*****

The scratching, crunching sound audible in the room was Ham having his snack for the day.

Being a spirit, he shouldn't require food, but that was beside the point. Watching him peel the edge of a sunflower seed shell with his teeth while his cheeks vibrated in time with his whiskers, then busily stuffing the extracted kernel smoothly into his cheek pouch—one could only describe it as dexterous.

「Ah, so cute... so fluffy... so very fluffy...」

Noma stared at Ham, clasping her hands in enchantment, before quickly shaking her head. She took out her duster and returned to her interrupted work. Elna had come to fully understand just how serious Noma was.

Dust floated gently out the open window. Elna shifted the cloth covering her mouth and gave a single cough.

As she found herself gazing out the window, Noma murmured with deep feeling.

「It's such nice weather, isn't it...」

「Yeah...」

Outside the window, a cloudless blue sky stretched out, and the sun shone brilliantly upon the white walls of the royal palace.

—It had already been a week since Elna began working as a maid at the royal palace.

To get her used to the work, she was initially rotated through various tasks and locations. In an effort to first grasp the layout—who was doing what, where, and where things were located—she eventually arrived at the task of cleaning the rooms. While explaining things to Elna, they checked the countless rooms in the castle one by one, opening the windows of rooms that literally rarely saw the light of day to improve ventilation. And while they were at it, they cleaned up the accumulated dust.

Unlike the corridor that was right next to the garden, spirits rarely came inside these rooms, so Elna was spending her days far more peacefully than she had imagined.

「Okay. I think that's enough ventilation for now.」

Noma nodded with satisfaction. Thanks to their combined efforts, the inside of the room was sparkling clean.

Elna shifted her mouth cloth and placed one hand on the window frame. When she looked down out the window, she could see tiny people coming and going below, revealing that a great many people lived within the castle. 「Ooh...」「O-Owahhh!!? Elna, what are you doing!」 Noma screamed, dragging Elna's small body back into the room as she leaned half-out to look outside.

「Do you know what floor we are on? Do you realize what will happen if you fall!?」

「Eh?」

「Don't 'Eh?' me! If you fall, you'll be flattened like a pancake! It'll be the 'Bloodstained Wizrain Castle'! Give me a break!」

「Ah.」

Noma glared with suspicious eyes at Elna, who apologized with an undeniably light 「Sorry, sorry.」 Elna smiled wryly and looked around the room. The chic-colored furnishings stood still and quiet, as if they had forgotten time, but they seemed to have come back to life in the bright light.

「...This room feels a little different from the others. It's generally more subdued, or rather, even though it's magnificent, it feels like people haven't entered it much.」

「I hear it was originally a study room. I suppose it hasn't been used since His Highness grew up?」

「...His Highness?」

「I'm talking about His Majesty's younger brother. There is also a Princess, but aside from their personal attendants, we rarely get the chance to meet them. Let's see, his name is... Janvaidferiora... umm...」

Apparently, the name continued even after that. Noma carved deep wrinkles between her eyebrows and ground her temple with her index finger. She stopped dead right there.

「...As always, the royalty have such long names.」

「I'm sorry, that's a lack of study on my part as a castle maid. I'll confirm it with Lord Commonwald later.」

「I'll ask him. There's no mistake that it's at least halfway correct, right? Janvaidferi... Ah, no, wait, I'll memorize it.」

Though she muttered under her breath, Elna's tone when she said, 「I will absolutely memorize it...」 sounded somewhat resentful depending on how one listened, causing Noma to tilt her head. In truth, the incident where Cross's name was ridiculously long still remained vividly in Elna's memory.

Even so, a Princess.

That meant Cross had a younger brother called "Your Highness" and a younger sister, or perhaps an older sister.

It felt like a bolt from the blue. Vaid had no siblings. But since Cross and Vaid were different people, even if they shared the same memories, it was only natural.

A large map was pasted on the wall of the room.

Since this was a study room, this was surely one of the teaching materials. The edges of the cloth, brown and yellowed with age, were peeling slightly. Below the words "Celestria Continent," there was the shape of a continent that looked like a cat stretching out, and within that, the shapes and names of countries were drawn in detail.

Suddenly, Elna frowned.

「It's quite small...」

「Small? What is?」

「Eh, no. I mean. Isn't this map wrong? Look here. The Marles region. This belongs to the Kingdom of Wizrain, right?」

At the spot Elna pointed to, a different country's name was inscribed.

「It's not wrong. Wasn't it ages ago that the Marles region belonged to this country? The Kingdom of Wizrain was originally formed by gaining independence from the Empire, so it's sandwiched between powerful nations—the Albarul Empire to the east and the Holy Kingdom to the west. A great deal of time has passed since Lady Elnalfia, who protected this country, passed away. Every year, the national territory is whittled away little by little.」

Hearing the added comment that since this map was old, the actual territory might be even smaller now, Elna could only round her eyes, unable to say anything.

「...Elna. Hey, Elna?」

「W-What is it?」

She was so shocked that she had just been staring up at the map on the wall. When called, she turned around with a jump to find Noma tilting her head. She had probably been called several times already. It hadn't registered in her ears at all. Gokun, she swallowed, and they stared at each other while blinking rapidly. A strange atmosphere flowed between them.

To Noma, it was common knowledge, so Elna, who was simply astounded upon hearing it, must have seemed strange indeed. 「...How should I put it? It's a bit odd to say this, but...」 Suddenly, Noma spoke quietly, sounding hesitant and surprised.

「Elna, you actually don't know a lot of things, do you?」