Philly’s foresight. Someone’s death.
Because she had never seen that kind of foresight before, Philly was on edge.
Above all, the possibility that Frondier might die was the very first problem she had to check.
But this foresight is different from the others in many ways.
Not only did a vague foresight—one that had always been expressible only as a “feeling”—manifest this clearly,
'It hasn’t shown me anything again since then.'
Most likely, it is a foresight that informs her of a fairly distant future.
Her foresight had never been that long. If it concerned danger approaching her, it might tell her even what would happen mere seconds later, or take a few days.
This time, it was likely not a matter of days.
As proof, ominous foresight always kept her senses reacting until it was resolved, but right now there was nothing like that.
Her heart was calm, as if seeing that scene had been a mistake.
'Mmmph. The memory’s getting hazier. Stupid head.'
A scene you could count on one hand in a lifetime—Philly blaming her own brain—but regrettably, she was alone in her room.
“I guess it can’t be helped.”
Philly murmured.
She didn’t know if this was the proper way.
It might even cause trouble.
But it was the one method she could think of now,
and if it went well, it would be a chance to solve several problems besides her foresight.
'If it went well.'
“...Person outside~”
Philly let her voice out languidly—no, slackly.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Of course, the attendant waiting outside answered, stiff with tension.
“Call my daughter.”
“Whom do you mean, Your Highness?”
“All of them.”
“...Uh, ah, I—”
The attendant barely swallowed the “Pardon?” that had almost slipped out, but what came out wasn’t much different.
Philly spoke again.
“Ellicia, Salle, Aten. Tell them all to come to my room.”
***
A small stir arose in the imperial palace.
No—somewhere, it was a big stir.
Everyone knew that Empress Philly doted on her daughters, but in truth the three sisters were not that tight. If anything, they were distant.
Ellicia, who had been jealous of Aten. Aten, who had been threatened by Constel because of Ellicia—and Salle, who had taken no part in any of it and only stepped back to watch.
Ellicia had seemed to plummet to a commoner and completely shatter, but Frondier had forcibly brought her back and barely patched things together.
“...Mother, honestly.”
A woman who lightly brushed her long, white hair back and folded her arms.
It was Ellicia.
“What is she thinking now.”
Ellicia was currently sorting and commanding the Dark Division.
She was the boss of the Dark Division, so of course.
After Frondier sent Ellicia back to the palace, she had taken charge of the Dark Division.
After most of its key figures had died in the demon-contract incident, the Dark Division had stumbled about.
As a result, it was in a state of cringing, watching Philly’s temper, which had soared to the top of her head.
It was not a problem that the Dark Division did things it couldn’t show the citizens. That was what the organization existed to do.
The problem was that it had lost Philly’s trust.
Ellicia had parachuted in atop the Dark Division in that situation.
And the moment she got off the parachute, she took the supreme command of the Dark Division.
There had been backlash in the Dark Division, of course, but the opponent was the First Imperial Princess, Ellicia. Even if there was dissatisfaction, none dared to voice it.
Besides, they had already lost Philly’s confidence. It was obvious what would happen if they touched Ellicia, Philly’s daughter.
Thus Ellicia quickly came to hold the highest rank within the Dark Division.
As if she didn’t know she had parachuted in at all—shamelessly.
“How will you proceed?”
Ednet, who was in charge of communications between the Dark Division and the palace, asked her.
By position, Ednet ought to have disliked Ellicia, who was, in truth, a parachute. But inwardly, she was among those who welcomed her with both hands. She’d always been wedged between Philly and the Dark Division, taking anger from both sides, a miserable spot—but ever since Ellicia took full authority, she’d only received rational orders.
Ellicia snorted softly and said,
“What do you mean, how? It’s an order from Her Majesty the Empress. Of course I’m going.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“Neither I nor Aten are children anymore. We’re not suddenly going to start throwing punches.”
In fact, Ellicia was thinking this might be a good chance to reconcile with Aten.
Of course, the apology would be hers. Aten was kind, so she’d accept the apology—but that was separate from untying the knot in Aten’s heart.
An apology was only the start; to reconcile, it would take much longer time.
There, Ednet bowed her head a bit deeper and spoke cautiously.
“...I’m not worried about Her Highness Aten.”
Hearing that, Ellicia blinked briefly, then looked aside and let out a low breath.
“...Right, true.”
And at the same time, Aten—
Aten had received Philly’s order a little earlier than Ellicia. She had no need to go through an organization like the Dark Division.
Aten was in the middle of dressing in front of a mirror.
“Mother? She isn’t misunderstanding something?”
“Yes. She called each name precisely.”
She had called all three sisters by name, and commanded them to come to her room.
So there could be no other case. It wasn’t that she’d called one or two of the sisters, nor that any of the three could come.
Philly was gathering herself and the three sisters in one room.
“What did Mother’s voice sound like?”
“...She was gentle as usual, but as you know, we can’t tell the difference.”
The maid spoke as if apologetic. Philly did not reveal her emotions unless they truly shook greatly.
“Why can’t you tell?”
“I’m sorry.”
Of course, that didn’t apply to Aten.
Aten looked back at the mirror.
'...Right. I can’t put this off forever.'
Aten took in her resolve. Seeing her, the maid spoke as if worried.
“Will you be all right? It has been quite a while since Your Highness faced Princess Ellicia.”
“...Hm? Why Ellicia?”
Aten reacted as if it were a name she hadn’t predicted at all.
The maid blurted in surprise.
“...So you weren’t worried about meeting Lady Ellicia?”
***
And everyone gathered in Philly’s room.
For a family gathering, the tension flowing in the room did not fit.
Even for Philly, this situation was quite a burden.
Though all three were daughters she would not hurt even if she put them in her eye, the relationships between them were delicate and complex.
“Aten, it’s been a while.”
Ellicia opened her mouth first.
There was no need to hesitate about the thought she’d had before coming here.
“And—I’m sorry.”
“...Sister.”
“Everything I’ve done until now. And that the apology is late, all of it—I’m sorry.”
Aten looked at Ellicia with innocent eyes.
Ellicia had expected this reaction from Aten.
Beyond accepting the apology, eyes that seemed to show she hadn’t even been hurt—pure eyes.
She had felt Aten, the pure white one, to be the weakest and tenderest, but now she thought: perhaps among the people of Terst, Aten was the strongest.
“It scared me to apologize to you. If I could put it off, I wanted to keep putting it off.”
But regardless of Aten’s goodness, Ellicia had to speak.
You cannot make atonement different depending on the person.
Atonement is given in proportion to the sin. Atonement is not something you can do less of for the kind.
“I’m sorry for being a bad sister.”
“No.”
Aten shook her head.
“Thank you for saying it.”
“...Mm.”
Ellicia nodded.
Aten reacted exactly as expected. And Aten herself must know it. Knowing that she would accept the apology, Ellicia had asked for it.
But by doing so, they reconciled.
Trusting in Aten’s goodness, Ellicia would be dyed in good.
Only Aten, knowing all, would not be dyed.
“Mm, you’re both so mature that Mother doesn’t need to step in.”
Philly looked at the two and smiled sheepishly.
Aten smiled to match.
“No, Mother. I’m glad you brought us together.”
“Right. If not, I would have put it off again.”
Ellicia nodded as well.
Philly smiled in relief at that sight.
But in fact, the reconciliation of those two was, surprisingly, the smallest problem in this room.
“......”
“......”
“......”
A brief silence.
Through it, the three pairs of eyes turned to one person.
“...Congratulations.”
At the gazes gathered on her, Salle spoke with unfocused pupils.
“You reconciled. If it’s you two, I knew you’d get along again quickly.”
Judging by the words alone, it was warm.
But Salle’s eyes made blatant that what she had spoken was merely form.
“...Salle.”
“Mm.”
Ellicia spoke in a worried voice. Salle answered.
Ellicia’s expression and voice—mixed with concern, worry, care—did not reach Salle at all.
She answered only because she was called. That was all.
'Salle, you’re still like this since then.'
Salle, who had been possessed by Odin.
In terms of impact on Frondier’s current situation, Salle’s guilt rivaled Ludovic’s.
On top of that, Salle now had fear.
Odin might possess her again at any time and cause something to happen.
Even if not Odin, some other god might use her body to do something.
'An emperor is impossible for someone like me.'
It will happen again.
Losing her mind, and, because she lost it, being crushed by regret—again.
'...I can’t remove Salle’s fear.'
For the Salle of now, the words “It’s fine now” were impossible.
Her fear was extremely reasonable. If Odin possessed her again at this moment, or another god intervened, they could not stop it.
After the blow to her heart, the three sisters had, each in turns, gone to check on Salle’s state regularly.
Salle received them all, but as time passed, she did not get better.
Clap.
Philly lightly clapped her hands.
They had not gathered because of Salle today.
“I called you all because I have something to talk about.”
“...It’s not because of me and Aten, or because of Salle?”
Ellicia asked. Aten thought the same.
They had thought they’d been called for the sake of smoothing over relations among the sisters.
“Of course, that is a matter beyond precious, and I’m so very glad one has been solved.”
But Philly’s expression as she spoke was dark.
“Something just as important—and more urgent—has happened.”
So Philly slowly began to speak.
The scene she had seen in foresight.
A black-haired man collapsed, and Malia, weeping beside him.
As the three sisters listened, their faces slowly hardened, and especially Aten’s grew cold.
“...Th-that black-haired man.”
“I don’t know who. I didn’t see the face.”
Philly shook her head as she answered.
It might be Frondier. That was what she meant.
Those contents alone made Aten’s heart pound hard.
Frondier will die?
She had learned healing magic so that she would not let that happen.
She had tried endlessly each time to grasp the principles of Restoration.
To replay by memory the future she had glimpsed by chance, she had flipped through every related book every night.
“Calm down, Aten.”
Then Ellicia spoke.
“Foresight can be changed. Right, Mother?”
“Yes. I’ve changed it all this time.”
Philly’s foresight was a prediction whose precision had become extremely high. If you know it, you can avoid it.
In fact, Philly had already avoided many. If she had avoided foresight that was only a feeling, there was no way she couldn’t avoid a vision she had seen with her eyes.
“I called you all to change the foresight. Times like this are when we need to put our heads together.”
“...But the information is too insufficient. If only we could know whether that is really Frondier.”
“That’s why I called you too, Aten.”
Philly looked at Aten.
“You have experienced foresight as well.”
“...Ah.”
Aten nodded to that.
Frondier and Renzo’s first fight.
Frondier then, collapsed after losing many parts of his body.
To fix him, Aten had seen her future—herself, at some point, using Restoration perfectly.
Even if the future Aten saw was only her own future, if Frondier was connected to it, she might be able to gain information there.
But after that, she had never seen foresight again.
“Mm...”
Aten tilted her head, deep in thought. It would be nice if she could use foresight on command right now.
Aten groaned under her breath. But time passing does not suddenly make one able to use foresight one could not.
'...So it won’t work after all.'
As Philly gave a wry smile—
“Mother.”
A suddenly flying, toneless voice.
It was Salle.
“You said Lady Malia was crying.”
“Huh? Y-yes.”
“Then did Mother hear Lady Malia’s voice with your own ears?”
“...Yes. I heard it. Not only by sight—the foresight reached me by hearing as well.”
In the foresight Philly had seen, Malia was certainly crying.
She was sure because she had heard that sobbing.
There, Salle’s pupils shifted.
She asked again, still in a dry voice.
“Then, didn’t you hear anything else?”
“Anything else?”
“For example, the sound of rain.”
“...!”
Startled by those words, Philly gasped. Not just her—Aten and Ellicia, too, looked at Salle in surprise.
At those words, Philly remembered and spoke.
“...Right. I heard the sound of rain.”
“It doesn’t rain often in the Empire. If we can know in advance the days when it will rain, at the very least we can infer when that situation will occur.”
Salle spoke while looking nowhere, as if she weren’t speaking to anyone.
Then, when no one answered, she lifted her head.
“Whether the dead man is Frondier, or Atjie, or whoever—it doesn’t matter. They’re both important.”
“......”
Salle lowered her head again.
She returned to a monologue that seemed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) as if she weren’t speaking to anyone.
“What matters is saving him.”
