Everyone’s eyes moved this way and that, following the Emperor’s hand. His outstretched finger traced along the gray barrier extending from the Beriela Mountain Range in the west of the Delphium Empire, passing through Tildyen’s desolate land and continuing to the strait called the ‘Sea of Tranquility’ at the eastern end. And finally, the playfully moving hand stopped above a small peninsula at the far eastern edge. The Emperor’s finger lightly tapped upon it, tap tap.
“Your Majesty… but nothing and no one exists there anymore. Is it truly Fortmeus?”
Hakseos recalled a place name he had glimpsed in ancient maps buried in the underground archives during his childhood. The elven ferry ‘Fortmeus,’ which was called the last guardian post of the Wall.
Aside from Hakseos and Usolin, who kept fidgeting as if uncomfortable somewhere, everyone else looked as if they had never heard of Fortmeus’s existence.
“Fortmeus, you say? There’s nothing marked on this map.”
Rohan stroked his chin and let out an empty chuckle. Nowhere on the map did a place name pronounced as Fortmeus exist. The tip of the eastern peninsula was completely empty.
“That is…”
Hakseos restlessly glanced at the Emperor. Though his mouth itched to speak, he couldn’t gauge whether this was a fact he was allowed to mention.
This place was, long ago when the third era ended, the last earthly ferry where the elves could return to the embrace of the Mother Goddess. All traces of the elves disappeared with this place as their endpoint, and Fortmeus’s fame gradually faded and vanished as time passed.
Now that all ancient records had been burned away, almost no one remained who remembered this place.
“……”
Tap tap tap—aside from the quiet sound of rain hitting the windows, silence briefly hung in the conference room. The Emperor leaned back deeply in his seat at the head of the table and looked around at the Empire’s dukes, who had fallen into confusion. However, Evernight alone had been watching him with a somewhat crooked posture from some point on. A smile rose to the Emperor’s lips.
“…It was during the Age of War.”
His voice was distantly subdued, as if reading a passage from a page of ancient history. Hakseos secretly breathed a sigh of relief and straightened his posture.
“With the center as the reference point, it’s known that Tildyen guarded the Wall in the west, and Fortmeus in the east. So if Tildyen wasn’t breached, the only direction the demons could come down from would be Fortmeus.”
As soon as the Emperor finished speaking, the exchanged glances soon spread into small whispers, then into loud commotion in an instant.
The Wall… wasn’t guarded by Tildyen alone?
Come to think of it, doesn’t the Wall curve like a hook toward the eastern end? Tildyen’s territory ends at that point, yet the Wall continues all the way to the strait, so I was always curious about who ruled that empty stretch of the Wall.
Before long, voices began echoing throughout the high ceiling, and the Emperor gestured toward Hakseos. Hakseos visibly brightened and straightened his previously prostrate body. Though he remained kneeling on the cold stone floor, a faint excitement seemed to course through his face.
“Has everyone here heard the story of the ‘Lost Kingdom’ in their childhood?”
At the sudden question, the dukes stopped talking.
“Yes. What citizen of the Empire doesn’t know that story?”
Bluoa answered with his face flushed from the heated discussion moments ago. The Lost Kingdom was a story woven from the legend of ‘Arbor,’ the city of mages and archers once ruled by a valiant lord. It was such a famous folk tale that most children of the Empire went to sleep listening to exciting and thrilling adventure tales of Arbor’s mages and archers at their bedside during childhood.
“The prototype of that Lost Kingdom Arbor is precisely Fortmeus. The young elven lord who ruled Fortmeus was Arbor himself.”
What did you just say? That’s actually true… someone said in shock. At the successive shocking facts, some stood with their mouths agape, unable to continue speaking, while others openly frowned, perhaps forgetting they were before the Emperor.
“Wait, just a moment, Lord Hakseos. Are you now saying that folk tale was actually real? And moreover, of that place name His Majesty just mentioned…”
To Canon’s rather impatient question, Hakseos gently nodded his head.
“Good grief…”
Rohan shook his head. He had thought it was merely a demon attack, but eternal night, the lost kingdom of Fortmeus… Usolin pressed his forehead with a groan at the increasingly complex causal relationships that seemed to tangle like a giant spool of thread becoming a mess.
“Lord Hakseos, the more I see, the more you truly know.”
Luksus moistened his throat with Maneregia’s summer wine and grinned. Only then did Hakseos prostrate himself flat again with a face that said ‘oh no,’ confessing his fault. He had boldly spouted the contents of forbidden books, so he deserved to be locked in the underground dungeon and more.
“Everyone have a drink first. The story ahead will give you an even bigger headache.”
For something like that, the Emperor couldn’t stop laughing.
* * *
The bedroom of the detached palace at the eastern end. The eyelashes of a boy lying as still as a dead mouse on the large bed trembled, and soon gentle hazelnut pupils appeared. His two unfocused eyes blinked slowly, then absorbed the morning light seeping in from outside the window.
“Uh… mm…”
Like someone who had been submerged deep underwater for a long time, his nose stung and his throat was terribly scratchy. After wiggling his fingers a few times in his hazy consciousness, Anya groggily sat up. Then his whole body screamed as if he’d been beaten everywhere.
“Your Highness!”
Sisou, who had been sitting in a chair by the bedroom door playing with a dagger, brightened and jumped up from his seat. Anya’s eyes were half-glazed with the lingering sensation of having just escaped from a long dream.
“Si… Sisou-kyung?”
Though his consciousness was hazy as if he’d had some old and nostalgic dream, fortunately, seeing Sisou standing before him, his head gradually began to clear.
“Yes, it’s me. Ah, ah. Don’t move! Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet.”
As Anya lifted the blanket and tried to get up from his spot, Sisou was horrified and rushed over in one step. Anya looked down at his own bare feet revealed above the floor.
Clearly… I participated in the hunting festival… with Lord Bluoa, deep into the forest….
Like puzzle pieces fitting together, a few afterimages quickly flashed through his mind. As Anya grimaced as if in pain, Sisou urgently called for a servant.
“Your Highness, are you alright? The imperial healer said you must maintain absolute rest. They firmly instructed that Your Highness’s body is currently in a special state where healing magic doesn’t work well, so you must be even more careful.”
At those words, Anya’s body visibly stiffened. And with somewhat urgent hands, he caressed his stomach. It still seemed flat, but on the other hand, it also seemed clearly different from before.
“Are you… hungry?”
Anya looked up at Sisou blankly.
“What… happened?”
“That day, on the day of the hunting festival, Lord Bluoa carried Your Highness, who had collapsed, all the way to the camp. He said you were attacked by a demon. His Majesty the Emperor urgently sent a reconnaissance team, and the healers gave Your Highness emergency treatment.”
Even facing this healthy appearance before him, recalling that memory made his heart terribly distressed. Sisou spoke word by word with difficulty, grimacing fiercely.
‘Ah, that’s right… I killed the demon and lost consciousness. But anyway, that was all a dream after all.’
Anya hung his head low, recalling the warm touch that had gently stroked him in the dream. To think that was really a dream. Somehow his heart ached. Perhaps because it was the first comforting touch he’d ever felt. Somehow it seemed he wouldn’t be able to forget it. Without realizing it, Anya placed his own hand over where that touch had been on his cheek, as if trying not to forget the hand that had touched it.
‘Like this… they did it like this….’
But who was it? Unable to remember the face of that gentle person, Anya became even more dejected.
“Your Highness the Prince!”
Just then, the door burst open and Buppu came rushing in noisily. Anya finally showed a faint smile at the welcome appearance.
“If I assist my lady even one more time, my heart won’t survive.”
Buppu made a fuss and soon presented the breakfast he had prepared with utmost care. Though he had little appetite, Sisou and Buppu were looking at Anya with such bright eyes that Anya first moistened his mouth with warm grain tea, then began nibbling away at the meal consisting mainly of soft foods.
“Um… how, how many days have passed? The equestrian tournament…”
“You were bedridden for three whole days. The equestrian tournament? Don’t even think about it!”
Sisou jumped up and turned red in the face.
“Oh my, if the Commander finds out, there’ll be big trouble.”
Anya answered timidly with a spoon in his mouth.
“I, I know that much too…. I’m just a little d-disappointed.”
Since he hadn’t captured any game at all during this hunting festival, he was obviously going to be in last place. So he wanted to make up for it at least in the equestrian tournament….
“Disappointed, you say!”
Buppu made a fuss from the side while deboning the long-steamed, tender meat.
“My lady was first place in this hunting festival!”
His chest swelled proudly.
“What…? Me?”
Anya asked back with a bewildered expression. He naturally thought he’d be in last place… how… At the gentle face hoping for an explanation, Buppu began chattering away.
“His Majesty the Emperor said that the demon my lady defeated was the largest and most ferocious one in this hunting festival. Moreover, that courage to risk your life fighting against the demon! That is most befitting of this hunting festival’s purpose and naturally deserves first place compared to anyone.”
As Anya’s small mouth opened smoothly in disbelief, Buppu shrugged his shoulders and added.
“It’s true. The hunting festival results are posted as big as door panels all over the imperial palace. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go tear off one of those notices and bring it to you.”
I’m in first place…? Really first place…?
“Wow…”
A faint exclamation flowed from Anya’s mouth. Though there were minor scratches, his pale cheeks that still hadn’t lost their baby fat soon swelled up roundly. A light blush like apples quickly bloomed over them.
“My goodness… it’s not a lie, is it! It’s really true?”
Anya showed a bright smile and kept asking. Buppu and Sisou simultaneously turned their heads away and giggled at the prince’s intense reaction.
“So please eat heartily.”
“Yes.”
After answering vigorously, Anya diligently stuffed food into his mouth. Please eat slowly, Your Highness. At the first report card he’d ever received, Anya’s heart floated about like clouds.
“Now it’s time to take your medicine.”
As soon as he finished the not-so-short meal, Buppu came holding the potion he’d received from the healer. Then an ominous premonition suddenly flashed through Anya’s mind.
Ah, how could I have overlooked this? His lips rapidly dried up.
“…Um, Sisou-kyung, did the healer say what kind of state I’m in that makes healing m-magic not work?”
The hand that received the potion from Buppu gradually began to turn pale. As the person who had been smiling and vigorously eating just moments ago suddenly darkened, Sisou answered in a calm voice as if to reassure him.
“No, they didn’t particularly say anything like that. The Commander just instructed me so.”
My goodness. Without realizing it, Anya nearly dropped the potion on the floor. Did Evernight… find out about his pregnancy? What should he do? His body suddenly sank.
