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How else would I be here? It's not <i>that</i> close, but we do have some business nearby to handle.

You don't seem at all surprised to hear that I want to return to Urtica. We've been on edge ever since we left Vyseheim...

That's because you weren't gnashing your teeth spouting nonsense this time. Which means you've thought this through.

Zwillingstürme, Bachshof, Bach Street

Viviana looks at the courtyard before her.

It is not large by any measure, but still well maintained. The low stone steps surrounding the planted vegetation have been removed and enclosed with a waxy white oak fence, presumably to prevent the homeowners from tripping over them.

A small house sits quietly in the center, embraced by the grass. Freshly painted white walls reflect the morning sun, casting the climbing vines in a radiant glow.

Come in, Viviana.

You made it.

When Bach was presiding over the Glorreiches Kapitalprojekt, he specially patterned this street after the one he lived in as a child. Doesn't it bear a striking resemblance to Marigold Alley?

Two years ago, a Markgraf returned to their territory to recuperate from illness, so Cora bought this place, but never moved in.

It was only after you came to the city that she asked me to come help clean the place up.

So, how does it look?

It's lovely. Only... these vines don't have to be trimmed so much.

Let them grow as they please, or they'll look somewhat stiff.

Alright.

...There's no need to hold back your thoughts, Viviana.

Herr Reiner, this is the first time I'm seeing your face.

It's been so many years.

This is the first time I've taken off the Gesatzswächter mask and shown my true face to anyone else, not since I came to Zwillingstürme.

It's my identity, my duty, and... my everything.

I guess a Gesatzswächter shouldn't be reminiscing about the mastermind who spoiled Das Kaiserinnensfest and tampered with the Güldenesgesatz.

Herr Reiner, about what happened that day...

There's no need to blame yourself, Viviana.

Whenever Cora set her heart on something, she would never look back. You could only be dragged along with her.

Her eyes were already going when she joined the Reichsorchester on Werner's recommendation that year. I promised Werner I'd do my best to help the girl he saved.

But I gradually came to discover that she had her own feelings, her own judgements, her own desires.

She wanted to help Lucinda, to save Werner, and even to modify the Güldenesgesatz. She wanted to ensure that the kindhearted people would never be tormented by their own regrets ever again.

She was... a resolute woman, and I've always respected her.

But she was even more courageous than I had thought.

Mhm...

And so, her fate is sealed.

If it were me...

I... I can't even imagine how it would feel.

...Thank you, Viviana.

Have you made your decision?

I went to see Ewigegnade before coming here, and formally declined her offer to become an Empresses' Voice.

As per protocol, new recruits have to enter the Spires after the Celebration and accept Their Majesties' appointment before they can officially assume their positions.

But Her Majesty Grimmacht has just 'lost her voice,' and this year's appointment ceremony has been cancelled, so it's an appropriate time to submit my refusal.

If this is what you've decided on, then I have nothing to say.

It's just that, Werner...

Viviana, this was the best, and last, thing he could arrange for you.

Don't blame your father. He just lacked the freedom to do otherwise.

My father... let me and my mother down, but he protected so many others.

Cora in the Witch King's Spire, House Hochberg which could have been implicated at any moment, and the countless people of Sturmland forced into a difficult position by a copy of the Güldenesgesatz.

From beginning to end, he was caught up in the vortex of his time. He witnessed, experienced, lost, was powerless to change anything, and could only do his utmost to fend off the storm.

He never left a single line, but regardless, this is a poet's way of writing about himself.

Viviana...

I'm glad you feel that way, child.

Whether sending me to Kazimierz or arranging my appointment as an Empresses' Voice, it was never because he thought the paths he chose for me were good.

He simply saw me as a child in need of constant protection, a job at which he failed to excel.

So I don't blame him.

Then I presume you won't be returning to Sturmland either.

In Kazimierz, I felt like a stranger. The bright neon lights, the noisy arenas, the priced battles, as well as the glory and honor... they were never a part of me.

But when I returned to Sturmland, to Zwillingstürme, that feeling never went away.

To me, Leithanien is just the candles and books I had back in those dark nights. The marigolds in bloom everywhere. They also symbolize 'parting.'

I've always been able to make my own choices.

...Choices.

People can only truly face their own weaknesses when they have options.

Herr Reiner...

It's nothing.

After Das Kaiserinnensfest, you said you needed to inform your friends in Kazimierz about your experience in Kargereich.

I've already sent a letter. I should be receiving a reply soon.

And after that?

'To the lighthouses. To where once they were.'

What?

Just a line from a book I read when I was young.

Allow me to bid you farewell. Lebewohl, Herr Reiner.

Lebewohl.

Goodbye, Cora.

Goodbye, Zwillingstürme.

Frau Droste! Phew—

Frau Droste, the 'Nearl' you've been waiting two weeks for is finally here. Just up ahead at the crossing.

Madam Viviana Droste.

Mr. Młynar...

The Nearl family has received your correspondence. I just happened to be near Leithanien, so I came as soon as I could.

In your letter, you mentioned seeing, and even touching, a campaign knight's swordspear with the Nearl family crest.

Tell me everything.

So, this is the melody of the present moment?

Indeed.

What you're hearing are all the emotions I'm feeling.

...It's no different from what I usually hear.

The people of Zwillingstürme love you, after all.

And you love them too.

This has never changed.

You were there too, when I returned to reality from the Genesis Horn.

Perform the melody back then for me, Sankta.

That's impossible.

Oh?

I cannot record the moment the tear rolled down your cheek. If it did not fall into the depths of your soul to bloom into fruition, then it was merely a drop of water impossible to retain, evaporated by the sun as it fell.

...I see.

The year this spire was built, a scholar gave a public lecture at the Leithanian Academy of Arts. He claimed that people born from Arts lack an innate soul.

The very next day, he received... a transfer, a promotion normally impossible for him to obtain in his lifetime: becoming the Kaiserin's attendant.

Unfortunately, he passed just a year later from overworking himself in the depths of the spire. Though he left behind a scholarly magnum opus before his death, overturning all of his previous opinions.

Would you like to have a look at it, Sankta? The writing is mediocre, so I did not allow its publication. But the emotions contained within are... actually quite interesting.

Are you... planning to lock me up in your spire, too?

Who let you in, Sankta?

The Kaiserin has not approved your audience!

Bring him over.

Executor Federico of the Laterano Notarial Hall. I have recently submitted several requests to the Empresses' Voices for an audience.