A Transaction of the Heart

It was late, but Franz was still in his office, lost in thought before the flickering lamplight. His mind kept returning to the procession that afternoon.

Daisy had been the empire's greatest knight for as long as he could remember, her skill unmatched by anyone — yet she had always carried a single weakness: trouble controlling her emotions.

It showed in the way she had once stormed at the maids who dared insult her, holding nothing back. And whenever she faced a human rather than a demonic beast, those black eyes of hers would waver badly. She agonized over it constantly, but Franz loved that about her. Thanks to that Daisy, he had been able to live a life steeped in the smell of blood without ever losing his humanity.

But in the Daisy who handed him the Red Crystal, he could find no trace of that inner conflict.

It was, without question, a precious thing. To offer something so rare to him without a moment's hesitation — he should have felt joy, pride. Yet Daisy's expression had not wavered in the slightest. The face of a vassal presenting a treasure to her lord. That was all it was.

It was an object rarely seen, and one said to bring good fortune besides, so he had wanted to return it to her. But to the Daisy of now, it seemed to mean very little. Even if he gave it back, he was certain she would refuse.

Franz drew the red pouch from his coat and took out the Red Crystal. It resembled a ruby, but was unmistakably something else. Nowhere had he ever seen blood-red so clear — so beautiful it was as if another living thing dwelt within the gem itself.

After gazing at it for a long while, Franz left his office and strode down the silent palace corridor until he stood before Daisy's door. He hesitated briefly, then knocked. Late as it was, he was certain she would be awake. Daisy never slept before he did.

Before long, the door opened. Daisy stood there with damp hair falling loose, as if she had just bathed.

"What brings you here at this hour, Your Majesty?"

The scent of roses wafted over him, and Franz fought off a wave of dizziness, forcing himself to focus. "I have questions for you."

"…Come in, then."

Daisy stepped back and gestured him inside. Franz entered the room, saturated with her fragrance. It was as modest as ever — a room that did little credit to her position or renown. Where on earth did the wages of the Emperor's Knight go, that she lived like this without even a decent change of clothes to her name?

"Sit."

Daisy indicated the bed and pulled out the desk chair for herself, but Franz took it from her hands, caught her by both arms, and seated her on the bed, settling into the desk chair himself. Daisy gave an awkward little cough and turned to look out the window. Beyond the curtainless glass, the half moon hung high.

"Ask what you will."

She said it as though she had no intention of wasting a moment. Where to begin, and how?

Franz took the Red Crystal from his pouch and laid it on his palm. "You were never able to hide your feelings. Didn't you, in truth, want the Red Crystal?"

"I truly did not want it. Rare it may be, but I believed I had no right to possess it." Daisy answered without a moment's hesitation.

"No right, you say."

"Yes. I went to the Forest of Illusions partly out of devotion to the empire, but my personal reasons weighed far heavier. What shamelessness would it be, to accept such a treasure?"

"If you have no right, then neither do I."

"You have every right, Your Majesty. You are the Emperor of the empire."

Daisy said it flatly. There was no conflict in the answer, no other feeling hidden beneath it — only the stance of a loyal knight.

The longer he spoke with her, the more Franz understood: she truly felt nothing for him. At the very least, he had expected her to recall the years they had suffered side by side and tell him he was more than entitled. Instead, he clenched the Red Crystal in his fist. The sharp edges bit into his hand until he thought it might bleed, but he could not make himself let go.

"It's late. If you're finished, you should rest…"

"Are you not curious why I left you in Lanke and returned ahead of you?"

Franz cut her off and asked again.

"I heard Her Majesty the Empress lost her child in an unforeseen accident. My condolences."

Publicly, it had been recorded that the Empress fell into the Red Spring and lost the baby. Franz remembered the Daisy who had rushed back to the palace without rest the moment she heard the Empress was pregnant. The cold winds of Lanke still clung to her body then, and her eyes — eyes like someone who had lost her place in the world — had shaken violently.

But the Daisy before him now looked utterly grounded, as if she had soaked up the warmth of a spring day. There was no tension in this room, no anxiety. To her, they were simply liege and vassal. The more Franz confirmed it, the more wretched he became.

But what could he do? All of it was his own fault.

"I returned ahead of you and searched every corner of the palace archives. Verdi worked hard at it."

Daisy's face made it plain that she could not understand why he kept veering off topic, but she said nothing and waited for him to continue.

"The Archmage you met in the Forest of Illusions — I believe she was Maia."

"Maia?"

"Yes. You learned in your history lessons that the mages aided the empire's founding, didn't you?"

"I did. But I never knew that mage had a name." Daisy sounded puzzled. "There are books in the palace archives about the mages? I didn't read a great many books, but I don't recall ever seeing one."

What she said was true. Even in the empire's official history, the mages' aid merited only a single passing line — nothing more. Franz hadn't known the reason either. There had been times he wondered whether the mages had never existed at all. But if what Daisy had heard in the Forest of Illusions was true, then his ancestors' erasure of every record concerning them made grim sense.

"Deep in the archives lies a vault called the Forbidden Archive, where only banned books are kept. And in there… the First Emperor's diary."

"A diary?"

"Yes. It was filled with writings about the empire's future and the weight he carried as its founder. But there was a small mention — of Maia."

Moonlight reflected in Franz's eyes. Daisy was wearing the very expression he knew — the one from before the Forest of Illusions, before the news of the Empress's pregnancy.

"What did it say? Is it the same as what the mage told me?"

Her eyes shone as she asked, and a laugh slipped out of him before he could stop it. If even her smallest expression, her smallest gesture, could wring a smile from him — how had he managed to pretend not to notice for so many years?

"Why are you laughing?"

"It's nothing. The diary spoke of his remorse and guilt toward Maia — and of his resolve to protect the Lowes Empire, if only so he would never regret the choice he made."

"…So it's true, then. The First Emperor really did betray the Archmage."

"A soul trapped in the Forest of Illusions, neither dead nor alive, has no reason to lie."

Franz said it evenly, but inside, something was burning him alive. The more words he spoke, the more they wounded the woman he loved — it felt like a curse upon House Roheas itself. The First Emperor, Juligen Roheas, had betrayed the mage who helped him build the empire. And Franz himself had turned his back on the heart of Daisy, who had always guarded his side like a shadow. This was the result. Despair and darkness that seemed impossible to turn back.

When she had run to the Forest of Illusions — had Daisy's heart felt like this?

"Is that your answer?"

Daisy's question pulled him out of his reverie. He hadn't come here to confirm that her heart had changed. He had come to somehow make amends — to atone for the foolishness of his past self, who had ignored his own feelings for her and convinced himself she would always be there, unchanged.

"The First Emperor returned to the palace that day carrying Maia's heart."

"I know that much. But Maia's heart had a barrier around it, so it couldn't be pierced. That's why she exists like that — a ghost, still alive."

"After he returned with the heart to the palace, not a single record about the mages was left behind. And he couldn't bring himself to destroy the heart, either."

Daisy slowly began to understand where Franz was going. "Then do you think… Maia's heart might still be somewhere in the Imperial Palace?"

She shot to her feet as she asked. Franz smiled. It was a rare thing to see him smile, with that sharp, cold face of his. Perhaps rarer than the Red Crystal itself.

Daisy stared intently at his face.

Franz loved this moment. Discussing how to destroy a demonic beast, predicting the enemy's tactics — those instants when Daisy thought exactly as he did. He had always loved this moment.

"It's somewhere in the palace."

"But… are you going to search for it?"

Daisy asked again. Franz made no reply, only regarded her quietly. The Daisy he knew would have been the first to leap up and declare she would find Maia's heart before anyone else. This hesitation was something he had never accounted for.

"What I mean is… even if you find it, you can't pierce the heart. And an Archmage who was betrayed once already — is there truly any need to destroy her completely? It would be far too cruel."

Daisy had always been tender-hearted. When facing a human rather than a beast, she hesitated a little, no matter who the enemy was. But he had never imagined she would extend her sympathy to the Archmage's ghost — after the woman had stripped away her own feelings for him.

No. Was she taking the ghost's side because the ghost had rid her of those feelings?

"Who said anything about piercing it?"

"Then what will you do with the heart, once you find it?"

"Find it, and make a bargain."

"A bargain?"

"I return her heart. In exchange, she restores your feelings to the way they were."

"I'm sorry — what?"

Daisy asked, plainly lost. Franz looked her straight in the eye.

"You decide, all on your own, that you harbor feelings for me. Then you decide, all on your own, to erase them. Then you notify me it's gone — as though you're relieved to be rid of it — and you think that's the end of it? I will not permit it."

Franz rose to his feet. Daisy remained standing where she was, still simply watching him.

"Find it. However you must. Turn the entire palace upside down if you have to."

Daisy stood motionless, her mouth opening and closing as though the words had abandoned her. She had so much she wanted to say, and no idea where to begin.

Franz grasped the door handle, then turned back before opening it. "My marriage was one of political convenience. Nothing about that has ever changed."

Franz left, and the door closed behind him. Daisy stood in silence, staring at the door — as if he might come back through it.