Chapter 47
On the table was a salad and some scone-like food. There were white palm-sized round pieces piled on a plate.
“It’s Passo. It tastes good with butter or jam on it.”
There were small servings of butter, cream, and various types of jam around it. Goat slathered a round chunk of cream, on top of the food called Passo before throwing it into his mouth. There was an instantaneous cracking sound, like that of a crème brûlée being broken. Yuichiro followed Goat’s lead and popped one of the buttered Passo into his mouth.
He took a bite and discovered that the exterior was crisp while the interior was light and airy. It had a sour flavor like cheese and a light maple sweetness at the same time.
“Yum!” Goat exclaimed, his eyes narrowing with pride.
While pouring the drink into the glass, Temeraire muttered, ” You should eat your vegetables properly.”
[He speaks like a mother after all.]
When Yuichiro made eye contact with Goat, his adjutant grinned like a baboon and laughed uncontrollably. Without touching the salad, he steadily consumed the mountain of Passo. Temeraire let out a big sigh when he saw the two of them. Temeraire sat down on the chaise lounge next to him, as if giving up, and began to eat his remaining salad.
Yuichiro opened his mouth in an unseemly manner as he bit into his Passo with some wild grape jam on it, “So, what’s the current situation?”
While gulping down the fruit juice, Goat answered, “The rebels are hiding themselves well. Either they are on the move frequently, or they are scattered all over the country.” He then remarked while taking another bite of his Passo, “It’s going to take a little more time to locate them.”
“I see,” Yuichiro returned, reaching for his glass. “How are things going within the country?”
“It’s not going well here either. Not so much in the capital, but in the countryside, rumours are spreading that if Edward becomes king, all the people will be forced to become Goldar’s slaves, causing fear among the people, and it appears that some of them are attempting to flee the country, amassing money by committing bandit-like acts.”
Yuichiro frowned broadly at Goat’s explanation. The worst thing that could happen in a war is that people abandon their country and flee.
[The country is crumbling from its foundations.]
“At this rate, the country will collapse before the civil war ends. What the hell is Edward thinking?”
When he spat this out, Temeraire and Goat both momentarily stopped. They were both looking at Yuichiro with solemn expressions.
Temeraire eventually broke the silence. “We have no idea what he’s thinking.”
“What do you mean?”
“Edward-sama is a prince who killed his mother.”
Yuichiro’s lips tightened in response to the disturbing remark. He gave Temeraire a probing look.
“Edward-sama’s own mother was the queen, but she suddenly became mentally ill and started exhibiting eccentric behavior. She would run around naked, attempting to push a maid out of a window while claiming to hear God’s voice.”
“God’s voice?”
“Right. She said God was whispering in her ear, ‘He wants me to sacrifice a butterfly.’”
When he heard the phrase “butterfly sacrifice,” Yuichiro had an epiphany. The word “sacrifice” written in the diary of the goddesses. Also, the words “butterfly’s wings flap” that Edward had said to him previously.
“One day, out of the blue, the Queen tried to stab Edward to death. At that time, Edward-sama’s left eye was crushed.
[The monocle over Edward’s left eye. Was that a prosthetic eye underneath?]
Temeraire lowered his gaze slightly and continued, “Edward-sama strangled his mother, who tried to kill him.”
Yuichiro raised an eyebrow at this startling revelation. Then there was a brief silence.
It was Goat who broke the silence. “The prince should not have killed the queen. Of course, there was a huge uproar, but Master Eduardo’s crime appears to have been ruled unfounded on the grounds of self-defense. However, Edward-sama stopped speaking after that. For years, he remained in a daze like a ghost, not speaking to anyone and performing no official duties as interim king. When he finally spoke, he declared that he did not recognize Noah as the rightful king and even began a rebellion.”
“Frankly, I don’t understand what Edward-sama is thinking at all.” Temeraire’s voice was tinged with a sense of bewilderment.
A voice unexpectedly fell from above Yuichiro at this moment.
“My brother said to me, ‘You are not yet fit to be king.’”
Looking up, he noticed Noah leaning out a window one floor above him. A shrunken Izrael sat on his shoulder.
“Izrael, how are your injuries?” Yuichiro asked to which Izrael replied in a laid-back tone, “Well, it’s getting there.”
“Can you fly again?”
“If I say I can fly, you’ll make me do something stupid again, so I’ll just say I’m still too hurt to fly.”
[What a cheeky thing to say.]
Nonetheless, Yuichiro was relieved by this lighthearted remark. Izrael snorted as he hid behind Noah’s neck when Yuichiro chuckled.
“Come here,” Yuichiro called.
When Yuichiro called out to Noah, Noah’s eyes narrowed happily, “Yes!” before sprinting in a flurry. Noah reappeared on the balcony just a few minutes after he had vanished. He then sat on the same chaise lounge as Yuichiro as if it were natural and snugly attached his body left half of Yuichiro’s body.
“I told you to come over here, but I didn’t say you could cling to me.”
Despite Yuichiro’s complaint, Noah only smiled and didn’t move an inch. In addition, Izrael had intertwined himself around his arms. He sighed in resignation before continuing the conversation, “What kind of brother is Edward to you?”
Noah blinked loosely at the question, then opened his lips, “A quiet man,” muttering apathetically. “Unlike Rondo-niisan, he had never once hit me. But he also had never spoken to me. He treated me as if I had never existed. In truth, I only ever heard his voice twice.”
“And that one time was telling you that you are not fit to be king?”
Noah nodded. “The other time was during Edward-niisan mother’s funeral,” he said while clutching Yuichiro’s left arm tightly with both arms. “It could have been him talking to himself, but as we passed each other, I heard him say, ‘I won’t let my mother die a dog’s death.’”