No one could answer, and no one dared.
The air in the banquet hall seemed to have been sucked away in a layer.
The golden fat on the whole roast lamb had congealed into a white film. The eggs inside the roast camel no longer steamed on their porcelain platter. The cigar smoke between Aramaki's fingers hung in midair, forgetting to disperse.
Everyone was looking at Boer, but no one could meet his gaze.
Boer drove the dinner knife he had been toying with into the table. The blade sank in all the way to the handle.
The silver handle rested against the linen tablecloth, the Sun God emblem engraved on it gleaming softly beneath the chandelier.
He looked around. Sakazuki met his eyes for an instant.
Then Sakazuki withdrew his gaze and rested it on the empty plate before him.
The others lowered their heads one after another.
Cobra was the first. His gaze bounced off Boer's face and landed on the wineglass before him.
Then came Vivi. Her gauzy hat brim slipped down to cover half her face. Her lips still held the shape of the defense she had wanted to offer, but her vocal cords had already given up.
Koza's head had already been lowered. Now it drooped even farther, his back curling inward.
Crocodile was the last.
"I have no interest in your disputes. Handle your own affairs yourselves."
Cobra's heart sank, then rose again.
It sank because he had staked everything on this banquet-on Boer sympathizing with the royal family, on Boer suppressing the rebels, on Boer siding with "order."
Boer saying "handle them yourselves" meant he would not act on behalf of the throne.
But his heart rose for the very same reason.
Boer had not said, "I support the rebels," nor had he