“The curtains……”

Someone had opened the curtains without permission first thing in the morning. They knew how much she hated the morning sun……

“The curtains, would you……. Ah!”

She had been about to ask for the curtains to be closed again when her body shot upright.

She had fallen asleep without knowing when, and slept a deep, unbroken sleep. She had even forgotten she was at the Twin Castle. Since it was not her bedroom, there were no large, thick curtains of the kind that made it impossible to tell morning from evening.

Even if it was the Twin Castle, she had assumed she would sleep poorly since it was not her own bedroom. Not at all. If not for the sunlight pouring in, she would clearly have slept on for hours without a care in the world.

She sat there debating whether to go back to sleep when the door eased open and a servant slipped inside, stepping without a sound. The servant closed the door softly so it made no noise, then turned toward Pamona.

“Ah!”

“Oh!”

The servant startled at the sight of Pamona and nearly fell backward, then scrambled upright and composed herself with a bow.

“Y, Your Highness. You are awake…… I assumed you would be sleeping, and behaved carelessly. I am deeply sorry.”

It was no wonder she was startled. Pamona never woke and sat up at this hour without being called.

“No. Are you all right?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Thank you for asking. The clothes must have been uncomfortable. Did you not sleep well?”

The clothes that the Payen Castle servant had brought the night before were for outdoor activity. Since Pamona had been expected to return to the castle, no nightclothes had been sent.

“No…… I slept wonderfully.”

“Really? I was worried you might spend another sleepless night. Would you like to sleep a little longer? Someone came from Payen Castle a little while ago and brought nightclothes. Would you like to change?”

“Hmm…… I suppose I will just get up. Because of the sun.”

“Yes, indeed. This bedroom could use some curtains.”

“Leave the nightclothes in this bedroom, just in case.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Just in case of what……

She had thought it herself, but it struck her as absurd and she let out a small scoff. Even so, the thought crossed her mind that it might be nice to slip over and sleep here from time to time. At Payen Castle, for no reason she could name, sleep would not come at night, and on the mornings she finally managed to drift off, all manner of sounds would climb through the windows and pull her out of her rest.

Sleep had grown even harder since returning to Payen Castle. She would have missed the Twin Castle regardless, but with sleep giving her trouble on top of everything else, losing her bedroom felt like something to grieve.

The image of the blue-haired guest sleeping soundly in the bedroom she used to call her own came to mind. It was not Terion Iligen’s fault, but he was the one occupying it in her place all the same.

The guest who had said all those strange things without so much as a change of expression…… 

She was calling him a guest to be polite, but if his impression had been any less favorable, she would have called him an intruder, or a plunderer. And that was the truth of it. Her younger sister had been taken, and her bedroom had been taken.

Pamona got up, washed quickly, and stepped out through the castle gate. She sent the servant ahead to Payen Castle and stopped by the garden for a moment out of habit. Before she had even begun her walk, a vague sense of something being off settled over her. She stopped, furrowed her brow, looked around, and then looked down.

Absurdly, the problem was her clothes. She had spent her days at the Twin Castle wandering around in nothing but her nightclothes, so standing here in a dress first thing in the morning felt strange.

“Why are you up so early?”

The bedroom plunderer appeared from somewhere without warning and addressed her in an easy tone.

“What about you, Terion?”

Terion Iligen gave that guileless smile of his again.

“I did not sleep well.”

“Is the bed uncomfortable?”

“No. I had something lovely to look forward to, so my heart was a little too stirred to sleep……”

“Yes…… You lost sleep over the garden, you mean……”

He really does say the strangest things……

“What about Pamona? Do you usually wake at this hour?”

Anyone from Payen Castle would have laughed at that.

“Not at all. I woke up because there were no curtains.”

“Hmm. I will have some put up.”

“In that bedroom?”

“Yes.”

Why would you put curtains in that bedroom……

The voice that had said stay the night seemed to reach her ear from somewhere again, and she gave it a light rub. The words she had been about to say back circled on her tongue and retreated. She felt a little afraid to speak. Whatever answer came back would only make her feel strange again.

“Tending the garden does not seem like something worth losing sleep over.”

She had told him not to ruin it, and perhaps the weight of that was pressing on him. Hearing that he had not slept well made her feel a little sorry.

“I am glad something came along that excites me enough to keep me up.”

Looking at that bright face, she thought perhaps there was no need to feel sorry at all.

“Pamona, here. Come sit and wait just a moment.”

Terion Iligen took off his outer robe and spread it over the wide flat stone Pamona liked to sit on. Today he was not wearing that long garment that covered his neck, but an outer robe of a common design that looked to have been made in Masion.

Even in the same clothes, whether because of the blue hair or the long frame, he did not give off the heavy, imposing air that the men of Masion did. He did not appear to carry a handkerchief. The stone was one she had always sat on without putting anything down. His outer robe was entirely unnecessary, but she sat on it anyway, in acknowledgment of the gesture.

He acted as though he and Pamona had arranged to meet in the morning. Pamona, who had originally planned to breathe in the cool garden air for just a moment before heading straight back to Payen Castle, found herself sitting quietly in place without knowing quite why.

Terion Iligen moved busily back and forth through the garden. His blue hair bobbed up and down between the bushes. He appeared to be checking carefully over everything that would need tending.

Watching him like that, she wondered whether he actually knew what he was doing. She still had her doubts, but there was nothing she could teach him either. She wished she had listened more carefully when Heil used to explain things to her. If she had, she could have come to the Twin Castle every day on the pretext of tending the garden.

“Shall we go?”

The blue head that had been busily poking around finished its business and came to stand before Pamona, extending a hand. It was a hand incomparably larger than Heil’s.

Unlike the hands of Masion’s men, roughened all over with calluses from sword training. White, long, and straight, a fine hand. She took it so as not to leave the offered hand hanging, and put her weight into rising, but her body lifted before she had even pushed off.

Her eyes went wide in surprise and met Terion Iligen’s blue ones. They were so close that she drew in a sharp breath.

“Where are we……”

Pamona trailed off, wanting to disappear again. If there had been anywhere to hide, she might truly have hidden herself away.

“Would you like to eat?”

Pamona shook her head in answer.

“Not hungry?”

“Not particularly.”

“Tea, then?”

Pamona shook her head again.

“Then let us go. To see the eastern side.”

Terion Iligen released her hand and smiled brightly. The warmth of a hand large enough to wrap around hers entirely and still have room left over departed from her quickly. He did not even bother picking up his outer robe, as though it had served its purpose.

“Showing you around is just a bonus.”

The hand that had been holding onto the warmth the way someone clutches a lifeline twitched with reluctance at the emptiness left in her palm. Terion Iligen swept back the hair that had fallen naturally down his forehead and scattered over his blue eyes, and set off ahead without hesitation. The sky was blue, with no sign that it had ever rained.

“Terion.”

Pamona hesitated for a moment, then followed after him.

“Yes, Pamona.”

“I have something I am curious about, but please do not feel obligated to answer if it is difficult.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Do all people from Ilion have hair and eyes like yours?”

She had finally asked what she had been wondering about all along. The fact that Pamona had never once seen blue hair or blue eyes in her life was not only because she had been confined within the royal castle. The people of Masion all had black hair, and at most, occasionally brown.

“Not all of them.”

“Is it common?”

“Hmm…… This color is not common. It is a bit excessively pretty, this one.”

So he knows……

She gave a wordless nod, and Terion Iligen burst out laughing.

“You are not going to argue?”

“Why would I argue? It is true.”

At that, Terion gave an amused nod of his own.

“There are common colors too. Many people have black hair like in Masion, and brown as well. There are many colors that resemble wheat fields, gold, the light of the sun. Hair and eyes both…… There is quite a bit of red too. Sometimes green, but that is rare.”

“Wow……”

It was hard to believe that people could come in such a variety of colors. It was the neighboring country, so why did Masion have none of that. Pamona was imagining the people of Ilion and could not help letting out a sound of wonder.

“Is it fascinating?”

“Yes, very……”

“There is also purple.”

Pamona startled so hard her mouth fell open.

“There is purple? Really? How can a person’s eyes be purple?”

Terion Iligen burst out laughing, his eyes curved into crescents. His face today, as always, was full of life and delight. It was a smile more than enough to lift the spirits of anyone who saw it.

“That was a joke. There is no purple.”

“…… Ah, yes.”

She gave him a slight sideways look, but the smile had already spread from the corners of Pamona’s mouth across her whole face.