“By that logic...... I think the one I have is the real one.”
Rubian said it with a slightly strange look on her face.
“Because...... to tell the truth, I tested it a little.”
“Oh, did you?”
“Yes. I tried it between people who absolutely couldn’t possibly be blood relatives......”
“......”
“I’m certain.”
The princess concluded firmly.
Firmly enough to make Sebelena doubt herself.
Did the King...... bring several finished bottles? And one of them got mixed in by mistake?
With a low hum, Sebelena took a sip of her drink.
......No. That can’t be. There was only one finished potion.
Besides, she had deliberately put the finished product in a glass bottle with a lid that clicked. It was Sebelena’s own method of telling it apart in case of tampering.
“Anyway...... since you gave me this, I’ll take it.”
Saying that, the princess took the potion Sebelena had given her.
She looked somewhat confused, but she hurried out of the balcony too quickly for Sebelena to stop her.
Who on earth did she test it on?
The question crossed her mind, but Sebelena decided not to meddle any further.
Well, I handed over the real potion, so she’ll figure it out.
“Let’s go, Nova.”
After draining the banquet wine without restraint, she turned away with no lingering attachment.
“You’re not going to watch? The ball is starting. It’s incredibly fancy.”
“I’m busy. I have to clean up the King’s mess.”
“Hmph.”
Without even dreaming that she had stirred an irreversible ripple across the once-calm lake, the princess left the banquet hall with a refreshed face.
*****
Under the warm lights, soft music flowed.
The nobles watched Duke Zebbert and the princess dancing as smoothly as water, pleased smiles on their faces.
“What a lovely father and daughter.”
Tenderness dripped like honey from the face of the duke who had once been as cold and harsh as a northern blizzard.
It was an expression no one could have imagined on him before.
Eight years had already passed since the ten-year human-demon war that shook the continent came to an end.
The hero finally looked at ease inside the fence he had built with his own hands.
“The princess dances wonderfully too. Her face still looks so young.”
“I heard there was a rumor that she grew so unusually slowly as a child that even the ducal family mistook her age.”
“Oh my, really? ......But isn’t the family seating area a bit noisy?”
People’s gazes shifted toward the gathered members of the Zebbert ducal family.
“Oh dear. The old Duke is burning up.”
“The Duchess is warming up, isn’t she?”
“Why do the young lords have cushions strapped to the tops of their feet? Are they going into some martial contest?”
“No, but...... do families normally all take turns dancing?”
At the question that struck the heart of the matter, the nobles fell briefly silent.
“Well...... wherever one goes, there are always people who are a little unusual.”
As always, the Zebbert family was showing the very limit of unusual today as well.
The dance music raced toward its climax.
“......”
Meanwhile, Leviathan was staring hard enough to bore through Rubian’s round forehead.
“Turn.”
At that, Rubian spun.
Look at that.
There was a problem. Definitely.
The flowing line of the dance. Not a single motion out of place.
She hasn’t stepped on my foot once.
Rubian was dancing far too well.
“You...... Are you feeling sick?”
“Huh?”
Leviathan bent low and whispered. Only then did a spark return to Rubian’s eyes, which had been dazed the whole time.
“If not, you’re hiding something from Dad.”
“I’m...... not?”
She answered immediately.
His eyes narrowed faintly.
After moving her lips in a small, hesitant way, Rubian carefully looked up at him.
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
“With me, in a little while......”
“Yes.”
“......No, never mind. Uwah!”
When her steps tangled sharply, Leviathan quickly lifted Rubian and set her back down on the floor. A brief exclamation burst from those around them.
Leviathan clicked his tongue inwardly. It had been a long time since he had held his daughter, and she was so light he could hardly tell what had changed from when she was little.
What am I supposed to do if she still feels that tiny?
It wasn’t as though he could sit her on his lap now and spoon-feed her meat or cake.
Thinking that made Leviathan feel strangely melancholy.
“Dad, are you happy that I’m your daughter?”
After a long while, Rubian asked him that.
“I am.”
“......than?”
Her voice was buried beneath the music.
“......What?”
When Leviathan asked a beat late, Rubian smiled and shook her head.
“Nothing. You know, Dad.”
The child gripped the hem of his clothes tightly.
Like she had when they first met. With a slightly desperate face.
“The best thing I ever did in this world was run away from that battlefield with everything I had and come to you.”
Rubian gently rested her round head against his chest.
“Thank you for bringing me home. And thank you for raising me until I turned eighteen. I mean it.”
Those vividly blue eyes looked up at him.
For an instant, Leviathan was at a loss for words.
When he first met her in that ruined village, he had felt a similar helplessness while looking into those eyes. A falling sensation, as if his heart had dropped with a thud.
But now, he knew.
It had not been helplessness.
It was affection he had been unable to help feeling. It was his first greeting to something lovable.
The fear, excitement, and expectation that this child, who had come to him like a storm, might shake his life apart.
It had been all of those feelings at once.
“Dad is grateful too.”
Leviathan kissed Rubian on the forehead.
“Happy birthday, my jewel.”
That was why he thought he must have heard wrong.
“Dad, are you happy that I’m your daughter?”
“I am.”
“......More than the baby in the memorial garden?”
Because Rubian, who was thanking him, would never suddenly bring up something like that.
His eyes sank heavily.
*****
“You danced that happily, so why the face?”
The Emperor approached and spoke to him.
Leviathan stared straight ahead as he sipped red liquor. Rubian was now holding Rosetta’s hands and dancing affectionately with her.
“I’m thinking.”
“Thinking?”
Whether to keep pressing her, or not.
Rubian was hiding something from him. But looked at another way, it wasn’t strange for a grown daughter to have a secret or two.
Of course, as a parent, it would be best if she had no secrets at all, but he knew.
That was only his wish. His greed.
The child was not his possession.
“More importantly, Duke, is everything peaceful in your household?”
“......”
Leviathan’s gaze slid toward the Emperor.
The intent behind that slippery line was obvious.
Ruby said she sent him a letter at dawn.
He had likely grasped the rough outline of Rubian’s identity, knew that the smuggled-in mage was confined at the estate, and was probing.
“As you can see.”
Leviathan feigned ignorance, jutting his chin toward the center of the banquet hall.
Rubian was now being led by Balrok’s hand and spun through the air like a paper doll.
“If there were something worth reporting, I would have reported it...... and I’ll handle the rest myself, so please don’t worry.”
The Emperor let out a deep sigh.
He knew that Leviathan was excessively defensive toward him when it came to matters involving the princess or the Magic Kingdom.
“I have no intention of using the princess’s identity.”
“Who knows.”
Leviathan twisted his lips in a smile.
“How insolent. Duke, you have a tendency to view me as some cold-blooded creature with no blood or tears.”
At that, purple eyes stared clearly at the Emperor. They were filled with cold.
“Are you not?”
“......”
For a moment, the Emperor was at a loss for words.
Because behind the duke, near the entrance to the banquet hall, he could see Licht standing there.
That was the reason Duke Zebbert would never trust the Emperor completely.
The Emperor laughed like a sigh.
“Yes, I suppose I understand. Well...... fine. Then let me put it this way. The princess proposed a deal to me, asking me to protect her and the ducal family, and I accepted it. And as Emperor, I do tend to keep the promises I make.”
He knew that.
That was why he had not stopped Rubian.
The Emperor had judged that taking Rubian under his wing would benefit him. That was enough.
“So now, Duke, cooperate with me as well. We will soon launch an exploration vessel bound for the Magic Kingdom. You know better than anyone what that means.”
Leviathan did not answer. But that silence alone was answer enough about his departure for battle.
After a long while, the Emperor suddenly said with a look tinged by regret, “And, Duke.”
“......”
“It’s a little ridiculous to say this about myself...... but even a person like me can change. Just as you changed.”
His eyes looked as if they had been battered by time, worn down and abraded.
Leviathan watched that sight without emotion and brought his glass to his lips.
The banquet continued.
Balrok, who had been sweeping across the floor with tremendous force, whispered something into Rubian’s ear with a mischievous face. It was obvious without looking that he was teasing his granddaughter with words. Rubian flared up as usual, puffed with indignation, then soon giggled.
As expected...... I’ll have to ask her properly one more time.
An unpleasant pounding rose in his chest. The blood rushing to his head chilled cold, and every nerve in his body stood on edge as if detecting danger.
He knew this feeling.
An unpleasant omen, like the moment just before something happened.
He was reaching for a fresh glass, his brow heavily furrowed, when it happened.
