's previous Emperor.

What she wanted was singular.

'For Kiyonné to sit not as the next Emperor's consort, but as Empress.'

It was less guilt toward her younger sibling than calculation. Being able to establish connections as the future Emperor's maternal family. Mixing Rain's blood into the solid Snow imperial family.

There was no way that fox-like Emperor wouldn't perceive her foul intentions. Even so, negotiations proceeded smoothly. He'd judged this better than letting Rain be stolen by Wind's insolent new emperor. And so Kiyonné came to sit in the Empress's seat. On the day the grand royal marriage was held, Rebecca believed she'd fulfilled her duty with that. Though it hadn't particularly been for her sister's sake, the result was the same either way, wasn't it?

'Though I didn't know it would end like this.'

"If there's an opportunity, I'd like to hear stories about Kiyonné."

It wasn't belated regret. Just creating an opportunity to grow closer by reminding him of his common point with her.

Perhaps it was an unwelcome proposal for the boy—a small ripple appeared in that solid mask. It disappeared without trace immediately, but couldn't deceive Rebecca's eyes.

'Tsk. Just as I thought.'

What reached her weren't only rumors about Kiyonné. Rebecca knew this child's life to some degree, as much as she knew Kiyonné's lifetime. Enough to notice he disliked talk of Kiyonné.

But gaps revealed themselves at the weakest points. To pry into gaps, Rebecca didn't hesitate to widen wounds.

"Kiyonné's final moments—I suppose Your Highness knows best. I heard you were the only one who stayed with her at the end."

Even at the barbed words, the child's expression remained unchanged. Rebecca felt a strange kinship in that. The boy who'd lost his expression and she, worn down—they had quite similar aspects. In that the former was one whose hands would be dirtied, and the latter one whose hands had been.

But that wasn't ugliness. What was truly ugly was weakness. Rebecca hated weak people, weak positions, and furthermore, her weak nation. She hadn't refrained from that dirty work just to remain a puppet king of a bat-like kingdom with no pride.

'I should rise at least to master of a new great empire.'

Rebecca, who'd decisively severed even the faint emotion in her heart, instantly pulled on a human hide.

"I never knew I'd regret leaving Kiyonné so lonely."

"..."

"Though I, who never showed my face once, must not seem trustworthy—at the very least, I hope Your Highness won't be as lonely as Kiyonné was."

She spat out the false words without any guilt.

"Though it's much too late, please know that I am Your Highness's family, that I am on your side, no matter what happens."

The voice thick with earnestness mixed into the falling rain.

The Prince remained silent, but Rebecca didn't cling to that. Just as seeping droplets wet one's feet unnoticed, if she could only cause small confusion, that alone would suffice.

When she tilted her umbrella, the still-overcast sky was briefly revealed. The rain would probably fall all afternoon. Wiping away the raindrops that had splattered on her cheeks, Rebecca thought:

Perhaps this rain was Kiyonné's resentful weeping. Rebecca's hair, swaying in the wind and rain, sneered—that violet hair, the only thing she'd shared with Kiyonné.