After that, Henrietta called the page and asked to bring the Minister of Finance. Once the Minister of Finance ran over, Henrietta blandly reported.
“This bedroom… No, the Royal Palace of the Royal family, sell everything here for money.”
“...Hah?”
“Everything. All right? Leave only small amount of clothes. All furniture, the bed, the desk and the dressing table too…”
Puzzled, the Minister of Finance said,
“Bed? B-But where will Your Majesty sleep?”
“Bring a pile of hay. It will do.”
The Minister of Finance became speechless. A queen sleeping on the floor was unheard of.
“Please give the money that you receive from selling those things to the families of war victims. Nobles, commoners – it does not matter. Distribute it equally.”
“B-But…”
“The treasury is in a difficult state? I know.”
Henrietta removed all of her jewels.
The Minister of Finance eyes were wide open in shock as he was handed the jewels one by one. Upon reaching her wedding finger, Henrietta noticed the Ruby of Wind, Wales's keepsake. She closed her eyes for a moment and then removed and handed it to the finances minister.
“Sell this one as well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. This one as well…”
She pointed at the Founder’s portrait, to which she prayed to during the war. For hundreds, thousands of years, this portrait watched over the royal families.
“But, however…”
“Now, what the homeland needs is not prayers to God but gold. You disagree?”
The Minister of Finance violently shook his head.
But before the man left, Henrietta called him to stop.
“I am sorry. Please come back for a moment.”
“Thank goodness! You snapped out of this!”
Henrietta reached for something from the Minister of Finance's treasury tray.
It was a crown. In their haste, neither of them had noticed it.
“Without it, no one would ever admit someone as foolish as I as a ruler.”
After the Minister of Finance left, grateful that he was not needed anymore, Henrietta began to look through the list of names.
Of course, she could not remember them all.
But she wanted to engrave them firmly in her mind. Their lives and ideals hid behind these names. She thought about begging for forgiveness, but stopped.
By the time she had finished reading through the list, dawn had begun to break.
Henrietta took the last piece in her hand.
And held her breath once she saw the name at the very end.
An unusual sounding name, that she had heard before, was written there.
Chapter Two: Saito's Morning
RING RING RING RING RING RING!... The alarm clock rang, and Saito opened his sleepy eyes.
He slowly climbed out of his bed.
This was Earth’s Japan, Tokyo in his own family’s two-story six-bedroom home. In his own bedroom. In an instant, he had a strange feeling, one that was difficult to explain.
It was his bedroom! But why did he have a sense of unease?
Still half asleep, Saito looked at the cat-like alarm clock: 8:30AM. The sense of unease vanished as he screamed “CRAP!” and flipped out of bed.
Wasn't he nearly late?
Saito leaped down the stairs and reached the first floor, then yelled at his mother who was washing dishes in the kitchen.
“Mother! Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Don’t I always tell you, you have to get up on your own in the morning?”
In that instant, an overwhelming sense of homesickness nearly ran him over.
Looking at his mother’s back, Saito felt he was seeing a loved one lost long ago. He saw his mother’s shadow everyday, so what was this feeling?
But now was not the time to worry about it; he was almost late for school. Saito flew into the living room, put on the school uniform he left there, and then ran back to the kitchen with his mother: “I'm already late, gotta go mom!” grabbing a piece of toast from the kitchen table, then stuffing it into his mouth like a mouse, swallowing as he dashed out the door.
Out of the house and straight into the residential streets.
Saito suddenly froze on the spot.
Mother often complained about the house across the streets and its terrible red walls. Saito took the time to “borrow” a couple fruits from the neighbor’s persimmon tree. Nearby was a vending machine for fruit juice.
The usual, and normal, scene. Although it was an scene he was used to, there was an overwhelming sense of longing, that made everything feel dearer.
This was the third time today he felt this strange.
Saito stood there dumbfounded, unable to come up with a reason for this.
In that moment, someone called out to him from behind.
“Saito-san!”
Saito turned around, only to find a black-haired girl in his school's uniform standing there.
“Siesta!”
There was no mistake, it was really Siesta.
Though she used to be a maid in the Tristain Academy of Magic, she now stood there wearing a school uniform.
Siesta wore the western clothes Saito saw before, giving her a fresh sense of cuteness. Along with the mini-skirt worn by other students, blue western blouse with a white shirt, and knee-length socks.
What was Siesta doing in Tokyo?
Why was she wearing his school’s uniform?
Although he still had some difficult questions to answer, he took care of the first question that came to mind. “Why are you dressed like that?”
Siesta answered Saito's question with a confused look.
“Because Saito-san and I go to the same school, isn’t it normal I wear the same uniform?”
Oh, it was so. Saito nodded in understanding. The way she said it seemed to be correct, but right now Saito’s head was a little fuzzy, so he couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong.
Siesta ran by, grabbing onto Saito’s arm.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait…”
Siesta’s face turned red, unable to finish her sentence.
“I have been waiting for you for a while… I want to go to school together… so…”
“Oh, is that so? Ok, let’s go together.”
Forget it, she is so cute. Going together shouldn’t be a problem. Saito dismissed the question that came floating into his head.
“Great!” Siesta said smiling and took a step forward. The spring wind flew against her body.
“Oh!” The strong wind lifted her short skirt.
The skirt revealed snow-white flesh, causing Saito to pinch his nose in reflex.
“Why, Siesta, why are you not wearing any underwear?”
Siesta using her hands to hold down her skirt, shamefully replied,
“Because, because I am not one of those noble-born girls, who own those flowery panties…”
“Japan doesn’t have any nobility!”
“That is true…”
That is a really strange answer, Saito thought, feeling the incompatibility.
Everything seemed to make sense, yet it felt as though nothing did…
Just as the two stood there dumbfounded…
Saito was sent flying by a force slamming into him from behind and instantly collapsed on the ground.
The person who knocked him down was a pink-haired girl. She had a piece of toast in her mouth and complained at the same time,
“Late, late, I am late!”
The young girl continued to complain then turned around, stomping Saito several more times with her foot.
“You! You!”
Saito desperately tried to get up.
“Ah, late, really late!!”
The young girl swang her foot again, this time aiming for Saito’s face; Saito collapsed again with a yelp.
“Miss Vallière!”
Siesta yelled.
“Ah… late, I said we are late!”