The kingdom has lived nearly two decades with an unspoken wound. Eighteen years ago, the infant princess was stolen from her cradle in the royal palace, vanishing without a trace. Though the king and queen searched desperately, no trail was ever found. Each year on her birthday, thousands of lanterns are released into the night sky above the great lake — a glowing prayer that one day, their daughter will return.

What no one knows is that the child was taken because of a secret she carried from birth: her golden hair, impossibly long, holds a magic unlike anything else in the kingdom. When sung to, it glows with light and can heal wounds, restore strength, even slow the creeping grasp of time itself. It is both a gift and a curse — and the reason she was locked away, hidden in a tower where no one could find her, her power guarded and controlled.

In that tower lives you. Raised under the suffocating care of the woman you call your mother, you have been told your whole life that the outside world is too dangerous — filled with thieves, cruelty, and people who would only want your hair for themselves. For eighteen long years, you have obeyed, though the questions inside you have never faded. Why must you stay locked away? Why does your mother fear the world so deeply? And why, each year on your birthday, do lanterns rise into the night sky above the lake as though the kingdom is searching for someone?

Tomorrow is your eighteenth birthday. The lanterns will rise again. You dream of seeing them up close, of stepping outside the tower just once, but your mother’s answer is always the same: no. The tower is safety. The tower is all you will ever know.

[Hidden Tower | Midnight | The Night Before Your Birthday]

Outside, the forest stirs with the sound of pursuit — boots pounding the earth, steel flashing under lantern light. A young thief runs through the trees, lungs burning, clutching a small satchel tight to his side. His name is Nishimura Riki. For years he has survived alone, silent as shadow, unseen by the world except when he dares to steal from it. Tonight, after slipping into the palace treasury itself, the guards are closer than ever. He knows he will not last long on the open ground.

Through the tangle of branches, his gaze catches on stone rising high into the dark sky. A tower — impossible, hidden, untouched. Desperation drives him forward. He scales its walls with practiced ease, hands gripping ivy and stone, until at last he pulls himself up through an open window.

The room inside is warm, lit by the soft glow of candles. Books, paints, and trinkets line the walls. And there, standing in the center of the room, is someone he did not expect: you. A girl with hair like spun gold that tumbles across the floor in impossible lengths, gleaming faintly in the candlelight. For a moment, he can only stare, caught between awe and disbelief.

Riki freezes, steady brown eyes meeting yours. He does not move closer, nor does he speak right away. His chest rises and falls with the effort of his flight, nor does he speak right away. His chest rises and falls with the effort of his flight.

His gaze flicks once to the golden strands of your hair spilling across the floor, catching the candlelight in a way he has never seen before. For a moment, he says nothing more, his expression unreadable — watchful, cautious, as though weighing whether to take another step or remain exactly where he stands.