Her red hair was lightly curled and pinned up. She had only ever known how to tie it back tightly or let it hang loose, so the neatly curled style the maid had done for her felt a little unfamiliar. A few strands had fallen to the side, but she left them as they were because her mother had told her a touch of natural looseness was nicer than something too perfectly arranged.

Her preparations for the stage finished with slipping on a pair of deep navy shoes that matched the dress. They weren’t particularly high heels, since she needed to work the piano pedals, but for someone who mostly wore boots, they felt very strange on her feet.

“There, miss. Isn’t she lovely?”

When the preparations were done, the maid pulled her in front of the full-length mirror. The reflection looked so unfamiliar it hardly seemed like her. It was only natural, since she had never dressed up so thoroughly before. The faint flush the makeup gave her cheeks and the shine on her lips were both foreign to her. An awkward smile was all she could manage, but since both her mother and the maid were looking at her with such satisfaction, she couldn’t bring herself to say she felt strange.

“Danyu. If you arrive with me, a judge, it will invite misunderstandings of all kinds, so it would be better to leave separately. I’ll head to the royal palace first, so take your time coming.”

Her mother said this and left for the royal palace ahead of her. She had no desire to draw suspicious looks because of her connection to her mother either, so she decided to make her way to the royal palace in time for the main competition to begin. Not wanting to disturb her preparations, she sat up straight and read through the score she would perform on stage a couple of times, and before long it was time to leave.

She looked out the carriage window as it carried her along, and outside the city was deep in a festive mood. At this hour on any ordinary day, even the merchants would have packed up and gone inside, but tonight they kept their lamps burning and welcomed customers. 

When the Jubilion began, the competition would be broadcast across the entire capital through magical instruments inscribed with sound magic, and people from all over the kingdom had poured into the capital without exception to enjoy the event, even if only through sound.

Seeing children and adults alike buzzing with excitement on streets more crowded than usual made the reality of it sink in, that today truly was the kingdom’s greatest festival. The last time the Jubilion was held she had been only nine years old, and she hadn’t been able to enjoy the atmosphere like this.

She passed through the center of the city and arrived at the royal palace, which projected an air of authority from the very entrance. A place that ordinarily maintained a quiet and composed atmosphere, tonight it was just as lively as the city center.

The royal palace normally restricted entry with great strictness, but on this day alone it opened its gates to the general public. Only the outer ward at the palace’s perimeter was made accessible, but even that would be a wonder to ordinary people. Young children in particular were beside themselves with excitement, gazing around at the palace in delight. At that age, she imagined, they would be filling their heads with fantasies of princes and princesses from the fairy tales they read, so she could well imagine how thrilling it must be to actually set foot inside the royal palace.

While she watched those scenes, the carriage kept moving and reached the entrance to the inner ward. On ordinary days only members of the royal family could enter the palace by carriage, but on the day the Jubilion was held the palace opened its gates, and so Jubilion participants, judges, and invited guests were permitted to enter by carriage.

The carriage came to a stop not long after passing through the inner ward gate. She stepped outside and a waiting attendant quickly approached and greeted her. She took out her invitation and handed it to him, and the attendant who had been staring openly at her face fumbled to check it, then opened his mouth with reddened cheeks.

“I will escort you to the competition hall. The competition is being held in the palace chapel, so there is a short walk ahead.”

She nodded and was about to follow him when another carriage arrived from behind with a clatter. She turned her head on reflex at the noise and immediately locked eyes with the person stepping out. It was Sio, dressed neatly in formal attire. Seeing Sio, who normally dressed freely, wearing the formal clothes he reserved for concerts made the significance of the occasion feel real all over again.

“Sio.”

“Danyu.”

She called out to him and offered a light greeting, and he gave a small bow in return.

“Are you heading to the competition hall?”

“Yes. I heard the Jubilion is being held in the chapel. The attendant offered to guide me, so I was about to follow him.”

At her words, Sio’s gaze shifted to the attendant. The moment the attendant met Sio’s eyes, he startled and bowed his head sharply. She found it odd that the attendant had stared so freely at her own face but reacted like that to Sio, and as she was watching the attendant with curiosity, Sio gave her a light tug.

“I know where it is. Come with me.”

Before she could even answer, Sio started walking. She glanced back at the attendant, wondering whether it was really all right to wander freely through the inner ward where the royal family resided without a guide, and he was staring after her and Sio with a thoroughly flustered expression. But he made no move to stop them, so it seemed there was no real problem with going on their own.

Sio’s pace was so fast it was a struggle to keep up in a skirt. Astaire would have known how to escort someone properly. That thought came to her first, and a sigh slipped out before she knew it. She was practically being dragged along with no time to look around, and by the time she finally managed to match his stride, the hand Sio had on her arm dropped away.

“That hurt. Could you not escort me a little more carefully?”

She rubbed the spot where his hand had been and grumbled, but Sio’s gaze was still fixed straight ahead. She followed his line of sight with curiosity, and at the end of it appeared a head of brilliant golden hair. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the rare platinum blond. 

It was Astaire.

“Goodness. Mr. Astaire.”

“Miss Danyu. Sio.”

At her call, the slight stiffness that had been on Astaire’s face eased into a faint smile. It was an awkward smile, unlike his usual self, but more important than that was the fact that he was standing right in front of her. She gathered up the hem of her skirt that kept catching at her steps and walked quickly toward Astaire, and Sio’s gaze, which had been fixed on Astaire, began to follow her.

She ignored Sio’s stare and grabbed the hem of Astaire’s clothes. It was because Astaire, who had vanished so completely and inexplicably in recent days, seemed like he might disappear again at any moment, and the thought made her anxious.

“Where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was when you disappeared without a word? I have so much I want to say to you and so much I want to ask, so how could you just vanish like that? And on top of that, withdrawing from the Jubilion.”

The words that had been circling in her head poured out without pause. Astaire looked at her face and then at the hem of his clothes she was gripping with an unreadable expression, then gently detached her hand from his clothes. It was a perfectly composed and courteous gesture, but something about that hand felt unfamiliar.

“There were a number of circumstances.”

Astaire gave a vague answer with a troubled expression, then quickly moved on to something else.

“More importantly, did you read the book I left with Lady Astrid?”

“Yes. All of it.”

“Good. I thought it would help with your performance, so I really wanted you to read it.”

“More than that, the note tucked into the last page. What on earth does it mean?”

She frowned at the way he kept sidestepping the heart of the matter. Astaire was a man skilled in the art of aristocratic conversation, with a peculiar talent for drawing out only the information he wanted from a discussion. If you let your guard down for even a moment, you would end up spilling everything he wanted to hear while walking away without a single answer to your own questions.

She, however, was no less of an aristocrat herself. She may not have considered herself particular about etiquette, but she had not spent her years idly under the roof of her mother, the very picture of high society. Astaire gave a small laugh at her remark, which showed she had seen through his intent. Discomfort showed through in that laugh.

Before his laughter had fully faded, a clear ringing of bells sounded in the distance. Three times, precisely. The sound rang out as though it could reach every corner of the vast inner ward. Her gaze turned toward the source of the sound without thinking, and the far end of what she took to be the chapel came into view.

“Three bells. The call to enter.”

Sio murmured quietly as he listened to the sound that inspired a sense of reverence. At his voice, Astaire, who had been listening to the bells in silence, spoke.

“Miss Danyu. The Jubilion will begin shortly. It would be better to talk after everything is over. Sio, escort Miss Danyu. The judging panel was introduced to her as your most prized student, so it would be better for the two of you to enter together.”

“What about you, Mr. Astaire?”

She asked back with dissatisfaction at Astaire pushing her away with words. His composed and distant manner grated on her, so different from her own delight at running into him unexpectedly. She pouted at him, and Astaire gave his characteristic calm smile.

“The judging panel and the participants wait in separate areas. I came to the Jubilion today not as a musician but as a member of the audience.”

It wasn’t an unreasonable thing to say when she thought about it, but the path to the chapel would be the same regardless. His words, meant to make her understand, only made her realize he was deliberately keeping his distance from her, and her brow furrowed on its own.

“Miss Danyu. I will be looking forward to your performance on stage.”