Chapter 16
Bri, whose beak was yellow, was a white eagle Patrick had given her. Tamed by Eden, Bri carried letters between the Tane main palace and the west tower and conveyed Patricia’s regards to Patrick whenever she was at the front.
Patricia clung to the window frame of Pana Castle, staring endlessly up at the sky. She expected Eden would send Bri once he learned she’d been taken into the castle.
The moment she spotted Bri gliding across the bright blue sky, a blue flame flared in her mind, and an escape route unfolded.
Pretending to sketch the scenery of Pana Castle beyond the window, she actually drew the castle walls.
When a maid approached, glanced at the drawing, and seemed about to report it to the butler, Patricia tensed, but the butler appeared unconcerned and did not examine the picture.
She marked with arrows the trees where sulfur powder would be placed. She was certain venomous snakes had been released into the moat, and snakes hated the smell of sulfur.
Uncertain of the outer wall’s condition, she instructed Bri to perch at the spot where the rope would be dropped.
In the pre-dawn hush, the operation would begin at Bri’s signal of three circles overhead. Distracting the sentry in the watchtower was Eden’s task. The moment pounding echoed on the castle gate, Patricia plunged into the moat.
“Sir, I really must be a genius at making plans.”
“You’re also a genius at wringing and scorching people’s hearts. Mine has turned to white ash.”
Eden had sent Bri because he wanted at least to know how she was after she’d been seized by the castle.
From the moment he saw the escape plan and the finely drawn map of the fortress tied to the eagle’s leg until her feet touched ground outside the walls, his heart burned black.
“Heh, sir, that must be Luken over there.”
No sooner had they crossed the Karsik border than carriages and pedestrians grew more numerous. True to the bustling Tane Empire, the border city of Luken boasted a large market clustered around its station and square.
Eden checked the train schedule and went to buy tickets, while Patricia dismounted and sat on a stone bench beside the fountain in the square.
Passers-by cast sidelong glances at her. One errand boy from the back alleys even stared openly, unsure whether to report the strange woman to his mid-level boss.
No wonder: she looked suspicious to him. Gleaming like an angel fallen from the sky, the refined lady sat alone in the square wearing an expensive white shirt yet coarse, earth-stained trousers.
Her golden hair, falling to her waist, stood out in the darkening square. The black horse beside her was huge and glossy, clearly no ordinary mount.
Yet the shoes she wore were big and worn, like a retired soldier’s boots, their high tops crusted with dried, dark-red blood.
Her clothes were too dirty for a lady out to lure men, yet the aura she exuded was full of grace. The odd imbalance caught the eye.
The boy decided to keep watching. He was the youngest member of the Binen gang that controlled Luken’s back alleys, and the fountain was his turf.
Though the central-station square looked ordinary, two gang members were missing and Luken’s chief constable, Kiel, had been hauled off to the capital. So the boy stayed on high alert, observing the strange lady.
“My lord.”
A tall man in a Tane Imperial Army uniform dismounted, touched his forehead to his bent arm in salute, and offered something to her.
She was clearly someone extraordinary. The boy felt relieved he hadn’t reported her.
“Damn—just who is that woman the uniformed man calls ‘my lord’?”
Clutching his chest, the boy dashed into the alleys, the unforgettable face seared into his mind.
Eden sat down beside Patricia.
“The train to Brück Central leaves in two hours. You must be exhausted. How about we rest for a day and depart at dawn tomorrow?”
“Eden, let’s go to that inn.”
Patricia pointed to an inn whose door opened onto the square. Eden’s face flushed bright red.
“I-I mean… that bluntly? Sh-should I change the tickets?”
“What are you babbling about—and why are you blushing?”
Suppressing a smile, Patricia walked ahead into the inn.
“Pay for the room. While I wash, go buy some clothes and shoes. Let’s just change and head out.”
“Should I get you a dress?”
“Just buy men’s clothes—and a black robe. Hurry.”
Patricia took the key from Eden and went up to the second floor.
She would have liked to board the train at once, but considering the stares she would draw during the two-day journey, changing clothes was wiser.
Besides, she couldn’t show Eva and Patrick the blood-stained boots Eden had taken from a dead soldier.
Even after showering and waiting a long while, Eden did not return. She opened the window to let the eagle in.
「Patrick, are you all right? I’m fine. I’m on my way to you now.」
She tied the letter securely to the eagle’s leg. While rolling around on the bed, slipping her hand between the white feathers to tickle its warm, soft yet sturdy ribcage, there was a knock at the door.
“Eden, why are you so late?”
“Well, I was buying things for a lady.”
Patricia snatched the paper bag full of clothes and shut the door. Inside were a plain dress, low-heeled shoes, and even women’s undergarments.
‘Hmph, so that’s why he was late.’
Patricia was about to take off her shower gown when she saw the white eagle tilting its head and staring at her.
“Bri, you too—go on. Go to Patrick first.”
She sent the eagle out the window. Then she changed into the dress and threw on a black robe. The undergarments and outerwear fit her perfectly, as if tailored.
In the Tane Empire, nobles had to present proof of their family status to purchase train tickets. Eden, using his viscount family certificate, had bought second-class tickets and felt guilty about it.
“You should be in a special compartment, but I couldn’t even get first class. My apologies.”
“It’s fine. Riding a train beside you, Sir Eden, will be a good memory.”
Patricia took a seat by the window.
Before Eden could even open the food bag he had brought, Patricia leaned her head against his shoulder and fell asleep.
“Princess Patrisha… For me, memories like this are happiness.”
Eden lowered his right shoulder as much as possible so her neck wouldn’t ache.
*
Eden was the second son of Viscount Patterson. The Patterson family had served in the imperial administration for generations.
The eldest son, Jason, worked as the administrative chief, assisting the viscount in his duties. Viscount Patterson wanted Eden to follow in his brother’s footsteps and learn administrative work.
Eden accompanied his father and brother to the palace, but sitting at a heavy desk copying documents and flipping through papers didn’t suit his nature.
He went against his father’s wishes and applied for a position as a squire in the Imperial Guard—and passed.
As a squire, he was assigned to assist in guarding the crown prince. Crown Prince Patrick, except during his medication times, was practically wedged into the library shelves like a book. He sat reading like a wall without even a shadow. It was boring.
“Your Highness, would you like me to teach you archery?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“How about fencing?”
“No, thanks.”
“Your Highness, it’s hot. Want to go swimming?”
“Nope.”
“Your Highness, shall we ride horses around the lake?”
“Mm, you go.”
“Your Highness, they say a witch lives in the west tower of the detached palace. Want to go?”
“The west tower of the detached palace?”
For the first time, Crown Prince Patrick looked away from his book with interest.
Thirteen years old. Summer.
Eden and Patrick decided to explore the west tower, rumored to be the witch’s residence.
After passing through the Petra oak forest, they saw the detached palace and the west tower. They had imagined something taller, but it was a modest structure about five stories high—like the main palace of Tane.
With pale brick walls and a crimson roof, it didn’t look like the home of a witch.
At the tower’s entrance stood unfamiliar knights, not affiliated with the imperial guard. Eden discreetly asked a senior knight and learned they were ironwall knights personally chosen by the emperor.
Even revealing their identities as crown prince and squire wouldn’t open the bronze door. It was better not to stir trouble. They spent a few days observing the back of the tower.
Then one day, while walking through the shrubbery, Patrick and Eden stopped.
Amid the summer hum of insects and cicadas, they heard singing. The lower part of the tower wall was covered in red roses, the upper part in ivy.
“A west wind blows and tangles my hair before it settles.”
Then Eden noticed trampled and bent grass in the shrubs and followed the trace. One torso-sized stone had been removed at mid-height of the stone wall. Crawling through the gap led to a stair landing inside the tower.
As Eden and Patrick climbed the stairs, the singing grew louder and clearer.
“When touched by the wind, my hair grows long as if by magic.”
“The breeze carrying the scent of flowers, stay with me.”
It was the voice of a young girl, not a witch. She wasn’t a very good singer.
“Hello, Patricia-Rose. Your face is red—what are you embarrassed about?”
“Hello, Patrick-Daffodil. You’re pale again today.”
“…!”
“Your Highness, she called you Patrick-Daffodil.”
Eden whispered, bending toward Patrick’s ear as he led the way up the stairs.
“I heard.”
From afar the west tower had looked like a narrow pillar, but halfway up the stairs it opened into a broad space.
It was arranged like a garden: iron-framed walls entirely of glass, every window flung wide so wind poured in from all directions.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
All three covered their mouths at once.
Eden was startled to see the girl twist up her skirts, tie them at her waist with a ribbon, and swing a sword; Patrick and Patricia were shocked to find they looked exactly alike, like mirrored images.
And Eden and Patrick had clearly heard.
Patrick-Daffodil, you’re pale again today.
The girl moved with lightning speed. Mid-swing she leveled the sword at Eden’s throat.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
Their voices echoed. Patrick and Patricia stared at each other as though into a mirror.
“But you know my name?”
They both asked—yet with different nuances: Patrick, unaware of Patricia’s existence, truly wondered; Patricia knew of Patrick and was asking who Eden was.
“Eden Patterson, sword of His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Eden declared, bowing instinctively to the girl so like Patrick. It was clear she was not the sickly daughter of the empress’s lady-in-waiting.
“So, you’re Patrick.”
The girl clasped Patrick’s hand, her expression complex, then gave a faint smile.
“Still, meeting you… I’m glad.”
“You know me? How?”
“They say you and I shared our mother’s womb—we’re twins.”
Eden could never forget that day. Seeing Patricia’s waist-length hair, yellow as molten sunlight, and the sword she pointed, he thought he could gladly die beneath it.
In that instant he became Patricia’s knight.
Officially, after earning his knighthood, Eden swore fealty to Crown Prince Patrick, and Patrick was his lord; yet in Eden’s heart, his true liege was Patricia.
When their train reached Brück Central, the sun was sinking beyond Mount Hesperos.
Early-summer sunsets came late in Tane. The ground, baked all day, still radiated heat. Travelers from the north stepped off the train, glanced at the sky, and shrugged off their coats.
For two days Patricia had slept almost without pause, waking only to eat. Eden watched her sleeping face, losing track of time.
The warhorse unloaded from the freight car reared, eager to run.
As they entered the station square, a white eagle swept down, perched on Patricia’s shoulder, and nuzzled her slender nape with its yellow beak.
Patricia untied the letter from its leg.
「Patrisha, your rose is in full bloom. Come safely—I’ll be waiting. I miss you.」
“Let’s go, Eden. Patrick’s waiting.”
*
Eva, who had been working lace by the window table of the detached palace, leapt to her feet when she saw two black horses galloping toward her.
With trembling hands, she wiped the tears from her eyes and ran outside.
When she had first heard that Patricia had been taken prisoner, Eva had collapsed on the spot.
It wasn’t until Anna, the maid Patrick had brought in to assist Eva—relayed that a messenger bird had arrived and that the princess had escaped safely and was on her way back with Sir Eden, that Eva regained her strength.
She had thought they would arrive tomorrow. Rubbing her eyes with her sleeve, Eva ran straight to the west tower.
From the bronze door of the tower, she watched Patricia leap off the warhorse, hastily lifting the hem of her thin dress. Without an underskirt, her bare legs were fully exposed.
‘So what. She’s not hurt. She’s safe—for now, that’s enough…’
The royal guards blocked the bronze door of the tower.
“Move.”
“…”
Patricia pulled back the hood of her black robe, stood tall, and spoke in a cold voice.
“As has been revealed, I am Princess Patricia Kalyan Evas of the Tane Empire.”
When Patricia had been captured, word of the princess’s existence had spread throughout the empire.
“We greet Your Highness, the Princess.”
“Our apologies. We were ordered to escort you directly to the Imperial Guard upon your arrival.”
