MYCDM 03

Chapter 03

“I happened to be in this area for trade and a bit of leisure, so I had the fortune of saving Shia.”

Elihu briefly explained his situation, but Shia found it difficult to understand everything.

“People from the Tashin Empire are arriving here one after another right now. Those who felt Shia’s Ring.”

“Um, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Well, if it’s hard to understand my words….”

Elihu chuckled and then brought up an even more shocking story.

“How about this? I think Shia might be His Majesty the Emperor’s lost daughter.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shia’s appearance is very similar to that of His Majesty the Tashin Emperor’s lost daughter.”

She had lived her whole life as an ordinary citizen of Arune. And now she was the Emperor’s daughter? What nonsense was this?

“That lost daughter, Princess ‘Aksa,’ is missing.”

Elihu continued with a bitter smile.

“Besides, if she were alive, she would be around Shia’s age.”

“My father is alive. So the story about being His Majesty the Emperor’s daughter is too much… My father resembles me, you know.”

“His Majesty the Tashin Emperor is a woman.”

Shia had naturally assumed the Emperor was a man, so she was even more surprised by Elihu’s words.

“In Tashin, women use mental-type Rings, and men use physical-type Rings. Because of this, men are at risk of being controlled by mental types and cannot become Emperor.”

As Elihu finished speaking, various thoughts ran through Shia’s mind.

“Wh-What on earth is that….”

“I’m convinced. That you might be the Emperor’s daughter.”

Even in her daze, Shia listened to Elihu’s story as if spellbound. That she might be someone’s ‘daughter.’

Shia had longed for a mother for a long time.

Whenever she occasionally asked Oper, she only heard that her mother had died giving birth to her, and not to think deeply about it.

“Do I… resemble His Majesty the Tashin Emperor?”

Her lips trembled as she spoke. Shia had never lived as a noble, let alone a member of the imperial family, even for a single moment.

“Your appearance is somewhat similar. Though Shia has a much gentler impression. Ah, your hair and eye color resemble Lord Simon.”

“Uh… Lord Simon?”

“One of His Majesty the Emperor’s husbands. The father of Princess Aksa.”

Elihu continued with a smile.

“He’s a handsome man you can’t forget once you see him. With silver hair and violet eyes….”

Silver hair and violet eyes—that appearance was also similar to Shia’s father, Oper. And it was also very similar to Shia’s own appearance.

Shia swallowed hard.

Could it be?

No, that couldn’t be?

Elihu just smiled.

“I’m curious about what kind of person Shia’s father is.”

Elihu asked about Shia’s father, Oper, with a peculiar smile.

“He’s just ordinary. I’ve lived in a mountain village since I was little, and I heard my mother died giving birth to me. Until my father remarried, it was just the two of us.”

Shia found herself talking about all sorts of things without realizing it.

Even though she thought it was nonsense, she unconsciously opened her heart to the story of a ‘mother’ that Elihu was telling.

“Um… no matter how similar my face is, I don’t think I should casually say I seem like the Emperor’s daughter….”

“Of course. About thirty people who pretended to be Princess Aksa and deceived His Majesty the Emperor were executed by beheading. All those involved were also killed.”

Shia was shocked and closed her mouth.

“That’s why I don’t say this lightly either.”

“Just because our faces are somewhat similar, it’s dangerous to be so convinced.”

“It might be a little inconvenient because your arm is injured, but for a moment….”

Elihu got up and approached the window. He drew the curtain and opened the window.

“See?”

Unable to see well, Shia tried to move her body. But her legs had no strength and wobbled. Perhaps her body had not recovered from yesterday’s shock.

Elihu quickly moved.

“Need help?”

“Yes.”

Elihu lifted Shia in his arms.

“Oh!”

Shia, who had expected to be supported, was flustered.

Elihu lightly carried her and approached the window.

“!”

Shia was more surprised by the scene unfolding before her than by Elihu’s action. Many people were clinging to the area below the building, on the building walls, and even around the window.

“Oh….”

As Shia looked at them with wide eyes, the ones who had been clinging to the window and walls instantly dropped down and landed on the ground as if performing a stunt.

Shia’s room seemed to be on the third floor, a fairly high place, yet they all landed so lightly.

Shia had never seen people land so lightly, like feathers, from such a height before.

Soon, all those people prostrated themselves toward her.

“Any citizen of Tashin can feel it. The absurd Ring of the imperial family. This is a mark that can never be faked.”

Elihu’s voice sounded distant in Shia’s ears.

“Even if Shia is not His Majesty the Emperor’s daughter, there’s no way all of them could be mistaken that the blood of the Tashin direct imperial line flows through Shia, right?”

Shia felt something she couldn’t put into words.

“It feels like I’m having a long, strange dream.”

Too many impossible things were suddenly happening, and Shia felt like she was going crazy.

Soon, Elihu laid Shia down on the bed.

“But what about the people around the window and walls?”

“They’re guarding during the private audience.”

“?

“Since Shia’s powerful message sent through the Ring was ‘Save me.’ Even though they know I can’t do that, they’re watching out of anxiety that I might cause harm.”

“I don’t know those people.”

“Of course.”

“But why?”

“Men of the Tashin Empire are sensitive to mental-type Rings. Especially since Shia is a member of the imperial family who wields the most powerful Ring.”

Elihu laughed.

Shia was at a loss for words.

“I don’t feel anything like that at all, though?”

Elihu lowered his gaze and spoke in a low voice.

“Your father didn’t teach you, did he? It seems he wanted you to live quietly in a foreign land.”

“Yes. He enjoyed a simple life. Still, for my sake, he even remarried….”

Shia found it difficult to continue.

Oper now had a wife named Dirai and even another child.

Was that truly for her sake? And now that he had started a new family through marriage, didn’t he no longer need her?

To escape her painful thoughts, Shia focused on her conversation with Elihu.

“Um… can it really be confirmed whether I am His Majesty the Tashin Emperor’s daughter just by resemblance and ability alone?”

It seemed like such a lie, didn’t it?

“You’ll be able to confirm if you meet Princess Aksa’s husband.”

“Excuse me? Husband? The Princess is married?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m not the Princess. I haven’t done anything like getting married.”

Shia shook her head.

“Since the Princess was missing, they held a proxy wedding using the Princess’s belongings in her place.”

“Excuse me?”

Was that even possible?

“It was a wedding held without the Princess, even if she is alive. Even if Shia is the party in question, of course you wouldn’t know.”

She felt like she had heard something enormous, but too much information came at once and it was hard to understand.

“Anyway, there’s an imprint—a kind of mark—that Princess Aksa left on her husband’s body as a child. If we compare that, we can confirm whether Shia is Princess Aksa.”

Shia had no idea how the Princess’s husband would confirm such a thing.

Elihu looked at the bewildered Shia and smiled.

“But everyone is convinced. That Shia is at least His Majesty the Emperor’s daughter, or if not, at least a hidden direct descendant of the late Emperor.”

Even though he said many difficult-to-understand things, Shia strangely believed Elihu’s words.

At the same time, one anxiety came to mind.

“…If I truly am His Majesty’s daughter, then what happens to my father?”

What about her father, Oper, who had cherished and loved her for so long?

“Hm?”

“My birth father. He won’t be punished for taking me far away and living in hiding all this time, will he? I mean… my father remarrying was….”

“Shia.”

“Yes.”

“There’s common knowledge that every citizen of Tashin knows. That a child of Tashin cannot leave Tashin and live abroad until they come of age.”

Shia looked at Elihu with a face that still didn’t understand.

“It’s prohibited by law. Minors of the Empire—more precisely, all minors who have Rings—are prohibited from leaving the country.”

“R-Really?”

“To protect minors from the dangers of abduction, confinement, assault, and so on, the regulations for minors going abroad are strict. So, except for very special cases, it’s forbidden.”

“I’ve never met any other Tashin citizen besides my father until now. Is it a very special case?”

“What very special cases mean is something that all citizens of Tashin Empire know about. Like members of the imperial family or nobles attending events abroad.”

Huh?

“That doesn’t seem like something that would apply to Shia, who has lived as a commoner, does it?”

Elihu continued with a smile.

“So it’s strange.”

If what Elihu said was true, why did her father break the law and raise her in Arune?

“But speaking of which. Are you certain that the person Shia believes in is really your biological father?”