The two resembled each other. They were drawn to each other.

Both had lost something. They had experienced a terrible sense of loss.

And now these two people are standing together.

“Walk with dignity.”

Without any gap.

“Make it light yet heavy.”

The step had already been taken.

The view widens. Everything was in sight. Charlotte trampled on the white petals.

With each step, the distance from the abandoned past increased.

The procession continued along the virgin road. Many eyes followed, and many words trailed behind.

“Did you expect this marriage?”

“Who would have expected it? Back then, we were barely hanging on. In just a few years, all those people will die…….”

Charlotte dismissed such stories.

The young emperor who succeeded after the old emperor died.

Of course, the story that the son killed the old emperor,

Even the words that the crown prince visited before the emperor died continued.

The truth was buried on the other side.

Charlotte quietly lowered her veil. She covered her face with the veil and lowered her gaze.

“These two people look… eerily alike.”

(This is the time separator.)

“Is there anywhere you are uncomfortable?”

The master of ceremonies whispered softly.

“Since it is a question asked in the ritual ceremony before the alliance, please answer comfortably.”

“I’m fine.”

“I will assist you with your bath.”

The maids bowed their heads deeply.

“Bring the perfume.”

The maids immersed Charlotte in the bathwater and gently covered it with water.

They generously mixed perfume into the hot bathwater. The subtle spreading floral scent relaxed her tension.

“I will help Her Majesty, the Empress, with her dressing.”

After the bath, she changed into a nightgown. The touch of putting on the white nightgown was cautious.

As they helped, she threaded her arms into the nightgown and tied a ribbon around her waist.

Her dark red hair was loosened down to her hips, carefully adjusted to keep the nightgown from being disheveled.

“I will lower the canopy for you.”

The maids finished their duties and left.

Charlotte touched her shoulder and leaned against one side of the bed.

The bed was hidden by the canopy, and only a faint afterimage shone through the canopy.

On the bedside table, the maids had laid out wine and fruit.

Soon, the bedroom door opened.

Heavy footsteps resounded. Charlotte followed the footsteps with her eyes.

Thud thud. Getting closer and closer. He stopped in his tracks.

“The old emperor has trampled all the palace laws, only adding unnecessary trouble.”

Benjamin lifted the canopy.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Benjamin was only wearing a gown. With only a string tied around his waist, the loosely worn gown looked quite sloppy.

As he moved, the waist string seemed to loosen further and further.

His wet hair was soaked and sagged. Now he resembled a languidly stretching beast.

“You don’t look nervous at all.”

As she touched his cheek, Benjamin smiled slightly. The light tap on his nose was playful.

“Do you know what we are going to do?”

“Yes. I know.”

“Lying is wrong. You look like you have no idea what a couple does.”

His shadow grew as if to engulf everything. It was a feeling of being swallowed up distantly. His mere existence had something bleak about it.

“Will you hold hands?”

Benjamin reached out.

“Come here.”

He took Charlotte’s hand and laid her down.

Charlotte was fiddling with the tips of her fingers, and his eyes touched her slightly wriggling gestures.

“You knew what a couple is, Char.”

“We learned it together during etiquette training.”

“What did you learn?”

“……Stop being mean.”

Charlotte pulled up the bedspread to cover herself.

As his eyes followed, she became uncomfortable somewhere.

In her previous life, she was married at her father’s behest, but that was it.

They never held hands or lay in the same bed.

Charlotte was a commodity, a sold product that was paid for in the tutor’s house.

“This is…….”

As Charlotte averted her eyes, a shadow fell over her head.
The gaze seemed to urge her to stop avoiding it.

From Benjamin, there was the scent of dry grass at dawn.

The bitter energies from winter’s dry wood, from the firewood of a bonfire.

“If you feel bad, tell me.”

Such things had settled on Benjamin.

“No, I’m not feeling bad, but…….”

Charlotte took a deep breath. Deep into her lungs, he had permeated.

This is harmful. From toe to head, it is telling her it’s harmful.

Her toes were curled.

They seemed to shrink, unable to adapt to this unfamiliar energy.

Benjamin bent down and pressed close to Charlotte.

He scanned her closely. Her short hair tickled her cheeks.

“You’re frozen.”

His breath touched her earlobe and scattered.

“Just a moment…….”

It was when Charlotte had touched his shoulder with her hand.

“I used to think it was a matter of mood, but now I know it’s not.”

Charlotte’s hands remained outstretched, frozen. There was a tremor in her monotonous expression. Her dark red hair bore a blackish hue more than red, and her complexion was pale and wan. She did not seem ill, though.