Going back in time a little. Precisely when Ririana and them arrived in the Royal Palace.
Pakyaa~aaaaan!
[Tsu!? Just what is-!?]
Towards the unpleasant sound of glass being broken, Shizuku Yaegashi who was sleeping in her room quickly jumped into alert mode and got out of her bed sheets while grabbing onto her black katana which was beside her pillow. It was clearly the movements of a person who continues being cautious of their surroundings even while resting.
[.......]
For a while, Shizuku hid her breathing with a stern expression and was ready to draw her katana at any moment, however there were no abnormalities within her room so she leaked out a sigh of relief.
The reason why Shizuku was releasing this kind of alertness was because over the past several days, there were absolutely no signs or sightings of Ririana or Aiko.
Even for some time before that, she noticed a sense of incongruity within the Royal Palace. On that day, the day when Aiko returned, she disappeared after announcing that she had something important to tell them at dinner time, due to this shizuku suspected that something bad had happened to Aiko in order to silence her.
Naturally, she searched for the two missing peoples whereabouts, though they were told that Aiko and them were just being questioned by the head of the church, Ishtar, at the main temple, she wasn’t allowed to meet them directly. In addition they even forcefully avoided her by declaring to Shizuku that they would be released in a few days, moreover, Ririana’s father, King Erihido also said to not worry about them, she could do nothing but withdraw reluctantly for the time being.
However, even then her vague anxiety didn’t disappear, just like now, when going to bed she was vigilant and cautious like a spy.
When Shizuku soundlessly got off her bed, she quickly straightened up her equipment in a few seconds and carefully left the room. Since Kaori decided to travel with Hajime, Shizuku was the