It was fixated entirely on Hannah.

‘Why?’

Alisa looked at Hannah carefully. The next move came to her the moment she spotted the generous smear of cheese around Hannah’s mouth.

Alisa tapped the boy urgently on the shoulder.

“Hey, do you see that mouse?”

“……Yes.”

“I think it’s about to go for Hannah in a moment. When it does, can you knock her out?”

“I’m not sure.”

The boy frowned, looking uncertain. But Alisa was resolute. She pushed the boy — a full head shorter than her — without mercy.

“No, you can do it! You have to!”

“No, wait, I……”

“Now!”

The mouse, whiskers bristling and eyes locked on the cheese around Hannah’s mouth, leapt. Alisa shoved the boy hard in the back.

The boy stumbled forward with a yelp and lurched out in front of Hannah. Hannah’s eyes went wide the instant she saw him.

“Who are you! What is some brat in old-fashioned clothes doing in my house…… Aaaaaah!”

Before Hannah could finish, the mouse launched itself at her lips. It began to gnaw at them with terrifying ferocity.

“Aaaaaah! Wh, what is this! A mouse, it’s a mouse!”

The boy hesitated for a moment, then approached Hannah with a look of resolve. What happened next was over in an instant. Despite having said he’d never done it before, the boy struck the back of Hannah’s neck with a perfectly clean motion.

“Ugh……”

Caught off guard, Hannah crumpled without resistance. Thud — her body sprawled flat on the hallway carpet.

Alisa rushed over to Hannah’s side and peered down at her.

“She’s not badly hurt, is she?”

“The carpet is soft, so she should be fine. She’ll have quite a lump on her head, though.”

The boy held his hand under Hannah’s nose to confirm she was breathing, then nodded and quickly stepped back. The moment the two children retreated, the mouse, eyes gleaming, launched itself at Hannah.

“Ugh……”

The boy couldn’t suppress a grimace. Alisa grabbed his arm and pulled.

“Come on, this way.”

“Is it all right to leave her like that?”

“She sometimes sleeps in the hallway when it’s hot. She’ll be fine.”

The boy wasn’t entirely convinced, but he didn’t linger. The squeaking of the mouse in his ears was too unsettling for that.

He shuddered and ran in the direction Alisa pointed. They went out through the back door as planned and slipped into the kitchen, where the warm, nutty smell of bread hit them immediately.

Any thought of the maid left behind in the hallway vanished at once.

“Here, the bread on this side was baked recently. Should I find some butter too?”

“That would be wonderful.”

Alisa pulled a tablecloth from one corner. It was a patchwork of mismatched scraps, but laying it over the table was still better than nothing. She rummaged through the kitchen in every direction after that, until the table looked presentable enough.

“Ta-da! Let’s eat.”

A baguette landed on the boy’s plate with a thump.

The boy looked back and forth between the crookedly placed knife and fork, the unevenly spread tablecloth, and Alisa’s face. He looked up to find her beaming at him, butter knife in hand.

A small feast had been laid in the shabby kitchen, which was lucky to be free of cobwebs.

The young host kept letting out little gasps of delight even while setting out a few pieces of bread, for reasons known only to her.

The boy broke off a piece with an unreadable expression. He put exactly one bite-sized piece in his mouth and chewed without a single crumb on his lips. He didn’t even make a sound.

Stunned by the refined manner of it, Alisa tore off a fistful of her own baguette. Then she thrust it directly in front of the boy’s mouth.

“At that rate, when are you going to finish eating!”

“……No, this is far too large……”

“Never mind that, just try it!”

The boy’s expression said it was out of the question to put a piece that large in his mouth in one go, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse outright.

He ended up with his mouth stuffed full of baguette and couldn’t hide his discomfort. His jaw ached, his throat felt blocked. He was sure the bread was going to fall out if he parted his lips even slightly.

He chewed desperately, trying to get it all down somehow — and then, at some point, something shifted in his eyes. The taste was different from before. Saliva flooded his mouth, and the crunch of the crust crumbling under his teeth came through with startling clarity.

Alisa noticed his expression change and grinned.

“Well?”

“……Different.”

It tasted completely different from when he’d been nibbling at a proper bite-sized piece in silence. The boy felt the dramatic difference for himself and began to chew faster.

He swallowed everything in his mouth and looked up to find Alisa’s eyes on him across the table. They read each other’s thoughts in an instant. Both children lunged for the baguette at the same time and began stuffing bread into their mouths without waiting for the other.

“Wait, I was saving that piece……”

“First come, first served!”

“Wait, just a moment……”

The table was a mess in no time. Breadcrumbs scattered everywhere, and the fork ended up on the floor at some point. The two ate until the basket was empty, then finally settled back into their chairs.

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“You, your cheek, there’s butter on your cheek!”

“You have breadcrumbs on your eyebrow.”

“You have some in your hair too!”

The boy reached over toward Alisa, who was giggling, and brushed the crumbs from her eyebrow. Alisa grabbed the tablecloth like a handkerchief and scrubbed at his cheek.

The meal came to an end when the lopsided tablecloth finally slid off the table and onto the floor.

Rather than clean up the kitchen, the two tore off bits of cheese and scattered them here and there to make it look like mice had been at it all night. They didn’t forget to poke a hole in the flour sack to complete the perfect crime.

They tiptoed past the hallway where Mary was dead asleep, crept up the ladder, and returned to the attic. Back in the room, they sat on the bed facing each other. Then they burst out laughing.

The boy shook his head and said:

“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything this disgraceful.”

“Me too!”

“What? So you dragged me into something reckless that you’ve never done before either?”

“I gave you the finest hospitality a guest could receive!”

The boy shook his head at that.

Full for the first time in a long while, Alisa lay back on the bed with a contented look, regardless of what the boy thought. She stretched her legs out over the edge and began swinging them up and down.

The boy watched the two feet swinging back and forth like a pendulum, then lay down beside her. Alisa, as though she had been waiting for exactly this, tucked a pillow into his arms.

Hugging the remaining pillow to herself, Alisa spoke up.

“All right, now tell me your name.”

“Did I not already tell you?”

“How am I supposed to call you by a name that long? I can’t say Eden Reuben Roben every single time.”

Hmm — there was a hint of laughter in the boy’s voice as he considered it.

“Ordinarily there’s no need to think about it. People call me Your Highness, or Duke Reuben.”

“Oh…… right. Of course they do.”

Alisa turned to look at the boy with an unfamiliar expression.

They had made a mess of the kitchen together and nearly forgotten for a moment, but the boy lying beside her was a prince. Not a storybook prince — a real, breathing prince from the age of monarchy.

Alisa slowly turned the long name over in her mind.

“Your Highness… Eden Reuben Roben?”

“That’s enough. Call me Eden.”

“Not Reuben?”

“Reuben is the name my father gave me.”

“What’s wrong with that? My name was given to me by my dad too.”

“……You’re quite fond of your father, aren’t you?”

“Of course!”

“Of course……”

The boy looked at Alisa quietly, then gave a small smile. He shook his head. Alisa stuck out her lower lip.

“What’s that expression for!”

“No, it’s nothing. I just thought — your father must have been a very good person.”

The boy smiled faintly and added one more word.

“At the palace, everyone calls me Duke Reuben. No one can call me Eden. It’s the name only my mother used.”

“Oh……”

“I’m making a special exception for you. Are you satisfied now?”

The boy’s words settled quietly in her ears.

Alisa murmured the new name to herself. Eden. After mouthing it to herself a dozen or so times, it seemed to suit him far better than Reuben.

A pale blue dawn light fell across Eden’s shoulders as he nodded. Morning was already breaking.

When the magic of the night wore off, what would become of Eden?

Alisa looked back and forth between the light seeping through the window and Eden’s face. He had appeared without warning — he could disappear just as suddenly.

She turned that thought over and told herself quietly.