Third Arc: Sixth Chapter

"I am... so sorry. After what I did, I had no right even to face you, but... I wanted to apologize, no matter what."

Instead of sitting in the chair I offered, Anje knelt down on the floor and bowed her head.

As for me, I just stared, wide-eyed with surprise, my mouth hanging open. When I glanced at Sissi, waiting near the doorway, she too had her mouth open and her eyes round.

"A-Anje... could you stand up, for now? What in the world has come over you?"

I took Anje's hand and pulled her up, sat her limp, drooping form down in the chair, and settled myself across from her again.

"It's true a great deal happened between us. ...Honestly, if you apologize now, I hardly know what to make of it. Would you tell me what has changed in your heart?"

"...Lady Remie saved me. And so..."

In a trembling voice, Anje spoke haltingly, a little at a time. After she was exiled from the country and cast out into an unknown town, she seemed to have suffered terribly. She didn't go into detail, but she had been sold, deceived, and put through hard, painful things, no doubt.

I remembered that, when Anje was exiled, some part of me had felt relieved she hadn't been put to death. But hearing her story now, I no longer knew which had been the kinder fate. Still, it wasn't my place to ache over it. I couldn't find any words for Anje, and I gripped my own knees tight.

While she was drifting aimlessly around the town, Anje was taken in by a wealthy merchant and traveled with him as far as Medius. Medius sits right on top of the border between Lumelica and Altria, so it can be called neutral ground between the two countries. Anje had been able to reach Medius without trouble, then, but she had meant to part ways here with the merchant, who was bound for Altria.

And once in Medius, Anje met Lady Remie, who was on her own journey toward Lumelica, and was saved by her.

When she had told me this much, Anje shared a startling fact. Well, it was something I had half expected, in truth.

Anje clenched her hands tight, looked at me with a serious gaze, and spoke.

"I am a reincarnated person. I have memories of a past life."

Her searching eyes said, without words, "And so are you, aren't you?"