“Even just hearing you say that makes me grateful.”

The child’s shy smile overlapped even more with the image of Burke — not the man he was now, but the boy he had once been, who, though seemingly detached, had still clung to the will to live.

“You’re making that face again. Are you really all right?”

Looking at the child’s worried gaze, Elizabeth realized she wanted to unburden herself to someone — to be comforted.
Once the thought came, speaking it aloud was not difficult.

“…When I see you, I’m reminded of a very dear friend.”

The child, knowing nothing of Elizabeth’s circumstances, simply listened in silence.

“I did something terrible to that friend.”

Her chest tightened, and her voice grew thick with emotion.
Even so, Elizabeth continued.

“But that friend came to find me. I want to make peace, but what I did was truly awful. And every time I see them, I end up making mistakes again. I meant to do well, but…”

When she had finished, the child spoke softly, with care.

“Don’t you think your friend must have missed you a great deal, my lady? If it had been such an unforgivable wrong, they would have decided never to see you again. But they came back because they wanted to reconcile. Please, do your best so your friend can feel how sorry you are.”

“If I do my best, will they forgive me someday and look at me the way they used to?”

“Don’t you think you could become close again? When I see you, my lady, your friend doesn’t seem like someone bad at all. Of course, I don’t know you that well… but if you’re still uneasy…”

The child glanced toward the wishing pond in the distance and whispered.

“Shall we make a wish at that pond, just like we promised last time? They say you have to toss in a coin for your wish to come true, but I’ve never heard of anyone who made a wish there and didn’t have it granted.”

“Oh, that’s right. We did make that promise, didn’t we?”

Elizabeth found the pond more worldly than she’d expected, yet part of her thought that if she made a wish together with the child, it might just come true.

The problem was, she didn’t have a single coin on her.

She tried to think of a solution, but nothing came to mind.

Sensing her predicament, the child spoke gently.

“I’m sorry for suddenly suggesting it. Since I’m the one who brought it up today, why don’t we use my coin instead?”

It was clearly Elizabeth who had made the promise and then forgotten it, yet the child spoke as if it were her own mistake.

A promise was a promise, no matter how many other things weighed on her mind.

Elizabeth felt both grateful for the child’s thoughtfulness and guilty for forgetting.

“I was the one who first suggested going to the wishing pond. I should have checked and prepared in advance. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I brought one, didn’t I? In times like this, just say thank you instead.”

“All right. Thank you.”

The child’s allowance couldn’t have been much, yet she offered it so readily.

That generous spirit reminded Elizabeth so much of Burkhardt, who would share even a single piece of bread without hesitation…

Her eyes grew misty.

“Are you thinking about the friend whom you have hurt,  my lady?”

“Mm?”

“The friend you mentioned earlier. You had that same expression just now.”

Seeing the child’s worried face, she resolved not to sink any deeper into old memories.

Elizabeth smiled gently at her.

“I have a broken but valuable jewel. I was going to throw it away, but this is the perfect chance to use it.”

She hadn’t truly intended to discard it from the start.

But it seemed better to toss the unused jewel from her hairpin than to take the child’s meager pocket money for a wish.

Besides, a broken piece would be difficult to mend anyway.

Elizabeth untied the handkerchief from her wrist and placed half of the jewel into the child’s hand.

The child gazed at it for a moment, then looked up to confirm.

“Are you sure it’s all right to throw away something so precious? You won’t be able to get it back later — this pond is deeper than it looks.”

“Go ahead and throw it. I have no intention of retrieving it. But in exchange, you have to make a really difficult wish.”

Sensing her resolve, the child replied playfully,

“I’ll make a wish so difficult it’s almost impossible.”

“You already had a wish in mind, didn’t you? The way it came out so quickly.”

“Yes! In fact, I’ve been saving this coin because there’s a wish I absolutely want to make.”

“That’s admirable. You must have resisted the urge to spend it on a tasty snack or a toy you wanted.”

“That’s how much it means to me.”

Was her wish so important that she could suppress the impulse to spend her money?

At her age, most children would be pestering for something they wanted.

Concerned, Elizabeth softened her voice as she asked,

“I see. Then all the more reason to make it today.”

Speaking gently, she led the child toward the wishing pond.

The pond seemed to be waiting for them, its surface shimmering with ripples of sunlight that danced and glimmered softly.

“Now, make your wish and throw this piece of the jewel.”

“Yes, my lady!”

The child took a deep breath, clutching the hairpin tightly in both hands, and closed her eyes.

Soon, the child’s wide green eyes reflected the lake.

“Please let my red hair change to another color!”

“So your wish was to change your hair color? Why? I think it’s beautiful.”

“It’s inconvenient. Other children can go anywhere they want, but whenever His Majesty comes outside, I have to hide — all because I was born with red hair.”

Elizabeth thought she understood why Burkhardt disliked red hair.

It was a trait common among the people of the Orte territory.

And since the Count of Orte was someone he despised with every fiber of his being, anything connected to him would naturally be loathsome.

Elizabeth herself had been born with red hair.

Now it had changed to a salmon hue, but there had been a time when she disliked her red hair almost as much as the child did.

No ornament ever seemed to look pretty against that color.

Though she hadn’t been shunned for it like the child, she remembered quietly resenting it.

If not for Burkhardt, she might have blamed her parents for her hair.

Ah… so it’s not because of the Count. Even knowing I once had red hair, he still dislikes me — it must be because of me.

Elizabeth felt a pang of guilt toward the child.

“…As you live, you’ll find that things like hair color don’t really matter.”

“My lady?”

“In fact, when I was little, I had red hair too. Not just me — every child in my village had red hair. Except for one, my dearest friend.”

“But now it’s a pale orange with a golden tint.”

“It changed as I grew. Who knows? Yours might change one day too.”

Elizabeth wasn’t sure if her experience would be any comfort, but she had nothing else to offer.

Fortunately, the child seemed to catch her intent quickly; she blinked her large eyes and broke into a bright smile.

“Thanks to you, I have hope now.”

“That’s good. So it’s best to stop letting thoughts like that eat away at you — like hating your red hair, for example.”

“I don’t hate it.”

The child blew a soft whoo at her bangs.

The red strands floated up in a fluffy wave before settling back down.

Perhaps it was the sunlight — for a moment, they shimmered with a hint of orange before returning to their original shade.

Focusing intently on her hair, the child hesitated, then spoke carefully.

“I might be able to find my father because of my hair. By the way, my lady, what wish did you make?”

It seemed she no longer wanted to talk about her parents.

Elizabeth, too, had no desire to dwell on them, so she readily shared her own wish.

“I wished for the people I love to be happy.”

“Not to reconcile with your friend?”

Elizabeth gave a sheepish smile at the child’s surprise.

After all, the reason she had come to the wishing pond in the first place was to hope for reconciliation with Burke.

But as she spoke with the child, she realized that what she truly wanted was the happiness of her late parents, the child, and Burkhardt.

And of course, the happiness of this child as well.

Looking at the girl’s clear, bright smile, Elizabeth felt glad she had wished for everyone’s happiness.

***

Sunlight from the afternoon sky streamed through the window into the office.

Even the office windows, which had once seemed as if they would remain sealed forever, were now serving their purpose.

“Your Majesty, do you still have no intention of going out today?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. They said that once I won Beth’s heart, I’d understand my own feelings more clearly. But now… I’m even more confused.”

“Then perhaps you should push her away completely.”

It was not the answer he wanted to hear.

Burkhardt slammed his hand down on the desk in anger.

The neatly arranged items toppled over, some rolling off the edge, the crash echoing through the room like thunder.

Startled, Geraldine stumbled backward and quickly fled the office.

Overcome by emotion, Burkhardt didn’t realize there was no one left in the room. Alone, he began berating himself for his actions.

I should have held back a little longer.

I should have treated her more kindly.

I should have smiled at her more gently!

He had chosen a gift after much thought, just to see Elizabeth’s smiling face — and ruined it with his own hands.

He had ruined their relationship with his own hands.

Regretting what had happened that morning, Burkhardt turned his gaze to the window.

If Elizabeth needed him even in the slightest, he was ready to rush to her side immediately.

But then…

“Who is that? That child?”

Burkhardt’s curiosity about the girl lasted only a moment.

Soon, he saw Elizabeth speaking with a red‑haired child — and then tossing something that glittered into the wishing pond.

His aimless anger turned toward the child standing beside Elizabeth.

“So it’s you. The one who entered the maze garden with Beth last time.”

What he had seen in the maze garden had been neither an illusion nor a mistake.

Having now confirmed twice that Elizabeth was with the child, suspicion hardened into certainty.

Rage began to boil within him.

And that wasn’t all.

The child had even claimed the smile Burkhardt wanted to keep for himself alone.

He could not stand still.

Leaning back against the wall, he tilted his head toward the ceiling and murmured,

“Beth…”

He could not leave the two of them alone like this.

His pounding heart refused to be calmed.

As always, the phantom appeared before him.

But this time, he didn’t even see it.

He no longer wanted to watch Elizabeth smile at anyone else.

Brushing past the phantom — which laughed shrilly, claiming the child had pushed him aside — Burkhardt stepped outside.

Right now, his mind was filled only with Elizabeth’s sunlit smile.

It was because he didn’t want to lose that smile that, for the first time, he had torn the phantom away — though Burkhardt had yet to realize it.