Chapter 77
"Sister! Sister Liese!"
"What is it? Is there something else?"
Liese answered sullenly.
She was practically radiating "stay away," and everything from her voice to her expression told me she was in a foul mood. Normally, I probably wouldn't approach her.
But this time, I couldn't do that.
"Whether there's something else or not, nothing has been resolved."
"As you said, I gave Jurgen a firm refusal. What are you dissatisfied with?"
"I wouldn't complain if you felt better after that, Sister. But you don't, do you?"
"What are you talking about? I feel completely relieved."
"You're a terrible liar."
She didn't look relieved.
If anything, she looked like she was regretting it.
"Why don't we talk while we walk? There are a mountain of things I want to ask you."
"I have nothing to say."
"Is that so...? Actually, Christa has made a close male friend."
"What!? What kind of man is he!? Is he respectable!? How old is he!?"
"I lied."
For a moment, Sister Liese looked caught off guard.
And then.
"I see. So you want to receive my training again after all this time?"
"Whoa!? It was a joke! A joke! But you know so little that you couldn't even see through a lie like that, do you?"
I stopped Sister Liese as she reached for the sword at her waist and chuckled wryly.
After thinking for a while, Sister Liese let out a sigh.
"...Make it quick."
"That depends on you. Shall we talk while we walk?"
With that, I fell into step beside Sister Liese.
She remained silent the entire time.
As I thought, she didn't seem inclined to open up of her own accord.
"There are a few things I've been wondering about."
"Make it one."
"I see... Then just one thing. What happened between you and Leo three years ago?"
She clearly hadn't expected that question.
Sister Liese's eyes widened.
Then she looked away from me.
"You'll answer one question, right?"
"...It has nothing to do with you."
"Doesn't it? Your visits to the Imperial Capital have become few and far between since then, haven't they? And we only exchange letters. It seems to me that you're avoiding people."
Liese glared at me resentfully, then shifted her gaze to the sky.
And then.
"...Three years ago, when the Crown Prince's funeral was held, I took a certain action, and Leo stopped me."
"What were you trying to do?"
"I was going to kill Zuzan."
"That's quite..."
That was exactly the sort of thing Sister Liese would do.
And exactly the sort of thing Leo would do, too.
I mean, that actually happened?
He had secrets of his own, too.
"I was convinced that he had been involved in both Mother's death and the Crown Prince's. So I tried to eliminate the Empire's source of calamity... but Leo stood in my way."
"If you killed the Emperor's consort without evidence, you'd be punished too, Sister."
"Even so... I wanted to kill her. I felt I could never forgive her. So I tried to force my way past him. But... no matter how badly I beat Leo down, he wouldn't yield. He said I was wrong and refused to let me through."
"That sounds like him."
"...Leo said judgment should be carried out according to the law. But the law is powerless. My brother was killed in a way that left no evidence behind. So I thought I had no choice but to cut him down... That's why I was determined to knock Leo unconscious and get past him. I hit him again and again. Again... and again."
Come to think of it, he'd shut himself in his room for a while after the Crown Prince died.
I thought he was in shock, but maybe it was because Sister Liese beat him up.
"Even then... Leo wouldn't back down. He kept saying I was wrong, that my brother would never want that. But... two members of my family had died... I couldn't just stay silent. I told him not to preach at me with empty logic. Did he have any idea how I felt after losing my mother and my brother, who had sworn to support her? Did he understand how the survivors felt...? In response, Leo asked what would happen to Christa. What about the rest of our family? The Empire? What about the things my brother had tried to protect? He said abandoning all responsibility was nothing but running away."
"...And what did you say to Leo?"
Sister Liese lowered her gaze from the sky to the ground. She looked terribly dejected.
I had never seen her look like that.
"...I couldn't say anything... That's when I realized I'd let my anger get the better of me. By the time I realized it... I couldn't stay there. I couldn't face Leo, battered as he was... so I fled back to the border."
"I see. So you kept your distance from people because you couldn't forgive yourself?"
"...Yes, I couldn't forgive myself. At the same time, I was afraid. If Leo hadn't stopped me, I would have done something foolish. I was afraid of that version of myself... so I stopped letting myself grow close to people. I gradually severed ties with everyone I knew. The only ones I couldn't cut off were you and Christa... and Jurgen. At first, I thought Jurgen was a nuisance for involving himself with me so shamelessly... but I was also grateful."
Before I knew it, we'd started climbing a hill.
Sister Liese continued up in silence, and when she reached the top, she sat down on a bench that had been placed there.
She seemed like a different person from the Sister Liese who was always brimming with spirit.
"So that's the background behind what you said about only marrying someone who can 'die alongside me.'"
"...If I were left behind, I don't know what I might do. But... I didn't want to make anyone else suffer the pain of being left behind, either. I'm a soldier. I'm prepared to die. But... I can't accept the death of someone who isn't a soldier."
"That's why you stopped Duke Rheinfeld from joining the military?"
"Jurgen is talented. He could handle military provisions, or perhaps serve as a strategist. But he can't die alongside me. I didn't want Jurgen to experience the pain I'd felt."
"But you couldn't bring yourself to cut ties with him completely. Because he's your closest friend, right?"
"...I don't know how he feels, but as far as I'm concerned, he's an old friend. But what you said made me realize something. I shouldn't bind him to me for my own selfish reasons. I... had been relying on him."
So that was what she meant earlier.
She was awkward, or something like that.
Maybe Sister Liese's time had stopped three years ago.
She had focused solely on her duties as a soldier and turned her eyes away from so many other things.
I couldn't blame her for it. Sister Liese had been closest to the Crown Prince. She had regarded him as the lord she was meant to support, just as I regarded Leo that way.
If I lost Leo... would I really be able to move forward?
It would be difficult. I would probably do the same thing as Sister Liese.
But what if someone stopped me?
She had lived all this time carrying those feelings with nowhere to go.
"I can't claim to understand how you feel, Sister. I haven't lost anyone. My eldest brother was someone I respected, but we weren't close enough to call ourselves family. I have my mother and my younger brother. I've never lost someone precious to me. But even so, there's something I can say."
"What...?"
"I think of you as family. Christa and Mother too, and probably Leo as well. That's why the way you're living now makes me sad. I can't believe there's happiness waiting at the end of this path."
"I'm not seeking happiness. The happy ideal I envisioned... was shattered three years ago."
"Leo will create an even greater ideal. So please, Sister, look ahead."
It was not a very convincing argument.
Leo had only just entered the struggle for the throne, and declaring that he could create an ideal greater than the Crown Prince's was nothing but family favoritism.
Leo was often compared to the Crown Prince. He himself was trying to become like him.
But no one even said that he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Crown Prince. The Leo of today was an inferior copy of the Crown Prince.
But.
"I'll make up for what Leo lacks. If the two of us work together, we can surpass even our eldest brother. We'll show you something greater than the ideal future you envisioned with him. So please, make the effort to see it."
"...You've made a bold claim. The ideal my brother and I envisioned is far grander than you think."
"That's exactly what I want."
Saying that, I looked Sister Liese squarely in the eyes.
They were different from usual.
They were calm.
"...It's a strange feeling, seeing my little brother grow up."
"Is it? Then you'll feel even stranger when you see Leo. He's growing too, you know. It's not just us. Ever since the great Crown Prince died, everyone has grown in their own way. That includes Duke Rheinfeld. The way things ended can't be right for a man who worked so hard to become worthy of you. If you don't want to marry him, that's fine. But you don't hate him, do you?"
"Well... he's a man who worked hard for my sake. I even find him likable. Of course, I have no intention of seeing him that way."
"Then tell him that. Cutting off your relationship like this is too harsh."
"That may be true, but..."
Sister Liese seemed strangely hesitant.
Could it be...?
"You aren't going to say it's awkward, are you?"
"O-Of course it's awkward! What am I supposed to say after pushing him away like that!?"
"Why not? Just say something casual. He won't care."
"I care! I am not going to be the one to repair our relationship! He'll have to come asking me first, and only then will I tell him things can go back to the way they were! That's the best way!"
"What a pain..."
"How dare you call your sister a pain!? As my little brother, you should make an effort for my sake! You can't say you won't help me after helping Jurgen, can you!?"
Good grief. I was supposed to be helping Jurgen with his marriage prospects, so how had things ended up like this?
If Sister Liese simply told him she'd gone too far, I think Jurgen would cry with joy, but apparently her pride wouldn't allow that.
She really was a pain.
Still, it was good to see a little of the old Sister Liese returning.
A little at a time was fine. Nothing would get better all at once.
As I was thinking that, someone came up the hill.
"Hm? Are you Duke Rheinfeld's butler?"
"S-so you were here! I-I'll report to both Your Highnesses! A purple signal fire has been lit in the south! It seems an abnormal situation posing a danger to the entire nation has occurred in the southern region!"
A purple signal fire announces the highest-level emergency. Once one is lit, the news is relayed through relay posts across the country all the way to the Imperial Capital.
The last time had been three years ago, when the Crown Prince died on the front lines.
That signal fire had now been lit in the south.
"Leo...?"
Without thinking, I turned my gaze south.
That day had been the same.
It seemed the turning points of fate always arrived without giving us time to prepare.
Sister Liese and I broke into a run at the same time.