Purple Heart (9)

“I am fine. Alicia, are you all right as well?”

Reichardt spoke, his hair still dust-covered.

“I’m all right…”

Alicia looked back and forth between the collapsed royal box and Reichardt’s calm face and drew a deep breath.

Because of her time in hell, Alicia had grown bolder.

After returning, she realized her environment had changed and had tried to be more cautious than before.

Reichardt, on the other hand, threw his own body around carelessly.

Far more than Alicia did.

Shaking out a bit more of the dust from his hair, Reichardt said:

“I am sorry to have startled you.”

“Are you truly unharmed?”

“I am. I felt the railing give way, grabbed the curtain, and—my apologies.”

“You do not have to apologize to me. Just don’t do that again.”

“I won’t. But…”

Trailing off, Reichardt stared at the hideously shattered debris.

“You must see His Majesty before you go.”

“Yes, we should.”

“I would like Gaeller.”

At Alicia’s out-of-the-blue remark, Reichardt blinked blankly.

Gaeller?

One of the viscounties held under the Count of Juma’s domain—the Viscounty of Gaeller.

Gaeller was known for fertile soil, but was not particularly important.

It felt odd, asking the Emperor for a fief for the man who had just broken the opera house.

Reichardt did not ask what she meant.

Had the railing given way while the Emperor and Empress were seated, with even a slight force, the result would have been unimaginable.

“Will Gaeller do?”

“Gaeller is plenty. They say the peaches there are delicious.”

The place famous for peaches was not Gaeller but the capital region, Juma.

Reichardt did not argue.

He thought he almost understood, but did not pretend to.

“I will see you to your carriage. I cannot escort you all the way to Luderne—I must go claim Gaeller.”

“I am grateful for Your Highness’s consideration.”

At Reichardt’s words, Alicia demurely observed the courtesies.

The Emperor’s study was quiet.

That vast room of shelves seemed to hold even more books than before.

So many that some lay horizontally atop the rows where there was no space left.

With the imposing wall of books at his back, the Emperor sipped tea at leisure.

“What did you say?”

Seated across the desk, Reichardt also drank his tea unhurriedly.

“Your Majesty, the central royal box of the opera house collapsed.”

The chief attendant reported the terrifying fact with a gentle face.

“…”

Reichardt merely sipped his tea.

“When?”

The Emperor set his cup down with a clatter.

“Just after the banquet ended,”

The chief attendant replied in a warm tone—odd for someone who had been in the box with the Emperor when it fell.

“Reichardt.”

“Your Majesty, the entire railing portion sheared off. It is not the sort of thing one person could do by brute strength in an instant. Even if possible, one would have to slice marble as if cutting radishes. The cut surface shows signs of age and mysterious deterioration.”

At the Emperor’s sharp summons, the chief attendant smoothly cut in.

Reichardt set his cup down obediently.

“You called?”

“How did you know?”

As he questioned him, the Emperor waved the attendant away.

The attendant flowed from the room like water.

“Just.”

Reichardt lifted his cup again.

“‘Just’?”

“Let us say I simply heard it.”

The dubious answer made the Emperor scowl.

“What does that mean?”

“It was not me, Your Majesty.”

“I know that!”

The Emperor barked at the face pretending nonchalance over tea.

“How long will you keep cross-examining me?”

“Thank you, little brother. In the end, only our youngest can be relied on.”

The Emperor’s beautiful face still wrinkled.

Watching his brother utter gentle words while frowning—a strange talent—Reichardt inwardly winced.

“They say Gaeller’s peaches are delicious.”

The Emperor understood at once.

His scowl shifted to puzzlement, then suspicion, then outright doubt.

“Who said that?”

“Everyone, it seems.”

The Emperor stared at the evasive Reichardt for a long moment.

It was common for Reichardt to handle a crisis like this.

But to demand a reward for it—unprompted—was unusual.

He had accepted imperial rewards graciously when offered, but had never asked first.

And the place he wanted was unexpected.

Also, Gaeller was one of the places drawing attention because the succession issue in the capital Juma lingered.

The Reichardt he knew was not the type to weigh such matters.

“If you want it, I shall give it. The viscountcy of Gaeller happens to be vacant; I will grant it to my beloved younger brother. Thanks to you, the Night of Opera ended safely.”

“I thank Your Majesty for this grace. Please send the patent of nobility and the seal to the grand ducal residence.”

“So I shall.”

Reichardt turned to leave—then turned back.

“Brother, are you going to Her Majesty?”

“I am.”

“The one who told me Gaeller’s peaches are delicious also said: if Your Majesty did not grant Gaeller today, then tomorrow—or if not tomorrow, then the day after—or a week later, or ten days later, in any case within ten months, I would certainly receive it. What could that mean?”

Alicia’s parting words, just before she boarded the carriage, had stuck strangely in his mind.

At Reichardt’s report, the Emperor froze.

“You truly did not understand?”

After a brief halt, the Emperor sprang up and strode across the study.

“No, honestly I… Your Majesty? Where are you going?”

It looked as if he would run straight out, but the Emperor returned and seized Reichardt by the collar.

“Listen well, Reichardt. Do not repeat what you just said anywhere to anyone. Tell the true master of Gaeller that I would forgive him even if he took Juma. I am going to Eleanor.”

The Emperor bolted from the study as if to break down the door.

Outside, he shouted loudly for the chief attendant.

Left alone, Reichardt stood there dumbly—then realization struck.

“My nephew…?”

So that was the reason the Emperor would inevitably reward him.

Once he learned it, he would have ample cause to grant any request.

The certainty he would receive a reward within ten months.

The Empress was with child.

It was a joy for the imperial house, yet lately accidents had plagued the palace and beyond.

The birth of another heir should be widely announced, but for now, silence was wiser.

He now understood why the Emperor had returned to grab him by the collar before dashing out.

He also accepted Alicia’s steady confidence.

He marveled that the Emperor had grasped the implication at once.

More astonishing still was Alicia’s foresight in telling him he could relay her words to the Emperor before she boarded the carriage.

Court politics, it seemed, would never suit him.

Shaking off a chill, Reichardt left the palace.

Summer neared, and dawn arrived early.

A sapphire-blue morning.

A rider on horseback came to Luderne.

The castle guards admitted the rider at once, though it was still far from morning.

By procedure, visitors were to leave their mounts outside and ride in on a Luderne carriage, but there was no time.

The captain of the Luderne guard rode with the visitor to the keep.

“My lady of the castle!”

Alicia had risen early to go to the Zephyr Clan.

By chance, her toilette was nearly complete.

“Who is it?”

At the voice calling from outside, Alicia lifted her gaze from the mirror.

“I will go,”

Daisy, who was assisting her, replied and left the dressing room.

Alicia looked over the dress she wore today again.

Cream-colored, with a faint blush of pink spreading like ripples.

The cream gave a clean impression, while the pink kept it from being dull.

When she moved, the hues undulated like waves.

“My lady.”

Daisy returned almost at once—her face had gone deathly pale.

“Daisy?”

“My lady, it is a knight sent by the Marchioness of Rain. Everything is prepared—please come to the next room. Quickly.”

Opening the connecting door, Daisy urged her.

Alicia let herself be hurried into the adjoining chamber.

“Lady Alicia.”

As she entered, a knight already kneeling on one knee to pay respects spoke quickly.

From the man—who had ridden hard from the Rain marquisate—came the smell of earth and cold wind.

“Has something happened to the Marchioness?”

Alicia forgot even the courtesies owed a visitor.

“The Marquess fell from his horse. He landed badly and the time is short. His entire left side is grievously injured; the physicians say there is no hope. There is little time—my lady must leave at once!”

Exhausted though he was, the knight poured out his words.

“…”

For an instant, Alicia felt time stop.

The world moved very slowly.

She alone seemed alive, with everything around her halted for a breath.

In that frozen world, Alicia alone moved.

She moved faster than ever before— yet everything, even the air, seemed to grow heavy and hinder her.

“My lady!”

Rising from the chair, Alicia ran straight out of the room.

“Lady Alicia!”

“My lady!”

Voices calling her came from behind and beside, but Alicia ran on.

She went through the open door and took the stairs three and four at a time.

Her body, bound to time and earth, felt heavy.

She was moving with more urgency than ever, yet her speed did not satisfy her.

Bursting out of the castle, Alicia mounted the guard captain’s horse.

She rode straight out of Luderne.

She galloped, mind blank.

Her father, the Marquess of Rain’s accident was not in the plan.

This was something that should not have happened.

Yet the impossible had happened.

Something was wrong.

Shouts rose on all sides to stop her, but Alicia did not stop.

Faster—she urged the horse on, if only a minute faster.

Her cream dress streamed wildly in the dawn wind.

“Lady Alicia! You must not go alone! Daisy, pack and come to Rain! Send Sven to the grand ducal residence! What about the couriers?”

Juan shouted as Alicia, swift as the wind, sped out of Luderne.

“I will change horses and follow!”

The courier cried back, asking the guard captain to lend a mount.

“I will be right behind!”

Daisy packed luggage and assigned tasks to the maids.

Lise went to wake Sven; the courier readied a relay horse; in the lord’s absence the stewards and maids set quick rules of conduct.

Annie gathered Alicia’s personal effects.

Juan sprinted to the stables, mounted, and rode out of Luderne.

He carried only minimal arms.

The hoofbeats battered his ears, yet he could not gain speed.

He worried that Alicia, alone and far ahead, was too far to reach.

“My lady!”

Though he knew she was out of earshot, Juan shouted anyway.

The distance between them did not close.

To Juan, Alicia had shrunk to a tiny dot.

If not for the streaming cream dress, he would have lost sight of her already.

Riding as if possessed, Alicia soon reached the boundary of Baden.