Third Arc: Sixteenth Chapter

"Heh heh heh..."

"Cosette, Julia! Did you have any trouble on the road? I was so looking forward to seeing you."

"Lady Remie! I... I couldn't even see you off. Father stopped me, but oh, how I regretted not just breaking away and going anyway..."

"Pff, heh heh heh."

"Julia...! It's all right, don't worry about that. ...Elliot! How long are you going to keep laughing!"

Elliot, the man who was surely Lady Remie's husband-to-be, kept right on laughing, rude as that was. It was true that asking for beer might have been a bit much for a noble young lady, but I wished he would give it a rest. When I stared at him damply, full of resentment, Elliot burst out laughing all over again.

"Elliot!"

Lady Remie was angry enough to make her ringlet curls stand on end, but something must have tickled him, because he couldn't stop.

"S-sorry! I'm trying to stop, but... hgk! F-for now, let me have some 'beer' arranged."

"...Ice cold, if you please."

"Bwahaaa?!"

Since he was already laughing, I tried saying it, and his fit only got worse. Was this one of those cases where foreigners have a low bar for what sets them off?

Once Elliot was thrown out of the room by a furious Lady Remie, the room finally went quiet.

"...Ahem! I'm sorry, you two. To spoil our reunion after so long. Honestly, Elliot! Um... that Elliot just now is my fiancé. We met on the journey to Lumelica..."

He isn't usually like that, she said, talking shyly, every bit a girl in love, and she was terribly sweet. A sudden marriage in a distant foreign land. Lady Julia and I had worried about it more than a little, and at how happy she looked, a great weight lifted from our chests.

"You look so happy. I'm relieved. ...Once more, congratulations on your wedding!"

"Hee hee... thank you!"

For a while after that, the three of us were caught up in talk of romance and old times, when, with a discreet knock, the door opened a crack, and a mournful whisper drifted into the room.

"Remie... my goddess. Please, won't you forgive me? If you won't forgive me, my night will never end and the sun will never rise. You, my sun, are my..."

"Stoooop!!!"

Her face bright red, Lady Remie slammed shut the door that had been open just a crack, with all her might.

For a while after Lady Remie had hurried out of the room, we sat in a room ruled by a strange silence, sipping our tea.

"...I'm glad she looks so happy."

"...Yes. Nothing could be better."

But our feelings were as one.

...Elliot. What a character he is.