A Smile on the Shore
Annette stepped down onto the shore at Glenford. Evening had already fallen.
Families and lovers strolled along the coast. Children’s laughter broke here and there, carried on the wind.
Annette lifted her veil with one hand and gazed blankly at the scene before her. The sea dyed by the setting sun was unbelievably beautiful.
Waves rolling in from the straight horizon rose and fell, drawing ripples across the surface. It seemed as if dipping a hand into the water would leave it stained red.
At the shoreline where the waves ended, foam rose like bouquets of flowers. Barefoot lovers dipped their feet in the water and played.
Annette lowered her veil again. Then, gathering her skirts in one hand, she walked slowly forward. The wind was a little chilly.
On one side of the sandy beach, a man had set out paintings for display. Judging by the large canvas before him, it seemed he had painted them himself.
Intrigued by the works, Annette approached and asked,
“Are these paintings for sale?”
“Of course. I paint them, and I sell them too.”
Annette read the price tags laid out below. They were not very expensive.
“Since it’s getting dark and I was about to pack up anyway, I’ll draw you for free. Have a seat.”
“Ah……”
Annette could not answer readily. She was grateful and interested, yet to sit for him she would have to remove her hat.
Reading her hesitation, the man said jokingly,
“What, not confident about your face? Then I can draw you with the hat on.”
“Ah, no.”
Hesitantly she sat on the chair, swallowed once, and removed her hat. She glanced at the man’s reaction, but he showed none.
Does he really not know me, or is he pretending not to……
Either way, it was fortunate. With a slightly easier heart she held her hat properly in her lap.
“How long will it take?”
“It’ll be quick. It’s free—what more do you want?”
“Still, please don’t draw me too strangely.”
“Heavens, the way you are now I can’t help but draw you strangely. You’re so stiff. Try smiling a bit.”
Annette smiled awkwardly. The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“With that awkwardness, your face is pretty but you’d make a terrible actress. Raise the corners of your mouth more.”
“D-didn’t I smile a lot?”
“A lot? You’re doing this right now.”
The man mimicked Annette’s expression. The oddly folded eyes and trembling mouth corners were completely mismatched.
At that comical face Annette burst into laughter without realizing it.
“I’m doing that?”
“That face is much better.”
As if to say that was the one, the man pointed at her with his index finger and moved his pen quickly. Annette smiled a little shyly.
After finishing simple coloring with oil pastels, the man showed her the picture. Annette let out a small exclamation.
“It’s much prettier than me.”
“Of course. I draw prettier than the real thing.”
Fluttering blonde hair, narrowed blue eyes, a brightly smiling face, and the red sea spread behind it. It was not photorealistic, yet compared to the real thing it held quite a similar feel.
“Will you buy it? Of course you don’t have to. If you do, I’ll subtract the drawing fee.”
“Hmm…… I really like the picture, but hanging my own face up is a bit embarrassing…… I’d like to buy another painting.”
Annette pointed to the sea painting with sparkling water that she had been eyeing earlier. In truth that was why she had asked about sales in the first place.
The man willingly discounted three pounds. Annette accepted the paper bag holding the work and thanked him. By then the sun had set and dusk was settling over the shore.
Heiner stood as if nailed in place, staring at her. He had the illusion that a sweet scent rode the sea breeze that blew in.
Even from quite a distance, her smiling face was imprinted on his retina as clearly as a fingerprint. Heiner twitched his dangling hand. Something churned inside him until he felt nauseous.
“Your Excellency, the madam has disappeared.”
The moment that report reached Heiner, communications describing Annette’s appearance went out to every checkpoint and train station in the capital.
This was a standing order he had set in advance. If she remained inside the capital she could be caught at any time, but if she slipped away to another region, matters would grow complicated.
The next report came from the train station. Because the station staff had no authority to detain Annette, they had first directed her to a later train, they said. Heiner immediately took a car to the station.
And there he saw the woman sitting.
Somehow she looked terribly unfamiliar.
Annette’s figure, blankly watching people from beneath her veil, seemed extremely lonely. Amid the clamor of the whole world, that woman alone looked as if she had been taxidermied in place.
The instant he snatched Annette into his grasp—her slender body seemed as if it would vanish without a trace. He knew it was a mad delusion and a strange anxiety, yet the feeling remained.
That was why he abandoned the plan to drag her straight back to the residence and instead followed her.
Annette did not look like someone trying to flee. Her luggage was only a single handbag, and her destination was a place famous as a resort.
Is she going to meet that bastard Ansgar Stetter?
Even the mere assumption made his head seem to blaze. Heiner barely reined in his rampaging emotions and boarded the train after her.
As if it were her first time buying a ticket, Annette had taken a third-class seat that did not suit her at all. Heiner paid extra and switched places with the passenger in the seat behind hers.
Annette never noticed his presence. It was only natural. She was an ordinary person, and he was a former spy long accustomed to tailing.
The train car was cramped and damp. It was almost astonishing that such an elegant woman was sitting there. Heiner repeatedly shifted his posture, unable to settle into comfort.
For some reason Annette chatted quietly with the old woman opposite her. Heiner found himself wondering whether her voice had always been that clear.
He strained to catch the conversation that drifted through the narrow gap between the seat and the window.
“Why don’t you get along with your husband?”
“……Just…… my husband and his people all dislike me. And I no longer want to live with him either.”
“No affection left from living together?”
“Well. That man…… would probably not care even if I died.”
It was not wrong.
Yet why he wanted to refute it—to insist that the words were false—he himself did not know. Perhaps because Annette’s voice as she said them sounded so lonely.
“But you can’t be loved by everyone. That’s truly something that can’t be helped. You have no choice but to live holding close the people who love you.”
The old woman’s words were merely ridiculous in this situation. Heiner thought while slowly tapping the window frame with his fingers.
That woman has no one left.
Except me.
Even at the end, it will be only me.
We will be in pain, yet we will still be together.
Even if that is not love……
The thought always ended with the two of them tightly embracing each other’s bodies, full of thorns.
Annette alighted at Glenford station and hired a carriage. Heiner followed. The place she arrived at was the seaside.
Annette stared at the sea for a long while, then began to walk slowly. The white legs extending below the skirts she had rolled up to her knees were dazzling.
After strolling the beach for some time, Annette stopped before the stall selling paintings and spoke with the man. After a brief hesitation she sat on the chair and removed her hat.
And she smiled.
Just like now.
Watching that clear, smiling face from afar, Heiner felt a groundless shock.
When was the last time he had seen that woman smile without a care? The scenes that rose in his mind were all distant memories. He quietly gritted his teeth.
Let’s go back.
Heiner thought so.
There was no reason to wait for Annette. He should take her back to the residence at once. From the start, following her all this way and wasting time had been a mistake…… His hand twitched slightly.
For some reason his feet would not move. Heiner stared blankly at Annette.
He ought to go to her right now, twist her wrist, force her to her feet, return to Lonchester, and lock her inside the residence.
But he could not.
He ought to threaten her—ask if she had intended to run away, what reason she had for coming here after shaking off her attendants, whether she had meant to meet that Stetter bastard.
But he could not.
He did not want to see that woman’s happy face. He could not allow her even a moment of freedom. He should warn her that if she ever did this again she would not be permitted a single step outside the residence.
But he could not.
He knew that the instant he did, the smile on Annette’s face would vanish like a mirage. Her smile was one of the things he hated and found most unpleasant—yet still.
Even so, he could not.
Swaaah.
The waves made a wet sound.
Annette carefully removed her shoes and ankle stockings. Originally the nobles of Padania considered it shameful to show bare feet, so taking off her shoes outdoors was a first for her.
She set her luggage down in one place and began gathering useless things from the beach—broken conch shells, empty clam shells, glass shards worn blunt at the ends, fragments of things she could not name.
Annette slipped them into the pockets of her cardigan. One pocket soon grew heavy.
Waves rose to her ankles and then washed out again. She straightened and stood looking out at the distant sea. The horizon where the sun had set was pitch black.
This glass shard, or the fragment that looked like pottery, might have come from a foreign land beyond the sea—carried by the waves and currents to some unknown far place.
To an unknown far place……
Without realizing it Annette took a step toward the sea. Cold seawater splashed against her legs.
She stood like that for a moment, then took another step. And another. The wet hem of her skirt wrapped around her calves.
Before she knew it the water had risen to mid-calf. Annette’s gaze remained fixed on the horizon. And the moment she was about to lift her foot once more—
A large hand snatched her arm. She was yanked backward in an instant and collided with something solid.
Buried in a broad embrace, Annette raised her head. A familiar scent brushed the tip of her nose. A voice like a deep cave settled over her.
“……Where are you going.”