At my question, Riche bit her lip lightly and murmured almost inaudibly.

"...Because no one would come, so I at least..."

Riche's fingers, thin enough to show bone, tapped the table rhythmically. She closed her mouth without finishing.

"So what brings you here?"

"After so long, I got permission to go out using Rehan as an excuse. Just wanted to see your face."

I trailed off slightly. No matter how positively I thought about it, she didn't seem to welcome my visit. Riche had treated me very warmly even on the day she entered the palace as a lady-in-waiting, so her current cold gaze confused me.

Come to think of it, she hadn't come to find me despite working in the same palace. I'd been busy adapting to my new life, but she'd already been in the capital for quite some time.

"I see. But sorry, I'm a bit tired."

Riche stood up, avoiding my eyes. At the clear dismissal, I fumbled awkwardly and picked up the bolero I'd removed.

"Oh, I'll return the bonnet."

"You can keep it."

Riche's tone was gentle but somehow cold. Her coldness gave me a sense of déjà vu. There'd been a time before when she'd been hostile toward me for no reason. Back then she'd quickly returned to being her usual affectionate, lively friend, so I hadn't thought to ask why.

But not around thirteen. Fourteen, no—fifteen? At least older than now. I frowned, trying to remember what had happened to Riche around this time.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"Is it because I'm serving Princess Lapherte instead of Princess Naichelle? Do you think she's lowborn too?"

At my displeased tone, Riche slowly lifted her head. Her slender chin twitched. The Empress's origins were the Imperial Family's open secret, and Riche was Princess Naichelle's closest attendant. Even if she didn't know the truth of those filthy rumors, she must have heard them.

"Lari."

Riche called me affectionately and grasped my shoulders as I stood. A faint sigh touched my nose.

"I don't care who you serve."

"Then why are you acting like you're angry?"

"I'm not angry. Just a bit confused..."

"About what?"

"That Rehan really... No, sorry. It has nothing to do with you."

How could it have nothing to do with me when Rehan's name came up? I grabbed Riche in confusion, but she turned sharply away, indicating she didn't want to say more.

I stared helplessly at her back as she abandoned me in the living room without even saying goodbye and went upstairs. I left the brick house in a gloomy mood. I hoped she'd return to normal like before. This time I wouldn't let it slide vaguely like then.

3: Beneath the Surface

A year in the Red Palace. Winter came.

After Rehan's entrance ceremony, I visited Riche several times. Each time, she maintained that cold new attitude. Natural, really—I'd taken a different path from the past, so of course my history would twist. Still, the frigid face of my closest friend stung a little. I walked the corridor, cold as the winter wind, and planned to visit Riche once more.

A new year arrived. I turned fourteen this year. Rupert, fifteen. The year he'd be named Crown Prince. I'd grown accustomed to Rupert, and he seemed accustomed to me. He no longer swatted away my groveling flattery like before. Just ignored it. So I clung to him more warmly, to this boy who ignored me.

Today, like always, I was returning with steamed dumplings I'd bought at the market yesterday, warmed fresh in the kitchen at dawn. He'd seemed to like the dumplings I brought back after Rehan's entrance ceremony, so now I bought them every time I went out to see my brother. My thoughtful heart, considerate enough to accommodate even his cheap tastes, deserved praise.

Which made it impossible to understand why I'd landed in such a predicament after living so diligently, so obsequiously well.

The heavens. Yes, the heavens were truly indifferent. I swore it was unintentional discovery. Not an ounce of deliberation in it. I could swear to those indifferent heavens that there'd been no intent. But whether Rupert would consider my mistake a mistake—that remained unknown. I looked down at the dumplings in my hands and trembled.

Say something, damn it.

The cold, settled silence wasn't just frightening—it raised goosebumps. I felt Rupert's gaze touch the crown of my head. I sensed his elevated line of sight. The taller Rupert grew, the more he terrified me.

"Lift your head."

No, actually, don't speak.

Rupert's cold voice frightened me more than the sunken quiet. His voice leaned toward a boy's now. So he refrained from speaking outside when possible. A voice that low and thick strained credibility as a girl's. A beautiful girl with a voice threatening enough to kill with words alone—a contradiction even passing dogs would mock.

"Can't you hear me telling you to lift your head?"

I detected no intent to intimidate, but I'd already swallowed all available fear. My hunched shoulders flinched on their own, and my head moved like a door's rusted hinges. Creak, creak. My gaze touched Rupert's flat chest—impossible to insist it belonged to a growing girl, utterly board-like—then traveled upward. Met those razor-sharp green eyes glaring at me. Dropped again.

"I've told you three times to lift your head."

Finally, irritation seeped into Rupert's voice. His harshness made me feel unreasonably wronged. The situation being what it was, I felt frightened, yes, but I wasn't entirely without justification. He'd been careless—it was laughable that he blamed me. Truth was, I'd panicked more than Rupert, the one discovered. Why let me catch you?

Why?

I resented his sloppiness for pushing me into this situation. A maid said Rupert wanted me, so like an obedient dog I'd run to his bedroom and opened the door. Even brought the dumplings he'd wanted to eat, all docile and proper.

I'd knocked three times without receiving permission to enter, true, but Rupert always did that. Never answered anyone's knock—the servants all interpreted his silence as consent. I'd been in the palace a year. I knew the habit. So I opened the door without suspicion, and Rupert was changing clothes.

Changing.

I didn't process the situation at first, just frowned. Below that face too beautiful to believe male, a boy's body was attached. Not as small and gaunt as when I'd first met him.

Knowing Rupert was a frighteningly fast-growing pubescent boy, I wasn't surprised he possessed a male body. But I was horrified by the situation itself—that I'd witnessed it.

I was his maid, but naturally I'd never assisted Rupert's undressing. Imperial family typically received clothing assistance from maids or servants without lifting a finger, but Rupert was different.

Unless absolutely necessary, he bathed alone and dressed alone, never borrowing even Tori's hands. Other maids attributed that quirk to him favoring only Tori, but I knew the real reason. Because this prince was pretending to be a princess.

Rupert had deceived the serpent-cunning imperial family about his gender for a full fifteen years. If his disguise was flimsy enough for me to discover this easily, it was sloppy enough that someone should've caught him during those long years. I felt so wronged I didn't know what to do. Your past self must've had incredible luck, I wanted to sneer.

When I wouldn't lift my head, Rupert walked with quick strides to the wall hung with rifles. Click. He grabbed the long rifle he meticulously maintained daily, and I went pale and snapped my head up.

"Your Highness, j-just calm down!"

I said that, but really, the one who needed to calm down was me, not Rupert. Unlike me trembling like an aspen, Rupert remained utterly composed. From the moment I'd burst through the door until now when he aimed that vicious muzzle at me, his expression hadn't changed. Except for that terribly sunken, apathetic gaze briefly twisting with annoyance, he acted as if nothing had happened.

Even that brief displeasure was merely a hint of inconvenience. From any angle, he absolutely didn't seem flustered like me. Rupert was the one who'd been caught with something he shouldn't reveal, so why was I the one panicking?

Tori.

I looked around, searching for her invisible form.

Where did Tori go?

We'd grown quite fond of each other over the year—surely she wouldn't let me die so pointlessly. Stall for time. I raised my trembling arms to hide my face and gasped out words.

"Your Highness! Wait! Let's talk! Let's resolve this through conversation!"

"This isn't a problem conversation can solve."

"Am I not too valuable a talent to kill over such a minor friction!"

"Plenty of talent's already dead."

Rupert snorted. I'd never seen him actually fire a rifle, but I knew the way he adjusted his grip looked utterly natural.

Despite pretending to be female, every time he went hunting with the Emperor, he'd often catch even the hardest-to-catch hawks. That skilled, even while hiding his true form. If Rupert fired at this distance, I'd certainly die. The guillotine had been terrible, but being hunted like an animal was worse. I collapsed right there.

"Why! Why! Why didn't you lock the door!"