***

Rain poured across the entire Grand Duchy.
People gazed endlessly at the thick streams of rain falling without pause.
Children who had never known what “rain” was ran between the raindrops, while adults quietly held out their hands to feel the falling raindrops.
And then, a day after the rain began.
The Basilinte Knights discovered Chamuka collapsed alone and unconscious on the Rocky Mountain.
It had been a day since contact was lost with the First Young Master after his message that he would climb the Rocky Mountain.
The knights were relieved to find him alive and well.
The Prince whom the First Young Master had pursued was nowhere to be seen, but the knights carried the collapsed Chamuka down the Rocky Mountain.
With a few remaining on the Mountain to search for traces of the Prince.
In truth, there wasn’t much else the knights could do.
The rain continued to fall. Chamuka, who could give orders, was unconscious, and there had been no word from the main castle about what was happening.
The knights, still unaware that everyone at the Basilinte main castle had also collapsed unconscious, laid Chamuka down at the fortress of Ladanta and called for a physician.
“He appears to be simply sleeping…”
“Then why can’t he wake up?”
“His physical condition is very healthy with no problems. Perhaps he hasn’t been able to sleep for a long time? He might be catching up on missed sleep.”
Of course, the knights knew that the First Young Master had pursued the Prince without sleeping at all.
But a Basilinte wouldn’t faint just because of missing a few days of sleep.
In the end, the knights set up camp at Ladanta with questions still unanswered.
And there, they guarded the unconscious Chamuka while searching for traces of the Prince.
The continuing rainfall made the search slow, and traces had abruptly disappeared from the Rocky Mountain as if the Prince had either soared into the sky or sunk into the ground.
“Two bags were found near where the First Young Master collapsed, and upon inspection, they appear to contain all of the Prince’s belongings. Including his travel money.”
“Where could he have gone, leaving behind all his money and belongings?”
“There are no signs of him walking down the mountain either. The rain might have washed away the traces, but still… The traces of climbing up remain…”
“Perhaps he suddenly grew wings.”
When all investigations only led to the conclusion that ‘the Prince vanished from Rocky Mountain,’ the knights began to exchange remarks that were somewhere between jokes and serious statements.
“Perhaps he was actually an angel who could no longer bear the sight of humans and left.”
“I heard he wasn’t an angel but a fairy.”
“That makes sense. He didn’t look quite human.”
“He was unnaturally kind, and in the end…”
The Knight Commander slammed his fist on the table as the nonsense became increasingly detailed. Then, looking around at the now silent gathering, he said.
“When the First Young Master wakes up, are you confident enough to report those words to him?”
Since they still wanted to live, they shut their mouths and dispersed again to search for Basilinte’s precious Prince.
The knights were equally worried about the Prince, who would smile at them with shining eyes whenever he saw them, saying how cool they were.
The Prince was the only sunshine in the bleak Basilinte main castle.
…To be more honest, he was Basilinte’s leash.
The knights didn’t want to lose the only person with common sense who could stop Basilinte whenever they tried to do something crazy.
“There are some traces of blood remaining here. The blood has poison mixed in it.”
“Dig the ground.”
After digging in the rain, the knights were able to discover the remains of a trap buried deep underground.
“The arrowhead is Imperial style.”
“It seems they deliberately made the trap to collapse, and the Prince was caught in it momentarily. Judging by the traces left on the ground, it seems he escaped, but…”
“Is there a possibility the Empire kidnapped the Prince?”
“The possibility isn’t entirely absent. If the Empire deliberately depleted the Prince’s magic power, then kidnapped him while unconscious and erased their traces, it’s possible.”
At the very least, it was slightly more realistic than saying he grew wings and flew into the sky, or dissolved into bubbles in the rainwater.
“However, if they did that, the Empire would have deployed a considerable number of people. I’ll check if any suspicious groups entered through the border checkpoints.”
“So the Empire found out after all. How precious the Prince is to Basilinte.”
No. The Empire didn’t know.
They had simply made a half-hearted plan to dispose of the Prince, on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
Moreover, it was just a simple attempt to eliminate variables one by one because the curse seemed to be wavering.
“Search with the possibility of an Imperial kidnapping in mind. Any contact from the main castle?”
“Not yet.”
The Knight Commander thought this was the calm before the storm.
He wrote each character carefully and thoughtfully, anticipating that none of the Basilintes who would receive his report would be entirely sane.
And precisely at midnight on the tenth day since the rain began pouring, Chamuka woke up.
In a frightening state, with an expressionless face, tears streaming down.

***

Herta was sitting on the bed.
Leticia looked down at her rain-soaked body once, then looked around.
Just moments ago, she had been on the rainy Rocky Mountain, making eye contact with Chamuka.
But now, what Leticia saw before her eyes was Herta.
Herta was sitting motionless on that same bed in that same bedroom, waiting for ‘her’.
However, unlike before, this wasn’t inside Herta’s memory.
Leticia examined her wet clothes and hair, and her body that felt stiff, then promptly dispelled the moisture that had soaked her.
Magic worked smoothly, which confirmed this was reality.
‘Was I transported here from Rocky Mountain? Because the curse was broken? Where is this place?’
Unlike the bedroom in ‘her’ memory, where the window was visible, this place had walls blocking the outside view.
Leticia looked around and approached Herta, sitting on the bed.
‘He really seems alive.’
Leticia felt a sense of reality as she observed Herta’s purple eyes staring straight ahead with no focus, and his smooth white skin that showed no signs of decay.
Perhaps it was because she was seeing something so surreal.
She hadn’t expected to remain in this room, just like in Herta’s real memories.
Well, this man didn’t seem likely to leave this place.
Neither alive nor dead. Not until ‘she’ returned.
“Could this entire room be Herta’s coffin…?”
Leticia was startled as she realized this.
If this really was Herta’s coffin, then outside would be the Imperial family’s burial ground.
And the Imperial burial ground was attached to the Imperial Palace, which was naturally in the capital of the Empire.
Leticia’s eyes wavered as she realized she had suddenly been transported from the Rocky Mountain in the Grand Duchy to the capital.
How did I move here?
It shouldn’t be possible for magic to cross such a vast distance. At least, no magician in the current generation was capable of such a feat.
Perhaps the first Herta, who was truly a great magician, could have performed such transportation magic…
‘But Herta is dead. Who could have cast such magic?’
Seeing Herta sitting on the bed with her own eyes, she could tell more clearly.
He was dead.
Only Herta’s curse remained alive.
His obsession with waiting for ‘her’ remained intact, not fading even in death.
‘Since the curse is broken, this form of Herta should disappear too.’
She couldn’t understand why she had been transported here as soon as the curse was broken, or why this form of Herta still remained here…
“Ah.”
Leticia quietly looked down at ‘Herta’, then sat in front of him to meet his eye level.
Then, recalling ‘her’ voice that she had heard in Herta’s memory, she cleared her throat.
For Leticia, who could imitate voices of different genders, mimicking ‘her’ voice wasn’t particularly difficult.
She called to him.
“Herta.”
His unfocused eyes turned toward her.