A Fury That Fears Nothing

"Thank you for everything. I'll come again soon."

Standing on the pristine white snow where no footprints marred its surface, Daisy—her body fully recovered—bid her farewells to Carl, Margaret, and Matheus's brothers.

It had been days since the demonic beasts vanished, and in that time, Matheus's brothers had filled out noticeably.

Seeing them, Daisy smiled quietly to herself at the thought that, yes, hunting down the beasts had been hard work indeed.

"That's right. We'll have plenty of good food ready, so next time just come to visit. Shall we all go sledding together?"

"What am I, a child? Sledding?"

Matheus grumbled as Carl and Margaret's eldest son spoke with a grin.

He was usually a man of few words with a strong sense of duty, but having finally been freed from the task he had carried out nearly his whole life, he seemed just a little giddy.

"I'd love that. I fought the beasts all this time without ever getting to play in this snow. I'll come back for that sledding."

Daisy gave her farewell and mounted her horse.

"Take good care of Daisy. You must look after Her Majesty the Emperor as well."

Carl urged this upon Matheus, who nodded.

"Don't worry."

Leaving their families behind, Daisy and Matheus set out for Sayron.

"Will you be all right?"

Matheus asked as they rode across the snowy fields.

"I'll be fine. I told you—I'm over it now."

"I'm sure even His Majesty wouldn't say a word if you rested a while longer."

"Yes, I was lucky enough to earn the merit of surviving the 7 Nights, but my true calling is as His Majesty's knight, so I have to go back. I've already rested far too long. Besides, even if that were fine for me, why are you the one resting?"

At Daisy's words, Matheus averted his gaze and started rambling about how fine the weather was.

"Neglecting your duties as the Emperor's knight."

"I may be His Majesty's knight, but I'm also the son of the lord of Lanke, with a duty to tend to a territory now freed from the beasts."

"You're not even the heir. What duty? And haven't you just been playing around this whole time?"

"I wonder if His Majesty is waiting for us? I did send word that we were returning."

With nothing left to say, Matheus smacked his horse's flank and picked up the pace.

Daisy chuckled and followed after him.

A few days later, when they passed through the checkpoint at Chafe and had only just entered Sayron's gates, Daisy spotted someone she had not expected.

Franz stood there with Verdi and Humbert arrayed behind him.

Given how sparse his retinue was, this was clearly no formal procession.

Daisy and Matheus dismounted and dropped to one knee.

"We greet His Majesty the Emperor."

"Rise."

At Franz's word, Daisy and Matheus stood and faced the Emperor.

Verdi wore a dreadful expression, as if he had been dragged along against his will, while Humbert—perhaps relieved of the crushing burden of guarding the Emperor alone—was beaming like sunshine. Even if Franz was skilled enough that no one dared lay a finger on him, the mere fact of guarding the Emperor carried an immense weight of responsibility.

Behind the Emperor, Humbert was making an absolute spectacle of himself, thrusting his thumb up at Daisy in encouragement.

Daisy nearly burst out laughing at the sight.

"You seem to be in good spirits."

Franz's voice was its usual self, yet there was something strangely emotional about it—more so than usual.

He seemed almost angry in some indefinable way, and yet also as though he were studying Daisy's reaction. It was impossible to tell whether he was relieved that the woman who had once tried to die now looked happy, or whether he was quietly hurt that she seemed perfectly fine even without him.

Either way, it was an attitude unlike the man who had never once considered anyone else's feelings.

Daisy hastily masked her expression.

"His Majesty has come all this way to honor the knight who survived the 7 Nights. There is a ceremony planned at the Sayron Plaza, so you had best make haste, Sir Rainer."

Verdi announced loudly, in a tone utterly drained of soul.

"A ceremony?"

Daisy looked back and forth between Verdi and Franz, bewildered.

"A ceremony in which you, Sir Rainer, will ride through the streets of Sayron alongside His Majesty and greet the people."

"Pardon? Why would I—"

Having lived so long as the Emperor's Shadow, Daisy was not only unaccustomed to standing before crowds—she actively despised it.

Moreover, a public march through the capital with the people gathered to watch was a rite performed only for grand occasions like royal weddings or coronations.

It made her skin crawl all the more to remember that the last such occasion had been the wedding of the Emperor and Empress.

"What do you mean, why? My knight survived the Forest of Illusions and rid the land of the beasts—it is only natural. The people will lay eyes on you and sing your praises, and the praises of me, your master."

Daisy realized there was no refusing.

This was the man who had gone so far as to marry for the sake of strengthening the imperial throne and winning the people's support.

The knight who had vanquished the greatest threat to the empire's stability was the Emperor's own knight—and through her, he could win support beyond anything the marriage could ever have bought him.

And for that, he needed to show the people, with their own eyes, that he stood beside that knight.

"I shall obey your command."

Daisy swore her loyalty to the Emperor—and that loyalty meant not only guarding him from behind, but doing whatever he required of her.

"So you won't refuse."

"How could I ever refuse Your Majesty's command?"

Franz's words remained persistently barbed. At Daisy's reply, he snorted.

"Pull a stunt like that on your own initiative one more time, and even I will not forgive you."

Franz said this coldly and set off ahead of them.

Matheus and Humbert quickly mounted and took position ahead of the Emperor to guard him.

Daisy too mounted her horse and followed behind him.

No matter how good the outcome, defying the Emperor's will and acting on one's own was a serious offense deserving punishment.

With those few words, Franz had apparently forgiven her.

Truly, Franz was a man of great magnanimity.

Thinking she had chosen her master well, Daisy resolved to devote her loyalty to him for all the days to come.

"Your Majesty the Empress, you must prepare to attend the procession. Where are you going?"

Perhaps not yet fully recovered, Arisa left the main palace with a pale face, striding along in great hasty steps.

The Head Maid scrambled anxiously after her.

Paying the woman no mind whatsoever, Arisa kept walking at a brisk pace, ever westward.

The western annex housed the imperial archives, and the administrative office attached to it was where the Emperor's close aides—Verdi, Andre, and other officials—carried out their work.

And it was also where Arisa's elder brother, Pedro Amesis, was employed.

Employed, that is, in name only—a position secured through his father's influence, spent sorting the archives in menial drudgery.

Pedro Amesis had neither ambition nor wit.

If Arisa was the kind of child who, taught one thing, understood ten, Pedro Amesis was the kind who, shown ten things, could not retain a single one.

Only in his inferiority complex was he second to no one.

When it came to rubbing salt in Arisa's wounds, there was nothing he would not do.

And it was toward the archive where he worked that Arisa was heading now.

Understanding nothing, the Head Maid could only keep trailing after her.

That very afternoon, there was to be a procession commemorating the Emperor's knight, who had survived the Forest of Illusions and vanquished every last beast—and the Empress was expected to be dressed and adorned accordingly.

Since losing her child, the Empress had remained abed, swallowing grief and despair whole—and though it made no sense, at times she seemed to be barely containing a fury that boiled up from somewhere deep within.

This was to be her first official appearance since then.

And yet the Empress, who had not left her bed, rose for the first time and was now marching toward the archives at a pace the Head Maid could barely match.

Of course, she knew full well that early that morning a message had been sent to the Empress's brother, bidding him call on her chambers—and that no reply had come.

But was there truly some matter so urgent it demanded calling on him in person?

As the Empress entered the annex, the passing maids, attendants, and officials bowed in greeting.

Arisa acknowledged them only halfheartedly and climbed to the second floor.

The archive smelled of aged paper.

She wound through the maze-like corridors until she stood before a small door.

Upon it was written the name Pedro Amesis.

Without so much as a knock, Arisa flung the door open.

And before the Head Maid, who had only just caught up, could utter a word, she slammed it shut behind her with a resounding bang.

All the Head Maid could do was catch her breath and stand guard at the door, ensuring no one came near.

"What do you want?"

Pedro Amesis, who had been lounging in his chair half-reclined, wrinkled his face at the sight of Arisa and rose from his seat.

It was their first meeting since that day.

He had heard in passing from his father that Arisa had lost her child.

He had assumed she would be out of her mind for a while, but then out of nowhere she sent word ordering him to come to her chambers—so he had ignored it.

And now here she was, come to find him herself.

Arisa approached without a word and struck him across the cheek.

Hard enough to turn his face sideways.

Hard enough that he could almost hear his skin split.

Pedro Amesis was so flustered that he failed to react properly at all, simply staring at her in a daze.

Arisa raised her hand and struck his other cheek.

Pedro Amesis's left cheek flushed a deep, burning red.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Coming to his senses after the second blow, Pedro Amesis swore under his breath and advanced on her as if to strike her back.

"Lay so much as a fingertip on me, and you can consider our family finished. Understand?"

Arisa said, her eyes brimming with venom.

"What did you say?"

"I've always known you harbored an inferiority complex toward me. Then you should have waited patiently until I got out of your way on my own. If you'd just left me alone, I would have disappeared along with Logan."

Arisa spoke very quietly, wary that someone outside might hear—in a voice pitched only for Pedro Amesis's ears.

"You call that a reason? And we were just supposed to stand by and watch while you disgraced our family and vanished?"

Pedro Amesis curled one corner of his mouth into a sneer.

"If you cared so much about the family's honor, you wouldn't have wormed your way into the palace with that thick skull of yours, sitting in a dead-end post like this. Everything I built up, my reputation—and you've been grinding it down piece by piece."

"Why, you—!"

Pedro Amesis raised his hand again, and Arisa looked up at him with eyes that could kill.

Cowed by that intensity, Pedro Amesis took a step back.

Something had changed. This was not the Arisa he had known.

"I've lost the man I loved, and I've lost my child. Do you understand what that means? There is nothing left in this world that frightens me."

"So what? Does that mean you're just going to keep hitting me?"

"Yes. If you don't want the whole palace to know, then from now on, when I call for you, you come running. Immediately. And pass the word to Father as well: if any of you touch me one more time, we all die together. I'll tell the Emperor everything that has happened—every last bit of it. And another thing."

Pedro Amesis swallowed hard, terrified by the sight of a sister he had never seen before.

"From now on, I will never let anyone take from me what is mine."

Arisa glared at Pedro Amesis one last time, then flung the door open again and swept out of the room.

The Head Maid cast a furtive glance at Pedro Amesis through the open doorway, then followed her mistress.

Pedro Amesis could do nothing but stare after Arisa's retreating back.