Annette disembarked on the coast of Glenford. Evening had already fallen.
Families and lovers were walking along the shore. A child's laughter broke sporadically on the wind, carried toward her.
With one hand holding back her veil, Annette gazed blankly at the scenery before her. The sea, dyed in the sunset, was unbelievably beautiful.
Waves rolling in from the straight horizon rose and fell, drawing ripples. If she dipped her hand into the seawater and pulled it out, it seemed as though red dye would stain her skin.
At the shoreline where the waves ended, foam bloomed like bouquets. Couples with their shoes off dabbled their feet in the water, playing.
Annette lowered her veil again. Holding up her skirt, she slowly began to walk. The wind was a bit chilly.
On one side of the sandy beach, a man had put several paintings on display. Judging by the large canvas set before him, the paintings appeared to be his own work.
Interested in the pieces, Annette approached and asked.
“Are these paintings for sale?”
“Yes. I paint portraits too, and I sell them.”
Annette looked at the price tag placed at the bottom. The price was not very high.
“It’s getting dark anyway, and I was about to pack up soon, so I’ll draw you for free. Have a seat.”
“Ah….”
Annette couldn’t answer readily. She was grateful and interested, but to do so, she would have to remove her hat.
The man, reading her hesitation, spoke as if joking.
“Why, aren’t you confident in your face? If so, I can draw you with your hat on.”
“Ah, no.”
After hesitating, Annette sat in the chair. She swallowed once, then removed her hat. She subtly gauged the man's reaction, but he showed no particular response.
*Does he truly not know me, or is he pretending not to know…?*
Whichever it was, she was fortunate. With a slightly eased heart, she held her hat straight.
“How long will it take?”
“It’ll be done shortly. It’s free, so don’t expect much.”
“Still, please don’t draw me too strangely.”
“Goodness, at this rate I’ll have no choice but to draw you strangely. You’re too stiff. Smile a little.”
Annette smiled awkwardly. The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“With such an awkward expression, your face is pretty but you have no talent for acting. Raise the corners of your mouth more.”
“W-wasn’t I smiling a lot?”
“What’s ‘a lot’? This is what you look like right now.”
The man imitated Annette’s expression. The strangely scrunched eyes and trembling lip corners were completely mismatched.
At his comical face, Annette burst into laughter without realizing it.
“Is that really what I look like?”
“That face is much better.”
As if to say so, the man pointed at her with his index finger and moved his pen quickly. Annette smiled a little sheepishly.
After finishing the simple coloring with oil pastels, the man showed her the painting. Annette let out a small exclamation.
“It’s much prettier than I am.”
“Of course. I always paint people prettier than they are in real life.”
Flowing blond hair, narrowed blue eyes, a brightly smiling face, and the red sea spread out behind her. Though it was not a realistic portrait, it bore quite a resemblance to the real thing.
“Will you buy it? Of course, you don’t have to. If you do, I’ll take the painting fee off.”
“Hm… I truly like the painting, but I’m a bit shy about hanging my own face up… I’d like to buy a different painting.”
Annette pointed at the painting of the glittering sea that had caught her eye earlier. Truthfully, this was the piece that had prompted her to ask if they were for sale.
The man gladly reduced the price by 3 pounds. Annette accepted the paper bag containing the artwork and thanked him. Before she knew it, the sun had set and dusk had fallen.
***
Heiner stood as if nailed in place, staring at her. He had the strange illusion that the sea breeze blowing toward him carried a sweet scent.
Despite the considerable distance, her smiling face was stamped on his retina as clearly as a fingerprint. Heiner’s hanging hand twitched. His insides churned enough to make him nauseous.
“Your Grace, the Madame has disappeared.”
The moment that report reached Heiner, communications regarding Annette’s appearance were sent to every checkpoint and train station in the capital.
This was a protocol Heiner had established in advance. If she was inside the capital, she could be caught at any time, but if she escaped to another region, matters would become complicated.
The next report came from the train station. Since the station staff had no authority to detain Annette, they had guided her to a ticket for a later departure. Heiner immediately took a car and headed for the station.
And there, he saw the woman sitting.
For some reason, she looked terribly unfamiliar.
Annette watching people blankly from beneath her veil looked incredibly lonely. Amidst all the clamor of the world, she alone seemed preserved there like a specimen.
The moment he tried to snatch Annette into his grasp— it felt as though her slender body would vanish without a trace. He knew it was a mad delusion and a strange anxiety, yet he felt it all the same.
That was why he had changed his plan to drag her back to the mansion and instead began following her.
Annette did not look like someone trying to flee. She had only one handbag for luggage, and her destination was a place famous for vacations.
*Ansgar Stetter, is she going to meet that bastard?*
The mere assumption made his head feel as if it were bursting into flames. Heiner barely suppressed his raging emotions and followed her onto the train.
Perhaps it was her first time buying a ticket; Annette boarded a third-class seat that didn’t suit her at all. Heiner paid a premium and switched seats with the person behind her.
Annette didn’t notice his presence at all. It was only natural. She was a civilian, and he was a former spy well-versed in tailing.
The train was cramped and stuffy. It was almost unbelievable that such a refined woman was sitting here. Heiner repeatedly adjusted his posture with deeply uncomfortable feelings.
For some reason, Annette chatted amiably with an old woman sitting across from her. Heiner wondered if her voice had always been so clear.
He strained his ears to the faint sound of their conversation trickling through the gap between the seat and the window.
“Why don’t you get along with your husband?”
“…It’s just… My husband and all his people don’t like me. And I don’t want to live with my husband anymore, either.”
“Is there no bond from having lived together?”
“I wonder. Perhaps he… wouldn’t care at all even if I died.”
It wasn’t a wrong statement.
But why did he want to refute it, to say that it was wrong— he himself didn’t know. Was it because Annette’s voice as she said so sounded so forlorn?
“But you can’t be loved by everyone. There’s truly nothing to be done about that. You just have to live embracing the people who love you.”
The old woman’s words were simply laughable in this situation. Heiner tapped slowly on the window frame with his finger, thinking.
There was no one left for that woman.
Except for me.
In the end, it will only be me.
It will be painful, but we will be together.
Even if it isn’t love…….
His thoughts always ended with the two of them tightly embracing, their bodies full of thorns.
Annette got off at Glenford station and took a carriage. Heiner followed her. The place she arrived at was the seaside.
Annette gazed at the sea for a long while, then slowly began walking. The white legs extending below her skirt, which she had hiked up to her knees, were dazzling.
After strolling along the beach for some time, Annette stopped before a stall where a man was selling paintings and spoke with him. After a moment of hesitation, she sat in a chair and removed her hat.
And smiled.
Like she was now.
Watching her face laugh brightly from afar, Heiner felt an inexplicable shock.
When had he last seen that woman laugh so innocently? The scenes that came to mind were all distant memories. He quietly clenched his teeth.
*Let’s go back.*
Heiner thought.
There was no reason to wait for Annette. He should take her back to the mansion immediately. Following her all the way here had been a waste of time from the start… His hand twitched slightly.
For some reason, his feet wouldn’t move. Heiner stared blankly at Annette.
He had to go to her right now, seize her wrist, force her to stand, return to Ronchester, and lock her in the mansion.
But he couldn’t.
He had to yell at her— asking if she had planned to run away, why she had come here while shaking off her attendants, if she had been planning to meet that Stetter bastard.
But he couldn’t.
He didn’t want to see that woman looking happy. He couldn’t permit even a moment of freedom. If she did this one more time, he had to warn her that she wouldn’t be able to take a single step outside the mansion.
But he couldn’t.
He knew that if he did, the smile would vanish from Annette’s face like a mirage. And her smile was one of the things he hated and resented the most.
And yet, he couldn’t.
Swoosh.
The waves made a wet sound.
***
Annette carefully removed her shoes and ankle stockings. Originally, the nobles of Padania considered it shameful to bare their feet, so this was her first time taking her shoes off outside.
She set her luggage down in one spot and picked up useless things from the beach. Broken conch shells, empty clam shells, dulled glass fragments with blunt ends, unidentifiable shards, and more.
Annette put them into her cardigan pockets. One pocket soon grew heavy.
The waves rose to her ankles, then swept away again. She straightened her back and stood looking out at the distant sea. The horizon where the sun had set was pitch black.
These glass fragments or what appeared to be pieces of pottery might have come from a foreign land across the sea. Carried by waves and currents, drifting to some unknowable distant place.
To some unknowable distant 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 legs.
Before long, the water had risen to her calves. Annette’s gaze remained fixed on the horizon. And the moment she tried to lift her foot once more—
A large hand snatched Annette’s arm. She was instantly pulled backward, colliding with something solid.
Buried in a broad embrace, Annette raised her head. A familiar scent brushed the tip of her nose. A voice deep as a cave descended.
“……Where are you going?”