Barely One Step

"Prince Atar is a prince of the Thein Empire, yes, but in the fight for power he was shoved aside a long time ago. The only reason he was permitted to attend the celebration at all was so they could send a royal and save face."

There was nothing wrong in what Fenrik said. Atar was not the first prince, nor even the second. He was the fourth, and born to a concubine from an obscure house besides.

If she called up what she had actually lived through in Atar's ending, he had been, quite literally, little more than a wastrel. He had no notion of how to work, of course. All he cared for was idling, eating, and chasing whatever gave him a thrill.

In other words, a perverted layabout.

"And the Thein Empire is in no position to do anything but watch Ateloia's mood."

Ateloia was one of the strongest empires in the entire setting. The Thein Empire was not. And of all nations, the one pressed right against its border happened to be Ateloia, so the emperor of the Thein Empire had no choice but to tread carefully.

"Find some suitable evidence, or a convenient excuse. Recover the body while claiming it was an assassin's work, offer a vague apology, and the matter should quietly blow over. Prince Atar was never someone the emperor of the Thein Empire particularly needed."

Fenrik let out a short, dry laugh.

"So what I mean is that there is nothing at all for you to worry about, Lady Presepe."

That was the sort of easy thing a person could say only because he didn't know. If he understood the situation she was in right now, he wouldn't be able to speak so comfortably either. Presepe thought it to herself.

"In any case, it is a true honor to see you from so close, Lady Presepe."

"…"

"And yet you are remarkably quiet. Are you always so, Lady Presepe?"

Fenrik asked it while looking at her.

"Or perhaps you cannot speak."

The corner of his mouth twisted, just slightly.

"Answer me, Lady Presepe."

No—I can't speak…

How was she supposed to answer anything when the choices weren't even coming up?

The thought had barely formed when it happened. Presepe missed her step.

"Aaah!"

She lurched hard with a sharp cry, but she did not fall. Fenrik had caught her in an instant.

"Shit, I almost got hurt—huh?"

A beat too late, Presepe realized it. This time, too, she could speak without a single choice on the screen. Nothing like when she had been with Dietrich.

Why was free conversation possible with Fenrik even when there were no choices? There hadn't been some strange bug, the way there had been with Atar. Nothing had happened at all.

Of course, it wasn't as if this never occurred. When the game wasn't progressing, for instance. When no male character had appeared. The gap that opened just before the next plot beat. In those moments, Presepe could speak and move according to her own will.

So was this the same? Dietrich had ordered them to take her to the tower, so the stretch of travel until they reached it simply wasn't under the system's influence?

"Are you all right?"

"Ah, yes… th-thank you."

Even after she answered, Fenrik said nothing for a moment. He only stared down at her.

"Grand Duke Fenrik…?"

"You speak…"

Then, wearing a smile that felt, somehow, faintly sinister, he answered.

"Quite well. Very well."

"…"

"I'm glad."

On the surface there was little in the exchange that ought to have sounded strange, and yet Presepe kept feeling an unease she could not name. Strangely, it was as if he were speaking in a way that glanced off her circumstances.

"In any case, I'm pleased. That I can speak with you like this, Lady Presepe."

Fenrik grinned.

"Have you ever heard of me? I know a great many things about you."

"…What is it that you know about me?"

"How could I not? I am His Majesty the Emperor's man, and one of his few close confidants."

"…"

"What do you know about me, Lady Presepe?"

"I… this is the first time I've met you, Your Grace, so… I don't know anything."

"…"

"I'm sorry."

She had even apologized, and still no answer came back. Presepe stole a cautious glance at Fenrik. But on that handsome face, beautiful where the moonlight struck it, she could read no emotion at all.

"The first time you've seen me…"

"Yes…?"

"I see."

But in the instant he said it—so brief it was gone before she could be sure—he wore, for some reason she could not name, a look touched with disappointment. It did not last. Fenrik wiped the feeling away at once and went on, his eyes on Presepe.

"As I said, I am His Majesty's closest confidant. We have been acquainted since he was still a prince."

…If that had been before I was driven out of the Imperial Palace, there's no way I wouldn't have known.

Which meant Fenrik had grown close to Dietrich only after Presepe was cast out.

"Before that I did nothing but move from one battlefield to the next, so you would have had no chance to see me."

Ateloia was an empire where war came often. Before Dietrich's accession, even more so.

"I see…"

So then, if he was Dietrich's closest confidant… he had to be an NPC tied to Dietrich's route, didn't he?

But she had no intention whatsoever of pursuing Dietrich again, not even in Secret Mode. Which meant she wouldn't be meeting Fenrik again either. His face was extraordinarily handsome, but if he wasn't the true male lead, he wasn't worth her interest.

While she turned all of that over in her head, Fenrik was staring straight at Presepe. She never noticed his gaze. In the meantime, the two of them reached the tower.

"Thank you for seeing me back. Then I'll just…"

All she wanted was to get inside. Presepe left the short farewell and turned away. She had not taken more than a few steps before Fenrik spoke again.

"You'll come to know a great deal more. About me."

Presepe, about to step into the tower, faltered and stopped where she stood.

"You and I, Lady Presepe, will be seeing a great deal of each other from now on."

"…"

"Then I hope you have a good night."

Presepe gave no answer. Instead she turned to look at Fenrik. He stood with the moonlight at his back, his face sunk in shadow, and above that shadow his eyes glowed red.

He had taken no threatening posture, and he had said nothing unpleasant, and yet she could not tell why those words left her feeling so unsettled. Presepe jerked her head around and vanished, leaving him behind.

"…"

Fenrik remained alone before the tower and did not move for a long while. He only quietly called to mind the face of Presepe, who had just turned back to look at him.

"At last…"

He murmured it in a low, sunken voice.

"Barely one step…"

It was, quite literally, barely one step.

But you wouldn't know how many days I lived over and over, just to take this one.

You'll know soon enough. What I have done to reach you, and what I am still capable of doing. And that this, too, is only the beginning.

Sunk in the dark, Fenrik laughed to himself, as if he were thoroughly pleased.

Even after she had barely, barely made it back to the tower, Presepe could not rest easy. Once she had returned to a place that was at least safe, the first thing she did was look up everything related to Atar Hanan again. The Incident Log that had been crammed with question marks, and the album whose faces had been painted pitch-black.

"Atar Hanan's Incident Log, and a look back at past memories. Show me all of it."

But…

"…"

No matter how many times she tried again, the result was the same. Even in the full illustrations—the ones drawn with every other character together—Atar's figure could not be found. He was gone. Literally gone, as if he had been cut out, and only him.

Atar Hanan had vanished completely from inside the game, as if he had never existed from the very beginning.

It was absurd. Like someone gone mad, Presepe went over every setting of the game she knew, again and again. Aside from Atar's disappearance, nothing had changed.

"Show me the information on Grand Duke Fenrik."

The next name that rose to mind was Fenrik. His words, which had seemed somehow to hide thorns, nagged at her and would not settle. Those red eyes that had stared straight at her would not settle either.

But…

…What?

Could it be because he was an NPC with no presence at all? Presepe hurriedly queried the data on the maid Ella.

Ella was nothing more than an NPC herself. So why did Fenrik not exist at all, while Ella could be looked up? This had never happened before.

C-could it be…

Might there be something in the Book of Memories? Perhaps there really was. It was one of the functions newly granted after Secret Mode opened.

"Show me the Book of Memories."

But…

It was the same as last time. The system only spouted nonsense about having finished viewing a Book of Memories it had never even shown her.

Just what, exactly, was going on…

"I don't understand any of it…"