For a long while after she was born, Lunetta’s wet nurse was the only one to call her by her name. Lunetta figured that if her wet nurse hadn’t used her name, she probably would never have known it.
It wasn’t until a good while later that Lunetta found out how terribly unfortunate that was, but to be quite honest, even now she didn’t think of herself as all that unfortunate. And, well, while she hadn’t been without her own complaints, at the time she’d just assumed that was how things were.
Vyce had told her she could get angry—that she could be sad and grieve, but as far as Lunetta was concerned? Oh? Yes, I suppose you’re right. That was about the extent of what she felt.
After shaking off the king’s grasp and going off to live in Vyce’s castle, her heart would sometimes grow restless when she thought about how there was something off about where she’d been before, but that was about the sum of it. No point dwelling on it, she’d think, immediately shifting her thoughts toward something else.
After all, Lunetta found herself confronted with surprises every single day. Her brain was far too busy with the surprises to be fretting over all that. Lunetta was startled to discover just how many things she had to think about. Apparently, normal people couldn’t spend all day thinking about magic and nothing else.
“Those normal people really are quite amazing,” Lunetta had remarked unconsciously.
“Are you stupid?” Vyce had replied. Lunetta hadn’t had a clue what he’d meant.
“Who are you calling stupid?” Lunetta had asked quietly, taking offense. For whatever reason, however, he’d just ended up laughing at her, leaving Lunetta with even less of a clue about what was going on.
The things Vyce said had always been difficult to understand.
Despite making a sour expression whenever Lunetta would ask him “why” or “how come,” he would always give her an answer, so she was at least grateful for that.
Ever since she’d met Vyce, she’d been plenty busy learning about a slew of things she’d never known. Like how she could have her name called like it was nothing at all, or how she was supposed to eat a lot for whatever reason, or how she could change into a variety of dresses every day, or how people normally didn’t wear black dresses, or how she was allowed to go where she wanted to. She was so busy that it felt like her head was spinning.
Lunetta had collapsed several times before she finally got used to it all. Each time, however, Vyce would tell her, “Don’t push yourself so damn hard,” while fuming at her bedside.
As king, Vyce was always on the move for this or that, but he’d spend the whole day angrily working away on his papers at her bedside. He’s a little different, isn’t he?
Looking back on those times now, Lunetta couldn’t help but feel a little restless somehow, but she knew she was a bit different now herself.
Despite knowing that it was all too much for her to process, no matter how much she thought about it, Lunetta didn’t mind those days. Wow...this is a surprise. Her mind was filled to the brim, but she didn’t mind that the least little bit.
While she would sometimes mess up and grow fearful that she should’ve never left her room in the first place, she figured that was probably just what it felt like to enjoy herself.
The problem was that she’d noticed it.
I’m having a good time right now. I’m happy right now. When she thought about it like that, she felt a pang of guilt—like someone was watching her from behind, like an icy hand was caressing her heart. The moment her heart grew warm, it would be cupped by two cold hands reminding her that there was no way she would ever be allowed such happiness.
There was no way it would ever be permitted.
She had left the room behind to run away on her own. Such an act would never be allowed unchallenged. As long as she lived, her heart was bound to remain in this same room.
And that was exactly why Lunetta—Lunatietta—had returned here.
“Lunetta...?”
Lunetta turned toward the trembling voice. Sophie’s brown eyes were opened wide, looking back at her.
Sophie’s eyes gave off a glossy sheen. They were a gentle shade of brown—like the tea that Lunetta drank in Vyce’s castle, which was why Lunetta liked them.
Was this how it felt to “like” something? To be honest, Lunetta wasn’t confident enough to say. She just didn’t really know.
For Lunetta, how it felt to “like” something was even harder to grasp than enjoying herself or feeling happy. Someone like her, thinking about something that way? It felt like an exercise in haughty vanity. And just who on earth do you think you are? Lunetta would sometimes wonder.
If it didn’t make you feel bad, and you wanted to see it more or you wanted more of it, then that meant you “liked” whatever it was that made you feel that way. What you liked was up to you to decide, and that was okay. It was Vyce who’d told her that.
That was why Lunetta liked the smile on Vyce’s face when he told her, “You really are serious, huh? Ya don’t have to go definin’ something like that. Just run with it.” And that was why Lunetta liked Sophie and how kind she was.
It was too late now, but Lunetta felt guilty for dragging someone as kind as Sophie here along with her. If Lunetta had thought about it just a little bit more, she would’ve realized...
Sophie’s bright green hair was the color of leaves illuminated by sunlight. Her skin seemed to shine—completely different from Lunetta’s own pale, waxy complexion. Her features didn’t suit a gloomy, somber place like this. She had to be upsetting Sophie. Sophie was bound to hate her for this.
Lunetta wasn’t enough of a fool to arrogantly assume that Sophie liked her, but...but even then...
“Lunetta, would it be... Would it be all right if I joined you over there?”
“What?”
She really does say some crazy things, Lunetta thought, taken aback.
What? I mean, just look around! Look at where you are. The room had cold, stonelike floors, a battered desk, and bookshelves. That was all. It wasn’t the sort of place a normal, beautiful princess like Sophie should be. It didn’t seem suited for Sophie, and Lunetta felt guilty just having her there—it was too much for her to bear. Lunetta shook her head, hoping that Sophie would abandon the idea.
“It’s cold and filthy over here.”
“That’s why I’m asking.”
What was it? Lunetta turned her head to the side, wondering just what it was that made her feel this way.
She didn’t want Sophie to join her, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel happy when she saw Sophie smile at her and tell her that that was why she wanted to come over. Lunetta figured that her kind shouldn’t touch Sophie, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to tell Sophie to stay away as she drew closer.
Don’t hate me. Stay with me. It was such a silly thought.
“Ah!”
Just as Lunetta had, Sophie slipped through the massive hole in the iron bars.
Lunetta clutched her chest, completely lost as to what to do.
“Hey...Lunetta?” Sophie’s voice was kind and gentle.
Lunetta slowly lifted her head, finding Sophie’s eyes narrowed into a caring gaze.
Her eyes are just like the honey in that tea, Lunetta thought, blinking. It was the tea that her beautiful lady-in-waiting would always invite Lunetta to have with a smile. “You certainly like honey, don’t you, Lady Lunatietta?” the lady-in-waiting had said. I see. So I like honey, then. Hearing the lady-in-waiting say so was what had led Lunetta to the realization.
“What’s happening here right now?” Sophie asked.
Now. Right now. That’s right—now, the present moment.
Lunetta was here because she’d been told to do something about the room—because the curse was spreading across the kingdom.
She had to let all of them see the outside world too. She had to crush it all.
That was the role Lunetta had to play now. She had to get it together.
Lunetta slung the hair that had fallen down behind her shoulder. “We...were witches from the moment we were born.”
Just where should she even start to explain?
Lunetta still wasn’t used to talking. Would she really be able to convey it well? Lunetta squeezed her right hand with her left.
“The Landslayer Witches. That’s what we’re called. That was the reason we were alive.”
“Hey, Lunetta... You’ve been saying ‘we.’ Does that have anything to do with it?”
“It does...” Lunetta replied.
Sophie quietly awaited her next words.
Perhaps the spell she and Azuello had cast on Sophie was working. Lunetta was relieved to see that Sophie’s smile remained unchanged, even in an oppressive place like this, a tempestuous whirlpool of magical force and lingering emotion.
“There have been many, many others like me—countless other Landslayer Witches. Only a small fraction of them had names like myself—most of them didn’t even have that much. But either way, there was only ever one Landslayer Witch, so that was never an issue.”
“You mean there was only one at a time?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Lunetta replied. “Landslayer Witches are born to the royal family without warning. So long as one Landslayer Witch lives, another won’t be born. When one dies, the next is born. Only one lives at a time. The Landslayer is a witch who causes calamity, bearing black hair and black eyes.”
The moment Lunatietta emerged from her mother’s womb and opened her eyes was the moment she stopped being a princess.
Princesses born with black hair and black eyes had always been erased like that—generation after generation.
“Just because your hair and your eyes are a different color, that makes you a...?”
“You could say that. But you could also argue that it’s more than that. It’s...hard to explain...” Lunetta said, searching for words.