The glass dome of the art museum shimmered with fragmented light under the afternoon sun. Nina Einstein stood before the ticket booth, pushing up the round-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose.
She had specifically taken a half-day off today just to see this newly opened "Britannian Classical Art Exhibition."
"One student ticket, please," she said softly to the clerk, her fingers unconsciously stroking her backpack strap.
Her dark green hair was tied into simple twin tails behind her head, swaying gently with her nod.
Just as she was about to pass through security, a commotion erupted from behind.
Several guards in black uniforms hurried past, their walkie-talkies emitting intermittent dialogue: "The Sub-Viceroy is about to depart the museum. Increase security at all exits..."
Nina's footsteps suddenly stopped. The Sub-Viceroy... wasn't that Princess Euphemia? The horrific night from three months ago immediately flashed before her eyes.
When she had been caught in the hotel hostage incident, it was Princess Euphemia who held her hand the entire time, whispering comforts to her as she trembled in terror.
"Um..." She summoned her courage and called out to a guard maintaining order. "Excuse me, is Princess Euphemia really here?"
The guard looked her up and down warily. "What do you want?"
"I—I just..." Nina's cheeks flushed slightly. "I wanted to thank her in person..."
The guards exchanged a look, and one of them spoke into his radio. Nina stood there uneasily, watching more guards gather toward the main entrance.
She only wanted to express her gratitude; she hadn't expected to cause such a large reaction.
As Euphemia's motorcade slowly rolled out of the underground garage, Nina finally couldn't restrain herself and ran after them.
"Lady Euphemia! Please wait!"
Her clear voice was exceptionally distinct across the museum plaza. A second later, two guards pinned her by the shoulders.
"Ah!" Nina let out a startled cry, her glasses nearly falling off. She scrambled to steady her glasses as her notebook and pens spilled out of her bag and scattered across the ground.
"I just wanted to thank Princess Euphemia..." Her voice shook with hurt. "That time at the Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center Hotel..."
At that moment, the window of a black sedan slowly slid down. Euphemia's surprised face appeared behind the glass, her long pink hair shimmering softly in the sunlight.
"Nina?" Euphemia immediately recognized the girl she had met during the hotel incident. "Please release her!"
★ ★ ★
When Nina was brought to the car, her eyes were still rimmed with red. She stood awkwardly by the car door, fingers twisting together.
"Your... Your Highness... I just wanted to thank you for that day... at the hotel..."
Euphemia smiled warmly—the same smile that Nina remembered from that night.
"Would you like to get in and chat?" Euphemia pointed to the empty seat beside her. "I remember you enjoy art. We can talk about today's exhibition."
Nina's eyes widened in surprise, then she shook her head frantically. "No, no thank you! I just... I just wanted to say thank you in person..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller. "That night, your encouragement made me less afraid..."
Euphemia gently took Nina's trembling hand. "It's so good to see you again. But your clothes are dirty, aren't they? Why don't you come back with me first?"
Seeing Nina break into a smile, Euphemia suddenly felt that perhaps this was the most worthwhile part of being a "Sub-Viceroy in name only."
Being able to truly help someone, even if it was just through a small reunion like this.
★ ★ ★
The sound of the shower gradually died down. Nina stood awkwardly by the guest room door, her fingers unconsciously twisting the lace trim of her nightgown.
This pale purple silk gown was clearly Euphemia's private clothing; the sleeves were even embroidered with the delicate Imperial crest. It looked a bit too grand on her.
"Please... please have some tea..."
After the maid respectfully exited the room, only the crackle of burning logs in the fireplace remained in the living area.
Nina held the bone china teacup, peeking through the rising steam at Euphemia sitting opposite her.
Having shed her uniform, the Princess let her long pink hair fall loose. The moonlight through the floor-to-ceiling windows plated her in silver, making her look like a Nymph from a classical oil painting.
"At that time..." Nina's teacup clinked softly against the saucer. "When Princess Euphemia saved me, it felt like I was meeting a Goddess..."
Her voice became lighter and lighter, her cheeks staining crimson. The images in her memory were as vivid as yesterday—the hotel corridor echoing with gunfire, and Euphemia coming toward her against the light.
The hem of her uniform had been stained with blood, yet she had reached out her hand firmly. The pink hair fanning out in that moment truly resembled the radiance described in myths.
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Nina suddenly put her teacup down as if waking from a dream.
"I should have thanked you for lending me the clothes first!" She lowered her head and tugged at the oversized hem, her glasses fogging up from the steam.
Euphemia was amused by her reaction, her silver-bell-like laughter startling a nightingale resting outside the window.
"Don't worry about it~" She stood up to refill Nina's tea, the lily-of-the-valley patterns on her nightgown appearing and disappearing under the candlelight.
"It makes me happy to see these clothes find a suitable wearer."
As the firelight flickered, Nina noticed that when Euphemia said this, her fingertips were unconsciously stroking her left arm.
"And besides..." Euphemia turned toward the window, the moonlight tracing the exquisite silhouette of her profile. "I am not such a remarkable person."
Her voice suddenly took on a touch of self-deprecation. "Compared to Sister Cornelia and the others, I am simply useless."
Nina looked up sharply, her amber eyes wide behind her lenses. "That's not true!" She was so agitated she nearly knocked over her tea.
"Your Highness is so gentle and brave! If it weren't for you at the hotel..."
Nina's knuckles turned white from gripping her cup too hard, and her dark green bangs fell to hide her moistening eyes.
"I'm the one who... has no merits at all." Her voice sounded like it was being squeezed through her teeth, carrying a fine tremor.
"I have nothing. My parents are just commoners... and I'm not pretty..."
Euphemia noticed the girl had crumpled the hem of her nightgown into a mess, and a thin layer of mist covered her round glasses.
This honor student, who received a full scholarship in the physics department, was now shrinking into the corner of the sofa like a primary schooler who had failed an exam.
"That's not true," Euphemia couldn't help but chuckle softly, reaching out to straighten Nina's slipping glasses. "You are quite cute~"
"I'm not!" Nina looked up suddenly, her amber eyes flashing with stubborn light.
"I am truly worthless... I messed up the data in last week's lab report, I knocked over soup in the cafeteria the day before yesterday, and yesterday I even... the rare book in the library..."
Her voice cut off abruptly because Euphemia was watching her with a peculiar gaze.
It wasn't the pity a princess feels for a commoner, but a deeper emotion—something close to resonance.
Moonlight was suddenly obscured by clouds, casting the living room into brief gloom. The shadows of the two girls sitting opposite each other merged on the wall.
Equally fragile shoulders, equally bowed necks; even the rhythm of their sighs synchronized strangely.
This is the shape of a soul that only the insecure can recognize.
★ ★ ★
Inside the system space, the silver-haired girl's fingertips swiped across the holographic projection. The image froze on the two girls with bowed heads, light and shadow tracing pale purple outlines of melancholy around them.
"You really can't tell just by looking at the outside~"
Her voice was as calm as a pool of stagnant water, but her irises reflected a certain burning Tokyo. "These two girls who still harbor such self-loathing..."
The footage suddenly fast-forwarded to a ceremony—Euphemia falling in a pool of blood after being shot in the chest;
The scene jumped again to a laboratory, Nina frantically tuning a spherical device, tears freezing on the metal shell of "F.R.E.I.Y.A."
"One will die bearing infamy; the other will develop a world-ending weapon for revenge."
Her slender fingers tapped the console lightly, each touch sending out a ripple of crimson. "What a... pathetic chain reaction."
At the words "chain reaction," her fingers suddenly paused. An inexplicable throb came from the chest of this body, as if pierced by something sharp.
Fragments of memory not belonging to this world flashed through her mind—the bells of the Fairy Kingdom, the burning oak tree, and that woman reaching out to her from the sludge...
"Host?" The red light orb circled her worriedly. "Memory synchronization rate is rising again?"
Hernia closed her eyes, forcibly suppressing the surging otherworldly memories. Her slender fingers continued to tap the console.
"That is exactly why we have to change this 'Bad End'!"
The projection switched again, showing a scene after tonight's battle: moonlight spilling through a skylight, Suzaku kneeling before Euphemia, their shadows overlapping on the metal floor.
"But next up is the 'Knight and Princess' big scene~" the light orb said mischievously. "Host, are you going to step in and stop this?"
Hernia suddenly chuckled, her long silver hair moving without wind. She stood up, her lake-like armor shimmering amidst the data stream.
"Of course." Her voice carried an unquestionable authority. "They're just kids. Why are they talking about romance!"
She raised her hand to summon the system console, her slender fingers flying across the virtual keyboard. "Everyone, get back to work!"
Under her command, the images in the projection began to reorganize—Euphemia standing on a parliamentary podium with the banners of reform fluttering behind her; Nina in a laboratory, standing before a new energy device receiving an award.
Hernia looked at it all with satisfaction, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "This is the ending I want to see."
She turned toward the endless starry sky, her left hand unconsciously moving to her chest.
"The ones who can change the world have always been the career-minded ones."