The Yasha King’s Beloved (4)

When Ryoga returned to the residence, the first thing that greeted him was Kyo with his forehead pressed to the ground, begging to be killed. Beside him, Gen was sobbing uncontrollably, tears spilling from his large eyes.

“Princess… Princess…”

Neither of them could explain themselves coherently. Ryoga was so shaken by the simple fact that Mei was not there that he forgot even to breathe and stood rooted to the spot in a daze.

Only when Aki and the other Aberrations began shouting at him to pull himself together did Ryoga finally come back to his senses. He gathered accounts from the Aberrations who had been there and pieced together what had happened to Mei.

He hauled Kyo upright before the man truly looked ready to die and sat him down on the veranda beside Gen.

Both of them were so haggard that it hurt just to look at them, and Ryoga could not bring himself to direct his anger at either one. What welled up instead was impatience and regret.

(—Again. This is my fault.)

He had convinced himself this place was safe, entrusted her to others, and left her side. Even though he had sworn to keep her close and protect her always.

(—Mei.)

Whenever their eyes met, hers would widen for just a moment in surprise before she smiled softly at him. He loved that expression unbearably much.

He might never see that smile again.

Just trying to imagine such an unforgivable future made him feel as though he would lose his mind.

“It was our carelessness. We are truly sorry.”

“Master, please punish Gen. It’s all Gen’s fault.”

Ryoga alternated his gaze between Kyo and Gen, both of whom looked liable to kill themselves the moment he took his eyes off them, then let out a short sigh.

“If something happened to either of you, Mei would be sad when she came back.”

Their faces twisted as they suddenly looked up, and Ryoga weakly shook his head.

“I have no intention of blaming you. The mistake was mine for letting my guard down.”

“But, Master…!”

“Enough. What we should be thinking about now is not punishing you. It’s how to save Mei.”

He could not give up. To Ryoga, Mei was more precious than his own life.

He would not allow mere humans to take her from him.

“To think they forced open a fissure from the other side…”

Ryoga spat the words out bitterly as he desperately forced his mind to work.

The two worlds overlapped, but they did not intermingle. A fissure connecting them was something close to a miracle. There were places where such openings formed more easily, but creating one through one’s own power was by no means simple.

For a powerful Aberration like Ryoga, it would not be particularly difficult, but for an ordinary Aberration, it was effectively impossible. Yet if an Aberration powerful enough to do such a thing had moved, Ryoga would have sensed its presence. In that case…

(—Most likely a human. And an exorcist at that.)

Exorcists sometimes forced Aberrations they could not handle back to this side. They must possess some kind of technique for doing so.

(—This wasn’t an accident. They must have opened the fissure there specifically to target Mei.)

He ground his back teeth together. Someone human who was obsessed with Mei and capable of opening a fissure. It had to be one of the exorcists living at the estate where Mei had once resided.

(—So they still hadn’t given up.)

The anger simmering inside him dyed his vision red.

If they were going to drag her back, they should have treasured her from the very beginning. If they had cherished her more than anyone or anything, wrapped her in tenderness, and loved her with care, Ryoga would never have intended to take her away.

If Mei could simply live with a smile on her face, that alone would have been enough.

“…I’m going to the human world.”

“Master!?”

“Take me to where the fissure appeared. It hasn’t been long. I can still trace it.”

At Ryoga’s determined words, the expressions of Gen and Kyo, who had been sobbing helplessly, tightened. Kyo wiped his tears with his sleeve and rose to his feet. Gen swiftly jumped onto his shoulder.

“We’ll guide you.”

“Good.”

The smaller Aberrations clamored that they wanted to come as well, but Ryoga refused. Weak Aberrations often lost their sanity while crossing a fissure into the human world. He did not want Mei to see them like that.

“You lot stay here and prepare everything so Mei can return at any moment.”

“But… Princess… worried.”

“I’ll bring her back without fail. Trust me.”

“…”

The sight of the sniffling Aberrations made his chest tighten.

It was painfully clear how deeply they had come to love Mei. Not because she had healed their injuries. They had been drawn to the beauty of her heart, to her kindness, and had sincerely come to want to remain by her side. Just as Ryoga once had.

(—Mei. Your existence is light.)

Seeing himself reflected in the small Aberrations as their tears fell drop by drop, Ryoga clenched his fist.

It had been several years after his mother died.

The sapling she had entrusted to him had yet to produce even a single bud.

His relationship with his father remained unchanged. They neither met nor spoke. Feeling abandoned, Ryoga had begun living recklessly.

He spent his days fighting, challenging Aberrations who boasted of their strength, wearing himself down little by little.

As he grew, his power became ever greater, and the fact that he had never known defeat only made him more arrogant. I am strong. No one can defeat me. Perhaps believing that was the only way he had been able to hold himself together.

Those around him likewise never openly defied Ryoga, who was a Yasha. His strength had already been proven, and they looked at him with fear in their eyes, treating him as though he were something dangerous and best left untouched.

No matter how much trouble he caused, his father said nothing. Wishing the man would at least shout at him or strike him, Ryoga continued drifting through his days with a childish frustration festering inside him.

But that came to an abrupt end.

“Father… collapsed?”

Ryoga had returned home as usual after drinking and causing a drunken commotion, only to be greeted by pale-faced servants.

His father had coughed up blood and collapsed in the middle of his duties and was now hovering between life and death.

“The Chief spent many years shaving away his own life to save your mother. The consequences of that are only now consuming his body.”

Ryoga was stunned by the physician’s words. He had known his father loved his mother above all else, but he had never imagined the man had gone so far as to share his own life with her.

“How can he be saved?”

“…It depends entirely on his remaining strength.”

“Isn’t there anything else?!”

At Ryoga’s demand, the physician slowly shook his head.

“If only there were a ‘Princess’ here… but I have heard no reports of a new one appearing in the last several centuries. And if we were to lay hands on one of the Princesses whose whereabouts are currently known… it would mean war.”

“A ‘Princess’…”

Ryoga had at least heard the rumors. A special existence possessing the power to heal.

They were so rare that touching another’s Princess was effectively the same as declaring war on them.

“If only your mother’s flower would bloom…”

“Mother’s flower?”

Ryoga frowned suspiciously at the physician’s words.

“Your mother was the incarnation of an exceptionally rare flower. It is said that her blossoms possessed the power to heal wounds and illness. But they have all withered now…”

Ryoga’s eyes widened. Without even waiting for the physician to finish, he ran back to his room.

The sapling his mother had entrusted to him bore lush green leaves—and a single tiny bud.

“Ah…”

The pathetic sound that escaped him was mixed with relief. His father might still be saved. The only sapling his mother had left behind was trying to save him.

Ryoga firmly resolved that he would make this flower bloom safely.

And yet.