She said no?
"This is an open place. There are people who might see."
So that was the problem. But who would be watching a place like this?
"Then please tell me a spot where we won't be seen."
When I asked, she pointed.
"There."
The palace gate had a watch-hut-like structure on the great roof, and another roof above that. We were standing on the lower roof. It was a 360-degree open environment, but I had not chosen it—Anouk had simply led me here. Was there no one there? No night watch?
"There" meant the watch hut.
"Hello?"
I opened the door and stepped inside. Through the glass I had seen no one, and there was no sense of another presence.
"It's all right…"
Anouk's voice had grown a little firmer than before. The melt-level seemed to have dropped from 80 percent to around 60.
Just as I thought that, Anouk tripped on the step at the entrance—it was not barrier-free.
"Oops."
