I sit down alongside Lilia-san under the bright moonlight.
Lilia-san looks at the stars twinkling in the night sky for a while and is
silent, and after a while, she slowly opens her mouth.
[Kaito-san, you know that I'm a former princess, right?]
[Yes.]
[I was in a very delicate position as a princess. Older Brother… The
current king is 18 years old at that time, and anyone knows how the
ages of this country's first prince and first princess are close to each
other. I think Luna should have already 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 inwardly at Lilia-san's words, which she tells me
point by point.
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 the age of 25. I was the Queen's long-awaited
first child, who had long been childless, and there was a faction of
people who insisted that I should be installed as this country's queen.
In the end, since I was very young, it seems that Older Brother decided
to take the throne.]
[...…]
[That should have been the end of it all, but now, I'm in a dispute with
Older Brother's children about the next succession.]
[…That is, well, I don't know what to say…]
[Ah, don't get me wrong, even if the people around us have some things
to say, the relationship between us is good. My brother adored me as he
did to his children, and the prince and princess love me like their
sister.]
Lilia-san had a slight smile on her face when she said that, before her
expression turned serious… as if she's regretting something that
happened in the past.
[You already know about this… I'm currently taking the family name
"Albert" rather than the royal name of Symphonia. The reason for that is
simple… I ran away from the struggle for succession…]
[…I had the impression that Lilia-san didn't seem to have much interest
in the throne though…]
[I don't have any interest at all. However, a lot of people expected me to
do this and I didn't want to betray them, so it has always been
ambiguous. That's the biggest mistake I've made in my life… If I had
made it clear as early as possible that I wouldn't be taking over the
throne… If I had…]
Lilia-san bites her lip in frustration.
Apparently, this seems to be the most important part of the story.
Lilia-san wasn't interested in the succession to the throne. But the
people around her… The people who were pushing for Lilia-san wanted
her to be the Queen.
As a result of her ambiguity, Lilia-san was caught up in a battle for the
succession huh?
[…Sieg and I have been together ever since I can remember. Since Reisan was a court mage working for the royal palace, Sieg used to play
with me a lot since I was a child.]
[Lilia-san and Sieg have known each other since they were children
huh.]
[Yes, it was Sieg who taught me swordsmanship. To me, Sieg is like my
older sister, my master in swordsmanship, and an irreplaceable close
friend.]
Thereupon, Lilia-san stops speaking once, turns her gaze to the sky
again, and begins to speak the rest of the story with a somewhat distant
look in her eyes.
[Actually, Sieg was supposed to be the Division Commander of the
Second Division, but she recommended me because she thought it
would be a good experience for my future, and she herself became my
second-in-command, supporting me. Sieg was really, always, always
there to help me, worrying about me in this complicated position I
have… And yet, I…]
[...…]
[Sieg advised me many times that if I wasn't interested in taking the
throne, I should clearly state my intentions, but still, I remained
ambiguous, and that decision of mine invited the worst thing that could
have happened.]
[…The worst thing that could have happened?]
I think I can somehow imagine it.
Sieg-san used to be a member of the Knights Order, where she lost her
voice due to a wound she suffered at that time.
And what Lilia-san just told me about the struggle for succession, and
her expression of regret from the past… That is to say…
[At my invitation, that time was Luna's second year in the Knights
Order who used to be an adventurer.]
[…Eh? Luna-san was also a former member of the Knights Order?]
[Yes, well, she wasn't really concerned about becoming a knight, as
when I got my peerage and left the Knights Order, she readily quit and
followed me.]
[That certainly sounds like Lunamaria-san…]
[Yes, seriously… Sieg, Luna, and I were always together. Luna would
tease me, I'd get mad about it, while Sieg would just chuckle before
calming me down… We had that kind of relationship.]
It seems that Lunamaria-san has always been like that, and that scene
somehow came to mind.
You could say that they are rightly regarded as best friends who know
each other well, but I could tell from the look on Lilia-san face that she
really cares about them.
At that point, Lilia-san paused for a moment again, and slowly began to
cut to the main topic of the conversation.
[…One day, it was decided that the First to the Third Divisions will be
working together on the mission to defeat a monster outbreak. There
are many powerful monsters, and our preparations were extensive…
Based on the information given to us beforehand, the plan was for each
of us to deploy our forces from three directions and take control of the
area.]
[...…]
[We moved to a safe zone that had been identified by preliminary
research, and I left command to Sieg, who moved with Luna to meet
with the rest of the division. And it was there that a fact was revealed.]
[A fact?]
[Yes… The information given to my division was "swapped out" and the
location where my division was deployed was "next to the monsters'
nest".]
[What!?]
I was astonished to hear the words Lilia-san told me.
That is to say, Lilia-san's division was caught by surprise by the
monsters when she thought it was a safe zone and let her guard down.
[As I had just said, the monsters that were the target of our defeat were
quite powerful and numerous, and it wasn't something that only one
division could deal with. At worst, they could have even been wiped
out… but thankfully, that wasn't the case.]
[Sieg-san had…]
[Luna and I soon joined in, and the rest of the division moved quickly
and the monsters were defeated. My division was also very fortunate,
as thanks to Sieg frantically battling the monsters, it was really
fortunate that no one had died. However, Sieg… was so badly wounded
that she couldn't be healed with Recovery Magic, and she wandered
between life and death for days.]
I don't know much about battles, but for her to fight against a large
number of monsters that would need three divisions to deal with them,
if she had to fight against them while protecting the other knights from
dying, wouldn't she end up battling the monsters while using her body
as their shield?
That there were no deaths in that battle could really be called a miracle.
[And then, when Sieg regained consciousness a few days later… She had
lost her voice due to the deep wound in her throat.]
[...…]
[In the end, I couldn't find the person who switched the information
before the operation, but considering the timing, it was more likely that
this was planned by someone from the prince or princess's faction who
didn't want me to earn any more military honors than I have now…]
[...…]
[It was my fault… It's because I didn't make it clear to them… Because of
that… Because of that… Sieg had…]
What should I say to her? If you ask me if it's Lilia-san's fault, after what
she just said, I can see that it's not her fault at all.
However, Lilia-san, who has a strong sense of responsibility, wouldn't
agree with that.
While I couldn't think of any words to say in reply, Lilia-san goes on
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, so did they. However, I can't
forgive myself for that.]
[......]
[And so, just when Older Brother was conferring me 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
some way to bring Sieg's voice back… but none of the means I found
were realistic.]
[Could it be… the Fruit of the World Tree…]
[Yes. The Fruit of the World Tree is an incredibly valuable thing. So
precious that even I, a duchess, have never even seen one in person…]
Having spoken until that point, Lilia-san doesn't continue to speak
further and becomes silent.
I see, that's why Lilia-san's eyes changed color when she heard about
the prize of this year's winner… Because that's what Lilia-san has been
looking for all along, something that can restore Sieg-san's lost voice…
[…Lilia-san.]
[Yes?]
[It's not like I'm just trying to say nice things… But I don't think it's
Lilia-san's fault at all.]
[…Thank you very much.]
The conversation didn't last any longer, but I felt the tense feeling
around Lilia-san eased up a little bit.
Dear Mom, Dad—— I was able to learn a bit about Lilia-san's past. LIliasan and Sieg-san—– They were childhood friends.