After he left the scriptorium, Peter took the lead and started walking ahead. Andrea followed behind him, staring blankly at Peter’s robe. By the time they had turned several times along the narrow, cold stone walls and reached the abbot’s office, Andrea’s heart had begun to beat out of step with an unknown unease.

“Go on in. Remember your promise.”

Peter said, stepping aside. Andrea nodded, drew in a few deep breaths, then opened the door to the abbot’s office and went inside.

Even though Andrea had not yet closed the door, it shut behind him. It must have been Peter who closed it. The abbot’s office, the only place in this small monastery that was even a little spacious, was as cold as ever.

Andrea looked cautiously back and forth between the abbot, seated at the desk with his back to the window, and the unfamiliar figure standing beside him. The stranger standing next to the abbot wore splendid clothes made of luxurious fabric. He was an “outsider” Andrea had almost never seen in his life.

At the instinctive sense of rejection, Andrea involuntarily stumbled back. But after only a few steps, his back hit the cold wooden door.

“Andrea.”

The abbot called Andrea in a gentle voice. Normally, he would have slowly gone to him, but Andrea simply stood there, staring at the outsider with eyes rippling with unease. Perhaps because he had almost been in a rough situation just moments ago, he simply could not shake his wariness of strangers.

“Andrea. Come closer here.”

The abbot called Andrea again. It was a call with no hint of threat or coercion. Only then did Andrea carefully walk up to the desk. Of course, even then, he could not tear his wary gaze away from the stranger he had never seen before.

As he reached the desk, the outsider came into clearer view. The outsider, standing with the sunlight pouring in from the window at his back, was clearly dressed in fine clothes. The outer robe was densely embroidered with expensive thread, and the buttons and ornaments hanging from it were all made of real jewels.

Was he around his fifties? Beneath blond hair streaked with gray, a pair of clear blue eyes were staring fixedly at Andrea as if they would pierce him through.

“Oh my God….”

The outsider murmured softly, almost like a sigh. Andrea backed away as if to avoid the outsider striding toward him.

“It’s all right, Andrea. He won’t hurt you.”

The abbot said reassuringly. But Andrea could not stop retreating, and the outsider took a larger step forward and grabbed Andrea’s face with both hands.

“…So you’re Andrea. My God. You’ve grown up so well.”

“P-Please let go…. Who are you.”

Andrea struggled to pry away the man’s hands, which were cupping both his cheeks, and asked.

“Good heavens. How could you look so much alike.”

But the man was so completely submerged in his own emotions that he seemed not to hear Andrea’s protest at all.

His faded-looking eyes were full of wonder and delight. It was a look as though he were receiving a god, but Andrea felt fear in that gaze. Of all the outsiders Andrea, who had lived his entire life in a narrow, small world, had encountered, the only one was Kiel, whom he had met in childhood, and this man was the second.

“Your excellency. Please give Andrea a little time. He is a pure and tender soul who knows nothing.”

The abbot said to the man in a gentle voice. Andrea, who had known the abbot for years, could hear a faint note of sorrow and concern in that voice.

At the abbot’s words, the man finally let go of Andrea’s face. Then he stepped back, drew in a large breath for a moment, and soon spoke in a trembling voice.

“Andrea. I am…. I am your uncle.”

Uncle.

Andrea had never heard of or encountered any kinship relations, but he knew what an uncle was.

His mother’s brother.

He understood the meaning at once, but Andrea could not feel the slightest positive emotion toward the outsider before him. He only wanted to return to the bedroom, where he could find peace of mind as quickly as possible, and lose himself in copying without thinking about anything.

“Abbot.”

Andrea looked at the abbot with pleading eyes. In the abbot’s olive-colored eyes, which were always kind and calm, there was now a deep trace of pity and sympathy. Andrea sent him a beseeching look, but the abbot only gave a small shake of his head. It was a gentle refusal.

“I would like to explain in detail, but there is no time. If you have anything to pack….”

The man began in a gentle yet somewhat urgent tone, then trailed off. His eyes swept over Andrea’s old, worn black robe, and he soon gave a small shake of his head.

“No, I suppose there is nothing to pack. Time is short, so let’s be on our way at once.”

“Leave? Where to?”

Andrea asked with frightened eyes, looking again at the abbot. There was concern in the abbot’s eyes, but again he simply watched the two of them without saying a word.

“Only to the place where you ought to be from now on. I will explain the details on the way.”

The man gripped Andrea’s shoulder. Andrea jumped in fright and shook off the man’s hand.

“I, I do not want to. I will stay here….”

“Andrea!”

The man cut Andrea off in a stern voice. The man’s face, which had been gentle until now, hardened abruptly. That change in expression alone was enough to frighten Andrea.

“Wait a moment.”

Then the abbot rose from his seat. The man shot him an irritated look, but the abbot walked over to them with calm steps.

“Andrea.”

The abbot called Andrea in a composed voice.

“Abbot.”

Andrea looked at the abbot with earnest eyes. Before long, the abbot took off the thin silver necklace hanging around his neck and placed it in Andrea’s hand.

“Do not be afraid. God will be with you.”

The abbot said as if blessing him, pressing the necklace deeply into Andrea’s hand. Then he sent the man a glance and asked.

“You will allow him to take at least this one thing, I trust?”

The man looked at the rough cross necklace in Andrea’s hand and shook his head decisively.

“Surely he should have at least one thing that can bring him peace of mind?”

The abbot tried to persuade the man. But the man, with a resolute face, snatched the cross necklace away and flung it back to the abbot.

“There. Let’s hurry and go. We have a long way ahead of us.”

With a hand still on Andrea’s shoulder, the man opened the door to the abbot’s office. Andrea was led as if pulled along by him, then turned back. The abbot gave him a faint smile and drew the sign of the cross in the air toward Andrea, as if blessing him. The moment of farewell was that short.

The moment they left the abbot’s office, Andrea was almost dragged out of the monastery. Outside the front gate of the closed-off monastery, where no one ever came and went except the workers who brought in groceries and daily necessities once a week, a pitch-black carriage Andrea had never seen before stood waiting.

As soon as the two appeared outside the front gate, the driver leaped down from his seat, opened the carriage door, and set down the steps stored at the back of the carriage in front of the door.

“Please get in, your majesty.”

The man who was his uncle invited Andrea in a gentle voice.

‘Your ma… jesty?’

Andrea looked at the man with startled eyes, and as if he would not allow any question, the man gave Andrea’s back a rather firm push with his hand. Andrea was shoved into the carriage without even getting a proper look back at the monastery where he had been confined for so long.

The inside of the carriage was nothing like its pitch-black exterior. Inside, the carriage was decorated with lavish carvings and fabrics Andrea had never seen before. When he perched awkwardly on the seat, an unfamiliar softness wrapped around his body.

The man came into the carriage after Andrea. As soon as he sat down opposite Andrea, the carriage door closed as if it had been waiting for that moment.

Thud-thud.

As if giving a signal, the man knocked on the carriage wall. Nothing could be seen beyond the carriage window, which was covered with a beautiful embroidered cloth. Only the vibrations through his body made it clear that the carriage had begun racing forward at great speed.

“…What happens to me?”

Pale with tension and fear, Andrea asked the man seated across from him in a trembling voice. The man crossed his legs and laid both hands on his lap, staring at Andrea for a moment before slowly speaking.

“Your Majesty may call me Duke Fernan from now on.”

“…….”

“As I said earlier, I am Andrea, no, Your Majesty’s maternal uncle and Duke Fernan. And Your Majesty’s mother is the empress dowager of this country.”