“Who’s there?” While we were looking around, we suddenly heard someone speak to us. Looking through the rose bushes, there was an arbor, and we could see the hem of a mint-green dress peeking through.
The dress hem swayed, and the one who stood up was the tall First Princess of Dal Canto, Princess Bernardina. Her soft, wavy black hair was loosely braided, and her chiffon dress blew lightly against her dark skin. She was wearing the same color dress when we met her before. Maybe it’s her favorite color?
“Hey. Sorry for bothering you,” Miss Maria said, not sounding apologetic at all.
While they both had black hair, Miss Maria’s was straight, and went down to her waist. She brazenly stepped out in front of the princess, and I followed her.
“You two...”
“Yeah, hi. Sacred Maiden and her friend here. Thank you so much for keeping us locked up.” Her tone was just as thorny as a rose as she laughed.
She’s really angry, I thought, but I was angry too. We hadn’t even seen a glimpse of the others, not just Sir Celes. Even if we did want to talk to them, the servants would only tell us that they’d pass on the message.
“Locked up...?”
“Oh? I thought it was a royal order? Are you happy to get us away from Ed and the others? Huh?”
Standing up in front of the tall princess, Miss Maria, who was small at the best of times, looked even daintier, but... She looked stronger than Princess Bernardina. The princess might have been angry too, but she shrank at Miss Maria’s wrath.
“We’re not even being told how they are. So what’s up? What are you planning, keeping us locked up like that!?”
“I... Nothing.”
“Nothing!?”
“Um, would you happen to have heard anything? We haven’t been told anything about how the others are doing,” I piped up.
I could tell that a fight would break out if I left it to Miss Maria. I was terrified that she would say something about our ranks, though.
“I just met with Prince Edoardo, and he was well.”
“Oh, so you’ve met with him.” Miss Maria’s brows twitched when she heard that they’d been together. It was a very touchy situation but...if she’d ‘just met’ with him, wouldn’t that mean he was close by?
“Miss Maria...” I called out to her.
“You two really are sisters, huh.”
“Miss Maria!” I grabbed and pulled her elbow; she gave me an angry pout in return. I knew she was upset, but if we could find His Highness before Sir Curly found us, we should focus on that. “Miss Maria, if Her Highness has just met with him, we might be able to find him if we search!”
“But—”
“The guard that’s looking for us since we got lost is going to catch up soon. This is our only chance.”
“You’re right... You’re safe this time, Princess! But I’m still mad!”
“...How scary,” Princess Bernardina muttered, clearly terrified.
Seeing her reaction only riled up Miss Maria more. “WHAT!?”
“Miss Maria!”
Your Highness, please stop pouring fuel onto the fire!
“Um, do you remember which way they went!?” I asked.
“That...that way. He had his Knights with him. The elder blond one, and the one Ceci was...”
I got excited hearing that I might be able to see Sir Celes. I took Miss Maria’s hand and pulled her along carefully. “Let’s get going, Miss Maria! Please excuse us!”
“Ah...”
“Just so you knooow, I’m not giving any of my companions to the sort of country that’d lock us up!”
I pulled Miss Maria along in the direction the princess had pointed as she got her last word in.