Regardless of who it was with, it would not be a meaningful thing to Pamona, and either way, would she not be able to live outside this castle. She had to believe it would be better than this.

But at this particular moment, wherever she ended up living from now on, she desperately wished Reynard would hurry up and disappear. It took quite a while from the time the sun began to set until everything went fully dark. Pamona’s favorite moment of the day was that brief window after the sun had completely gone down but before the darkness swallowed the sky.

The time when the sky, still holding the last of the red, bled into every color and gave out its final light, then slowly, gradually surrendered to the dark. It was too short to take in fully. If she missed that moment today, she could never see today’s sky again. Pamona lived each day for that fleeting instant.

“Hey. Showing off your bad manners? Did your teacher tell you a lady could just plop herself down anywhere?”

“Yes……”

“What do you mean, yes! God, do you want to die!”

Then, unable to contain himself, he huffed and fumed and yanked a handkerchief from inside his coat and flung it at her head. It spread open and settled softly onto her hair, and the faint warmth of it was slightly unpleasant.

What is this ridiculous business?

She wondered how to make him leave. She had been giving him half-hearted answers, thinking he would move on if she gave him enough to work with, but whatever he was after, he was not going. She thought he might leave if she gave him what he wanted, so she fumbled with her hand, picked up the handkerchief, and stuffed it roughly under her.

“Who called her a princess? Stop embarrassing me, would you? Just go hide somewhere.”

Why is he my brother? Embarrassment…… he knows what that is? You?

“Sit down, Reynard.”

“No! I already saw it yesterday!”

Yesterday’s sunset was yesterday’s, and today’s was today’s. Pamona had no desire to explain that to this blockhead. Even if she told him that yesterday’s sky and today’s were different, could Reynard even understand. She already knew the answer without saying a word. He would look at her with that vacant expression and say exactly this.

Hey, there’s only one sky.

Pamona closed her mouth again. The sun had already slipped past the horizon, and only the space it left behind was burning. She could not miss this moment.

“Anyway, must be nice having it so easy. Playing around, eating. I want to live comfortably too, no training, no studying. I really do.”

Yes. Not a single thing Reynard said was wrong. Playing every day, eating. Looking at the sky, breathing, walking to pass the time. A fine, idle life with nothing to do.

Reynard kicked at the ground a few times and quickly lost interest, then slowly took his leave. His footsteps were clearly those of someone annoyed at not getting a proper reaction, but Pamona, left behind, paid it no mind.

At last the reds and blues faded from sight and the whole world went dark. As the deep darkness settled, tens of thousands of stars poured out above it. It was a sight anyone would want to take in, but Pamona could not shake her irritation at having the most precious moment of her day interrupted.

Something at the back of her head kept nagging and pulling at her nerves. She felt that if she could drag that creature back and beat him with everything she had, her nerves might settle a little. She simply lacked the strength to hit Reynard or anyone else, which was the only reason she did not act on it.

Thwack. Thwack. Pamona struck her own chest hard with her palm to work through the frustration.

Since I can’t hit you, I’ll have to hit myself.

After striking her chest several times like that and breathing in and out deeply, the thing that had been pulling at the back of her head seemed to loosen just a little.

Pamona decided to continue on her way to the lake. A banquet was in full swing at one of the castles, so everyone seemed to have gone there. The Royal Palace, which was already relatively quiet in the evenings, felt almost deserted. She did not mind the time alone.

With each step, the faint, damp smell grew closer. When she arrived at the large lake, the moon was there before her. The moonlight reflected off the water and made the area around the lake feel brighter than anywhere else. It was a wide, vast lake that stretched across both the east and the west, too broad for anyone to think of swimming to the other side.

A lake this large…… could the sea be something like this.

On the far southern shore of the lake, neither east nor west, a tall spire rose above the dark forest. The forest swallowed the darkness and cast an even greater shadow. The moon caught on the tip of the spire, still bright and indifferent.

I wonder if Mother can see the moon from that castle.

It had been more than ten years since Pamona had seen her mother. She was known to suffer from severe nervous ailments, but the last time Pamona had seen her, she had been closer to madness. After being moved from the main palace to the castle across the lake, even news of her had gone silent.

She would probably only see her again when her life came to its end.

The wooden footbridge crossing the lake looked almost polished to a shine, as though someone unseen kept it well maintained. Crossing this bridge to the other side of the lake and back again took quite a long time on its own.

That would be a fine way to pass the time today. She set her unhurried steps onto the bridge and walked at her leisure. After the walk there and back, the journey to Payen Castle would take another age. By then, today would be over.

And she had not yet crossed even half of half of half the bridge.

“……”

Pamona spotted something floating on the lake. Something white……

White clothing. A white dress. It looked like it might be a nightgown.

Hmm…… that is. That’s a leg. A leg…… Oh. Yes. That’s hair. It’s a woman. A woman. A woman is lying on the lake. On the lake……

“Oh.”

In the fractured moonlight, the body of a woman floated to the surface.

* * *

Pamona pressed down the chill that ran through her and stopped at a distance, making sure she was not too close to the woman’s body. She thought that if she looked too carefully and saw something she couldn’t unsee, it might haunt her dreams for a while.

She looked around, but it was the middle of the night and she had come out alone without a single servant, so there was no one to be seen. Would anyone come if she called out. She thought about it briefly, but the lake was wide, the castle was far, and no one was in sight. Even the guards who were usually visible everywhere seemed to have been summoned to keep close watch near the banquet hall.

She could shout and someone would probably hear and come running, but there was no particular reason to. She did not have the strength to call out loudly.

She must be dead.

She thought that if the woman moved, if she was alive, she would have to find some way to help her. Even the smallest movement would send ripples across the water, so she would be able to tell. Pamona made up her mind to watch for a while and dropped down, again, where she stood.

From somewhere came the sound of a water drop falling, and the sound of insects in the grass. A small ripple stirred a little way from where the woman lay, as though a fish were playing there. She watched that scene quietly, which was somehow like a painting. Strangely, Pamona felt that this moment, sitting here with a body floating on the lake, was peaceful.

Does that woman feel the same?

That woman, gazing deep into this lake that had stagnated so long it gave off a stale smell. What had brought her here.

The dark hair that most people in Masion had drifted and swayed on the water.

If she had not been wearing white, would anyone have noticed her in this dark night…… If I had not come here tonight, would someone else have seen her?

How long had she been looking into the lake? What had she wanted to see? Had someone disturbed her? Had she buried her head in the quiet lake because she could not stand the noise? Yes. Is it quiet now? Is she at peace at last?

She must be a woman who lives in the castle. One of the servants, or perhaps……

No. No. Pamona recalled that her mother’s skin had not been that pale. And besides, the guards at the castle across the lake would be even more strict, if only for the sake of keeping watch……

She thought briefly of the king’s many concubines, then shook her head. They lived more lavishly than anyone, kept safe behind ironclad security. They would all have attended the banquet tonight. It wasn’t Heil either…… Then it was fine.

Still. Was there no way to ask. She found herself wishing she could shake the woman awake and have her sit up for a moment.

Who she was. Why she was here. Whether they had ever crossed paths before she sank herself into this lake. Whether it was she herself who had left herself like this, or not. Whether pulling her out would be an intrusion.

She thought what pale, slender calves the woman had. That was the thought that came to her.

What to do. There would be plenty of people at the castle to help, but……

She decided that tonight, she would let the woman rest. Without anyone disturbing her. Without any commotion breaking in. Someone who knew her thoughts would call them strange, but that was all right. No one would ever know what she was thinking.

Pamona sat there for a long while, then finally pulled her gaze away from the motionless woman. She did not finish crossing the bridge. She turned back the way she had come. Back to Payen Castle, pressed close to the other castles and full of noise.

Even when the servants who had been preparing her bedchamber came out to meet her, she said nothing of what she had seen or where she had been. Even without her, the woman’s peace would end when the sun rose.