Third Arc: Twenty-Fifth Chapter

"Ha ha! No wonder you're surprised. We haven't known each other long yet, after all!"

"Huh..."

"The next wedding may well be Mine and Cosette's. Ha ha!"

"Wha..."

What do I do. I couldn't understand what Michael was saying. No, to be precise, I understood the words, or I should. Had he been receiving signals from some dream kingdom without my noticing? His needlessly refreshing smile made me feel something close to murderous. Being handsome, it only made me angrier.

Murmur... murmur...

The dreadfully frozen air of the place slowly regained its noise, along with the murmuring around us. And this time, dreadfully frozen stares gathered on me, and I felt gooseflesh rise as never before.

This is bad. This is that thing. The pattern from a drama I once watched, where a common-born heroine who has gotten friendly with a flowery group of handsome rich boys gets bullied by the noble young ladies.

"Who, who, who is that woman?!"

"His Majesty's... beloved? Does that mean she is not yet his betrothed?"

The guests, who must have been stunned, began to speak one after another as if coming to their senses, and rude stares, different from the cold ones of before, stabbed into me. All of this was because Michael had picked up some strange signal. Declaring me his beloved without even asking my opinion, what was that about? Well, if he is only going to think it, I suppose he doesn't need to ask, but he's the king, you know? Ugh. Ahh, what a pain!

As I thought it over, the gooseflesh gradually settled, and anger at Michael for dragging me into this trouble came bubbling up.

But whether or not he noticed me clenching my fists, Michael turned a sparkling smile on me and whispered in a low, resonant voice.

"Cosette, trembling so much. It's all right, my Lumelica is a dream kingdom! You're sure to be happy here! Ha ha!"

This man. Does it not even occur to him that he might be refused? And so this was a dream kingdom. If anything, wasn't it Michael's head that was stuffed with nothing but dreams?

"Dreams are quite enough while I'm asleep, thank you! And besides, Mickey surely already has a partner who suits him, a Miss M, you know the one!"

I had stopped caring about lèse-majesté and all that. I'm no resident of the dream kingdom, and I couldn't care less about the dream kingdom's laws!

"Miss M? Who's that?"

"Haaah..."

In a room at the inn, I let out a deep, deep sigh. After that, the murmuring only grew louder over the new character I had blurted out, and in the end a young lady even turned up saying, "My childhood nickname was M, you know."

Because the commotion had gotten so big, I decided to head back to the inn early. To think that Lady Remie's precious wedding had been stirred up over something else. I felt truly sorry, though I don't think it was my fault.

"At this rate... maybe I had better not go to the party planned for tonight either. It's sure to be a nuisance..."

As I sat dejectedly by the window, Sissi gently set a cup of warm, steaming tea before my downcast self.

"Milady... you poor thing. And you were so looking forward to it."

"I know! But I'll just have to be glad I got to attend the wedding at all."

Sissi's kindness sank in. The warmth of the tea passed to me through the cup I held, and my heart began to settle.

Just then came a discreet knock. When I opened the door, there stood Lady Julia and Anje, beautifully dressed for the party.

"Lady Cosette? We were thinking of heading out to the party soon..."

"Are you feeling unwell, by any chance?"

"No, I'm not unwell, but if I cause another commotion it would be unfair to Lady Remie, so... I thought I would sit the party out."

"Oh dear..."

"What a shame..."

Seeing off the two, who looked at me with pity, I sighed once again.

Tap... tap...

Unlike Japan in my past life, a city with few streetlamps falls under the rule of darkness as soon as the sun goes down. But at a time when the party was perhaps at its very height, I, who had sulkily gone to bed early, woke to a small sound tapping at the window.

"...What...?"

Who could it be on a night like this? Surely not a ghost?

Stiffly, I turned my head toward the window, and there, through a gap in the curtains, Michael's face was peeking in. All the tension drained out of me at once, and a witless sound slipped from my mouth.

"Huh...?"

Why was Michael here? And this was the third floor.

Even as I watched Michael outside the window warily, the tapping went on, and if I left it, it might wake Sissi, who was surely resting. With no choice, I got out of bed, threw on a gown and shawl, lit the lamp at my bedside, and went to the window. When I unlatched and opened it, the slightly chilly early-spring air rushed in, and I shivered.

"...Hello, Cosette. Good evening."

His jet-black hair drifting in the cold wind, the white shining moon behind him, Michael smiled bewitchingly, like a devil. But his breath came out white. I gently draped the shawl I was wearing over him and put on a face like scolding a child.

"...Good evening, Michael. Is it some urgent business? Calling on a lady's bedroom at this late hour is rude, you know?"

"You didn't come to the party... so I was worried. And..."

"And?"

Michael took my hand and, pressing it to his own cheek, gave a soft smile. Unlike his usual carefree expression, that innocent, childlike face drew me in, and before I knew it I was gazing at him, captivated.

"...I wanted to see you."

"!"