The Eminence in Shadow

Eh, this is fine. I can just ditch her midway through the tour by pretending to take a wrong turn.

Plus, I do kinda want to ask her about Rose.

“…All right, lead the way.”

“Take care,” Epsilon says.

I sense a wave of hostility, and when I turn around, I find her smiling and glaring daggers at Margaret.

“And

this

is the Oriana Castle’s famous rose garden.”

My guide leads me to a magnificent collection of rose bushes.

Even though it’s winter, the garden is warm, and its multichromatic flora is in full bloom.

“There’s an artifact installed underground that regulates the garden’s temperature.”

“Oh, huh.”

I usually couldn’t care less about flowers, but the contrast between the white snow piled up on the castle and the vivid flowers in here is striking enough that even I’m impressed.

Margaret turns back and looks at me. “A-and might I mention—your performance earlier was heart-stirring!”

“Nah, I’m sure it wasn’t all that.”

“No, it was! Before long, I’m sure you’ll be one of the greatest pianists around! That was the best rendition of

Moonlight Sonata

I’ve ever heard!”

“Ha-ha-ha. I still have a lot to learn.”

“Not at all! Ms. Shiron is being too hard on you!”

“I dunno about that…”

“She is, I’m certain of it! Someone with your talent is wasted on her.”

“I

definitely

don’t know about that.”

“I couldn’t help but overhear Earl Parton, and he said that you caught his eye! If you worked as a pianist for an earl, your annual salary would be at least one hundred million

zeni

.”

“Wait, a

hundred million

? And that’s

every year

?”

Margaret nods with a gleeful smile. “Marquis Newwealth had high praise for you as well. Your seventy million–

zeni

salary with him would come out a little lower than the earl’s, but the concerts the marquis holds are attended by many of the biggest names in music. If fame is what you’re after, you definitely want to go with the marquis!”

“One hundred million

zeni

, you say…”

Honestly, becoming a musician might not be a bad path to take.

I mean, pianist by day, eminence in shadow by night? I do like the sound of that.

The problem is, I’d have to start practicing stuff other than

Moonlight Sonata

.

“A-and there’s also, um…my family!”

“Huh?”

“You could come work for my parents! The starting salary is usually only fifty million, but I’m sure I could get Dad to pay you seventy!”

“You’d do that?”

“I would, absolutely! I would move heaven and earth for you. What do you say?”

“Huh?”

Margaret grabs me by the hand and leads me behind a rosebush.

She lowers her voice and whispers in my ear. “Just between you and me, I’m on very good terms with both Earl Parton and Marquis Newwealth, and my family puts a great deal of trust in me as well. If you leave everything to me, I can make things go just the way you like.”

“Huuuh?”

Margaret presses my arm against her chest.

These puppies are 0 percent slime.

“What will it be? I recommend my family, of course. There, I could be by your side every step of the way.”

She tilts her head and looks up at me coquettishly.

“But what about Master Shiron…?”

“Ms. Shiron is a hog who wants to keep her adorable apprentice all to herself. Just earlier, she was glaring at me like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Don’t you worry about a thing. Just leave it all to me, and I’ll back you up with everything I have. How does that sound?”

So,

this

is how they play things in the Oriana Kingdom.

“By the way, I heard you were Princess Rose’s maid?”

I slip gracefully from Margaret’s grasp.

I’ve got no plans to go down the path of the musician just yet.

“What? But…how did you—?”

“Where is she, I wonder?”

Margaret petulantly puffs up her cheeks. “Interested in Princess Rose, are we?”

“Who wouldn’t be, with all the rumors flying around?”

“For the record, I despise Rose Oriana.”

“Huh.”

“I was her personal maid up until she transferred to that academy in Midgar. She was always a little odd, but she was kind, and smart, and loved by all. That’s why it stung so badly when she betrayed us.”

“What’d she do?”

“She plunged the kingdom into chaos, that’s what she did. Nobody acknowledges her as the rightful queen anymore.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Don’t tell anyone I said that, though.” Margaret gives me another sunny smile. “Now, you wanted to know where her room was?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m afraid…that’s a secret.”

“Figures.”

I knew there was no way she would just up and tell me, but a guy’s gotta try.

“I mean, of course I can’t tell you. But… But, but, but… Maybe, since it’s you…”

Margaret squeezes my hand and looks deeply into my eyes.

She brings her face right up to mine. I can feel her breath as she speaks.

“Princess Rose’s room is on the top floor of that tall spire over there. This can be our little secret.”

She just up and told me.

Sharing a secret with someone is a classic con man trick. If you’re in the market for getting someone’s trust and getting it fast, I highly recommend trying it.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t tell anyone else, okay? You’re the only one who can know. Just you, okay? You know, because you’re so special.”

And trying to make me feel special, too? This girl’s putting on quite the show.

“I-it really would mean a lot to me if you at least came and visited my parents.”

“I will definitely, absolutely consider it.”

“Hey, what’re you two doing back there?!”

I turn in the direction the shout came from and find an angry-looking guard glaring at us.

With all the hand-holding and eye-gazing we’re doing, we probably make for quite the eyesore.

“All right, you little creep, you’re coming with me.”

“H-he’s Ms. Shiron’s apprentice—!” Margaret cries.

“I wasn’t asking you! And you,” the guard says, turning back to me, “get your ass over here already!”

His face is as red as a tomato, and he’s pissed as all hell.

“I think I’d better go with him,” I say to Margaret. “You just wait here, all right?”

“I’m so sorry about this. If he does anything to you, anything at all, you tell me, okay? I hate that man’s guts.”

“You do?”

“I always catch him staring at me. It creeps me out.”

She glares at the man. Her gaze is filled with heartfelt loathing.

“Don’t make me say it again, you!” he roars at me.

“Coming!” I jog over to the guard.

“Over here.”

“You got it, boss.”

The guard drags me behind a nearby building.

“You have any idea who I am? I’m Kevin. The guard.”

As he introduces himself, he grabs me by the collar.

“Nice to meet you, Kevin the guard.”

“You think this is funny? What’re you supposed to be, some sorta musician? Must be nice, huh?”

“I’m sorry.”

Apparently, Kevin is real peeved.

“We’re out here protecting the country, you know. You people call us dark knights ‘barbarians,’ but we’re the ones putting our lives on the line for you. So why is it you guys are always the ones who get the pretty girls waiting on them hand and foot?”

“I’m sorry.”

Sounds like he’s got a lot to get off his chest.

With people like these, the best strategy is to just apologize over and over while you think about something else.

“C’mon, piano boy, gimme your best shot! Let’s see how good your precious music is at taking down a filthy barbarian dark knight!”

“I’m sorry.”

I found out where Rose is, so I really wanna go visit her.

“Ha, what a joke! A musician can’t beat a dark knight, and you know it! The arts aren’t worth

shit

!”

“I’m sorry.”

Margaret can’t see us from here, so now’s my perfect chance to pretend to get lost.

“I don’t ever wanna see you around Margaret again, you hear? Me and her, we’re in love with each other!”

“I’m…sorry?”

“What, you got a problem with that?”

“You’re…in love with each other?”

“You’re damn right we are! She and I pledged a vow!”

“But Margaret said she kept catching you staring at her.”

“Every day, we reaffirm our love by looking at each other from across that flower garden! I gaze at her, and Margaret looks away bashfully! But she’s so into me, she can’t help but snatch glances anyways! Oh, my sweet Margaret… Why, she’s lovelier than the flowers!”

“So, you just look at each other?”

“True love doesn’t need words!”

“Have you

ever

talked to her?”

“I talked to her just now, didn’t I?! I mean, sure, it was for the first time, but you could see how head over heels she was for my manliness!”

“Uhhh…”

“What, you got some sorta problem with that?”

“I was just, uh, blown away by how free and unorthodox your relationship is. I can see that what you two have really is true love.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’. Now, don’t you ever talk to her again! I’ll tell her you ran off, so go on and scram!”

You’re the man, Kevin. Thanks to you, I’m finally free.

“Y-y-yessir! I wish you two all the happiness in the world!”

After letting out an incredibly forgettable yelp, I head off to visit Rose.

Rose sits by the window and looks despondently up at the heavens. It’s almost as if the ash-gray winter sky is a reflection of her own heart.

Rose agreed to marry Perv in exchange for her mother’s safety.

She managed to save her mother. However, she has no idea if she’ll be able to save the kingdom.

The Shadow Garden will probably make a move before long. Although she had her reasons, the fact remains that Rose disobeyed a superior officer. She has little doubt that they’ll brand her as a traitor.

And the Cult of Diablos is going to make a move, too. They’re definitely up to something.

The Oriana Kingdom is about to become a mere stage for those two powerful forces to clash.

However, Rose is under house arrest. She’s helpless to do anything but stare at the ashen sky.

“Cid…”

Whenever she feels like things are too much to bear, she thinks of his face.

Tap.

Someone knocks on her window.

She heads over and looks outside, and when she does—

“It can’t be… Cid…?”

—she sees the very boy she’s been dreaming of.

Her cheeks flush as she stares at the dark-eyed, black-haired youth.

She wonders if she’s dreaming. She was so sure she’d never get a chance to see him again.

“Rose…”

She can feel the heat in his gaze. Even just looking at each other is enough to convey the depths of their passion.

She’s positive that in that moment, he’s thinking the exact same thing she is.

Her heart feels like it’s going to beat out of her chest.

She wants nothing more than to hold him tightly to her and to run away with him.

But she can’t.

“…Get inside already. It’d mean big trouble if anyone spots you.” She forces herself to act cold and detached. “Why? Why come? Why do something so dangerous?”

“I needed to see you. I became a pianist’s apprentice so I could sneak in.”

“You would go that far? For me…?”

She’s on the verge of bursting into tears.

He crossed national borders, won over a famous pianist, and infiltrated the castle—all for her.

She can only imagine how much he must have gone through on his journey.

The sheer amount of work it would’ve taken to get an apprenticeship from a pianist skilled enough to get into the castle is almost unthinkable.

“I wanted to talk to you about the wedding,” he says.

“Th-there’s nothing to talk about…”

She loves him, and that’s why she has to push him away.

The two of them are doomed to never be together. The least she can do is keep him out of harm’s way.

“I mean, it’s not actually happening, is it?”

There’s a pleading look in his eyes. He wants so badly for her to deny that it’s happening.

He wants her to say that he’s right, she isn’t marrying Perv. She’s marrying

him

, instead.

“I-it’s true, all of it. I’m marrying Duke Perv of my own free will.”

Her voice trembles.

Tears finally start streaming from her eyes.

She turns her face and wipes them away before he has a chance to notice.

“No…”

He sounds like he’s just been told the world is ending.

Rose screams internally.

Having to hurt the boy she loves like this cuts her to her core.

“What was it all even for, then?!” he cries.

He’s talking about the fateful day when he and Rose pledged their love to each other. Now, Rose has broken that pledge.

“Please,” she chokes. “Just move on and forget about me…”

The tears won’t stop.

She can’t bear to hurt him any more than she has already.

“No. I refuse to give up.”

“Oh, Cid…”

“What happened to you, Rose?! This country looks down on dark knights, but you didn’t let that stop you. You became one anyways. Nobody supported you or understood you. It must’ve been lonely, but you followed your dreams anyways! You and me, we’re the same.”

“You mean…you went through the same thing?”

“I have a dream that nobody could understand, so I get how you feel better than anyone.”

Rose can tell exactly what that dream of his is. She doesn’t need to hear him say it to know.

The two of them are dreaming of the exact same thing. Cid’s dream is Rose’s, and Rose’s dream is Cid’s.

That dream is for the two of them to be wed in holy matrimony.

Even the mere idea of a low-ranked noble like him marrying an Oriana princess is too ridiculous for words.

However, Rose refuses to make light of his feelings.

Those feelings were born of the love they had for each other.

“I understand your dream, Cid! Even if the world turns its back on you, I’ll always respect it!”

“You might, but society never will. They’ll call me an idiot, or a nutjob, or they’ll tell me to grow up already. The masses don’t look kindly on people like me.”

“Let them say what they like! None of that changes how pure your feelings are!”

“Rose…”

Rose can feel the passion smoldering in his gaze.

True love doesn’t need words. She can tell how he feels just by the way he looks at her.

“You and I, we chose to follow our dreams,” he says. “We didn’t care what obstacles stood in our way or who mocked us. So why’re you giving up on your dream now?!”

Rose’s voice cracks. “I—I’m…I’m not…”

“You stabbed your fiancé and killed your dad, the king. And I’m not gonna ask you why you did that. You know why? Because I believe in you, and I believe that you did it because you were heeding your convictions and following your dreams.”

“Cid…”

“So, I have to know. Why abandon your dream now?”

“I…”

“I mean, you ran your fiancé through, and now you’re marrying him? How is that not giving up on your dream?! You fought so hard for it! So, why? Why give up

now

?!”

“………”

Rose bites her lip. She has no answer to that.

She knows better than anyone that this isn’t how she wanted her life to play out.

However, what option does she have but to sacrifice herself to keep the people she loves safe?

“Just forget you ever met me!” she cries. “As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters!”

“I’ll never give up. Not even if it means turning the world against me.”

“I don’t have anything more to say to you. Please, just leave…”

Rose shoves Cid out the window and locks it behind him.

Then, she crumples with her back to the wall and starts sobbing.

Why should two people who love each other as much as they do have to get torn apart like that? Why can’t her dream of marrying him come true?

Rose weeps at how cruel destiny is. At how cruel reality is.

A short while later, there’s a knock on her door.

“Coming.”

She wipes her tears dry and opens it.

Duke Perv comes in.

“I thought I heard voices.”

“A-as you can see, I’m the only one in here.”

“…Hmm.”

Perv pushes her aside and inspects the room.

He looks under the bed, opens her closet, and glances out her window.

“So you are,” he remarks.

Rose breathes a sigh of relief. “That’s why I said it.”

“I can see you’ve been crying. That must be what I heard.”

He caresses Rose’s puffy red eyelids with his finger.

She swats away his hand. “Don’t touch me!”

“Come now, that’s no way to be. We’re about to get married, you know.”

“Only on paper.”

“Know your place!”

He slaps Rose across the cheek.

She glares at him. “………”

“Don’t forget—Queen Reina’s life is in your hands.”

Rose hangs her head and bites her lip. “…Yes, sir.”

“That’s what I like to hear. As long as the marriage goes through, I can guarantee nothing will happen to her.”

He wraps his arm around her shoulders.

Her cheek twitches.

“Now, I hear they finished your dress for the big day. Isn’t that exciting? Let’s go try it on, shall we?”

“…Yes, sir.”

Rose bites down harder on her lip and allows Perv to escort her out of the room.

Then…

“Ah, so that’s what’s going on.”

The room should by all rights have been empty, yet an average-looking boy with black hair and dark eyes stands there all the same.

He helps himself to the room’s tea set, pouring himself a cup before reclining on the sofa.

“Her mom got taken hostage, huh?”

He crosses his legs and begins wolfing down the pastries he finds on the table, in an act of base thievery.

“Well, that makes things nice and simple. Damn, these things are

choice

. Where do they get off, squandering the taxpayers’ hard-earned money on luxury snacks like these?”

After chugging down more tea and stuffing his cheeks full of pastries, he draws the curtain on his elegant little one-man tea party.

With a few nonsensical final words, he leaves the room. “Whew. Don’t you worry, good people of Oriana. I avenged your misspent taxes for you.”

A short while later, a completely innocent guard named Kevin will get suspended from his duties for stealing food.