“Huh!”
Ashika jumped up in surprise. Her vision blurred from standing up so suddenly.
“Calm down. I’m not trying to threaten you.”
“Don’t come any closer.”
Ashika backed away as she watched the woman approach. She was confused. Nothing happening made any sense.
“I’m not a strange person. I just want to talk.”
Ashika shook her head vigorously. She didn’t want to listen. She didn’t want to mix with this strange place and these strange people.
“Miss, just a moment.”
The woman’s voice became more urgent as Ashika tried to escape.
“Just answer one thing. Was there a fire at the poorhouse? On Palmred Street?”
“Wh-what are you saying…?”
“Please just listen to me for a moment….”
She saw a hand reaching out to grab her. The hand in a black glove seemed as hideous as death’s own.
“Ahh!”
Ashika screamed and turned to run. The woman, unable to catch her, called out sharply.
“Come find me! At the oldest art shop on Saint Reed Street. You must come!”
The urgent voice faded behind her. The street noise and the sound of her own desperate footsteps seemed distant.
The lights leaking from all around the street felt unnaturally bright. The pale light pouring down blocked her vision as intensely as the pitch-black darkness.
Even though she couldn’t see ahead, Ashika ran blindly. Like running through emptiness, into the midst of overwhelming fear.
“My Lady!”
“Ahh!”
Someone’s hand firmly grabbed Ashika’s arm. As she screamed and tried to break free, the other person spoke urgently.
“It’s me. It’s Jeanne! Please calm down!”
“Huk….”
A familiar face was right in front of her. Ashika’s face was as pale as if she’d seen a ghost.
“My Lady, are you alright?”
Her body, held by Jeanne, convulsed slightly. Her eyes were wide open, and her breathing was shallow.
Ashika pushed Jeanne away with trembling hands and wrapped her arms around her own shoulders. Her shoulders hunched up, and her frightened eyes wandered aimlessly.
“Huk….”
Ashika hunched her shoulders and gasped for breath. Even while trembling, one thing seemed clear.
‘I’ve returned to my place.’
The distinct feeling that this was where she belonged. Realizing that fact, her fear gradually subsided.
Jeanne, who had been waiting quietly, spoke.
“You startled me when you suddenly ran off.”
She had followed right behind, but almost lost track when Ashika disappeared into the crowd. Thinking about what had just happened, cold sweat ran down Jeanne’s spine.
“You…could see me?”
“You were running so fast that I lost sight of you for a moment. But it was really just for a moment.”
Jeanne spoke guiltily, feeling she had neglected her duty. But that wasn’t what Ashika meant to ask.
‘I couldn’t see Jeanne.’
She had met Drushia, had a conversation, almost got hit by a carriage, and met a woman dressed all in black. It wasn’t a short time at all. Yet Jeanne spoke as if it had been just a fleeting moment.
‘Did I see a hallucination?’
But the sensations felt throughout her body had been too vivid. The scent of the man who held her in his arms, his warm body temperature, even the sound of his heartbeat that resonated in her chest. It was as vivid as reality but an impossible situation.
It wasn’t real. At least, not if she wasn’t insane.
“I’m sorry, my lady.”
“No, Jeanne didn’t do anything wrong. I….”
Ashika regained her composure and straightened her shoulders.
“I saw something… frightening.”
Yes, she really had seen something frightening. Something more terrifying than the monsters under the bed she had feared as a child.
After coming to her senses, the first thing that bothered her was her disheveled clothes. As she straightened her attire, she suddenly raised her hand.
White and clean hands without a single scratch. She examined her cloak and dress hem, but there was no dirt anywhere.
‘I definitely fell down.’
She remembered the pain of hitting her shoulder and the sharp sensation of scraping her palm. But her appearance was as neat as when she had left the mansion. A chilling sensation made her body shiver.
‘No, it’s nothing. This is just….’
No matter what excuse she made, she couldn’t deny the vivid sensations she had felt. Something she couldn’t explain or understand.
‘Let’s not think about it now.’
Better to put it aside – she decided this and closed her eyes tightly before opening them again. Only then did the street scene come into Ashika’s view.
Street lamps giving off occasional light and people passing between them. Buildings of various sizes lined up along the street.
“Let’s go back now. Where’s the carriage…?”
As Ashika was about to move, she noticed the entrance to a building nearby.
A wooden door with distinct carved reliefs and statue-like pillars on either side caught her attention.
[The Rantal branch office is here. I came to check the list of knights joining the expeditionary force.]
The voice she had heard earlier echoed vividly in her ears. An unbelievable thought. It was something like expectation or strange excitement.
‘Maybe, just maybe.’
Ashika’s feet unconsciously moved toward the building entrance.
“My Lady, do you have business at the Rantal branch office?”
A voice from behind suddenly stopped her in her tracks. Ashika was startled.
“Ah, no. That’s not it.”
“I heard Sir Coltern visited this place two days ago.”
Jeanne added an explanation, looking puzzled.
Knight matters were under Duke Igraine’s jurisdiction, and Igraine’s knight commander, Pelburn Coltern, had visited the Grand Duchy on this matter.
“I’ve never been here before, so I was just curious.”
The cream-colored single-story building stood out in the middle of a street filled with two or three-story buildings. She might have passed by it briefly before, but she had never actually set foot in the Rantal branch office.
“Let’s go back now. Where is the carriage?”
“We’ve come quite far. Should I call for a rental carriage?”
Ashika shook her head at Jeanne’s response.
“No, we can walk.”
Jeanne seemed like she wanted to say something more but kept quiet. As she walked ahead, she kept looking back at the thoughtful Ashika, afraid of losing sight of her.
The night deepened, and the street shops closed one by one. As each light disappeared, the street grew darker.
The street noise also gradually diminished. From a distance, a disorderly commotion could be felt. It was the sound of people screaming.
“Fire!”
The sound of hurried footsteps was heard, and people who were about to close their shop doors came out into the street in surprise.
Ashika’s footsteps stopped abruptly.
“My Lady, what’s wrong?”
“There seems to be… a fire?”
Ashika looked at the street where people were running with a dazed expression.
“Indeed. We should probably take a detour.”
There could be problems if they got caught up in it. Jeanne changed direction to avoid the fire scene.
“No, not that way….”
“My Lady?”
“Let’s go see. Where the fire broke out.”
“What? You want to go see the fire?”
Jeanne’s face showed disbelief. It was behavior unlike Ashika.
“From the commotion, it seems like a big fire. It’s dangerous for you to go there, my lady.”
Ashika didn’t listen to Jeanne. She turned and moved in the direction people were heading.
[Just answer one thing. Was there a fire at the poorhouse? On Palmred Street?]
The woman dressed all in black had asked that. As if it were an extremely important matter.
‘Why did she ask that? What was the significance?’
An intuition like instinct that she shouldn’t just pass by this. Perhaps this was evidence that the incredible thing she experienced wasn’t a hallucination but reality. Or at least, she needed confirmation that it was somehow related to reality.
“My Lady.”
Jeanne followed Ashika with a bewildered face. Ashika, who had been the epitome of a noble lady, was acting like a completely different person.
Now almost running ahead, her long black hair swayed in the wind. Her unfaltering steps were urgent yet still maintained their dignity.
After brief consideration, Jeanne resigned herself. Thinking that the shock of the broken engagement must have been this severe. She could only quietly follow her changed mistress’s lead.
