We put the Impossible Room behind us, saying very little. Derek appeared deep in thought, and I was still processing all the new information. It was almost a relief to look at Klifford and see him completely unfazed by the whole thing.
I took a deep breath. After being in that dark room, the outside air was almost delicious. A lot of time had passed between the tea party and the Impossible Room.
It was already evening. The sun was red. As we walked through the Nightfellow villa garden, I finally started to calm down. Dyed in the colors of sunset, a clear sky above us, the songs of the birds and rustling of the trees and flowers was a serenade.
Oh…
Light pink petals fluttered around us. Seeing it in the center of the garden, I approached it.
A lone kallum tree. The one Lucinda had transplanted.
Maybe it was seeing the rows of kallum trees during the survey so recently that allowed me to simply think, Yes, they look like sakura…and not linger on the thought.
I opened Blackfeather and looked up at the kallum tree.
I closed my eyes—then opened them.
Yeah. Nothing changed. I’m in Esfia. I’m at the Nightfellow villa.
I turned my back to the kallum tree.
And when I saw Klifford, something felt amiss. He was still on guard to protect me from harm, that much was the same…but.
He’s caring… Worried about me?
I thought I sensed those emotions in his indigo eyes.
There it is…again… I feel like I’ve seen this gentle look from Klifford…somewhere before…
And when I saw it that other time, these same pink flower petals were falling then—
“Sakura…”
The sound of that voice made whatever it was vanish.
That…scared me.
I turned to face the person who had just murmured the Japanese word—Derek.
“Was that right? It’s the magic word you used to say. Does that mean kallum trees are…sakura?”
He was right…but…I didn’t think Derek had an affinity for Japanese like Sirius did…
But then I quickly arrived at a revelation.
Kid-Sirius told him! It wouldn’t be strange for him to have figured out that kallum was “sakura” in Japanese.
“Long ago…my brother told you that, didn’t he?”
As the setting sun dyed him in warm colors, Derek looked down and smiled.
“Yes. Sirius did tell me. So…was my pronunciation correct?”
“It was.”
But it was surprising for Derek to bring up my Japanese—magic incantations, rather. Uncle Dearest seemed curious about them, but Derek always looked like he didn’t like it. He would always frown and demand, Why won’t you speak in Esfian?—never out loud, of course, but his eyes said it all.
Derek looked up at the kallum tree from where he stood. With each gust of wind, its blossoms rained down. “Do you like kallum trees?” he asked.
Do I…like them? I’m not really sure.
I observed the sakura lookalike again.
“I like them—”
Then I cut myself off. They reminded me of sakura, and I loved them for that. They made me feel like I was home, back in Japan.
This was especially true in this garden. Even though it existed in a different world, it wasn’t all that different from mine. It was easy to trick myself into believing I was actually in Japan, and I had merely wandered into a lush Western-style garden.
“And I also hate them, I suppose?”
No matter how much they resembled sakura, they weren’t sakura. They rubbed it in—that I was in Esfia and that I could never go back home. In that way, I hated them.
Derek blinked a couple times, then he smirked.
“What a coincidence. I feel the same way.”
Derek also loves and hates kallum blossoms?
“Every time I see them blooming, I’m reminded of my own shortcomings.”
It wasn’t his nobleman’s smile…it was sincere. It was a pretty smile.
Another flurry of pink blossoms rained down. And, maybe because of the sunset’s colors, his smile also looked sad.
“So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” His smile vanished. “We aren’t strictly alone, but I assume it’s something all right for Alderton to know.”
Upon the discovery of the painting of the young Duke Kihlgren, my first mission in coming here was accomplished. I also made an unexpected discovery—that fantasy painting and the name of its artist.
It’s just, I couldn’t speak with Derek frankly about what had happened in the Impossible Room. No matter what approach I took, we would go into dangerous territory. If I were to be honest with him, I would have to tell him about the mysterious young man, for one thing, and I’d have to divulge secrets about my father and Edgar, for another.
And regarding the latter point, as a vassal, Derek would not voice any of his theories out loud, but I’m sure we both had arrived at the same conclusion. Derek had visited Edgar’s childhood home with me. He saw the family portrait. He knew how Edgar’s parents felt, too.
I sighed quietly, to cleanse my palate of the bad taste the Impossible Room left in my mouth.
Then I turned my gaze forward.
Even though I had been emotionally shaken, I still couldn’t return to the castle yet. But broaching the subject in that room was simply not going to happen. It didn’t exactly sit right with me either, to be like, “So be my fake boyfriend, tee-hee!” right after that experience.
But if I missed my chance now, I would only be delaying the inevitable.
Okay… How do I bring this up?
“The thing you wish to discuss… Is it related to what happened during the survey?”
Even though it had happened only the day before, we had avoided the subject to unnatural extremes. It had come out in snippets during our conversation with Lucinda over tea, and Derek surely knew the surface-level facts.