Yuka's father had grown ill, and her mother had been confined to his bedside for the past week. It seemed to be a normal cold; however, the disease had worn him down considerably. Apparently, this illness had been going around much of the city, infecting everyone from dukes to those of my caliber. I gave Yuka my sincerest sympathies but could not complain that I was able to go into the shop using the front entrance for the first time in my life.

My elbow rested on the front counter as I admired the interior of my friend's startlingly cute shop. Everything was covered in vine and rose designs from the wallpaper to the dainty chairs where customers could sit and drink a cup of coffee. Must have been nice to be one of them.

Yuka was standing on the other side of the counter, chopping up some green roots I could not recognize. Her eyes were downcast and exhausted by taking care of the store single-handedly for all this time. Weariness had taken hold of me recently as well. Nights were long and sleepless.

"What are you slicing? That stuff doesn't look very delectable," I mumbled, ripping my eyes off the décor and attempting to force some conversation to fill my thoughts.

"It goes into our herbal tea," she replied, voice lacking the usual spunk I was accustomed to. "I got to be careful, though. These roots look and smell very similar to another plant that's poisonous. Wouldn't want to mix them up."

"That would be bad business. Hey, I kept forgetting to ask you this," I began in a casual tone that did not match my stirred heart. "There was this card I found in the basket you gave last week. It had a cyan number 5 on it. Do you know what that is?"

She kept her head down. "Nope, no idea."

"Really? How do you think it got into the basket, then?"

"Don't ask me. I have no use for a cyan number 5."

"Okay, just wondering." A lofty silence passed. "There seems to be quite a lot of desserts behind you. What are they for?"

"I baked them all as practice for a big wedding we're catering that's coming up."

"Who's getting married?"

"Len Kagamine and Luka Megurine, of course. I guess I forgot to mention we were catering for some of it. It's going to be this huge ordeal, and I worry if Father doesn't get better, I'm going to be shorthanded."

"I see." Len and Luka, huh? How could I forget. "You know, maybe I could help. I don't know a thing about baking, but I can help deliver and set up."

She eyed me suspiciously. I couldn't believe my dear friend could not trust that I had no ulterior motive. I didn't, did I? "Okay, fine. You're wearing your hood the entire time, though."

"Deal."

I nonchalantly slid my hand across the counter and snagged a piece of that root Yuka was so adamantly cutting up. Face contorting in apprehension, I took a bite and immediately spit it out. "That is the sourest thing I have ever tasted," I groaned.

"Wait, sour?" Yuka's eyes widened as she took a tiny nibble from the root. "Oh, my God. Mayu, spit that out right now."

"I already did."

"Here, gargle this water and spit it out."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay!" I grabbed the tin cup she was offering and did what I was told. Yuka went through the same motions before gathering all the roots from the table and throwing them in the barrel where all the food waste went.

"I'm so stupid. I must have bought the wrong roots at the shop," she said.

"Wait, those were the poisonous roots you were talking about?" I asked.

"Apparently so."

"You are really trying to kill me now, aren't you?"

"I would never do that, but if I did you wouldn't be here to reprimand me about it."

"I don't doubt that. As compensation for almost condemning me to an early death, I'm in need of some information."

"Really? You've never taken an interest in my gossip before," Yuka said.

"I never needed to before."

"This isn't about the Kagamines again, is it?"

"No, it's about Kaito Taro."

"That name sickens me to my stomach."

"Mine, too. Especially now." I had added three more names to Miku's list. Two were married and one was a woman with my housemate's unseemly occupation. I filled my days with investigating these women, hoping to keep my mind from straying too far into forbidden territory. All I could think about was his face and my new recurring nightmare. A cruel queen whose servant was her twin brother fell in love with a prince. A guillotine loomed in the distance.

"What do you want to know about him?"

"His lovers. How many, what are their names, and where can I find them?"

"That's a long list. Why on earth would you want to know that?"

"I made a promise. Or maybe I was blackmailed. It doesn't matter, I just need to know."

She sighed a long and tired sigh and looked into my eyes with melancholy and concern. "I just don't know what goes through your head these days, Mayu."

I shot her a smile I hoped didn't look too insincere. "I don't know myself. Please, I know you must know something."

Yuka held my gaze for a while. "I do."

My parchment was on the counter in an instance. Once she handed me an inkwell and pen, she began listing names and addresses like she was a talking encyclopedia of every person in the city.

The next day I went over to the Hatsune Clinic and showed Miku what I had gathered so far, assuring her I would verify the abundance of names I received from my "anonymous source" as soon as possible. She nodded vaguely, handed me Gakupo's medicine, and politely asked me to leave. Her skin was paler than I remembered, her eyes were duller. Gumi was the same as always, though it was a bit peculiar how she was mincing green roots on her desk. I asked what they were. She said I would have never heard of them. That night I had the nightmare. The guillotine was slowly descending from the horizon toward the palace steps.