“Were you even listening? If the queen is so enraged that she is even refusing an audience with Her Majesty, then the desertification is as good as done.” Margrave Kolkett had finally entered the fray.
“Her Majesty is willing to use the Belisario children as a bridge to apologize to the Earth Queen for destroying her forest, and yet here you are trying to say that you have no need of spirits because of magic tools. How utterly arrogant.” And there was Margrave Noland also joining the fight. His cold voice was very intimidating.
I didn’t know heads from tails when it came to politics, so I was staying out of it.
Isn’t there something strange going on here, though? When we’d met with the Water King, the empress had knelt in apology without hesitation. Hell, she’d interrupted her schedule just to dash straight to our march. Why would she not have grown her spirits? The general’s spirits were coming along pretty well—enough that they were close to turning into spirit beasts. They lived together, so how had only one of them managed it?
I couldn’t push down my curiosity, so since I wouldn’t be arrested for anything I did today, I threw caution to the wind, stood on my chair, leaned forward over the table, and looked right into the empress’s face.
The table was as big as a meeting room’s, though, so there was still quite a distance between us.
“Deirdre?”
“Your Majesty, are you eating?” I asked in as innocent a voice as possible. “Are you forgetting to feed not just your spirits but yourself as well?”
Everyone’s eyes suddenly gathered on the empress. Father and Chris exchanged furtive glances with solemn faces.
“That’s exactly right. Her Majesty is so busy she can’t even sleep. I’m concerned.” The general’s nods were enthusiastic as the empress turned to him with a troubled look.
“You must make sure you get plenty of rest,” I admonished her. “Without food, you’ll collapse. Is everyone in the imperial court so busy? The chief mage is always dropping by our castle, so he must be quite free.”
The chief spit out the tea he had been in the middle of drinking, which was followed by an explosion of dissatisfaction from the margrave duo.
“That is odd indeed,” declared Margrave Kolkett. “I’ve heard that the aide, Dudley, has frequently made appearances at soirees.”
“You look healthy, Your Excellency,” said Margrave Noland to the chancellor. “You look so youthful I’m almost jealous.”
So, uhhh, am I to read this situation as the empress having extra work forced on her? Is that how the chancellor intends to crush her? So cunning!
“Wouldn’t your inability to complete your duties be a sign of your lacking skill as empress?” The chancellor directed his response to the empress rather than the margraves.
“Precisely,” his aide jumped in. “If we will not be held to task for anything we say here, then allow me to be blunt. Prince Jean turned sixteen this year. Is it not about time you pass the throne to him?”
Hey, those two went and completely veered away from the topic of spirits.
“Alan, who’s Prince Jean?” I murmured.
“Her Majesty’s younger brother,” he said.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Prince Andrew is already ten, isn’t he? Now that I think about it, is he not the standing crown prince? The eldest son would have a higher claim to the throne than the empress’s younger brother, right?
Wait, this isn’t even the time or place for this discussion! Don’t get my family involved in your mess.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Margrave Kolkett said. “Aides don’t usually make such remarks. You should be aware that the ones who protected this country from foreign invaders eleven years ago were the empress and the general.”
“And yet you were deliberately forcing extra work on Her Majesty?” Margrave Noland asked.
If we were open to say what we wanted, I wasn’t about to pass up the chance. I’m a kid—you can’t blame me!
“Were you mean old men bullying the empress?” I asked in my most adorable voice.
“Mean old men...” repeated Count Dalimore.
That wasn’t the part they should’ve been taking offense at!
“I never thought you would come out and say it yourselves,” the general murmured.
“They must have had their own complaints building up,” the empress sighed. “It appears they weren’t happy having someone who could be their daughter’s age ordering them around.”
“You heard all of that, right?” the general said, and he and the empress both turned to look behind them. Standing beneath the trees was a young man with the same majestic red hair as the empress. He was tall with an androgynous face, and he’d brought with him two spirit beasts perched on his shoulders, one a water spirit seahorse and the other an earth spirit owl.
“Your Highness! You have your own spirit beasts?!”
“Incredible. This is why you are the person most suited to taking the throne,” the chancellor announced.
“Didn’t you just say spirits were unnecessary?” Jean returned in a chilly tone, his cold stare instantly shutting up the chancellor as he and his aides swallowed nervously. The prince sauntered up between the empress and the general and placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, peering at her with worry. “You really do look unwell, sister. Have you lost weight? It’s because I left everything to you, isn’t it? Thanks to those annoying gnats who won’t shut up any time I appear.”
“Don’t worry, Jean. I’m all right.” The empress laid a hand over her brother’s.
Uhh, what’s going on here? Did he announce his participation in this meeting late so they could trick each other? Was this all a ploy to get the margraves on their side? That’s kinda horrible, you know? This has nothing to do with the spirits.
“You’re Deirdre, yes? Why do you not let your spirit beasts out?”
For the millionth time, why did everyone keep returning the conversation to me? And anyway, spirit beasts weren’t some freak show.
“I see you had time to feed your spirits, Prince Jean,” I observed.
“Ha ha ha, I certainly did. Thanks to Her Majesty, I had the time to both raise my spirits and live my childhood years as I should. That whole time, she alone—no, she, together with the general, propped up this country. Now, it is my turn to support the empress. In truth, the general already has a spirit beast himself.”
“I thought his spirit looked ready to become one!” I exclaimed.