Chapter 13
Moon Place
The man in the mirror had a pale face.
Rafael stared hard at himself in the mirror. A pale face, cold eyes, an expressionless face in which no warmth could be found. That was him, and now he was reflected in the mirror just as he was.
“Lady Annemarie.”
Sofia, who was said to have been Marie’s nurse, called to him. When he turned his head, he saw Sofia and the maids lined up behind her. Their faces were stiffly set. The women who had not batted an eye at the sight of a naked man suddenly knelt to the floor. Rafael looked down impassively as a dozen or so dresses sank to the floor at once.
“Please make use of us.”
At Sofia’s words, Rafael frowned. The fewer people involved in something like this, the better. Whatever it was, when too many people were involved, the boat was sure to end up in the mountains. Rafael was about to refuse, but the maid to Sofia’s left spoke.
“We have served Lady Marie since she was born, until she became Crown Princess!”
“She is not someone who would kill herself.”
“We believe there was a plot against her. It was not suicide. She was a devout woman.” The women spoke in turn: it could never be. They were the people who had contributed most to making Rafael into a woman. His Adam’s apple could be suppressed with medicine, but for a man by birth to look like a woman took considerable effort. For two weeks Rafael ate as many sweet and greasy things as he could while barely moving, to get rid of muscle and put on fat. Rafael was the type who did not gain weight easily, so no fat was added, but after lying down for two weeks he could definitely feel some of his muscle wasting away. But with only two weeks, there was no great effect.
It was also all their doing that items fitting Rafael’s feet and hands had been made. Though he was similar in height to Marie, Rafael was a man. His hands and feet could only be large. To make those hands and feet look small, and because they could not call in a craftsman lest it be discovered that they were not women’s sizes, everything was made directly by the maids. Rafael had expressed concern that so many people knew of this plan, but the maids were rather enthusiastic.
“Please take us with you!”
“We will perform perfectly as maids.”
“We will protect Lady Annemarie. No one will notice Lady Annemarie’s true form.”
We will guard your disguise, so please uncover the cause of death of the poor young lady who was our mistress, they begged, bowing their heads to the floor again and again.
“It may be dangerous…”
“Once the king’s special forces come, we are dead anyway. Is it not their way to bury every mouth that could talk? If so, we want to know the truth. Why did our proud young lady become like that? Why did Marie die?”
It was what tormented people facing ruin most. Why had the most proud, brilliant, and noble woman chosen death? That she had thrown herself alone toward death, and that no one even knew the exact reason, plunged everyone into suffering.
“If Lady Annemarie is an expert in assassination, we are experts in disguise and adornment. Leave it to us. We will help you to be more beautiful than anyone, and so that no one notices!”
“Please, let us help you!”
Rafael scratched his head as he looked down at the nurse and the maids all bowing their heads. They were right. Rafael knew nothing about women. He had never held a woman, and he had no woman he was close to. He himself was far too lacking to disguise himself as a woman. But as the nurse said, they were experts. They would make him look like a woman.
“In the worst case, I cannot protect you.”
“We will protect our own bodies!”
“We will absolutely not be a burden.”
“We won’t get in the way.”
Seeing that Rafael seemed about to take them, the women’s faces brightened. Looking at those faces, Rafael thought he could not understand the beautiful girl he had seen only once. So many people loved her and were prepared to throw away their lives for her honor, so why on earth…
Rafael nodded.
“Thank you!”
The nurse and the maids said with tears in their eyes. Rafael strode over in his naked state and lifted his sword. The nurse then came forward on her knees and received the sword with both hands. He had not brought this sword with him while infiltrating. It was the twin swords called “the Twins.” One was adorned with a ruby, the other with a sapphire, swords made by a master craftsman. They were double-edged swords, and they were things Rafael had only been able to buy a year after becoming free of the guild. Even then he had had to pour most of a year’s income into buying them.
When Rafael learned the sword at the guild, he was not taught retreat. That was always the way the guild raised assassins. Rather than flee, die. Rather than be caught, die. Even so, dying was not an easy thing, and most died after failing to flee and being caught and tortured.
Always kill.
They were assassins who learned only lethal swordsmanship. But in truth, Rafael was about the only one who used a double-edged sword. No matter what, using a double-edged sword that could cut oneself was no easy thing.
Rafael considered warning them about the sword, then stopped. In any case, it was courtesy not to draw another person’s sword, and the maids and the nurse seemed to know that well, as he had never once seen them draw the sword.
He steps onto the shoes a maid has brought. At first it feels as if his weight rests on his toes and he will not be able to move at all, but now he can at least move.
The maids fasten a wire all-in-one petticoat to Rafael’s body. It cinches his waist so tightly he can hardly breathe, forcibly creating a woman’s slim waist, and over it they dress him in dazzlingly white underwear beautifully decorated with lace. Over that again they put a snow-white dress on him.
Because of the petticoat and the shoes, there is nothing Rafael can do. He only sits on the special chair for dressing and waits for the maids to pull the dress over his head. After dressing him and checking the shoes, the maids shake their heads and bring other shoes. After trying on dozens of pairs of shoes and deciding on one, they take the shoes off and put stockings on him. The stockings come all the way up to his crotch, their ends decorated with lace. When Rafael steps into the shoes again, the maids examine every scratch and every ornament without missing a single one, and this time they do his hair.
“Good heavens.”
Gerald, coming in, sighed.
“Truly beautiful…”
“…Do I look like a woman?”
“Look like one? You truly are beautiful. Every man in society will want you, Annemarie.”
Rafael shook his head.
“That much isn’t necessary. It’s enough if the king doesn’t notice.”
“That man is a weasel-like fellow, but he won’t notice. You are so beautiful right now. He won’t even dare to imagine it.”
“By Yulez.”
Another sigh was heard. As Gerald stepped aside, the Duchess, who had been hidden behind him, covered her mouth with her fan and stared hard at Rafael. Then her eyes turned sharp and she called the nurse in a cutting voice, “Sofia!”
“Let her hair down, I say. To wear her hair up when she is becoming a royal consort for the first time, doesn’t it look like a married woman remarrying? Let her hair down!”
It was the harshest voice he had heard from the Duchess since he had known her.
“But, my lady, we must show off this neckline.”
“Still, let some of her hair down. What is that look, so lacking in dignity?” While the Duchess and the nurse fiercely exchanged opinions, Rafael indifferently moved his feet and approached the mahogany desk set in the middle of the bedroom. A large map was spread out on the desk. It was a detailed map of the palace.
“Is this a proper one?”
Rafael asked as he looked down at the map. Before entering the palace, he had bought a map at an old bookstore and checked it. But that map turned out to be fake. It was clearly a doctored map deliberately leaked by the palace. Rather than making it so there was nothing, scattering fakes so that even if a map did circulate, no one would know whether a real one existed, was a way of protecting the real one.
“It’s the map the Royal Guard uses. Of course it’s a proper one.”
“So this is Moon Place, the queen’s palace.”
The queen’s palace stood slightly to the left of the innermost part of the palace. And seeing the palace connected to the queen’s palace tower, Rafael frowned.
“Is it connected to the king’s bedchamber?”
There seemed to be a considerable distance from the queen’s palace to the king’s bedchamber, and Rafael frowned at the bridge connecting them.
“Didn’t you see it? That bridge stretching long through the air?” Gerald asked as if it were strange he hadn’t seen it.
“I didn’t.”
“It’s connected. It’s even a bridge that floats by magic.”
“A bridge that floats by magic…”
Rafael raised his hand and traced the map. The queen’s palace, and the king’s bedchamber. The innermost castle reached by passing seven gates and other palaces. Even if he had to flee, fleeing looked difficult.
“Escape looks difficult.”
As Rafael frowned lightly, Gerald looked at his profile and muttered.
“Yes… It’s not too late even now. If you want, a villa on the western continent…”
“No, that’s fine.”
Rafael shook his head and looked down at the map again. What Rafael had seen was from the main gate to Moon Place, but as far as he had seen, it was an accurate map. He didn’t know about other places, but that road at least looked accurate.
Rafael, looking down at the map, pointed at a small marking in the garden.
“What is this?”
“It’s a garden house.”
Suddenly a memo came to Rafael’s mind. The memo that had fallen from Marie’s corpse. Central garden, garden house.
“Where is the central garden?”
When Rafael asked, Gerald asked, “The central garden?” and then traced out roughly this much of the garden with his finger.
“About this much. There’s nothing specifically divided off as the central garden, but it’s about this much. What’s here is the Ignazio Palace that people call ‘the palace.’ Banquets and grand assemblies are all held here. The garden surrounding this palace is called the central garden. But why the central garden?”
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