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III.

‘What am I?’

After being tormented by brutal pleasure and blacking out, Lenasia awoke one languid afternoon to the sunlight gently stroking her hair, and quietly sank into such thoughts.

‘Even if this makes me nothing more than the emperor’s plaything, a doll to relieve his debauched lust…’

Even so, she had nothing to say. Perhaps because she was thinking these thoughts while blankly rubbing her tired eyes, it felt as though there was no misery or sadness left in her at all.

Just then, Lena realized that a tapping sound had been coming from somewhere for a short while.

‘What is that?’

Hearing an unfamiliar sound in the empty room made her body tense up on its own. Wondering if there was an intruder, she looked around with a hardened expression, only to find the sound was coming from the window.

She looked about for something solid that could serve as a weapon and picked up a candlestick.

Then Lenasia carefully approached the window and opened it.

The cold wind of early winter brushed her hair, and for a while, she felt nothing strange.

‘…?’

A moment later, she heard the same tapping sound as before. Lena realized it was the sound of a small pebble hitting the windowsill and falling.

She set the candlestick down and carefully picked up the pebble that had fallen onto the wide sill.

Looking closely, she saw that a small note was tied to the pebble. Half in doubt, Lena reached out and unfolded it.

[Hello, Lenasia.]

The moment she saw the Aitalosian language written in a familiar hand, her heart dropped with a thud. Lena leaned her head out the window and looked left and right.

It was an afternoon with a dim blue light spread all around. As she searched outside desperately, she finally spotted below, in a small shed that stored maintenance supplies for the building, a man looking up at her.

His attire was shabby compared to how she had always seen him. But he still wore silver on his head like a pale moon, and within his captivating eyes, calm, dawn-like blue eyes were quietly gazing at her.

At a glance, he looked like a part of the scenery outside the window, where a coniferous forest stretched out.

“P-Prince Regnos!”

Ah, is this a dream or reality?

No matter how much she rubbed her eyes and looked again, he did not vanish and remained exactly as he was.

How had he come all the way here? Though it was a rising power, this was the imperial palace of an empire guarded by regular troops. Lena’s gaze, filled with questions as she looked around, soon landed on the forest behind the shed.

The palace of Loren was situated with one side surrounded by rugged mountains.

If Regnos, who had fled after the resistance against Taringia, had crossed over the mountains, then what was before her eyes now was not so implausible.

While she stood dazed, Regnos scribbled something on a palm-sized piece of paper. Then he tied it to a small stone fragment lying about and launched it with the slingshot he carried.

“Ah!”

The pebble with the note attached landed exactly by Lena’s window. When she unfolded it, these words were written.

[You were safe. I was worried when I heard you had been taken by the emperor, but I am truly glad to see you again like this.]

“Your Highness.”

Having read the note, Lena’s eyes glistened with tears of joy. Those were the very words she had wanted to say.

It was she who had always been anxious and sighing, wondering if Regnos was alive somewhere.

“I am so glad you are safe.”

Regnos gazed for a long while at Lena, who was weeping from overwhelming emotion. The second note that flew over contained these words.

[I am preparing for a great undertaking with those who share my purpose. When the time comes, I will crush the army of the oppressor Godfrid and rebuild Aitalos.

When that time comes, will you join us?]

Lena smiled with tears still beading down her face. She was overwhelmed by the fact that such a wonderful man was her prince, and it pained her that he had to walk such a perilous path.

Of course, she longed with all her heart to be with the prince she had dreamed of.

But on the other hand, she worried that her already defiled body and her state of being held captive by the emperor might instead become a burden to him.

As her deliberation grew long, Regnos wore a bittersweet expression down below. Soon, a third note flew over.

[It is too much to ask, is it not. Compared to the side of an emperor who has claimed the whole world as his spoils, my side is dangerous and shabby…]

“No. That is not…!”

Lena struck her chest in frustration.

She was sick to death of being here. If she could, if she only could, she would be at her prince’s side a hundred, a thousand times over.

Perhaps that frustration had finally been conveyed, because Regnos at last showed a smile of relief.