Chapter 53
What reached Anes’s ears were voices—conversations exchanged between multiple people.
Hearing voices like that was a truly peculiar experience. Still, in romance-fantasy novels, such an ability was often used in useful ways. The heroine would awaken a new power that could save the kingdom, or rescue the male lead from peril.
So Anes slowly tried to recall the memory. Whose voices had she heard? And what help could they possibly offer her?
“…It was just… people talking.”
That was why she hadn’t paid much attention to the sound, nor had she focused her mana to listen closely. They were merely ordinary snippets of conversation about whatever was happening at the time.
Once, she had saved a deer that was trapped in the forest thanks to those voices—but that was the extent of it. It wasn’t some great or overwhelming power. It wasn’t something that could bring down an empire.
“…So maybe it’s really nothing to worry about.”
Anes looked out the window at the night sky. The stars shone brilliantly above her, and as she stared at them, she sank deeper and deeper into thought. The night passed that way, and when morning came, she knew she would once again have to move on her own.
From the next day onward, Anes began wandering throughout the palace.
She mostly sought out places where the wind blew freely.
She didn’t do anything in particular—she would simply find a spot where the air flowed easily, stay there for as little as thirty minutes or as long as several hours, and sit or stand quietly. Sometimes she would close her eyes, other times she would look around.
“Today, Her Highness opened the window in His Highness Prince Vi’s chambers and stayed there for about an hour before leaving. She’s currently in the attic on the top floor of the Crown Prince’s Palace.”
Though the weather was mild enough that it wasn’t dangerous, Theowin couldn’t deny that the repeated reports were beginning to unsettle him.
Until recently, Anes had a consistent routine—whenever she had time, she came to his office to learn about state affairs or went to the training grounds to meet Marquis Rizern. But something had changed a few days ago.
Specifically, it started the day after Kirkan had come to visit her for the second time.
Of course, at night she still came to Theowin’s chambers as usual, and they spent the nights together—whether in each other’s arms or in quiet conversation. He had never sensed anything strange in her behavior.
When she looked at him, her eyes were filled with warm affection. When they shared passion, she looked up at him with beautiful, bright eyes, flushed with desire.
So he had felt reassured—her heart hadn’t changed. And yet, no one could explain her recent behavior.
At breakfast that morning, he had asked casually what she planned to do for the day. Anes had smiled faintly and said she thought she might just walk around the palace and look around.
It wasn’t a lie—but the fact that she was spending her days quietly drifting from one breezy corner of the palace to another began to feel strange. Even her ladies-in-waiting had started reporting it to him in hushed tones.
After three days of this behavior, the chief lady-in-waiting—who had once served Theowin himself—rushed to tell him about it directly.
Now, listening to the latest report from his attendant, Theowin furrowed his brow.
“And today’s schedule?”
“There are no official duties, Your Highness.”
Since the Emperor was still alive, Theowin didn’t yet have many public obligations.
After a moment of thought, he nodded and dismissed the attendant.
Anes often seemed lost in deep thought. She was a kind person who took care of those around her and had a talent for carrying conversations with gentle grace—someone who seemed shy at first but knew how to put people at ease.
To an outsider, she might have looked like the kind of noble lady who couldn’t bear loneliness, who always needed people around her. But in truth, Anes spent a great deal of time alone—even when surrounded by others.
Especially when she was deep in thought, there was something untouchable about her—a feeling as if she bore the weight of the entire world on her shoulders.
Theowin closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought, then stood up.
If this had been the old Theowin, he would have let things be. He would have assumed she had her own reasons, that she’d tell him if something was wrong. He wouldn’t have thought it necessary to interfere or ask first.
The truth was, he’d never really cared much about others.
Even the idea of having a partner—he had never expected it, never imagined what it might mean.
But after meeting Anes, everything changed. He found himself curious about even her smallest actions, wondering what she was thinking when she fell silent.
Of course, that curiosity was reserved for her alone.
Leaving his room, Theowin walked swiftly upstairs. From the outside, the Crown Prince’s Palace appeared to have four floors, topped with a sharply pointed roof. Beneath that roof was a surprisingly large attic space.
Since he had never used that floor himself, he knew little about it.
When he reached the fourth floor, he paused. Anes wasn’t there—and the space was too tall to really be called an attic.
Looking around, he spotted a staircase tucked discreetly in the far corner—so well hidden that one wouldn’t notice it at first glance. Without hesitation, he climbed up.
Halfway up the stairs, a soft whoosh brushed past him—a gust of wind slipping downward. It felt as though the wind had been playing freely above and now hurried past him toward the lower floors.
When he reached the top, he saw a broad space with a low ceiling.
Theowin couldn’t fully stand upright, but the area wasn’t closed off—pillars supported the roof instead of solid walls.
That was how he immediately found her.
Anes sat alone in the middle of the attic—not on a chair, but directly on the floor, her full skirts spread around her.
“Ah…”
He tried to say her name, but the word caught in his throat.
She was sitting with her knees drawn up, her face resting against them, eyes closed.
As he stepped closer, he could see her face clearly—peaceful, serene. Was she asleep? Or simply lost in thought?
The quiet surrounding her felt sacred, and Theowin stopped where he was, unwilling to disturb her.
The wind blew softly. The capital of Krofen was built on a vast plain far from the mountains—open to the sky and known as the City of Wind.
With all the windows on this fifth level open, the air streamed freely through, swirling around Anes at the center before rushing out through other windows—or down the very staircase he had just climbed.
Instead of calling to her, Theowin quietly sat down where he stood.
He had never sat on the floor inside the imperial palace before—but when he did as she did, it somehow felt natural, even comfortable.
Still, the floor must be cold, he thought. I hope she’s sitting on something warm.
He watched her in silence, not sure whether she was sleeping or simply lost in her own thoughts. Her face looked calm, though sometimes her brow furrowed faintly. It didn’t seem like she was resting for leisure—yet it wasn’t as if she was enduring pain, either.
Something in him told him not to speak—not to break the moment.
So he sat quietly, gazing at her small back from a step away.
What was she thinking about? What was she searching for? There had to be some reason for this wandering—something she was holding inside, alone.
If only she would tell him. If there was something she wanted, something she needed to find—he wished she would share it with him.
He had never thought himself capable of such thoughts, but this—this must be what love truly was.
Theowin sat there, listening and feeling, trying to sense what she might be feeling in that moment.
After a while, a breeze brushed past him—the same gentle wind that had been circling Anes—and he felt it wrap around them both.
Just sitting there, feeling the air move, brought him an unexpected calm.
It was a completely different kind of wind than what he’d known on the battlefield—softer, warmer. It changed his very understanding of what wind could be.
Time, which had seemed endless, finally began to move again.
The stillness broke with a faint rustle as Anes shifted.
Theowin didn’t move. He simply watched as she slowly stretched out her legs, straightened her back, and rose to her feet.
When she turned to leave, she finally noticed him.
“Your Highness… the Crown Prince?”
Her surprised voice made his heart tremble.
He wanted to hold her, to comfort her after whatever quiet battle she had just fought. And more than anything, he wished she would share those burdens with him.
He wanted her to rely on him.
He wanted to protect her—to keep her safe.
Would there ever come a day when he could express all these feelings properly?
As that thought filled him, Theowin slowly rose to his feet.
