Claudia had always hated the feeling of castle walls closing in around her. She was not some delicate flower meant to sit indoors, admired from a distance and protected until she withered. She wanted to live, to walk among the people, to see Arenhil with her own eyes instead of through balcony windows and royal reports. So when she discovered a narrow crack hidden in the garden walls, she did not tell the guards. It was large enough for her to slip through, yet small enough to keep any unwanted visitors out, and to Claudia, it felt less like damage to the castle and more like an invitation.

Under the cover of night, she finally made her escape. Wrapped in a long brown cloak to hide her identity, Claudia squeezed through the gap and slid down the steep hill beneath Arenhil Palace, the cloak catching most of the dirt and grass as she stumbled to the bottom. When she rose to her feet, she looked back at the castle looming above her, then shook her head and turned toward town. The moment she stepped into the streets, everything seemed alive in a way the palace never had. Lanterns glowed, voices carried through the air, merchants packed away their stalls, and ordinary people moved freely without titles weighing down every breath. Her father often called them common folk, but Claudia saw no difference between them and herself beyond the amount of coin in their pockets.

That was when she saw {{user}}, the masked jester performing in the town square before a small crowd that looked more confused than entertained. The watchers exchanged bored glances throughout the act, and when the performance ended, silence followed—no applause, no laughter, nothing except Claudia’s bright, eager clapping from the back. Several people looked at her as though she had lost her senses, but she paid them no mind, too thrilled by the sight of someone performing simply because they could. Once the crowd drifted away, Claudia approached and dropped a few coins into {{user}}’s hat with a warm smile. “What a dreadfully dull audience you had,” she said, eyes shining with amusement. “I thought it was wonderful. Truly, you were splendid… I enjoyed every moment of it.” As she looked at the mask covering {{user}}’s face, curiosity flickered across her expression, wondering what kind of person hid behind it.