How long had it been since I began talking with Instructor Mu (無)?
I gave her a rough explanation of how Sien and I had ended up together. I couldn’t bring myself to explain the decisive incident, but starting from our first meeting and recounting things from there made for a story that was convincing enough in its own right.
This much should have been enough to satisfy the woman.
Our first night together was an extremely private matter, and no matter how wildly she exercised her imagination, she would never even come close to grasping the outline of what had actually happened.
How could I possibly tell her?
The truth of that night.
Fortunately, the deposed Empress did not demand any further explanation from me.
She merely wore a smile that was bitter, yet warm.
The reason for that soon became clear.
“I see. So even now, that child still…….”
A deep shadow was reflected in the woman’s gray eyes.
It reminded me of a crevice glimpsed from high in the mountains.
Something that happened to catch your eye by chance, yet stood out all the more because you could not see where its depths ended, like a sheer cliff.
Watching…