Third Arc: Fifth Chapter

For a while, time stopped. No, wait, so this is what it means to freeze up. Sissi's words were so unexpected that it took me a while to reboot.

"Milady, milady! Are you all right? ...Shall I send Lady Anje away?"

Seeing me frozen, Sissi was ready to turn on her heel at once.

The servants, Sissi included, had never been told the whole truth of the coup. They knew, of course, that I had been kidnapped, and they had surely noticed that a number of nobles were condemned in the related affair, but that was all. So Sissi didn't think Anje had been deeply involved in it. Otherwise she would never have brought word of Anje to me at all. Well, sharp as Sissi is, she probably had an inkling. There wasn't a moment's hesitation in her move to turn Anje away.

"No, it's fine! I just never expected to hear Anje's name here, so it startled me! Of course I'll see her! I had been wanting to talk with her again."

I clung to Sissi to stop her, and told her to show Anje in.

"...Forgive me for calling on you so suddenly, Lady Cosette. Thank you for allowing me to see you."

The moment she entered the room, Anje looked straight at me, said this, and bowed deeply. And she showed no sign at all of lifting her head again.

She had changed so much that, unladylike as it was, all I could do was gape with my eyes round.

Huh? Anje? This is Anje?

She was like an entirely different person from before. Her lovely pink hair and pretty face were the same as ever, of course, but the way she carried herself and her voice were surprisingly meek, courteous, and refined. Back in our school days she had never once called me "Lady" Cosette. Come to think of it, I remembered being glared at, but we had barely ever spoken directly. Mostly she either glared at me as if I were an insect or ignored me like a weed by the roadside.

Is this girl really Anje? Question marks filled my head. And for some reason she was dressed in the same uniform the inn's staff wore.

My brain must have hit the limit of what it could handle, because I froze up again, and beside me Sissi gave a small cough.

"...Milady, you need to give her leave to raise her head."

What?! She's waiting for that?! I'm not a king or anything!

It was the utmost show of respect, like a commoner before royalty or high nobility. ...Well, when I thought about it, she was a commoner now and I was a noble. And this was not the school, where differences of rank were set aside, so Anje's manner was only to be expected, really.

"P-please raise your head, Anje. ...I'm sorry, I was just a little startled."

When I said this in a fluster, Anje slowly raised her head. Her eyes, fixed firmly on me, wavered with unease.

"Lady Cosette, thank you for seeing someone like me. There is something I simply must say to you. Please, could you give me a little of your time?"

What was she going to say? When I thought of what she had done to me, I couldn't help feeling tense. But looking at her, biting her lip and clenching her trembling fingers so hard they went white, I truly couldn't believe she meant any harm.

"...Yes, of course. Please, have a seat."

Before I knew it, the words had spilled from my mouth.