“If only there was somewhere we could draw him out.”
The conversation was starting to go off track. Just as Nagi was about to get things back in line, someone ran into the room.
“There’s an uprising in Leshva!”
“Was it the nearby village?” Tess asked curiously.
There was only a small Crestfolk village in that vicinity. They weren’t supposed to have a force capable of causing an uprising.
“No! They’re commoners! The False Sovereign Kyou is leading it!”
Jubilia watched over Saya as she slept. No matter how often she repeated this, she didn’t seem to be getting better. Her sleeping figure was ever so fleeting. Her silver hair draped over her increasingly gaunt cheeks. Its delicate luster was lost and clung to her sickly face.
When Jubilia tried to fix it, she ended up touching Saya’s cheek. She felt like she couldn’t believe Saya was really there if she didn’t. Her beauty seemed so far apart from this world.
Saya let out a small voice, causing Jubilia to pull back her hand. The sleeping girl slowly opened her eyes.
“Sorry. Did I wake you up?”
“It’s okay. All I’m doing is sleeping all day, anyway. More importantly...”
The time Saya spent awake was getting shorter and shorter. Each time she woke up, she would always ask the same question.
“Tell me, Jubilia. What’s going on outside?”
“That’s...”
Jubilia hesitated to answer her. Saya was being imprisoned in her room as always, under the pretext that she was going insane. Only Jubilia was allowed within. To be precise, Saya refused anyone else.
Saya had changed ever since that day she spoke up in Congress. She was no longer a languid girl who had lost her lover. She was actually trying to proactively find out how things were going outside the palace.
Jubilia was her only source of information now. The knight attended Congress only to fulfill this duty. The gaze Lernaean had turned on her for nearly drawing her sword that last time was endlessly cold, but she didn’t care anymore.
Right now, she just wanted to grant the wishes of this little girl; this pitiful girl trifled with by her own blood. Jubilia ended up biting back at Lernaean before she even knew it, just to protect this girl, despite him being the man she once swore her loyalty to.
At first, she only served as this Sovereign’s guard by going with the flow; now, she truly wanted to protect her. It was unbecoming of Jubilia as a knight, but she didn’t want to protect Saya the Sovereign. She wanted to protect Saya the girl. She had quit being a knight, so in the end, it didn’t really matter. That was why she was permitted to be here. That was why she was reluctant to tell Saya of what happened in Congress today.
“Please.”
“Today... Reports of ‘victory’ were delivered from every region.”
“Victory?”
“Of Crestfolk villages being destroyed.”
“That’s a victory?” Saya snapped, but immediately calmed down. “Sorry, there’s no use in getting angry at you. I’m the one asking you to tell me.”
“Don’t be. Allow me to continue... The only exception is Leshva. The commoners and Crestfolk there have started an uprising against the capital.”
“What does that mean?”
“There are those in Leshva claiming you are being imprisoned because of the prime minister’s evil intentions.”
That was the unmistakable truth; such claims were exceedingly dangerous.
“Who could possibly...?”
Jubilia wavered over whether she should mention this, but she resolved herself and identified the man behind it.
“Lord Kyou.”
That name sent a ripple through Saya’s frozen heart for the first time in a while.
“Kyou?”
Saya didn’t know where her little brother had gone after escaping his execution. Jubilia didn’t know either, beyond Keele’s involvement.
“Lord Kyou was apparently being sheltered by the former Cobalt member, Senak. He lived among the impoverished commoners. However, after seeing the proclamation to destroy the Crestfolk, he rose up alongside the poor.”
“Why? He finally got away from it all...”
Jubilia tried taking a guess at the feelings of the boy who had escaped the capital.
“I’m sure he couldn’t stand it. The Crestfolk saved him. He likely couldn’t forgive the ones he owed his life to being killed in your name. There are many among the populace who are aggrieved by the cruel treatment of the Crestfolk to begin with. Also, Leshva is a poor town. They have the strongest feelings of revulsion toward nobles in Agartha. Lord Kyou moved their hearts. Even if it was just for a short time, he must’ve won them over while living among them.”
“Is that so?” Saya said, wide-eyed in shock. “Kyou really managed to live a proper life out there...”
The envy in her voice pained Jubilia. It was something Saya had always wanted for herself.
“So, what about Congress?”
“Lord Lernaean commanded the former Order of the Sapphire Blood to be dispatched... His command was to wipe them out entirely. There are many among the Sapphire Blood whose blood calibers specialize in suppressing crowds.”
“That’s overdoing it—they’re going to slaughter all the commoners?!”
“Yes. Such objections were also raised in Congress, but...”
Jubilia made her determination. She had to touch upon the one thing she didn’t want to say the most, but Saya didn’t want her to hide anything. Even sick in bed in the throes of despair, even if she knew she could do nothing about it, Saya wanted to see the shape of the world.
If this girl had been the Sovereign from the very beginning... Such a thought had gone through Jubilia’s mind on countless occasions.
“Lord Lernaean made an announcement. According to the results of Dr. Dimitri’s research, if the population of Agartha remains beneath the Intelligence’s original plans of ten thousand people, every single person could retain their immortality.”
Saya herself had no way of knowing this, but she had the exact same reaction as the congress members did when they heard of Lernaean’s calculations. In other words, she couldn’t understand how this was related to the previous topic. Her expression then suddenly changed upon grasping exactly what it meant.
“There’s... too many people...?”
“Exactly. To fully actualize their calculations, after they’re done with the Crestfolk, they need to quell the number of commoners. It has to be done sooner or later. That’s why they decided to destroy Leshva while they’re revolting.”
“There’s no way Congress would approve of such a thing, right?” Saya asked in a trembling voice.
Jubilia shook her head. “His plan was unanimously approved.”
“Why...? Congress has commoner representatives. Cobalt are there, too.”
“Congress is a vestigial limb of the new state. Nobody can defy him any longer. Lord Lernaean holds the key to Amrita. For all intents and purposes, he already decides who lives and who dies. Furthermore, his pawns are hiding everywhere. Any who show defiance are immediately arrested. He’s been preparing for this for a long time, it seems.”
“Why go so far? What exactly does Lernaean want?”
“In his words, to return this world to the original form the Intelligence laid out for us.”
That also meant a world where only those chosen by Lernaean could enjoy eternal life.
“I don’t want to be the Sovereign of such a world!” Saya yelled before breaking into a violent coughing fit.
Her condition showed no signs of getting better. Dimitri, who was supposed to be treating her, never showed himself, keeping busy with his research instead.
“Lady Saya... Please get some rest.”
Jubilia lay Saya back down in bed. She prayed that this little Sovereign could at least sleep in peace.