She began to walk. It was the same feeling as walking on land, though it was strange to hear splashing with every step she took. She raised her head towards the sky. 

Bright blue and cloudless, it was like a clear, sunny day. However, she soon realized that no matter where she looked, she could not locate the sun.

Unlike the last dream, this one lasted longer. Even after walking for miles, the surrounding landscape did not change.

If this is a lake, there should be a shore somewhere…

And yet the water continued on, without an end in sight. Eugene felt herself becoming weary. She soon stopped and looked down, the water sloshing around her feet was suddenly still.

Is it possible for a lake to be this shallow?

After staring at the surface for a few minutes, she realized something strange. Because she had focused only on the lack of sensation from the water, she did not think about what could be beneath. If the water was ankle-deep, her feet and the ground should be visible. But she could not see even the muddy floor. 

Below her was only a dark, deep blue. 

She squatted down for a closer look, her face hovering just above the water level. As she gazed through the surface for a while, a room began to materialize underneath. She tilted her head.

It looked familiar. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, preparing to dive down when needed, but when she opened them, she blinked back in surprise upon recognizing the ceiling of the chambers she shared with the king. 

Huh?

She turned her head from side to side. She was lying in bed in her chamber. The room illuminated brightly by the light of dawn.

What a strange dream. And an even stranger way to wake up.

She finally sat up. It was indeed a long dream. 

For the dream to continue on like that, it could not be an ordinary one. She thought she might have been lucidly dreaming, but now, she was uncertain. What she knew was that the dream must be somehow connected to the missing treasure. 

Was it about the necklace? 

But it seemed wrong to her. Her intuition told her that the king’s story was not true, but why would he lie to her? 

Right then, she closed her eyes and focused on her inner thoughts. She attempted to search for something to prove whether her doubts were warranted. Her eyebrows pursed together in concentration, but it was futile. She soon opened her eyes. 

She could not find anything to support her suspicions.

“If I have that dream again, I’ll have to explore more carefully.” She muttered to herself in determination, before she finally hailed a maid nearby and started her day.

♚

“Your Majesty, the baroness has arrived as you have summoned.” The chamberlain apprised the king.

Kasser stamped a document with his seal, before raising his head and nodded.

“Allow her in. I will speak privately, so clear the room.”

“As you command.”

All the royal councilmen filed out of the king’s office, and Marianne was escorted in. Kasser rose from his seat to greet her. An unusual thing for a king to do, but Marianne was no normal subject. 

During his childhood, she was once his caretaker and confidante, having helped shape him into the successful king he had become today. Now, she watched over Queen Jin, his wife. 

As she approached him, he came around his desk and sat down on the sofa.

“Come on, sit down.” The king invited Marianne to a seat right next to him.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Marianne acquiesced.

Marianne was nervous to take the seat because she most likely would have to sit there for a long time, responding to whatever inquiries the king had. It had been quite some time since she had a private meeting such as this, as he often did not have any work for her.

“Marianne, is there anything you haven’t told me?” he asked, quickly getting to the point of their meeting.

“I do not understand what you mean, Your Majesty,” Marianne said, confused by his question.

“About the queen’s memory.” He clarified.

“Your Majesty, there is nothing I would dare hide from you,” she said aghast.

“Then you’re certain the queen did not regain any memories? Truly? Not even something seemingly insignificant?” He inquired further.

But Marianne only denied his worries.

“None that I am aware of. If the queen chooses not to speak, then there is no way for me to know, but the last time I saw Her Grace, she did not seem different.” She reassured him.

Kasser mulled over her answer in silence, as Marianne took the liberty to observe him. She gathered, from his expression, that something must have happened between them last night.

“Was something amiss?” she finally asked.

He turned to her, shook out of his thoughts. “She told me she met with the president of the bank yesterday.”

“Yes. Her Grace could not remember if she had any private funds, so she requested the information from the bank and wanted to confirm it.” Marianne explained.

Kasser nodded. “And other than that? Was there no other special incident?”

“There was that time we met with an information broker named Cage. According to the commissioner, he would occasionally meet up with the queen. But even after meeting with the man, the queen told me she could not remember anything.” She further elaborated.

Marianne was not one to report every single detail that happened to the queen’s everyday life to the king. Nor did the king even demand to know such things. It was against his very nature to do so.

She’d like to think she wasn’t a very good spy, nor did she aim to be one. That’s why Marianne strived to help the new queen in every possible way she could.

She had wished they would become closer to one another, and so she often acted as an intermediary between the couple a few times before. 

The current agreement between Marianne and King Kasser largely involved the queen’s memory loss. If the queen showed any signs of recovering her memory, Marianne would have informed the king immediately about it. She wanted to protect her from her memories, yes, but she was always loyal to the king.

“Your Majesty.” She finally spoke up, breaking him from his reverie. Even though Marianne was not the king’s vassal, as his former caretaker, she would often give him advice when he seemed troubled.

“The loss of the queen’s memory is beyond even your own power.” She began, patting his hand comfortingly as she once did when he was young. “Her memory may return suddenly one morning, or perhaps never. But I ask you, until when will you continue to worry about it?” she said, seeing that the very thought still plagued the king’s mind heavily.

“In the meantime, I implore you to take this time to get to know her instead. Not just every night in her chambers. Take her to walks, eat together during meals, anything. Get to know her.” She urged him gently. “After all, it takes an effort between two people to complete a relationship.” She finished.