Anyway...
“Shinichi-kun, it’s still dangerous, you need to—”
“Tifu murottsu!” he shouted over me, raising his right hand. He was aiming... not at me, but just beside me, at the Zwelberichian assassin.
“Huh...?! I whipped around again to see the woman crashing into a tree, her cloak dragging her like a parachute. I watched in astonishment as she slid down the trunk and settled on the ground.
“Sh-Shinichi-kun, haven’t you ever heard of overkill?” I knew she had tried to murder him, but even so, there was no reason to use offensive magic on a helpless opponent.
“It wasn’t overkill,” he said. “Look.” He was pointing at the assassin. No... wait, what?
“Shinichi-sama!” Myusel appeared next—I assumed she had gone after Shinichi-kun—followed by Elvia, still half-carrying Hikaru-kun.
Still looking where Shinichi-kun had pointed, I discovered that there was a bottle, lying half-buried in the leaf mold. It was made of a pale ceramic. I couldn’t tell exactly what was inside, but it was uncorked and rolling on the ground near us.
“I think it’s poison,” Shinichi-kun said. He went over and crouched by the bottle, then thoughtfully took out a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to pick the thing up. Whoever this assassin was, this bottle could be evidence against her. Maybe he’d remembered some detective show he’d seen and realized he needed to avoid touching it. Not that I figured they knew how to lift prints in this world.
“She was lifting it to her mouth,” he explained.
So she had only been pretending to be unconscious. Then when my back was turned, she had intended to drink the poison and kill herself.
“Thanks. I’m impressed you noticed that.”
“When you fail to kill your target, you take yourself out. That’s, like, Assassination 101 in the movies. You know—‘dead men tell no tales’?”
“That’s great and all, but... I think I told you to stay put, didn’t I?”
“Er, yeah... I guess you did. Sorry.” Shinichi-kun shrugged apologetically. I still didn’t understand exactly why, but this boy obviously valued the safety and well-being of others far above his own. That sort of thinking made heroes of some people—but it got lots more ignominiously killed.
“So what do we do with her?” Shinichi-kun said, indicating the assassin.
“I think the best thing we can do is take her to the castle and give her to the authorities.” We were just guests of the Eldant Empire; it wasn’t our place to pass judgment on people from other nations, especially when those people were servants of a visiting royal. Getting unnecessarily involved here had diplomatic incident written all over it.
Of course, one could argue that since we had all nearly been murdered, maybe they deserved what they got—but we could leave the Eldant Empire the choice of letting this go. It would give them serious leverage with Zwelberich, a favor they could call in when it really mattered.
“Hikaru-kun, can you walk on your own yet?”
“Er, yeah... Thanks, Elvia. Sorry.” He scrambled away from Elvia. He didn’t look completely steady on his feet yet, but good enough to manage.
“All right, Elvia, then can you carry our new friend?”
“On it!”
“Just watch out. I think she’s unconscious for real this time, but you can’t be too careful.”
“Sure thing!”
Elvia went over and hefted the woman up. That was when Shinichi-kun appeared to notice something.
“Huh? Is she...?”
“Uh-huh. Prince Rubert’s attendant.”
“Yikes!”
Elvia had never seen the woman close up, so she hadn’t connected the dots, but Shinichi-kun and Hikaru-kun both looked suitably shocked. Myusel had already met the woman—but in the guise of a fortune-teller. It must have been startling in its own right to realize she was a servant of the royal family of Zwelberich.
“I know we suspected Zwelberich might be behind this, but...”
“To think, the prince’s own attendant was the culprit...”
It was possible the woman wasn’t actually a professional assassin. If Zwelberich had intended to kill Shinichi-kun all along, they certainly would have sent someone with no known association with the prince to do the job. Plausible deniability on the off chance the guy was caught. That suggested this plan had only been dreamed up after Prince Rubert had met Shinichi-kun. Only after Rubert realized how close the empress really was to him. He’d had to make do with the people he’d had available.
In any event, all I could do right now was shrug and sigh. “It’s going to take a long time, explaining this to Garius-san and the rest.”
The next day, in the audience chamber of Holy Eldant Castle. From the ornate decorations to the knights who stood at attention, to its sheer size, this was a room purpose-built to communicate the power of the country’s ruler. And right now, the atmosphere inside it was tense.
Petralka was, of course, sitting on the throne at the far end of the room, and as ever, she was flanked by Garius and Prime Minister Zahar. Below their raised dais stood not only the knights, but a panoply of Eldant counselors, along with me, Minori-san, and Hikaru-san, representing Amutech. But for once, we and everyone else there were merely spectators. The real star of the show was Petralka—and the handsome man standing across from her.
Rubert, Sixth Prince of the Kingdom of Zwelberich. The tension in the air came more from the advisors than it did from Petralka and Rubert. Demi-humans like Eric-san and Rydel-san looked especially worried: they had a lot riding on this. Specifically, their entire futures.
For today, Prince Rubert was going home. Petralka would at last have to answer his proposal one way or the other. Depending on what she said, the demi-humans of the Eldant Empire might abruptly find themselves in a very bad place. Nobody expected the Prince of Zwelberich to start being all buddy-buddy with demi-humans just because he married the Empress of the Eldant Empire. Prime Minister Zahar watched the proceedings with unease, shooting anxious glances at the other counselors—and at me—several times. He understood what was at stake for the likes of Eric-san and Rydel-san.
To my surprise, when Petralka finally spoke from the throne, she didn’t seem quite able to look up. “Prince Rubert...” The strain in the air thickened. I had no way of knowing whether Petralka noticed it or not, but she looked up as she said, “In regards to the matter of... your proposal...” As she raised her head, I thought her eyes met mine—that she spared the briefest glance in my direction. But maybe I was just overthinking things. The slightest, weariest of smiles tugged at her lips, but she quickly controlled it and looked directly at the prince.
Then she said: “We cordially refuse.”
That was it. Three words. All that followed was an almost painful silence.
It didn’t last long, though. A buzz started that quickly spread throughout the throne room.
Of course, we of the Amutech contingent had known this would be her answer. But we hadn’t had enough time to inform Eric-san or Rydel-san. I glanced over and saw the two of them sharing a very satisfied handshake, as if to say Yes! And here I thought elves and dwarves weren’t supposed to get along.
“Silence.” Garius’s voice cut through the chatter.
There was no doubt in Petralka’s eyes as she looked at Prince Rubert. I saw no question in her mind. Her expression was calm, composed, as if it came from a realization or understanding that had given her strength. She looked downright, well, adult. Certainly different from the way she’d seemed when she had come to me for advice.
And as for Rubert...
“Is that so?” he said with a little shrug. “A shame. I am truly disappointed.”
The words were those of a man whose marriage proposal had just been turned down, but not a flicker of real emotion passed across his lovely face.
“Will you ask our reasons?”
“No, Your Majesty. I pride myself on accepting defeat graciously.” A tiny smile
crossed Rubert’s face. “Indeed, I rather prefer being rejected with such finality.”
“Indeed...?” Petralka returned his slight smile.
“However, the bonds between my nation and the Holy Eldant Empire still stretch back some six hundred years. I have faith that my own unsuitability will in no wise undermine that relationship. May our alliance and our amicable exchange continue as it always has.”
“But of course.” Petralka and Rubert shared another smile, friendly this time. Somehow, they didn’t look like a man whose proposal had just been turned down and the woman who had said no. (Maybe it was just because they were both so pretty?) I thought back to my own moment of romantic rejection and marveled at how a truly cool guy continued to look good in all circumstances.
And then, with surprising suddenness, it was over. And that’s the story of how Prince Rubert did not get married to Petralka an Eldant III of the Holy Eldant Empire.
About an hour after the assembly in the large audience chamber, I found myself in the small one—the one I was more used to. It was less than half the size of the room we’d been in earlier, and although it was built in much the same style, it had no windows and thicker walls and doors, to enable quieter, more private conversations. Petralka was there, as was Garius, and Prince Rubert.
And one more person. A woman was kneeling in front of Rubert, her hands bound with wooden cuffs and a gag in her mouth. I found the sight a little shocking, but apparently this was standard procedure with criminals in the Eldant Empire, and considering that this person had tried to commit murder, she was probably lucky her situation wasn’t any worse.
It was Rubert’s attendant. The would-be assassin who had targeted me and my friends.
Petralka began things in a dispassionate, just-the-facts voice. “Last night, Shinichi and other members of his household were attacked at their mansion.”
The follow-up came from Garius. “This woman is from Zwelberich. Indeed, she is one of your companions, Prince Rubert, is she not?”
The question was rhetorical, obviously. Garius and Petralka both would have recognized the woman. Not to mention she was clearly visible on the video from Minori-san’s in-castle camera—although I strongly suspected we didn’t want to have to submit that as evidence if we didn’t need to.
Prince Rubert was silent. But he didn’t look at me, or at the assassin, or even at Petralka. He stared straight at Garius.
“We won’t press matters—this time,” the minister said. His tone had changed; he no longer spoke with the stiff formality of someone addressing the prince of an allied nation; instead he sounded almost casual, like he was talking to a friend. The only people in this room were those directly connected to the attempted assassination. Maybe he was signaling that we didn’t need to treat this as a state occasion. “I believe the motives of the Zwelberichian party are more or less clear,” Garius continued, with a glance at Petralka. “I would never permit this marriage to proceed.” His voice carried tremendous finality.
More than a few people, including myself, Eric-san, and Rydel-san, had worried that Garius might be swept up by his feelings for his former boyfriend, Rubert, and welcome a match between the Prince and Petralka. At this point, though, it was looking like we had badly misjudged things.
“Shinichi and his companions may not be Eldant citizens, but they are honored guests of our empire. An attempt to harm them is difficult to overlook. If you had hoped to press your suit with the empress, there were other ways of doing so. I think you grew a little overeager.”
Garius was Garius. I guess he had been busy investigating things; we just hadn’t known about it. He had looked into things like the political situation in Zwelberich and its relationship with the countries around it. I hadn’t heard the details, but I gathered that something about the domestic situation in Zwelberich at the moment had Prince Rubert at a bit of a political disadvantage. A marriage with Petralka would have allowed him to completely turn the tables.
“We will not forget this matter, but neither do we intend to make it public. We have scarcely more to gain than you do from an open confrontation with the Kingdom of Zwelberich.”
“Mm.” Prince Rubert sensed that this was no time for excuses. A quiet smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “You’re more formidable than you appear.” He looked—not at Garius, but directly at me.
What? Me? Formidable? Huh?
Was he saying that because I had evaded an attempted poisoning and captured an assassin? But that had been all thanks to Elvia and Minori-san, respectively; I had hardly done anything except almost get killed. Or was he addressing me as the representative of my entire group?
But he wasn’t done. “I see it now. You are truly loved.”
“Wha...?” What a weird thing to say. And now, of all times. I just didn’t get this guy... “Wh... What do you mean by that?”
The question was out of my mouth before I could think about it. Prince Rubert didn’t answer, though; he just kept smiling that quiet smile.
Sometime after the refusal in the audience chamber...
Garius and Prince Rubert walked through the halls of the castle, looking almost like they were trying to avoid being noticed, and went out into the courtyard together—alone together. They found the shadow of a large tree to stand in, somewhere it wouldn’t be easy to spot them. And there...
Rubert looked around the neatly manicured garden. After a long silence, as if the question had just occurred to him, he asked, “How long have you known?”
“From the start,” Garius said, standing beside Rubert. There was no inflection in his voice, and he didn’t look at the Prince. He stood completely still, clearly almost forcing himself not to move. His emerald eyes just stared straight ahead. He seemed intent on keeping a small but unwavering distance between them. “I knew why you had proposed, and I had no interest in letting it go forward.”
“I see...” Rubert smiled and nodded. The look on his face was downright untroubled. Was he impressed that his plans had been so thoroughly thwarted? Or did he just want to maintain the appearance that it didn’t bother him? “Here I was sure I had you fooled.”
“You thought...” Garius said softly. He sounded almost emotional. “Looking back... All the way back. The way you befriended me, stayed close to me. Was all of that just part of a grand design to make this possible?”
What a question. He wanted to know, in other words, whether everything that had happened between them while he was in Zwelberich, the relationship they’d had, if it had all been part of a plan leading up to this moment. Was he really asking that? Even I knew that was years and years ago, but if so...
“Oh, yes, of course,” Prince Rubert answered without hesitation.
He actually admitted it!
“Naturally, I didn’t have these specific circumstances in mind. But I’m an adept enough player of this game to have known that somewhere along the line, a friendship with you was likely to come in useful.”
“So the things you whispered to me, it was all—”
“We lot’re royals,” Rubert interrupted, switching to a brusque tone of voice. “And as such, the freedom to love is something we don’t have and will never have. We’re a part of the machinery of the state. Tools to be used to shore up its fortunes. Your own feelings, any affection for anyone else—if it can be used, you use it. That’s what it means to be a member of a royal family. And in return, we’re granted endless powers and privileges. Am I wrong?” He looked Garius in the face, seeking confirmation.
This beautiful young man who had just confessed to being a master strategist—the gentle smile had vanished from his face as if it had never been there. In its place was an emotionless mask.
Garius said nothing; he simply stood there. He, too, was expressionless. For an instant—the barest fraction of a second—I thought I had seen his face flinch, like a child’s the moment before he bursts into tears. But I blinked, and found Garius just as composed as ever.
“No, you�
��re not,” Garius said with a shake of his head. “Everything is exactly as you say.”
Prince Rubert met this with an ambiguous smile. He didn’t look especially pleased to hear Garius agree with him. Instead, he almost looked...
“Well, I believe it’s time for me to be going.” With that, Rubert set off across the courtyard with all dignity. Neither man betrayed any pain at their parting. Rubert didn’t stop, didn’t look back, but disappeared into the castle. For his part, Garius just kept staring in one direction.
I had never seen such an abrupt goodbye.
But I wasn’t the only one here to appreciate this.
“Pant... Pant...”
When I noticed how heavily Minori-san was breathing, how bloodshot her eyes were, there in the shadows from which we had been watching the conversation, I quickly moved to restrain her.
“IS—”
Hikaru-san and I both clapped a hand over her mouth to prevent another outburst of “IS THAT REALLY REAL ACTUAL BL” or whatever was coming. Minori-san tried to fight us, but Loek and Romilda jumped on her, too. They had been here at the castle with their parents, and Hikaru-san had brought them along in case we had any more “incidents.” It turned out he had been right to worry.
“Mmmrrrf! Mrrmm!!” Minori-san was still trying to shout something in spite of our impromptu gag. Thankfully, blocked by two palms, her voice didn’t carry. It did kind of tickle, the way her lips were moving against my hand, but I could bear it.
Suddenly, though, I felt Minori-san’s body go limp. Huh? Had we been a little too enthusiastic blocking her mouth and suffocated her?
“M-Minori-sensei?” Loek and Romilda jumped back. Our rotten WAC slumped to her knees; in fact, she proceeded to fall face-first onto the ground. Her lips opened and closed like she was having trouble breathing. Worried now, I put my ear close to her flapping mouth.
Outbreak Company: Volume 12 Page 16
