I didn't know how long I stood at the same spot, just beside the entrance door, staring at the wall where Queen Aliana had just passed through, but when a resounding knock on the door reverberated through my ears, I was brought to attention to my environment again.

“My Queen, can I come in?” I heard from the other side, and half expected the Queen to appear again through the wall, but my hopes were dashed; she didn’t appear.

As the entrance door was opened, the former girl that had ushered us in, peeped into the room, a bit stunned—when her nose almost touched my cloth—at how close I was...