From that distance, she could not even be certain that face, flawless in both its beauty and its proportions, the kind that would compel admiration from anyone who saw it, was a human face at all. Had it not been for that blue hair, she never would have recognized that the monster from the night before and this person were one and the same.
There’s nothing about me that stands out like that…… And he recognized me from that distance? If he knew it was me, then he would have known I was in my nightclothes. The shabby thing I sometimes wear all day and lounge around in……
The thought of having been in front of someone dressed in such refined clothing, wearing nothing but a nightgown with her shoulders fully exposed, looking exactly as she had right before bed, and then turning and fleeing in a frantic sprint sent heat rushing to her face. It was mortifying. Truly…… mortifying.
“Prince Iligen, the Princess is terribly prone to dramatics. She claims to be ill all the time. You would do well not to say things like that, even in passing. Show her any concern and she might take it as an invitation to act spoiled without end.”
“Reynard.”
There he went again. Reynard needling, Sionel issuing a warning. Whenever the three of them were in the same room, it always went like this. Reynard being contrary and disagreeable in that way of his was something she had lived with her entire life, so ordinarily it did not affect Pamona much.
But being dismissed in front of a distinguished guest she had only just met was another matter entirely.
When had she ever acted spoiled with him? If anything, she had always been the one indulging Reynard’s whims. She had not the slightest intention of acting spoiled with him.
Pamona set down the fork she had been gripping with a deliberate clatter. She hoped that would at least give him a hint to restrain himself. At that moment, Terion Iligen let out a clear, bright laugh.
“You must worry a great deal, Reynard.”
“Why would I?”
“Because your beloved sister falls ill so often.”
“Ugh!”
Reynard made a sound fit for an animal and shuddered at Terion Iligen with the look of someone staring at a peculiar specimen. Terion Iligen found Reynard’s reaction amusing and laughed out loud.
“Prince Iligen, we are not that kind of siblings!”
Sionel seemed to consider it a reasonable compromise that Reynard had stopped needling Pamona any further. He did not even point out the rude, noisy grumbling that continued without a shred of decorum. Pamona ignored Reynard by turning to address Everett, who wore the same smile she had from the start.
“Crown Princess, I heard you are with child. I am late in saying so, but congratulations. How are you feeling?”
“Thank you, Princess. Both the baby and I are doing well.”
A reply like that was something anyone said out of habit, so there was no need to take it at face value. She felt a small pang of guilt for having heard the news of the pregnancy weeks ago without once going to offer her regards. The lines of Everett’s dress remained as graceful as ever.
Terion Iligen also offered his congratulations upon learning the news just now. On the plate in front of Everett, who received his words with a warm response, the food had been cut up to look as though she had eaten some, but the amount had not decreased at all. It looked as though she had only gone through the motions of eating.
Pamona found it nagging at her, but whether Sionel noticed or not, he steered the conversation toward the blue-haired guest.
“You retired early yesterday.”
“Yes. I hope it was not discourteous of me. I am not the sort who takes well to gatherings with many people, so I ended up slipping away early.”
Everett smiled at Terion Iligen’s polite but candid answer. With nothing particularly cheerful happening, how did she manage to keep smiling like that. Looking at Everett’s face, the woman from the lake came to mind for no reason she could name.
“Not at all. You must have been weary from the journey. It was an honor to have you attend.”
What kind of face had that woman had?
“Your Highness.”
Pamona called out to Sionel without thinking. The moment the words left her mouth, she caught herself and glanced quickly at Terion Iligen. He looked back at her with laughter in his eyes, like someone encouraging her to go on.
Why are you smiling……?
His habit of smiling at her unsettled her, but Pamona did not let her gaze linger and continued speaking to Sionel. The night before, the thought that she had seen something monstrous or ghostly had driven the matter of the woman’s body entirely from her mind.
“Has anything unfortunate happened in the royal castle recently?”
“Unfortunate? Such as?”
“Someone dying…… In the lake.”
“The lake? Nothing like that has happened. Why would you think so?”
“…… I thought I saw something from a distance.”
In truth, she had seen it from quite close, but she hedged to make it sound uncertain. It was an old habit born from the desire to make sure nothing she said caused any problems. She always had to leave herself a way out.
“You must have been mistaken.”
“Is there no woman reported missing either?”
“No.”
“Ah…… Then I must have seen wrong in the dark.”
That could not be right. Most likely it had been treated as a minor matter and the report had never reached Sionel. Since Sionel did not know, there was no reason to press the subject further here.
“Do not wander about at night, Princess.”
“Yes, I will not.”
That night, she felt a pang of regret that she had not told someone immediately upon returning to the castle and sent people to look. Sionel continued to steer the conversation so the guest would not feel out of place.
“I hope the Twin Castle is comfortable for you.”
“Yes. It is quiet, and a remarkably beautiful castle.”
“If there is anything inconvenient, please instruct the caretaker at any time. They will see to your every need.”
“I heard that until recently, it was the Princess’s castle. Is that right?”
Pamona had been so captivated by the blue-haired mystery moving before her eyes that she had not yet registered that the guest was the very person responsible for taking her castle. Only when the words were spoken did the Twin Castle she loved flicker before her mind’s eye. It was not as though she had chosen to give up the castle, but the thought of her comfortable home now sitting in those hands made her feel inexplicably out of sorts.
“Yes, I lived there for about four years.”
“Perhaps because it has been well lived in, it feels wonderfully cozy.”
“It felt that way to me when I first arrived as well.”
“You must have been deeply fond of the castle. I hope my presence has not caused you any inconvenience.”
“That castle exists precisely to receive distinguished guests. I am perfectly fine, so please do not give it a second thought.”
The words came out of Pamona’s mouth the way they always did, like a reflex. In truth, she was not fine at all. She worried that the guest might detect the faint edge in her voice. Over the past few days, she had been falling asleep later and later, and even when she did sleep, it was not deep, and she woke countless times through the night.
She could barely tell whether she had slept or simply closed her eyes and opened them again. The accumulated exhaustion made her drowsier and more listless during the daylight hours. Not that she managed to nap, either. She wanted to go back to the Twin Castle. Her insomnia had cleared up completely there.
“I would be glad if you visited from time to time. You must miss the castle. And if you did, it would be nice to have you keep me company.”
Terion Iligen kept smiling at Pamona with easy warmth, even as she was being prickly toward him for no reason.
* * *
“Right. Since Prince Terion is the same age as you, think of him as a friend and look after him for the time being, Princess. Help him settle in.”
How am I supposed to do that?
She thought settling in was something he could manage on his own, but Pamona gave a vague nod.
“Then the Prince has come of age! How wonderful. Personally, I think the men of Masion could stand to come of age a little earlier. They are already as strong and robust as grown men physically! Is twenty not a bit late? And on top of that, the strange custom of not being truly of age until your birthday has passed…… Prince, do you have a betrothed back in Ilion?”
“Ha ha. I do not, Reynard.”
“What? Ha! Ilion is slow about these things!”
Reynard suddenly fixated on the matter of his own betrothal and launched into an impassioned speech at Sionel. Even as he rambled on with nonsense about wanting a fiancee as soon as possible, regardless of who it was, Sionel would do as he always did and wait in silence until Reynard exhausted himself.
He seemed eager to get close to a woman. Everyone had raised him as a prince, yet somehow he alone had grown up coarse and vulgar, like a ruffian off the street, which was a strange thing. Pamona found herself wondering whether the princes she did not know were all the same way.
The blue-haired guest, having drawn Reynard’s attention away from her, looked at Pamona again. Eyes that clear, like glass marbles, were new to her, and she found it difficult to read what emotion lay within them, or exactly what kind of look he was giving her.
“Please call me Terion.”
“Yes, please call me whatever you like as well.”
“May I call you Pamona?”
The number of people in the royal castle who called her by her name was few enough to count on one hand. She wondered for a moment whether it was all right, then thought, well, why not. It was only a name.
“Yes, that is fine.”
He stretched the corners of his mouth into a wide, easy smile.
“Then I look forward to it, Pamona.”
Ah, please do not smile like that.
Pamona lowered her head. It was a truly lovely smile, one that stirred something in her chest out of nowhere, just from the sight of it.
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Eliana
It’s like she literally lostall the character /personality she has built up until now ,where is your indifference now .Than again gotta make up something to keep the story going