“Honestly, Leonhard,” Claudia murmured. “Must you really insist on following me into my bath?”
“I have not entered the bathing chamber itself.” He came off rather defensive.
Several hours had passed since the events of the afternoon. Now, submerged in a grand bathing chamber filled to the brim with steaming, milky-white water, Claudia stretched her limbs in lazy contentment.
The bath was slightly hot—just enough to warm her chilled body—and spacious enough to hold five.
A folding screen stood at the entrance, separating the interior from prying eyes.
“No peeking, mind you.”
“As if I would do such a thing.”
Leonhard stood beyond the screen, arms crossed, facing away from her. His sense of propriety was just like her beloved Noah’s.
“Shall I tell you the truth?” she asked. Letting the water ripple with a gentle splash, Claudia rested her chin upon the bath’s edge. “I came from another world. Similar yet different from this one.”
Leonhard twitched slightly, as if he’d nearly turned his head toward her on instinct, but he caught himself. He didn’t so much as glance her way, though his shoulder shifted unmistakably. Claudia smiled quietly, turning to the edge of the bath and curling her previously outstretched legs under her. The way she leaned her upper body out of the bath made her look like a mermaid.
“And so, I know what you were like up to age nine. What you experienced, and what you held dear,” she said—just to see how he would react.
His response when I asked about his past has been bothering me. Is it possible...?
“Would you like to hear more?” she inquired, resting her chin on her folded arms.
“What use would it be?” His voice came back to her, low and bitter. “There’s nothing left of that person. If it’s all gone, what meaning is there in knowing?”
“But even ashes can be a source of warmth,” she replied gently.
“Adelheid,” he said. Perhaps he sensed that she had realized something, for his voice had gained an edge.
“I won’t answer if you call me that,” Claudia said cheerily, smiling as always. “I’m not Adelheid. Just like how you wouldn’t respond if I called you Noah.”
“So, Noah was the name I bore in your world?”
“I gave it to you myself. It means ‘peaceful.’ A sweet little name.”
She found herself wondering if her own name, Claudia, carried a meaning too?
Now that I think about it, my homeland in my past life...
She reached for one of the glass bottles arranged beside the bath, thoughts drifting. “What is it you wish for, Leonhard?”
She was met only with silence.
“If you’re honest with me, maybe I’ll grant it.”
She poured soap into her palm, rubbing it between her hands until it lathered into soft bubbles.
“If you won’t tell me...”
She blew the bubbles from her hands toward the screen.
“I might just escape for real and vanish from your sight.”
“It’s pointless,” he said. There was no sign of provocation in his words; he had said it as if it were just an undeniable fact. “I can trace Adelheid’s magic. No matter where you go, I will find you right away. Even now, with it sealed, I can sense it.”
“Oh?”
He was right. Her magic had been sealed—according to Sieghart, it was a spell cast by her mother, Dorothea, one that also plunged her into a deathlike slumber.
But something doesn’t add up, Claudia thought while she played with the bubbles between her fingers. In this world, the fact that I am the reincarnation of Adelheid is no secret. If the goal of sealing my magic was to hide me, why proclaim it to the world?
Of course, it was hard to say how logical this dreamlike world truly was.
Perhaps it followed the same fragmented logic as real dreams did—but it didn’t seem that way to Claudia.
The spell from my mother activated only after Leonhard’s invasion succeeded and Avianoia was defeated...
Perhaps she could test her conclusions by asking Leonhard about something he would know.
“In this world, was I born unable to use magic?”
“That’s common knowledge, isn’t it? Up until about ten years ago, people seriously wondered whether you were even truly the reincarnation of Adelheid.”
Therefore, the reason I fell into a deathlike state in this world wasn’t to seal away my magic.
That meant the true purpose of her mother’s spell was unclear.
If I was publicly known as Adelheid, then she wasn’t trying to keep my existence hidden. If so, then the reason she sealed my magic wasn’t to keep me from Leonhard—and yet her magic still forced me into a deathlike state after his capture of me.
What exactly had her mother been afraid of, and how had she intended to protect her?
I can’t let myself get distracted by new information. After all, this may very well be a world where my mother failed.
While Claudia lingered in the bath, deep in thought, Leonhard spoke from beyond the screen.
“No matter how much you think it over, you’ll never find a way to escape me.”
“Even though it’s been sealed, Adelheid’s magic still calls to you like a beacon, doesn’t it?”
“Put a cloth over something, and its shape doesn’t change.”
She’d heard a similar metaphor somewhere before.
“A perfectly round apple, and one with a bite taken out,” she murmured.
What was the difference between Claudia from her original world and the one here?
Mother’s choices and actions—they led me to be raised as the reincarnation of Adelheid, unable to use magic, and now I’ve been apprehended by the conquering Leonhard...
But that wasn’t the full picture.
My dear Noah...
With a loud splash, Claudia rose from the bath.
“Hey! At least give a warning if you’re getting out...!”
“Leonhard...” Droplets slid down her bare skin as she walked past the folding screen. Claudia reached out a wet hand and placed it on Leonhard’s back through his clothes.
“Who broke the curse your uncle placed on you?”
Claudia’s Noah had suffered under a binding curse.
And even now, the Noah of her world hadn’t broken free of it. Claudia had forcibly overwritten it with a stronger familiar-bond.
If I hadn’t, he would’ve died. Additionally, the contract I placed upon him still remains to this day...
Because he had wished it to be so.
“If you had tried to run from your uncle or defy him, the curse would’ve made you suffer and die. It should have been right here.” She traced along his back, resting her palm over where his heart should be. “Isn’t that right, Leonhard?”
He stood frozen and silent.
“Forgive me,” she said finally. As she slowly withdrew her hand, her face held not only compassion but also veiled distress for him. “You can’t answer that, can you?”
Then, in a lighter tone, she asked, “Would you hand me a towel? In this world, I have to dry myself off. It’s truly such a bother.”
“Don’t tell me you had me do that too—in your world?”
She giggled. “That’s a secret.”
Leonhard clicked his tongue, but he did toss her a soft, fluffy towel as asked. She easily caught it and buried her face in it with a pleased sigh.
But as she began to dress, something odd struck her.
My lips feel warm.
It was the same sensation she’d felt when she awoke in the coffin in this world.
Like I’m wearing lipstick... I can see it... Bright red, like blood...
Droplets from her wet hair slid down her neck and collarbone. When she touched her lips, she felt a faint pulse of energy.
Is this Noah’s magic?
She ran a finger across her lips and closed her eyes.
Something’s happening in my original world, and he’s the key to that change.
Slowly opening her eyes, Claudia reached toward her captor in this world once more.
“Leonhard.”
“What now...?”
His obsidian eyes flew wide open at that moment, as Claudia had just placed a kiss on the back of his hand.
Leonhard staggered and dropped to his knees. Through that touch, her magic had flowed into him—interfering with his magic.
“What’re you...? Your magic...”
“Again, please forgive me.”
Now that even a little of her magic had returned, disturbing Leonhard’s own was simple.
Adjusting the strap of her black nightdress with her fingers, Claudia knelt beside him. “I’m going to borrow some of your magic.”
Now that she had successfully sealed his movements, she took back the magic she had once released into him—and even some extra.
“Wait!”
“Indeed, I’ll be waiting for you. Come and find me, Leonhard.”
He grunted as he struggled to move.
And with that, Claudia’s teleportation spell burst into a brilliant light.