Each One's Life and Bondage (4)

…Is he serious?

Beynon wasn't quite sure what to make of Theorad's boasting.

But the young master seemed pleased with himself. There was no need to spoil his good mood.

Beynon had once boasted of three minutes and forty-eight seconds. Theorad was now proud of four minutes and twenty-two. Whatever either number really measured, neither sounded like a feat worth flaunting. Theorad would learn that in time.

“Are you planning to keep me standing out here?”

“Hm? Oh.”

The smugness vanished from Theorad's face.

Beynon had been summoned to the imperial capital for a ridiculous reason and had finally returned to his duties as the family's sole knight. It wasn't right to leave him outside the mansion.

“Forgive me. Come inside. I'll treat you to that Balgeum chocolate you like.”

“I wasn't asking for refreshments. But if you're offering, I'll gladly accept.”

Theorad blinked at the unusually polite reply.

“You've improved your manners. Did you learn proper etiquette in the capital?”

“Young master! I'm not some uncouth stablehand. I've always been polite.”

“Have you? Then what about that chocolate in the drawing room?”

“You… Are you still angry about that?”

Theorad didn't answer. He walked on with the faintest smile beneath his composed expression.

After a few steps, he glanced back.

“Well? Aren't you coming?”

Only then did Beynon realize he'd been teased.

Hah. Just look at him.

The young master's expressions seemed more varied lately. Beynon couldn't say what had changed, but the improvement pleased him.

He took the horse's reins and led it along beside Theorad. The breeze stirred the grass, and the grounds felt peaceful.

Then Beynon remembered something he'd been told to pass on.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. Princess Benelia has come down to the county. I returned with her forces.”

“The princess?”

“Yes. Officially she's here to suppress the rebels, though I don't know the details. She asked to see you.”

Me? Why?

Theorad looked uneasy.

“Did she say what for?”

“Perhaps she's curious about how quickly you completed the artificial-rain magic. She kept asking me about you. I can't think of another reason.”

“She asked you about me?”

“Often. She wanted me to visit and talk with her whenever I had an opportunity. I couldn't refuse a princess's orders, so I told her what I knew.”

Beynon paused.

“There's something strange about her, though. Something about her eyes.”

“Strange how?”

“I'm not an astrologer who can read a person's nature at a glance. But I've spent enough years on battlefields to recognize what a person is trying to do.”

Beynon wasn't merely bragging.

He'd served nearly twenty years as a mercenary, fighting in countless conflicts. Even now, border lords of the Empire regularly hired soldiers to settle their quarrels.

He'd met all kinds of rulers: cowards, capable commanders, cruel killers, and nobles who started wars out of boredom.

Over the years he'd learned to read a noble's intent from speech and behavior.

Yet Princess Benelia, the Empire's military minister, remained impossible to understand.

Chess is a strange game, she'd once remarked. You can have any number of soldiers, but everything ends when the king falls. An entire life, reduced to a board of squares…

She spent much of her free time playing chess. For all that dedication, she was surprisingly poor at it.

She hesitated over every move, thought and rethought her decisions, and often lost anyway.

Timid. Inept.

That was one face of her.

Did you hear? Count Pelgaroin's second son has joined the rebels. His Majesty will soon order me to suppress them. Isn't that amusing?

Professor Roylen had told Beynon of Benelia's defiance at a recent imperial council meeting.

To him, it seemed that the princess had deliberately provoked the Emperor and the ministers while quietly enlarging her own power.

Capable. Cunning.

That was another face.

The Empire is in disarray. The courtiers think my father a fool. War with the demon realm seems likelier every day. How many thousands will die? Tens of thousands, perhaps. Another tedious wind of blood is coming.

When she said that, Benelia's eyes had been dull, her voice heavy with drink.

War seemed to her like a game whose casualties could be counted rather than mourned. There had been something chillingly detached about her.

Borrow the missing equipment money from Carastane Bank in the merchant city. What? Sell the magic-stone mines to finance the army? Idiot. The deficit shouldn't last more than half a year if my plan works… Ah, it's troublesome to explain. Go away.

Even with her confidante Roylen, Benelia rarely explained her plans. She didn't always seem to be hiding them; sometimes she simply couldn't be bothered to discuss them.

An irresponsible, bored ruler.

A cold and formidable commander.

Beynon had seen both.

Even looking back, I can't understand her.

She appeared to have an objective, but it disappeared whenever anyone tried to pin it down.

And she's an especially poor match for the young master…

Theorad was too trusting to become entangled safely with a woman like Benelia.

Beynon couldn't disobey her orders. All he could do was offer a warning.

“…Her Highness is a woman with many secrets. She fought at the front during the Orc Conquest War when she was only twelve. Her past can't have been an easy one. Be careful around her.”

Theorad nodded thoughtfully.

“A woman with secrets and a difficult past…”

There was someone like that living in his own mansion.

The elf's face came to mind.

“Master?”

Am I hearing things?

He'd endured enough trouble from the elf that even thinking of her seemed enough to make her voice ring in his ears.

Then Beynon stopped walking.

“Hm? Did you come out to meet me as well?”

So it wasn't his imagination.

Theorad looked ahead.

The elf stood before them in her neat maid's uniform, staring at Beynon.

She approached Theorad, extending her arms.

“Master… I had a nightmare…”

She sniffled and pressed herself against him.

The tears in her eyes were real. To Theorad, however, her helpless display looked deliberately exaggerated.

Theorad knew how deeply her real nightmares could affect her. Right now, however, she appeared to be using the excuse to make trouble for him in front of Beynon.

He sighed.

Then he caught hold of her pointed ears and pulled upward.

“Eek!”

“Why should I care whether you have nightmares, you wretched bitch? Get away from me. You stink.”

“It hurts…! Master, if you pull like that, even the baby in my womb will suffer…!”

A tear slipped down her cheek as she rose onto her toes beneath his grip.

Her expression was so pitiful that Theorad almost felt sorry for her.

Then the meaning of her words struck him.

“W-what nonsense! Beynon, don't misunderstand! Absolutely not! An elf couldn't possibly bear a human child!”

Couldn't she?

Beynon had heard enough speculation about children between different peoples to doubt Theorad's certainty. He wasn't convinced human-elf pregnancy was impossible.

Still, he didn't understand the situation and it seemed wisest to help his young master escape it.

“You're imagining things. Even if pregnancy were possible, you couldn't confirm it after only a few days. It generally takes around a month, and that's when symptoms like morning sickness might begin. And a woman doesn't necessarily become pregnant merely because a man finishes inside her.”

Theorad stared at him.

His face flushed with relief and embarrassment.

Don't tell me the young master didn't know that…

It was difficult to believe anyone could be so ignorant after having intercourse.

At least Theorad's first experience had been with the elf, Beynon thought. If he'd gone into his wedding night that unprepared, he might have embarrassed himself terribly in front of his fiancée.

“Anyway, enough of this nonsense,” Beynon said to Theorad. “Couldn't you let her go this once, young master?”

“…If you say so,” Theorad answered.

Theorad released her ears.

The elf took a step back, watching Beynon closely. Her pointed ears were red as she wiped away her tears.

“Well…”

Theorad seemed desperate to move on.

Beynon took up the interrupted subject.

“As I was saying, Her Highness has asked to see you, so you should—”

“Beynon!”

Theorad crossed his arms in a frantic X and shook his head.

He couldn't bear to have the princess's invitation discussed in front of the elf.

Beynon had no idea what the gesture meant.

“What's wrong? Do you not want to go to the Count's castle?”

“Ah…”

Theorad dropped his arms.

He looked utterly defeated.

The elf, meanwhile, gazed up at him with a knowing smile.

“Aha… So Master is going to the castle.”

Their reactions were so different that Beynon couldn't make sense of them.

Theorad cast him a miserable glance, then headed toward the mansion stairs.

His shoulders drooped. Every step looked heavier than the last.

What's wrong with him?

As Beynon watched in confusion, the elf appeared beside him and smiled brightly.

“Thank you.”

“…What for?”

“You don't need to know.”

Before he could respond to that impertinence, she hurried after Theorad.

She looked delighted.