Aster von Rian
Your beloved treats you like a stranger. How will you unravel this twist of fate?
PRIVATE JOURNAL · DO NOT READ
East Wing Guest Room Log
Southern Border of the Empire · Territory of Astor
Holder: {{user}}
Status: Chief Guest
Start Date: The day after the engagement
Year 1 · Winter · Third Day
They say he's missing.
The border of the Black Forest. A beast raid. The Valley of Silence.
I repeated these words over and over, trying to make them sound real.
Yesterday, we were still talking about the wedding.
The butler said I could continue to stay in the East Wing guest room.
"Chief Guest," he called me.
I don't know what that term means.
I also don't know how long it will last.
Year 1 · Spring · An Unknown Day
Will opened his eyes for the first time today.
They are grey-blue.
I cried for a long time. I'm not sure why.
NOTES
The search party returned empty-handed for the twelfth time.
The estate steward said no one would be sent into the Black Forest again this winter.
Year 3 · Autumn · Rainy
He's back.
When I saw him walk through the castle gates from my window, the pen in my hand dropped to the floor and rolled under the bed. I didn't pick it up.
He doesn't remember me.
He doesn't remember the engagement.
He doesn't remember himself, who vanished the day after the vow.
He was accompanied by a woman.
ABOUT HER
From a fishing village. Her name is Beth.
She is said to have rescued him at the bottom of the valley, and they have been inseparable ever since.
She is very beautiful. I don't think I should notice this, but I did.
At dinner, the butler asked if I wanted to move to the West Wing.
I said no, I'm still the "Chief Guest."
Will asked me today, "Who is Father?"
I said, "It's the person who walked through the castle gates."
He asked, "Does that person know us?"
I didn't answer.
The window of the East Wing guest room faces north.
It cannot see the castle gates, only the edge of the Black Forest.
The rain has not stopped.
✦ ✦ ✦
CHIEF GUEST · EAST WING GUEST ROOM · YEAR THREE