Unanswered Questions (10)

“Arthur, when will I be able to stop taking this medicine?”

“It’s up to you to not take medicine.”

Arthur, who wiped her mouth with a napkin, got up from his seat and headed to his desk.

As the servants cleared the table, she leaned against a chair and continued to hold and shake the glass bottle. She felt familiar and unfamiliar.

“If I don’t eat, will the disease that stopped develop again right Arthur?”

She opened the lid of the glass bottle and tried to take it to her mouth, but stopped. Arthur’s eyes shook strangely as he was looking at her drinking medicine.

“Even if I didn’t take medicine, there won’t be something that will hurt, right?”

“…That won’t happen.”

She shrugged as if she knew and put it in her mouth. When she saw Arthur’s eyes shaking at the moment, she thought something ridiculous.

She thought maybe it’s really like that.

“Come to think of it, there was a time when I didn’t take medicine.”

“Once you begin to have doubts, your doubts will grow endlessly.”

“Hmm, I must have been mistaken. Because you couldn’t have lied to me.”

He still looked at her with calm eyes. Finding the embarrassment hidden in a soft smile, he smiled lightly.

Lie.

He was caught by her.

Because she once really didn’t take medicine.

“Suspicion is very scary. Because what I’ve been struggling with makes me collapse in an instant.”

Arthur’s gaze stayed in the air and soon returned to its place. Only the rustling sound filled the silence in the room.

She was not interested in looking at the documents, so she eventually got up from her seat.

“I don’t think you can finish it by today. Why don’t you let me go?”

It was hypothetical to try to skim the documents, but it was meaningless to be here with nothing to do.

Arthur nodded reluctantly to see if it was enough to catch her until this time.

When she opened the door and looked back, Arthur’s eyes looked at her. At the same time as he smiled, she closed the door and escaped.

“Where is Carl?”

It was quite late. She thought she should see him tomorrow. Giving up quickly, she headed to the room. Maybe because she took the medicine, she felt lighter.

She didn’t know if it’s just her feelings.

“Princess.”

She heard Carl’s voice from a short distance as he came towards her. When she looked back, Carl was standing at a close distance and looking at her.

“Oh, Carl. I was going to find you.”

“I was going to see you tomorrow because it was late. But I thought you’d be curious.….”

“Right, me…… Yeah, you know me well.”

Her. Mary that he knows.

She’s becoming Mary.

A bitter smile spread around her mouth without realizing it. Oh, again. Her mouth is bitter.

“Follow me. There will be a lot of ears here.”

She took the lead and came out of the Palace. Looking around, she saw the guards and headed toward the garden, pretending to be taking a walk. Carl followed, keeping his distance from her.

It’s been a really long time. The one Carl silently follows from behind. Was it this heavy to have someone behind you?

“What about the scream?”

“I heard it a few days ago. Two days before the Princess came.”

“Two days ago…”

It was the day when Arthur was away because there was something urgent. That day when Nox didn’t come even when she called him.

Carl handed her a piece of paper. It was the number of screams written by the maid. The cycle was fixed, but it was not constant.

Whether the maid who nodded to her at that time helped her or the location of the door changing is also marked.

“Have you tried it?”

“There’s no key. I’ve searched everything, but I can’t find any keys to open.”

“If the door was closed, there would be a way to open it.”

She fell asleep at night. It was something that no one in this castle could avoid. Then, when did Carl move?

“You didn’t fall asleep?”’

But he couldn’t spit it out. He just fiddled with the paper for no reason and moved his steps that had stopped.

Looking at the paper, it is marked in quite detail. The maid could not have drawn this much. She must have helped him enough to take her foot out at any time.

“It’s been a while.”

“…….”

“Taking a walk together.”

They, who are prevented by Arthur from being alone, have not talked to Carl in recent days. She turned toward Carl, following him.

It’s been a while. The gaze, that gaze that looked at her.

That expression suppresses the feelings hidden in the distant depths from time to time.

She missed him. Yeah, she must have missed Carl.

Carl’s love for Mary is so pretty that he seems to be there all the time without being shaken, while being none the wiser.

If she asked if this is love, well.

“Come closer. You’re so far away. How can you keep that distance?”

“…but.”

Carl, who was looking toward the castle, came one or two steps closer, perhaps remembering what Arthur had told him.

Distance he can’t reach even if he reaches out. As if the distance between them was set, it stopped and did not approach.

“If I’m okay, it’s okay.”

She turned completely toward Carl.

Only then did Carl’s obvious expression that caught her eyes hurt her heart. It collapses as if it were falling endlessly to the floor.

Did he think it would be hard to see because it was dark? Or maybe she couldn’t control her emotions because she hadn’t seen him in a long time.