She Has Gone Missing

Watching him, Levin thought to himself, If only His Grace would be a little more honest.

Princess Isabel had no way of knowing, but on the days she was due to visit, Alpheus did things he never did otherwise. He would suddenly drag a fingertip along the windowsill and declare there was dust, or take himself down to inspect the kitchens. Today he had gone further still. Alpheus, who hated sweets so thoroughly that he would not touch a dessert no matter what, had tasted one fresh from the kitchen with his own mouth—and upset his stomach so badly that he had skipped his meal entirely.

And yet the moment Her Highness arrives, he hides every feeling. After all that fuss, the instant Isabel appeared he strained to act as though nothing were the matter. Levin, watching the whole performance from the side, could only find it absurd.

Tsk, tsk. He clicked his tongue inwardly as Alpheus bent over the documents. Anyone could see the duke's heart leaned toward Princess Isabel. It was only because he stood in open hostility to the imperial house that he seemed to be forcing himself to deny it.

He would have such an easier time of it if he simply admitted the truth. But who was the man in question? Alpheus Pancrazio, the duke who loathed imperial blood to the point of revulsion. Pride alone would keep him from ever acknowledging the princess who had taken up a place in one corner of his heart. And so he goes on contradicting himself until even he cannot tell what he feels.

Levin gave a small, low shake of his head and spoke.

"Then please wait, Your Grace."

The latch clicked. The moment he stepped out of the office, Levin called to Judy, who was waiting just outside.

"Judy, bring His Grace his meal."

"To the office?"

"Yes. Something gentle on the stomach, and make it filling."

"Understood."

Looking as though one worry had been set down, Levin straightened and stretched—and her words came back to him.

When you bring the luncheon, leave out that I was the one who told you to.

He understood what Isabel had meant better than anyone. She believed Alpheus disliked her, and so if he were told that she had ordered the meal, he would refuse to eat it.

"There's one thing Her Highness doesn't know. That stubborn duke listens to no one but her."

She was mistaken about exactly one thing: that the cold-blooded duke who seemed to live for nothing but his work did, in fact, heed her words remarkably well.

And so, aside from the princess having visited at all, House Pancrazio seemed ready to let another ordinary day pass, just as it always did.

If only the Imperial Knights had not arrived, belated and unannounced.

"Your Grace! Your Grace!"

Levin tore up the stairs toward Alpheus's office in a panic, and behind him a host of imperial knights followed in tight, disciplined formation.

"What's all the commotion?"

"Oh my, what on earth is that ruckus?"

Maids and servants at their work stared, eyes gone round, as Levin charged up the staircase with a swarm of imperial knights at his back.

"Those are the Imperial Knights, aren't they?"

"The Imperial Knights?"

It was exceedingly rare for the order to move as a single body.

"What are they doing at the ducal house?"

"Strange. They've never come here before."

"Has something happened?"

"I think it has."

Leaving the murmuring servants of the ducal residence behind him, Levin reached Alpheus's office and flung the door wide.

"...Levin."

Just as expected, Alpheus had been buried in a mountain of documents well into the late night. He fixed Levin with those characteristically cold eyes, his brow drawn tight.

"What manner of discourtesy is this?"

Even from Levin, he made no effort to hide his displeasure at a door opened without leave. On any other day Levin would have hunched his shoulders and begged forgiveness. Now he only came running, pale as a sheet, to stand before him.

"Y-Your Grace!"

Alpheus had been about to say more, but one glance at the Imperial Knights packed in behind Levin closed his mouth. To have dragged so many of them here in a mass, something had surely gone wrong.

"Th-that is... ah, the..."

"Speak."

Levin was too shaken to do more than stammer. He could not get a proper sentence out. Then, as Alpheus stared at him, the knight standing foremost among the silent ranks stepped forward.

"Greetings, Duke Pancrazio. I am Michael of the First Division of the Imperial Knights."

"I am the Duke of Pancrazio."

"First, I apologize for calling with no word sent ahead. An urgent matter compelled the discourtesy. I ask you to forgive it."

"What business does the imperial house have with me?"

"It concerns Princess Isabel. She—"

In that instant Alpheus let out a scoff, as if he could not believe his ears.

"Ha. Isabel again, is it?"

Knight Michael stared at him, thrown by the sudden turn.

"I beg your pardon? What do you—"

"Did His Majesty the Emperor bid you do this?"

Certain that word of Isabel's early return had reached the Emperor, Alpheus went on, weariness plain on his face.

"If he means to frighten me by deploying even the Imperial Knights, then tell him he has succeeded. From now on, no matter what happens, I shall not send the princess home early."

"Your Grace."

"If you have nothing further to say, I would ask you to leave."

"Duke Pancrazio!"

Alpheus jabbed a finger toward the world beyond the windows, already gone pitch-black. The knight did not go. He shook his head.

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding."

Alpheus's icy manner had rattled him, but Michael opened his mouth again.

"It is true that His Majesty sent us. But I would ask you to understand that this is no private matter. It is grave."

Alpheus did not answer.

"Princess Isabel has—"

His eyes turned sharp. It displeased him that her name kept coming from the knight's mouth, and an unease he could not place grated on him just as much. Irritating. Why does talk of Isabel keep coming up? Uneasy for no reason he could name, he narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip without realizing it—then, at the words that followed, his eyes flew wide.

"She has gone missing."

"Missing?"

"Yes. The carriage Her Highness was riding has vanished entirely. We are in pursuit of it now."

The carriage, gone without a trace? Caught utterly off guard, Alpheus went still, as if stunned, then pressed the knight at once.

"Is there no possibility she went elsewhere of her own will?"

"We thought the same at first. But we have come to believe this incident is connected to the zombie monsters."

"Zombie monsters?"

Alpheus frowned at the words, dropped into the room out of nowhere. Zombie monsters—the only monsters to take living humans as their hosts, a carnivorous breed of virulent proliferation that had, in ages past, annihilated an entire kingdom.

"Why, all of a sudden, are we speaking of those monsters?"

"While we were identifying the former person of a zombie that had just attacked the outskirts of the village..."

He faltered, and the silence held.

"Near that zombie, we found part of the body of Sir Cedric, Her Highness's personal escort."

At the knight's words Alpheus's brow tightened, and Levin, beside him, let his mouth fall open.

"Truly? It was Sir Cedric's hand?"

"...Yes. Members of the Imperial Knights have their own names and the imperial crest engraved upon their wrists. There can be no mistake."

If Cedric of the Imperial Knights, who had always kept to the princess's side, had died in a zombie attack, then no one could swear the princess herself still lived. Levin seemed to reach the same conclusion. He held his silence a moment, then asked Michael carefully.

"Sir Knight... the name Cedric is rather common, is it not? Is there no chance it belongs to some other knight?"

"His wedding ring was still on the ring finger, and Sir Cedric's wife has just confirmed the ring herself."

No one spoke.

"Therefore, Her Highness, who was with Sir Cedric..."

Michael bowed his head low.

"We believe she is either dead, or has already become a zombie."

The pen slipped from Alpheus's fingers and struck the floor with a dull thud.

"In light of this, the imperial house seeks the cooperation of Duke Pancrazio, Princess Isabel's fiancé."

Alpheus said nothing.

"Please lend us your strength in finding Her Highness."

Missing. They called it missing, and yet the knight already spoke as a man certain Isabel was dead. Zombies moved in swarms. If a princess accompanied by nothing but an escort knight and a maid had met such a swarm, her chance of survival fell away to nearly nothing.

"Your Grace..."

Everyone in that room knew it. Levin, swallowing a groan, looked at Alpheus's face and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Again."

Alpheus stood there in a daze, his face gone white as paper.

"From the beginning. Tell me again."

He looked as though he might come apart at any moment.

Where was I supposed to go?

At first I had thought to wander the streets and buy a few things, but I could hardly leave a carriage stamped with the imperial seal standing in the middle of the road. After a brief moment's thought, I decided on a light walk in the forest on the outskirts.

"Let's go out to the outskirts for a little while."

"The outskirts? You mean the forest?"

"Yes. Just a walk."

If it was the forest, there would be no one passing by, which made it a fine place to kill time out of Father's sight. Lina caught my meaning at once and passed word to the coachman. Meanwhile I opened the carriage window and asked the knights.

"I'd like to go to the Outskirts Forest for a little while. That's all right, isn't it?"

"We are the ones who guard Your Highness. Wherever you wish to go, so long as you leave us room to protect you, we have no objection."

I smiled as I watched them face forward, assuring me it was fine.

"Thank you. Always."

"Not at all. This is our duty."

At my thanks, Sir Cedric only waved the words away and told me I must be weary, so I ought to rest. Just then Lina leaned in and peeked her face through the carriage door.

"Your Highness. The coachman says there's a back road that people rarely use."

"A back road?"

I considered it, then nodded.

"If we go that way, the carriage will draw less notice, won't it? Let's do that."

"Yes. Oh, and he says he'll take us around as slowly as he can."

He must have known as well that if we returned too early, Father would scold me for coming back so soon.

"That works out nicely."

Relieved, I smiled faintly and leaned back against the seat. A moment later I heard the horses, which had been walking at an easy pace, drive their hooves into the earth. The carriage began to move, and the scenery beyond the window blurred and tangled together.

"Lina."

I had been watching the outside in silence for a while before I spoke to her.

"Yes?"

"They say couples who live around here often go on dates in the Outskirts Forest. The very place we're heading."

"Ah, I know. It's famous, isn't it?"

"Then is my lover Lina?"