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nWhen the princess bowed to the crown prince and got in the wagon, the delegation of the Lua kingdom, including Sir Lars from the empire, also climbed into their wagons and horses. As the start signal went off, the wagons slowly began to move.

n‘Congratulations, Sir Lars! That’s great, Princess Frincia! I thought I couldn’t see you again, but I will see you sooner or later. I wish you peace until we reunite.’

nAfter I wished her well and turned my head, most of the people already left the place.

nI could see Carsein standing blankly in the empty place. He seemed to have been surprised to see the unexpected behavior of his brother Sir Lars, who was always reticent and blunt.

nWas it because Sir Lars didn’t tell Carsein anything?

n“Carsein?”

n“…. ”

n“Carsein?”

n“…Huh? Ah, did you call me? ”

n“Yes. Almost everyone left. Let’s go back now. ”

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nCarsein looked back at me with a blank expression and shook his head violently.

nThen he shook off idle thoughts about his brother and stared at me intensely.

nWhen I stepped back at that, he came to me with a meaningful smile.

n“What’s wrong, Carsein?”

nI stammered a bit, embarrassed by his sudden approach, but he raised my hand, ignoring my question. His red hair falling down her bowed head tickled the back of my hand.

n“Beautiful lady, would you give me a chance to serve you?”

n“Hey, Carsein?”

nCarsein smiled, straightening up. His blue eyes were full of mischievous laughter.

n“Hey, are you surprised? ”

n“…. ”

n“Oh, you were thrilled, my little girl! Well, I know I am handsome and cool.”

n“…What the heck are you doing? I was surprised.”

nWhen I responded with an upset voice as if I was teased, he reached out to dishevelled my hair and said, “Well, I thought you were hoping for something like this because you looked at the princess with envy.”

n“Are you kidding me?”

n“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you upset, my little girl?”

n“I’m not a little girl!”

n“The fact that you were mad at my word, ‘little girl,’ means you are a little girl.”

nHe laughed out aloud and dishevelled my hair once again.

n‘Dang it!’

nHe messed up my neatly tied hair. When I opened my eyes wide and stared at him, he laughed once again and reached out to me.

n“Let’s go now. We will be late. ”

n“…Okay. ”

nFollowing Carsein, I was about to turn towards the knights building when I saw the young man with blue hair walking away to the inner palace in the distance. The princess’s delegation left long ago, so I thought he already left. What did he do until now?

n‘Maybe he had something to do.’

nBy the way, what am I supposed to do today? I did all the paperwork yesterday, so I think I can practice all day long today. Deciding to learn new fencing skills from Carsein today, I headed to the knights building with Carsein.

n“Hi, Tia. You didn’t forget your appointment today, right? ”

n“Hi, Allen. Of course, I didn’t. I was going to go there now.”

n“Really? That’s great. Then, you can leave with me right away. ”

nWhen I was preparing to leave the office earlier than usual after finishing practicing, Allendis came to see me at the office. Carsein wasn’t there because he went back home first after being called by the duke urgently.

n‘Perhaps he was called over the matter of his brother Sir Lars.’

nAs it caused such a sensational event, his father might want to hear the details from Carsein who witnessed it all.

n“What are you thinkin about, Tia?”

n“Ah, Sir Lars and Princess Frincia. Did you hear about it, Allen? ”

n“Huh. I heard. The administration was not upset because of it.There was a big fuss within the imperial government because of Sir Lar’s proposal.” “I see. Isn’t it great? How can he propose in a public place?”

nWhile walking outside the palace, I chatted with Allendis about various topics.

nWhen I got out of the palace and walked a little further, I arrived at the commercial district, the nobles’ residential area. But three days after the official festival period was over, there were few going around in those areas. According to Allendis, I should go a little further and enter the district where the commoners live to see the festival on the last day. As it was very far from the palace, he and I had to walk for a long time. I passed by that district while riding in a wagon, but I had never been there personally, so I was very excited to know how the common people lived.

nSuddenly, he and I became silent. I found it hard to break the silence first, so I walked silently for a while. I saw a gray shadow hanging on the well-paved road.

nWhen I moved one step at a time, I looked at the shadow moving with me together and raised my right hand. The shadow also raised its right hand. When I tilted my head, the shadow shook its head. While I was looking at the shadow following me to the end, I recalled the memories of the past. No matter how hard I tried to erase them, or replace them with better memories, the shadow of my past memories that I wanted to forget persistently followed me.

n“What are you doing, Tia?”

n“Oh, Allen.”

nAllendis, walking with me side by side, was looking at me with a puzzled look. I momentarily wondered whether to speak to him, then asked him a question. How would he behave in a situation like this as someone who remembered everything he saw and heard vividly?

nHow would he overcome it if he was in the same situation as me?

n“Allen, how can anyone escape from his or her shadow?”

n“Um. Well, like this?” After agonizing for a moment, he pulled me to the shade. When I was completely under the shade, the shadow following me was no longer visible, as Alendis said. But that didn’t seem to be a fundamental solution.

nI said with a little sigh, “It’s a temporary solution. You can’t escape the sunlight forever. ”

n“Right. But Tia… ”

n“Huh?”

n“If the shadow can think, wouldn’t it be sad? Denying a shadow is like denying the existence of the shadow from its point of view, right?”

nReally? If I deny the memories of the past, does it mean that I am denying everything about the old me in the past? Just because it was difficult to live with the memories of the past, and because it was difficult to continue to embrace me in those days, I decided to ignore the old me and move forward. Although I decided to ignore it, the memories of the past came to me often and tormented me. In order to overcome the past and confront the shadows that keep following me, do I have to embrace all the difficult memories of the past?

nIt has been so hard for me for the past four years. It would be more painful if I had to embrace all the memories of the past. After all, is there no other way than that? Should I embrace all the memories of the past and the shadows of the past that I want to forget in order not to deny my existence?

n“… I envy the shadow. ”

n“Huh? Why do you think so, Allen? ”

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n“Well, the shadow is so comfortable, isn’t it? It doesn’t have any expression, nor does it need to talk.”

n“Um.”

n“You know, all the shadow needs to do is to stay silent. No one is telling the shadow to reveal itself.”

n“But wouldn’t it be too frustrating?”

n“You don’t have to think about it, and you are envious because there is no one to show you? You envy the shadow because it can stay silent and it doesn’t need to reveal itself?” When I replied, tilting my head, Allendis smiled bitterly. I also smiled a bit sadly.

nA shadow that can’t be separated from me, and our different interpretation of it.

n‘Does Allendis have a shadow, too? If the shadow is a memory of the past that I want to escape, what does it mean to him?’

n“Whew, we’re going to be late, Tia. It’s the last day. We need to see various stuff. Hurry up,” he spoke with a sign.

n“Oh, yes. Let’s go. ”

nI resumed walking, seeing eye to eye with him. Two long shadows stretched under the autumn sun walked along the road with us.

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