The roses bloomed and withered countless times. Each year the vines wrapped more tightly around the walls, and the roses grew ever more splendid.

Iette closed her eyes happily in the mansion blooming with roses.

And then…

* * *

“We’ve arrived, sir.”

At the coachman’s announcement, the white-haired old gentleman who stepped out of the carriage smiled.

Valide Montuare, whose beauty remained unchanged from his youth despite his age, gazed at the mansion blooming with roses and sank into nostalgia. Thinking of the woman who loved roses still brought a smile to his face out of habit.

Though now it came tinged with longing and sorrow…

Valide approached the house, leaning on his cane.

There was no time to indulge in sentiment. The man remaining in this mansion only stayed briefly when the roses bloomed before leaving again. How much trouble he’d gone through trying to find him during those times. Valide clicked his tongue as he was about to enter the front gate.

“I’m not accepting newspaper deliveries.”

“Oh my, but you really must hear this breaking news.”

Valide smiled smoothly at the person blocking his entry. Whether because it had been so long, or because he needed him in this situation, he’d missed this sight terribly.

“I have nothing to hear.”

“You really must listen. I’ve also brought letters from Your Majesty’s children.”

When he pulled out letters from his coat and waved them, even the stern Killian softened his stance. Iette’s children—Candide and Lacey—were still his reason for remaining in this world.

“Don’t call me Your Majesty. Have some tea and get lost.”

In the gap created by his quick hands snatching the letters, Valide stepped inside the mansion.

“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve been here too. You know I’m the one who arranged this house, right? I was so happy when Her Majesty liked this place.”

“Hmph, what Iette loved most was the Rose Villa I arranged for her.”

A brief childish argument passed between them, but the two men’s tea time was generally peaceful. Probably because they were both thinking of the person they missed.

“I’ve really missed the roses. The roses Her Majesty grew herself had such beautiful, long-lasting blooms. Her Majesty the Empress’s funeral too… perhaps because of the roses, it was the most beautiful funeral I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Looking at the garden blooming with roses, Valide recalled that day. The people of Sainte-Valion had all thrown roses while sinking into sorrow.

The death of Empress Iette.

Only upon facing Sainte-Valion’s great tragedy did people realize. What a great empress, what a great leader they had lost.

“Everyone’s regrets came too late. Even those who claimed to be the anti-Empress faction or whatever, who argued to depose the empress who couldn’t bear an heir and welcome a royal of good bloodline—even they shed tears in repentance that day. Such foolishness to seek blood ties and lineage despite seeing the Emperor and Empress’s abilities, despite seeing the former royal family’s incompetence… And then the chaos began.”

Killian’s brothers, unable to obtain Empress Iette’s counsel, couldn’t protect the throne and self-destructed. Sainte-Valion, having lost the Emperor with his overwhelming presence, wasn’t in a position to help them either.

In that chaos, Jeanne seized another opportunity and failed while aiming for a throne in another country, and Monsignol ultimately lost his life getting involved in a pointless war. Jeanne lost everything and, abandoned even by her siblings, had to wander from place to place.

“…”

“Your Majesty’s younger brother Lambert and Your Majesty’s adopted son Lacey succeeded with the people’s support. But that was all they could do with Killian I’s name behind them. The people who came after them repeated misrule, and now it looks like we’ll even see a restoration of the monarchy.”

Killian had been listening indifferently to Valide’s story, but he frowned at the mention of monarchical restoration. Wandering like a mercenary and moving from country to country, he’d been disconnected from news of Sainte-Valion, so he hadn’t known. But that had been deliberate.

“So what do you want me to do? Why are you telling me all this? I don’t know what you expect from me.”

Killian shook his head and only looked at the roses. His era had passed. Iette had asked him to care for the mansion’s roses and absolutely never enter politics again.

He’d heard briefly from Iette about Napoleon’s Hundred Days. Though the current world would evaluate Killian differently from Napoleon, it was obvious that returning as Emperor would cause major ripples.

“I know, Your Majesty, that you’ve deliberately stayed away from Sainte-Valion and avoided intervening in politics. But please think of the suffering people.”

“I must honor Iette’s wishes. I’m just a soldier, not qualified to be a politician. Besides, didn’t you hate me becoming Emperor?”

“Wouldn’t an imperial dictatorship by an Emperor who’s proven his ability be better than incompetent royals returning to wield tyranny again?”

Valide smiled bitterly, thinking of the disgusting royals.

Duke César, the King’s brother who was executed by the people’s hands. He had entrusted all his assets in Sainte-Valion to his abandoned son Valide and fled abroad.

Though Duke César ultimately died in a foreign land without returning, his successor came to Valide immediately upon returning to Sainte-Valion and brazenly demanded he hand everything over.

It wasn’t that he hated the royals because of personal feelings or because he was about to lose all his wealth. He couldn’t help but hate them for their shamelessness, seemingly having learned nothing despite experiencing the revolution.

The policies put forward by the returning royals weren’t something the people of Sainte-Valion, who had experienced revolution, could accept. They were still old and outdated, deserving to be eliminated.

“Your Majesty must return. At this rate, Sainte-Valion will fall into chaos again and become no different from before the revolution. Even thinking of Her Majesty the Empress who rebuilt this country…!”

Thud!

The voice stopped at the sound of the table shaking.

It had been a slip of the tongue.

Valide, unlike the seasoned politician he was, regretted having rashly touched the other’s sore spot. Even with time passed, Killian still knew how to pressure people with his unchanged intimidating presence. With him, one could rule a country without saying a word.

Sighing at this ability he wanted as a politician, Valide changed his approach.

“I misspoke. What I mean is… I hope you’ll step forward again for the people, for this country. Please think of the citizens of Sainte-Valion. I’m not saying to become Emperor again. Just make an official statement expressing concern about the old royal family’s return.”

Despite Valide’s repeated requests, Killian remained silent. He stroked his stomach out of habit before speaking.

“Just like Iette predicted. Lambert and Lacey governed the country well after me, so the timing’s a bit delayed. But she said the old royal family might return, or a relative using my name might become Emperor. And that citizens would rise up in revolution again to stop it.”

Valide knew this content too. The book Iette wrote was beloved enough that all people of Sainte-Valion could recite it by heart. Readers who came to understand and love Empress Iette through reading it also seriously believed the warning she left at the end.

That’s why Valide thought he understood why Killian wouldn’t return to the Emperor’s position. Iette’s book said that even if Killian returned as Emperor, his reign would end in a Hundred Days.

“If I return, foreign powers won’t stay quiet. And there must be foreign powers behind the old royal family causing this trouble. Expose that. The judgment belongs to the people.”

“Citizens who experienced revolution are no longer foolish. They will grow by consuming blood. We must trust their choice.”

Valide, recalling the passage Iette left behind, intercepted Killian’s next line.

Killian nodded, seemingly having nothing more to say. By his judgment too, there was no longer a place for him in this world. However, he decided to do one last thing only he could do for his homeland.

“…There should be less blood shed in vain because of foolish rulers. I’ll write something under my name, so publish it in your newspaper. It might not move anything immediately, but when the time comes, it might become a great force.”

Having grasped what Killian meant as he stroked his stomach and headed to the study, Valide followed happily. Either way, publishing something under the name of the former Emperor beloved by the people would cause tremendous ripples.

“Oh, and now that you’re getting on in years, keep a personal physician in Sainte-Valion and live comfortably. I have to go through trouble finding Your Majesty whenever something happens. I worry something might happen to you in a foreign land too.”

“Hmph, worry about what. You’re worried it’ll turn into an international dispute if I get involved in something strange. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely die here.”

“Oh, come now. Don’t die, Your Majesty.”

Killian snorted at Valide, who laughed saying they were still in the prime of their lives, and lowered the hand stroking his stomach.

He’d felt something wrong with his health for a long time. Having seen how his father, sister, and other relatives died, Killian decided to dedicate his approaching death to something at least somewhat meaningful.

He thought this was the right path rather than suffering from the pain of an illness with no cure yet while longing for Iette.

“You take care of your health too. I’m counting on you for Sainte-Valion. And stop with the ’Your Majesty.’”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Stay healthy.”

Having obtained what he wanted, Valide left with a cheeky smile.

After seeing Valide off, Killian went to meet death, having abandoned his weapons. He prayed that merciful fate would help him, old and sick, see his wife as soon as possible.

* * *

…Former Emperor Killian, who had made Sainte-Valion a great empire, was assassinated.

Though it was unknown whether the forces that killed him were foreign or the old royal family, the people of Sainte-Valion were enraged. Right on cue, the speech Killian had contributed to the newspaper swept the entire nation into revolution once again.

The people of Sainte-Valion who saw Killian’s final written words revived their forgotten revolutionary consciousness and rose up, and finally the citizens who drove out foreign powers and the old monarchy established a new country.

All people of Sainte-Valion equal.

A democratic nation where the people held power.

That spirit swept across the entire world, and this world moved in a different direction from the one Iette had known.

Whether that path was a better direction than any other world, no one could say…