This might be a trap meant to test her.
Alicia knew she was about to do something terribly foolish.
Yet her hesitation lasted only an instant. She answered the knock.
Standing before her door was Fran, holding a lamp, a faint, shadowed smile playing on her lips.
Careful not to draw attention, Alicia draped herself in a dark cloak and followed Fran out through the dormitory’s rear entrance. Fran had been thoroughly prepared—somehow, she even possessed the key to the back door.
They crossed the silent gardens in the dead of night and made their way toward the clock tower.
Before long, they stood before the entrance of the tower, old and weathered, its walls entwined with creeping ivy.
“Isn’t the door locked?” Alicia asked.
“No. It’s always open. During the day, it’s used as a rendezvous spot for lovers.”
“I see.”
Without realizing it, Alicia had stopped using honorifics with Fran.
She felt no need to put on airs before her. They were, after all, bound by the same secret.
Fran pushed open the iron door of the clock tower.
Under ordinary circumstances, the sight alone would have sent a chill through Alicia’s spine. Yet tonight, her emotions felt strangely numb, fear refusing to take hold.
It felt unreal, like a scene from a dream. Perhaps Fran felt the same.
Without hesitation, Fran stepped inside, walking ahead as though guiding the way. Alicia followed, and found an endless spiral staircase running along the inner wall.
They climbed carefully through the pitch-dark tower, illuminating their steps with the lamp. The wooden stairs creaked ominously in the stillness of the night.
“The mirror is on a narrow passage on the fourth floor—hardly even a landing. They say someone fell to their death from the tower a few years ago, so be careful. There is a handrail, but tread cautiously.”
Alicia found that far more frightening than the mirror itself.
As they neared the fourth floor, Fran spoke, her expression tense.
“My heart’s starting to race.”
Seeing her serious profile, Alicia became certain. Fran truly suspected her fiancé.
And she had come here, clinging desperately to the faintest hope.
“Were you afraid to come alone… so you asked me to come with you?” Alicia asked.
Fran nodded with a helpless smile.
“I’m terrified. If my future were to be…”
She broke off as they reached the fourth floor.
Here, the stairs gave way to a narrow passage, just as Fran had described, serving the role of a landing. Alicia found the structure oddly unsettling.
When Fran raised the lamp, light flashed sharply off a mirror.
Its frame was ornamented, neither quite diamond-shaped nor oval. Alicia caught only a fleeting glimpse, yet it struck her as beautiful and strange.
(Come to think of it… there’s an odd presence here. Is this… magic?)
“May I look first?” Fran asked.
“Go ahead.”
Still half-doubtful, Alicia yielded. She thought that if nothing appeared, she could at least comfort Fran.
“Apparently, a group of three girls came here years ago. One of them screamed, and that’s how they were found out. So if I look like I’m about to scream, please cover my mouth.”
For the first time, Fran’s composure cracked. She looked on the verge of tears.
“I understand. I promise.”
Alicia nodded.
Fran slowly approached the aged, oval mirror fixed to the wall.
Alicia watched, feeling as though she were dreaming.
(What am I doing out here at such an hour… I’ll be exhausted tomorrow.)
Lost in that idle thought, she noticed Fran change.
Fran clapped both hands over her mouth. Tears spilled from her eyes as she began to sob silently.
Alicia rushed to her side.
“What happened? Are you all right?”
Fran clung to Alicia, weeping soundlessly. With little choice, Alicia gently patted her back.
“Fran…?”
“I’m so glad. I’ll be happy. He leaves that woman and chooses me. And then… we have a son.”
She spoke through tears, her face twisted into a smile.
Alicia felt a pang in her chest.
Even if her fiancé had strayed, Fran still wanted to be chosen by him.
Even if it was nothing more than an illusion shown by the mirror.
(Whatever it is, that mirror carries a strange aura. Almost as though it’s alive…)
“I wish you lasting happiness,” Alicia said softly.
“But before that, there’s quite a commotion. At our wedding,” Fran replied.
Her eyes shone feverishly as she described the events in vivid detail.
“That woman—Charlotte—storms into the ceremony. But it’s fine. I won’t let her ruin it. I know the future now.”
Alicia found herself more concerned about Fran’s mental state than the mirror itself.
She did not seem entirely sane.
(She must have been under unbearable strain over her fiancé… I should get her back to her room as soon as possible.)
Just then, Alicia felt a gaze upon her.
She looked up—and saw her own face reflected in the mirror, pale and unfamiliar.
That woman was several years older than Alicia was now.
A torrent of unfamiliar images flooded her mind, leaving her reeling.
A relentless chain of misfortune followed—ending with her execution, falsely accused of attempting to poison Mariabelle.
Upon the scaffold, sensing the guillotine’s sharp blade descending toward her neck, Alicia lost consciousness without even managing to scream.
She awoke to slanting afternoon sunlight streaming through the window.
Alicia was in her room.
Not the dormitory—but her own room at the Wellston estate, familiar and yet devoid of warmth.
“A dream…? Why…?”
“Elder Sister! Thank goodness you’re all right!”
Mariabelle threw her arms around her.
“You collapsed last night with a sudden high fever,” a voice explained.
Turning her gaze, Alicia saw Joshua standing there.
“Your Highness… why are you here?”
“My fiancée collapsed from an unexplained fever. Of course I would come to see her.”
He spoke in his usual flat tone, devoid of concern.
By contrast, Mariabelle wept openly in relief at Alicia’s side.
(Was what I saw… just a dream?)
Her head still felt hazy, but Alicia spoke carefully.
“I thought I was in the dormitory. Who informed you?”
“Lady Moore, the dormitory head. She said she was worried about you.”
Alicia’s eyes widened.
“Where is Fran… Lady Moore now?”
At Alicia’s uncharacteristic urgency, both Mariabelle and Joshua stared at her in stunned silence.
