Early in the afternoon, within the training grounds overseen by the Ministry of Military Affairs, I was astride a horse.
It was a magnificent white steed with a splendid coat and build. Even without an expert's eye, anyone could tell it had been raised with painstaking care and dedication.
Mounted upon its back, I circled slowly around the riding grounds.
"How does it feel, Your Majesty?"
Henry asked from just beyond the ring.
He had been watching attentively the entire time I rode.
Drawing on the reins, I answered him.
"A fine horse. It responds well to commands, and what is more..."
"What is more?"
Henry tilted his head curiously.
I pulled on the reins and urged the horse into a faster pace.
Accelerating, I circled the grounds once more.
Before long, sweat began to glisten across the horse's body.
Seeping through its white coat, the sweat caught the sunlight and gleamed a brilliant golden hue.
"Oh!"
"Its constitution is remarkable as well. This will serve admirably as a symbol."
"Then shall this steed accompany you on your campaign?"
Guiding the horse gently, I returned to where Henry stood.
Dismounting smoothly, I stroked the sweating horse's face.
The horse leaned into my touch, looking tickled yet thoroughly content.
"That is the plan. Do we have spares available?"
"The quality may drop slightly, but we can secure a few."
"See to that as well, then—ah, well done. This is a fine horse."
The stableman, who had been waiting nearby since I dismounted, stepped forward.
Handing him the reins, I offered my praise.
"Th-Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Did you raise this horse yourself?"
"Y-Yes! Ever since it was about this small!"
Perhaps never imagining the Emperor would address him directly, the man grew flustered and stammered out his reply.
"I see. Well done. I shall grant you a year's stipend as a reward. Collect it from the Ministry of Internal Affairs later."
"Thank you very much, Your Majesty!"
Still holding the reins, the man dropped nimbly to his knees in a deep bow. He then rose with equal grace—reins still firmly in hand—and led the horse away, keeping his head respectfully bowed toward me.
"He knows horses inside and out," I remarked, watching his departure.
"In what way?" Henry asked, puzzled.
"Whenever you do anything around a horse, sudden movements are the absolute worst. A single abrupt motion can make a horse rear up in panic, putting everyone in danger—though I suppose there is little need to explain that to a seasoned veteran like you, Henry."
"Indeed."
"Even when that man dropped flat to the ground right beside it, the horse never flinched. Did he move so smoothly as not to startle it, or had he trained it so thoroughly that it placed absolute trust in him?"
"I see. It might very well be both."
"Haha, that is certainly a possibility too."
Hearing Henry's observation, I lightly tapped the side of my head.
Indeed, there was no reason it had to be one or the other.
It was entirely plausible that both were true.
"They are the imperial palace's stable hands, after all; none of them lack skill."
"That is not necessarily guaranteed."
"Pardon?"
"Shall I tell you how to ensure his successor turns out to be utterly incompetent?"
"...Assuming you do not mean by directly appointing a fool yourself, Your Majesty?"
Henry furrowed his brows, confirming the premise.
"Ahaha, naturally. There would be no point in me deliberately appointing an incompetent."
"..."
Henry fell into deep thought, but he could not seem to find an answer.
"I cannot fathom it. How would that be accomplished?"
"It is quite simple. I would merely take that man along on my personal campaign as the horse's caretaker and shower him with imperial favor."
"............I see."
Henry pondered my words for a moment before managing a strained, wry smile, looking as though he had just swallowed a bitter bug.
"If it becomes a position capable of catching Your Majesty's eye, it will become the subject of political strife."
"Precisely."
"And if it is a low-ranking post fought over politically, the replacement would most likely be a mere puppet—an incompetent... As expected, Your Majesty's foresight is extraordinary. To think you considered all that in a single instant."
I smiled faintly.
"Even now, any post that might catch my eye has become a battleground for the imperial princes and ministers, hasn't it?"
"Indeed it has."
"You have placed your own retainers in various offices as well, haven't you, Henry?"
"Your Majesty has known me since childhood."
"Hm?"
"I intend to place only capable individuals—the sort Your Majesty would favor."
"Haha, fair enough."
I laughed out loud.
I found myself genuinely amused.
It was just like Henry not to insult my intelligence with a cheap denial.
It went without saying; there was no way anyone of imperial prince rank would fail to plant their own people across the administration.
Setting aside the useless princes of the past, all the current imperial princes were fairly capable men.
Everyone was acutely aware of how vital information and connections were.
After all, those who emerged from an imperial prince's residence were openly acknowledged as retainers.
Having such confidants scattered across various posts was simply the way of the court.
"Heh."
"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"
"No, this conversation simply reminded me of how every imperial prince's household is riddled with spies from all the others. I took it for granted since I was born into it, but an ordinary villager would surely find such a spectacle bizarre beyond belief."
"Unavoidable though it may be, it is a foul culture."
"It has been this way ever since the Restoration, hasn't it?"
"Yes."
Henry agreed with my observation.
The Restoration.
Once, long ago, the Empire had teetered on the brink of ruin.
The Restorer had rebuilt it from the ground up, ushering the realm into a second golden age of prosperity.
"Before that era, every child other than the crown prince was raised with utter neglect, if I recall."
"Yes. Taking that bitter lesson to heart, the Empire began granting imperial princes their own fiefs and having them participate in governance as part of their upbringing."
"That certainly elevated the caliber of the imperial princes after the Restoration, but involving them in politics also meant they began planting spies against one another. The world rarely grants an unmixed blessing, does it?"
I gave a dry chuckle.
"For someone like Dustin, perhaps the old ways would have made for an easier life."
"Ahahaha, quite true."
Henry agreed, and I chuckled along with him.
The Tenth Imperial Prince, Dustin.
Far from capable, he was a man known consistently since his teenage years as an incorrigible womanizer.
I had once wondered what to make of him, but after Gilbert and then Albert fell in rapid succession, the truth suddenly dawned on me.
That was Dustin's personal art of concealment—by playing the dedicated skirt-chaser, he was broadcasting to the world that he harbored no ambition for the throne.
If he had no designs on supreme power and did nothing but pursue women, there was no harm in leaving him alone to his imperial privileges.
I now suspected that Dustin had been the quickest to recognize that safe harbor and secure his place within it.
"...It is ancient history now, so I will speak candidly."
"Hm?"
"Among us, Your Majesty's Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion was renowned as the single most difficult household to infiltrate with spies."
"Oh?"
I turned fully toward Henry.
I had never known such rumors circulated about my estate, and hearing it for the first time piqued my curiosity.
"Almost all the servants in the Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion were personally indebted to Your Majesty. Not a few of them revered you as their savior."
"Ah, that's true."
"Because of that, slipping an agent inside was extraordinarily difficult. Even if an operative managed to bypass every barrier and infiltrate the staff, the vast majority of the servants were so loyal that they remained vigilant on your behalf, even where Your Majesty's own gaze did not reach."
"I see."
"In particular, regarding that woman Evelyn—everyone speaks with one voice about how astonishing Your Majesty's handling of her was. To think you would offer a servant not merely your favor, but an entire future."
"Every prince sends out retainers, don't they?"
"Your Majesty was the first to do so with a woman, and even now, you remain the only one."
"...Ah."
I gave a small nod.
Right, that was true enough.
Evelyn, originally a reception maid at the Thirteenth Imperial Prince Mansion, was someone I had dispatched to serve as the magistrate of Almeria.
Appointing a woman as a magistrate was practically unprecedented in the Empire's history.
"Because of that, your servants became all the more united, realizing Your Majesty would readily elevate anyone who possessed both talent and loyalty."
"People are treasures."
I turned away and spoke while gazing up into the open sky.
"Half of humanity is female. When they exist in the exact same numbers as men, wouldn't it be a tragic waste not to put their talents to use?"
"That is what makes Your Majesty extraordinary. The rest of us could never bring ourselves to appoint women to vital posts."
"...I suppose."
I gave a quiet nod.
I still held firmly to that conviction.
I had assumed that ascending the throne as Emperor would allow me to appoint women far more freely, but pushback from the traditionalists persisted even now.
Progress was slow and stubborn.
Well, it could not be helped.
I never expected entrenched customs to change overnight.
I would simply reshape the realm step by step.
"...About that man from earlier."
"Yes?"
"That stable hand—I will take him along on the personal campaign after all. Give him a suitable post and assign him to tend to my horse."
"I have no objection, but... why?"
"If we leave him behind, he will inevitably be dragged into the political games here, and by the time I return, he might well have vanished into thin air."
"Ah..."
"His skill with horses is genuine, so I intend to keep him under my protection for a time."
"Truly magnificent foresight, Your Majesty."
"I leave the arrangements to you, then."
"Understood. I shall have him assigned to the rear guard."
I gave a satisfied nod and turned away from the riding grounds.
People are treasures.
If only that mindset would spread throughout the Empire.