“Those green eyes, I’ve definitely seen them before.”

“Green… eyes?”

Green, or rather emerald eyes, were the symbolic color of my mother and me.

In the Empire, those with emerald eyes were not very common.

Sometimes, when I looked at my emerald eyes reflected in the mirror, it made me feel good.

These green eyes, which I often heard were the spitting image of my mother’s, seemed to be a strong bond between her and me.

But who else could have such eyes?

Where and what had mother seen?

I was there at the scene too. No matter how much I tried to recall, such a person did not exist.

Ah, maybe I didn’t see it.

At that time, I was so preoccupied with that man that I couldn’t see anything else around me.

“Yes. It’s definitely someone I know.”

A pale face, trembling lips……

For a moment, a very strange intuition flashed through my mind.

Perhaps what mother saw was…… maybe it was father.

My heart sank roughly.

“Who… is it?”

Why now, of all times, when she had been doing so well at hide-and-seek until now……

I know it’s not for me to say, who has been looking for him.

But…… I hoped to be the one to discover the person who is father.

If father doesn’t even remember mother despite her longing so much, it might be better for her not to see him at all.

But the cruel god betrayed such an earnest plea once again without fail.

“Why… can’t I remember?”

Mother’s sigh settled deeply on the ground.

Faint wrinkles were lightly cast over her brow.

She really seemed unable to remember, fortunately.

Perhaps mother’s oblivion was the only blessing bestowed by the god who betrayed my plea.

Though I felt sorry for mother who was frustrated, I truly felt relief inside.

Of course, after that, ordinary conversations were exchanged and mother fell asleep on time.

Her tired breathing from all the running around echoed in the space.

Only after seeing mother’s peaceful appearance did my anxious breaths refine and thoughts coldly organize.

Emerald eyes.

Could the person with eyes the same color as mine, whom mother said she saw, be father?

If he really is father……

I had thought about father several times while planning the tracking device project.

I needed to know him well to plan everything, including the search area.

The father in my imagination was always a noble from the capital who had entered central politics……

Maybe even that was wrong.

This Rapianre Island, located in the southwest, is a resort or a place where people who have given up everything come down to enjoy small happinesses while living.

If all my guesses are correct, he might be living well here with a new family.

If that’s the case, he wouldn’t give mother any medicine.

No, he might deny the very existence of mother and me from the beginning.

The more I thought about it, the more worst-case scenarios came to mind, which I tried to push away.

It’s the truth I’ll know anyway once the tracking device development is completed in just a little more time.

It was foolish to cling to such truths that I couldn’t uncover yet.

Now is the time to consider reality while assuming the worst.

If father pushes me away.

If there’s no other way because of that……

The only choice I can make on those broken remnants is that man.

The man in the carriage I saw on the street earlier flashes eerily through my mind.

‘Why was that man there?’

‘Surely he didn’t follow me?’

Maybe he came to pick a fight for leaving the capital without reporting to him even once.

He was the type of person who would do that and more.

But…… if he had come to catch me, given that man’s personality, he wouldn’t have let me go so easily.

It doesn’t make sense that Blanchet’s knights, who are unrivaled in competence, haven’t found me yet.

He probably just came for other business.

Still…… that man’s eyes bothered me.

Those distinctive red eyes showed not even a hint of wavering even after discovering me.

As if he knew everything.

He didn’t catch me, but I could tell for sure.

He knew I was here.

How much does that man know about me?

Fear ripples and eats away at my insides.

Even if it’s like this now, I wonder if I’ll be able to escape from him in the near future.

Fortunately, the anxious times with mother passed peacefully.

That man did not come, and mother never remembered the man whose identity was unknown.

The scenery was more beautiful than ever, the temperature was warm as if blessed by god, and not a single unfamiliar food we tried was unpalatable.

As we boarded the ship looking at the sea full of glittering sunlight, I finally realized we had to return to the capital.

On the way back to the capital after a few days, regret hung like dewdrops at the edge of my heart.

Mother seemed to feel the same way; on the return journey, though she occasionally nodded off from fatigue, she tried hard to stay awake, raising her eyes.

Her appearance, constantly looking out the window, was full of childlike regret.

Like someone looking at a place they might never return to.

Will we be able to come back?

‘We must come back.’

Seeing beautiful things together, making wishes, sometimes being swept up in the crowd.

I paint a hopeful future where all of that exists somewhere in the future as well.

However, things that are too beautiful, like dreams, were usually accompanied by anxiety.

What if all this happiness is just a fleeting dream and shatters?

Is this how it feels to stand on a tightrope and look down at the beautiful scenery on the ground?

The dazzlingly beautiful, brilliant, and shining world seemed like a bubble.

A dizzying bubble that might sink into the abyss at any moment.

The carriage that moved forward with the sound of hooves was soon traveling through familiar scenery.

The splendid views of the capital caught the eye as usual, and the many shop owners soliciting customers were standing in the same places as always.

Passing by them, the carriage moved forward without hesitation and finally entered the imperial palace.

After packing our luggage and heading to the dormitory, mother soon fell into a deep sleep.

Looking at her sleeping soundly without even making a breath, I lay down next to her and weariness washed over me.

In my dream, a world as if painted unfolded.

Mother is smiling, and around her is a vast landscape with a beautiful sunset sky above and a colorful village below.

The ice cream in mother’s hand looked sweet just by looking at it, and the wind blew pleasantly cool.

As if all this happiness would last forever.

A soft and cozy feeling like cotton candy touched my face, and flower clusters stretched out and bloomed towards me under the warm spring sun.

“Mom?”

As I ran out smiling, the fully bloomed flowers fell and a rain of petals scattered over the earth.

For some reason, that beautiful sight felt strangely heavy and bittersweet.

At the same time, the sunset that had been hanging over mother quickly set, and the background changed to pitch-black night.

I cried out with tears scattering as mother’s form gradually crumbled.

“Mom, Mom?”

Over that, the figure of Lady Fiocele appeared, and across from there, that man’s red eyes were vivid.

Haa, haa—

With each rising and falling breath, my chest rose and fell coldly.

It was clearly a nightmare born of anxiety.

Since facing Lady Fiocele, no, since entering that man’s hotel, there hadn’t been a single moment I wasn’t anxious.

Only after checking on mother sleeping peacefully as if in ritual and confirming her breathing did my heartbeat gradually find its own pace.

I don’t know how long I slept, but outside the window, the pitch-black night had already passed, and the sun brightly illuminating the world was hanging.

Seeing the red light of dawn cast over the earth, a sense of reality returns.

Today was that day.

The day I had to go to that man.

Unlike usual, the man had set a daytime rather than nighttime.

I look at the letters on the note neatly placed on the table.

At night, you can at least hide everything in the shadows of darkness.

The hotel with transparent windows in broad daylight would be quite a hell.

Even so, it’s all the same, and a sigh escapes.

I feel once again that Rapianre Island was truly a dream.

That the momentary escape is now over as well.

The road to the hotel by carriage is now even familiar, which is laughable.

As if the previous time when I trembled the whole way there was a lie, my face in the carriage window was indifferent.

Like someone following an inevitable fate.

I find my gradually accustomed appearance in the window disgusting.

Still, how fortunate.

Today, rather than going out like before, heading to the hotel felt even more fortunate.

Especially after meeting Lady Fiocele.

It would be natural for Lady Fiocele to make threats in front of me.

Getting off the carriage and looking up, I can see the top room of the hotel.

Where that man and I are expected to be together today.

Something vaguely similar to that man’s silhouette flashed by the window.

The red aura that often comes to mind when thinking of that man seemed to ripple there.

Over that, those red eyes of that man I encountered on Rapianre Island overlap.

My body contracted at the feeling of being thoroughly exposed.

It’s a ridiculous delusion that a man so far away could see through me, but it really felt that way.

On the way up in the elevator.

What should I say there again today, only sighs escaped my lips.

In fact, there’s no need to think about it.

What I have to do is already decided, and since there are no other options, thinking will only confuse my mind.

As I flung open the door, the man’s gaze turned to me.

As if he had been waiting.