Samuel again took a long pause. And when he finally spat out an answer, it was nothing particularly significant.
“As I said, the circumstances of the past and the present are different.”
Of course, unlike the past, Samuel was not a knight of the Round Table now. He was merely human.
But if I, a human, could take Dieris’s place, then shouldn’t Samuel also be able to attain peace even in his current body?
Or perhaps it wouldn’t matter if a portion of Samuel’s authority remained?
“Are you saying that won’t be a problem either?”
When I asked in a doubtful voice, Samuel slowly nodded his head.
“……Yes.”
Frowning at Samuel’s less-than-convincing answer, I found it utterly unbelievable. He was someone who had already betrayed us once, and I still couldn’t understand what form his repentance was supposed to take.
Even after regaining his memories, Samuel had never asked the knights for forgiveness. Rather, both then and now, he simply held his head stiffly high.
Just how great an obligation was it to guide me to the very end that he remained so haughty?
“Sir, if you intend to commit the same acts as in the past, I will stake everything I have and not let you be.”
“I will not.”
This time, the reply came back rather quickly and firmly. At least his unwavering gaze seemed sincere.
Holding onto my lingering unease, I glared at Samuel and asked one final question.
“The final authority will be properly executed, correct?”
“Yes.”
Then that was that. Frustrated by the feeling that no further conversation would yield an answer, I waved my hand.
“If there’s no problem, then it’s fine.”
I wanted to end this arduous journey as soon as possible. Now I, too, like the Dullahans, was yearning for my own peace.
“I will execute the final authority. Lead the way.”
At the end of this, I pray there is the peace I desire.
* * *
“The fight over the Roam assets is said to be fierce.”
“I imagine so.”
“It is a heretical family. All their assets should be confiscated to replenish the national treasury, should they not?”
At the somewhat discontented words of his aide, Heinri let slip a faint smile.
“Do you think the Roam assets consist only of wealth?”
Wealth, once lost, can simply be amassed again.
What is important are the connections and status the Roams have built up over time. Although the name ‘Roam’ has been cast into the mud, the positions they long occupied remain intact.
“Let them fight a little more.”
In fact, Heinri had already elevated several members of the collateral branches as new Roam candidates. Of course, he had no intention of actually bestowing the name ‘Roam’ upon them……
If granted too easily, they would become arrogant, so he planned to leave them to struggle until they were desperate enough to bend.
Moreover, Heinri had a more important matter at hand.
“More importantly, has His Majesty still not made a decision?”
He found the Emperor, who stubbornly refused to sign the document deposing Maxel, quite a headache.
Could the Emperor truly be unaware that this was the final consideration for Maxel?
“At this rate, I have no choice but to drive out my mad younger brother.”
He had intended to preserve what little dignity remained for the imperial family and at least have the deposition proceed through a quiet procedure.
Clicking his tongue, Heinri signed several documents.
“There. Instruct the imperial physicians to submit their final diagnosis.”
If the Crown Prince’s sanity must be proven before all the nobility, then so be it.
Irritably pressing his temples, Heinri changed the subject.
“What of the Roam family?”
The fall of the Roams, whose prestige had been high for generations, was the hottest topic among the capital’s residents these days.
Even without deliberately spreading rumors, word of their wretched state passed from mouth to mouth, and now the name Roam had become a disgrace even ordinary children knew.
Of course, for Heinri, hearing reports on the Roams’ downfall was not for amusement.
He was organizing information to relay to Anelli, in preparation for her contact which could come at any time.
“The Duchess of Roam’s spirit seems somewhat broken. And Duke Roam…… still insists he must meet the Resurrected One.”
“Tsk, what of the eldest of that house?”
“He remains bedridden. It appears his organs were severely damaged from heavy exposure to the toxin. As he himself has little will to recover, it is expected he will not last long.”
To be precise, he had heard that after both the Duke and Duchess were taken to prison, he was left unattended with no one to properly care for him.
The man who was once her husband was busy diving into the fight over the Roam assets.
“And the third?”
“It seems someone informed him of the Roam news. He caused a disturbance, trying to escape the monastery. He was diagnosed with a worsening of his unstable mental state and transferred to a closed monastery.”
Heinri stroked his chin and nodded.
Sayri Roam, was it? He had always been a boy clinging to his mother’s skirts, giving the impression of being quite weak.
When Heinri heard Duke Roam had sent his son to a monastery for recuperation, he had stationed people there, suspecting a scheme to spirit him away.
But upon receiving the surveillance reports on Sayri, it seemed the talk of his unsound mind was true.
Despite the peaceful monastery, Sayri kept to himself and spent his time abusing weaker animals.
If his condition was truly poor, Heinri had been considering whether to keep him confined in the monastery; it was rather convenient that he had caused trouble on his own. Perhaps it was for the best.
Instructing to maintain the surveillance, Heinri brought up another name.
“Lilia Roam.”
Lilia Roam had been sentenced to a more severe crime than the other Roam family members. The judgment was that she had directly caused harm beside the Crown Prince.
Of course, Lilia consistently denied the charges, but there were numerous witnesses within the palace alone who claimed to have seen her clinging to the Crown Prince and whispering.
Had this not happened, that whispering would have remained a sweet lovers’ secret.
“The same.”
‘The same’ meant she was still spouting nonsense. Since being imprisoned, Lilia’s words had been largely similar.
That she must regain her precognitive abilities, that Anelli had framed her, that the goddess had not yet abandoned her.
“Lately, she keeps demanding sleeping pills.”
“Is she scheming to somehow avoid public execution? Ensure the guards keep a tight watch.”
“Yes.”
The aide continued with several more reports. With only himself and the Empress now capable of handling palace affairs, Heinri had to endure the aide’s reports for quite some time.
Before he knew it, the sun had begun to set, and the sky started to tinge with red.
Rubbing his eyes, sore from staring at documents for so long, Heinri rose from his chair.
Then, stretching his stiff body here and there, he moved to the window and muttered while gazing at the distant sky.
“Another day passes like this.”
The communication magical artifact, which he habitually touched from time to time, remained silent.
“What in the world is she doing in the Veladia Mountains?”
Though they were not on terms to bicker over trivial matters, surely he was allowed to worry.
Heinri sighed, clutching the communication artifact tightly.
It seemed there would be no contact from Anelli today either.
* * *
“Please, give me some sleeping pills, won’t you?”
She pleaded desperately, but no answer came. Lilia, who had been trying to shove her face between the bars, withdrew again without success.
She had long grown accustomed to the prison’s stale air and foul smells. Not being able to wash made her whole body itch, and even the red, swollen bites from insects had become bearable.
Even moldy bread or soup of unknown contents were acceptable.
There was only one thing she could not endure.
“I must sleep, I must sleep…….”
Having slept all day long, now she couldn’t sleep even when she wanted to.
Day by day, the pages of her book were torn, and now only a few remained. Lilia wanted to protect that, at least.
When she thought that even during these waking hours, someone was arbitrarily damaging her book, it felt truly unbearable, horrifying.
“Ah, my precognition……”
Lilia crouched and lay face down on the prison floor.
Everything was a mess. Nothing was as she knew it anymore.
The Roams had completely collapsed, the Crown Prince was confined, and she was locked in this prison, going mad day by day.
“Anelli Roam.”
What in the world had she done? Why had it come to this? No matter how much she thought, Lilia could not understand.
She had only acted as her precognition guided her. How could Anelli have interfered?
As if she had peered into her very mind, like that……
“Huu, this can’t be……”
Swallowing her sobs, Lilia curled into a ball and muttered to herself. To her ears came the clanging sound of metal.
*Clang.*
The sound of the outer door opening.
Lilia raised her head with a hopeful face. Two guards appeared, accompanied by heavy footsteps.
Behind them, a neatly dressed attendant followed in.
“Has, has my false charge been cleared?”
Startled by Lilia suddenly rising and clinging to the bars, the attendant flinched and stopped.
Scanning Lilia with a wary face, he pulled a sheet of paper from his breast pocket. Clearing his throat with an *ahem*, he began in a solemn voice.
“Lilia Roam, an execution date has been set.”
The moment she heard the first words, Lilia’s face turned pale. In an instant, her eyes turned fierce, and she thrust her hands through the bars, flailing wildly.
“Impossible! Why me! How!”
“Yikes!”
“Grab her, quick!”
As the guards seized and subdued Lilia’s arms, the attendant, with a frightened expression, kept a safe distance.
Then he began to quickly read the contents he had to deliver. When, where, and how she would die.
Lilia roared. Even if it made her look more like a madwoman, there was no help for it.
Her cries of innocence reached no one’s ears, crashing against the cold prison walls and fading away.
Coincidentally, the place appointed for Lilia was the guillotine.