“We did not do it,” Norn replied, after a pause. “That wasn’t us. The Folders’ Association has no desire to infuriate the Emperor. In fact, I can say, with a certain level of confidence, that none of the other two rulers had a hand in his death as well.”

“Then who did it?” Dia asked. “The Thief of Time may have stolen a Pure-Life Gem, but it’s impossible that Ruler Umbra died because there weren’t any pure-ranked lifestones sitting around his treasury. That’s a convenient fiction, and you know it.”

“We did not do it,” Norn repeated. “In the first place, Ruler Umbra was one of the strongest beings in Grandis. None of us, save for Risti’s father, could have put up an even fight with him.”

Dia was momentarily distracted by that little morsel of information. It was one thing to hear about it from books, but for someone to tell her that her friend’s father was this amazing…

“What?” Risti asked. “It’s not like you don’t know my father’s the president of the Association. Didn’t I tell you about it before?”

Dia felt her face burn. She didn’t quite know how to reply to Risti, other than the fact that she hadn’t given much thought about her father before. She knew that Risti’s father was the leader of the Association, but for some reason, she didn’t quite register anything else.

“Uh.” Dia shuffled her feet. “I knew that he was the president, but no one said that the president had to be amazing or something, right?”

“Are you an idiot?” Risti sighed.

“M-maybe.” Dia found Risti’s gaze to be particularly painful. It was the look of disappointment she sometimes saw from her father, when she failed to live up to the expectations. “Sorry.”

“It’s to be expected, though. You aren’t perfect,” Risti replied.

“But the princess is?” Dia fired back.

Dia found herself regretting it the moment those words left her mouth, but the damage had been done. Risti froze up at those words, her eyes alight with an odd light, before shaking her head.

Norn and the others glanced at Dia, and then at Risti, clearly unsure of what to say next. Something inside her turned cold, and Dia also got up from her seat.

“Sorry,” she said. Dia didn’t know who she was addressing, but she couldn’t name the maelstrom of emotions she was grappling with right now. “All this information must have set me on edge. I’ll take a breather first.”

Without waiting for the others to respond, she left the cottage. The sun burned down on her, a reminder of the morning she had spent with Risti earlier. Back then, both of them had been very open with each other.

However, with those words…

Dia gripped her fist. Risti hadn’t said anything about the Princess Dia in her heart throughout the trip, but Dia could tell that she had been making comparisons. Expectations.

As the princess’ so-called bodyguard.

She tossed a glance at the cottage behind her, unsure of what she should do next. Dia didn’t want to shatter the others’ fantasies. But she didn’t want to live on with all these expectations heaped on her. Sometimes, it wasn’t the big things that mattered.

It was the small ones.

Her feet began to move aimlessly. Dia didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t know what she wanted either. How many people could say that they could empathise with her?

Dia knew the answer, and that knowledge only deepened the solitude within her.

Maybe Hulid would know how it feels…but the entire process was different. They made assumptions, assumptions that I didn’t dare to rebut. Now…I’m stuck in this quagmire of my own making.

Shaking her head, Dia looked around the place. Her feet had brought her to the city gates, to the guardhouse there. Was it a reflection of her desire to escape? To escape from comparisons to her ideal self, the Princess Dia everyone wanted to see?

“Dia?” someone called out.

She turned to the source of the voice, and felt some relief. “Lucia.”

“What brings the saviour of Nachtville here?” Lucia asked.

“Just taking a walk,” Dia replied, fobbing her off. “Nothing else, really.”

“You look like a mess. Did the interrogators do something to you? They arrived early this morning,” Lucia replied. “You have the right to reject their interrogation, though.”

Dia thought back to Norn’s words. “I don’t think we can do that.”

The conversation with Lucia had brought some semblance of calm to her. Talking to someone who didn’t have the inclination to compare her with a fictionalised ideal had covered up some of her wounds, for better or worse.

“Really?” Lucia asked. “What makes you say that?”

“The investigator mentioned that if I wasn’t cooperative, they would have to use a different skill on me,” Dia replied. “According to them, it was a skill that I wouldn’t like.”

“That sounds unpleasant.” Lucia folded her arms. “Well, I see why you would want to take a walk or something. Want something warm? I have hot cocoa, just newly imported.”

“Cocoa?” Dia repeated. “Sounds nice. Don’t mind if I do.”

“Helps to cheer people up, or so its marketing slogan says.” Lucia beckoned her over. “Besides, being the guard officer can be very boring in the afternoon. No one enters or leaves the city around this time, since the sun is so hot, so there’s nothing to do and no one to chat with.”

“You’re frank, at least,” Dia replied.

“Come on, follow me. Hot cocoa’s a treat. You’ll feel better once you get a mouthful or two into your tummy.” Pulling her into the guardhouse, Lucia bustled around and poured out a small cup of brown, steaming liquid. A sweet smell wafted through the air, but before Dia could even get close enough to appreciate its scent, Lucia had stuffed the cup into her hands.

“Go on.”

Under her firm gaze, Dia took up the cup and sipped at it. The warm, sweet liquid made her relax.

“Feeling better?” Lucia asked. “There’s more where that came from if you need it. It’s quite popular with the soldiers recently.”

Dia took a few more sips. “Where did this come from?”

“Oh, some entrepreneur from Lostfon found a whole host of beverage recipes in the Celestia Ruins,” Lucia replied. “He’s been making a real killing recently — they’re so popular that only early-bird customers like Baronet Nacht can maintain a supply.”

“Huh. But how did you get this, if Baronet Nacht was the one who ordered this…hot cocoa?” Dia asked.

“He came by yesterday night and thanked us for our help,” Lucia replied. “The baronet didn’t look quite good, though. The reports were real — most of the Julan family has been wiped out. No survivors.”

“Wiped out…” This wasn’t the first time Dia had heard about it. “The main house was propelled skywards, right? What exactly caused that?”

“The baronet wasn’t sure,” Lucia replied. “If you want more details, you should find Hulid, though. His party was quite busy recently. They went to deal with Baron Aoro, then investigated the Julan barony for some odd reports, and then investigated their annihilation…”

“Sounds rough,” Dia replied. For a moment, she wanted to ask Hulid about the things he went through, but on second thought, Dia had no desire to poke her nose into whatever Lily was up to when she followed Claud for his time-sensitive high-efficiency trade thing. For one, she couldn’t be bothered to, not after everything that had transpired so far, and secondly, Lily probably didn’t need someone else poking her nose into her affairs.

“Yeah, they haven’t returned to their home city for quite some time,” Lucia replied. “They still can’t leave yet, since the Seekers of Truth haven’t taken their statement either.”

“You sound quite knowledgeable about this.”

“Hard not to, when Hulid runs over to chat me and the others up every so often. He’s quite the playboy, according to rumours.”

“Then that’s a definite pass for me,” Dia replied. She lifted the cup, only to be surprised when she saw that it had been emptied. Her hand had been moving on its own to ensure that her mouth had a steady supply of the brown, sugary drink.

“Ah. That happens all the time.” Lucia smirked, before raising her cup. “Oh. Me too…let me get you a refill, I guess.”

“Thanks.” Dia picked the cup and savoured the drink inside.

“You’re welcome,” Lucia replied. “Anyway, feeling better? Cocoa makes you nice and warm on the inside; hopefully that’ll let you get over the shock of being interrogated or whatever.”

Dia nodded. Now that she was nice and relaxed, she could clearly tell that her behaviour earlier had been out of line. The stress of having to face off with that inhuman murderer, the revelations that Norn was trying to weaponise…

At its core, however, was the fact that Dia knew she couldn’t live up to the picture-perfect image of Princess Dia.

“Yes.” Dia got up. “Thank you for hosting me.”

“Least I could do for our saviour,” Lucia replied. “If you can, send Risti along. There’s a cup or two reserved for her too!”

“I’ll pass down that message.” Dia nodded. “See you around, and thank you for everything.”

“Friends don’t need to be this formal, though…”