After that, the daughter was dragged off somewhere together with the child, still not understanding what was going on.

"Wash this child and dress her properly."

After they got off the carriage like that, the child said those words while looking at the red-eyed men.

Hearing that, the daughter could not help but flinch in surprise.

'Talking to them like that after being dragged here...!'

These were the same people even the adults had feared.

And they did not look kind enough to go easy on someone just because it was a child.

Thinking something terrible might happen, the daughter looked up at the man with worried eyes.

But then.

"Yes."

At the child's command,

the red-eyed men did not show the slightest sign of doubt.

They simply nodded at its words.

"Uh...?"

"See? I told you not to worry."

When the daughter looked over in shock,

the child smiled brightly and said,

"Because... you have me here. Your friend."

At those words,

the daughter remembered what her father had said.

'A special child.'

Just as her father had said.

It really did seem like a child who was a little different from her.

"Hmm."

A little later,

the daughter appeared just as the child had said she would, freshly washed clean.

The fluffy, spotless feeling was unfamiliar, and the luxurious clothes were so fine she was afraid they would wrinkle, to the point that she could barely even move properly.

"This should be... more than good enough to take around with me."

"...?"

Looking at the daughter like that, the child smiled and said,

"Honestly, I thought so from the moment I first saw you. That if they washed you and dressed you up, you'd be very cute. Was your mother beautiful?"

"Mom..."

The voice had been gentle.

But hearing those words, the daughter lowered her head and said,

"I don't know what my mom looked like."

"...Ah. Um, hmm."

At that word,

another bad thought rose again in the daughter's mind, already thrown into confusion by everything that had happened so suddenly.

"..."

Abandoned.

Remembering that word, the daughter lowered her head deeply.

Seeing the girl's gloomy expression,

"Do you want to come with me?"

"...?"

the child took her hand and led her somewhere.

The wide, splendid room they were in.

Near the window was a broad balcony that opened to the outside.

"Want to take a look?"

the child said, leading the daughter out onto that balcony.

When the daughter had arrived here, she had been crying with her head lowered inside that carriage.

After that, she had looked up and seen the child's face, but...

she did not remember anything in between.

By the time she came back to herself, she was already here.

And yet.

"Wow...!"

the moment she stepped out onto the balcony as the child had said,

the surrounding scenery spread out before her in a «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» single glance.

A clear, transparent sky without a speck of cloud.

Below it stretched a vast emerald-green grassland, all the way to the horizon.

In the middle of that grassland flowed an enormous river shining like crystal light.

And in the sky, the sun and moon, the two heavenly bodies, shone together, softly lighting the world.

Far off at the edge of the horizon, an aurora fluttered down from the sky like a curtain.

A beautiful rainbow stretched from the western edge of the grassland to the eastern one.

And near that beautiful rainbow, birds glittering gold and silver flew through the air.

More than anything, the most magnificent sight of all—

was the enormous castle standing along the course of that great river.

It was the very castle where the daughter was now staying.

Each brick of the castle shone like a finely cut jewel.

Because of that, the entire castle seemed to emit light on its own, like a beautiful work of art.

All throughout the castle grounds stood beautiful statues that looked as though they had stepped out of myth.

And in the central garden spread a flower garden so beautiful it seemed as though the gods themselves must have arranged it.

Gorgeous towers rose from every part of the castle walls as if they meant to pierce the sky, and atop each tower glittered a beautiful crystal that looked as though a star itself had been set into it.

"It's so pretty..."

The kind of thing that could only exist in imagination...

No, pure beauty itself beyond anything she had ever even imagined.

For a long while, the daughter could not take her eyes off that sight.

'So this was such a beautiful place.'

By the time she had come to her senses, she had already arrived here.

It was enough to make her regret that she had not been able to see that scenery up close on the way here.

"Hehe, I knew it."

Then,

seeing the daughter like that, the child gave a pleased little smile and said,

"This is where we're going to live from now on."

"Really...?"

"Mm. And."

A deeper curve spread across its lips.

Unlike the lofty image it had given off when she first saw it,

it was a smile as pure and confident as a child showing off a treasured toy.

"Look forward to it. This isn't the end."

After that,

the child took the daughter around to place after place.

It showed her beautiful scenery.

It fed her precious things beyond anything she could have imagined.

When it even let her ride a pure white horse with horns herself, she felt like praying that this time would never turn out to be a dream.

"Well? Isn't it fun?"

"Yeah...!"

"Hehe!"

And so,

after letting her enjoy every luxury the world had to offer,

the child said with a satisfied smile,

"Well? This is where you'll live."

"Here... really."

"Of course. And if there's anything else you want, just say the word. If it's something I can do, I'll do anything for you."

"Can I really... do that?"

"Of course. We're friends."

Reaching out and carefully taking the daughter's hand, the child said,

"You know, back in that village, when you said I looked like I'd be lonely."

"You heard that...? S-sorry. I didn't mean anything bad by it..."

"You don't have to apologize. Back then... I was really happy."

Looking down at the hand it held,

the child spoke with a somewhat sorrowful expression.

"You were right. I've been very lonely, very miserable, all this time."

At those words,

the daughter glanced to the side.

She could see the red-eyed adults standing there with their heads bowed respectfully.

"...Even living in a place like this, and staying with them?"

"I like this place too, but even so, I couldn't help being lonely. Those children..."

"Children?"

"...those people were a little different from me. And even though I was this lonely, I couldn't tell anyone how I felt. I always had to hide the pain... and act like I was fine on the outside, act strong."

Before long,

the child stretched out both hands and held both of the daughter's as it said,

"So when you noticed that, you have no idea how happy it made me."

"Ah..."

"From that moment on, I thought it. That maybe you... might be able to understand me. That maybe you might become... a friend in the same situation as me."

As if it truly was happy from the bottom of its heart,

it said with a bright, innocent smile,

"I'm so happy I could become friends with you like this. So if there's anything you want, just say it. If it's something I can do, I'll do anything for you."

At those words, the daughter looked around at the adults nearby.

By now, even she understood that they listened to that child.

Maybe it was something like the princess of this castle.

"Then."

Just as it said.

A child who looked as though it could easily make anything she asked for come true.

Thinking that, the daughter gathered her courage and opened her mouth.

"...I want to go."

"Hm? You want to go? Where? That flower garden? Or should I let you walk on the rainbow? Going to see the aurora would be nice too. It's not bad from here, but seeing it from underneath is really the—"

"To my father."

"..."

Then,

the child's excited stream of words stopped.

The daughter, not noticing that fact, spoke shyly.

"My father..."

"..."

"I miss my dad..."

At the daughter's words, the child did not answer for a long time.

When no reply came, the daughter tilted her head up in confusion.

And then.

'Huh?'

All at once, she had the strange feeling that the scenery around her had changed a little.

A world that had been filled with nothing but pure beauty, without a single blemish.

And in the blue sky above that world, clear and empty of even a single cloud—

Saaaaa...

"No."

something of unknown origin, a red mist, began to mix in.

***

The daughter could not help but feel a little flustered.

The child, whose gentle smile from before was nowhere to be found,

"No. Absolutely not."

was looking at her with an expressionless face so perfect it was almost unnatural.

"...Why?"

"Why? That's what I want to ask. With a place this wonderful, why would you want to go back there? Was there something you didn't like?"

Keeping that blank expression on its face,

it turned its head slightly over its shoulder and said,

"...Was the food not very good after all?"

"Huh...?"

"I trusted that one because it claimed it had once been quite an impressive cook. Then again, it must have forgotten human tastes long ago, and the cooking style was probably badly outdated too..."

At those words,

a change came over the bodies of the red-eyed humans lined up nearby.

Tremble... tremble...

When they had attacked that village, they had seemed like absolute beings.

Yet now, they began shaking with pale faces so badly it was hard to believe they were the same ones.

"That child will have to be punished..."

"N-no. The food was wonderful. So wonderful that I feel like I may never taste anything like it again..."

"Then what? Were the clothes not to your liking? Or was something uncomfortable while you were being washed?"

"It's just..."

The daughter hesitated as she spoke.

"I'm worried about my father..."

"..."

At those words, a slight change came over the face of the child that had been expressionless until then.

"...I knew it."

The child looked at the daughter's face for a moment.

Then, with eyes full of pity, it gently touched that face with one hand as it said,

"You're just like me."

"Huh...?"

"Even while knowing you've been abandoned, you still try somehow to deny it in your head... and while doing that, you worry about the one who abandoned you, and obsess over them."

Stretching out its other hand, the child gently caressed the daughter's face with both hands.

"I was like that too. To be honest, sometimes I still am. Maybe we were always beings that had no choice but to be this way from the beginning."

"..."

"But."

Grab!

"That can't be allowed."

"C-can't be...?"

The child, who had been gently caressing her face,

roughly seized it, and yanked her in so harshly their faces were almost touching as it said,

"That man abandoned you. If he had resisted, he might have been able to save you, and he knew that possibility existed too. And even so, he gave up on it."

"..."

"I was exactly the same as you. I thought it had to be some kind of mistake. That they would never do such a thing... that something must have happened and forced them to leave us, that we had to go find them and help them, that maybe they were waiting for us.... But it wasn't true. The more time passed, the more certain it became that they had abandoned us."

Loosening the strength in the hand gripping her face,

the child drew back a little and spoke in a faintly heated voice.

"I don't want you, my friend, doing the same thing."

"..."

The daughter stared blankly at the child's face.

"Come to think of it, we don't even know each other's names yet, do we? Could you tell me your name?"

Eyes that had looked only impossibly beautiful before, like jewels.

"That name isn't bad, but... it's too childish, and too Imperial. A more antique name would suit you better."

But now, seen up close, they felt a little different.

"I'll just add one syllable. I'll share my name with you."

"..."

"Don't obsess over the one who abandoned you. Even if turning away is unbearably hard, and you're so lonely it brings tears to your eyes... now you have a friend."

In those eyes, she could not even begin to fathom the depth of it.

"Because you have a friend here who can understand you."

"..."

"One day, you'll understand what I mean too."

An endless darkness seemed to be lurking there.

"Ariella."