Why Shitoen Was Being Targeted

“Then I’ll braid your hair, and we can go to sleep.”

“No, um… It’s all right. I can simply tie it myself.”

“Wait! I’ll do it if you teach me!”

I lightly pressed down on Shitoen’s shoulders as she tried to stand and made her sit again. For now, I placed the brush on a nearby table.

“Um… Then divide my hair into three sections.”

Shitoen spoke hesitantly. I nodded along and divided her silver hair into three bundles.

…But these… immediately became one again…?

“Hold the right bundle in your right hand and the left bundle in your left hand.”

“Got them.”

“Place the right bundle over the middle one.”

“O-Okay.”

“Next, place the left bundle over the middle one.”

“R-Right.”

“Then repeat that alternately.”

“Repeat it alternately…”

I muttered as I moved that bundle over here and this bundle over there, but…

Because Shitoen’s hair was so glossy and silky, it somehow unraveled before I knew it and returned to a single bundle…!

W-Why?! Was this some kind of magic trick?!

I started over once more… Moving the right bundle here, then the left…

Stay there!

As I frantically tried again several times, I heard quiet giggling.

“Sorry! Just wait a little longer!”

“No, it’s all right. Um…”

Shitoen lightly shook out her hair and stood.

Then she timidly spread her arms a little and looked at me.

“Um… Rather than just my hair, could you hold me tightly?”

Of courseeeeeeeee!!!

I stood so quickly that I kicked over the chair, but I ignored it and embraced Shitoen.

Shitoen pressed her face firmly against my chest and remained still for a while.

But…

The hands she had wrapped around my back seemed less like an embrace and more like she was clinging to me.

She really had been frightened, and that made me feel sorry for her.

I tightened my arms without squeezing her too hard and kissed the side of her neck.

“Thank you for saving me today.”

Shitoen finally spoke in a faint voice.

“I should be the one apologizing… I’m sorry I couldn’t save you immediately.”

“That isn’t true. You came rushing to me right away, Prince Saryu.”

Shitoen raised her face and smiled at me.

“You were wonderful. I felt very safe with you.”

“Then… I’m glad. I’m sorry.”

When I embraced her again, Shitoen kept her face pressed against my chest and gently shook her head.

“Ah… What happened to the culprits?”

After remaining still for a while, Shitoen suddenly asked me.

“I don’t know. We couldn’t capture them. But Crown Prince Arios said, ‘They were probably targeting Mail.’”

In truth, we did not really know.

The carriage carrying Mail had certainly been targeted.

However, originally, that carriage had been meant for “Shitoen and me.”

It was possible they had been targeting Shitoen, but…

“The third carriage was also attacked, wasn’t it? In that case, Mail may have been the target.”

Those had been my eldest brother’s words.

That was right.

The third carriage had also been attacked. And Mail had originally been meant to ride in it.

Perhaps the plan had been to stop the second carriage and make the third carriage, which could not stop suddenly, crash into it.

“Either way, information was leaked.”

After all, the decoy carriage had not been targeted at all.

If so, could it have been the chancellor…? That man had originally intended to board the decoy carriage alone.

“What is it?”

Apparently, my muttering had been too quiet for Shitoen to hear.

She tilted her head curiously, so I shook mine and said, “It’s nothing.” Then I lifted her into my arms.

“Eek!”

“Well then, it’s bedtime, young lady.”

When I peered into her face and said that, Shitoen blushed and tightly gripped my shirt.

“Um… I’m not very sleepy anymore…”

Shitoen spoke to me timidly.

“Will you keep holding me until I fall asleep?”

Not merely until she fell asleep—even after she did, I wanted to keep holding her forever.

In fact, I wanted to keep placing kisses all over her body until she fell asleep.

And that night, I dreamed again.

A man was running.

It was that man.

The man dressed in navy-blue clothing.

He desperately raced down a staircase and passed through several doors that opened on their own.

As he approached his destination, my heart also pounded harder. The back of my throat burned as though I were running too, and a throbbing pain pulsed deep inside my head.

An iron door blocked his path. Its upper section was made of slightly frosted glass, and above it, a sign bearing what appeared to be writing glowed red.

The man approached as though he intended to charge straight through the door.

It did not open.

He stepped back and forth several times and waved his hand near the upper section.

It did not open.

The man clicked his tongue and punched the door.

At that moment,

I clearly saw his face for the first time.

The iron door had been polished until its surface reflected dimly like a mirror.

And there,

the man’s face was reflected.

I finally understood what it meant to be struck speechless by shock.

He looked… exactly like me.

While I stood stunned, the man held up something like a card hanging from his neck and pulled at the handle, trying to force the door open.

Then men wearing uniforms similar to those of our order rushed over carrying forked restraint poles.

When one of them pressed something marked with numbers beside the door, it opened with a shrill noise.

“　　　　　　　　　　　!”

Although the uniformed men tried to stop him, the man charged inside.

“　　　　　　　　　!!”

“　　　　　　　　　!”

Angry shouts flew throughout the room.

There was a man holding a blade.

A woman lay covered in blood on something resembling an iron bed.

Women dressed in white tops and bottoms huddled together against the wall, crying.

Only one person, the black-haired woman who could only have been Shitoen, confronted the armed man and shouted back at him.

The man said something to the one holding the blade. But the armed man seemed to fly into a rage and shouted back.

And then,

“　　　　　　　!”

He swung the blade…

I shut my eyes.

Agonizing pain tore through the left side of my chest.

I screamed.

Not because it hurt.

It was fear.

Shitoen was going to disappear.

She was going to die.

That despair burst from my throat…

“Prince Saryu?!”

I awoke as someone shook me.

I was breathing as heavily as if I had been sprinting at full speed.

I gripped the sheets, my entire body drenched in sweat.

Even after waking, I was still screaming.

“…Prince Saryu. What… truly happened?”

Still lying on my back and unable even to sit up, I stared blankly at her.

Shitoen was peering down at my face.

Her tightly pressed lips trembled slightly…

Then tears spilled from her violet eyes and fell onto my cheek.

“…I’m all right…”

I smiled stiffly and wiped away Shitoen’s tears.

“Young master?! Are you all right?!”

There was frantic knocking, followed by the head butler’s voice from beyond the door, and I gave a wry smile. I must have screamed quite loudly.

“Sorry, I was confused after waking. I’m fine.”

Even as I answered, I was thinking about something else.

That man.

The man who appeared in my dream.

Could he have been the man Shitoen had loved in her previous life?

In that case, the dreams I had been seeing—the scenery within them— could they have been the world where Shitoen lived before her reincarnation?

My hand rested against Shitoen’s cheek. She nuzzled into my palm.

“I’m all right. Sorry for frightening you.”

When I smiled, Shitoen also smiled faintly, but unease still lingered on her lips.

As I gazed at Shitoen, a thought occurred to me.

I had glimpsed Shitoen’s previous life.

And I was capable of seeing it in considerable detail.

Could this… be the reason she was being targeted?