Chapter One Hundred Thirteen: Everything is Meaningless Without You
EMPEROR Haruka held me in his arms as he dove into the tear. What seemed like glass shards rained down on us as we soared in a straight line through the void.
A myriad of images flew at us in a large, jumbled swirl. We went from darkness to light, mist to rain, bustling crowds to open sky. Information pushed itself forcefully into my brain.
✦ ✦ ✦
🐦🐦🐦
I had fallen unconscious.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the familiar white silk of Emperor Haruka’s robes. The sky above us was light gray, and the grass below a verdant green. From a distance, military officers and a whole throng of people were watching us in shock.
I was lying on the ground, and Emperor Haruka was hugging me. Craning my neck, I located the tower window from which I had jumped down after Lilly and Alexei.
The latter two were nowhere in sight. Emperor Haruka and I were sitting right below where I would have fallen.
Something hot splashed onto my skin.
“Emperor…Haruka…?”
Another steaming drop. And another.
Blood trailed down his shredded wings, stained his white robes. It wouldn’t stop. His ivory hair was a tangled mess, and through it, I glimpsed his ash-blue eyes. Tears were flowing down his cheeks. He had suffered grave injury just to bring me back.
“Didn’t you promise me…that you would never leave me…?” He sounded as if he was squeezing every word past his throat. Though crimson blood tainted his fair skin and robes, he stubbornly clung to me.
My mind was blank. I tried to untangle myself from him. “Emperor Haruka… You’re injured, you can’t—”
“Who cares about my wounds?!” he shouted as he reached out and pulled me back toward him.
Anger was an emotion I had never seen on him before. I flinched. Blood gushed out of his injured wings as he moved.
“Your wings… Emperor Haruka…!”
“I don’t need them. I don’t need wings. If the alternative is living in a world without you, I don’t need anything!” He hugged me suffocatingly tight.
I wrapped my arms around him, desperate. I had to tend to his wounds. “Emperor Haruka, I shall heal you. Please re…lax…” As I chanted, I focused on my abdomen, but for some reason, my mana didn’t respond at all.
His arms went limp. His body went limp. He leaned into me.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wait… Huh…? Why… Why is it…” My voice was shaking. I supported the weight of Emperor Haruka’s increasingly heavy body and concentrated, straining to summon my magic. No matter how many times I tried, however, nothing happened. I couldn’t stop his bleeding.
“No… Why… Please, don’t…” The patch of red was spreading further on his robes of white silk. My clothes were stained scarlet. “Please, stop bleeding, I’m begging you… No way, why can’t I…”
Earlier, I’d vaguely registered the sound of the clergy hurriedly preparing to attend to his injuries. The doctors on site were starting to treat him as well. But it was far from enough.
Only moments before, he had hugged me hard enough to seemingly meld our bodies into one. He lay there, his lips slightly parted, entirely unmoving. He was so quiet. It was as though he had never shouted to begin with.
“H-Hurry up, I need to hurry, Emperor Haruka will… I can’t…”
What happened next snapped me out of my growing hysteria.
A horse charged between the gaps in the military officers and doctors, careening toward us.
“Oi! Is the emperor still alive?!”
The voice was rough and coarse—it was Lord Kuze, accompanied by two women on the same horse. The towering man leaped down with one woman under each arm and ran over as the crowd parted for him. Behind him, a servant pushed a man in a wheelchair.
“Sai! You still alive?!” Lord Kuze yelled.
“I am! But…!”
“That’s what I wanted to hear!” His amber eyes gleamed over a daring grin. “I’ll leave things in your hands, you two!”
The two women he had carried darted to Emperor Haruka in the blink of an eye and tugged him off me. One of them was still young, a tanned girl with black hair in Meridionan clothing.
In a shrill, compelling voice, she addressed Emperor Haruka. “Sorry for the rudeness, Your Majesty, but I shall save introductions for later! I shall heal you right away! Ah, Sis, out of the way, please!” Without hesitation, she placed her palms on his back.
The other woman was also dressed in Meridionan garb, and there were strands of gray mixed in with her black hair. Her dignified, powerful gaze pierced my very soul. “Sai, step aside. As Emperor Haruka’s wife, you need to get a grip in his stead,” she chided me in a strict but kindly voice.
I recognized it. “Mom! And…”
The two smiled as if acknowledging their identities then immediately deluged Emperor Haruka with magic.
My mother said, “Even if we don’t have the abilities of the Wagtail Priestess, together we can heal these wounds. Sakura, prepare yourself.”
“Yes!”
Dazzling light flowed out of their hands. The glow of the purest and highest-grade mana illuminated our surroundings, brighter than the sun itself and bringing relief to all who saw it. The medical team was dumbfounded, and the pair ignored them as they gave Emperor Haruka the appropriate treatment. They poured mana into him in perfect coordination.
The severe bleeding, which we had been so powerless against, halted instantly. Life and color returned to Emperor Haruka’s ghastly pale skin. The pair exchanged a look, wiped away their sweat, then nodded to the gallery. Sighs of relief echoed out everywhere.
The creaking of a wheelchair approached me from behind. A warm hand gently clasped mine, grounding me and soothing my anxiety. I turned to see a skinny, seated man.
“You’re also wounded,” he said. “Let’s treat those right away. You’re going to be a bride, so we can’t let any trace remain.”
He was a mild man who had always sported a kind smile. I recognized him even though he wore Meridionan clothes. “Dad…”
“You’ve grown up into a beautiful woman, my girl.”
✦ ✦ ✦
🐦🐦🐦
AND then.
A few months passed, tumultuous like a hurricane, and spring arrived.