A quiet night was always the perfect shield for concealing the things people could never reveal in the light of day.
In the dark hallway of the auxiliary wing, Rebecca stood before a large window, silently gazing at the moon. Moonlight draped across her exquisite face, making her look almost unreal. Only deep within her brilliant golden eyes could one glimpse a flicker of unease—or, more precisely, a rare hint of confusion.
Rebecca sighed softly. She tilted her head slightly toward the darkness at the end of the hall, where a feeble light shone from behind a half-closed door.
“Next time, come properly during the day, Jo.”
Her voice was very soft, but in the empty hallway, it rang out as clearly as an alarm bell.
The person approaching paused for a moment, then calmly stepped into the moonlight.
“I was just passing by and stopped in to take a look. Don’t get the wrong idea. Besides, I’m too busy during the day.”
It was Johannes, of course.
He answered so naturally, as if his explanation were genuinely convincing.
Rebecca glanced at him, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
“Passing by for three nights in a row?”
Johannes had no answer.
Though he still looked as unruffled as ever, Rebecca could tell that his silence had admitted everything on his behalf.
“Jo, the Valeris delegation arrived this morning. Thomas came with you to visit Franziska. He sat beside her bed for a long time and tried calling her name. Franziska’s eyelashes trembled once.”
Rebecca spoke in one uninterrupted stream without looking at her brother.
“You know what? After hearing that her condition had temporarily stabilized, the first thing he asked wasn’t about the opening ceremony.”
She paused for a moment.
“He asked, ‘Is she all right?’”
“She” could only mean Franziska. Anyone could tell without having to think about it.
Johannes still did not answer. His gaze settled on the frayed threads of the curtain beside the window. His face revealed not the slightest weakness, but the air around him was gradually growing hot.
Rebecca saw everything.
“Wake up, Jo. If even you start seeing Franziska as a living being…”
She turned to face him.
“Mother won’t let her leave this place alive. You know that, don’t you?”
At last, a crack appeared in the smile on Johannes’s face.
Rebecca felt a little sorry for him, but she knew she had to throw cold water on him.
“Jo, will you stand at a distance and watch her go on living… or stubbornly keep a corpse at your side?”
The question was like a blade stabbing straight into the deepest part of his heart.
Rebecca stared for a long while at Johannes’s rigid face, then turned and walked away. She pretended not to notice that several crystal spheres hanging from the curtain had been crushed in his grip at some point.
Johannes did not know how long Rebecca had been gone.
He fought to suppress the storm rising in his chest, drew a deep breath, and returned without looking back even once.
Therefore, Johannes also did not know that at the end of the hallway, behind the half-closed door, Franziska had awakened briefly before falling unconscious once more.
She had not heard the conversation outside. She only vaguely sensed that someone had sat beside her bed for a long time, carrying the chill of the night and the scent of wet snow.
In her delirium, Franziska heard someone call her name.
Not “healer.”
Not “that girl.”
But Franziska.
She tried to open her eyes, but all she could see was a blinding white. From far away, the first bell rang, piercing through the ice covering her dream.
Franziska woke one day before the official opening ceremony of the Moon Trial.
The physician said her fever had broken and she was temporarily out of danger.
Rebecca came to visit her as well. No one knew what the two of them had said. They only knew that Rebecca ordered the maids not to follow, then climbed alone to the highest floor of the auxiliary wing.
The door to Franziska’s room remained tightly shut for a very long time.
The day of the official opening ceremony arrived.
Early that morning, Lady Catrina came to visit and brought Franziska everything she needed for the Moon Trial.
“You can do this, can’t you? We’re all counting on you.”
She spoke gently while personally helping Franziska brush her long, silky hair.
Franziska looked at their reflections in the mirror. Her hair fell over her shoulders, partly concealing a face still pale from the fever. She was awake, but her body remained heavy, as though it had not truly returned to her yet.
“Please don’t worry, my lady. If the Princess lives, I live. Whatever the Princess needs, I’ll do everything I can to fulfill it.”
She raised her eyes to meet Lady Catrina’s in the mirror. Her gaze was clear and pure, yet resolute.
Lady Catrina seemed very pleased with that answer.
She personally draped a black cloak over Franziska, then entrusted her to the physicians, priests, and two alert-looking maids. After that, she hurried away to prepare for the opening ceremony, which would begin in only a few hours.
Franziska was taken to the Chapel to perform the first rite for Rebecca before she stepped onto the ceremonial platform.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Her face was deathly white and pale.
The black cloak draped over her was unusually large, more than enough to conceal nearly her entire body. Even the bandages wrapped around her wrist were no longer visible.
It was perfectly suited for hiding in the darkness.
Unlike the dazzling and radiant Rebecca, Snow Leopard Princess of Crozier, who had thousands of people waiting outside for her appearance. They awaited her return, waiting to see what mark she would leave on the Crozier family.
When Franziska was brought there, Rebecca was already waiting.
She sat beneath the candlelight, her long hair spilling over her shoulders, her face calm as though the seven days ahead were nothing more than an ordinary training session.
“You heard that, didn’t you?” Rebecca asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be participating in every round.”
Franziska did not respond.
Rebecca shifted her gaze to her.
“Can you endure it?”
It was the first time Rebecca had asked her so directly.
Franziska was slightly startled. The movement of her hands faltered for a moment before quickly returning to normal. She lowered her head, trying to hide her deathly pale face and her appearance as though she might collapse at any moment.
“If the Princess can finish, then I can finish too.”
Rebecca fell silent.
After a while, Franziska reached out and took Rebecca’s hand.
“Then let’s begin.”
The silver blade touched Franziska’s wrist. She merely frowned slightly before closing her eyes.
Her will stirred faintly. A hazy radiance immediately appeared around her body, gentle as moonlight. Drops of blood floated in the air, swirling between the two of them.
At Rebecca’s heart, the black mist was forcibly revealed. As always, it fought back desperately, but in the end, Franziska’s light purified it.
The ritual lasted about fifteen minutes.
When it ended, part of the bright red heart behind the black mist could be seen, the darkness having faded considerably.
Franziska withdrew her hand, accepted a cloth from a maid, and pressed it over the wound. She carefully instructed Rebecca:
“After this ritual… the Princess needs to take more medicine before using her spiritual power. Remember… let the spiritual power circulate slowly… don’t rush…”
Though she had tried to remain conscious, she had only just awakened and had lost a considerable amount of blood, leaving her short of breath. Her words came in broken fragments, interrupted several times before she managed to finish.
“Don’t talk anymore.”
Rebecca looked at the frighteningly pale skin visible beneath the hood of the cloak, then at Franziska’s hands, which were trembling slightly. A vague sense of unease rose in her heart.
“Bring her medicine and food. Take good care of her. Don’t let me find out that you failed to follow my orders.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Rebecca glanced at the others in the room and issued the order coldly. Then she looked at Franziska one last time. Only after seeing the maid help her back to the stone bed to rest did she turn and leave.
Outside, the opening bell rang.
The first sound echoed through the stone walls, then rolled down into the Chapel in layers of hazy vibration. Franziska heard the cheers rising from the plaza. Thousands of voices blended together, calling Rebecca’s name.
She tried to open her eyes, but the candlelight before her had blurred into long streaks of light.
Outside in the plaza, Rebecca and Johannes followed the Duke onto the ceremonial platform. The people saw them, hoped for them, awaited them, and placed their faith in them and the finest young nobles.
Meanwhile, Franziska remained suspended between unconsciousness and wakefulness, lying alone beneath the earth, carrying a resilient light hidden away where no one was allowed to see it.
She had no cheers.
No admiring eyes.
Not even a single word of recognition.
Yet she was the one keeping Rebecca’s light from going out.
And when the second bell rang, Franziska closed her eyes once more.
The seven days of the Moon Trial had officially begun.