The new maid who had joined me after Zetak’s departure was someone familiar. Thinking it would be easier to have someone I knew, I had called her from the Academy. She looked in the direction Riog had gone and spoke suddenly.

“More like a forbidden love in reverse than a younger brother.”

Neiri mumbled something cryptic before stepping back. Forbidden love in reverse? I almost asked what she meant, but stopped myself. It wasn’t unusual for her to mumble strange things. Instead, I looked down at the tea she had just poured.

I had spent countless hours in the garden with Zetak, but I realised that we had never sat down to drink tea together. He would always pour it for me, but I was the only one who ever drank it. In retrospect, it made sense – who could imagine a royal sitting at a table drinking tea with a servant?

I stared at the empty chair in front of me. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to sit there when he returned. I had no idea what kind of tea he liked, but if we spent every day together, I’d find out.

I imagined him, in his adult form, sitting in the chair opposite me. He would probably choose the tea I liked rather than the one he preferred. Maybe he’d drink it with a slight frown because it wasn’t to his taste. The thought strangely warmed a corner of my heart. But when I looked at the chair again, the warmth quickly faded. There was no one sitting there. It was nothing more than a simple daydream – just a fleeting fantasy.

***

Two years had passed. Time passed quickly. Although countless small events seemed to have happened, none were particularly memorable. It felt as if each day slipped through my mind and disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

“Back here again, are you? You’re turning into the garden’s resident ghost at this rate.”

Bapharos said as he entered the garden, sword in hand, smiling.

“Have you just finished sparring with Riog?”

“You hardly ever spar with me anymore. He’s just good for warming up.”

“Sometimes it’s annoying because he’s so persistent, but…”

Though it was clear he wasn’t really bothered. I’d heard that Riog, once arrogant and dismissive of others, had matured and no longer looked down on people. Despite his previous bad relationship with Bapharos, he seemed to have set him as a goal to surpass, challenging him to spar every day. Judging by Bapharos’ demeanour, he probably now saw Riog as a worthy opponent.

Then Bapharos sat down in the chair opposite me and began to speak.

“I came to tell you that Marienne is pregnant.”

“What does her pregnancy have to do with me?”

“It is not entirely unconnected. The Empire’s heir will be born thanks to you. Along with her pregnancy, she’ll soon be officially announced as the Crown Princess.”

I tried to imagine Marienne. She was probably smiling happily, imagining a future with the person she loved. She had once worried that Bapharos would use her. But now those worries were probably gone. Perhaps one could be happy even if one didn’t know that one was being used.

“Has the tower still not found a way to fix your hand?”

He asked, looking at my right arm.

“They’ve found a method, but it hasn’t been proven safe yet. After all, the research material from Karial’s castle is related to the Chimera experiments. It’ll probably take a few more years.”

“Karial… Now that I think about it, that’s what I came here to talk about.”

Bapharos motioned with his eyes for Neiri, who was standing behind me, to step away. When she had retreated, he lowered his voice.

“She tried to escape the mines.”

“Attempted, meaning she failed.”

Bapharos nodded slightly.

“With the close surveillance, failure was inevitable. If she had managed to escape and opened her mouth, it would have been disastrous. Even I, who helped smuggle her out, would have been in danger.”

“…”

“I know why you had her smuggled out – so that your lover would be the one to deal with her when he returned. That’s why I didn’t interfere when she was sent to the mines. But when I saw that she tried to escape, I thought it wouldn’t do to leave things as they were.”

Bapharos smiled, but his eyes were cold. If Karial were to escape, he would be in greater danger than I. If it were discovered that he had helped a heretic to escape, he could lose his position as Crown Prince. No, it wouldn’t stop there – he would probably be branded a heretic himself and put on trial. By attempting to escape, Karial had clearly tested Bapharos’ patience.

“What are you going to do?” 

“I have to prepare for the worst, in case she ever manages to escape. I’ll make sure she can’t talk.” 

“…” 

“I’ll cut out her tongue. To make sure she can’t write, I’ll also damage some of her fingers. And to prevent her from walking, I plan to sever the tendons in one of her ankles.” 

Bapharos wiped away his smile and looked at me with a blank expression. 

“I won’t touch anything else, so I hope you’ll allow me that much. My safety is at stake here, so I must take these minimal precautions.” 

“How is she?” 

He seemed to have said all he wanted to say when Bapharos turned away. He seemed to be in an unusually good mood, probably because of the news of Marienne’s pregnancy. Everything around me was changing rapidly. Although two years had passed, the chair across the table remained empty. Or maybe it wasn’t ‘already two years’, but ‘only two years’.

The fortune teller had said that Zetak would return faster than anyone could imagine, faster than anything recorded in history. But however soon it might be, it wouldn’t be within two years. And that was fine. I had expected as much. No matter when it was, I was sure he would return. So it was fine.

***

Time passed – three years, four years, five years. I gradually became numb to everything, as if I had returned to the way things were before I was reunited with Zetak. I heard the news that Marienne had given birth to her second child. Though I never visited her, news reached me from time to time. The child had begun to talk, walk and even run. It was only through these rare messages that I felt the passage of time.

By the sixth year, the research at the Magic Tower had finally borne fruit. Although a perfect transplant was still out of reach, they had made progress in reviving dead nerve tissue. After numerous trials and ensuring the safety of the procedure, I underwent the transplant. The revived nerves – or rather, the nerves replaced by a monster – restored sensation to my hand. But that didn’t mean I could move it immediately. This hand had been lifeless for years, so rehabilitation would undoubtedly take just as long.

By the seventh year, Father seemed determined to include me in the delegation. He asked my opinion, but when I said I wanted to concentrate on rehabilitating my arm, he willingly withdrew. Of course, this was just a pretext. What would I do if Zetak returned while I was abroad? I had to be the first to greet him when he returned. Seven years had passed. It was almost a decade.

In the future, he would return after ten years. Even then it was considered early, so I might have to wait at least ten years. Maybe nine. If a miracle happened, maybe he’d come back next year and smile. He might even say, “I’m back”. He might hold my hand and ask me if I was waiting for him, smiling all the time.

While I was lost in thought, a large hand suddenly appeared behind me and poured the tea. The hand, with prominent veins on the back, didn’t look like Neiri’s. It was far too large to be hers. Looking up, I saw a man in a servant’s uniform. His hair was neatly combed back, exposing his forehead and giving him a clean and polished appearance.

For a moment I thought of Zetak, perhaps because of the man’s dark hair. But on closer inspection, his hair wasn’t the same deep black as Zetak’s. There was a faint hint of blue in it. His eyes were also different – not red, but a pale grey. The pale colour of his irises made the deep black of his pupils stand out even more.

There was no sign of the snake-like scales on the man’s face to begin with. If Zetak had managed to get rid of all his scars, wouldn’t he look just as striking? Of course, there would still be the serpentine scales here and there.

“What happened to Neiri? Why did someone else come instead?”

“She’s not feeling well, so I came in her place. I’ve been here since this morning, but…”

Now that he mentioned it, I realised that I hadn’t heard Neiri’s voice today. As I thought about it, the man’s brow furrowed slightly.

“You really don’t pay much attention to your surroundings.”

The man spoke – a remark that would be considered rude to an ordinary servant when directed at a member of the royal family. But I didn’t reprimand him, perhaps because he reminded me of Zetak. Not in appearance, but in aura or presence. From the start, I hadn’t really known what Zetak would look like with all his scars gone, so it was impossible to compare their faces. Even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they resembled each other in some way.

The Zetak I knew from the future had a face distorted by burn scars that covered more than half of it, while the rest was covered in snake-like scales. As I looked at the man, I tried to imagine what Zetak might look like in the future, but I couldn’t get a clear picture.

Even though I was staring at him intently, he didn’t look away. Instead, he met my eyes directly and maintained the same level gaze. Despite the fact that, by standing while I sat, he was effectively looking down on a royal, he didn’t seem to be fazed. This attitude was strangely reminiscent of Zetak.

Given his seemingly arrogant attitude, I briefly wondered if he might be a noble. After all, lesser nobles without inherited titles or the children of fallen noble families sometimes entered the palace as servants.

“Where are you from…? No, never mind.”