“Customs are formed, and the descendants of men are trapped therein. The generations pass without a chance to weed out the foolish from the essential—a regrettable situation.”

“I will never dream again. For I can never again forget who I am. I realized that when I couldn't escape from the pain.”

“Although she tried not to let the rumors that she had followed the Prince out of vanity bother her, she had known that it was partly true. Her aching heart, however, gradually informed her that it was much more than just partly true.”

“It's true that some mistakes can never be amended no matter what you do, but that doesn't mean it's all right to give up before you even try.”

“She had believed that she alone could touch his heart, and that likewise his was the only gaze that would ever reach hers. She had left her home in response to his kind words, only to find that this belief had been nothing but the conceit of an ignorant girl.”

“She could not tell him that she protested because she did not believe he loved her enough to become his wife. It was no ordinary man but the Prince of Light who was asking her to be his bride. And, she thought gloomily, what sacrifice might she have disregarded had his gaze been only for her?”

“For the first time Saya understood how people can grow accustomed to war. Intensified by the stark contrast between life and death, fleeting moments of joy such as these could make one almost mad with happiness.”