Chapter 210
There were two Yulans.
One was asleep, and one was awake.
I had brought one out from the underworld, and one had been in the depths of the Schizen imperial palace for fourteen years.
Yulan saw Yulan.
However, Yulan was fast asleep.
Aida stroked the sleeping Yulan's face.
“Poor Yulan…….”
Yulan felt a strange sensation.
He was here, but he was also there.
A dizziness crept up on him.
Seeing a self that was not oneself broke down the boundary between the subjective and the objective.
Yulan beca certain that if he hadn't lost his mories to the 'Na-eater', he might have been consud by madness.
“The whole country knows you are dead. That you were caught in a riot and died fourteen years ago, around the ti the ‘Mimic Crumb’ began to fall. We had no choice but to say that…….”
Aida caressed the sleeping Yulan's face with a very gentle touch.
However, the sleeping Yulan showed no signs of waking.
Yulan was confused, unable to say whether that Yulan was himself or not.
“No, now that it's co to this, it's no different from being dead. He hasn't opened his eyes once since then…….”
“…….”
“It’s been fourteen years. I’ve waited for fourteen years, just waiting for you to wake up.”
The skin under the Widow Queen's eyes was dark.
A fatigue and sadness that could not be completely covered even by black makeup peeked through.
Her sadness was sharp.
It seed ready to stab soone at any mont.
“It's been a long ti, worrying and fretting like that. A long, very long ti…….”
Aida raised her eyes.
Her aura was incredibly fierce.
She glared at the awake Yulan as if to kill him, but as if she couldn't bring herself to hate him completely, her expression soon softened.
She asked in an interrogating tone.
“Who are you, Yulan?”
“…I am Yulan.”
“Then who is this Yulan?”
“…I don't know.”
Yulan Etgendorher was simply bewildered.
It had only been a few days since he had heard his own na.
He could not answer her question with confidence.
“I don't rember anything.”
“Then I suppose I must change the subject of my question.”
The Widow Queen swept back her black hair.
The eyes that looked at soone other than Yulan were endlessly cold.
“Shion of rion.”
I answered with a smile.
“Is he Yulan?”
“It is as you see, Your Majesty.”
“In that case, who is the Yulan sleeping here?”
“Who do you think? There are two Yulans, but both cannot be real, can they?”
“…….”
Aida bit her lip.
Firmly, until it bled.
A drop of blood ford and glistened.
A sense of resentnt could be felt from her.
It was an emotion directed at , the one who had brought this confusion.
“…Is he real?”
“Well. He is certainly not a fake.”
I said with conviction.
“Because I rescued him from the underworld myself.”
“I do not trust you. But I have no reason not to trust you yet, either.”
Her attitude was imperious.
It was natural, as she was the ruler of the great nation of Schizen and had lived amidst suspicion for a long ti.
Since I had known her from before the regression, I didn't find it particularly unpleasant.
“The only reason I am willing to listen to your story is that you did not move for three whole days.”
“Ahem?”
“I have t my fill of those with ulterior motives. But you were steadfast to the point of being sowhat foolish. So much so that you didn't even move when soone mimicking my appearance visited you…….”
“There was no reason to move.”
“If you were soone with other sches, you would have moved.”
“Thank you for the complint.”
‘So this was the reason.’
I shook my head slightly.
I was finally beginning to understand a little of why the Widow Queen from before the regression had told to stay put for three days.
‘She was paranoid back then too, but it’s worse now. So she sent a minister, the pri minister, and even a replica of herself, and only then did her suspicion subside…….’
“In any case, I am grateful that you wish to trust .”
“It is too early for thanks, Shion of rion.”
The Widow Queen lifted her head.
Her eyes glistened with a black madness.
I felt a sense of foreboding.
“If the Yulan you brought is a fake, you will have to pay the price.”
…The price? I muttered.
“Once the trial is over, we will all know who is real and who is fake.”
“And when is this to be held?”
“Now.”
The Widow Queen stood up and dusted off her hands.
One of the walls began to open.
Beyond it were many people.
There seed to be at least several thousand.
Every one of them was waiting for them.
“It is ti for the trial.”
***
“……A trial?”
The one who asked the question was Yulan.
The one who was not asleep, of course.
“That's right, a trial.”
The Widow Queen answered.
She spoke with a sharp heart wrapped in a polite tone, but when addressing Yulan, the sharpness softened a little.
Though one couldn't know what would happen if she thought he was a fake.
“Ever since that golden snow started falling… we began to hold trials.”
“…….”
“To find out who is real and who is fake when they look and act the sa.”
There were no exceptions.
If a replica appeared, even a noble had to stand before the trial bench.
The Widow Queen Aida had not allowed a single exception thus far.
And this was the sa, even for the husband she loved so dearly.
“…This is sudden.”
“It has to be sudden.”
She said firmly.
“I cannot give you ti and allow you to prepare any sches.”
As she gestured, the wall opened even wider.
She showed the reclining Yulan and the awake Yulan to the thousands of people standing outside.
This was deep within the Schizen imperial palace, but she showed no hesitation in revealing it.
“Listen, Schizen.”
The Widow Queen's voice was quiet.
However, there was no one who could not hear it.
Before the queen's unveiled face, the thousands of people knelt without hesitation.
The queen accepted their reverence with a very natural deanor.
“The man lying here is Yulan Etgendorher. My husband. He was known to have died fourteen years ago, but he had only lost consciousness.”
A slight murmur arose.
It was because this overturned their common sense.
But Aida looked down at the people without wavering.
“This man here also claims to be Yulan Etgendorher. He says he has lost his mory but is my husband.”
The gathered people understood the queen's intention.
They had been puzzled when the palace soldiers suddenly gathered people, but now the mystery was solved.
“It is ti for the trial.”
Aida said.
“There are no exceptions for anyone.”
***
The Widow Queen Aida was an adept of an ancient weapon.
She could command the land she owned and the things that ca from it as she willed.
With a single gesture, a wall opened.
With another gesture, the ground flattened itself, and after a few more waves, a jury box, a judge's bench, and… in any case, a plausible-looking trial ground appeared.
‘Oh, a trial. It’s been so long.’
‘Don’t get too happy, you fool! It’s Lord Yulan’s trial, how can you be happy!’
‘That’s why I’m happy! Lord Yulan was alive!’
‘More importantly, this is going to displease Pri Minister Belrsasal…….’
The sound of people talking.
So of the comnts displeased the Widow Queen Aida.
To worry about Pri Minister Belrsasal's mood in front of her, the monarch of Schizen, was an insult like no other.
She had been quiet for a long ti.
Fourteen years ago, when Yulan fell, she too was very young.
Just past twenty.
That was why she couldn't maintain the upper hand against Pri Minister Belrsasal.
She couldn't stop him even as she watched him run the country as he pleased.
But it would be different now.
A long ti had passed, and she had aged and beco seasoned.
She had observed Belrsasal's thods for a long ti and had co to know his weaknesses.
“I, Aida, am the monarch of Schizen. I have nothing to hide from you.”
This trial was a move to strike at Pri Minister Belrsasal, while at the sa ti ascertaining Yulan's authenticity.
“This trial has no exceptions, and that is the sa for and my husband.”
Her firm voice bred trust.
So people's eyes reddened with emotion.
It was as she intended.
Watching the situation unfold without any room for him to intervene, I clicked my tongue with a tsk.
‘That's Aida for you. A natural-born politician. Not a single word or action is wasted.’
That was why I felt a bit of kin-loathing.
Obro Denoebang was a swordsman by birth, so he was very different from .
But the Widow Queen Aida resembled .
Sotis, enough to feel like a sister.
She knew how to move people to her will without lying.
She also knew how to pretend not to be mad while being mad, and how to deceive even herself.
‘I let my guard down for a mont and got completely entangled in the board she set. It doesn’t matter much to , but…….’
I glanced sideways.
I saw a group of people rushing from a distance.
Among them was the old man who resembled a fierce goat, Pri Minister Belrsasal.
‘…Belrsasal must be quite bewildered.’
“Your Majesty!”
Pri Minister Belrsasal rushed over, letting out a booming shout.
He didn't care if thousands of people were watching.
He was the Pri Minister, Minister of Justice, and Chief Secretary of Schizen.
He was, in na and reality, the second most powerful person after the Widow Queen, and no, a man who sotis wielded even more power than she did.
“What is the aning of this! Without a single word of discussion with !”
“You’ve co at a good ti, Pri Minister.”
At her gesture, knights stepped forward.
They drew their sharp-edged swords.
Belrsasal flinched before the sharp glint of the blades.
“Take this Yulan and go stand on that side.”
“…Pardon?”
“It is an imperial command, Pri Minister. Will you not obey?”
There were thousands of pairs of eyes watching.
Even Belrsasal could not defy an imperial command.
‘Insolent little girl! Who do you think put you on that throne…….’ Belrsasal grumbled angrily for the queen to hear. The queen pretended not to hear.
“Let us resu the trial.”
She placed the two Yulans on her left and right respectively.
“The Yulan on my left was brought from the underworld by Shion of rion. He claims to have lost his mory.”
“…Uh, hello, everyone. I’m Yulan. Probably…….”
Yulan gave an awkward greeting. Athus and I stood by his side.
“The Yulan on my right has been asleep for a long ti. I thought he was missing after being caught in a riot, but… Pri Minister Belrsasal brought him to after he lost consciousness.”
“……”
Belrsasal did not answer.
The sleeping Yulan, likewise, could not answer.
Two Yulans.
One was brought by , the other by Belrsasal.
By placing them on her left and right, the queen's intentions were made clear.
Belrsasal cursed, and I smiled faintly.
“We do not yet know which one is the fake. But the one who is fake, and the one who brought the fake, will surely be……”
The Widow Queen's eyes glinted sharply.
“Soone who intends to overthrow Schizen.”
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