His very existence was unpleasant, but Roned had saved Lucian’s life, which meant she could no longer openly ignore him.

“Indeed. A greater cause, by nature, takes precedence over personal circumstances.”

Roned maintained his gentlemanly smile and deflected Helena’s outrageous words with ease.

“A greater cause? A greater cause, she says. Fine. Give it your best effort. You were a royal who couldn’t even manifest an ability, getting tortured by your own family. Let’s see whether your paltry little opinions can stop your murderous half-brother.”

Helena kept her eyes fixed on Lucian, ignoring Roned to the end, and delivered her warning with an innocent expression before turning her attention back to Heliones.

“I got a bit carried away. You’ll dance one song with my friend, won’t you? You can at least do that much. Especially since you didn’t attend your nephew’s funeral.”

At Helena’s words, Heliones let out a breath and reluctantly took Nelia’s hand.

Lively music began, and Heliones and Nelia’s feet started moving lightly in time with the rhythm.

“I knew Princess Helena when I was staying in the Kingdom of Kelton. Had I known the atmosphere would be like this, I would not have come with her.”

Nelia, deeply embarrassed by Heliones’s cold manner, offered an apology. But Heliones gave no response. He fixed his gaze on empty air and moved only his feet, looking from the start as though he had no intention of engaging with Nelia at all.

The moment the dance ended, Heliones released Nelia’s hand. Without a parting word, he went straight to Helena, took his sister by the hand, and walked out of the ballroom.

* * *

At this rate, today’s plan had gone up in smoke. My intention had been to ask Heliones for the floor once the mood was right and make my position known to the nobles, but an unexpected development had arisen, so there was nothing to be done.

Thinking about it, there had been no guarantee that Helena wouldn’t return this year. She had always loved social events and made a point of coming home in time for the ball.

And simply because she was someone I had no wish to encounter, that was no reason Helena couldn’t return to her homeland, to her home.

Should I have offered some words of comfort? I had heard she had a daughter born the year after her marriage. The child had never traveled abroad since she was still too young, so I had never met her, but I had heard a great deal about her.

Whenever people asked Helena how married life was treating her, she would deflect every other question, but whenever someone asked after her daughter, she would always answer with a dreamy, blissful expression.

The child had black hair and grey eyes, just like her, they said. Helena had black hair like her mother and brother, but her eyes were blue like her father’s, so she always laughed and said the girl took after her uncle more than after her.

Every time I heard Helena talk about her, I would quietly imagine what the little lady who so resembled Heliones might look like.

And yet… she’s gone. She would have only just turned four, perhaps. Such a sweet age. She died without ever having visited her mother’s homeland.

She was a niece I never got to see even once, and now she isn’t even my niece anymore, and still my heart feels heavy. Heliones seemed not to have heard the news of her death either. What must he be feeling right now?

With one shocking piece of news following another, the ballroom was no longer in any state to enjoy a celebration. With even the guest of honor, the Emperor himself, having left the main hall, the attendees began to feel there was no reason to stay, and one by one they started to leave. The Summer Night Ball this year, the first grand celebration since the Frianc Empire’s restoration, looked set to end just like this.

With Heliones gone, I had no reason to remain either. I would chat with Elise for a little while and then head back. But before that.

“I heard you performed my surgery yourself. I should have expressed my gratitude long before now, and I’m sorry it took this long. I am truly grateful.”

Whatever my personal feelings, the fact that Roned had saved my life was undeniable. I had been told that given the location of the wound, the surgery would have been unlikely to succeed without his hand at the helm. I had wanted to thank him ever since, but there had been no opportunity to meet him privately, so I was glad to have the chance now, even like this.

I bowed my head deeply, and when I raised it, Roned wore an expression that was difficult to read, something bittersweet and glad at once, the way one might feel tasting the sweetness and bitterness of dark chocolate at the same time.

“I am simply… glad you are safe.”

His voice was trembling noticeably. Had he been worried? Why? Because if I, the being from the prophecy, were to die, Rodencia might never be revived?

I knew it was an ungrateful thought, but his track record made it difficult to accept his goodwill at face value. He had spoken of Rodencia’s revival, and I had no idea what he thought of me now that I was working to obstruct Lewian.

Did he regret saving me?

“Did you see the article?”

I brought it up deliberately. I could not understand why someone as sharp as he was took a prophecy seriously enough to believe in it, but the time had come to draw a clear line.

“The prophecy was fulfilled through my birth. A non-ability user was born, and Rodencia fell. That is the end of it.”

“But….”

“But? What are you trying to say now? Are you about to tell me that Rodencia will be revived because of me?”

Roned could not answer my question. I was relieved he did not seem intent on making things difficult for me here.

“I don’t know whether you have fond memories of Rodencia’s royal palace, but I do not. It is a place I have no wish to ever return to. All I want is for the people living on that land to be at peace.”

Did he understand what I was saying? I hoped he did. To me, the Rodencian royal family is nothing but a collection of people who tortured and abandoned me. That place may be your cherished maternal homeland, but to me it is nothing more than the backdrop of a nightmare.

A shadow fell over Roned’s red eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen a deep shadow settle over those vivid red eyes that looked so much like mine.

“If that is your wish, I will not bring it up again.”

“I would be grateful if you did.”

Has he finally understood? I gave Roned a nod of thanks for stepping back without resistance and moved to leave, but his meaningful words caught me by the foot.

“However, the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Surely you know this, Lady Lucian. That the fall of Rodencia is not the final verse of the prophecy.”

In a way, he was someone to feel sorry for. The divine beasts had died a thousand years ago already. A powerful ability user had happened to be born in the form of my father, but with my father now gone as well, the ability users who remained numbered only a few dozen who could produce flame from their fingertips, Lewian included. In a world where the weapons humans had created already surpassed the power of the divine beasts, why could he not let go of his faith?

The age when the divine beasts’ power and a chosen people’s ideology could sustain a royal court was over. The end of those who had grown cruel in their belief in their own divinity had been all but inevitable, with or without me.

“You mean the verse about the divine beast’s body, which abandoned its divinity, disappearing entirely and losing its power? That actually seems to fit the present situation rather well. I cannot understand why someone as intelligent as you would cling to a prophecy.”

“No, I….”

“I am using the prophecy for my own purposes, but I am sick to death of it. A few old lines that gnawed at my entire life, they are no different from a curse to me. So as you said, please do not mention it in front of me again.”

“I apologize. I said I wouldn’t and then I went and did it again….”

Roned bowed his head deeply, all the spirit gone out of him. His striking face was more than enough to draw the gaze of many a woman in the room, but I turned away without a word in reply to his apology.

I hoped we would not become entangled any further.

I took Elise’s arm and turned to leave, when Roned called my name.

“Lady Lucian.”

What now? Do you have something to say to me beyond the prophecy? My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Roned swallowed and carefully brought up what he actually meant to say.

“Would it be all right if I stopped by the lodging where you are staying?”

“Pardon?”

“I want to see how well the surgical site has healed, and also, there is something I would like to say. It is certainly not about the prophecy.”

This time he had the sense to keep his voice low enough that those around us could not hear. The sight of a man who had always carried himself with quiet intellectual confidence now fidgeting and pleading made me give a small nod before I even realized it.

He did save my life. I might as well consider it a proper expression of gratitude.

Just as I was leaving the ballroom on Elise’s arm, my eyes met Nelia’s. She was still lingering in the center of the hall.

She had simply known Helena and come in with her because of that. But for some reason Nelia looked troubled at the sight of me, her expression pained, the way someone might look with a sharp ache in their chest. I had no ill feelings toward her, so I gave her a light smile and a nod of greeting, then turned away.

“She goes silent for so long and then suddenly turns up with Princess Helena.”

Elise, however, seemed to have feelings about Nelia’s behavior, and let out her grievances in a pointed voice.

“Princess Helena and Princess Nelia go back further than she and I do.”

“Even so. Giselle, I can understand, since her family discouraged her the way mine did, but Princess Nelia is a foreigner. That doesn’t apply to her. It feels rather like she attached herself to Lady Lucian to get close to His Majesty, then switched to Princess Helena once public opinion turned.”

A laugh slipped out of me as I listened quietly to Elise.