"So that's how my little sister is going to become the Emperor's wife! Naturally, that means we siblings are getting closer and closer to the goal we've been trying to achieve!"
"The goal... that is, the revenge you spoke of before... is it?"
"That's right! Revenge against the world!"
The golden-haired pretty boy—
More than the answer itself, it was the force with which Flop delivered it that seemed to startle her—but her lips quickly curled into a smile. To hear a word as ominous as "revenge" and react with a smile like that—she truly earned her reputation as one of the Vollachian Empire's renowned women of the Shudrak.
And Flop, for his part, was quite the character to be able to taint even such a formidable woman's air with his own color.
Leaning her cheek against her hand on the railing of the fortress's elevated walkway,
It had been a chance encounter, but what an interesting turn of events she had stumbled upon.
Ever since joining forces during the imperial capital battle, Ram had harbored favorable feelings toward the Shudrak.
In general, the only ones in the Vollachian Empire whom Ram felt reluctant to part with were these women and Selena, who occupied an awkward position through her connection to Roswaal.
She was also grateful to Cachu,
"Oh my, Mizelda. I was just watching your sister's romance unfold from the stands."
"Oh, fine hobby. Who?"
Saying this, the woman who came to stand beside Ram—now leaning on the railing as well—was Mizelda, a beauty with piercing eyes.
As Taritta's own older sister, she gazed down at her sister conversing with Flop, her eyes narrowing. A hint of worry peeked through on her profile, and Ram's own pale pink eyes narrowed in response.
"You're worried about your sister? That's unlike you."
"I appreciate you saying it's unlike me. But then again, how long have you and I even known each other? Just a few days."
"Does time matter? Between you and me?"
"Hahaha, no it doesn't."
At Ram's question, the corner of her mouth curving upward, Mizelda threw her head back and laughed heartily. After laughing, Mizelda slowly shook her head, and then— "'Worried' feels like too weak a word. But I'll say I'm concerned."
"Naturally. After all, you are Taritta's older sister. Ram is always worried about Rem, too. In your words, I'm always concerned about Rem."
"But Subaru, needless to say, is a fine man. His eyes are a shame, though."
"On that point... it will take some time for Ram and you to see eye to eye."
Ram's voice dropped slightly, and Mizelda laughed again upon hearing it. Watching that smile from the corner of her eye, Ram turned her gaze back down below— "So you suspect that pretty boy's character?"
"No, Flop is a fine man too. His features may be a bit too soft for my taste, but there's no denying he's easy on the eyes. Taritta should know that much."
It was an answer that muddled character with appearance, a phrasing that risked losing sight of the real issue. Still, Ram felt she understood Mizelda's concern.
And that was not something an outsider like Ram could meddle in, much less something even a blood sister could order the person involved to do.
Quite the situation—it was almost as if it proved the old saying that even a sister can't read her sister's heart.
"I like you more and more, Mizelda."
"Is that so. If you were a man, I'd make you my husband."
Two sisters, each with their own unspoken thoughts about their younger sisters' romantic prospects.
And as they stood side by side—both physically and mentally—the exchange between Flop and Taritta continued below.
"Listen, Miss Taritta! I may have said this before, but if so, allow me to say it again!"
Flop extended his hand toward the sky, opening and closing his palm as though trying to grasp the distant white clouds, or perhaps the sun pouring down its rays— "If you're going to boast about the goals and dreams you've set for yourself and claim you'll seize them, then you have to leap boldly when opportunity comes knocking. This unexpected connection with His Majesty the Emperor was precisely the kind of once-in-a-lifetime chance worth staking everything on!"
"So then, the marriage between His Majesty the Emperor and Medium... did Medium truly consent?"
"Of course! ...Well, I'd love to say that, but naturally, when it came to marriage, things got quite contentious! I think it's fair to say it was the biggest argument my sister and I have ever had! But—"
"But?"
"If you prioritize revenge against the world while neglecting the happiness of your own family, you've got your priorities backwards. In that sense, I made sure not to propose anything Medium would genuinely refuse."
"————————"
As Flop's eyes softened at the corners, Taritta lowered her narrow, sharp gaze.
The marriage between
In fact, the rumors had spread quite far among the common folk as well.
Ram suspected the story of Vincent taking an empress consort had been spread by Berstetz or Selena as a strategy. While the afterglow of victory against the Great Calamity lingered, the reality was that reports coming in from across the empire were mostly dire. But people needed hope.
A celebration was needed for that purpose—and ideally, one that would concern all citizens of the empire.
"A man you can't swallow, and a country you can't swallow."
Ram didn't know how far ahead Flop had thought when he made that proposal.
But since he had decided to push forward when pushing was necessary, such calculations must have been involved. And Vincent, who had accepted, and the dignitaries who had rubber-stamped it afterward, must have had them too.
At the very least—as Flop had said—Medium, who had been treated as a political pawn, seemed to harbor genuine feelings for Vincent rather than resentment.
Including all of that, Flop was nothing if not shrewd in proposing this match. Ram found herself wanting to take a certain domestic minister—who kept smearing false villainy on himself like medicine, deceiving himself over and over again—aside and have him learn from Flop.
As she watched this exchange from the sidelines, Ram happened to glance at the profile beside her— "Now that you mention it, don't you have any feelings about Emperor Vincent?"
"A foolish question, Ram. Abel's good looks go without saying. But according to the customs of the Shudrak people, the groom must be brought back to the forest settlement. Since I can't bring Abel back with me, that man is nothing more to me than pleasant to look at."
"I see..."
"No, wait, I was wrong. —Abel is a fine comrade-in-arms to me."
"Indeed."
Ram quietly nodded at Mizelda, who folded her arms and made this declaration.
With that question settled, the two busybodies' attention returned to the conversation of the pair below.
Both of them were difficult in their own ways. Taritta, still looking downward, murmured— "Flop is amazing."
"He considers both his own goals and the people around him before taking action. When a decision needs to be made, he never hesitates. ...Truly, he is admirable."
"Hmm? That's a rather strange thing to say, Miss Taritta."
"Ah... Did I say something strange?"
"Yes, you did. Because the reason I was able to summon the courage to make decisions like this—it was because I was following your example, Miss Taritta!"
"————————"
Flop pointed straight at her, and Taritta's eyes went wide. The surprise was so great that Taritta's thoughts seemed to grind to a complete halt.
As proof, she grabbed the finger Flop had thrust before her face, reflexively twisted it, and slammed him against the wall.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow!!"
"A-Ah, I'm sorry! You surprised me so much... it was just a reflex!"
"N-No, no, no, I'm the one who was careless. As expected of the Shudrak chieftain—your training is on another level. I should be learning from more than just your mindset."
"My mindset..."
"That's right, your mindset. What impressed me most about you was exactly that."
As Flop waved his twisted arm back and forth, he smiled at Taritta. Yet Taritta, on the receiving end of that smile, wore a completely bewildered expression, thoroughly confused.
Flop watched Taritta's reaction with a fond, bittersweet smile— "When Miss Mizelda's leg was injured, you unexpectedly had to inherit the role of chieftain. You must have agonized over it. You must have suffered! But you made your decision and took on the burden with strength. It was from watching you do that that I learned the value of not running away from difficult decisions."
"Flop..."
"So I wanted to express my gratitude to you. That was one of the two reasons I called you here today! —And there is one more reason."
Flop held up one finger on his left hand, then one finger on his right. At his words, Taritta's eyes went wide, and she stammered, "Another... one?"
Accepting Taritta's murmured question, Flop lowered both hands with a theatrical flourish— "This day will never come again. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. This war reminded me of something I thought I already knew. I give thanks to the kind someone who placed a flame in these eyes, and to the kind someone who made this moment possible. And then—"
"————————"
"Miss Taritta, I have great admiration for the way you are and the way you think. To put it more plainly, I want to be with you! So—won't you become Taritta O'Connell?"
"Ah—"
"If you want something, you can't let the opportunity slip away. And this—without exception—is putting into practice everything I've learned from you."
With a smile and one eye shut in a wink, Flop delivered what was unmistakably a proposal.
For Taritta, it must have felt like the sky itself was crashing down. And yet, simultaneously, it must have been a joy as overwhelming as flowers bursting into bloom across the earth.
As a fellow woman, Ram felt the impulse to applaud the blessing that had been bestowed upon her.
However— "But—what about me..."
Hearing Taritta murmur this in anguish, Ram narrowed her pale pink eyes.
What lay at the root of Taritta's reaction—that had been made clear, as it happened, in the exchange with Mizelda just moments before.
According to Shudrak custom, the groom had to be brought back to the forest settlement.
But Flop, as the brother of Medium who would become empress consort, would have responsibilities and duties in the imperial capital that would only grow from here on out. To abandon all of that and leave Medium behind in the capital—that would be the very definition of irresponsible.
And Taritta understood that, which was why her hesitation had crushed her joy.
The very thing that had given Flop his courage—the inheritance of the Shudrak chieftainship, the very catalyst that had connected their hearts—had now become the obstacle preventing them from being together.
As Taritta prepared to accept this cruel injustice with a fierce sense of duty—just then— "Don't agonize over it, Taritta!"
"...Ah, Sis?"
At the sudden voice, Taritta froze in shock.
Until just a moment ago, she hadn't noticed Ram and Mizelda on the walkway above. She locked eyes with Mizelda, who was gripping the railing tightly.
Seeing her sister's state, Mizelda let out a small breath, then swung her right leg—from the knee down, a wooden prosthetic—and planted it on the railing with a thud.
And then— "If you're the type to weigh your duties as chieftain against a man and agonize over it, you're not fit to be chieftain! In these past battles, I've learned how to fight on one leg! If your body won't let you do the same, then just quit being chieftain!"
"Wha...! W-Wait, Sis! That's..."
"No, I won't wait! The Shudrak don't need a pathetic-looking little sister like you!"
With those words delivered firmly, Mizelda lowered her leg from the railing, turned her back, and walked away down the elevated walkway—each footfall producing a different sound as her wooden prosthetic and her real foot struck the surface in alternation.
Watching Mizelda's retreating form, Ram let out a sigh.
"So that's your idea of sisterly tough love?"
"She's not the kind of woman who needs to be told. And Ram—soon enough, this won't be someone else's problem."
"How dreadful."
Having been told something she'd rather not hear, Ram grimaced and answered accordingly.
Deciding it would be poor manners to linger, Ram moved to follow Mizelda's footsteps— "Miss Mizelda! I'm deeply grateful! Is there anything I can do?"
In place of the frozen Taritta, Flop called out to Mizelda's back—the woman who had just made that bold declaration. Without turning, without slowing her pace, Mizelda waved her hand and said— "It's obvious, isn't it? Send that strong, handsome man as an envoy to the Shudrak settlement. That way, the alliance between the capital and our people will be maintained."
"...Haha! Understood, Miss Mizelda! No—Sister-in-law!"
Between Mizelda and Flop, a resolution had been reached—leaping straight over the heads of the two people actually involved.
And Ram knew that the resolution of those who had been bypassed would come swiftly as well.
———— Because the sound of Taritta's feet hitting the ground as she dashed toward Flop reached Ram's ears with perfect clarity, even as she followed in Mizelda's wake.
"Can you just decide to resume the chieftainship on your own like that?"
"Fu, if there's anyone who's got a problem with it, they can come and take it from me. But..."
Mizelda trailed off. She fixed her piercing gaze straight ahead. Following that gaze, Ram understood the reason she had stopped speaking.
At the far end of the walkway, waving gently, were two Shudrak women—Kuna and Holly. They greeted Mizelda, jerking their chins toward the area below the walkway, and said— "So? Has Taritta straightened out?"
"Mm. My sister is a handful."
"Well, but that can't be helped. She is the chieftain's sister, after all."
"Anyway, until we all sit down and talk, the chieftain is Taritta... Ah, but I guess that's fine. I don't have any objections to Mizelda coming back as chieftain. The others probably won't either."
Kuna and Holly each returned knowing smiles, and Ram caught a glimpse of just how much Taritta was loved by her people—and how much she loved them in return.
Arms folded beneath her elbows, Ram reflected— "As chance encounters go, at least being a busybody paid off for Ram."
"That's the worst way to put it."
"Without a chieftain, things would've looked pretty grim. What a mess."
Ram's remark drew a volley of retorts from Holly and Kuna. As Ram shrugged them off, Mizelda stood nearby, her piercing eyes softened ever so slightly as she gazed up at the sky with a gentle expression.
Staring up at the clear, annoyingly beautiful sky— "After losing her soul-sister Mariuli, Taritta shut herself away. You all understand better than anyone how hard that must have been."
"...Yeah."
"Right..."
"But that time came. —I believe that is a blessing Taritta won for herself."
Words unfamiliar to Ram were exchanged—words only the three Shudrak women understood.
Ram could guess that Kuna and Holly's bond—one that transcended blood—was likely an example of what they were referring to. Given the strength of the connection between those two, it wasn't hard to imagine the magnitude of what Taritta had lost.
And Ram knew all too well that some losses can never be filled.
"————————"
The empire had won. But the price of that victory had cost too many things. Even among those closest to Ram, the wounds borne by Rem,
Simply being by their side and continuing to offer words of comfort could not serve as a cure for those wounds. That was a brutally cruel, nearly insurmountable principle— "——By the oath of our ancestors, by the pride of our ancestral spirits, we give thanks."
"Thanks."
One step ahead, having found the only way to fight back against that cruel principle, Taritta was blessed in the way of the Shudrak people—by Mizelda, by Kuna, by Holly.
Following their example, Ram closed her eyes and joined in a piece of their prayer.
And she thought— —Of the cruelty that there is no way to bring solace to every heart that mourns what has been lost.
"Thanks," she said— Speaking not to the gods of the Shudrak, but to the oath and pride she held within herself.
△▼△▼△▼△ The wheelchair's wheels turned with a clattering sound.
The sound was well familiar by now, though here and there it hitched and caught on remnants of the chaos—crumbled fragments of rubble, cracks in the floor that hadn't been fully repaired.
Concerned that Cachu couldn't manage these obstacles alone, Rem had volunteered to push her wheelchair from behind.
"So apparently, protecting His Majesty the Emperor earned him quite a reputation. They say my brother has been given a role as an independent 'general'—one that keeps him by the Emperor's side."
"Is that so. That brother of yours..."
"You look like you've got something to say. ...No, don't. I'm probably thinking the same thing you are."
Without turning around, Cachu gripped the straight locks of hair hanging past her shoulders, her voice trembling slightly.
Rem didn't say much, but she suspected Cachu's guess was probably right. So at Cachu's request, she kept her thoughts about Jamal to herself.
He was her own blood brother, after all—the one she had sent off despite being so worried. Even the headstrong Cachu must have felt relieved at his safe return.
Yes—his safe return was what mattered most.
"Priscilla..."
The moment her guard slipped, a wave of sentiment tightened around her heart, and Rem whispered the name.
Behind Rem's lowered, pale blue eyes arose the image of a beautiful woman clad in vivid red, like a flame—the "Sun Princess" who had kept Rem at her side for but a brief time.
Priscilla—who with her unwavering bearing had radiated heat and burned through everything she touched—had drawn her own curtain with the uncompromising dignity that was so uniquely hers.
Not one word exchanged in what Rem hadn't realized would be their last conversation had been forgotten.
Just— "You called me a diamond core, and I appreciate that, but... I don't understand."
During that exchange—their first meeting in days, which turned out to be their last—Priscilla had praised the way Rem was living now. And at the time, Rem had been able to accept that with pride.
But now she couldn't understand anymore. Because Priscilla was gone.
"Hey, Rem—can you stay with me?"
"Huh?"
The wheelchair's movement was suddenly arrested, and Rem looked up in surprise. Cachu had grabbed the wheels and forced them to a stop.
It must have hurt her delicate hands terribly to do that, but— "Cachu—"
"It's fine. I don't care about my hands right now. What matters is you."
"My..."
"Even without staying with me, you've got your sister, and the people who knew you before, and that noisy guy—"
"No, that won't do."
Cachu, who had been staring at Rem and gradually speaking faster, fell silent with a muffled sound. Rem, who had cut her off, shook her head while feeling grateful for her concern.
Ram, Frederica, and Petra—yes, they could all offer Rem shelter. But even they couldn't fill the void Priscilla had left. They didn't know the days and hours Rem had spent with Priscilla.
And the person Cachu had been about to bring up last—Subaru— "I don't want to lean on the person he is now."
"...You mean he's unreliable?"
"That's not it. ...I don't want to rely on him. I hate the idea of becoming one of the many people he cares for."
"————————"
Rem's words overlapped Cachu's question, and she surprised even herself. Cachu's eyes went wide at the answer—and well they might.
Even Rem herself hadn't understood the landscape of her own heart until she heard the words leave her mouth.
But once she said it aloud, she found she could accept it as the truth.
"Somehow, Cachu, you seem to bring out all my flaws."
"I don't think that's all I see, and honestly, if we're talking about shame, I'm right there with you... But don't make me think about stuff like that, don't remind me! If I think about what a burden I am just by being alive, I want to die... I start feeling suffocated!"
She had probably caught herself before saying "I want to die" out of consideration for Rem's feelings.
Rem's lips curved slightly at Cachu's imperfect but well-meaning consideration. She found comfort in Cachu's presence—not in someone who hovered or clung, but someone who could say something like that.
Even if Rem had once asked whether she even belonged by Cachu's side.
"I'm at peace beside you, Cachu. You're always making noise with your squeaky voice, pulling my attention right to you."
"Is that a compliment? Are you trying to compliment me? Because if so, you've got no talent for it!"
When Rem intended to express genuine gratitude, Cachu glared at her with squinted eyes—and Rem found that rather unfair. It was in the midst of this exchange that Rem and Cachu were walking through the fortress.
"Heya," someone called, and Rem raised her head. There she saw a grey-haired young man, grinning and waving at them.
Rem had no idea who he was, but Cachu let out an "Oh—"
"Do you know him?"
"Not well, but he's a slacker."
"A slacker?"
"Hey, hey, I'm a little hurt to be remembered that way. Well, I guess at that point you weren't far off the mark, though?"
The young man corrected Cachu's impression of him in no particular hurry—not exactly frantic, but unhurried. Slightly wary of his approach, Rem tightened her grip on the wheelchair's handle.
Noticing Rem's posture, the young man raised both hands and stopped in his tracks.
"No need to worry. I'm not the kind of person who'd harm anyone. I'm just a pitiful guy who's lost his only asset and is slinking away."
"Slinking away... where are you going? Skipping out again? When everyone's struggling and supporting each other through all this?"
"I keep telling you, it's not like that. I do agree that the situation is what it is, though."
With a wry smile, the young man glanced behind him—at the fortress city where reconstruction had barely begun—spread his thin arms wide, and said— "Up until now, my eyes were set too high. From here on, I'm going to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground and look carefully at what's right in front of me."
"...I don't get it. What are you trying to say?"
"I'm paying my respects, miss. I never had certainty that I'd get to see her, but perhaps it was a final gracious gesture from the stars."
Cachu maintained a skeptical expression at the young man's cryptic phrasing. Rem's guard hadn't fully dropped either, but one thing was clear—this young man harbored no malice or hostility toward Cachu.
Quite the opposite—just as he'd said, there was something like genuine respect for Cachu about him.
Rem wasn't sure if that had anything to do with why Cachu had called him a slacker.
"You, miss—you saved the Vollachian Empire. The brilliance of that rising sun, the lives you can see from here—all of that is something you tore away from Providence."
"...Are you mocking me?"
"No, no, no, absolutely not. I was moving about according to Providence, but I was endlessly surprised by His Majesty the Emperor and General Chisha. That's precisely why it's you."
"I really don't understand a word of this. I get the feeling you're still sore about me calling you a slacker. But—"
She held up a hand to the young man, who was smiling wryly at her answer. After hesitating for a moment, she pursed her lips, then pointed back at Rem— "The reason I was there is because this one dragged me along. And for that matter, the reason I even met her was at the Prime Minister's estate—that was because Todd... Ah, anyway!"
With a sharp gesture, Cachu turned the finger she'd been pointing at Rem toward the young man instead.
And then— "I'm not going to get a big head just because someone praises me for reasons I can't even understand. Besides, what's so amazing or special about a woman with a broken leg? Like I could do anything on my own! Everything I've done is thanks to other people!"
"C-Cachu, isn't that going a bit too far..."
"Huh? You're literally pushing my wheelchair right now, aren't you? Just try getting the wheels stuck in a hole in the floor. I'd be done for!"
Rem was overwhelmed by Cachu's boldness and volume.
Rem understood that the delicate balance between self-deprecation and trust in others was what made Cachu's worldview so endearing— "Hah, haha—hahahahaha!"
Just as Rem was thinking this, the young man doubled over laughing. Cachu jumped at the reaction, flustered, stammering "Wh-What?"—but Rem had a vague sense of why he'd burst out laughing.
Caught between Rem's understanding and Cachu's bewilderment, the young man wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with a finger and said— "Ah... I'm glad I got to speak with you. If I'm told that something like that is what defeated Providence, then I have nothing more to say."
"I don't know what to make of you just deciding you're satisfied..."
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to get someone else to explain that to you. —Well, this is where I take my leave."
"Where to?"
As the young man picked up the small bundle at his feet and turned to leave, Rem couldn't help but ask.
He was someone whose name she didn't even know, someone she had no reason to stop—but she didn't wish ill upon someone who had spoken well of Cachu.
At Rem's question, the young man pointed toward Mt. Guildrey, the mountain bearing down behind the fortress— "Outside the empire, for now. Take care."
With that, he turned his back and walked away. Neither Rem nor Cachu had words to call him back. They could only wish him well on his bright-eyed journey.
The reason he could walk away with his back so straight was because of Rem, because of Cachu, because of the countless others, and above all—because she had blazed a path into the future with her radiant way of living.
"Everything is thanks to other people..."
"Wh-What? Do you have some kind of complaint? Sure, I know I was laying it on a little thick, but...!"
"No. I thought it was very you, and very good. I don't want to be under any illusion that I'm standing on my own."
Meeting Cachu's glances, Rem ran a hand over her own leg. Watching this, Cachu said with downcast eyes— "Somewhere along the way, you can walk normally now, can't you."
"Apparently, it was because the mana that should have been flowing through my body wasn't circulating properly... It might have an effect on your leg, too."
"...I'm fine, thanks. I'll just get my brother or someone to push the wheelchair. Besides—"
"Besides?"
"...For a while longer, you'll still be the one pushing it, right?"
At Cachu's tentative question, Rem opened her eyes slightly, then softened them and nodded. "Yes."
They both knew that "a while longer" wouldn't be all that long. Their exchange was built on that shared understanding.
The parting from Cachu—coming soon, no doubt—would be a painful one. When the time came for Rem to return with Ram, with Subaru, to the place she'd come from.
But her farewell to Cachu and the people of this place would be a farewell that left hope for reunion. It was someone's final—someone's last— "Kindness? Or was it cruelty? Priscilla..."
"Rem, follow your own heart. Your heart may ripple, but those ripples are never unsightly."
As Rem murmured, the words Priscilla had last spoken to her passed through her mind.
A rippling heart—that surely meant the weakness that would continue to rise like bubbles within Rem, threatening to disturb her peace.
But she didn't want to be someone who specifically rejected that, someone who clung to pushing it away.
Because Priscilla—that flame of a woman who had illuminated Rem, if only for a short time, who could never mistake what was true—had told her that her ripples were never unsightly.
—So please, allow this heart to ripple at the reality that you have vanished. Until the day when those ripples finally calm and she can think of you without tears.