Whatever the pack left behind was swiftly disposed of by a silver-haired swordsman. Sidis’s moves were clean and precise—he showed no sign of fatigue apart from the obvious dark circles under his eyes. Moreover, he had the assistance of Lyse and the other soldiers who were now beginning to recover from their shock.
Together, the force made quick work of the monster swarm. The Light of Origin even claimed a few kills. Lyse looked up at it doubtfully and came to the conclusion that monsters had had nothing to do with the earlier aberration, as they’d been swallowed up without any unusual disturbances.
Putting that matter aside for the time being, she then approached Sidis. “Thank you for your help, Lord Sidis.”
She seemed to startle him a little, as he looked to her with a tinge of awkwardness. “Oh, um, Lyse, sorry about everything last night...”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’m happy if you’re feeling a bit better now.”
“Lyse, I would happily push myself for your sake.”
“Even if you live for hundreds of years, you only have one body. We still need to be breathing to spend time together,” she persuaded him before turning her gaze on the dogs. “Now, more importantly, what’s all this?”
“It went exactly as we hoped.”
“So they’re controlled by His Majesty?” Lyse whispered softly so that no one but Sidis could hear. Seeing a pack of dogs pour out of the villa had been startling, but knowing that they were under Egbert’s command was even more astounding. “When I first saw them, they didn’t seem willing to listen to anyone.”
“That’s what I thought too. But since the aberrations of the Light have produced so many clones, we thought we might as well try some experimenting.”
Sidis’s first test subject had without a doubt been his younger self. Lyse was curious as to what kind of “experimenting” they’d done, but she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. Oblivious to her inner conflict, however, Sidis took the matter out of her hands and began explaining the details in a hushed voice.
“First, I commanded him to not leave your clone’s side. That went well, so I encouraged him to hold your hand next.”
As embarrassed as he was to tell Lyse all this, she was equally embarrassed to listen to it. Nevertheless, she understood that Sidis was merely trying to vicariously relive precious childhood memories of someone he’d lost. She couldn’t fault him for that—but it was still embarrassing.
At that point, the dog at the head of the pack walked over to the couple. It was quite obvious who it was. There was no way they could discuss the day’s events out in the open, so Sidis signaled Egbert by patting his thigh and turning toward the villa.
“Let’s find some privacy,” he said, leaving Duke Lasuarl to handle the aftermath of the battle.
“Prince Sidis, these dogs...” the duke protested.
“I’ll explain later. It’s quite the shocking story, so if you’d please, come to the villa once you’re done here.”
The way Sidis said it only served to raise suspicion, Lyse thought, and Lasuarl was of the same mind. “Erm, I suppose if that’s what it takes, then very well,” he said before departing to get to business.
As a long-time retainer of the emperor, the duke was quite used to Egbert’s eccentricities. Still, Lyse worried that someone so straitlaced might have an extreme reaction to what was to come.
I pray that Duke Lasuarl doesn’t faint later... she thought to herself as she, Sidis, and the hounds made their way to the villa.
“Boy, who’d’ve thought that would pan out so well?” Egbert, still in his canine form, exclaimed as soon as he stepped onto the villa grounds. It would have caused a spectacle if anyone else were present, but, for better or for worse, both Lyse and Sidis were already used to such scenes. If anything, it was easier when Egbert talked and acted like a human rather than pretending to be a dog.
Behind him was quite the sight too. His pack—consisting of about twenty or so dogs—stood silently at his beck and call. Lyse actually found it quite admirable that His Majesty could so easily accept this crazy situation and calmly command his clones in battle.
“How did this all come about?” she asked Egbert hesitantly.
“Well, Sidis’s experiment to see if clones would obey their originals was a success. Isn’t that right, Sidis?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And there were a dozen copies of me here, no? So I started to think about how to put them to good use.”
The idea of employing them had never even crossed Lyse’s mind. She’d been more concerned that people might think her a monster if they saw her with her clone. They’re already wary of me as it is... She hated the thought.
“Lyse, I imagine you’re worried about people seeing your clone—especially how they might treat you afterward,” Sidis said thoughtfully. “So we decided to make a demonstration of His Majesty in canine form instead. Better than the alternative, we thought.”
Lyse agreed that was the best move. “But shouldn’t the clones be kept locked up and out of sight in the villa?”
“The royal family is bound to find out sooner or later. We’ve got no good reason to bar people from entering the villa either. In that case, we thought we may as well find a way to use them instead of wasting their potential,” Egbert said nonchalantly.
“Yes, I suppose it would be a waste to have them do nothing at all,” agreed Lyse. “Erm, has Alcede been caught up on all this too?”
“Not yet. But I’m sure once he learns that a pack of dogs bolted from the villa, he’ll be able to piece it together.”
Indeed, there was no way Alcede wouldn’t figure it out. There was only one possible explanation. Lyse could already imagine the stressed-out duke stuffing cookies in his face to soothe himself as he shouted, “You should have consulted me first!”
“Anyway, Lyse, I was thinking today would just be a little trial. Sooner or later, I’ll try walking around with all my clones in human form,” Egbert informed her.
“Have you gone mad?!” Lyse unwittingly blurted out in shock. “My apologies, Your Majesty. That was incredibly rude of me.”
Egbert wasn’t fazed one bit, however. “It’s understandable to be alarmed, so I don’t blame you one bit for that response. That said, I have my reasons. Isn’t that right, Sidis?” he asked as he looked up from Sidis’s ankles.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the prince replied. “If the clones are bound to multiply anyway, then it may be a good way to showcase His Majesty’s new powers. If all goes well, then we can put people at ease about the aberrations.”
“You think so?” Lyse wondered aloud.
Sidis nodded. “Currently, we don’t know what’s causing the anomalies with the Light, meaning that we don’t even know where to begin fixing them. The imperial family is thus worried about the Light’s longevity—and that’s to say nothing of what the populace thinks,” he explained. “Doubt has been cast over His Majesty’s reign, and we simply cannot have that.”
“Certainly not,” Lyse replied.
Knowing that Sidis bore the Light within him, Egbert had repeatedly asked him to take the throne—a job Sidis wanted no part of. That explained why he was so desperate to remedy the current situation. That, of course, combined with the fact that people were beginning to fault Lyse for the anomalies as well.
“By framing the aberrations as something unharmful—by saying it was something I did to increase my power—it should help alleviate some of the people’s anxiety,” reasoned Egbert.