An Amusing Spectacle
He took out the knightly surcoat he had set aside, brushed the dust from it, and drew it on over the Orichalcum armor that shone with a golden light. The tabard, crafted by the fairy folk themselves, was embroidered with a crest of a golden chalice holding ancient script and flame. Special enchantments had been laid upon it so that even a powerful blow would leave it unharmed. Wrinkles, however, seemed beyond the reach of magic.
He patted out the crumpled folds of the trailing hem, wiped the dirt clean from his sabatons, and rose from his seat.
Having roughly finished dressing, he stepped out of the tent to find a sky washed pale and murky filling his vision. The wind had been unusually fierce since midday; a rain shower seemed imminent.
Frowning, Edric took up a rain cloak and set off toward Thalia's tent. Just then, from behind him, the sacred bell rang out, announcing the start of the ceremony.
He glanced hastily over his shoulder and saw the Crown Prince and the First Imperial Princess, preparations already complete, leading their attendants into the temple entrance.
He hurried across the camp. Passing between massive pillars that looked as though they had been carved from living stone, he entered through the arched doorway, and the interior of the sanctuary, wrapped in a bluish light, came into view at once.
Edric paused a moment, surveying the attendants who filled the nave and the knights lined long along the walls.
The Crown Prince and the First Imperial Princess stood before the altar. They appeared to be receiving a consecration prayer from the chief priest before the ceremony began.
Fidgeting with impatience, Edric spotted Sir Siurkan waiting at the crossing and crossed the nave in a single breath.
"Commander, Her Highness the Second Imperial Princess will finish preparing shortly. Could you wait just a moment longer?"
As he drew near and carefully spoke, a calm gaze fell upon him.
Edric held his breath without meaning to.
Instead of the knight order's uniform, Barcas wore a black doublet with a breastplate bearing the crest of House Siurkan, a cloak of distinctive cut draped over one shoulder — and even to Edric's male eyes, the figure was handsome enough to send a chill through him. Suddenly he recalled the princess's words that he was ugly. If one had grown up looking at a man like this from childhood, most ordinary men would indeed seem plain by comparison.
Lost in that idle thought, he found his superior looking quietly down at him. Barcas exhaled a soft sigh, then walked slowly toward the altar.
"I believe the ceremony must be halted. Her Highness the Second Imperial Princess has also expressed her wish to attend the consecration."
The priest mid-prayer looked back and forth between Barcas and Edric, who stood awkwardly, his face flustered.
Thalia, too, as a member of the imperial family, had a duty to take part in the rite. Had she refused, that would have been one matter — but if she had declared her intent to attend, it was only proper to accommodate her. Yet the chief priest could not bring himself to answer readily, and only watched Gareth for his cue.
"Are you telling me now to wait for that bastard child?"
The Crown Prince glared at Barcas with a vicious look, spitting each word as if chewing them to pieces.
"Proceed with the ceremony at once! I have no intention of delaying even a single second because of that woman!"
Edric's face hardened. He had seen with his own two eyes just how extreme the Crown Prince's hostility toward the Second Imperial Princess was. He had expected Gareth might not agree readily. But he had not expected him to refuse so openly before everyone watching. Was the Second Imperial Princess's participation in the pilgrimage not also the Emperor's will?
Edric hesitated, then spoke.
"She, too, is an imperial recognized by His Majesty the Emperor. By custom, does she not also have the right to receive the saints' blessing?"
The Crown Prince, who had been glaring at Barcas with burning eyes, turned his gaze upon him.
Edric swallowed dryly. The Crown Prince's thick-featured face twisted askew as he stepped forward like a prowling tiger.
"Do you even know before whom you are spouting off?"
"I beg your pardon, Your Highness the Crown Prince. I was merely…"
Edric hurriedly bowed his head, about to offer excuses, when a force constricting his throat made him draw a rough breath. Gareth had seized him by the collar and yanked him forward roughly.
Edric did his utmost not to grimace as he met that savage face head-on. As if that itself grated on him, the Crown Prince's deep green eyes flashed and he snarled like an enraged beast.
"You dare lecture me, a mere knight?"
"I-I'm sorr—"
Edric clenched his fists tight, forcing himself not to shake off the hand at his throat, and struggled to speak.
Then Barcas placed a hand on the Crown Prince's shoulder.
"Your Highness."
At the low, resonant voice, Gareth's shoulders went stiff. Edric could see a faint tension flicker across the Crown Prince's arrogant face.
Barcas spoke in a gentle tone.
"There are many watching."
A faint heat rose to Gareth's cheeks. He seemed ashamed that, even for an instant, he had been cowed.
The Crown Prince released Edric's clothes and glared at Barcas with fierce eyes.
"Did I not warn you never to lay hands on me as you please again? Do you think I'll keep looking the other way for you forever?"
Gareth roughly shook off the hand on his shoulder, thrusting his face threateningly close to Barcas's and huffing. At the air of one ready to lunge at any moment, the knights — and even the First Imperial Princess — rushed forward to restrain the Crown Prince.
Then a cold, crystalline voice like beads of ice rang through the main hall.
"Had I known such an amusing spectacle was waiting, I would have attended the last ceremony as well."
Startled, Edric turned his head and found Thalia, leading three or four ladies-in-waiting, slowly crossing the nave — and without meaning to, he held his breath.
The woman who had been restless at every opportunity to stir up trouble was walking toward the altar in perfect formal attire.
Pale sunlight pouring through the windows clearly revealed a face the very image of the Empress, and a delicate body wrapped in a platinum-colored bliaut.
Blinking blankly at that unreal sight, Edric realized that not only he but everyone lined in the nave was staring at her, spellbound — and he checked the faces of the Crown Prince and the First Imperial Princess.
The Crown Prince was glaring at his younger sister with a demonic expression, while the First Imperial Princess wore a calm face, though the knuckles of her tightly clasped hands had gone white.
Sensing the taut tension flowing among the three imperial siblings, Edric quietly went to stand at the Second Imperial Princess's side. But no one there paid him any attention. Only Talia Roem Guerta rolled her eyes to glance at him once.
Yet her interest, too, turned back toward Barcas and Gareth.
"What are you standing around for? Weren't you about to brawl?"
Grinding his teeth as if to shatter his jaw, the Crown Prince slowly drew back from Sir Siurkan. Then he looked his sister over carefully from head to toe and twisted his lips in a cold sneer.
"I don't know who you're dressing up for, but you don't actually think that will hide your filthy blood, do you?"
"A few days ago, didn't you scold me for dressing indecently? You made such a fuss that I took special care today — it's rather hurtful to hear you say that."
The princess, who had stiffened for a moment, stepped before him with a meaningful smile at her lips.
Edric stared at her with stunned eyes. After being so thoroughly beaten just yesterday, she was once again trying to provoke the Crown Prince — beyond shock, he felt sheer bewilderment.
But the Second Imperial Princess, whether he was flustered or not, pressed her face close to the Crown Prince's and softly added:
"I went to such lengths to dress exactly to my brother's taste…"