I sit down next to Lilia-san under the bright moonlight.
Lilia-san gazes at the stars twinkling in the night sky for a while, remaining silent. After some time, she slowly opens her mouth.
[Kaito-san, you know I’m a former princess, right?]
[Yes.]
[I was in a very delicate position as a princess. Older Brother… the current king, was 18 years old at the time, and as you can imagine, the ages of the first prince and first princess in this country are very close. I think Luna must have mentioned before that my brother and I are half-siblings.]
[……Yeah.]
[I’m the “daughter of the Queen,” while Older Brother is the “son of a concubine.”]
[ ! ? ]
I’m quite surprised at Lilia-san’s words, which she’s telling me so calmly, one after another.
The current king is the son of a concubine, and Lilia-san is the daughter of the queen… I honestly thought it was the other way around.
[As you can imagine, there was quite a struggle when Older Brother ascended the throne at 25. I was the Queen’s long-awaited first child, after years of her being childless, and there was a faction that insisted I should become this country’s queen. In the end, though, since I was very young, it seems Older Brother decided to take the throne instead.]
[………………..]
[That should have been the end of it, but now, I’m in a dispute with Older Brother’s children over the next succession.]
[…That is, well, I’m not sure what to say…]
[Ah, don’t get me wrong. Even though some people around us might have their opinions, the relationship between us is good. Older Brother adored me like he does his own children, and the prince and princess love me like a sister.]
Lilia-san wore a slight smile as she spoke, but her expression quickly changed to seriousness… as if she was regretting something from her past.
[You already know about this… I’m currently using the family name “Albert” instead of the royal name “Symphonia.” The reason for that is simple… I ran away from the succession struggle…]
[…I had the impression that Lilia-san didn’t seem very interested in the throne, though…]
[I’m not interested at all. However, a lot of people expected me to take it, and I didn’t want to betray those expectations. So, I ended up keeping things vague. That’s the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life… If I had been clear from the start that I wouldn’t take the throne… If I had…]
Lilia-san bit her lip in frustration.
It seemed this was the most important part of her story.
Lilia-san wasn’t interested in the throne, but those around her, the ones who expected her to take it, pushed her toward that role. As a result of her indecision, she was drawn into a battle for succession, huh?
[…Sieg and I have been together for as long as I can remember. Since Rei-san was a court mage for the royal palace, Sieg used to play with me a lot when I was a child.]
[Lilia-san and Sieg have known each other since childhood, huh.]
[Yes, it was Sieg who taught me swordsmanship. To me, Sieg is like an older sister, my swordsmanship mentor, and an irreplaceable close friend.]
Lilia-san paused, her gaze shifting to the sky. She spoke again, a somewhat distant look in her eyes as she continued her story.
[Actually, Sieg was supposed to be the Division Commander of the Second Division, but she recommended me for the position, thinking it would be a good experience for my future. She then became my second-in-command, always there to support me. Sieg was constantly, always, there to help, worrying about me in this complicated position I’m in… And yet, I…]
[………………..]
[Sieg advised me many times that if I wasn’t interested in taking the throne, I should make my intentions clear. But I kept being ambiguous, and that decision of mine led to the worst possible outcome.]
[…The worst possible outcome?]
I think I can somehow imagine what she means.
Sieg-san used to be a member of the Knights Order, where she lost her voice due to a wound she sustained back then.
And from what Lilia-san just told me about the struggle for succession, along with her regretful expression about the past… I think I get it.
[At my invitation, Luna joined the Knights Order in her second year, even though she had been an adventurer before.]
[…Eh? Luna-san was also a former member of the Knights Order?]
[Yes, but she wasn’t particularly interested in being a knight. When I received my peerage and left the Knights Order, she left too and followed me.]
[That definitely sounds like Lunamaria-san…]
[Yeah, seriously… Sieg, Luna, and I were always together. Luna would tease me, I’d get mad, and Sieg would just chuckle before calming me down… That was the kind of relationship we had.]
It seems Lunamaria-san has always been like that, and that scene somehow came to mind.
They could certainly be called best friends who understand each other well, but I could tell from the look on Lilia-san’s face that she really cares about them.
At that point, Lilia-san paused again, and slowly began to cut to the main topic of the conversation.
[……One day, it was decided that the First to Third Divisions would work together on a mission to defeat a monster outbreak. The monsters were powerful, and our preparations were extensive… Based on the information we were given beforehand, the plan was for each of us to deploy from three directions and take control of the area.]
[……………….]
[We moved to a safe zone identified through preliminary research, and I left command to Sieg, who, along with Luna, went to meet with the rest of the division. And it was there that a shocking fact came to light.]
[A fact?]
[Yes… The information given to my division was “swapped out,” and the location where my division was deployed turned out to be “right next to the monsters’ nest.”]
[What!?]
I was stunned by Lilia-san’s words.
So, Lilia-san’s division had been caught off guard by the monsters, thinking they were in a safe zone, only to let their guard down.
[As I mentioned earlier, the monsters we were dealing with were incredibly powerful and numerous, and it was far too much for just one division to handle. At worst, my division could’ve been wiped out… but thankfully, that didn’t happen.]
[Sieg-san had… ]
[Luna and I joined in soon after, and the rest of the division quickly moved to take action, and the monsters were defeated. My division was incredibly lucky—thanks to Sieg’s frantic battle against the monsters, no one died. However, Sieg… she was so badly wounded that Recovery Magic couldn’t heal her, and she teetered between life and death for days.]
I don’t know much about battles, but for her to take on so many monsters—enough to require three divisions to handle—while also protecting the other knights from death, wouldn’t she have ended up fighting while using her own body as a shield against the monsters?
That no one died in that battle really could be called a miracle.
[And then, when Sieg regained consciousness a few days later… she had lost her voice because of the deep wound in her throat.]
[………………]
[In the end, I couldn’t find out who switched the information before the operation, but considering the timing, it’s likely that someone from the prince or princess’s faction did it. They probably didn’t want me to earn any more military honors than I already have…]
[………………]
[It was my fault… I should have made things clearer to them… because of that… because of that… Sieg… she…]
What should I say to her? If you ask me if it’s Lilia-san’s fault, after what she just said, I honestly don’t think it is.
But Lilia-san, with her strong sense of responsibility, wouldn’t accept that.
While I couldn’t find the right words to respond, Lilia-san continued with her story.
[Sieg didn’t blame me. Rei-san and Fia-san also forgave me, saying that as long as their daughter forgave me, they would too. But I can’t forgive myself for what I did.]
[…………………..]
[So, when Older Brother was conferring my peerage, I ran away from the struggle for succession. I couldn’t bear to see the people I cared about get hurt anymore… and at the same time, I tried to find a way to bring Sieg’s voice back… but none of the methods I found were realistic.]
[Could it be… the Fruit of the World Tree…]
[Yes. The Fruit of the World Tree is incredibly valuable. So precious that even I, a duchess, have never seen one in person…]
Having said that, Lilia-san falls silent and doesn’t continue.
I see. That’s why Lilia-san’s eyes changed color when she heard about the prize for this year’s winner… Because it’s what she’s been searching for all along—the one thing that might restore Sieg-san’s lost voice…
[……Lilia-san.]
[Yes?]
[It’s not that I’m just trying to say something comforting… but I don’t think it’s your fault at all.]
[……Thank you very much.]
The conversation didn’t continue much longer, but I could feel the tense atmosphere around Lilia-san easing just a little.
Dear Mom, Dad—I was able to learn a bit about Lilia-san’s past. Lilia-san and Sieg-san—they were childhood friends.
<Author’s Notes>
Healing Mages of the Humans…… can’t heal her. The Underworld King…… could heal her The God of Creation…… could heal her. The God of Time and Space…… could heal her. The Death King…… could easily procure the Fruit of the World Tree.
Arehh? If they just ask Kaito, wouldn’t everything be already settled?