The man, whose height towered well above the others, had jet-black hair, a color rarely seen on the continent.

‘Kiel?’

Andrea, without realizing it, thought of the boy from old memories and hurriedly checked his face. Naturally, the two of them’ eyes tangled in the air. Seeing the hair and eye color that made her think of the boy in her memory, Andrea drew in a sharp breath.

...Kiel? Kiel?!

As Andrea stared blankly, the man with golden eyes narrowed his gaze slightly.

“Your Majesty?”

Unable to take her eyes off the man, Duke Fernan called Andrea in a puzzled voice. She reflexively looked at Duke Fernan for a moment, then turned her eyes back to the corner where the man had been standing, only to find the spot empty. Andrea looked around, trying to find him, but he was no longer visible.

Her heart pounded. Who on earth had that man just been? No, had he really been there at all? Or had she seen an illusion because she was too confused?

“Your Majesty, what is the matter?”

Duke Fernan asked worriedly. Andrea, unable to let go of her lingering attachment, looked at the place where the man had disappeared for a moment longer, then shook her head as if it were nothing.

“Would you like me to have everyone withdraw if it bothers you too much?”

Duke Fernan asked. Andrea, still unable to completely escape Kiel’s shadow, shook her head with a feeling close to resignation.

I guess I have to live like this all the time.

At times like this, the answer was simply to get used to it. Just as when she had been moved from the mansion to the monastery, Andrea thought that the only answer was to quickly grow accustomed to a new life, or a new life of confinement, imposed on her against her will. She could simply think of it as a confined space that had become much more splendid, much noisier, and full of more people.

Andrea, receiving the devoted care of the head servant, emptied a bowl of stew cleanly. Then, after rinsing her mouth with tea handed to her through the servants by the head servant, she was carefully helped into bed.

“Sir Ian said that there is only something wrong with your memory, and that there is absolutely no problem with your body or head. So tomorrow, once you wake and are ready, you are scheduled to return to the imperial palace.”

The head servant said gently, as if soothing her. Andrea, who had no right to decide, could only nod.

By then, darkness had fallen outside the window. At the head servant’s gesture, the servants moved silently and draped cloth around all sides of the bed. Once the bed was surrounded by beautiful fabric, she finally felt as if she were alone. But although the bed was only covered by cloth, the careful presences did not seem likely to leave the bedside anytime soon, so it seemed she would not be left entirely alone in the future either.

‘Abbot. Kiel....’

Andrea closed her eyes, thinking of the abbot, whose olive-colored eyes had always been kind and affectionate only to her, and of Kiel’s face.

***

When she opened her eyes, she saw an utterly unfamiliar sight. Andrea spent a moment thinking about where she was, then only after seeing the ornate fabric surrounding the bed did she remember yesterday.

Contrary to the life habit she had formed in the monastery, where she always woke before the sun rose, soft morning sunlight was seeping through the curtains. Since she had fallen asleep early at night and only now woken up, she had slept for quite a long time.

She was blinking for a moment and catching her breath when the cloth surrounding the bed stirred slightly.

“Did you cough, Your Majesty?”

The head servant asked, putting only his face through the curtains draped around the bed. It was chillingly amazing that he had noticed her presence from nothing more than a few blinks and a breath. Their eyes met head-on, so Andrea had no choice but to nod.

“Your Majesty coughed.”

The head servant said in a low voice, as if announcing it. Then the servants around them began to pull back the curtains covering the bed from all sides and tie them to the bedposts. As the curtains that had hidden the bed disappeared, the quietly but busily moving servants came into view. Fortunately, the others who had been crowding beside the bed before she fell asleep were nowhere to be seen.

“It has been a long time since you were able to wash properly, so we have prepared bathwater.”

The head servant extended his arm as if to support her. Andrea looked at the head servant’s arm with unfamiliar eyes, then placed her hand on it.

Once she stepped down from the bed, her clothing finally came into view. It was nothing more than a single layer of thin, soft nightclothes that showed half her body through.

The head servant led Andrea toward the foot of the bed. In the opposite side of the room, which had a very high ceiling and was spacious, stood an elegantly shaped bathtub made of white porcelain. As she approached the bathtub as the head servant led her, two servants quietly came up beside Andrea.

“W-why...”

Andrea flinched at the hands reaching toward her. The head servant briefly raised a hand to stop the servants, then spoke with a faint smile as if to reassure her.

“They are all servants who have attended Your Majesty for a long time. They only intend to assist with your bath, so please do not be too uncomfortable.”

Was he saying she should strip in front of the servants?

Andrea clutched the hem of her clothes tightly, as if protecting the single layer of nightclothes she was barely wearing.

“But...”

“Your Majesty. It has always been so. Right now it may only feel unfamiliar, so you are displeased, but you will quickly become used to it again.”

The head servant persuaded Andrea in a gentle voice, as if soothing a child. Digging in her heels and saying no here was not the best option either. Andrea had no choice but to suppress her shame and nod.

The servants carefully removed Andrea’s nightclothes. Then, as if supporting her, they extended their arms from both sides. She thought she roughly understood what to do. When she placed her hands on the arms of the two people standing on either side, the servants slowly led Andrea into the bathtub.

The water in the bathtub, with steam rising from it, was unexpectedly not hot. It was just warm enough to feel warm.

When was the last time she had washed her body with warm water?

Andrea searched through her memories in her head and sat down in the bathtub as the servants guided her. As she immersed her body in the warm water, the body that had been stiff with tension loosened on its own.

“I will wash your hair.”

One servant said quietly. Andrea leaned her back against the bathtub as she took the hint. Then the servant, as if he had been waiting for it, began washing her hair with warm water.

One washed her hair, and two others began gently washing Andrea’s body. Their gazes were calm, and their hands were respectful. Their touch was meticulous, as if polishing a precious and fragile ornament. Because of that, she felt almost no shame. She only grew dazed from the warmth of the water and the fragrant scent she was smelling for the first time in her life.

The servants’ bath service was truly precise. Andrea did not even have time to feel discomfort or awkwardness. When the bath was over and she was helped out of the tub, her whole body had gone limp and relaxed.

The servants carefully wiped Andrea’s head and body with soft cloths. And they gently rubbed fragrant oil over his whole body, as if massaging it in. His hands and feet were no exception. Andrea looked on with curious eyes as they generously applied the extremely expensive oil to his body.

The white skin coated with oil looked endlessly soft and smooth even to Andrea himself. His hands, which had also been chapped countless times in cold water, seemed to have become quite soft as well.

When the application of the oil was finished, the servants dressed him in soft undergarments and a white shirt. It was perfect service, leaving Andrea, who was only unfamiliar with being waited on, no time to feel awkward.

“I have chosen the clothes for you, and I wonder if they are to your liking?”

The head servant asked, pointing to the clothes spread out on the bed. The clothes, with intricate gold embroidery on white cloth, looked expensive and rare at a glance. Even the buttons were all made of jewels, so if you took off just one and sold it, it seemed like you could live idly for several months. Even though he had never had any greed for material things, he could not help feeling a sudden desire.

When Andrea nodded, the head servant gestured. Then the servants lifted the clothes spread out on the bed and began dressing Andrea in them. Even while dressing him and fastening the buttons, the servants’ hands did not touch Andrea’s body at all. Andrea watched those graceful movements with admiring eyes.

“I was thinking of braiding your hair loosely and letting it hang down so that you can be as comfortable as possible, what do you think?”

After he had put on all the clothes, the head servant asked, meeting his eyes through the mirror where Andrea sat, led there by the servants. Andrea, who had been staring spellbound at his own face, seen for the first time in years, nodded a few beats late.