* * *

A salt-scented breeze blew along the coast. A girl sat astride a railing overlooking the vast sea far below.

As though admiring the sea. Or gazing at the sky. Or seeing nothing at all.

For a long while, she stared into space without blinking, her eyes hazy as if veiled in fog. Then she slowly lowered her head.

Forward, forward. And a little farther forward.

Her weight shifted forward, and she lost her balance. Just as her body was finally about to tumble over the railing into the depths below—

"Your Highness! Did you slip away from Tata to doze off here again?"

"No. I was not dozing."

It happened in an instant. Just before falling from the railing, the girl regained her balance using only the strength of her fingers, then answered flatly as though nothing had happened.

"Don't lie! I came running because I saw you nearly tumble off while dozing."

"Tata saw incorrectly. That is certain."

The girl calmly denied it. But the woman called Tata was not fooled. She only fixed the girl with an even fiercer stare and pressed her.

"Tata won't believe you when you say that with sleep crusting your eyes!"

"I slept with my eyes open. There is no reason for sleep to crust them."

"So you were dozing after all!"

Perhaps realizing she had fallen for a leading question, the girl's eyes trembled in her otherwise expressionless face. She glanced away and muttered.

"Tata lied. Deceiving a princess is a grave crime. The sentence is death."

"Then kill me. If you're prepared never to eat Tata's homemade krembo again, that is."

"... Holding krembo hostage is cowardly. Tata is utterly ruthless. You are no different from the Black Dragon Clan."

"Didn't you know? The moment Tata became your nanny, she resolved to become more ruthless than the Black Dragon Clan."

Tata gave a triumphant snort, as though that hardly counted as an insult.

The girl's shoulders slumped. Her insults could hardly make a dent in someone who could say something so dreadful with such pride.

"I finished all my overdue work. I am also postponing going on tour again. At least guarantee me some rest."

"Stop whining. Tata did most of that work anyway."

"Making good use of the clan is also a princess's duty."

"You certainly know how to talk."

Tata shook her head at the girl grumbling with an expressionless face, then spoke reassuringly.

"Don't sulk so much. I haven't come to put you to work again."

"Tata is a habitual liar. That is difficult to believe."

"I swear on Tata's late elder sister that it's true."

"... Then I will believe you."

Her distrust vanished as she nodded in relief. Tata held out a box and a letter to her.

"Here. Read this properly, and Tata will leave you alone again."

"Tata worries too much over little things. I do not understand why you think I cannot even read this."

The girl confidently picked up the letter, as if this were a simple task. Tata smoothly extended one hand as she answered that question.

"Because the person who sent this letter is the Black Dragon Princess."

WHIZ!

It happened immediately afterward: the girl hurled the letter away and tried to flee, only for Tata's waiting hand to catch her by the scruff of the neck.

"Where are you going without even reading the letter?"

"I am not here. I was never here. Therefore, I never received a letter. Please return it to the sender."

"Even if you run away, read the letter first. You're the princess of our clan. What is this disgraceful behavior over a single letter?"

"It is not an ordinary letter. It is a devil's letter. Reading it brings a curse. There is no doubt."

As though it were something more horrifying than a letter written on a leper's skin using pus from a plague victim as ink, the girl struggled to get away from it even as she flailed in Tata's grip.

"Maintain your dignity, Your Highness!"

Tata roared at her. Then she sternly questioned the girl, who had flinched.

"The Black Dragon Clan has fallen so far that it's now called the weakest in the Seven Dragons Society. What are you so afraid of?"

"I am afraid of being assassinated."

"Don't worry. If you do die, Tata will avenge you."

"I would like to know why you are not saying I will be safe."

Tata answered as though the very idea were nonsense.

"There's no possible way to guarantee complete safety against the Black Dragon Clan."

"... Had I known this would happen, I would have preferred to die peacefully while dreaming."

As if she had reached a state of utter resignation, the girl let her arms and legs hang limp. Tata set her down and spoke brightly.

"Don't worry too much. I checked it several times before bringing it, so it should be safe for now."

"Hearing that makes me more anxious."

Despite her expressionless protest, the girl finally accepted the letter with trembling hands.

A little while after opening it, she confirmed that none of the disasters she had feared had occurred: the letter had not exploded, spewed poisonous mist, or clouded her consciousness. Only then did she sigh in relief.

Tata spoke confidently to her.

"See? I told you nothing would happen."

"... Tata, then I would like to know why you are standing so far away."

"Because I don't know what dangerous devices the letter might contain, so I'm maintaining a safe distance."

"..."

Suppressing the ever-growing question of why that woman had not been born into the Black Dragon Clan, the girl cautiously read the letter.

Then she tilted her head.

"...?"

She turned the letter over, held it up to the sunlight, and dabbed it with saliva from her fingertip. After trying all sorts of things, she tilted her head again.

"Your Highness? What does the letter say to make you act like that?"

"It is an invitation."

"You mean an invitation card?"

"No. Just an invitation."

Tata briefly looked dubious at this baffling answer, then took the letter from the girl.

And fell silent.

[Come.]

Tata stared at the letter, which was so simple as to be incomprehensible, then asked to make sure.

"... Is this the entire message?"

"I see no secret writing."

"It wouldn't be secret writing if it were that easy to see, but it really does seem there's none."

While Tata pondered the Black Dragon Princess's intent in sending such a letter, the girl opened the box that had come with it.

She tilted her head several more times at the tablet nestled neatly inside, then carefully lifted it out.

DING-DONG.

"...!"

The tablet switched itself on immediately. Startled, she almost threw it away, but then stopped.

She peered closely at it again, listening to the guitar and singing that began to play from the video automatically launched when the power came on.

The picture was out of focus. The audio was even fainter. There was even background noise mixed in throughout.

It was a dreadful video, obviously shot casually on a smartphone. Yet the girl could not take her eyes off the tablet. She watched as though entranced.

"Your Highness? What's wrong?"

Apparently finding her behavior quite strange, Tata called to her repeatedly. Only after more than five calls did the girl finally speak in her flat voice.

"Tata, I need Teleportation. Please arrange it."

"You're accepting that invitation? Even though you know where the Black Dragon Princess is now?"

"Yes."

"Are you serious?"

"I am serious."

Tata eyed her suspiciously for a moment, wondering if the video had somehow hypnotized her. Then her face suddenly hardened.

"You saw something, didn't you?"

The girl did not answer. Knowing that silence itself meant yes, Tata asked again.

"What did you see?"

"The one I have been searching for."

"... What did you just say?"

"Someone I will have to spend years wandering the world to find again if I do not meet them this time."

The girl continued answering with an expressionless face. Tata looked at her in silence for a long while, then sighed.

"Indeed, in that case, you must go."

"Please provide a strong escort."

"That goes without saying. I would never send you with inadequate protection to a country where that fiend, the Sword Lord, lives."

Tata answered with imposing confidence, as though telling her to leave everything to her.

After Tata withdrew to prepare for their departure, the girl trudged back to the railing alone.

Then she tossed away the letter in her hand. It fluttered in the air.

Perhaps because of the strong Mediterranean wind, the letter rose into the sky instead of falling, riding the breeze far into the distance.

But the girl knew its flight would be brief. Eventually, it would fall into the sea and disappear without a trace, as though dissolving.

And so, after gazing at the letter, she stepped away from the railing.

"I would rather..."

Jerusalem, the world's last holy land.

Atop a royal palace surrounded by thirty-three spires in that city, the white-haired girl Ainsha quietly murmured words she could not bring herself to finish.

* * *

"Hmm..."

[What's wrong?]

'Nothing. I just feel like someone's bad-mouthing me.'

[That's hardly anything new. I've heard people bad-mouth you every day since my days in PAB, Team Leader.]

'Those were all people I'd caught doing bad things.'

After scratching his ear for a moment, Limon opened the door and stepped out. He asked Kim Seung-jun, who was waiting outside,

"Well? Did it go well?"

"..."

"Why aren't you answering?"

Kim Seung-jun had been frozen as though struck by a petrification ray, not even blinking or breathing. Only now did he finally shake off his paralysis.

Without thinking, he asked,

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"What you just did."

"What nonsense are you talking about after hearing all of it? Don't tell me you missed it because you were dozing."

"I'm asking because I heard it—gah!"

Kim Seung-jun shouted, then went rolling across the floor after a finger flick to his forehead.

"Who do you think you are, raising your voice at an elder?"

"Ugh. S-sorry. I was just so shocked."

Though he looked older, Kim Seung-jun could not even think to challenge that point. He was simply that stunned.

And he was not alone. Everyone present with eyes and ears, including Yeon-hwa, was staring at Limon as though they had seen a ghost.

"Why are you so surprised? It's not your first time hearing me play."

After staring at Limon in utter incomprehension for a moment, Kim Seung-jun could hold back no longer and asked again.

"Was that really a musical performance?"

"What else did it sound like?"

"That was..."

Limon chuckled as he trailed off, unable to bring himself to answer. Then he turned to Yeon-hwa, who was still stiff with shock.

"I think that fulfills my promise. What do you say?"

"... Now I understand why Chief Moon was so desperate to get his hands on you."

"Then we're all set."

[I wonder what that man's face would look like if he knew you'd done all this just to screw him over, Team Leader.]

Yeon-hwa looked overwhelmed. As Limon nodded in satisfaction at her answer, Yu Na-gyeong muttered uneasily while watching him.

For some reason, Kim Seung-jun flinched. Cautiously gauging Limon's mood, he spoke.

"Um, about those preparations... There's actually something I need to discuss with you."