After Her Majesty the Queen visited, visitors stopped coming again, and even that Prince Green no longer came. Since I did not have to see that prince's face or hear his voice, my feelings were relatively stable. Still, I wanted to meet Her Majesty the Queen once more, the one with whom I felt our hearts had touched even a little. And I also wanted to talk with that boy who had known about Kanazawa.
Several days later, at night after I had eaten dinner, a maid different from usual and a man came. Both were expressionless, and the man in particular had a face as though he were looking with narrowed eyes. Rather than looking cruel, it seemed as though he was looking at me not as a human but as an object.
The maid said,
"Lady Takamoto, from now on you will change lodgings. Please make your preparations."
She said it in a way that sounded like a mechanical voice with no emotion at all.
"Change from now? Why? Where am I going? Can't it be tomorrow?"
