Hortus Arcanus planēta

ACT 2

two people

The moment I snapped back to my senses, everything that had been flooding into my mind vanished all at once. Then, two buttons rolled onto the floor. They looked exactly like Guto’s button.

As I steadied my breathing, I glanced over at El beside me.

El wore a slightly puzzled expression, and her eyes shimmered faintly with tears. After picking up the two buttons, she narrowed her eyes, lost in thought.

I cannot tell whether our silence lasted seconds or minutes, but as expected, it was El who spoke first.

“I see now. So that’s what it was,” she murmured.

I had absolutely no idea what she had understood, but I followed with,

“I think… I saw the story of Ella and El.”

“Oh? Is that so? Then what you saw was different from what I saw.”

“What did you see, El?”

“That is something you yourself will experience, Lumia. I cannot tell you. Or rather… I do not wish to.”

Leaving only those words behind, El silently departed from her father’s study.

I followed her out soon after.

After returning to the crumbling attic room, El began lighting candles and placed one by the window. A few minutes later, just as expected, two pure white doves with crimson-red eyes landed on the windowsill.

“Lady El. Did you call for us?”

“Yes. The next time Ella makes a wish at the hazel tree that serves as her mother’s temporary grave, I want you to drop off the dress I selected.”

“As you wish.”

With that, the two doves flew away into the distance.

Then El said, “I’m going to sleep now,” and went to bed before me.

I, too, was so mentally exhausted that I wanted to stop thinking altogether, and I quickly fell into the world of dreams.