Sincerity
Annie sat in the carriage bound for home.
By the duchy’s regulations, leave was granted only twice a year, so this sudden return should have been a welcome thing.
If only she had not been traveling with the master she was bound to serve.
She peered restlessly out the window, her tension thickening the air inside the carriage.
How did it come to this?
She resented Mary for reporting her situation to the young lady.
Honestly, she was anxious.
For a full month the young lady had seemed like a different person, yet Annie still remembered.
On the day she first became her dedicated maid, she had made a mistake because the handover was incomplete, and the young lady herself had beaten her severely.
Six months had already passed, yet the scars remained.
Even afterward, the slightest pretext brought blows or abuse.
Whenever she saw the princess who had now changed completely, the thought Why only now? still rose, but the gulf of status and the simple fact that the current master was far easier to serve kept her silent.
Annie cast a sidelong glance at the man seated beside her.
Mason Blanc.
A well-known physician from the Blanc family, a branch of the Bennet line.
He could wield healing arts and possessed a measure of martial skill as well, so even as a branch member he held a position no one within the Bennet household could ignore.
When he had volunteered as the Bennet princess’s personal physician and followed her all the way to the mansion, the family had stirred with quiet surprise.
A figure of that stature, someone who would normally never set foot in such a place, was now going to examine her mother—on the princess’s direct order.
Annie looked at her master.
She was dozing, head nodding.
She’s truly adorable when she’s asleep.
Since the change her expression had softened a great deal, yet the rare moments when her face tightened still carried the old fear.
Still… if it really is…
Annie gazed out the window with a faint thread of hope.
District 7 Outskirts.
The place where Annie’s house stood.
Around the hated facility known as Bastille Prison, a slum had naturally taken shape.
Yet this slum was different from those in other districts.
The area near the prison was surprisingly safe from contamination and monsters.
The reason lay in the Saintstone the Holy Kingdom had installed to strengthen the prison’s security.
Saintstone.
A powerful holy relic that only a Saintess could create, possessing sacred power that purified contamination and repelled monsters.
Because this Saintstone—normally found only at the continent’s most vital strongholds—had been placed at Bastille Prison, the place had become an unexpected haven hidden behind the name of a hated facility.
Perhaps because people here need not die meaninglessly to contamination or monsters, faint hope lingered on their faces, unlike the hollow despair of other slums.
“Young lady, we’ve arrived.”
“Mmm… already?”
I must have dozed off.
An unfamiliar landscape stretched beyond the carriage window.
After living so long inside the splendid ducal mansion, the sight reminded me of Earth for the first time in ages—houses packed tightly together, people living pressed into those narrow spaces.
Yet unlike the dying expressions I remembered, the faces here still held a spark of life.
“This is the place, young lady.”
The small house she indicated was tidy, yet age clung to every board.
Guided by Annie, Mason and I entered the room where her mother lay sleeping.
Seeing how frail she looked, my heart gave a small, painful twist.
“Mason, please.”
“Yes, young lady.”
He began the examination with careful hands.
Annie and I stepped outside so we would not disturb him.
“Who’s this pretty big sister?”
A cute little boy tugged at my sleeve.
Pretty big sister…
Still better than the “uncle” kids used to call me in my past life.
“Dan! You can’t do that! She’s the person big sister serves!”
“Wow! Then is she a noble big sister? I’ve never seen a noble before!”
A tiny girl burst out and seized my hand.
“Clara! Please… I’m so sorry, young lady. My siblings still have no manners…”
“It’s fine. May I play with them for a little while?”
She gave her brother and sister a stern warning not to be rude, then reluctantly agreed.
I had spoken on reflex, but the truth was I had never looked after children in my life.
What if they find me boring?
A short while later I realized I had been fretting over the most useless worry in the world.
The children dragged me all over the village for a full three hours.
At ten and eight they were at the age of endless running; if Annie had not forcibly hauled me away for dinner, I might have collapsed from exhaustion.
Still, it was a novel experience.
In my hometown, where the birth rate had plummeted to 0.6, children were so rare that I used to stare in wonder whenever I passed one on the street.
So even though I was worn out, the time felt rewarding and oddly fun.
When we returned to the house, Mason was waiting.
“It was a dangerous illness, but not an incurable one. I’ve finished the basic measures for now. Once we reach the duchy I’ll prescribe medicine and send it here.”
“Really… thank you so much, young lady.”
Annie bowed her head, eyes reddened.
A strange feeling rose in me.
In the month I had lived as Yeon I had heard “thank you” countless times.
Never because I had saved or helped anyone.
Simply because, compared with the thug princess of before, merely acting like a normal person earned gratitude.
Those words had been empty.
Thanks for a villainess who had become a little more ordinary.
I had felt nothing from greetings given just for behaving like everyone else.
This time was different.
This time my own action had directly saved someone—Annie’s mother, the precious person of the first close companion I had gained in a life without family or friends.
When she looked at me and said, in a voice thick with tears, “Thank you so much,”
I finally understood.
What is this feeling?
It was strange.
A corner of my heart seemed to warm, and at the same time a quiet sense of relief spread through me.
An unfamiliar sensation.
I looked at Annie.
Her eyes still carried the usual exhaustion, yet they sparkled a little.
Whether from relief, from gratitude…
or from the first faint beginning of trust in me,
I could not tell.
When we went back inside, Annie’s mother was struggling to sit up in bed.
“Please stay still. You’re still unwell—lie down.”
The moment the words left my mouth, everyone in the room stared at me in open shock.
Was using polite speech that strange?
Inside the mansion I had kept to casual speech for the sake of the role, but I simply could not speak casually to Annie’s mother.
Talking down to a friend’s mother would have felt wrong.
“Please speak casually, young lady.”
She raised herself a little and bowed her head.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Maria. And thank you so much for your help today. I will never forget this grace as long as I live.”
Another thank-you.
When hunters on Earth saved people and heard those words, had they felt like this too?
In truth Mason had done the healing alone, so I wondered whether I deserved the gratitude, yet it still felt good.
We finished the evening meal there and climbed back into the carriage.
“Annie, is something still worrying you? Why does your face look so troubled?”
She had been fidgeting and watching my expression the whole time; it bothered me.
“Hic… I’m sorry, young lady!”
Before I could even register surprise at the sudden outburst, she continued in a tearful voice.
“Actually… I never believed the young lady had truly changed. Life at the duchy was so hard. So… so I had disrespectful thoughts.”
Annie hung her head low.
“There’s no way that woman changed. No—what is she doing, putting on such a disgusting act now?”
I watched her quietly.
So that was it.
I had half expected it.
It was not her fault.
Someone who had tormented her for six months could not simply change in a single month and be trusted and loved overnight.
Even so…
It left a bitter taste.
No matter what she thought, I had been sincere.
“I don’t deserve the princess’s kindness. I’ll return to the mansion and accept any punishment. I’m truly sorry.”
Annie bowed, weeping.
I sighed and drew out a handkerchief.
“Haa… Annie. Are you an idiot?”
I carefully wiped the tears from her eyes.
“You could have just quietly taken the benefit. Why say unnecessary things?”
Annie flinched and looked up at me.
“I felt too guilty, as if I were deceiving you…”
What a fool.
“I’m sorry. Truly.”
I spoke the words low, almost under my breath.
“It’s all my fault. I lived like trash until now—that’s why. It isn’t your fault. So it’s all right, Annie.”
Her sobs grew louder.
Without hesitation I drew her into my arms.
Her tear-soaked shoulders trembled against me.
“Young lady is truly a good person… From now on I’ll serve you with all my heart.”
A good person…
The words that suited this body least of all.
Perhaps that was why.
An inexplicable anxiety began to crawl up from deep in my chest.
I forced the feeling down and spent the rest of the journey listening to her stories—the life she had lived.
I wanted to tell her mine as well, yet I had been pulled into the game before the update and knew almost nothing of Yeon’s past.
And I could not speak of Earth either…
In the end I simply listened in silence.
The moment we reached the mansion I washed and threw myself onto the bed.
Annie now followed me with genuine loyalty, and Mason had said he was truly proud of me.
People who had doubted me would probably change their minds after this.
I ought to have been happy…
Yet the anxiety from earlier only swelled, and sleep would not come.
I stared at the ceiling and drew a quiet breath.
Could this be Yeon’s emotion?
From time to time I felt her feelings.
Each time it left me confused, but never before had I felt such unreadable unease as today.
I had done something good. Why this feeling?
What on earth is wrong?
…How twisted are you, this woman.
In the quiet room I forced my eyes shut.
But sleep did not come easily.