Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume11 Chapter3 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

When she woke up, she was greeted by the sight of a dearly missed face.

The hour appeared to already be close to evening; the rays of sunlight streaming through the window were faintly red.

Blinking her eyes, Vileena Owell whispered, “Grandfather…” and broke into a smile towards that dearly missed face that was looking towards her.

“Still… I’m still asleep, aren’t I?”

Her grandfather, Jeorg Owell, smiled back.

Each season, Vileena had the habit of spending some time with her grandfather at the detached palace. They would go fishing, or she would accompany him when he went hunting, they would play at war, and would generally have fun together outdoors.

Whenever she would fall asleep, exhausted from having played, Jeorg would carry his granddaughter home on his back, and would gently watch over her until she woke up in her bed.

“Are you going to sleep like that? Or is my rambunctious princess starving, and is it about time for dinner?”

Those words too were nostalgic, unchanged from the past. Afterwards, they would eat, surrounded by servants who, fittingly for her grandfather’s personal attendants, were energetic yet never made a wasted movement, and who were always smiling kindly. And after that, she would excitedly listen as her grandfather read old heroic tales.

''Ah'' – While bittersweet emotions spread out throughout her chest, Vileena also felt a piercing point of pain. No matter how much she wanted to immerse herself in nostalgic memories, a voice urged her that ''it couldn’t be''. Her grandfather could not be ''here''. No, it was the other way around, the one who originally could not be ''here'' was her.

''A dream… Am I dreaming?''

Assailed by an unspeakable sadness, she felt the back of her eyelids grow hot.

“Grandfather. You’re here, you’re really here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“I never do anything except depend on you, Grandfather. I made up my mind so many times to do what I have to do by myself. But at the most important point, I always end up wanting to see you, Grandfather, and have you scold me. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To scold this weak me.”

''Oh?'' – Listening to Vileena’s abstracted recollections, Jeorg raised his eyebrows. He cleared his throat.

“It doesn’t matter. Just before you left for Mephius, when we parted at the detached palace, I was prepared to never see you again in this life. So to be able to see you like this again, even though only in a dream, is enough to make me happy.”

“I was an idiot back then.”

Vileena muttered, staring up at the ceiling. It was not one that she recognised. It was different from the one at the detached palace. Even though this was a dream, not everything matched up with the ideals.

“Back then, even though I was leaving Garbera to marry into Mephius, even so, I thought that I would definitely be able to see you again soon, Grandfather. Back then, Mephius was only an enemy country to be hated and defeated. I thought that I would definitely return in triumph after having sounded out that enemy country’s internal situation and grasped hold of the secrets that would give victory to Garbera. But…”

“But?”

“Soon, I will no longer be Garberan. Vileena’s eyelids trembled like those of a soldier stepping forward on a battlefield. “Sooner or later, I will become Mephian. That is what I decided. That is the land I should return to; it’s the people living in that land that I should love.”

At that instant, Jeorg’s expression changed. His white eyebrows drew together and he pursed his lips tightly. Vileena’s chest tightened. It was the equivalent of her saying that if anything happened between the two countries, she would turn a bow even against her own grandfather. Considering Jeorg Owell’s personality, surely he would not disparage his granddaughter as a traitor.

Then –

“Nothing,” Jeorg smiled faintly. “Nothing could make me happier than to hear you say that.”

“Grandfather.”

“Because nothing could better prove that wherever you go, you are my beloved Vileena.”

''Grandfather'' – Vileena was about to say again, but, for the second time, her voice would not come out. Overcome with emotion, she was about to sit up. A dull pain stabbed through her head. Her grandfather stretched out an arm to support her as she started to sway. It was thinner than in her memories, but it was undeniably endowed with strength and flesh.

In the moment that she felt the body heat from Jeorg’s skin, Vileena suddenly came to.

“G-Grandfather?” Her eyes sparkled like stars as she opened them wide in amazement and asked, “Grandfather, are you really here?”

“Indeed I am,” Jeorg winked. “Because even if you abandon your title as a Garberan princess, the fact will never change that you’re my granddaughter.”

Amazement and joy spun around in turns inside Vileena’s mind, where her memories gradually fell into place.

Right, if her grandfather was really nearby, then this was undoubtedly Garberan territory. Yet this was neither the royal palace nor the detached palace where she had spent so much time with him. Upon asking, she was told that this was a room in Zaim Fortress. Zaim, which was a strategic location in the northwest of Garbera, which it guarded against the nearby Ende and Mephius.

“Coming to such a faraway place… Is your health alright?”

“I’ve been in very good shape recently. I’ve even been able to go horse-riding since a half a month ago, so don’t worry.”

As Jeorg gently answered her, Vileena almost smiled back at him without thinking about it, but just before doing so, she turned her face away with a jerk for exactly the reason that she had stated just a moment ago, during that affair where it was a dream. Because of her feelings that she could not rely on him forever. Although Grandfather said that he was in “good shape”, how long would he have to keep pushing his own weakened body just because she herself was weak and unreliable?

However, as soon as her grandfather’s hand brushed against the cheek that she had turned away, the emotions she had been trying to hold back came crashing down like a wave. She was too overwrought to go against them. The back of Vileena’s eyelids once again grew hot, and this time, she let her tears slide along her smooth cheeks. She turned back around and clung to her grandfather.

His warmth and scent reminded her of the days when she was simply protected by her grandfather and parents, of those days that were like being in a warm spot in the sun.

There was no holding herself back afterwards. Burying her face into her grandfather’s chest, words surged from her like billowing waves. There had been things that she had wanted to tell someone, and things that, conversely, she had told herself she had to keep to herself; but now the border between them burst easily, and she talked about everything that came to her mind, speaking so quickly that her voice could hardly keep up.

There were many people in Mephius who were so much warmer than she had thought when her image had been of an “enemy country”. A grandee called Simon was a lot like Grandfather. But he had died. Because he had carried his convictions through to the end. Emperor Guhl on the other hand was not like Grandfather. He trusted no one and did not seem to be trusted by anyone. He killed his retainers easily. He couldn’t be any more unlike Grandfather, could he? The gladiator games were undoubtedly savage, she could never come to like them, but it was definitely people who lived there.

And then –

“Prince Gil is…”

The girl who had been chatting energetically suddenly stopped after saying the prince’s name. Her grandfather laughed softly and offered her a helping hand.

“He’s like a child, and yet, he’s someone that you can’t let your guard down around, was it?”

At some point before – was it after the drama of Zaat Quark’s rebellion in Solon? – Vileena had written a letter to keep her grandfather informed. He had remembered that sentence.

“Yes,” Vileena smiled through her tears. “He is not the fool that the world says he is. But he is always carrying secrets that he can’t tell others, and he’s an obstinate person who hardly ever opens his heart.”

Just as she said that, a sudden thought occurred to her. Even though she had also intended to keep a number of things locked away in her breast, wrapped up like this in the arms of the grandfather, whom she relied on from the bottom of her heart, she was talking so easily. It was a joy to have someone you could tell anything to while tucked against their warm chest.

''He…''

Did he have anyone like that? Vileena wondered. He certainly had not been blessed when it came to family love. There was no better proof of that than the fact that he and his own father were fighting in open battle. His mother had already passed away, and he was not related by blood to his current mother and sisters.

He seemed to have an unfathomable connection to some of his subordinates like Shique, Gilliam or Hou Ran. Shique however had lost his life in battle, and she did not think that he had any other companions that he could open up to in the same way.

''Oh?''

There was one other vitally important person. The former gladiator called Orba. Whenever Prince Gil set up a course of action, he would always be entrusted with the key role. In other words, you could say that he was the man that Gil relied on the most.

Yet even so, she could not picture the relationship between the two of them. That was partly because she had hardly ever seen them together in one place or talking to one another; but somehow or another, Vileena felt that some fundamental part of her perception of them that was lacking, or perhaps mistaken.

“Lonely,” Vileena blinked. “His Imperial Highness Gil Mephius is a lonely person. Thinking about it, Emperor Guhl, who oppresses his terrified retainers, also seems like a lonely person. Grandfather, why is that? Is that how statesmen are? Is that what it means to lead others?”
“There is that side to it too,” Jeorg nodded. He gazed at his granddaughter who was wrapped in his arms, and whose expression gradually changed back from that of a small child being pampered to that of a ‘princess’. “The king stands alone and apart from the rest of the country. There is that side to it that you cannot help becoming conscious of, whether you want to or not. Because you do not need to look at history up until now to know that even your closest family members might target your life.”

“Yes,” the princess gave a slight nod.

Maybe it was because she had finally calmed down, but an uncontrollable flow of words was no longer pouring from her. Although, speaking truthfully, there was only one more topic left that she wanted to confide to someone else in. That was that – ''I killed someone''.

As she talked to her grandfather, she had, little by little remembered the sequence of events that had led to her return to Garberan territory. Right, so as to turn out Salamand, a Garberan knight who had broken into Mephian territory, she had been lent a hundred soldiers and had personally confronted his unit.

Vileena had raised the muzzle of her gun and had aimed for Salamand’s chest.

Up until then, she had practiced shooting for self-defence. In the west, she had shot at an assassin who had had attacked the village. That time, she had aimed at the enemy’s feet.

But this time…

The memory of that moment was still vivid. The touch of the trigger, the feeling when she decided to attack – or rather, to ‘kill’ – Salamand.

As for her reaction? She had not wielded a blade first-hand, she had not cut through flesh and bone, but in that moment, Vileena had certainly felt the weight of life against her fingertip, and she had felt how she was going to steal that weight away.   

She did not regret it.

She had been responsible for the hundred lives behind her. Further behind those hundred soldiers was Mephius’ imperial capital, Solon, and further still behind it was Prince Gil, who, along with his companions, was waiting to make his move.

Salamand had to be gotten rid of. It was not only for Mephius, he was also leading Garbera astray; and he was a barrier preventing the emperor and Prince Gil from meeting face-to-face.

''And so, I got rid of him. And so, I don’t have any regrets'' – Vileena kept repeating to herself. She understood her own thoughts more than well enough to know that this sounded like an excuse.

She only just stopped herself from telling her grandfather about it. She could just about endure it.

She did not want her grandfather to hate her. She hated the thought that, if she talked about it, her heart would find comfort and be at ease. She felt that if she did so, she would lose the resolve she had felt when pulling the trigger.

It was not a story about the crown prince, like earlier, but it was one that she should keep locked away for now. While the wound had not yet healed and she could still feel blood flowing from it, she would wait for it to slowly scab, and would talk about it to someone once she was alright with showing the scar.

“Grandfather.”

During the time they had been talking, Vileena had completely regained her usual expression.

“Hmm?”

“What is the current situation in Mephius? What move has His Highness the crown prince made?”

“There haven’t been any noticeable movements yet,” the previous king of Garbera unhurriedly nodded his head, and gently pushed Vileena’s shoulders to make her lie down. “Since it hasn’t been two days since you collapsed.”

At around the time that Vileena woke up, the crown prince had not yet taken Nedain. It was, however, around the time when Allion had already started to move against Ende, and when messengers appealing for help had arrived in Mephius and Garbera.

“Allion is…?” Vileena’s large eyes opened wide. She had heard the rumour while she was in Birac. Which meant, of course, that Gil Mephius had also heard about it. “His Highness being as he is, I’m sure he will want to go to Ende immediately. What’s happening in Mephius right now?”

“Hmm,” at that moment, the smile that Jeorg had been wearing ever since seeing his granddaughter again vanished from his face.

Noticing it, Vileena asked –

“How does Garbera intend to move?”

Jeorg gave a small sigh.

“It won’t move yet. Or better said, it can’t move. Father and son are fighting in Mephius, but here in Garbera, the situation is not so very different. Blood-related brothers are antagonistic towards one another, and the situation isn’t progressing at all.”