Eh? Giving him no time to think, Henrietta clasped Saito’s hand that he was holding her shoulder with, and led it to the crevice of her open shirt. Feeling Henrietta’s soft and smooth hills of flesh along his finger, Saito panicked.
“Don’t squirm.”
Henrietta drew her mouth next to Saito’s ear and muttered tenderly, with a fake smile on her lips.
Saito passed through the guards doubly nervous.
Though the guard accidentally saw the couple… he had only seen the Queen's face from a distance. Besides even in his wildest dreams he could not imagine the Queen walking with a commoner, allowing his hand to touch her skin in such a way. He turned his eyes away at once and called another woman to stop.
Henrietta, walking out to the Main Street, laughed.
“Princess?”
“No… I'm sorry. Because it was such a funny moment. However, a pleasant one.”
“…Eh?”
“I put on rough clothes, changed my hairstyle… put on only a light make-up and no one could recognize me.”
Certainly… Henrietta seemed to merge with the scenery of this night. Saito felt that she was a different woman.
“However, we were seen by a person who barely knows your face, Princess.”
“Shh!”
“Eh? Eeeh?”
“Don’t call me princess in public. Call me ‘Ann’ in short.”
“Ann, then.”
“Yes.”
Then, Henrietta inclined her head to the side in doubt.
“Tell me your name.”
Being unknown to the Princess, Saito answered sadly.
“Saito.”
“Saito, unusual name.”
At that moment, Henrietta muttered leaning to Saito in a town woman’s way.
“Y-yeah, Ann, it’s unusual.”
“Be more rough.”
“Understood, Ann.”
Smiling, Henrietta entwined her arm around Saito’s.
Because night came slowly, the couple went to a hotel for the time being. It was a plain, cheap lodging house. They were led to a worn-out room on the second floor that made even the attic at “Charming Fairies” inn look heavenly.
The futon of the bed was strangely damp, it was unclear for how many days it has been left to dry, and a small mushroom was growing in the corner of the room. The lamp, even after wiping off the soot, was still really black.
“Well, for so much money, it's not that great a room.”
But Henrietta said while sitting on the bed.
“No, the room is fantastic.”
“Is that so…”
“Yes. Here at least you do not have to worry… about venomous snakes sleeping on your chest.”
“And no weird bugs either.”
“Right.”
Henrietta smiled.
Saito sat on the chair standing in the room. The chair, as if protesting, made a strange, creaky sound. For some reason, he wanted to keep the distance between him and his honorable partner as far as possible. Finding it difficult to keep talking, Saito asked.
“Is it really such a nice room?”
“Yes. It is exciting. Because it has the taste of the imprudent, ordinary life of citizens…”
She emphasized that with a cute gesture. Henrietta acting like that, created a slight feeling of intimacy.
Because the room was pitch dark, they decided to light up the sooted lamp. He could not find any matches, though he looked around carefully.
“They don’t have matches here… I’ll go down and bring them.”
Henrietta shook her head and took out a crystal wand from her bag. She swung it and ‘Posh!’ the lamp's wick lit up.
Henrietta sat gazing at the lamplight, holding her chin with her hand.
Saito, feeling dazzled somehow, turned his eyes away.
Seeing Henrietta relaxed like that… though she still had that sense of intimacy around her, she was still a princess. No, she was a queen now… a very young queen still. The word princess suited her more. Unrivaled grace and dignity. Though it was a similar feeling with Louise… but Louise could be so childish when unhappy, while Henrietta was still calm and composed. She had an aura of a grown up adult around her. Even through the gaps of her shirt one could smell her womanly charm.
This was an indescribable charm of mixed noble pride and danger.
“What now?”
She asked Saito in an innocent voice. Such a princess was really beautiful, thought Saito while mumbling something.
“Is Louise all right?”
Henrietta asked Saito from the other side of the lamp. Mysteriously, Henrietta’s presence made this worn-out place look like a royal palace bedroom. Henrietta had the power to change the surrounding air that way. Even at night time it felt like it was a bright day.
“Yeah. Well, she, that, she said she would accomplish her job for the Princess…”
As for Louise, she always scolded Saito for failing to gather information.
“She is all right from that aspect.”
“Eh?”
“That child has sent me a precise report through the carrier owl every day.”
“Is that so?”
If you think about it, she probably wrote those while Saito was sleeping. What a serious fellow.
“Yes… She exactly informed me every day about every rumor… Every single one. Without a single complaint. She certainly blended with commoners, not worrying when it will end. Because that child is highborn… Thus, I worry if her health is all right.”
“She is all right. She does everything energetically.”
Saito nodded.
“I'm so glad.”
“But, is the information that Louise gathers really useful?”
“Yes. It is useful.”
Henrietta smiled.
“I myself want to hear citizens' real intentions. I want to hear the true opinion about the politics I do. If they inform me directly, they change some things. They would not be comfortable with telling me… as they are with others. I want to know the truth. Even the things I don’t like.”
A sad smile appeared on Henrietta’s face.
“Princess?”
“No… It’s just that knowing the truth is sometimes difficult. Though I am called a ‘Holy Woman’, there are harsher names I heard. I am looked down as a greenhorn trying to attack Albion, abusing her power to organize an invasion army, and I am suspected of being Germania’s puppet… Really, not queen-like...”
“Seriously?”
“Is your world also the same?”
“Eh?”
Saito looked blankly.
“Excuse my impoliteness. I asked the Magic Academy Director Osman. I was surprised to learn that you came from a different world. I could hardly ever imagine that such world existed. So in your world, at war… is the government spoken ill about?”
Saito remembered. Newspapers were flooded with everyday news about the corruption of the politicians at war…
“There is not much difference.”
“It is the same there as well.”
Henrietta muttered, relieved.
“Wars… do you have them?”
“Our country is in the middle of one.”
“No… I mean, besides attacking that flying continent?”
“Why would you say so?”
“A little while ago, you said an invasion army. Did similar invasions happen here, too?”
“Oh well. In that case, this war is endless…These are the things that should be left unsaid. It’s not a thing to talk with you about. Please forget it.”
Still, hearing Saito being silent, Henrietta looked up.
“Do you hate war?”
“I guess I do not love it.”
“But, you saved the kingdom at Tarbes.”
“I did so to defend an important person.”
“Then, that night…”
Henrietta turned her face away and muttered hesitatingly. Then Saito… recalled that ominous night.