Third Arc: Ninth Chapter

"Excuse me, Lady Edelweiss. I must apologize for Anje's rudeness."

"Rudeness? What do you mean?"

The moment she entered the room, the landlady stood Anje beside her and bowed her head. Watching Anje fidget awkwardly with her hands, I asked back in surprise.

"Calling on a guest and troubling them, just because they were once an acquaintance. It simply won't do. Honestly..."

Even as she turned a look of exasperation on Anje, the landlady's eyes were gentle, like a mother's.

"I'm sorry... I just really wanted to apologize."

Anje slumped her shoulders, downcast. Her wilted little figure was somehow like a small animal, so endearing that I let out a small snort of a laugh.

"Lady Edelweiss?"

The landlady blinked and asked, so I said, still laughing,

"Ha ha, sorry. She's just so sweet. ...Anje, you're not alone at all, are you. You have someone like a mother right here."

"Huh..."

At my words, Anje's eyes went wide and she stared at the landlady. The landlady shrugged, "good grief" written all over her face, and smiled gently.

"Were you going on about being alone again? ...Honestly, what am I to do with you, my girl."

"Landlady..."

Tears welled up fast in Anje's blue eyes and spilled over, drop by drop. The landlady gently held Anje close and patted her head, there, there.

"I think of you as my daughter. I'm a bit of an old mother, but... is that all right?"

"Y-yes... yes... Mother..."

Watching Anje sob, unable to hold it back, my heart went soft and warm.

"Ngh... hff... wh-what a lovely story... snf, snf, sbbf."

From behind me came the sound of furious sniffling. Sissi looks cool and collected, but she cries more easily than you would think.

I held out a handkerchief to her without a word, and she blew her nose into it with a great honk.

...Hey now.

"Thank you, milady."

"You can keep it. No, really. Sissi, please. Come back to your senses."

Sissi is confused! Cosette dodged the handkerchief, snot and all, with all her might!

"...By the way, landlady, might I borrow Anje for a while? Sissi, never mind, go and wash your face. Quickly. This very instant."

As I shooed away Sissi, whose face was a mess of tears and snot, and spoke to the landlady, she tilted her head, looking troubled.

"Borrow her? Do you have some errand for the girl?"

"Yes. We're on our way to a friend's wedding. She's close with Anje too, so I thought it would be nice if we could all go together."

"Oh my! Might that be Lady Remie, by any chance?"

"That's right. So you know Lady Remie. Her wedding is being held in Lumelica."

The landlady's face broke into a smile, and she nodded happily, over and over.

"What a wonderful thing! ...But is it really all right? And the invitation..."

Her face turned troubled all at once, and when she looked toward Anje, the girl fidgeted, glancing up at her uncertainly, at a loss.

"...The truth is, I did get an invitation. But I have work, and the money too..."

"Oh my! Why didn't you say so sooner! Honestly, this girl, always, always..."

Grumbling her little scoldings at Anje, the landlady was the very picture of a daughter-loving mother you would find anywhere, and Anje, even as she was scolded, smiled somewhere deep down, happy.