Chapter 11 – A Parent’s Story (1)

Chapter 11: A Parent’s Story (1)

“Your Majesty. What brings you here of all places….?”

Delfin trailed off her words while observing the Emperor, who was walking ahead of her.

She had received an imperial command to rest in her quarters and had withdrawn from the palace.

However, she had immediately headed north that very day. Strictly speaking, she had disobeyed the Emperor’s command.

Therefore, it was natural for Delfin to shrink back. It would have been right to be anxious about what kind of harsh reprimand might have fallen upon her.

“….”

However, the moment she saw the Emperor’s complexion when he turned around.

“…Your Majesty?”

Delfin could not hide her bewilderment.

There is no color in their face. It’s a pale, blood-drained expression. She looks as if she was being chased by something.

“Your Majesty. Your countenance does not look well.”

“My countenance does not look well. Yes, that would be so.”

The Emperor muttered in a small voice. Then he approached Delfin and suddenly grasped her hands.

“Sir Delfin. So did you find it?”

“Your Majesty? What do you mean….”

“The reason you came north while hiding it even from me. Was it not to find that Red Bird? Is it an existence that poses a threat to the Empire? If not, then why did you reveal yourself? Was it not to find that out?”

It was half right and half wrong. As the Emperor said, there were things she was curious about. However, there had also been a desire to see the Red Bird once more with her own eyes.

“I ask again. So did you find it?”

“I could not find that Red Bird. But Your Majesty. Instead, there was something surprising….”

“Then go out and search again. Sir Delfin, you’ve encountered that being twice already. If you keep looking this time as well, it’s bound to appear before you!”

Something had been strange. This is not the Emperor she knew.

“Your Majesty. I, Delphin Lionheart, shall carry out whatever command you give me. However, there is something I wish to ask. Why are you here, Your Majesty, and why do you seek the red bird?”

Barely managing to steady his trembling voice. Suppressing the ominous thoughts that kept rising. The Emperor informed the knight of the reason for his journey north.

The Crown Princess had suddenly developed a high fever and collapsed.

The court physicians had attended to her, but they could not even determine the illness.

It had been too sudden. It had been a disease that came without any warning signs.

Perhaps it might not have been a disease. It could have been a curse. A curse cast by that red existence he had encountered in the north.

If that were truly the case, whether by pleading or by threats. He had to save the successor who would lead the Empire in the future. As a father, he could not abandon his daughter.

“Your Majesty. Wait a moment. Please listen to my words for a moment. It was certain that the Red Bird was wary of people, but it was not an existence that would do such wicked deeds.”

“How can you be certain of that?”

“It saved the village from the Demon Dragon, killed the Demon Dragon, and even when the Empire’s investigation team and the Order’s subjugation force entered the north, it did not attack and let them go. Were these not the very words Your Majesty used when persuading me?”

Who would have thought she would end up persuading with the very words she had heard? It had been proof that the Emperor was not in his right mind.

“Even if that is so, I must find the Red Bird.”

“Your Imperial Majesty!”

“If it is strong enough to kill the Demon Dragon yet has a nature that does not harm people, it might help in some way, might it not?”

Just yesterday, terrible news came from the capital. The Crown Princess’s condition had become even more serious than before.

She had been suffering as if she might breathe her last at any moment. Her fever had been burning so high that even an adult would find it hard to endure. For a child who had just turned ten, it had been beyond her limits.

“How can I be in my right mind in such circumstances? It seems that Red Bird is the cause. The healthy Crown Princess became like this after encountering the Red Bird.”

“….”

“Whether I meet it and find it really is the cause, I must plead or kill it. If not, I must ask for help in some way. Sir Delfin. Are my words wrong?”

‘Yes, Your Majesty. You are wrong. Nothing is right.’

‘There is no evidence that the Red Bird did such a thing. There is no guarantee that the existence would speak honestly.’

‘Even if it were true that it cast a curse, it would still be a problem. The reality is that it is difficult even to look at it, let alone kill it.’

‘If it were not the case, would it help even if we asked for a solution? Asking for human compassion from a non-human existence.’

Delfin could not bring herself to pour out such words outside her mouth. The Emperor looked too desperate and urgent to do so.

“…In truth, I know as well. That all of this is foolish.”

It had been quite some time later that the Emperor finally came to his senses.

“No matter how much I think it is not so. I keep thinking that it might be. It must be because of my desire to cure the Crown Princess’s illness even by such means. As an Emperor, it is the worst, but as a father, I simply cannot ignore such a thing.”

Delfin had known as well. How much the Emperor cherished the Crown Princess. She had been a child he had with difficulty. She had been a successor he was raising with all his devotion.

That child had been on the threshold of death before she was even ten years old. Anyone who saw such a thing would lose their mind. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that the Emperor was enduring it.

“I must do something. So tell me. Sir Delfin. Where was the place you saw the Red Bird a year ago?”

Even if it was a hopeless hope, humans wanted to cling to it. Humans wanted to depend on it even a little by clinging to it like that.

How could one say anything about this? Because one was human. Because one was human, it was so.

“Your Majesty.”

The chamberlain who had followed to this place knelt down.

“News has just come from the capital that the Crown Princess’s condition has worsened further.”

“How much, how much worse is it?”

“Tonight seems to be the critical point… they say.”

At the miserable news, the Emperor collapsed. With things having come to this, Delfin had had no other choice.

“Let us go, Your Majesty. I do not know whether the Red Bird is truly related to this matter, but… if we go and offer prayers to the divine, might there not be a response!”

Delfin, who had helped the Emperor to his feet, headed to the place where she had fought the Demon Dragon in the past. It had been nothing special, just an empty field filled only with desolation. Nevertheless, the Emperor leaped down from the carriage as soon as they arrived.

“Great existence!”

And looking up at the sky, he cried out desperately.

“Please save my daughter and punish me instead!”

There had been no answer in return. The world had been quiet. But the Emperor did not give up. He continued to beg for forgiveness. Delfin, the chamberlain, and the guards could not hide their somber expressions.

“If there are sins I have committed against you, they are all mine. Please, please do not make even a young child pay that price! I thus beg for mercy. Great existence!”

As an Emperor caring for his successor. As a father caring for his daughter. The Emperor cried out like that for more than an hour, again and again.

***

“Why are they doing that?”

In case I might be seen. In case my presence might be felt. I had climbed all the way to the mountain peak to observe the situation.

I had expected it to be some noble human, but who would have thought it would have been the Emperor? If he had not introduced himself, I might not have known.

More than that, I didn’t understand why he kept begging for forgiveness. If there had been problems with them, I would have been angry long ago. I had sent them away on good terms, so why were they acting like this again?

‘Is his daughter very sick?’

The person called the Emperor was kneeling and begging. If he was doing this even while his subjects were watching, it was not a lie. He had to have been so desperate that he could act like this.

But I turned my head away. I tried to cover my face with my wings.

I could not intervene any further. I had already defied death.

I raised my voice before the Blue Sky. However, I definitely felt sorry inside.

The one who had done wrong was I. The one who had caused problems was I. An existence from another world had interfered with the rules of this world. It had already been something to be grateful for that the Blue Sky withdrew.

‘If the Emperor’s daughter dying is the natural order that this world has set. If she is to die from illness, I cannot intervene.’

Therefore, I blocked my ears even more firmly. No more. One is enough. No more….

“Pitiful.”

Pitiful. Tragic. Sympathy arose. A parent who had to watch the death of their child. Could there have been anything more despairing than this in the world?

I wanted to help. I wanted to help. I wanted to tell them. At least once, there was such a thing as a miracle.

‘Wouldn’t it be fine as long as I don’t directly save her?’

In Anne’s case, I had used my feather. As a result, the Blue Sky had strongly objected. She had protested that an outside existence had directly intervened.

Then, if it wasn’t using a feather? If I helped indirectly, wouldn’t it have been a big problem?

Once my heart had been set, I spread wide the wings that had been blocking my ears. I flew up into the sky and headed toward the father who had a daughter.

Night had not yet come. It had been too early to despair.

***

His throat had been completely hoarse. His voice would not come out. Even so, the Emperor desperately sought the Red Bird.

If I have displeased you, please punish only me. Please pity this human just once and show mercy.

Oh deity. If you truly exist there, please bestow a miracle. I, who have not always been good but have not been evil, beseech you. If you can take this life to save a young life, please….

One who has lost a wife is called a widower. One who has lost a husband is called a widow.

The Emperor suddenly raised his head at the voice that could be heard.

One who has lost parents is called an orphan.

He felt a power that could not be denied. A fear that made his body tremble involuntarily overwhelmed him. Yet a warmth that could bring tears was conveyed.

But nowhere in the world.

Brilliant light filled the world. Red energy rose from beyond the sky.

—–WHOOOOOSH!

Red feathers. Red wings. Eyes of five colors. An existence too sacred to dare look upon.

Is there a word to call one who has lost a child?

The divine had responded to a parent’s desperate cry.