After a quiet night at the inn, morning finally arrived over ' Lily Pier', carried in by gentle autumn winds drifting from the sea. The city had not fully awakened yet, but signs of movement were already spreading through the streets below.
Merchants were beginning to prepare their shops, footsteps echoed faintly through nearby alleys, and the distant cries of seabirds mixed with the sound of waves reaching the pier.
Everyone in the group had risen before dawn to begin preparing for the mission that would likely start within the coming days. The atmosphere inside the inn felt calmer than before, yet an underlying tension still lingered beneath the surface. Conversations were quieter, movements more deliberate, as though everyone had already shifted mentally toward what awaited them next.
For Stella, however, the night had not been particularly comfortable.
Because of the inn's limited space, she had been forced to share a room with both Evelyn and Aemilia.
The three of them slept on simple bedding laid across the wooden floor, leaving little room for privacy or proper rest, and even after exhaustion finally caught up to her, sleep itself had remained shallow.
Her thoughts had spent most of the night circling around the same thing.
Her plan.
Every possibility, every risk, every outcome she could imagine had replayed repeatedly in her mind. What could go wrong, how the others might react, whether Jack would suspect something too early, whether Evelyn would become a problem if things turned complicated. None of it allowed her thoughts to settle completely.
Stella was the first to rise. Careful not to wake the others, she moved quietly across the room and opened the nearby window. Cool autumn air slipped inside immediately, carrying with it the scent of the sea and lilies drifting through the city below.
Part of the city waterfront could be seen from the inn's position, the pier stretching faintly into the distance beneath the light of the rising sun. Golden reflections spread across the surface of the water while the city slowly brightened around it.
For a moment, Stella simply stood there in silence, watching.
"…What a beautiful view," she murmured softly.
In the city' Great Bridge', scenes like this were rare.
Towering buildings, crowded residential districts, endless rows of concrete and steel, they swallowed both the horizon and the sky alike. Even sunlight often felt trapped between narrow spaces, and beyond that, people like her rarely had the luxury of stopping long enough to admire such things in the first place.
Not long after, the other two finally began to wake as well.
Aemilia remained half-buried beneath the blanket for several seconds before slowly sitting up, still rubbing at her eyes with visible reluctance. Her hair was slightly disheveled from sleep, and the sleepy expression on her face made her look far younger than usual.
"Oooh… there's still time…" Aemilia muttered weakly, "just leave me alone a little longer and…"
"Aemilia, stop complaining and get up already," Evelyn interrupted firmly while fixing her clothes near the opposite side of the room, "otherwise Jack's going to come here himself and drag you downstairs."
A quiet sound of protest escaped Aemilia before collapsing backward again for a brief second, as though genuinely considering whether getting up was worth the effort.
Stella watched the exchange silently from near the window.
Outwardly, the expression on her face remained calm, almost absentminded, but internally, thoughts were already moving elsewhere. Every passing minute mattered now.
Since waking up, time itself had started feeling measured, each moment quietly weighed against possibilities, opportunities, and the safest point to move forward with the plan.
"I should ask now."
Her gaze shifted briefly toward Evelyn.
"Hopefully Jack won't refuse… though he probably won't. The two seem fairly close."
Once all three finished preparing and finally left the room, Stella chose the moment carefully.
"What do you think about going out after breakfast?" came the casual question while descending the stairs alongside the others.
Evelyn glanced back without much reaction,
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I'll ask Jack for permission after we..."
Before the sentence could finish, Aemilia suddenly raised her head, the traces of sleep disappearing almost instantly.
" You two are going out?" Excitement immediately appeared in her voice, "I want to come too!"
The words landed like a sudden blow.
"Damn it !" For the first time that morning, Stella's thoughts faltered slightly.
"Now great… just great! That brat is way too observant. And she'll probably stick to us the entire time. Worse, she might even drag the other one along with her. I need to steer her away from this. Now."