Second Arc: Twenty-First Chapter

"It makes me glad that you all care so much about Remie. …Truly, thank you."

Remias said it, clearly pleased.

Until now, Remias had almost never spoken of Lady Remie, and we had never brought her up with him either. That was how deep a knot the incident had left, among us and the nobility both. With the condemnation of Professor Alfred and Duke Dranju, several nobles who had taken part were punished — demoted, or stripped of their titles. We, still only students, weren't greatly affected, but several pupils, Lady Remie among them, quietly left the school.

That uneasy mood had cast no small shadow over us in the days right after the incident. Time had passed and things had largely calmed, yet Lady Remie's absence always stuck in our hearts like a small fish bone. It wasn't a bad feeling, by any means — it was worry for her, off studying in a foreign land, an anxious sort of concern. But the wound Remias carried was more than we could fully imagine, and so we'd held back from bringing Lady Remie up lightly.

Yet now I saw that this was only the result of everyone being too careful with one another. I made my smile especially bright and spoke up.

"I looked into Lumelica a little, you know. They call it a nation of merchants — such a fascinating country! I'd love to go there myself one day."

"I read a travelogue recently, too," said Lady Emilia. "They say that in autumn the fields of rice ripple in the wind as far as the eye can see, like a golden sea. I should love to see it."

"Actually, I asked a Lumelican merchant all sorts of things myself," Lady Marietta put in. "They say the capital, Ringosta, overflows with people of every race and is always lively."

"And that foreign orchestras and traveling performers are always putting on shows there," added Lady Julia.

My words had set the three of them off, and one after another they spoke.

Remias, taken aback, gaped for a moment, then began to chuckle.

"Ha, ha-ha, ahaha! You all seem to know far more about Lumelica than I do!"

"Oh, my!"

As Remias fell about laughing, we blushed and glanced at one another, embarrassed.

"…Hee hee. We've all just been unable to stop thinking about Lady Remie, haven't we."

When I said it teasingly, Lady Julia turned her face away with a huff — though she couldn't hide her still-red cheeks in the slightest.

"…Of course we have. She's our friend!"

Hee hee! Something warm settled over my heart, and a smile slipped out of me.

"…Cosette. Let me apologize to you again. For everything Remie… I'm sorry."

At the stiff note in his voice I turned, to find Remias bowing his head to me.

"R-Remias! Please, don't. I don't hold any of it against you!"

Lady Julia and the others don't know that Lady Remie had a hand in my kidnapping. I hurriedly stopped him.

"But still…"

As Remias kept trying to bow and I kept holding him off, back and forth, Lady Julia and the others spoke up.

"Lady Cosette, Lord Remias. We have to apologize too. We knew that Lady Remie harbored feelings of jealousy toward Lady Cosette."

"But we couldn't stop her as she brooded herself deeper and deeper."

"And when Lady Remie led you away, all we did was watch. We've felt we ought to apologize for that, all this time…"

"Lady Julia, Lady Emilia, Lady Marietta…"

Tears spilled from the young ladies' eyes. I gently dabbed each of them dry with my handkerchief in turn.

"It's all right. If anything, I'm the one who failed to notice how Lady Remie felt. …We're all of us clumsy, aren't we."

"Lady Cosette…"

We threw our arms around one another.

"Snf, uwaah… this really gets you. Snfff."

Georg was blubbering.

"It matters, everyone caring for one another," said His Highness. "I, too, failed to see how Remie felt. I'm as guilty as any of you. I'm sorry, Remias."

"Your Highness…"

Just then, a voice rang out, as if to shatter the tender mood.

"Oh my. Such gloomy talk, at a bright and cheerful Founding Festival party."

"Talk of a criminal's daughter, no less… weren't those people mixed up in the incident as well?"

"Oh, how dreadful…"

I turned to look, and sure enough. It was Lady Isabella and… Lady Priscilla and her lot.