Because of the foggy-white tears that obscured my vision, I could not read the last sentence. With gritted teeth, I rubbed the wettening corners eyes raw. I couldn't cry, especially after I had read that wishful message left from my father. Don't cry.

Yes... I won't cry, father.

Mumbling to myself, I attempted to gently fold the silver envelope away- yet, a letter that I had neglected to read before flashed into the corner of my vision.

A hole-in-the-wall kind of secretive place.

As soon as I saw the note, it was as if I had suddenly remembered long-forgotten memories- without a moment's hesitation to gather my thoughts, my hand jerked to the backside corner of a nearby tapestry.

Then, something sounded as if it were unwinding, followed not long after by a door scraped in various places; upwardly concave craters alongside dozens of strings of letters.

"Tia? What is this....?"

"There's something I need to confirm. Will you come with me, Ruve?"

".... Would that be alright with you?"

"It's fine. As I've said since long ago, may the Goddess's blessings be with you."

"If you put it that way, then... gladly."

With a light knod; as his attention diverted, I recited those words I had been bequeathed from my father on the day of my succession.

'Gloria Moniqua, (Moniqua's Glory.)'

Creak.

The door opened.

* * *

"What's this?"

The man who had formerly been silent since their descent into the mysterious room, had asked. While I had been sifting through nearly arranged piles, I paused at his words, turning to face him. The direction he had been pointing towards our family's ancient Coat of Arms- an elegantly decorated jewelry box where four spear stands used to be.

"Ah, that's what I've been looking for. Thank you, Ruve."

Receiving the box from him, I peered at the welded corners. No different than it been when I had followed my father in this room so long ago, where the lock should've been were instead several cogs emblazoned with various phrases.

Of course, it was here, right?

The box would only open with the designated password- the weight of this fact lay heavier on my shoulders still. Here, there was only this chest, one which I knew not of the contents within, and not only this but how father had previously affirmed that he would inform me of its use when the time was right.

I lingered my gaze at this box, that was not very big in size, before carefully tinkering with its gears to unscramble its phrase.

'Superbia teli, (The pride of the lance)'

The second the final word was emplaced, with a rattle, the lid opened. At the object carefully laid upon the navy-blue velvet, I tilted my head.

"What's this...?"

Inside this crate was a wand made of red ore. About the right length to fit in one hand, with small text hurriedly engraved on it. On one tail end it had a silvery azure tuft; it was very beautiful.

Sluggishly, my hands outstretched toward it, only to be intercepted by the sudden descent of a particularly haggard piece of paper. In lieu of picking it up, I look to the side. It was the fault of the man at my side- the who had remained inexpressive- as he let out a halting moan.

"Ruve? Are you okay?"

At my question- my curious mien, he began his comment, a complexity developing in his eyes.

"This was the thing you wanted to find...?"

"Uhm, yes."

"For what reason? Why would you need such an object...?"

"Huh? Do you know what this is, your Highness?"

I wanted to ask what this was- he was making such a face, only to be stopped by his thoughtful gaze- then words, spoken now with a sobered expression.

"You do not seem to know yet. On hindsight, you did mention that you did not, a while ago."

"Yes, so, what is this?"

"Hmm... I could explain it to you, but it would be favorable if you read it yourself. Now, go on- read it."

He personally bent down to pick the paper up, which then he handed it over to me. A little shocked, I expressed my gratitude, set the wand aside and unfolded it.

Imperial Dating System, Year 197,

Abraxas Soul Shana Castina.>

The hand that held the scroll trembled. My eyes widened impossibly, until the they could not spare to spread even a little further- only those venomous words would remain.

The right to receive pardoning from any and all misdeeds.

"Ah..."

An indescribable sound phased through pursed lips.

Immunity. A excusive permission slip for treason, even. Such a thing was belonged to the Monique name? One that was eight hundred years old, at that?

I finally understood our final exchange, his words, I realized what they meant. Why the Emperor's visage crumpled so bizarrely in discomfort when I had found it.

If I were to have fallen into an inescapable abyss, this would be the only thing I would need for my salvation. Then, my father's brooch seal and the various other things he'd given- even with that, he had saved for me even the ancient appeal of immunity, as well? For the security of a future returnee?

Internally, a fluttering feeling came to a boil- I bit down on my lips, and a flicker of a distant memory washed past me.

During the time I was but an annoyance to His Majesty, my father, when I had been denied a blood oath and become crestfallen- he said to me, then... that our heritage was not defined simply by an ichorous decree. For that, he told me, that even if the worst were to happen I would only need to mention it to him, he'd do anything, he'd figure it out.

I don't recall what my reply to him was on that day, but if anything I solaced thereafter in the confidence of his words. It was probably this that my father was referring to.

That's how it was. Unlike the fruitless aspiration I harbored, father seemed to have a capacity to reason. It was why Emperor Prior, despite how he wished for me he could not force it. If it were another noble family, they would never use such a precious fiat for the sake of a mere daughter, but I had a father who put his life at risk just for the hand of his wife.

A man like that cast no doubt as to be one capable of such a thing. And that if it were to come to it, that I fail to achieve my goal, the only thing to arise would be the fall of our relationship.

Huh? Wait. Life? Did I just think about life?

The brisk thoughts of that prediction passed by, swaying me over as if to collapse. With hastened celerity, he caught me before I managed to careen over, and spoke to me with a worried tone.

"Are you alright, Tia?"

"...Ah, yes."

I'd given him that simple response, but the aftershock, all driven by that ill omen, could not release its serpentine grip. As if I had been struck on the head, I was met with dizziness.

-"To quell a misunderstanding, Your Majesty, the Empress, I heard, had accidentally been pushed by the Emperor. That's why it turned out this way, is that the truth?"

My father, who had not ever spoken or listened to anything that reprimanded the Empire or the royal family, had unexpectedly questioned so.

-"It was wrong of me to send you here, Your Majesty."

A voice, that had been riddled by a sigh, met absolute disparity... it was when I heard news of Jieun's pregnancy. And-

-"Please wait a little longer. Whence I return, I promise I will return you home."

His speech, so empowered by resolve !

"Haah..."

An emotion I could not pinpoint overflowed my chest. That conversation I had believed I'd forgotten, his face, and his succinct gaze were clear as if they were only yesterday. What meaning they'd held, and how he'd take me, already an Empress, back, phrases I couldn't muster to decipher, and only his cold reverberation lingered in my ears.

Did you, father? Am I right in assuming this? At the time, were you also trying to use our amnesty to save me? Even after you'd been surrounded by unreasonable blame, you'd spare it to use it just for me? Or was it to plead for my life, to let it be the compensation for the loss of yours? Yes?

"Ahh...."

I let out a cry stricken with grief, as if a scream. The swirling amalgamation of thoughts, though I didn't know whether they were truthful or baseless conjecture, at least proved that the love my father had given me was always as bountiful as the one of the present, that was certain. And how I had stayed none the wiser to it even up til my final moments.

When I had finished reading the letter, I was determined to forego crying. But after unveiling the truth after such a long time, it was enough to cause an upset, tearing through the dam that held my tears. Such a belated realization, and the profuse yearning to just be able to thank him- but being unable to, only spited by the bitter emptiness of his absence and the pounding against my chest that stung so. I cried endlessly.

How long had it been ?

The unyielding waterfall of tears began to ease in its flow, and the quaking heave of my body subsided bit by bit. I'd realized I'd been in his arms, blubbering away in my full-bodied sobbing. The labored gasping of inhalation quieted as I smeared away the tears. He'd been standing there, wordlessly, stroking my back until his conciliation finally came.

".....Are you feeling a bit better..?"

"Y-yes, Your Majesty."

"I'd thought you'd already known, for a long time, now... it goes to show how much of a loyal man the marquis was. Even if it is the law, so many things have happened, it's hard to believe."

"Huh? What do you mean, 'law'?"

"Yes. This declaration's existence was only to be known to the head of the Monique family and the reigning Emperor, that is our rule. I, as well, learned of this after I ascended to the throne."

All the while speaking, he softly pet my back.

"When I was the crown prince, do you recall me telling you the story with the Marquess? The one where I was scolded heavily by her."

"I do remember."

His question spoke of old times, but the thought of our dialogue then remained pristine in my mind. My gratitude for the sorrow I hadn't even imagined, and the sadness that he'd endured for my inability to heal, wasn't something to be easily forgotten.

Back when Jieun had only recently arrived, when I was on the verge of being forced becoming his wife, and on top of the revelation of my mother's heritage, I'd felt deflated.

Instead of spilling on me the burden of sadness, he vyed instead to tell me that story about my mother. That my mother was a respectable woman, bright and warm, as well as a person brave enough to rebuke the crown prince. And why it was, the reason why he'd been reprimanded.

Ah? Then again?

At the curious inclination, I turned my head to meet him.

"So.. the thing you said you'd snuck out was..."

"Yes, it was this very thing. It'd been laid out among such mindless decorations, I had no clue it held such importance. After I learnt the truth, you wouldn't know how surprised I was. Come to think of it, your father was also an amazing man. To store something like this so nonchalantly."

"I guess he'd heard that the more important something is, to care of it that much more indifference. Maybe it was because of that. How surprised would he be, then, after he heard you almost took it yourself? That's probably the reason."

A small smile took over my mouth, and he nods in acknowledgement, developing complexity in his eyes once more.

"Then.. Tia, do you intend to keep it?"

"I don't know. It is something of my clan, so it would be better to leave it here... but if I think about my father's memory, I also think it would be better to take it..."

"To keep it safe, wouldn't it be better for it to remain here? As I see it, only the head and the heir may enter this secret floor."

"There's that, I suppose. I'll leave it here."

With a lithe movement, I put the ruby-red staff and the document back into its box, closing the lid above it.

Like it had been prior, I jumble the words inscribed on the gears, placing the chest back where it originally stood. He extends his hand towards me, as if to say he had been waiting. Despite it seeming somewhat unnatural and suspicious, I intrust my grasp to him, squeezing out of the secret room with interlocked hands.

As I lowered the tapestry over the wall-guised door, the workshop returned to typicality as if no such entrance even existed. Checking intermittently for my father's relic- left gently on his desk, I turn one last time to glance over the room before exiting, closing the door behind me.

The familiar hallway I walked brought souvenirs of my childhood, of my father.

That room, smelling of the attic and peculiar titles, was where my father, would oftentimes greet me as I visited. With a hastened heartbeat, brewing tea as he read on. Then, when he would tell me that it had tasted great, I'd feel relieved and laugh. Such reminiscing filled my heart.

On nights I couldn't sleep, there were those soothing, large hands, a soft goodnight kiss placed on my forehead. The touch that mussed through my hair, the genteel voice that came in tandem.

Sometimes strictly, sometimes tenderly, rusty, golden eyes that held me dear... and his hold that stayed as an expansive, protective barrier around me.

To cry and laugh through suffering and happiness, now they were only faint recollections of the countless memories of my father. I bury them with sincerity in my heart as each step is taken in this wide hall. It'd been so long since his funeral, but it was only now I could send my father off with a calm of mind.

I wonder, are you happy? To be reunited with mother, who you missed so much, are you content? If you say so, that you are, it would cast away my sadness. I couldn't send you with cheers and smiles as you'd hoped... and even with this unavailing longing just to see your face again... I'm set out to stop crying.

So... father, there's no need to worry anymore. Please be happy, there, with mother. Until the day comes that we meet again, I, too, will strive to live in glee.

Walking stiffly, stuffy-hearted, by chance, I saw a glowing redness on the far side of the hall. The balcony windows were opened to display the muddled crimson sky, the redness spilling out into the mansion floor.

Standing parallel besides each other, we looked across the setting sun.

Slowly, the sky dyed into darkness. The sunset was piggybacked by the mansion's black shadow, and the air felt depressed, a special trait that accompanied the falling of the sun.

At the glum silence, the sturdy fingers that held mine in place slipped away.

The heat that traversed up my palm led me to turn my head towards him. At the sun's light, I saw his reddened lips move slowly.

"Tia."

"Yes, Ruve?"

"In truth, when you found that item back there... honestly, I was a bit perturbed."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"I feared that perhaps I would see it again... if you ever found out what that thing was."

"Ah..."

That's why he always had that look on his face. We'd been bound together by the oath of blood, so there was no way- but for that small chance that I'd ever threaten to leave the Imperial Palace, he'd use it as his final trump card?

"Though, after so long it was rather refreshing. I had so many thoughts in such short moments."

"Oh, what kind of thoughts?"

"When I'd first discovered that thing, we were fine... but since then, many things have happened. We'd hated and feared one another, we were walking a fine line. Because of our involuntary emotions, we'd been hurt countlessly, and to comfort our pained feelings spent many a'nights sleepless.... Now, I can talk about it as if cherished memories, but for you, it must have been a gruelling time. Isn't that so?"

"Yes, it was."

"I thank you, Tia. For staying with me through hardship and terror. Without you I would simply be an Emperor, but thanks to you I have lived life as a man. You have my gratitude for allowing me to live a life like a human being."

The sudden wind sent his hair aflutter, the gradienting layers of the sky staining all things black. It was the same for me, as well, those words. For the me who always took steps backwards, because of the pain of the past, if you were not there to have steadied me, I wouldn't have become the Artisia that was loved and cherished, like now... I would have remained the abandoned empress, Artisia.

In the darkly tinged garden, I envisioned the image of two children. A silver-haired little girl, smiling quite clearly, and a blue-haired boy who looked at that smile with a conflicted expression. While the exact events are blurry and if it had been long ago, I would've just made a melancholic face, but now it too was a memory aged well by remembrance.

Ah, and speaking of, I had once stood on this very spot, watching down at him, in the garden.

An exchange I had long ago with Sir Liz resurfaced in my mind, but with a light smile, smoothed away his suspicions. What use was it to learn of the answer now? He and I had already gone round and round to get to this point. We had shed those times of mutual hurting and now stood side-by-side, looking off at the same sky.

Putting more pressure at our intertwined fingers, I tilted my head up to look at him. His gaze had been transfixed to the horizon in front of him, but he slowly turned to meet me. In a sea of blacks and reds, the only shining color of blue- his eyes- held me in their sights.

"Tia, will you..."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"From now on and always, will you stay at my side?"

"...Yes, Ruve. You needn't ask."

"Truly?"

"Truly, always."

Towards the embrace that had one day become my protective fencing, I smiled brightly for the man I loved.

The smoldering sunset, yet, illuminated us.

- fin. -