CHAPTER 1
—JOURNEY OF MEMORIES
1
—Memories came rushing back.
The beginning felt far, far away.
“—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
A sobbing voice was apologizing.
Tormented by sorrow, the voice begged for forgiveness out of an unendurable sense of guilt.
“Why?” she recalled asking the voice.
“—Because I left you all alone.”
“You did?”
“—Because all this time, I couldn’t find you.”
“But I’m right here?”
She wanted to tell that tearful, grieving voice something.
She wanted to explain there was no reason to say sorry or be so upset.
That’s why, in place of those things, there is something I want you to tell me.
“What’s…your name?”
“My name is…”
In the past, she had seen this dream over and over.
The end of the dream was swallowed up by light; it was a dream she’d had over and over, time and time again, never hearing what came next—
To her, knowing how that dream ended and finding her family was the beginning of everything.
—But the memories that reappeared went even further into the past than those frozen bonds.
Bit by bit, bit by bit, she retraced her steps, deeper and deeper into her past, which had been sealed away—
2
Surrounded by tall trees, Emilia calmly advanced down an almost nonexistent path, carrying an unshakable sense that she’d been here before.
Stepping across the carpet of grass, she took care to avoid the flowers hidden in the shadows of the trees as she pressed forward. Feeling the hard soil through the soles of her shoes, Emilia tilted her head in confusion. It was a mystifying feeling.
After all, this was the inside of a dream, an imaginary world based on the recollections of a homeland that slept in Emilia’s memories.
“But I can smell the wind here and feel the soil… Somehow, it’s really mysterious, huh?”
“?”
“Echidna? Hey, are you listening? …Ah!”
Wondering why there was no reply, Emilia looked back to check on the woman. Turning around, she saw a beautiful Witch with voluminous white hair, lagging behind as she struggled to traverse the woods.
As the Witch placed a hand on a tree, dragging the hem of her too-long skirt, Emilia rushed toward her.
“I’m sorry, are you all right? Did I walk a little too fast?”
“Do you really think such a transparent display of sympathy would change my opinion of you? How utterly naive.”
The Witch—Echidna—lifted her face in response, brushing back her snow-white hair as she offered a blunt rebuke. Emilia puffed up her cheeks, annoyed by the snide attitude.
“Hey, is that how you talk to someone who’s just worried about you? If your shoes aren’t good for walking here, it might be better to go barefoot. The forest grass is soft, so you should be fine.”
“…Could you be any more mistaken? Your concern is completely unnecessary. I merely entered the dream a tad too deeply. Adjusting it should only take a moment—like so.”
“Wow.”
Emilia had removed her shoes as a helpful demonstration, but Echidna simply flashed a cold smile. The Witch touched a nearby tree to show how her hand could now pass right through its thick trunk. In a similar fashion, her feet phased through the grassy ground that had given her such trouble earlier.
Emilia’s eyes went wide at this apparent violation of the laws of nature.
“Concerning your earlier, uncouth questions, referring to this as a dream world is nothing more than a figure of speech. To be precise, this is a dimension more accurately described as an alternate plane of existence that resides solely within the mind, replaying the memories of the person undertaking the Trial. Since it reproduces your experiences, is it not natural for this place to have color, shape, and taste?”
“I don’t really get it, but…does that mean if I go on a rampage, the forest will get messed up real bad?”
“That is truly a thought befitting an uncivilized Witch. However, what you are imagining is impossible. Right now, you are a being half a step removed from this world, meaning you are unable to interfere on a level sufficient enough to affect it. Nor can you make contact with the people within the memory. Though, I suppose if you could, it would be a Trial in a different sense.”
“Hmm… And what sense would that be?”
“Instead of asking endless questions, why not try using your own head for a change? Or perhaps that is too much to ask of you, a spoiled child used to getting whatever you desire.”
Echidna snorted in a scornful manner as she phased out her presence more and slipped effortlessly through the forest. Even though she was being mocked for her ignorance, Emilia chided herself, because the Witch’s words rang true.
If she did nothing but ask questions, it was a sign she couldn’t help but depend on others. She needed to do more thinking for herself—
“I thought about it, but I still don’t understand. Could you tell me the answer?”
“?”
“What’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?”
“What a repulsive attitude… Besides him and my friends, you are probably the only one able to rouse my emotions to this extent, though they are distinctly feelings of displeasure.”
“So even you have friends, Echidna. That’s so nice,” murmured Emilia, full of envy, causing Echidna to click her tongue in irritation. It didn’t seem like she took that as a compliment.
“—The regrets that might surface in the Trial are myriad, so numerous that attempting to classify them would be absurd.”
“Huh? Oh right, got it.”
“There are moments in life that become seeds of regret and take root in a person’s heart. At the same time, they can be the bedrock of a relationship. The way to confront lingering regrets will change depending on such circumstances. There are some pasts that cannot be overcome without making connections and talking things over with another.”
“…I see… So that’s how it is.”
Emilia took Echidna’s explanation to heart.
It made sense that regrets couldn’t be easily summed up in a nice, simple package. For instance, if someone’s regret stemmed from a past argument, remaining on bad terms with whomever they argued with could become a source of agony.
Even if people went through the same phenomenon, how they overcame their pasts varied depending on the individual.
“Mm, thank you…for the explanation…and for answering my question even though you hate me.”
“The last thing I want is for you to mistake me for some kind of really good person, as you would put it. Nothing I have ever known before could come close to such humiliation. Answering your question is simply in my nature.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Echidna was being thorny and standoffish, but the fact that she replied at all meant Emilia didn’t find it particularly hard to get along with her. Even if she hated Emilia, Emilia didn’t hate Echidna. After all, Emilia hardly knew the Witch well enough to have such strong feelings one way or another.
This incompatible pair advanced deeper and deeper into the forest that resided in Emilia’s memories of her homeland.
Emilia was certain that whatever lay ahead was linked to the regrets she continued to harbor.
“Do you remember that your previous Trial ended in a pathetic, agonizing defeat?”
“I remember I was so useless that I can’t even deny what you said.”
Refusing to walk side by side with Emilia, Echidna disparaged her from behind.
This was the second time Emilia was challenging the Trial, but her previous attempt had failed so spectacularly that she had just wanted to hide her face in shame. The worst part was she couldn’t even remember what exactly had gone wrong.
—Emilia couldn’t actually remember what she had seen in the previous Trial.
“I probably sealed away the memories I don’t want to see. That must be why I can’t remember them on my own. Even now…I’m still not ready to see them.”
“So if you fail again, then it’s just inevitable? What a cowardly thing to say.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. This…is where I start getting myself ready.”
Shaking her head in response to Echidna’s condemnation, Emilia firmly refuted the claim that she was looking for an excuse.
Those words made the Witch knit her brow. Right around the same time, the underbrush fell away as they slipped out of the woods they had been walking through for so long. Coming within view was a massive tree, larger than anything else in the Great Elior Forest—
“—It’s more than just an oversize tree, right? There’s a door at the roots. Is something inside the hollow of the trunk?”
Setting her gaze upon that giant tree, Echidna astutely noticed there was something peculiar at the center of the tree’s roots, which rose out of the ground. The hollow at the center of the giant tree was about as large as a decent-size room. The door at the entrance was firmly closed. It had a bolt on it, which could be used to keep it firmly shut from the outside.
“It seems as though someone really wants to keep whatever’s inside locked away.”
“…Echidna…do you know something?”
“Such a vague question is nothing but a bother. What could you possibly be referring to?”
Emilia stared at her with upturned eyes, but Echidna simply shrugged, her face professing ignorance. Did she really have no idea, or did she know what was going on here after all? Probably the latter, thought Emilia.
“This is the Princess Room—it’s where they always made me play when I was very young.”
The moment she described the place aloud, vivid memories resurfaced. This was a special place where Emilia, who was treated like a princess in this forest, could play by herself in safety.
She had been brought here many, many times and spent so, so much time here alone.
“Oh, that’s right; I can’t touch the door. Can I just pass right through it?”
“Yes, because of how the world perceives you. Of course, a person lacking flexibility in her thinking might…”
“Wow, it’s true. I passed right through… Coming, Echidna?”
“?”
Echidna narrowed her eyes in silence at the sight of Emilia phasing halfway through the door. The Witch seemed dour, but it also seemed she had no intention of explaining why. Deciding to move on, Emilia crept through the door ahead of her.
As she entered the interior, she spotted the tree’s occupants in the thin, diaphanous light.
“Ah…”
Before her were an adult and a child staring at each other, engaged in conversation. The instant she caught sight of their violet eyes, Emilia made a slight sound in her throat.
The young girl turned toward the entrance had long silver-colored hair and round violet eyes. Recognizing that face from her memories, Emilia instantly grasped that this was her own past self.
—Emilia had long since stopped looking into mirrors. Her mental image of herself had never changed in all that time, even to the present day.
“I presume that child is you. Even though she knows nothing of what’s to come, her carefree face still makes me want to sigh.”
“Don’t start complaining about my younger self, too. Besides, right now, there’s someone else…”
More important than Echidna’s insults—more important than running into her young self—was the other person who was in the room.
“?”
Drawing in her breath, Emilia finally circled around the figure. Then she looked squarely at the person speaking to her younger self—at an elf with an elegant appearance and ears a little longer than a human being’s.
Just like Emilia, the woman had silver-colored hair and violet eyes. However, she’d cut her glistening silver hair short for convenience, and her beautiful, gemstone eyes were almond-shaped and sharp.
Even though the woman always described herself as grotesque, Emilia really liked the way she looked.
She was gallant and awe-inspiring. Emilia’s memories of her were so striking that it almost hurt. After all, this person was—
“—My mother, Fortuna.”
This was the woman who had lived with Emilia in the Great Elior Forest as her surrogate mother.
At the very least, to Emilia, she was family as much as any real mother could be.
“?”
—That instant, a memory that had been resting in the depths of oblivion gently floated to the surface.
It was a memory of what she and her mother had been speaking about in the Princess Room at that time.
3
“—Emilia, I have something very important I need to do right now, so behave yourself in here, okay?”
Yes, young Emilia was enormously upset over being cooped up in that Princess Room.
From time to time, the adults of the elven settlement in the Great Elior Forest would set out to take care of some important business, leaving Emilia behind. The same grown-ups who normally doted on Emilia were absolutely unwilling to compromise on this every time it came up.
—It was important to uphold your word, respect others, and honor that which had been decided. These were the precepts that Emilia had been taught by her mother figure, Fortuna.
Mother figure was a rather roundabout turn of phrase, but it was none other than Fortuna herself who always described their relationship that way, persistently insisting she was nothing more than a replacement.
“I’m the younger sister of your father, Emilia. My brother…your father, and your mother are very busy, so they can’t be together with you right now. That’s why they trusted me to take good care of you.”
That was how Fortuna had first explained it. The initial impact Emilia felt at the time was difficult to forget.
But it wasn’t because she felt hurt or abandoned. In fact, it was the exact opposite—she was ecstatic.
Whatever the facts, Fortuna was Emilia’s mother as far as she was concerned. And yet, she supposedly had another mother. Most people lived with one father and just one mother. Emilia had two—it surprised her that something so happy could happen.
“You get your silver hair from my brother, huh. It seems this eye color of ours runs in the family as well… But that gentle face comes from your mother. Everyone on my side of the family has a foul look in their eyes.”
“…But I really like your eyes.”
Fortuna’s eyes were as sharp as a beast’s fang. From time to time, Emilia pushed her over the edge by breaking one rule or another, and those eyes would become even fiercer. Whenever that happened, Emilia trembled with fear.
Those stormy moments aside, Emilia thought Fortuna was an ideal mother. She found even that piercing gaze lovely and heartwarming.
As a mother, Fortuna was strict but gentle. Even her strictness had a soft touch to it.
“I have plenty I really regret. I should have been kinder to a lot of people. If only I’d thought that way sooner, I probably wouldn’t have relied on my brother to the very end.”
When she emphasized the word really by force of habit, a very lonely expression crossed Fortuna’s face.
It was because this impression stayed with Emilia so very strongly that she deliberately mimicked her mother’s mannerisms years later. She chose to use them not when she was sad but when she was happy and when she was smiling.
Not wanting her mother, who she loved so much, to bear burdens like sadness and loneliness, Emilia carried a childish hope that associating Fortuna’s favorite phrase with good memories would help paint over all the bad ones.
“Grrr… Boooring.”
Returning to the earlier scene, young Emilia had been left behind all alone in the Princess Room.
The adults adored Emilia as if she were an exquisite butterfly or a flower. They spared little expense in their attempts to keep her entertained, filling the Princess Room with picture books, dolls, and a variety of drawing materials. Even so, boredom was boredom—Emilia was not fond of spending time in this room.
“And Mom is the one always telling me it’s wrong to lie and hide things, isn’t she?”
Adults weren’t fair. They would teach children one rule, and then using this or that excuse, they would turn around and immediately break it themselves.
She wanted to go and see what game they were playing and join in if she could. But what would put a stop to the wish in Emilia’s thoughts was that her mother always came back for her when she waited like a good girl. Still…
“I want to go outside…”
Her muted words were not meant for any other person; she was merely muttering her wish aloud. But the desire Emilia had murmured reached not the adults but something else instead.
“—?”
In the corner of the room, a pale glow abruptly floated upward. It was a flickering, fleeting, faint light, and Emilia gaped at its sudden appearance. As the phosphorescent glow stole Emilia’s gaze, it cut across the room, sinking into the wall as it vanished.
“No fair! Wait! Wait!”
Youthful jealousy won over surprise. Pattering toward the corner of the room, Emilia gingerly touched the wall that had absorbed the light. She felt a little uneasy, but her inquisitiveness handily won out.
“Ah!”
Emilia discovered a little hole in the wall that her arm could easily slip into. There was no mistaking that this was how the light had slipped outside. It seemed like if she tried hard enough, she could widen that hole, which was a gap created by the tree roots entwined together at that spot.
“Ngh—”
With her arm still thrust into the hole, Emilia suddenly entertained a rather large worry.
The entrance to the Princess Room had been bolted shut and would absolutely not open until Fortuna returned. In other words, to Emilia, this hole could become her escape route to freedom. However, her mother had told her to wait in the room no matter what. Her heart ferociously swung between her personal curiosity and her mother’s admonition.
“…Well, Mom and the other grown-ups are doing something secret, too, so that makes us even.”
In the end, with this one final excuse, Emilia inserted her body into the gap between the tree roots.
She was small, but the gap was even smaller. Forcing herself into the tiny space, she got her face and clothes dirty with mud as she somehow managed to crawl her way outside the hollow of the tree.
“—Ah.”
As Emilia felt the wind on her cheek, her eyes glimmered with an odd sense of achievement.
Even though she’d just broken a rule, she wanted to go straight to Fortuna that very moment and brag, saying, Eh-heh-heh, I did it! Of course, if she did that, the scolding she’d get would be akin to a firestorm, so Emilia stopped herself just short of rushing out. It was a close call.
With a light step, Emilia broke into a happy run, leaving the Princess Room in the dust. To Emilia, this forest was her backyard. Somehow, she simply knew where Fortuna and the other adults were located.
In no time at all, Emilia found the adults, who had gathered in a forest glade. Mixed in with the adults was Archi, the next youngest after Emilia. The elven boy, who was much like an older brother to Emilia, was just as guilty as the adults for leaving Emilia out despite being a kid himself. It was practically unforgiveable.
But what caught her attention even more than the traitorous Archi was the group of individuals in the clearing wearing black clothing—they were guests unfamiliar to Emilia.
“I’ll be sneaky…”
Aware she was doing something bad, Emilia opted to hide and peek from behind cover.
To avoid being seen by anyone in the clearing, Emilia selected a large tree, nimbly leaping up and climbing its branches. Tree-climbing was her specialty, something that constantly worried Archi and the others.
“—You always, always do so much to take care of us like this.”
Emilia heard a voice at virtually the same moment she lay upon a large tree branch.
From her vantage point, she could see all the elves from the settlement had gathered in the glade. Excluding Emilia, the population was around fifty people total. In contrast, the people in black numbered fewer, at around twenty.
The representatives from each respective side were discussing something right in the center of the glade. The elven representative, Fortuna, seemed like she was trying to hide something. Having spoken up first, she continued keeping a firm grip on the conversation thereafter.
“These are things that are difficult to obtain in the forest, so everyone is grateful.”
“We happily accept your kind words. Indeed, it pains me to say that this is the only way in which we can provide any support. Lady Fortuna, we always place such a burden upon you.”
“That goes for both of us, Geuse.”
With but the tiniest flutter of her long ears, Emilia strained to pick up the pieces of the conversation flitting between Fortuna and the other speaker. Even though she could hear them, she did not really understand the meaning of their words, but somehow, she detected affection in her mother’s pained smile.
Her mother’s affection was for the tall man in the black robe, whom she called Geuse.
The robe was a loose fit, but Emilia could instantly tell that his physique was supple and honed. Elves were often slender, so this was very new to her. Under his coiffed green hair was a watchful face, but his downcast eyes professed the deep humility he held while addressing Fortuna.
The sight made Emilia proud. Her mother was incredible enough to make such a large man curry her favor.
“Also, as I must confirm each time…is the seal intact?”
Emilia had puffed her chest in a strange sense of pride, but the man’s next words blew that all away. She could sense the weighty, complex emotions brimming in the man’s voice.
“I’d like to joke that you worry too much, but I don’t really feel like laughing. It’s all right, though; the seal is holding firm with no change whatsoever. No matter what happens, I can’t let it be lifted for even a moment—I would never be able to look my brother or sister in the eye otherwise.”
“About your older brother and his spouse…”
“It’s fine. I understand. It’s just…I will absolutely never forget the weight of the responsibility entrusted to me. I don’t intend to ever abandon it, nor fulfill it half-heartedly. The same goes for you, right?”
“I… This is the only thing I have. My sense of duty and responsibility surely differs from yours, Lady Fortuna. Compulsion, lingering regrets… I cling to them almost obsessively. That is all.”
When Geuse flashed an empty smile, Fortuna lowered her eyes, her expression pained. Behind the pair, the other adults were working to unload some baggage from the wagons that the black robes had apparently brought with them. From a distance, the cargo appeared to be clothing, foodstuffs, books, and so forth. Everything that was hard to find in a forest.
“Thanks to the blessings of the spirits, the changing of the seasons has little effect upon this forest, but even so, getting clothes and books is a really big help. We’re grateful as always.”
“By rights, your people deserve far better than this. It is not proper that you have been forced to live in such an inconvenient place like this.”
“Come on—don’t talk like that. We love the forest, you know.”
Fortuna softly smiled as she spoke those words with a joking tone. Her kind expression carved a thin smile onto Geuse’s lips. For a while, a gentle atmosphere seemed to surround the pair—
“—Lady Fortuna, the unloading is complete. I would like to thank all the disciples.”
“Yes, thank you, Archi.”
The one who offered the report was a youth who had his golden hair tied back in a triple braid. Bowing once to Fortuna, this young elf, who was clad in a white garment, turned to face Geuse.
“Lord Archbishop, on behalf of everyone in the forest, you have our thanks for always supporting us.”
“This is the least I could do. I see that you have become a bit more reliable, Master Archi.”
“The next Guardian cannot let himself be treated as a child forever.”
Their exchange contained respect but also envy. The pair didn’t seem very friendly, considering how distantly they addressed each other.
“Do remain in good health, for the sake of the forest, the seal, yourself, and your family as well.”
Using these words as Archi’s send-off, Geuse reluctantly gave the glade one final glance and bowed. Those dressed in black followed suit. Then Archi, Fortuna, and all the other adults touched a hand to their chests and closed their eyes, an elven gesture that conveyed their respect.
At the end of that exchange, the black-clothed visitors began to lead the wagons out of the glade—
“Right, one last thing—is Lady Emilia in good health?”
“—!”
Geuse, on the verge of leaving, paused to ask a question that practically brought Emilia’s heart to a stop.
She’d never imagined her name would suddenly appear at a time like this. She hurriedly covered her mouth, holding back a yelp.
“Don’t worry. Emilia is a lively kid, and she’s growing up to be a really good girl. Such a good girl is almost wasted on us… But I’m sorry. I cannot allow her to meet you yet.”
“It is fine. I wish for nothing more. If Lady Emilia is being raised well, that is enough. A sinner such as I cannot hope for anything greater than this.”
This was not merely a show of humility. It was obvious the man’s voice carried a deep sense of shame and self-reproach toward himself.
As Geuse lowered his eyes, Fortuna did not offer any cheap words of consolation. He nodded, as if her silence was a form of salvation.
“—Lord Archbishop Romanée-Conti, are you ready?”
Addressed by a single man at the very end of the train of departing wagons, Geuse warmly spread his arms wide.
“Yes, this is sufficient. Now, let us grave sinners depart. Lady Fortuna, I shall see you again soon.”
“…Even if no one else says it, we are grateful to all of you. I really mean it.”
“Surely, it is for those words alone that I have given myself over to a century of anguish.”
Leaving after one last pleasant smile, Geuse set off from the glade. Watching them go until they were no longer in sight, Fortuna closed her eyes but once, exhaling deeply.
“Lady Fortuna, are you tired? If this is hard on you, we can handle the rest from…”
“…How cheeky of you. Don’t go treating me like an old woman just yet. I may be older than someone like you, who’s young through and through, but I’m still very much in my prime.”
“I—I wouldn’t dare! It’s simply that the role of Guardian must be very arduous…”
Archi flew into a panic, his face going pale at the thought that his attempt to be considerate might have been misunderstood. However, once Fortuna burst into laughter, even the young boy realized she was just making fun of him.
“No matter how capable you are, you’re so gullible that I’m worried you might not cut it as Guardian. You have to be really dependable if I’m going to entrust my precious treasure to you.”
“P-please do not joke about that, Lady Fortuna…”
“Yes, yes, sorry. But can I take you up on your offer and leave this to you? I’m rather certain I have a very bored princess who I need to let out soon.”
“—?!”
The various questions Emilia had been mulling over up to that point were all blown away by Fortuna’s words. Emilia almost tumbled down as she leaped from the tree, hurrying back to the Princess Room.
Somehow, she used the same gap she’d escaped from to roll her way into the room. All good, she thought as she rose, but she immediately despaired when she realized her entire outfit was all muddy, like that of a child who’d been playing outside.
“What should I do, what should I do, what should I do…?!”
Initially, she thought she might be forgiven if she apologized. However, now that she’d eavesdropped on the conversation in the glade, she no longer thought it was possible. She was almost certain Fortuna hadn’t wanted her to hear that conversation.
If Fortuna came to hate her, Emilia would be ruined. It would be the end of the world. If she didn’t at least hide the scrapes on her body, Fortuna would realize right away. She was afraid of even sinking into the bath with all these scratches.
“Eh…?”
If I don’t do something soon…
Her mind was racing, but then Emilia saw something that interrupted her frantic thoughts; the pale, phosphorescent glow had come once more.
This was the same light that had masterminded Emilia’s escape plan. Emilia was perplexed when it flickered and swayed as it moved closer. Then the light’s luminosity gradually grew stronger—
“—Amazing.”
When Emilia touched the pale light, she felt warm as the scrapes on her body were healed. In several seconds, the marks were gone without a trace. Now, if she could only do something about the muddy clothes, she’d be all right.
Turning over a pot filled with ink for drawing, she thoroughly marred the clothes she wore, staining them black. Her clothes were so dirty that even a wash wouldn’t clean them completely; if she smeared her clothes so that the mud was no longer obvious, then—
“—Emilia, are you awake?”
“Myauh! I-I’m awake! I’m awake, Mom! B-but…”
“Hmm? Why are you in such a hurry…? Huh?”
The bolt opened audibly outside, after which Fortuna poked her head in through the open door. Fortuna had a gentle smile on her face, but she grimaced the moment she entered the room.
“It really smells of ink in here… What happened?”
“Errr…I-I’m sorry! I spilled the pot for drawing all over the place…”
“This is a mess, all right…”
Fortuna put a hand to her forehead at the inky scent filling the room and the spilled pot, which had rolled onto its side. However, though first seemingly at a loss, she eventually smiled at Emilia.
“Well, there’s no use crying about it now. We need to get you out of that outfit and wash the ink off you. As for a change of clothes…ahhh, here we are. If I didn’t find any, I’d have to take a naked Emilia back home with me.”
“Um, Mom, I…”
“Oh, you’re such a worrywart, Emilia. You don’t have to be so scared. It’s not like you did it on purpose, so of course I’m not angry with you. More importantly, you’re not hurt, are you?”
Walking over, Fortuna stripped away all the dirty clothes off Emilia. Then, after confirming her daughter had no noticeable injuries, the mother embraced her beloved daughter.
“Mom?”
“Mm, it’s nothing. It’s just, I really…wanted to see you, Emilia.”
Fortuna continued to embrace Emilia like that as she brought her cheek close.
Normally, Fortuna never said such things that would make herself blush, which Emilia found so rare; she thought her mother seemed very forlorn. Hence—
“…How cheeky.”
Fortuna opened her eyes a crack and murmured as Emilia, who was in her embrace, stroked her short silver hair.
However, she did not tell her to stop. The mother quietly accepted the feeling of her daughter’s palm stroking her.
Gently, gently, Emilia continued stroking the head of her beloved mother.
“Hey, Emilia.”
“…Mm?”
“—I love you.”
There were many things she wanted to ask, many things she wanted to know.
—But at that moment, the young Emilia thought hearing that one phrase from her mother was plenty.
4
“I imagine your memories and the emotional scenes that had been locked away at the bottom of your heart are starting to overlap with each other little by little, yes?”
It was Echidna who spoke in this manner as she gazed at the mother-and-daughter pair embracing each other in the center of the Princess Room. There was no malice in this simple question. Emilia thought it was rather unexpected.
“I’m so surprised. I thought for sure you’d say much pricklier things about my younger self and my mother.”
“…Even if one thinks such things, ’tis not recommended to actually convey them to others. As it is, my already low opinion of you is about to plunge even further.”
“Ah, that’s all right. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t say anything like this to anyone but you, Echidna.”
“…For better or worse, you seem to be gradually getting influenced ever more strongly by him.”
“Really? Thank you.”
Echidna was twisting her lips in disgust. But understanding the him she indicated meant Subaru Natsuki, Emilia puffed her chest out just a tiny bit.
“—Then again, your impudence seems more an issue of your nature than anything you might have picked up from that boy. I have become quite sure of this after watching the actions your younger self was so proud of.”
“That’s… I kind of can’t excuse the way I behaved, either, but…”
Echidna’s assertion made Emilia reflect on her younger self with the benefit of hindsight. She’d broken a rule, slipped out of the room, eavesdropped on a conversation between adults, and had even contrived a trick to cover up the deed.
“The vulgarity of your character has such incredibly deep roots. Even with a fine mother showering you with love, you were incorrigible.”
“…Thank you for half of that.”
She was glad to hear Fortuna being praised as a good mother. Yes, Mom was splendid. Emilia revered her, simultaneously recalling those feelings of love while despairing over her own obvious shortcomings.
And those weren’t the only things she remembered.
“Geuse and Fairy…”
Lowering her eyes, Emilia murmured the two names that had played such key roles in her past. One was the green-haired man in the glade, Geuse. The other one was—
“The lesser spirit of healing that taught you about the gap in the wall… How ironic that you called it a fairy.”
Echidna’s teasing statement also seemed to express pity that she called the lesser spirit a fairy. That was a term for an evil spirit. No spirit would be pleased to be referred to as a detestable, abominable fairy. Even so, Emilia had a reason why she referred to the lesser spirit that way.
“There was a story about that in a book I read in this room. The book said fairies weren’t bad but were actually good. I can’t remember the details, though.”
She was sure she remembered a book conveying a fairy tale from another land. At present, she could remember neither the title nor the contents of the tome, but it had left a strong impression of fairies as being gentle, reliable creatures.
“So you have remembered your mother, an acquaintance, and this fairy. Is this the past you wished to see?”
“No, not yet. There’s still… I haven’t remembered enough yet.”
Shaking her head, Emilia replied to Echidna’s question as she left the cavity under the giant tree. She was walking not to a scene that lived in her memories but deeper into the forest, to a path barred by countless trees.
There rested something that she had to remember. Ahead lay—
“What’s there?”
“—The seal.”
5
—The first time the young Emilia became aware of the seal was after one of her now-numerous and dramatic escapes.
“There we go! Yay! It worked this time, too!”
Hmm-hmm, Emilia went, puffing out her chest, her hair full of leaves as she spoke with satisfaction.
The place was the Princess Room—or rather, outside it, right where she exited her lifeline to freedom. This was yet another day when she’d been left behind in the room, but she’d deftly escaped while Fortuna’s attention was occupied. The impact from falling from the hole was softened by the leaves that had accumulated underneath, and Emilia had completed yet another customary and felonious escape.
“Lately, Archi’s really been a worrywart, so I’ve got to be careful.”
Warily surveying her surroundings, Emilia exercised prudence in confirming that Archi, her watcher, was not around.
The traitor, Archi, who was in league with the adults, occupied a position much like Emilia’s overseer. It was fun playing with him, but these were two different stories. I absolutely can’t let my guard down, she thought, clenching her fists tightly.
“Okay, come out, Fairy.”
Confirming the enemy’s absence, Emilia called out to the phosphorescent glow floating overhead. Ever since their initial encounter, Emilia and the glow had become the best of friends; at that point, Emilia fondly referred to it as Fairy.
With the fairy’s cooperation, Emilia felt like the ruler of the forest. She could peek at conversations between adults, eat people’s snacks without permission, and shuffle the ornaments in other people’s houses, making her a grand criminal indeed.
“I wonder if Geuse and the others are coming today, too…”
Emilia hammered out her plan of action from that point forward as she plucked leaves off her head.
Thanks to her repeated crimes, Emilia had ascertained she was always left behind in the Princess Room when Geuse and the others visited the forest. Each time, Geuse and his people came with a train of wagons carrying foodstuffs and clothing. Everyone assembled at the glade to receive those things.
“I thought Mom and the others were hiding something a lot more fun and exciting.”
Now that she knew their secret, it held much less appeal for Emilia, leaving her bored. Even so, she frequently went to eavesdrop because from time to time, Emilia’s name, as well as terms that seemed related to her parents, cropped up during the conversations between Fortuna and Geuse.
Fortuna didn’t talk much about Emilia’s real parents. She hesitated to bring them up. That was why her conversations with Geuse were a golden opportunity for Emilia to discover more about them.
“Not that they talk about it much, but… Up! We! Go!”
Her scheme kept missing the mark, but she remained undaunted, climbing the tree and taking her usual position once more.
Below her was the now familiar scene of the adults in the glade. Fortuna and Geuse were there, too. At a distance, the pair seemed engaged in pleasant chat, but she felt Fortuna’s expression looked particularly relaxed.
“Lately, Emilia has been really energetic. She always comes back with mud on her clothes. I wash them and wash them day after day, but I just can’t seem to catch up.”
“If she is in good health, all is well and good. I have brought as many changes of clothes as I could. Beyond the forest, the winter season is finally ending, so many of these garments may prove unnecessary.”
“I’m sorry; even though we rely on you for so much already, I always seem to ask for more… Are there clothes for adults, too?”
“Yes, of course. Surely, there are some that suit you nicely as well, Lady Fortuna.”
Right in the middle of their discussion about Emilia, Geuse replied to her question with a soft expression that made Fortuna go rigid, as if he had slipped through a gap in her armor. After that, she seemed rather blushy as she glared at Geuse with upturned eyes.
“…Goodness. We’ve known each other this long, but I never realized you were the sort to make those kinds of jokes.”
“—? I merely intended to speak my mind. Did I say something odd?”
“…I know you are a man without guile. That makes it even worse, you know.”
As Geuse cocked his head in confusion, Fortuna averted her eyes with an exasperated air. The gesture brought a look of consternation to Geuse’s face, whereupon he gently reached his hand out toward Fortuna’s forehead. His palm touched her brow.
“…Geuse, what are you doing?”
“No, ah, come to mention it, once quite some time ago, Lady Fortuna, you were speaking sourly to me when you had a fever… It seems you do not at the moment.”
“How many decades ago was that? Goodness, you really do treat me like such a child.”
Fortuna pouted at his misplaced concern. However, the corners of her lips were smiling, making it obvious that she did not find their exchange unpleasant.
No, far from it—Fortuna was clearly enjoying her time with Geuse.
“…Muu.”
Somehow, Emilia did not find the sight of her mother like that very amusing at all.
The impression she had of Fortuna was that she was sharp-eyed, gallant, and strict to others. Her gentle, caring face was supposed to be her beloved daughter Emilia’s exclusive privilege.
“Hmph, stupid Geuse. And Archi’s stupid, too.”
She took out her anger on the acquaintance who had never met her and on the boy helping unpack the cargo.
Then Emilia decided in her heart that if this day, too, proved fruitless, she would let Geuse have a taste of her wrath. I’ll clog up the wagon wheels with cloth and spill oil all over them, thought Emilia, tracing out the ingenious, devilish revenge plot in her mind. But her machinations ended before they even began.
“—So is the seal still in place?”
Lowering the volume of his voice, Geuse raised what Emilia now recognized as a customary question. She’d become so used to this exchange that Fortuna’s reply came as no surprise.
“Same as always. You really do make sure to check each and every time, don’t you?”
“Such is my duty… Besides, though I do not wish to impart unnecessary concern, this time, there is some kind of suspicious air outside the forest. Perhaps it is needless anxiety on my part, but do keep this in mind.”
“…Understood. I, the Guardian, will keep watch over everything here, seal and Key included. Please take care of the outside.”
“I leave it in your hands—for Lady Emilia’s sake and for those two as well.”
As Geuse bent his hips, Fortuna nodded back with a serious look on her face.
“…Seal.”
As the pair’s conversation made her ears tremble, Emilia murmured a single word to herself.
The word seal came out without fail at the end of Fortuna and Geuse’s conversations. Up until then, she had little interest in the word. But this day was different.
The seal and Emilia had been mentioned in the same breath. Besides, she was also curious about the words Geuse had spoken at the end.
—Maybe, just maybe, those two referred to Emilia’s father and mother?
“Seal…”
Uttering the word once more, Emilia returned to the Princess Room. Tumbling into the cavity, Emilia moved with great haste, busily creating evidence that she’d been spending time in that room.
In a short while, she made a drawing, changed the clothes on the dolls, and helped herself to a variety of snacks.
With that job finished, she was just wiping the sweat off her brow when she heard Fortuna’s voice calling to her from outside.
“Emilia, sorry for the wait. Have you been a good girl today, too?”
“Ugh… I-I’ve been a good girl? I was good. Mm, yes, I was a good girl.”
“?”
“Wh-what is it, Mom? Don’t look at me like that; I haven’t done anything. I ate snacks, I drew pictures, and I played with my dolls, too. I really haven’t been outside or anything.”
“…I see. That’s good, then…”
It seemed like Emilia’s acting ability had all but fooled Fortuna’s eyes. A sense of guilt weighed upon Emilia, but she powered through, telling herself she could not falter there.
What she’d overheard in the glade today absolutely needed to stay secret. In particular, the seal was very important. Emilia was sure she remembered that a seal meant a hidden place of some sort.
And maybe, just maybe, could her own parents be hidden away in that seal?
And if it was somewhere in the Great Elior Forest, then—
“—Please, ’kay?”
Closing one eye, Emilia coaxed the phosphorescent glow she had befriended to search the forest for her.
Even at this point, the young girl’s exceptional beauty had begun to sprout—by the time she’d grown up, she would be able to charm people with her smile alone. Her adorable coaxing had employed but a small fraction of this.
6
Something seemed to be guiding Emilia’s feet as she and Echidna advanced deeper into the forest.
Strangely, she did not feel lost. For some reason, she simply knew where she needed to go, and she pressed on with a sense of certainty. She made full use of being disconnected from the world, walking straight through an awful path that was better described as a dense thicket.
The muddy ground, the large, tightly packed trees—after overcoming these obstacles, Emilia beheld a scene of white.
It was not snow—here, the trees, from leaf and branch to root, were pure white.
Both the sacred forest and the elven settlement were protected by numerous lesser spirits—yet, even within the Great Elior Forest, the anomalous air filling this place was conspicuous.
It was solemn, holy, a space exempt from the laws of the world. And at the center of this space was—
“—A door. A curious sight indeed.”
Right in the center of this space, ringed by pure-white trees, stood a “door,” which seemed to stand out from the rest of the forest.
The door was not strange in its outward appearance; it was how the door stood.
The double door was standing all on its own, right in the middle of this space. Though it was a door, it was not attached to any building, its appearance unchanged even if one circled behind it.
“This is the seal.”
As Echidna questioningly set her gaze upon the door, Emilia spoke to her.
The seal—this was the holy secret hidden in the depths of the Great Elior Forest. Fortuna and the residents of the settlement were protecting it, and Geuse never forgot to check that it was safe.
It was the same in Emilia’s memories and in the world reproduced from her present memories. There was no mistake.
It was a door connected to nothing, a door with no way of opening it, a door called a seal—
“But if this is the seal, what…?”
“—It seems the answer has arrived.”
Emilia placed her hand to her forehead as a wave of nausea hit her. More memories oozed out of her, like they were gnawing at old wounds. Echidna quietly let a soft sigh trickle out as she stood behind Emilia.
Emilia turned around. Ahead of her, a faint, phosphorescent glow leisurely floated by, and past it—
“This is the seal?”
She beheld the sight of her younger self, tilting her head with an innocent face as she gazed upon the door.
7
Young Emilia blinked her wide-open eyes repeatedly at the mysterious door standing right before her.
She’d finally ascertained the location of the seal that Fortuna and the others had been hiding. Even together with Fairy, it had been quite an ordeal to haphazardly search a large forest. But—
“Thanks to everyone, we cracked the case. Yay!”
Emilia grinned broadly at the phosphorescent lights twirling around her. There were more than before, but they weren’t so numerous that she couldn’t count them on her fingers. Through tenacious negotiations with the countless fairies scattered throughout the forest, she had gathered these fellows under her banner, building up a rather large host.
“Why isn’t it falling down with a fwomp?”
The seal, which had been successfully located with the fairies’ cooperation, wouldn’t budge no matter how much she pushed or pulled.
To the naked eye, the door appeared to be made of wood, but it felt cold, almost icelike to the touch. Rubbing the surface produced a pleasantly smooth sensation that was like stroking a polished gemstone; she thought that each and every thing about its existence was mysterious.
There was a lock right in the center of the closed door, looking old and bearing a keyhole around the size of Emilia’s palm. She wondered whose pocket could contain such a large key. The keeper must be a large person indeed.
“I don’t really get any of it…but we sure did find it. Clap, clap, clap.”
Hoping in her heart that her parents were hidden within the seal, she’d just gotten her first tangible lead. However, after satisfying her curiosity once, she was absolutely not content with stopping here.
She’d expose what everyone was hiding by working with the fairies. There was still much to be done.
“Hmph. It’s Mom and everyone else’s fault. Geuse’s fault, too.”
Thinking of the tall man dressed in the black habit and not currently present, Emilia stuck out her tongue. He was an enemy who’d seen a side of Emilia’s precious mother that she didn’t show to anyone else—without Emilia’s permission, to boot. Girding herself for an inevitable showdown, Emilia devoted herself fully to crafting a plan to defeat Geuse.
“I’ll surprise Geuse with Fairy and, while he’s in a big panic, stomp on his foot. I’ll stomp on both his feet, and with my heels, too! …That seems like it would hurt a lot, so I’ll keep it to just his toes.”
Even in her most heartless scheme, she didn’t neglect to add some measure of kindness. Anyone who insisted on fighting a cold-blooded battle who cared little for blood or tears would eventually lose the trust of their allies. She needed to treasure her bonds with the fairies.
“Okay, let’s head home. For today’s masterpiece, I feel like doing a red sky and a snow-white forest!”
Having achieved her latest objective, Emilia raced down the path home in a patter together with the fairies.
It was a fairly treacherous path, but the nimble Emilia hopped right over any obstacles. Really, Fortuna had told her she was forbidden from entering that area. That was what kept her from discovering the seal for so long. Mom is too shrewd.
“But we got one up on her, didn’t we…? What’s wrong?”
In the middle of treading down a poor and unfamiliar path, Emilia abruptly halted her feet as the fairies signaled her. They were blinking in and out in an irregular pattern, darting across her field of vision before drifting into a thicket off to the side.
“Mm? Mmmm? This…this smells like an adventure!”
The fairies’ state reminded Emilia of when she’d first met them in the Princess Room. That had laid the foundation for Emilia’s strong relationship with them. This time probably held some kind of meaning, too.
“Yahoo!”
Chasing after the fairies, Emilia energetically leaped into the underbrush. Pushing her way through the tall grass, she resolutely advanced along an animal trail, her silver hair getting snagged by branches several times along the way. And then—
“This is quite worrisome… She has strayed from the promised hour.”
“—Ah!”
Just when she was coming out of the thicket, she happened upon a black back standing in the forest. Letting out a voice of surprise, Emilia hurriedly covered her mouth and hid in the thicket. But it was too late.
“Oh my? To whom does this adorable rump belong to?”
A familiar voice addressed Emilia as she hid in the thicket with her butt in plain sight. The voice made Emilia twitch and tremble. He did not know her, but she knew him, the accursed villain.
“I—I request gentle treatment as your prisoner…”
Resigning herself that there was no fooling him, Emilia spoke words of surrender that she barely understood. As she raised a white flag, a smile came over the man—over Geuse.
“My, my, a rather adorable young lady has come to vi… Eh?”
The child’s adorable resistance put a relaxed expression on him, but in the next instant, that expression froze over.
Cutting off his words in shock, his tranquil face stiffened and went rigid. Seeing Geuse’s eyes wide-open startled Emilia, too; the pair faced off as a wave of complex emotions sloshed between them.
“Y-young lady… No, you could not be…”
Geuse’s voice trembled as he shook his head, seemingly in disbelief at what he was seeing. Looking up nervously, Emilia felt concern plucking at her tiny chest.
The man she saw was frail and forlorn, like a child who’d lost his way but been found by a parent, like a traveler always walking in darkness who had found the light, with an expression that was a mixture of fear and expectation.
—Someone had to speak to him. Someone had to hold his hand.
The instant she thought that, Emilia completely forgot all about the grudge she’d harbored for so long.
“—Geuse, are you all right?”
“—?! Ah, aah, ah, aaaah…!”
When she spoke to him, Geuse’s expression, Geuse’s emotions, broke down.
Feeling struck by Emilia’s gaze as if it were a thunderbolt, Geuse fell to his knees on the spot, his back trembling.
A flood of tears coursed from Geuse’s eyes as he gazed at Emilia with rapt attention. Geuse, the first large adult she had ever seen cry, drew his body back and shook his head toward Emilia.
—As if it was a prayer. As if it was a plea. As if simply giving thanks.
“All right… Yes, yes! I am indeed all right. There is no problem. After all, I… I, now, just now, have never known a greater sense of salvation than this…!”
“Really…? If that’s true, then why are you crying?”
“I am not…weeping out of sadness… My tears are from joy, from jubilation, from happiness… They are tears of warmth because I cannot contain such happiness. This is for no other reason than…how y-you…how your people have saved me… That’s why I—!”
Listening to Geuse’s weeping voice, Emilia held his hand. It felt like the natural thing to do.
The touch of his fingers conveyed his emotions to her. Emilia firmly clenched his hand in return. She dearly wished her own feelings might reach him as well.
—As Geuse sobbed over and over, what he had described as tears of happiness flowed without end.
“Crying because you’re happy…”
As Geuse continued to weep, Emilia somehow understood.
Emilia herself sometimes spent nights feeling lonely and unable to sleep. Whenever that happened, she crept into Fortuna’s bed, resting easy in the warmth of her mother’s embrace.
Inside her mother’s arms, Emilia was freed of worry, and somehow, she often felt like crying. Geuse might have been experiencing similar feelings to what Emilia had at such times.
Emilia wondered if she could grant him happiness the way her mother had done for her.
“It’s all right, Geuse. It’s all right. It’s okay.”
Consoling him, Emilia stroked Geuse’s head with her free hand.
When Geuse went rigid at the first touch, Emilia embraced his head against her tiny chest. The tremors of his sobs shot straight to her heart; it felt like she could feel the warmth of his body reaching deep inside her.
—Despite her grand plan to stomp on his feet, this was how they ended up together.
What a helpless person. What a weak foe. Of course she couldn’t do anything mean to someone who was crying. She had no choice but to help him feel better, so surely, Mom would forgive her, too.
“It must be lonely, crying by yourself.”
When Geuse was finished, they went to where her mother was, hand in hand.
Now she had to tell Mom. She had to tell her about meeting Geuse, about heading off to play deep in the forest, and that even though he was an adult, Geuse had cried his eyes out.
—She had to, now that the pair had shared their secrets and were no longer enemies but something akin to friends.
8
“—!”
For an instant, the torrent of resurrected memories made Emilia feel incredibly dizzy.
She blinked several times over and got her breathing back under control. The impact had left her heart thumping hard against her chest. By reliving memories as seen through her younger self’s eyes, Emilia had regained her precious past.
“I can’t believe I forgot so many things that’d happened…”
Emilia found no joy in those gaps getting filled. Rather, she felt remorse as she realized just how much she had taken for granted.
They were warm, precious memories—enough that she felt deep and sharp regret for having forgotten them in the first place.
The time she’d spent together with Mom; how Archi and everyone in the village had been so kind to her; Fairy, who had helped her with the seal and the Princess Room; and that she’d met Geuse, the man she was not supposed to meet, then befriended him—they were all precious and forgotten memories.
“But…I probably wouldn’t have been able to accept it all until very recently.”
The journey toward those lost memories was linked to the regret that ate away at Emilia’s heart. If she’d come unprepared to face her past, she probably would have never recovered. It was because Puck understood this that he had used their pact as a reason to bottle up Emilia’s memories.
In that state, even if she was to meet someone she should have remembered in some kind of tangible way, then surely, the sealed memories would have prevented her from understanding. Instead, there would only be pain and sorrow.
—All to protect Emilia’s heart from her own memories.
But with that pact broken, the lid on her memories had been lifted, and the path to her sealed past had been cleared.
By revisiting her memories, Emilia was finally ready to challenge her past—the origin of the regrets she’d been unable to face until now.
She had what she needed to confront these regrets that remained unconquered.
Last time, she’d been unable to do anything in the Trial except break down and cry. But now—
“—I’m scared, but I won’t cower.”
“Could you keep your decisions from sounding like they come from the disagreeable, weepy, clinging to a man whom I substitute as a father figure woman you are?”
When Emilia voiced her feelings toward the Trial, Echidna, standing behind her, simply poured on scorn. Emilia responded to the sarcasm infused into those words by boldly puffing out her chest.
“I’m sure Subaru will forgive me for that…but I don’t want him to lose faith in me, nor do I want to lose faith in myself. I’m weak, but I don’t want to dig in my heels and stay that way.”
Besides—
“I don’t want to turn all the words Subaru wrote for me into lies.”
He’d carved numerous cheers and countless feelings into the stone walls of the tomb for her sake, as she was challenging the Trial. It was receiving these words, and being sent off by them, that had brought Emilia that far.
“I trust Subaru. That’s why I want to be a girl who will not bring shame to those feelings.”
“—Do as you please. All I’m doing here is gloating over your anguish.”
No matter how much malice Echidna might pile on, Emilia’s current mindset could not be swayed with words. Perhaps realizing as much from the exchanges between them on their shared journey through her memories, Echidna lowered her shoulders and withdrew her poison. Emilia understood what the Witch’s demeanor meant.
“The preliminaries are over, aren’t they?”
“Indeed, they are— The opening skirmishes are over. This time, the Trial that broke you will truly begin.”
Echidna’s words made Emilia nod—and instantly, the scenery around them changed.
After the meeting with Geuse, the pair left the sealed woods using a forest trail, making their way hand in hand to a surprised Fortuna, whereupon she flew into a conflagration-like rage at both of them.
Then the three of them walked to the forest settlement side by side. Such was the scene.
It was as if this scene had waited for Emilia to fill the blanks in her memory—no, it was exactly that. Her memories, her homeland, and Fortuna and Geuse had surely been waiting for her…to watch gently over them all, the same way they had watched over young Emilia back then.
—They’d been there to welcome Emilia tenderly upon her return to the homeland in her memories.
“That’s why—”
—Emilia had to accept in full the Trial that yet awaited.
“—Please wait, Lady Emilia. Running around like that is dangerous…!”
“It’s not dangerous, not one little bit. You’re the one who keeps falling and scraping his knees, Geuse.”
“No matter how injured I may become, I care not. Lady Emilia’s body comes first. If your jewellike skin was to be damaged, even if I died, it would not be death enough!”
“Geuse, somehow, that way of speaking sounds really indecent.”
Emilia was jumping around the woodland trail recklessly, while making fun of Geuse like he was a very frail child stumbling around—sights that brought a pained smile over Fortuna as she pointed out how strange he sounded. Geuse hastily shook his head.
“N-no, no. I was not even thinking such insolence! I am purely concerned for Lady Emilia… Ahhh, Lady Emilia! You must not go that way!”
“Well, I wanna! Come and catch me if you can—!”
As Geuse frantically switched from trying to defend himself to being overprotective, Emilia leaped into a thicket in high spirits. Seeing Geuse at his wits’ end made Fortuna burst into laughter.
“My, my, I knew it. That girl’s mischief is a handful even for us.”
“It is good that she is energetic. However, I would prefer if she avoids danger as much as possible… If she could live healthily inside the house, bathed in the light of the sun, she can leap around, then, without concern of breaking anything…”
“Geuse…that’s a really strict way to live…”
“Mnhhh… Is—is that so? But if it is for Lady Emilia’s sake, I—I…!”
Trapped between parental love and concern, Geuse gravely clutched his head. Seeing his reaction deepened Fortuna’s troubled smile, but it was parental love and envy that rested in her narrowed eyes.
It was as if that very instant, the scene made her feel a sense of happiness that should not be possible.
“Sheesh!! Mom, Geuse! Why won’t you chase after me?!”
It was then that Emilia returned, tumbling out of the thicket as she reached the limits of her patience. Emilia’s young cheeks were red and puffed up as she accused the two lazy adults one after the other.
“This isn’t the time, okay?! We were in the middle of a chase!”
“Ahhh, I am very sorry! I shall regret this blunder for the rest of my days…!”
“Geuse, you mustn’t spoil her like that… Emilia, come over here for a moment.”
“Whaaat, Mom…? Sheesh, Mom’s such a softie… Grrr!”
Despite Emilia’s angry face, she walked over when Fortuna beckoned her by hand. Then, just as she came close, Fortuna easily scooped her up.
“Awww, too bad. Emilia’s been caught by Mom.”
“Ah, no fair! You can’t do that, Mom! This doesn’t count! You cheated! You should think about what you did!”
“Oh my, if you’ve thought that far, maybe you should also take some time to think on what I told you, hmm? I wonder, why are Mom and Geuse chasing little Emilia?”
“Fwah!”
This poke at her sore spot made Emilia cover her mouth with her hands.
“Y-you’re wrong, Mom. Fairy wanted to go outside, and then…”
“Your mother hates girls who blame fairies for the things they do. Understand, Emilia?”
Fortuna spoke to her daughter in her arms with eyes both gentle and strict. Emilia, squirming under those words and that gaze, hung her head.
“I’m sorry, Mom. Since I became friends with Geuse, I wanted to tell you about it…and also that Geuse is a big crybaby so someone has to help him.”
“Those feelings are really important. That’s very good of you, Emilia. But in the first place, you became friends with Geuse because you went somewhere I made you promise not to go to, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes…I did…”
“And that was really naughty, Emilia.”
Fortuna lowered Emilia, whose eyes were still focusing on the ground, before cupping her daughter’s cheeks with both hands. She brought Emilia’s face up to meet her own; their violet eyes reflected in each other’s.
“You mustn’t break your promises. Keeping them is very important. A promise is an expression of trust, so you mustn’t break them and betray the feelings of trust someone placed in you.”
To Emilia, who was nearly in tears, Fortuna spoke gravely yet gently.
“Emilia, I want you to promise Mom right now. Promise you’ll always keep your promises.”
“Yeah… Yes, I will keep them. I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Good. Then everything’s fine.”
After hearing Emilia’s teary-eyed vow, Fortuna embraced her beloved daughter in both arms. Squeezing her daughter close and tight, she stroked Emilia’s hair as teary sobs escaped from the girl.
“So, Geuse, are you all right?”
“I—I am…so overwhelmed by this d-dazzling sight, I cannot restrain my t-tears…!”
As Fortuna regarded him with an exasperated face, Geuse squatted in the shadow of a tree, using his sleeve to hide his own weeping. He seemed to have been deeply moved at seeing the exchange between mother and daughter up close. She really couldn’t refute Emilia’s appraisal of him as a crybaby. Setting this aside for the moment, Fortuna turned her head back toward Emilia.
“Besides all that, Emilia. You spoke of a fairy…”
“Ah, yeah. The fairies have been helping me since a while back… Come on out.”
Not realizing that Fortuna was concerned about her having invisible friends, Emilia gently called out to them. That very moment, countless lights flooded in all around Emilia, causing Fortuna and Geuse to gaze in wonder.
“It can’t be… Lesser spirits…? And in such numbers…”
“I am most surprised that she is served by so many lesser spirits at such a young age. It would seem Lady Emilia is a naturally talented spirit mage.”
“Spi…rit? Spirit…mage?”
The pair’s reaction and the unfamiliar terms made Emilia blink hard and tilt her head in apparent confusion. Geuse nodded deeply at Emilia.
“Lady Emilia, the beings you call fairies are actually lesser spirits. They exist everywhere throughout the world. A spirit mage is one who can convey their heart to them, borrowing the spirits’ power through forming a pact.”
“And I can become one?”
“If you grow up healthy and remain beloved by the spirits like this, Lady Emilia, then surely…”
Geuse’s words made Emilia’s face visibly brighten. If a spirit mage means someone who gets along nicely with the fairies, then I wanna be one, thought Emilia with a spring in her chest.
“Hold on, Geuse. You mustn’t put strange notions into her head. Just because she can commune with lesser spirits doesn’t mean she can be a spirit mage… It isn’t something this girl needs.”
“Lady Fortuna, Lady Emilia shall not remain young forever, either. The time will come when she cannot stay confined to the hollow of a great tree. There will surely be times when she cannot be kept from standing alongside Lady Fortuna and everyone else. When that time comes, the spirits shall lend Lady Emilia their strength.”
“But I don’t want to subject my sweet Emilia to something that could be so dangerous…”
The issue of Emilia’s education had shifted into an argument between the pair. Upon seeing this, Emilia swiftly circled behind Geuse and stuck her tongue out at Fortuna.
“I’m on Geuse’s side today! I’m definitely gonna become whatever a spirit mage is!”
“Now look—you’ve gotten her all worked up about this. Geuse, how are you going to take responsibility?”
“Ah. What should…? Um…well, this has gotten rather serious…”
Emilia was headstrong; meanwhile, Fortuna was wiping her hands of the whole thing. Caught between the pair, Geuse seemed overwhelmed, a sight that made Emilia go “hmm?” as she narrowed her eyes.
“Somehow, Mom and Geuse seem like a mom and dad…”
“Wha—?!”
When Emilia spoke those words with a guileless face, her statement made Fortuna’s face flush beet red. Nervously waving a hand, the woman then stroked Emilia’s head seemingly at random.
“N-now, just a minute, Emilia, don’t say strange things like that. Geuse and I have known each other a long time already, that’s all. We don’t have a relationship that could be described in those words, all right?”
“That’s correct, Lady Emilia. Lady Fortuna and I have both lived long…… To one as long-lived as I, even Lady Fortuna is like a little child to me.”
“Hmph…”
Geuse gently covered for the rapidly speaking Fortuna. However, Emilia could tell that for some reason, his words had put Fortuna in a sour mood. Geuse didn’t notice.
“No matter how you slice it, little child is excessive. Do you even know how old I am right now?”
“Er, ah, it was a figure of speech. Of course I have a firm and accurate grasp of your age, and Lady Fortuna has grown too tall and beautiful to be called a young child, but…”
“Hmmmm… Very well, then. I forgive you. But you should really reflect on it.”
“Haaa…”
As Geuse inclined his head, Fortuna folded her arms and pressed him to reflect on his actions. But Emilia realized that Fortuna had brightened again. Geuse really wasn’t keeping up.
And still wearing a face that showed no clear understanding, Geuse nodded Emilia’s way.
“The topic strayed somewhat, but Lady Fortuna and I have been acquaintances for quite a long time now. Indeed, ever since the time Lady Emilia’s father and mother were in good health…”
“—Geuse!”
“…I am so sorry.”
When Geuse tried to return to a gentler topic, the color of Fortuna’s face changed as she scolded him. The peaceful exchange from just before had vanished. Geuse’s expression became pained in reaction to his own slip of the tongue.
“Father and Mother…?”
“I’m sorry, Emilia. We’ll speak about that another time… More importantly, it’s time for you to return to your room. You haven’t finished reflecting on your behavior, after all.”
“Another time… Will you really, though?”
Emilia puffed up her cheeks, making plain her dissatisfaction at the conversation ending partway. However, Fortuna pressed a finger to one of Emilia’s cheeks, making the air leak out with a puu.
“Be a good girl and wait patiently, ’kay? You’ll have other chances to meet Geuse again. I’ll…make sure of it…”
“Really, really? You promise? You will, right?”
“Oh, this girl. I wonder where she learned how to quibble like this?”
It was only just moments ago that she’d been told how important it was to keep your promises. When her beloved daughter brought it back up, Fortuna reluctantly flashed a troubled smile, embracing Emilia.
“Yes, it’s a promise. It’s a really important promise between Mom and Emilia.”
“…Mm. All right. I’ll go back to my room, then.”
Promises were important. That’s why Emilia nodded, trusting in Fortuna’s promise.
When she was released, Emilia then raced over to Geuse. As Geuse watched her, Emilia extended a hand, smiling.
“See you later, Geuse. You mustn’t cry so much, so……promise until we meet next?”
“—Yes. We shall most certainly meet again. I look forward to it.”
Taking the tiny hand extended to him, Geuse made a small smile as the two exchanged a handshake. Their hands, exchanging the warmth of their palms, served as a greeting upon their parting.
Just as Emilia was about to proceed back to the Princess Room—
“—It seems he has come.”
This was no voice from the past. It was a voice from the present, calling out to Emilia from behind.
It was the voice of the Witch, the only person experiencing time in the same way as Emilia was in that world of the past.
The murmur from Echidna, who had watched events in silence up to that point, drew Emilia’s attention, too. Then she immediately realized what Echidna’s words meant.
—There was a boy who seemed the epitome of the color white.
He had white hair that was neither long nor short and white-colored skin lacking even a hint of a tan. He was clad in attire that was pure white, with not a single other color upon it; he felt sickly, as if he avoided all external interference from color itself.
His face was modestly handsome, but it was average with no eye-catching features. His appearance overall seemed extremely lacking in any kind of individuality; he gave off the impression that he would immediately be forgotten as soon as he melted into any crowd. But that impression was itself firm proof that he was an anomalous being.
“…Who are you?!”
Both Fortuna and Geuse instantly noticed his strange presence. Fortuna immediately pulled Emilia close, extremely wary of the boy who had appeared without warning. Sensing this, the boy slipped out of the forest with a calm gait, stroking his own white hair.
“When you wish to ask someone’s name, is it not polite to first state yours?”
The reply made Fortuna’s emotions chill over all at once, amplifying her wariness even more. However, the boy lowered his shoulders, regarding with exasperation the wind of enmity blowing toward him.
“My reply just now was nothing short of clichéd, but that said, I think anyone can appreciate the temptation to react that way in this kind of situation. Even though we are meeting each other for the first time and we stand on completely equal ground, why must you arbitrarily look down upon me and demand my name like this? Do you even realize the fact that you have subconsciously, inconsiderately, carelessly, and one-sidedly classified me as inferior?”
“…For a man, you certainly like long-winded speeches.”
“Stating for a man is nothing less than comparing me with the men you know simply based upon my outward appearance alone. In the first place, the creatures known as men are innumerable throughout the world, so by what standard can you judge me? That attitude… I just can’t let it go. It is excessively lacking in manners. It flies in the face of my individuality, my rights.”
In contrast to Fortuna’s concise sentences, the madness in the boy’s rambling gradually increased as he spoke.
Sensing danger from his words, his actions, and more importantly, his attitude, Fortuna put Emilia behind her and shielded her, sternly glaring at the boy as she shouted in anger.
“Enough with your self-centered babbling! Who are you?!”
Lending no ear to the boy’s words, Fortuna asked him for his name once more.
These words brought a change in the boy’s expression. His face blanched at the interruption in the conversation, yet his cheeks, so unenthusiastic before, slowly drew back in a gloomy smile—
Then, addressing the Emilias frozen in both past and present, he spoke.
“I am a member of the Witch Cult, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins who has been entrusted with Greed—Regulus Corneas.”
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