Black Badger

I thought the question hurt.

Like it hurt the way a real blade would.

But even as I was thinking that, my head kept working. I don’t even know how many times I’ve had this thought, but I couldn’t stop being bothered by the fact that the ring wasn’t there.

The Emperor’s red ring.

It was said to resonate only with the imperial family’s soul.

I’d heard a Grand Magus made it, but I’d forgotten the mage’s name. Anyway, it was something infused with the essence of magic.

You could practically call it the Empire’s seal. When it slid onto the finger, it gave off a faint red glow, proving legitimacy.

The thing princes and princesses fought their battles of nerves over, just to be the one to wear it on their own hand.

The thing Kyle had once had to kneel and kiss.

I’d once caught Kysis staring at that ring. The expression had been wiped clean off his face—off the face of a man who always wore slyness and caprice like a sharpened blade.

That’s how symbolic it was....

And the question the Emperor had just asked was, in truth, something even Jaeyeon could ask.

No matter who the other party was, it was also a question I could answer honestly.

Separate from how much it hurt.

I gathered the courage to speak and answered.

「He passed away.」

The Emperor didn’t make any particular expression.

That was one of his defining traits. A symbolic poker face.

Kairos, Yoow, and Deltei were kneeling close by, heads bowed.

The Emperor looked down at me in silence for a moment, then turned his gaze to the three kneeling in a row.

「Go.」

He spoke evenly.

「This doesn’t sound like a short story.」

In my peripheral vision, I saw the three of them give flawless greetings. Without a word, they went down to the first floor—footsteps that struck my ears with a chilling clarity.

I tried to brace myself as I listened to those sounds, but the next question flew at me.

「What happened?」

Yehyeon had said I could explain everything, but to refrain from going into details about the Core.

「Report what has happened.」

I had to explain as objectively as possible.

I couldn’t truly be objective, but I had to try.

Without falling into emotion. Without falling into the temptation to defend myself.

I steeled myself and opened my mouth.

「I will report.」

And I began the backlogged story.

***

A long story.

But once I organized it as a report, it became shorter than I’d expected.

I closed my mouth. Then I waited in silence, but the Emperor didn’t break it for a long while. He only sat there with a contemplative expression.

It was the look he always wore when he heard something that wasn’t light.

The stillness only broke when it had become almost unbearable to keep the nausea down.

The Emperor spoke.

「So the leaf-vein was damaged in that process?」

「It was damaged during the confrontation with Kyle.」

「How fickle.」

There was no emotion in his murmured voice.

「From the state of it.... It seems Clyde failed to complete the removal.」

「That is correct.」

「Then you’ve learned that the organ that receives the sixth sense is behind the ear.」

As he said that, the Emperor’s gaze landed on my mastoid process.

I felt blood rush into my face.

How fortunate that making direct eye contact wasn’t proper etiquette.

After a brief pause, the Emperor spoke as if to himself.

「I placed too heavy a burden on you.」

Ah.

「You took on something you’d never once handled before. To have accomplished even this much is admirable.」

Those words made my chest hurt.

He wasn’t trying to scold me.

But I could feel it again—that if he had been here instead of me, things would have gone better. It made my stomach burn.

So this is why Yoow was furious with me.

An irreversible mistake of the past.

Things that might not have happened at all, if someone hadn’t arrived too late.

Of course it would breed resentment.

「It was you that Kysis handed authority to. The moment you arrived here, you should have proclaimed yourself the leader.」

The Emperor said.

「Of course, there is no guarantee that would have prevented this. Your long friendship with Kyle would have obstructed the establishment of authority. In the end, it would have been far more likely that you still split as you did now.... Forget what I just said. It’s nothing but a pointless regret. I am not saying all of this happened because you failed to assert the legitimacy of your authority, so do not despair.」

It wasn’t an easy thing.

Even knowing that every one of the Emperor’s words carried reason.

When my disagreements with Kyle had grown severe, I’d tried, belatedly, to deliver Kysis’s final words.

It hadn’t mattered.

I’d spoken far too late. When I squeezed my eyes shut and finally brought out the words I’d wanted to keep to myself, Kysis’s words had already withered and lost their light.

Why had I been so foolish, clutching them tight inside me?

「In life there are far too many variables beyond our control, and the path you walked in the past was no exception. Looking back and regretting it changes nothing. Do not dwell on it. You have a tendency to be too cruel to yourself—before you learn anything from past mistakes, you will first find a mountain of reasons to hate yourself.」

Not scolding me was like him, and not telling me his decision was like him too.

Maybe he hadn’t decided yet.

I murmured a formal word of thanks.

The Emperor’s gaze returned to my pressed-down mastoid process.

The spot that had never recovered, no matter how many living and dead things I’d absorbed—executioners included.

The moment his finger touched it, my body jolted.

「Knowledge of the leaf-vein is shared only among a very few.」

After he brushed over the area that had smoothed to look almost human, he continued.

「How it functions. How it is removed. How it is healed.」

At the last word, my heart leapt.

If it hadn’t been improper etiquette, I would have lifted my head and looked up at him.

It was fortunate that it was improper.

If etiquette hadn’t stopped me, I would have looked up at him with a desperate expression.

The kind of emotion no one could see without feeling pity.

I was glad I didn’t have to show that emotion to a being who might be my lord—or might be Jaeyeon.

The Emperor continued.

「That is why the executioners put so much effort into removing leaf-veins.」

It sounded as though the man was tracing knowledge about leaf-veins that would have been shared among the imperial bloodline.

「Because even a twisted leaf-vein can be healed.」

I struggled not to tremble.

「May I dare to ask?」

「I was about to tell you.」

A heavy relief spread through my chest.

And then my heart dropped at the Emperor’s flat words that followed.

The Emperor ruled. He didn’t need to choose words with the moods of those beneath him in mind. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

「Receive a quantity of mana comparable to a dragon’s mana.」

His tone was like telling me to pick up a cookie over there if I was hungry.

「If five Grand Magi throw themselves at it, it usually heals, I’m told.」

So I have to go to the dragon.

Kairos and Ami would like that....

***

I prepared clothes for him to change into.

In a hurry, I gave him mine. Since I was built bigger than the Emperor, they fit well enough. The Emperor found modern clothing curious, but changed without complaint.

After tightening the elastic drawstring, the man inspected the outfit and delivered his verdict.

「There isn’t much color.」

I smiled bitterly.

「I find neutral colors easier to pick and wear. I apologize for giving you something ill-suited. I will arrange... an appropriate set soon.」

「You needn’t be so concerned. I am not sitting upon the throne. If it serves its function, anything will do.」

I didn’t know what he truly thought, but just hearing him say it eased my mind.

He also expressed satisfaction with the bed. It was small, but lacking in nothing.

The problem started after that.

Most notably, meals.

「The food I make won’t satisfy you, will it.」

「I cannot say without tasting it.」

「There are no dishes that taste exactly like those of the Empire. The ingredients taste different.... I will select and serve those that are at least decent, so please tell me which is most to your liking.」

I couldn’t call Georges.

He disliked the Emperor. Not the imperial family as a whole, but he’d said he owed a debt to the princess who recognized his skill.

But he hated the Emperor with a trembling intensity, because the Emperor had suspected House Renyr of treason.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to come cook.

I should call Ricardo and ask which restaurant is decent.

For the immediate light hunger, we settled it with the fruit in the fridge.

And then, the bathroom.... I explained it, roughly.

「It looks very hygienic, and good.」

The Emperor understood surprisingly quickly.

Feeling satisfied that the awkward process was over, I watched as the man looked around the cabin.

「How is it cleaned? Do you have a maid?」

「Ah.」

This, I was actually excited to explain.

「I will show you something interesting.」

A wireless robot vacuum.

Nickname: Teeg. I turned it on and gave the Emperor a brief explanation of what it was. I told him that when it finished cleaning the first floor, I would bring it up to the second floor, so he shouldn’t be startled.

Standing beside the Emperor as he stared fixedly at the robot vacuum, I smiled.

「Isn’t it rather cute?」

「It looks like an insect.」

Huh?

An insect?

How could he....

「Like a giant beetle.」

We decided to take a gradual adjustment period.

Since he must be confused, I suggested that for now, we focus on getting through a calm day without incident. The Emperor listened to my careful proposal and nodded.

「I am imposing upon you.」

「Think nothing of it.」

In truth, we already had a harvest.

I hadn’t expected to gain such a useful fragment of knowledge on the very first day. That information alone made the hardship feel worth it.

Feeling a little lighter at the thought that our efforts might not be wasted, I went back up to the second floor with the Emperor.

Then, as the Emperor naturally lay down on the bed, I knelt beside him and asked,

「Do you require a transfer?」

Staring at the ceiling, the Emperor replied,

「It seems unnecessary for the time being.」

His tone was firm.

「One cannot demand a transfer from a patient whose body has been harmed by a damaged leaf-vein.」

At that answer, I remained kneeling in silence for a long while.

Caught in relief, shame, and suspicion all at once.

***

I didn’t know the exact limits of Jaeyeon’s ability, but I did know this much: it had limits.

For one thing, even if Jaeyeon disguised himself as a mage, he couldn’t use grand magic.

If he could, he would have broken through Kyle’s defenses from the start—using Jaeyeon. Before the First War even broke out, I’d quietly confirmed it once. If nothing had changed since then, Jaeyeon couldn’t cast anything above third-circle.

It was chilling enough that he could use up to second-circle.

But he was a being that accepted the disguised person’s memories and altered his body to resemble theirs, so it wasn’t shocking that he could mimic certain abilities to an extent.

Like an insect that pretended to be a plant and then became capable of photosynthesis.

As for the sixth sense, I wasn’t sure.

Up until the First War, I’d tried hard to hide it. I couldn’t tell whether Jaeyeon, while mimicking someone, also replicated the sixth-sense receptor, or not.

A doubt rose: was he refusing my transfer because he couldn’t mimic the sixth sense...?

And yet.... even if he was the real Emperor, it seemed plausible he simply wouldn’t want to receive a transfer from someone who had lost his leaf-vein.

“Hasn’t it been less than a day?”

Night had fallen.

I was standing outside the cabin smoking a cigar when the shooter in a black suit approached.

I exhaled the smoke and looked at him.

“Where did you go? And why are you dressed up in a suit....”

“My family house.”

I didn’t understand at first.

“Ah, you mean Aitek?”

“Yeah.”

“Something must’ve happened.”

Yun stared at me.

Then he reached out and pressed his hand to my forehead.

I flicked my hand through the air to keep the cigar’s harsh smoke away from him and smiled faintly.

“I’m still taking my medicine properly.”

“Doesn’t look like it’s doing any good.”

“Still, I had a harvest.”

Yun lifted one eyebrow.

I put a satisfied smile on my lips.

“There’s a way to recover a ruined sixth sense.”

“What is it.”

“Go to a dragon and ask it to put mana into you.”

Yun stared straight through me with those pitch-black eyes.

“The Ice Dragon?”

“Yes.”

I planned to bring it up to Kairos soon.

“When this mess gets resolved one way or another, I want to leave right away. Just sitting in the cabin won’t make it better.”

“That’s useful. Even if that thing is Jaeyeon, we won’t need to rip him open from the inside immediately.”

“Yes. There are still more things we need to hear—ah?”

It felt like I understood the meaning of his words a beat late.

Probably.

“Do you know how to undo Jaeyeon’s mimicry?”

As I asked, I belatedly remembered that Yun and Jaeyeon had once been engaged.

I frowned, and Yun gave a small snort of ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) a laugh, as if he’d caught what I was thinking.

He pulled a cigarette from inside his suit and answered,

“I’ve come close. Once.”

After laughing softly, he asked in a low voice,

“Want me to tell you?”