Where the Light Has Gone

Four people entered.

“Her Highness the Fourth Princess!”

As the leading ceremonial attendant — an elven handmaid — announced her arrival, everyone in the room dropped to one knee.

Even Melius, standing beside me.

But I stayed on my feet and watched.

A silhouette, glimpsed briefly behind the handmaid.

Had she grown up well?

My chest tightened with anticipation — and then, at last, the princess came into view.

A veil.

Her face was concealed behind an opaque cloth.

“……”

What’s this?

A reunion across more than a hundred years.

And the wind went straight out of me.

Her gait was slow, but demure — just the way she carried herself told you she had been raised with care.

But I wanted to see her face.

I instinctively reached for my clairvoyance — and one of the handmaids gave a sharp frown.

“The legitimate bloodline of the Emperor! Her Highness the Fourth Princess, Lisera! On your knees, human!”

“Please, don’t.”

A voice from behind the veil.

Soft, and yet firm.

The same tone I remembered from my fourth daughter.

Lisera spoke.

“We are uninvited guests who have come without warning. It is we who should be bowing our heads, not making demands of our host. That would only be another discourtesy.”

“B-but Your Highness, you stand in your own presence……”

“Do not use your authority to press others down. That was something the emperor, who is no longer with us, once told me. Everyone, please rise.”

“……”

Everyone got back to their feet.

The glares aimed at me for not having knelt were pointed, but I couldn’t have cared less.

My fourth daughter, Lisera, had grown up exactly as I had taught her.

Not hiding behind the authority of her bloodline.

Observing courtesy. Not straining against the natural order of things.

Lowering herself without becoming servile.

Never losing her grace.

She had grown up beautifully.

Everyone — I want to say something. That’s my daughter over there!

I could barely hold myself back from saying it.

“This way, Your Highness.”

One handmaid leading, two following — Lisera stood at the center of their triangle and entered the room with measured steps.

She was slow, but I watched her with nothing but warmth.

A daughter reunited with her father across a hundred years — and she had turned out like this. What more could a father want?

It was the most worthwhile thing I had done since being reborn.

Lisera sat down and spoke quietly.

“Forgive the intrusion. I am Lisera, daughter of Karakas. You must have been in disarray dealing with the recent unpleasant affair, and yet we have arrived so suddenly, I am more sorry than I can say.”

“Rigen, son of Librata.”

“That you have received our discourteous visit with such generosity, I am truly grateful. I will take care that no further offenses occur.”

“With such gracious words from an honored guest, Librata will do its utmost to receive you well. Should anything prove uncomfortable during your stay, we will remedy it, and anything found lacking, we will provide.”

The elves all looked visibly startled.

Even the handmaids who had been glaring at me a moment ago stared wide-eyed.

A human who could employ elven protocol this flawlessly was rare.

But I was barely paying attention to them — I was still debating whether to use my clairvoyance.

Then Lisera spoke.

“By the look of things…… it seems there was some commotion here just a moment ago.”

“Just a light warm-up……”

I caught myself and corrected course immediately.

Right — Lisera and I were currently on opposing sides of this.

Much as she was my daughter, I couldn’t simply let my guard down entirely.

“Your Highness’s escorts subjected the master of this house, Count Librata, to a threatening situation.”

“That is not so, Your Highness. We merely arrived ahead of time to ensure your protection……”

I registered my complaint. Wayne offered his defense.

Lisera settled it.

“Whatever our intentions, we must consider how the other party received them. I will visit Count Librata personally, explain the situation, and see to a proper resolution.”

“Oh.”

The sound escaped before I could stop it.

The elves all looked at me. I explained.

“She acknowledges the fault without offering an apology. Soothes the opposing party while not reprimanding her own side. A neatly balanced ruling. I’d give it eighty points.”

“Wh-what kind of impudence toward Her Highness……!”

I had meant it as a genuine compliment — she had handled the political language with skill.

The handmaids trembled as if they had been struck.

Lisera asked, in a quiet voice,

“Then what would a hundred-point answer look like?”

“A ninety-point answer would have addressed my feelings as well — not just Count Librata’s. My father was the one being held against his will, after all. I would have been just as furious.”

I posed it as a test for my daughter.

Let’s see what she does with this.

“……”

Lisera considered it calmly, then gave a gentle tap on the armrest.

A handmaid approached me and held out a small pouch.

Inside was a blue potion.

“A Grade Two healing potion?”

Made by the celestials. It could reduce a serious injury to something minor.

Grade Two and above couldn’t be purchased — they were irreplaceable even with money.

“If you have sustained any injuries, please make use of it.”

I hadn’t been hurt, of course.

But I tucked it away. Something to save for when the right moment came.

As I put it away, Lisera spoke.

“Son of Librata, that we have troubled both your body and your peace of mind, I am at a loss for words. As for the difficulty your father was placed in, I have nothing adequate to offer. I ask only that after this meeting concludes, you grant me the opportunity to address it properly.”

“……Mm. That’s good.”

First, a gift to soften the other party’s mood — then an apology conveyed through careful diplomatic language, walking all the way around it.

Setting aside the fact that she was my daughter, the technique itself was solid.

Lisera let out a small, quiet laugh.

“The hundred-point answer, you may work that out for yourself. That was something the emperor used to say quite often. You are a man of unexpected gifts.”

“Surprises are what make gifts, after all.”

Not only her bearing — Lisera’s words passed every measure of approval.

When the light exchange concluded, Lisera raised her left hand slightly.

The handmaids exchanged a glance with Wayne and Berk and the other escorts — a prearranged signal, it seemed. The escorts filed out of the room.

What remained was me and Melius, Lisera and her handmaids.

Elves could still hear through walls, of course, but——

Lisera murmured something under her breath and then spoke.

“Nothing said here will pass beyond this room.”

“You have the Wind Blessing.”

“Yes. You know our ways well. I am still refining my practice.”

Elves could work with spirit magic in addition to ordinary magic.

It seemed my daughter Lisera had the wind spirit’s gift.

The handmaids were still present, but they were the princess’s innermost circle.

“Then I’ll speak plainly.”

I gave her a brief account of the Marquis Crocell affair.

Lisera listened to all of it, then said,

“I understand. And Alicia Crocell, the marquis’s daughter, is currently staying here?”

“Yes.”

“We have come to take her with us.”

“……”

That was strange.

I understood that Alicia was both a witness and evidence of the dealings between Marquis Crocell and the elves.

But I had assumed Lisera was playing the role of figurehead. Was she actually acting on her own initiative?

Puzzled as I was, I replied first.

“She is a critical witness in this matter. And as the successor of House Crocell, she cannot simply be disposed of, there are proper procedures.”

“You’re saying no?”

“Handling the affairs of the nobility is the Noble Assembly’s domain, as convention dictates.”

This was, admittedly, a murky area.

When I, Sirik Karakas, was alive, the emperor had held every power.

But after my death, the empire’s territories had fallen to each empress for interim governance.

The region around here was nominally administered by my sixth wife, the elven princess.

But did that give the elves the right of life and death over human nobility?

That would provoke fierce resistance from the Noble Assembly.

Not even the elves could simply crush a body composed of the empire’s highest-ranking human nobles.

A vague, fragile framework of mutual respect.

Which was precisely why the princess had come in person for this quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiation.

“Alicia Crocell recognized the conspiracy in advance and did everything in her power to prevent it from unfolding. Without her, we would never have been able to stop it.”

I held out a copy of the employment contract I had prepared. A handmaid received it.

But didn’t hand it to Lisera.

I found that odd — and then Lisera spoke.

“I understand the circumstances. In that case, would it be possible for me to meet with her separately?”

“On the condition that I am present.”

“……”

Lisera’s expression shifted, just slightly — the look of someone caught in an awkward position.

I said it firmly.

“Testimony concerning Marquis Crocell’s conspiracy will be provided by myself, Count Librata, or Marquis Burzak. Cross-examination of Alicia is of course possible if required. But she is a vital source of information, and her safety is the first priority.”

“Refusing Her Highness’s request so bluntly, that is disrespectful.”

A handmaid stiffened, but Lisera raised her hand.

“The son of Librata is right. That’s enough.”

“But Your Highness, you have come all this way in person to ask……”

Something had been nagging at me for a while now.

What was it?

Beside me, Melius was staring fixedly at the wall.

I pressed on.

“Beyond that, she is a marquis’s daughter. Even if Marquis Crocell’s crimes are to be visited upon his descendants, that will be decided according to imperial law.”

“But she carries the blood of elves by half. She is one of our own.”

“Since when do the elves……”

I stopped myself just in time.

Not something to say in front of my daughter. Not like that.

But from behind the veil, Lisera let out a quiet, knowing sound.

“Yes, you were about to ask when elves ever stopped distancing themselves from half-elves? That is precisely why I came.”

“……”

My daughter, Lisera Karakas, was a half-elf.

That was only natural.

I had been human, and my sixth wife had been an elf.

When a human and an elf have a child — a half-elf is what you get.

……She must have had a hard time among the elves.

While I had been alive, she had been in the palace. None of that would have reached her.

But even now, no one would dare be openly contemptuous.

Still — the deep-rooted hatred and scorn elves held for half-elves was something that didn’t simply vanish.

“……I understand what you are saying. But allowing you to meet Alicia alone remains impossible.”

“It cannot be done?”

“Meeting or questioning a witness requires a legal representative to be present. I was once her betrothed and am now her employer, that makes it all the more necessary.”

I didn’t believe my daughter would do anything harmful.

But the elves were hiding something.

An itch I couldn’t reach.

Why did they want a private meeting?

“To begin with, your interest in Alicia Crocell is excessive. Our investigation is already concluded, and if re-examination is needed, it can be conducted with me present.”

“……”

“And yet the princess has come all this way in person to ask for this. What is the reason?”

I said it quickly, with the tone of a parent pressing a child for an honest answer.

“Without a proper explanation, I cannot agree. This is not a matter of negotiation, it’s a matter of principle.”

“……”

I had drawn a clear line.

In any negotiation, concealing what you want is essential — but the elves had revealed themselves too plainly.

I hadn’t expected Lisera herself to be pursuing Alicia.

Now that it had come to this, I needed to know why.

“……Son of Condar, Melius. Have you told him?”

“I know nothing and have said nothing.”

An exchange of words between Lisera and Melius.

Lisera said quietly,

“If the son of Librata was the one who resolved this matter, and if he was betrothed to Crocell’s daughter, I suppose it can no longer be kept from him.”

“With respect, Your Highness, Librata is an outsider. I say this not for the sake of our people but for yours. I would advise against it.”

Melius said it sharply.

Even as my eyes turned toward him, he kept his gaze on the wall.

“The son of Librata is sharp, eloquent, and capable of decisive action. If Your Highness promises a substantial reward to House Librata, he will cooperate.”

“……”

“If that is too much trouble, I will manage it myself. It would be better for Your Highness to step back and leave it to me.”

What was this?

Melius knew something.

About my daughter.

And right now, he was trying to hide it from me — from Rigen.

If it came out to me, it would bring great shame upon the princess……

“……”

Suddenly, something prickled cold across my skin.

Instinct.

A dark instinct.

I looked at my daughter.

My daughter whose face I still hadn’t seen — Lisera asked again.

“Son of Condar, Melius. Is this man trustworthy?”

“There is no such thing as a person worth trusting. But he speaks our tongue, knows our customs deeply, and carries a remarkable loyalty to the first emperor and a profound love for this empire.”

“……”

Had I?

But Melius’s voice had gone urgent.

“Which is why Your Highness need not do this. Please, trust me and this man, and leave it to us……”

“That is not who I am. My honor is not worth so little.”

“……I will swear it.”

The words came out before I had finished thinking.

I was staring at the veil, driven by a cold premonition.

A hundred years — crossed at last — and my daughter was here before me.

Why was she keeping her face hidden?

Was it to protect herself from men drawn to an imperial princess’s beauty?

Was it to avoid the constant reminder of her half-elven blood?

Those had been my assumptions.

But the Lisera I was looking at now was gracious, and unassuming.

She was not the kind of person who hid her face to assert her authority.

“Nothing spoken here will leave this room. So please……”

“Son of Librata, Rigen. I trust you.”

“Your Highness, that is……”

The handmaids protested, but Lisera raised her hand and silenced them.

And then, with her own hands — she slowly lifted the veil.

A white chin appeared.

A beautiful face.

The sweet daughter I remembered, grown into someone mature and striking.

She had become beautiful. She had become dignified.

I rose to meet her with a surge of reflexive joy — and then went cold.

What is this?

Why does this frighten me?

The light.

The light was gone.

In my beloved daughter’s green eyes — there was no light.

She was not looking at me.

She was looking at nothing.

“……Huh?”

A sound escaped from somewhere deep inside me.

Even seeing it with my own eyes, I could not immediately understand what it meant.

I did not want to understand.

And the moment I did — the moment the meaning of it settled into me — a sound tore out of me.

My daughter, reunited with me across more than a hundred years.

Was blind.