7.

The next morning, Alisa arrived at the rehearsal hall with eyes swollen from crying.

The maid had applied cold compresses several times, but the puffiness wouldn’t go down. She had cried through the night and only fallen asleep at dawn.

“Miss Alisa!”

The woman in charge of makeup came rushing over the moment she saw her.

“Oh my, your eyes…… What happened?”

“…… Nothing, I’m fine. Thank you for worrying.”

Alisa smiled weakly and sat down in the chair. The woman looked at her with concern, then picked up her tools.

“If you’re not feeling well today, should I let the director know? It’s only a rehearsal, so he’ll understand.”

“No. I’ll finish the rehearsal and rest when I get home.”

“…… Don’t push yourself too hard. Tell me right away if it gets to be too much.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The woman began carefully applying makeup. Foundation, concealer for the dark circles beneath her eyes, a touch of color to her cheeks.

Alisa tried to pull herself together, forcing her eyes to focus. Today was important. But even staring at the script, the lines she had memorized floated through her head without landing anywhere.

Her mind was thick with fog. The moment she tried to follow a single thought, her head throbbed.

[Married, and a first child born.]

The line from the letter kept circling back.

‘At least it’s only a rehearsal today.’

If it had been the actual performance, she would certainly have made a mistake.

“All done. Go wait in the green room for a bit.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Alisa went into the green room and sat down.

Her head was spinning.

What was Eden doing right now. He had said he was married and had a child, so maybe he was looking at that child right now.

She didn’t know the child’s name, but if it looked like Eden, it would be terribly cute.

‘I want to see, just once.’

If she could, she thought she might finally be able to accept it properly.

But even as she thought that, the image of Eden standing beside another woman made her chest ache.

Was that letter really true. Was it possible Eden had sent a false one on purpose.

‘But why would Eden go to the trouble of doing that.’

Alisa sat there turning the endless stream of thoughts over and over, then dropped her head. She was staring blankly at the script when someone called her name from behind.

“Miss Alisa, do you have a moment?”

Alisa jumped to her feet.

The director of the production was bursting through the door, clutching a script to his chest. The man with his long hair twisted up carelessly looked far more animated than usual. Had some new idea come to him.

Alisa took a step toward him.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing major. I was wondering if we might change one line in the final scene.”

“…… Which one?”

The director flipped to near the very end of the script and pointed to her last line.

“Here, the scene where the king’s name is called at the end. The scene where the Valentie lady watches the king from a distance just before his execution.”

“Yes, I remember it.”

“I was thinking — what if she calls the king by his childhood name.”

“…… His childhood name?”

“Yes, Eden. If she calls Leonard II by his childhood name, don’t you think it would better capture the relationship between the two of them, given they were betrothed before birth?”

Eden.

Alisa reflexively clenched both fists tight.

She couldn’t let herself react.

She had searched so many places and never found his childhood name, so it was reasonable to conclude no such name existed. The director had probably invented it himself. Yes, that had to be it.

She pressed down the tremor in her voice and asked.

“That name, the childhood name…… did you come up with it yourself, Director?”

“Oh, no. I found it in the church records. It was the name used when Leonard II was baptized as an infant. Eden Reuben Roben.”

Thud — the script slipped from Alisa’s hands. The unbound pages scattered across the floor in a jumbled heap. The director startled and quickly bent down to gather them, but Alisa couldn’t lift a hand to help. She couldn’t even breathe properly.

Eden, Eden, Eden.

Eden Reuben Roben.

A name lodged somewhere deep in her chest came crashing down with a heavy, resounding fall. Alisa drew in a slow breath. Cool water seemed to rise inside her ears, and sound began to grow distant.

“Miss Alisa? Are you all right?”

She was not all right.

Not at all, not in any way.

Alisa gasped and covered her mouth. The director stepped toward her with a worried look, but now even his face was swimming and unsteady.

‘…… Liar.’

20 May 1661.

Exactly two hundred and fifty years ago today, Leonard II had died.

“I’m sorry. I’m not…… I’m not feeling well at all……”

Alisa managed only those words before turning away. The director’s voice called after her, buzzing in her ears, but she didn’t look back.

She pushed through the door and ran down the corridor.

She had to get to him. Right now.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Alisa ran past Madame Marigold’s and up the stairs to the second floor. She tripped on a step in her haste and fell, but didn’t feel the pain.

“Roben! Roben!”

She pounded on the door without even thinking to ring the bell. The moment it opened, she stumbled inside, gasping for breath.

Roben was dressed in his usual suit. Almost as though he had known she was coming and had been waiting. But Alisa had no room to notice the strangeness of that before she opened her mouth.

“The clothes. Those clothes, where are they?”

“……”

Alisa grabbed his arm when he didn’t answer.

“Roben, the men’s clothes you gave me a long time ago. Mum told you, didn’t she, and you prepared them in advance. Right? So I could go and save Eden……”

Still no answer. He stood like a statue, watching her in silence.

“Roben, what’s wrong. Why aren’t you saying anything……”

“……”

Realizing she couldn’t get a response from him, Alisa ran into the house on her own.

She knew it was rude to go through someone’s rooms without permission, but she had no room in her head for that. Alisa threw open the wardrobe.

Suits, suits, suits, several identical black top hats, and tucked between them, the only things that looked remotely comfortable — white nightshirts. A wardrobe of obsessive, unbroken black, as though someone had spent a lifetime attending funerals. In the bottom drawer, she found what she was looking for.

There it was.

A gift box, sitting just as it had been left, neatly wrapped.

‘Found it.’

Alisa opened the box and pulled the clothes on. Quickly, faster. Her hands were shaking so badly she missed the buttons several times, but it didn’t take long to get herself into some semblance of order.

When she stepped out of the dressing room, Roben was still standing exactly where she had left him. Alisa gave him a quick bow and moved to leave.

“Alisa, just a moment.”

“Roben, I need to go right now……”

“I won’t take long. Come here for just a moment.”

Alisa hesitated briefly, then ran to him.

Roben stepped a little closer and adjusted her clothes. He refastened the buttons she had done up wrong and smoothed out the wrinkled shirt.

“…… I’m so sorry, Roben. Coming like this out of nowhere. But I really…… I really don’t have time.”

“It’s all right.”

“I can go now, can’t I. You prepared all of this knowing I’d come. Didn’t you?”

“…… Yes. You can go now. Don’t rush. Take it slowly.”

After fastening the last button, he opened his arms slightly, almost as though to embrace her. But he stepped back before Alisa could lift her own arms. Enough to make her wonder if she had imagined the gesture.

“Go carefully.”

Alisa nodded.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes.”

“And when I come back — I’ll introduce you to my friend. His name is Eden. You already knew that, didn’t you?”

“…… Yes.”

Alisa took one step back. Then she bowed deeply to Roben.

“Thank you. For everything.”

Roben stood with one hand behind his back, giving a light bow in return. She gave a rough nod and turned away. Even in that moment, the thought that Eden might be in danger kept her from sparing even a wave.

The sound of her footsteps faded as she went down the stairs. The front door never made a sound of closing.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

[Leonard II took little part in governing during his reign. Instead, he is said to have quietly supported the revolutionary forces amid the corruption and chaos within the country.
On the surface, however, he was branded a tyrant and drew the fury of the people, meeting a tragic end on the gallows at the age of twenty-one.
His death became the catalyst for fifty years of republican rule. The monarchy was eventually restored, but the political framework established during this period became the foundation of the parliamentary system.
And so the world speaks of parliamentary governance.
As the gift Leonard II left behind.]