“Oh my, Her Highness the Princess isn’t feeling well? How and where? Did she collapse again? What about her skin condition? When the skin condition flares up, no medicine works, and she only looks for water… And her meals, her meals…”

 

All the worries that had been bottled up inside poured out like a burst dam at the mere mention of the Princess’s title. 

 

Her eyes welling up with tears and her helpless demeanor made her appear to anyone as a deeply devoted maidservant, distraught over being unable to care for her physically frail mistress.

 

Looking at such a Bertha, Hissin suppressed her anxiety with a low voice.

 

“She swallowed a few sips of vegetable soup a while ago and fell asleep.”

 

“What about her skin condition? She suffers greatly when those red spots appear on her body, and the skin condition had certainly flared up again when I last saw her…”

 

“The skin condition.”

 

Hissin, who was about to say something, firmly swallowed his words. 

 

The red spots caused by Saltar’s madness on the battlefield had all completely subsided by then. 

 

It was thanks to him holding her tightly without a moment’s break all the way to Mohron.

 

Although the commotion Dahlia caused today created new red spots, they too were erased without a trace, thanks to his thoroughly mingling his body with hers.

 

Well, there’s no need to spell out every detail like this, though.

 

“It had already disappeared before we arrived here.”

 

Hissin gave the girl simple, clear hope, who seemed to have barely reached adulthood. 

 

Bertha, who had been stroking her chest, buried her face in her hands and wept uncontrollably.

 

“Oh, Your Highness… I should have been by your side, sniffle. No matter what happened, I should have gone to you…”

 

Our delicate, fragile Your Highness. 

 

Our poor Your Highness, who spent her whole life confined to the narrow Princess’s palace. 

 

Even at this moment, Bertha appeared terribly afraid that something dangerous might have happened to Dahlia.

 

“You are likely the only person here she can feel any attachment to, so I wish for you to stay by the Princess’s side from today.”

 

At the other voice, Bertha jolted and looked up. Her face showed she had been so frightened by Hissin that she hadn’t even noticed Hovan had come with him.

 

Bertha, who had been sobbing, hastily wiped her tears with her sleeve. Then she rose from her seat, brushed the wrinkles from her worn court clothes, and spoke as if pleading.

 

“Her Highness… Please save Her Highness.”

 

Her two fists, clearly showing how terrified she was, tightly clutched her worn skirt.

 

“She is a poor soul who has spent her whole life confined to the Princess’s palace. She never once meddled in politics and doesn’t even know how to be greedy.”

 

Large tears fell plop from Bertha’s big eyes. 

 

The child desperately insisted on Dahlia’s innocence and dared to set a condition before Hissin.

 

“So please, show mercy and treat her differently from the other royals. If you do just that, I’ll do anything. If there is any punishment for her to bear, I will take it in her place, but please, with Her Highness the Princess…”

 

At Bertha’s rambling, jumbled words, Hissin let out a soft, stifled laugh. 

 

This child seems to think I might tell her to poison the Princess or something.

 

“How insolent.”

 

Hissin, bending at the waist, looked down at the small child from up close.

 

“Do you think you can dare to bear the weight the Princess carries in her stead?”

 

“Huh? That, that’s not what I meant…”

 

Tears welled up in the eyes of the young maidservant who was willing to sacrifice even her life for her mistress.

 

Should I be thankful that Dahlia has at least one maidservant like this by her side? 

 

Hissin dismissed his thought of unnecessarily frightening Bertha and straightened his body.

 

“If I had no intention of doing so, I wouldn’t have sought you out here in the first place.”

 

“Then, does that mean…”

 

Hissin spoke to the tearful Bertha with a softened expression.

 

“From today, you will attend to the Princess. We will provide any food she needs. If the Princess begins to eat properly, I will grant what you wish.”

 

“Y-you mean it?”

 

At this, Bertha’s eyes grew even wider.

 

“Yes, I will. I will do that! Thank you, thank you…”

 

As if overwhelmed with emotion just at the thought of seeing Dahlia again, Bertha repeatedly swallowed back tears threatening to burst and nodded her head vigorously several times.

 

Hissin signaled Hovan with a look, commanding him to take the child to Dahlia’s room. 

 

Hovan gave a short bow and led Bertha out. The child’s footsteps following Hovan looked especially light.

 

Even if only like this, I hope she gradually regains her strength.

 

Hissin quietly watched Bertha and Hovan recede into the distance for a moment, then turned his steps elsewhere.

 

💫

 

Dahlia lowered her head and stared down intently. 

 

The feel of moist, fresh grass under her soles registered. After gazing at that strange yet familiar green for a while, Dahlia took another step.

 

It was that dream again. 

 

The dream of walking endlessly, treading on verdant grass. 

 

Having dreamed it every day since arriving in Mohron, she could now precisely recognize, even within the dream, that this was not reality.

 

With each step forward, the grass grew increasingly lush. 

 

Once these grasses reached past her ankles and neared her knees, that man would soon appear.

 

My wretched salvation.

 

The cruel destroyer who slaughtered my homeland.

 

“…”

 

Dahlia stopped in her tracks. 

 

Amid the grasses swaying like waves below her knees in the wind, something that seemed pressed down, appearing sunken, was visible in the distance.

 

As she approached it, a sound as fluffy and cute as could be tickled her ears.

 

“Meow—”

 

“…Raylion.”

 

Glistening white fur was visible among the green grasses. 

 

With a welcoming heart, as Dahlia drew closer, the small creature rustled through the grass and retreated again.

 

“Raylion.”

 

When Dahlia called its name, it shook its ears and glanced back briefly, but if she tried to get close, it would run away just as much, maintaining the distance.

 

Just as Dahlia had done long ago, when she first met Hissin.

 

She felt a bit disappointed, but not hurt. Her guilt for ultimately failing to care for that creature was greater.

 

In fact, she thought it was fortunate to see Raylion healthy again, even if like this.

 

“Raylion… You’re not hurting, are you? Are you eating well?”

 

When she asked cautiously, Raylion pricked up its ears and looked at Dahlia. 

 

Meow, as if answering her question, a drawn-out meow followed, so cute and admirable that a faint smile touched Dahlia’s lips.

 

“In your next life, you must find a master who can love you a lot. A master who loves you so much you won’t have to wander the streets in hardship…”

 

Mreow, Raylion, who let out a thin trill, approached, parting the tall grass. 

 

Raylion, clinging to Dahlia’s leg, slowly circled around her once, then lovingly wrapped its tail around her ankle.

 

At that affectionate greeting, a large tear welled up in the corner of Dahlia’s eye.

 

“Thank you for being my friend, even if for a little while, Raylion.”

 

As Dahlia carefully stroked its head, Raylion, who had lightly butted its head against her hand, immediately ran off a short distance ahead.

 

Just as she was unconsciously about to follow, reluctant to let Raylion go already.

 

“…”

 

Suddenly, a figure appearing ahead captured Dahlia’s gaze. 

 

Surrounded by bright light, he was not the Hissin who always appeared before her around this time.

 

It was a woman. 

 

A woman she had never seen before.

 

Blackish-blue hair flowing long, contrasting with pale white skin, a slender build, dark blue-tinged black eyes, and a face resembling hers but overlaid with time.

 

And both hands, each missing its index finger.

 

Even though it was clearly a face she was seeing for the first time, it didn’t feel unfamiliar, and Dahlia cautiously asked the woman,

“Who… are you?”

 

But the woman merely gazed at Dahlia in silence, offering no answer. Her expressionless face somehow looked sad, making Dahlia feel as if she might inexplicably burst into tears herself.

 

If she approached, would this woman also run away like Raylion? 

 

Just as she hesitated to move and was observing the woman,

 

“Ah…”

 

Suddenly, an indescribably strange emotion welled up, and hot tears pooled in her eyes. The tears that had surged instantly blurred the woman’s figure even more.

Dahlia quickly tried to push the tears away with her eyelids and move toward the woman. 

 

But by now, the grass that had grown waist-high was willfully tangling around her legs, making it difficult to move forward.

 

“Wait, please wait. Just for a moment, please…!”

 

Dahlia stretched out her hand, but it fell hopelessly short of reaching the woman far away. By now, the grass had risen to her chest and coiled around her arms like vines.

 

The grass swiftly climbed up her neck and covered Dahlia’s face. 

 

Even her flowing tears seeped away between the blades of grass, and the grass covering her mouth and nose began to cover her eyes as well.

 

“Wait, please don’t go…!”

 

Just as a final blade of grass was about to obscure her remaining sight, Dahlia cried out to the woman in a loud voice.

 

“Mother!”

 

Beyond the final expanse of blue darkness, the woman vanished.