For the next few days until the welcoming party would take place, we were held captive in the castle. That wasn’t a play on words or anything; we were actually under house arrest. While we were made welcome, the men’s room and our room were far apart — the buildings that they were inside were on opposite sides, sandwiching the royal court — and I hadn’t seen anyone but Miss Maria since we arrived.
Though we had originally been told that it would be two days until the party, it was then delayed three days, and then even longer. It was a complicated situation. Even if they needed time to prepare, I couldn’t accept that they were keeping us from Sir Celes and the others.
As you may have guessed, Miss Maria wasn’t happy about the situation either. She was spending another day negotiating with the guards by the door, with Shiro on her shoulder.
“Hey, Mister Guard! Doing some good work today, too!”
“Eh... Ah...”
“You knooow, I’m getting kinda tired of this room. You understand, right? We’re in such a wonderful castle, it’s so sad that we have to stay in here... It’d be okay to go for a little walk, right? Riiight?”
Up until now, she’d been very clearly angry, but it seemed that she was trying with gentle persuasion today. Even as a fellow woman, I thought her tilted puppy dog look with her hands held in front of her chest was adorable. The guards on either side of the door must have thought the same, because they gave each other troubled looks. It looked like it was working.
“T-That’s true... Let me go ask our superiors...”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if you came with us? You’re here to guard us, right? I don’t know the castle, and I have a bad sense of direction anyway, so it’d be a huuuge help if you showed us around. Pwease? ♡”
Seeing that the tall and lanky guard started saying something hesitantly, Miss Maria’s smile deepened. She kept going at him with a bright, full-strength smile when she realized she was winning. It was amazing. I could never do it.
“Alright. I’ll come with you. Is that alright, sir?” The curly-haired soldier volunteered, and the lanky one nodded.
“Yep. Do a good job of showing them around.”
“Yay! Thank you, Mister Guard!”
It seemed that Sir Curly was the newer recruit. It also seemed as if he was a bit pushier.
“But this is just a little walk. Understand!?”
“Yeeep!”
After giving us a warning, Sir Curly saluted Sir Lanky, and began walking. We followed after him.
“Hey.” As we walked behind him, Miss Maria whispered in my ear, “Follow me.”
She seemed as if she was planning something. Though I was slightly nervous, I matched her walking speed.
“This is the garden for guests,” Sir Curly said, gesturing around him. He’d brought us to a garden where the roses were in full bloom. The weather was nice, so it was perfect for a walk.
“For guests? There are others?”
“Yes, one for the royal family. The rose garden here is very popular. Do you like roses, Sacred Maiden?”
“I looove roses! I love them even more without thorns. Hey, do you think there’d be any roses that suit me?”
“There should be some roses just as lovely as you farther in...”
Breathing in the scent of the roses, I looked up at the blue sky. I want to see him. We’d been together every day since our journey began, and the days apart were wearing on me. While I gazed at the sky and thought of Sir Celes, Miss Maria suddenly pulled on my arm. Careful to keep her eyes on Sir Curly, she signaled towards a beautifully trimmed tree. We were right at a crossroads, and the guard was heading straight.
Once she was sure I got the message, she silently pulled me by the arm, running towards it.
“Hah...hah... We’re free, for now!” Miss Maria gave me a smile, beaming with the feeling of freedom. After running wildly for a while, we collapsed to the ground in a small open space, out of breath.
“We’re...free, but what...are we going to do now?”
“Hadn’t really decided.” Miss Maria stretched, reaching up into the sky, enjoying her short time outside. “I only got us out of there because I was sick of being stuck inside, but... Let’s try looking for the others! We’ll be fine if we just tell them that we got lost.”
“Lost...”
Rather than getting lost, I seemed to remember running very intentionally from Sir Curly. Would I be able to fool anyone by lying?
Noticing how hesitant I was, Miss Maria put her hand on her hip and snorted, “You’re so uptight! You could go up against Celes like that.”
“He’s...”
He’s not that uptight, is he...? I don’t think he is.
“You’re the only one he’s soft with. He’s way too uptight with me! Really, does he think he’s some kind of class rep?”
“Class...rep?” I asked, unfamiliar with that phrase.
“Um, someone who leads a group.”
“Oh, he is a Captain.”
“Ah...yeah. But, the nuance is kinda different. Anyway, he’s uptight! He never even budged when I was flirting with him. I know why now, though.” She gave me a glare as she hoisted herself up. “Anyway, we should get going. He’ll catch up to us soon. Where are we, anyway?”
Since we’d just run without thinking, we didn’t know where we were. Being a foreign country’s castle, we would probably get lost walking normally, anyway. I’m glad I’m with Miss Maria, but what should we do now? I had no idea where we might be able to find Sir Celes.