The Revelation Event

I dreamed of the past days.

It was around a month after I was adopted by the duke. I’d just gotten used to life as a duke’s daughter and a first-year student at the Magic Academy. Miyuki had invited me to a tea party in the royal palace’s garden, in order to formally introduce me to her fiancé, the crown prince. Technically, I’d already met him in the academy, but it was just a brief encounter, so Miyuki arranged this tea party.

She was still treating me warmly back then, and I remembered just how excited she was to hold this tea party for the younger sister she’d always wanted. We both went to the palace in the same carriage and a servant escorted us to the garden, where the prince and his guard knight were already waiting.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness. It’s a pleasure to see you again.” Miyuki greeted Suoh with a perfect curtsy.

Every movement of hers was so graceful and dignified, making it clear that she was worthy of being the future queen. I stared at her, entranced, and forgot to greet the prince.

“Your Highness, today I brought my adopted younger sister, Akari. Why don’t you introduce yourself to His Highness?” Seeing my dazed expression, Miyuki gently nudged me.

“I-It’s a pleashure to meet you, Your Highness!” In my panic, I bit my tongue and ended up embarrassing myself.

As I was agonizing over my shameful display and just how far apart I was from my perfect elder sister, Suoh broke into laughter. All of us—me, Miyuki, and Daichi—stared at him in surprise.

“Ah, forgive me. It’s been a while since I received such an interesting greeting and I couldn’t help myself. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Akari.” Suoh took my hand and landed a light kiss on it.

I blushed furiously from his intimate gesture, only to snap into my senses when I saw my sister’s frozen expression. Then I realized that Suoh had ignored Miyuki’s greeting in favor of my clumsy greeting.

“Shall we start the tea party, then?” Suoh offered me his arm with a brilliant smile, not sparing a glance to his fiancée.

I looked back and forth between his proffered arm and Miyuki, unable to decide if I should accept his escort or not. Fortunately, Miyuki snapped out of her daze and walked to the tea table on her own, indirectly telling me to accept the prince’s escort.

This awkward situation lasted the entire tea party. Suoh lavished me with all of his attention, sparing none for my elder sister. She sat in stony silence the whole time, sipping elegantly at her tea and pretended that nothing was wrong while her own fiancé was fawning over her younger sister in front of her. As for me, I simply went along with the flow, too afraid that I’d incur Suoh’s wrath if I were to refuse his attention while constantly worrying over Miyuki’s feelings.

When that dreadful tea party was drawing to a close, I was terribly relieved.

“Thank you for the wonderful tea party, Your Highness.” I bowed to him as we stood up from our seats.

“It’s a shame we have to part now, but I do enjoy your company. I look forward to see you again in the academy, Akari.” Suoh took a lock of my pink hair and kissed it gently. “And call me Suoh. Didn’t I tell you not to be so formal to me?”

“B-But, I can’t possibly…”

“This is an order from the crown prince. Call me by my name, okay?”

“…yes, Suoh-sama.”

After that exchange, Suoh left the garden first with Daichi in tow. I lowered my hand after waving him goodbye and exhaled a sigh. Then I turned to Miyuki.

“O-Onee-sama, I’m so, so sorry…I don’t know why His Highness acted like that to me…” I bowed my head deeply, unable to look her in the eyes.

“Akari. Did you fall in love with His Highness?” She replied in a flat tone.

“No! I cannot possibly love him!” My head shot up in surprise. “I-I mean, he’s the crown prince, and he’s also your fiancé! I wouldn’t dare!”

To my surprise, there was no anger in Miyuki’s expression. She simply looked resigned, as if she’d expected this to happen and already made her resolve.

“Onee-sama…?”

“Is that so. I wonder how long that will last.” Without explaining anything, Miyuki turned around and walked away. “I don’t have much time left…”

Her last sentence reached me in a whisper, its meaning eluded my grasp.

After that tea party, Miyuki’s attitude toward me changed drastically.

She began harassing me at every chance, be it in our house or in the academy. She’d break or steal my things, verbally abusing me with insults to my lowly origin, treating me like a maid, and having her followers bullied me. She even had me kidnapped and sold as a slave in neighboring kingdom, but fortunately I was rescued before I crossed the border. On more than one occasion, she’d shout at me to leave the house and return to my commoner life.

Truth be told, there was nothing I wanted more than that.

Being a noble was exhausting, and I missed my mom so badly. However, with my father, brother, and Suoh coming to my rescue every time Miyuki harassed me, I couldn’t possibly abandon my position and left the house. So I endured, and endured, desperately waiting for the day Miyuki would graduate and marry Suoh. I held a wish that perhaps Miyuki would return to being the kind older sister I knew once her relationship with Suoh was secure.

However, Miyuki was condemned and exiled before she could graduate.

And I became the crown prince’s fiancée in her place.

Was this all according to Suoh’s plan?

*****

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Along with the rhythmic sound of footsteps, my consciousness gradually returned to me. I cracked open my heavy eyelids, but my sight was too blurry and dim to recognize anything. I let them fell closed again, surrendering myself to the pull of slumber. Hushed voices conversing with each other entered my ears. I was too sleepy to try and understand what they were saying, so I just let it pass, until something caught my attention.

“…still asleep, right?”

“Yes, she won’t wake up until morning. I’ve fed her that concoction for almost a year by now—I’m sure of its effects.”

“Are they…talking about me?” I struggled to stay awake as I eavesdropped on their conversation.

I gradually noticed that my body was being rocked in a steady rhythm—I was being carried in someone’s arms. We were walking down a long, long flight of stairs with nothing but a single torch to light the way.

Someone snickered. “Fortunately, she’s easy to deceive, but it is quite funny seeing you chasing after her so passionately.”

“Shut up. It’s necessary for the ritual, so there’s nothing I can do about it. It’ll be the most ideal outcome if she chose me—the rest of you are only spares, just in case she realizes something.”

“In that case, the Himemiyas are already out, huh? There’s no way she’ll get attached to them, not after she found out about her mother.”

“Huh? What does my father and brother have to do with this? Wait, who are talking right now? Where are they bringing me anyway?” My sluggish brain moved with the speed of a snail. It finally dawned on me that someone tampered with my drink—or maybe it was meant to drug me from the beginning.

“The only thing the Duke did right is siring her. Thanks to him, I’ll be able to secure my position as the crown prince.”

At that sentence, I forced my eyes open a crack. The familiar handsome face that I saw confirmed my deepest fear.

“Suoh-sama?! Why…? Where is he taking me?! What is he going to do to me?! What’s happening here?!”

While my thoughts were swirling in chaos, Suoh continued his conversation.

“Where’s Daichi?”

“He’s still on standby with the Duke and the Young Duke, just in case they get chosen. And if he gets chosen, he’ll regroup with us.”

I finally recognized the other voice as Hijiri’s. The puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place, creating an ominous picture in my mind.

Suoh, Hijiri, Daichi, Fuyuhiro, and Tatsuo. All five men were accomplices. They were trying to do some kind of ritual involving me, and they’d been deceiving me all this time.

“Then…all of their kindness and affection…all of them were a lie?” My chest throbbed painfully as I recalled the happy memories we’d made in the past year. “What do they want by deceiving me with false kindness?”

“If it wasn’t for that damn woman, I’d have obtained this power sooner.” Suoh spat out. “As expected, I should’ve killed her rather than simply exiling her. Well, not that it matters. Once we’re finished here, I’ll send someone to kill her. Assassinating an exiled duke’s daughter is a simple thing.”

I was so surprised I nearly gasped out loud. “Onee-sama?! What does she have to do with this?!”

Then I remembered all of her harassments and the words she shouted at the very end.

“I wish Otou-sama hadn’t adopted you! No, I wish you hadn’t been born in the first place!”

It wasn’t spite—it was her genuine wish, for me to escape from the ducal family, from whatever evil scheme they were planning. She’d been harassing me in order to get me sick of being a noble and left the house of my own will. When it didn’t work, she had someone take me out of the kingdom to keep me away from their grasp, but her attempt failed as well.

“Onee-sama…so you’ve been secretly trying to protect me all along.” I was so touched, I nearly shed tears. “You’ve always been my kind elder sister. You weren’t jealous of me at all, you were protecting me, even at the cost of yourself.”

“Your Highness, we’ve arrived.”

Along with those words, Suoh stopped walking. I heard the sound of a heavy door swung open, then we entered the room. All at once, I shuddered as the intense pressure of ancient magic bore down on me. I reflexively opened my eyes.

We were in a spacious room deep underground, with nothing but stone walls and floor around us. The only exception was a single stone altar erected in the middle of the room. On the ceiling, right above the altar, a gigantic magic circle was etched. Even with my hazy mind, I recognized the magic signature of that magic circle. It was the same circle I’d seen in my father’s document, one that he quickly snatched away from me.

“What…is that magic circle…?”

“Oh, I see you’re awake, Akari.”

“…!”