An Unlawful Act
“W-what…! Razamiliana, you say…!?”
Her hairstyle was different from when she normally appeared in public as First Princess Razamiliana.
And because she wasn’t wearing the royal attire she usually did, the man failed to realize that the person standing before him was Razamiliana. He opened his mouth wide and let out a shocked cry, clearly shaken.
“T-that’s impossible! Why…!”
“If you were deeply connected with Lage, who attempted to attack Rodwell, a noble of this country, and were once again trying to harm that same noble, then it’s only natural that I couldn’t overlook it.”
“Guh…!”
Those words from Razamiliana were half true. The other half was nothing more than a pretense.
The truth was…
“Earlier, you said you hated me, and that you’d take revenge by cutting me down, didn’t you?”
“S-so what if I did!?”
“By coincidence, I feel the same way.”
After saying that, Razamiliana closed her eyes once.
When she opened them again, her gaze had grown hollow, and she spoke with words laden with cold, crushing weight.
“You interfered with him as he walked a radiant path bathed in light, and you insulted and demeaned him. You, I will cut down. Anyone who gets in his way, no matter who they are, I won’t forgive.”
Faced with the overwhelming pressure of Razamiliana’s words, the man nearly shrank back on instinct. Clinging to the faint remnants of his pride, he forced himself to endure, then opened his mouth and shouted.
“T-that’s my line! Razamiliana! I’ll cut you down, and by making that an unspoken understanding, I’ll use it to restore our authority!!”
With that, the man drew the sword at his waist from its scabbard.
Just as he’d claimed to have some experience with a blade, his stance at least held together as a proper form.
“I hate you, but if you’re going to hate someone, hate that child from the count’s family! Because you protected someone like that, you’re going to die right here!!”
Shouting at the top of his lungs, the man charged forward, closing the distance between himself and Razamiliana.
“Even if I were to die here, there’s no chance I’d ever hate him.”
The future of this country.
Her fiancé.
The place where she should wield the sword she’d honed.
Her reasons.
There was absolutely no way she could ever hate Lux, who’d given light to all of those things.
“…Though, when I think of all those who’ve crossed swords with me until now, there’s no way it’d ever be acceptable for me to be defeated by the likes of you.”
“Shut your mouth!!”
While Razamiliana still hadn’t drawn her sword, the man, already armed, closed in on her.
“I’ve got you!!”
The man raised his sword high and moved to bring it down, but.
From his movements alone, Razamiliana already knew exactly where his blade would fall.
She drew her sword in a flash, and at the very instant he lifted his weapon, she precisely knocked the sword from his hand.
“W-what…!?”
It felt to the man as though his future had been predicted, and he cried out in shock. Razamiliana, however, spoke in the same cold, heavy tone as before.
“With only a little skill at the sword, there’s no way you could defeat me. No, at this level, you don’t even come close to him, whom you were insulting.”
“Guh…!”
As Razamiliana shifted into her stance, the man spoke in a panic.
“W-wait! Are you saying you’ll take my life too, just like Lage’s!? And all of that over some child from a count’s family. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous!?”
At those words, Razamiliana turned a completely hollow gaze toward him.
“Hii…!”
His face went pale and twisted under the weight of her stare and presence. He hurriedly opened his mouth.
“F-forgive me! If you spare me now, I’ll give you as much money as you want…”
Before he could finish, the man was cut down by Razamiliana.
He collapsed to the ground, already a corpse.
“Even at the moment of death, you were ugly, just like Lage.”
Saying that, light returned to Razamiliana’s eyes. She lowered her gaze to the hand gripping her sword.
“…”
If she’d left that man alone, just like with Lage, there was a high chance he’d have posed a direct danger to Lux.
However, at the very least, this time he hadn’t yet caused any direct harm.
Taking the life of someone like that was, without a doubt, an unlawful act in this country.
Having committed an unlawful act for the first time, Razamiliana spoke quietly.
“Upholding the law is important. If there were no law, this country would become a lawless land.”
But.
“To uphold the law while overlooking the harm done to someone I’ve decided to love and protect, that’s nothing more than abandonment.”
That’s right. So.
Raising the sword in her hand toward the heavens, Razamiliana spoke in a powerful voice.
“What the law can’t protect, I will protect from now on, as someone who wishes to stand by your side and be bound to you.”
I’m already looking forward to the day I can see you again. I love you, you.