The next step was for Dana Rowen to play an instrument as a gesture of gratitude to those attending her birthday banquet. The Rowen Kingdom was a nation that cherished music and poetry. In the skies, divine beasts flew, while on the ground, people sang poems and danced to the rhythm. That was Rowen.

As such, all nobles in Rowen were expected to have basic skills in playing instruments and writing poetry. Dana was adept at playing the harpsichord, a keyboard instrument, and she performed on it for her birthday.

Dana ascended the stairs, neither too slowly nor too quickly. Behind her followed a knight and her maid, Hilda. Standing before the open white instrument, Dana sat on the chair that the knight had pulled back for her. Hilda adjusted the princess’s cloak and skirt.

Meanwhile, Dana removed the aquamarine bracelet from her wrist and placed it on the instrument. With a clink, the sound of the jewel and silver chain meeting the cold surface of the instrument echoed. The blue aquamarine’s reflection cast a watery trace inside the open lid of the ivory-decorated instrument, as if sketching the ripples of someone’s heart.

Seated, Dana placed her pale hand on the cold, hard keys. The loose sleeve of her dress slipped down, revealing her slender white wrist. Feeling the cold surface of the keys with her fingertips, Dana thought, ‘What did I play back then?’

Her deliberation was brief. She remembered the piece she had practiced diligently to avoid mistakes. She hadn’t looked at the keyboard for a while after that.

She wasn’t sure if she could play as well as she had back then. In truth, it didn’t matter if she made mistakes. After all, she was the star of the day, and any mistakes would merely be a slight embarrassment. With no pressure, her hands felt light. Dana began to move her hands.

* * *

At that moment, a soldier watched from afar, seeing the back of the princess seated before the open instrument. It was the same spot as before, yet he stood amidst emotions incomparable to those of that time.

The princess placed her white hand on the instrument. The loose sleeve of her white dress slipped down, revealing her slender white wrist. Her delicate fingers, like those carved from porcelain, danced across the white keys. The gentle movement resembled the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings.

Confusion and turmoil, impulse and desire, dispersed within the melody that felt unchanged from his memory. To him, the music she played still sounded like the movement of her body rather than the sound of the instrument. The sight and sound, reminiscent of that day, choked him. Something surged from deep within. He wanted to rush forward. At that moment.

“You.”

He stopped. A knight in armor blocked his path.

“What are you doing? Stay at your post.”

The knight spoke sternly, turning his head as if he weren’t worth any more of his time. He stared blankly at the knight’s back—the knight who obstructed him, the people standing ahead, and the banquet hall he shouldn’t cross.

He slowly retreated to his original position, the place a mere soldier with no special background or notable title was meant to guard. Next to the pillar on the very edge of the banquet hall—a spot not even lit by torches.

The music ended. The princess stood up, and the people applauded. After re-fastening her bracelet, the smiling princess’s gaze did not reach him.

He stood still, observing the people in front of him and the princess standing so far away. Along with that splendid scene, he felt completely detached from it, wearing clothes no different from those of other soldiers over chainmail and a worn-out helmet.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that in this state, he couldn’t get any closer. As he was now, he couldn’t reach the radiant princess or catch her gaze, no matter how intently he watched.

If he could reach that place, would the noble princess’s gaze ever fall on him?

He thought, without taking his eyes off the princess.

If the princess saw him and spoke to him, what kind of gaze would she have? What kind of voice would she use?

It might be impossible now, and perhaps even unnecessary. Yet somehow, he wanted to make it happen. He wanted to meet the princess’s gaze. He wanted to exchange words and have a conversation with her.

Like a lone star embedded in the deep blue night, the princess’s presence lodged itself in his heart. She illuminated the blue darkness that no other star could brighten.

He looked at where he stood.

He was now standing again by the pillar in the banquet hall. As an insignificant soldier, he only had to stand like a pillar. Even if he could do more, he thought he didn’t need to.

“But.”

His thoughts changed. He decided to rise to a place that was neither given nor allowed to him. He had no desires and needed nothing, but now he did.

He wanted to move out of the darkness where even moonlight didn’t fall and reach the princess, who shone like a star.

* * *

After the performance, it was time for the long-awaited divine beast contract.

On the opposite side from where the instrument was, there was a large summoning circle. This summoning circle was an exact replica of the one where the first king, Daischultz, had contracted with a divine beast at the age of seventeen. Every member of the Rowen royal family summoned and contracted with a divine beast before this circle on their seventeenth birthday.

Beyond the summoning circle stood knights of Rowen, clad in chainmail and green garments. The circle was drawn with luminous plant juice, glowing on its own in the dark.

Dana walked into the summoning circle. Her maids tidied her cloak and skirt before quickly stepping outside the circle. Dana clasped her hands and stood still.

Watching her stand on the circle, Priest Gailos gestured, and the paladins waiting behind him stepped forward, opening a heavy box and bringing out a long box wrapped in white cloth.

When the paladins removed the cloth and set down the box, it revealed a sword covered in plant vines. It was the sword of Rowen’s first king, Daischultz. The legendary sword, said to have been given by the spring goddess Yurhemia, allowed the first king to contract with a divine beast and was also known as the ‘Sword of Promise.’

After Daischultz’s death, the sword turned white as stone and was sealed by vines growing from the ground, making it impossible to draw. The priests had carefully excavated it with its soil and preserved it in a box. This sword of promise was essential for the Rowen royal family to contract with divine beasts, so it was brought to every summoning ceremony.

The box containing the vine-covered sword was placed in the center of the summoning circle. After the paladins set down the box and opened the lid, they stepped back, and an elderly priest began to chant, drawing upon his sacred power.

Listening to the priest’s voice, Dana closed her eyes. Everyone waited quietly. For the light to shine from the summoning circle and for the divine beast to emerge from the light.

The summoning circle, traced with luminous plant juice, began to emit a faint glow. It was the sacred power of the priest mingling with the promise left in the blood of the Rowen royal family that caused it to shine. The light flowed over the box and covered the vine-covered sword. Some watched with anticipation, others with tension.

At the center, Dana lowered her gaze and thought, ‘Is there a reason I returned to this day?’

Why had Yentamien contracted with a princess as insignificant as her? She hadn’t truly understood the value of the great divine beast, nor had she ever known what it could do.

‘What should I have prepared for today?’

There was no way to avoid the birthday banquet. There was no way to interrupt the priest reciting the sacred text. If she wanted to find a way, she should have gone back much further, not to today.

‘Then why, exactly?’

The priest’s voice, reading the sacred text, stopped. Silence remained. The light rising from the summoning circle spread, and sounds of mixed expectation and tension echoed.

Dana opened her eyes and inhaled. She was nervous too. Of course, Dana was filled not with anticipation but with worry and anxiety. Just before she exhaled, she paused. And then.

With a fizzing sound, the light vanished. The light flowing along the summoning circle faded and disappeared. The sword of promise and the summoning circle where the princess stood were engulfed in darkness.