Upon catching a glimpse of the girl swaying back and forth across from me, dozing off on her well-padded carriage seat, I, Anna Hayden, snapped my book shut and gently rose to my feet.
Our carriage was on loan from the royal family and as sturdy as one would expect, so it hardly bounced on most roads. A short while ago, however, I’d felt us stray from the well-maintained public streets. Sensing that we must be nearing our destination, I tucked a cushion under the girl’s slumped neck. When I saw that this had fixed her in place despite the incessant rocking around us, I smiled and returned to my own seat.
Gentle rays of sunlight streamed in through the windows. The telltale buds of spring were a far cry from the still-harsh winter of the capital, Saoura. The farther southeast we traveled, the milder the climate and the softer the sunlight.
Swaying back and forth within the warmth and leisurely flow of time must have melted the tension building up inside her for quite a while now. Perhaps it had served as a release from all the matters of life and death, pressures, stressors, and sorrows that had piled up without her even realizing it.
We had conversed nonstop for the first few days after setting out from the royal capital, but once we’d learned the appropriate distance to keep from each other, we would each delve into our personal reading from time to time.
Needless to say, much had happened over the course of our journey. The domains we passed through were all strictly screened, and even riding in a carriage emblazoned with the royal crest or invoking the name of General Bakula of the Black Wing Knights hadn’t spared us some difficult encounters. It was a sign of just how wary the entire kingdom was of the Ashen Nightmare. On several occasions, the girl before me had nearly been forced to identify herself, but General Bakula had always managed to push through with a brute-force approach.
As she observed the situation in each region and the measures being taken against the disease, she seemed to have her fair share of personal views and ideas. She started writing in the middle of our trip, and I responded as best I could to her requests for my own opinion. In the meantime, an atmosphere of calm had prevailed since yesterday. She must have relaxed upon sensing the shift in the mood—upon feeling the air of the land where she was born and raised.
I couldn’t help but crack a rueful smile at how defenseless she looked in her sleep. Still, the sight of it made me happy. I took her vulnerability as proof that she trusted me.
Reflected in my eyes were those distinctive, soft locks that looked translucent in the platinum light of the sun. The texture of her hair was clear at a glance, and it had such a soft, light quality to it that even a woman like me was tempted to reach out and touch it. That wasn’t helped by the way it fluttered with every little bounce of the carriage or gentle gust of wind. The sight reminded me a little of someone else I knew.
When her eyes were closed, it gave a clear view of her smoky eyelashes and slight, well-defined features. It was as if a skilled craftsman had known exactly where to place her eyes and nose within the small contours of her face.
She was very pretty...but she looked like little more than a doll. Or so I’d once thought, before I came to learn what she was like on the inside.
This girl was Elianna Bernstein, daughter of Marquess Bernstein—and fiancée of the crown prince of Sauslind. When I first met her during the Autumn Hunting Festival, I’d discovered that she possessed a breadth of knowledge and a hidden dignity that one would never guess from her delicate looks. If it weren’t for her, I would still be living in the borderlands, unable to follow my own path and passing my days in abject misery. No doubt I would have lost heart, married a man of my father’s choosing, and spent the rest of my life tied down to the Edea Domain. The reason I’d been able to take the first step toward the future I wanted was because of the shock and awe I’d felt at seeing her stand up to my father, as well as the buried secrets of history I’d learned from her. It gave me the courage to live like those two women.
As I thought back to that encounter, I let slip a small laugh despite myself. Now that I had the time to spare, I found myself reminiscing on events of the past. At the same time, I was reminded of how glad I was that the girl slumbering peacefully before me had made it home safe and sound.
~.~.~.~
It was a winter afternoon. Ever since His Majesty had fallen ill and a gag order had been imposed on the royal palace, a somber atmosphere had settled over the grounds. Access to the palace had been restricted, and all the common areas had been closed. Only a select few, such as ministers in crucial positions, would show up to discuss matters with grave looks on their faces.
What’s more, the Malduran delegation was in a precarious position due to the interference of the pro-war faction. The only ones keeping the situation under control were General Eisenach of the imperial guard and Sieg of its first division. By defending the Malduran delegation and placing them under their own supervision, they had managed to hold the warmongers at bay.
The news hadn’t gone public yet, but their actions amounted to a revolution of sorts. The military faction in the palace clashed with the imperial guard faction that backed the royal family. There were even internal conflicts within the military itself. I’d grown up watching the stalwart division my father led in the borderlands, so I was shocked by this turn of events. I couldn’t believe something like this could happen in the royal palace of Saoura, the very heart of our kingdom.
Soon, the royal palace was placed under even tighter security. In the face of the ongoing national crisis, all non-essential areas, including the Department of History Compilation, were closed so that man power could be diverted elsewhere. I, Anna Hayden, had been staying in the maids’ dormitory ever since I was hired to work at the palace, and I was now left with no choice but to return there.
Back in the beginning, there had been much interest and curiosity around me. I was neither a maid nor a court woman, but a civil servant in a position equal to that of a man. Evidently, there had been the occasional professional woman before me, so my employment wasn’t all that unusual. And since I was fortunate enough not to be working for an important department, my arrival hadn’t caused too much of a stir.
Still, some felt the need to exclude me on the grounds that I didn’t belong. Luckily for me, something happened to change that. More and more women took my side and supported me, all because the men in my department had a bad attitude. In the end, it went to show that the common enemy of all working women is men. Alas, all the girls I’d made friends with had either been sent to the temples to help or taken leave for fear of disease, leaving the royal palace deserted.
The state of the world was bleak. A deadly plague was once again on the loose, and tensions on the border were dangerously high. The crown prince’s fiancée, Elianna Bernstein, was still missing in action. I sighed heavily, wondering what was going to happen next.
My father, earl of the Edea Domain, had instructed me not to leave the royal capital, so I spent my days trudging back and forth from the dorms to the royal archive, which was located toward the edge of Sauslind’s royal palace. The quiet place of refuge was more empty and still than ever. When a voice cut through the overpowering silence, my heart leaped in my chest. It spoke the name of someone I’d been trying to find for a while.
“Explain, Mister Alfred!”
The voice belonged to a woman, and it was one I’d heard before.