THAT evening, I headed out to the gazebo in the gardens.
The Nigren palace gardens were filled with tropical plants, so it was quite a fascinating place. Over the garden wall, I could see the town below, with the sparkling ocean in the distance. The sun’s rays shone down upon the ocean’s smooth surface, making it sparkle.
“Princess Annabel, have you been waiting long?”
Someone spoke to me as I was gazing out at the scenery. I turned to see Daniel there, wearing a casual shirt that was loose at the collar. He was walking across the grass toward me.
“Oh, no. I only just got here myself.”
I watched as Daniel entered the gazebo and sat opposite me, smiling.
“I see.”
Daniel looked relieved. Then his gaze flickered to Hendrick, who was standing a short distance away guarding me. After that, he looked at me again.
“He’s not here today? The tall fellow you’ve always got with you?”
“Who?”
“You know, with the black hair…”
“Oh, Edoile? He’s a Royal Magician; he’s not my bodyguard or anything.”
“He’s a Royal Magician? He’s not a knight?”
“No.”
I shook my head. My knight was Hendrick, not Ed. At least, this time around.
Daniel looked confused.
“Why, did I make a mistake and introduce him to you as my knight before or something?”
“No, no…come to think of it, you introduced him very clearly as a Royal Magician. I think I just got things switched around in my mind somehow.”
Daniel waved his hand dismissively and sat back against the gazebo’s sofa. Then he stretched and yawned.
“All morning with the Foreign Affairs Minister, then all afternoon with the Construction Bureau’s Chief. This is the first chance I’ve had to relax since we got to Nigren. Ah, it’s nice and warm here, isn’t it?”
“It is. You must’ve been working very hard.”
I’d been busy too. I’d spent the morning in Karina’s chambers, and then I’d had a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister this afternoon. Daniel was right, though. Nigren really was a beautiful country. And the weather was fantastic.
“What did you talk about with the Foreign Affairs Minister?” he asked.
“Oh, exporting magical technology, dispatching magicians for temporary residency, things like that. What about you?”
“Oh, new architectural techniques, mostly. Well, we talked about various things…” Daniel trailed off awkwardly.
Judging from his expression, it was something he didn’t feel comfortable discussing with me. It was probably about the political marriage arrangements that Claude had already told me about.
“Are you going to get engaged to Princess Karina?” I cut right to the chase. Daniel’s ice-blue eyes opened wide.
“You know about that?”
“Staying up to date on current affairs is something every country needs to prioritize. The Sunruta Kingdom’s no different, right?”
I tilted my head to one side and gazed at him. Daniel chuckled with amusement.
“You’re right about that.” Then Daniel fell silent for a few minutes, looking at me. “But at the present time, I’ve no intention of getting engaged to Princess Karina.”
“Why not?”
“Because I already planned to get engaged to you first.”
I suddenly remembered what he’d said at my coming-of-age ceremony about waiting two years.
I shrugged.
“Princess Karina’s a wonderful woman, you know.”
“Yes, she is.”
Daniel fell silent again, gazing off into the distance. Then his expression sharpened and he focused his gaze on me once more.
“Princess Annabel, do you think the Princess Karina we met yesterday is really the same Karina that we know?”
I looked back at Daniel in silence, trying to get a feel for what he thought of the situation.
“Don’t you get the impression she’s an entirely different person now? Is it really her? The Princess Karina we knew?” Daniel kept pressing me with the question, his expression somber.
It was true that Karina had seemed irritated during the entire visit so far. She was nothing like the happy, smiling Karina I’d met before. But what was Daniel trying to say? She was Princess Karina, the Princess of Nigren. Who else could she be?
“I don’t really know what to say about that. She’s definitely not acting like herself, though.”
Daniel looked out into the distance again.
I turned to see the great blue ocean stretching all the way to the horizon.
“Princess Annabel…did you open my souvenir?”
“What?”
“The souvenir I gave you when you left the Sunruta Kingdom. The puzzle box.”
Ah, yes. Now I remembered.
At the end of my visit to the Sunruta Kingdom, Daniel gave me a puzzle box to take home. It had a hidden layer that wasn’t apparent from looking at it from the outside. I’d found a letter inside.
“Yes, I opened it. But I didn’t understand the meaning of your letter. It was something like… ‘No one can guess a puzzle box’s contents from the outside. That’s what makes them an enigma. Beware the Witch of the South. I look forward to seeing you again.’ What’d you mean by that?”
Daniel gazed at me for a moment before returning his gaze to the ocean.
“Your Royal Magician…this fellow Edoile. He can change his appearance using magic. He showed us, remember? Well, the thing is…I met someone before. Someone who can do the same thing.”
I frowned.
Ed’s Illusion magic was the result of years of research. There was no one alive today who could use that spell except him.
“Sorry to be rude, but you must be mistaken, Prince Daniel. Only Ed can use that spell. Just who was it that you saw using it?”
“It was the Witch of the South. I saw her use it. In my dream.”
“…Your dream?”
I stared at Daniel in disbelief.
He saw it in a dream! A dream of all things!
Daniel seemed to know what I was thinking. He shrugged, looking uncomfortable.
“I’m probably just being paranoid. But it’s this same dream I keep having, over and over. The Witch of the South is in it. And she can change how she looks. It’s almost like the dream is some sort of…” Daniel trailed off. “You must think I’m crazy.”
“No…”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I settled for not saying anything.
I mean, what he was saying did sound crazy. He was worrying over a dream. Did he think it was some sort of premonition or something?
But Daniel’s expression was very serious, and I could tell that he really was genuinely troubled by his dream. I just wasn’t sure how to react.
Daniel noticed me staring at him and balled his fists. Then he raised his head again, looking like his old self, as if his concern had returned to some other corner of his mind.
“It’s the ball tonight. We both have to get ready. Shall we head inside?”
“Yes, of course.”
Daniel held out his hand for me to take.
“I wonder if I could pre-book a dance with you tonight?”
“Hehe, I think that could be arranged.”
Then we started off across the garden, Daniel escorting me by the hand.
The white walls of the palace ahead of us were already cast in pink and orange tones from the light of the setting sun.