I was reborn as a maid to the cruel tyrant prince!!

Epilogue

It had been a long and exhausting day; filled with far too many highs and lows to count. In all honesty- after being faced with an actual dragon attack, I doubted there anything else much for me to do. That is what my initial thoughts were anyway- however against my expectations, I had found myself inexplicably summoned to prince's room later that evening- what's more by the prince himself. I now found myself stood in front of Dante's room for the first time in what felt like forever with a sort of intrigued expression on my face...

For context we would have to go back to a few hours earlier...


****

"Woah, the skie's so clear now, you wouldn't even think that it was a rainstorm earlier..." I commented as I looked up above the late afternoon sky. Apparently having a large dragon spiral up over head was quite the weather changing machine... maybe it was something I could keep in mind if there were any insane storms in the future.
"I'm glad it is now, maybe there won't be any problems with the festival anymore" Sana uttered with a rather relieved smile as I found myself tilting my head to this.
"Hmm? Would it matter too much if the weather was bad?" I questioned the maid beside me as she gave a half-hearted expression.
"Well... it's probably better that you can see rather than me telling you..."
"??"

"I wouldn't get your hopes too high blonde maid- "came a rather foreboding voice from beside us as if it was on queue to deliver poorly timed bad news. General Delrek had inserted himself both into our conversation and near physically between us as he stood behind us with a stoic expression. I guess learning names was really a bother for nobles huh? "I got news from the village not long ago. The people there are fine and there wasn't any large-scale damage done to the buildings. But stalls apparently were made a mess of and some of the evening supplies too so there's talk of the festival being cancelled" he dropped some rather unfortunate news on us, Sana's face instantly dropping.
"Ehhhh??? No way!! The evening part of the festival is the best part though" Sana exclaimed in dismay as the General shrugged.
"There's only so much we can do against wind damage. The duke is looking for a way to salvage the festival in some way however..." The general went on as Sana could only become more disheartened the more, he spoke on.
"That's such a shame, apparently this would have been Annie's first festival. I was hoping this would be her first..." Sana proceeded to slump over somewhat as I gave a vague laugh to this.
"Well... I guess it can't really be helped, today already has been hectic. I'm sure there is another one soon, right?" I brought up as I couldn't help but notice Sana's eye's slide away from me gloomily.
"Ah... sort of..." – I had a feeling that meant there wouldn't be one for a while Sana!!
"Aha... so that's how it is..." I gave a small sigh, sort of accepting this would be how it all turned out. In fairness, on the last few days leading up to the festival I had kind of given up on being able to celebrate it at all... really, even being close to being able to consider celebrating was a blessing in itself, not too long ago, even surviving to see another festival was off the table. Still though, I couldn't say I wasn't sort of disappointed to hear the festival wouldn't run... as Sana mentioned it would have been my first- though that aside... I was somewhat hoping there might have been a chance for us to invite Dante and Hugo to join us to see the festival in the village if at all possible. Though I guess given how chaotic things had been, maybe it was a best we just missed the festival for today.

"Hey, General, do you know where the old man is?" Maybe the prince had an ability to sense when he was in people's thoughts, because it was then that the prince spoke up from nearby, putting our conversation to a close. General Delrek stood to attention.
"May I ask who you mean by 'old man' your highness??" General Delrek questioned in a duteous manner as Dante could only find himself scowling at this.
"I mean the duke; do I have to spell it out for you?" Dante replied sharply to the general who didn't seem too phased by Dante's sharp nature.
"Not at all your highness, the duke is currently near the front of the manner discussing details about the village to the village leader!" General Delrek answered starkly with his chest puffed out as Dante simply looked past the general, walking off in the direction of the entrance.
"Got it..." he uttered, not seeming to linger too much on the topic itself. Though he seemed to pause next to me for a few seconds as he passed me and Sana- remaining there for a few seconds as it seemed as though he wanted to bring something up to me... though it was short lived as he simply just continued to walk to the entrance.

What was that about...? I watched the prince walk off, somewhat confused by his actions- though I couldn't say that was an abnormal circumstance for me. It was as I was pondering however, that Sana seemed to get an idea to herself, smacking her fist off her hand.
"Aha! I might have an idea! Annie, stay here, I need to ask the head maid something!" Sana announced with a sudden energy whilst running past me, much to my faint surprise.
"Huh? Okay..." I hadn't really got much time to question it before the maid had run off. She really could speed away when she wanted to couldn't she?

"Well... I don't think bad news can keep her down for too long..." Hugo appeared from beside me as I jumped a little to his appearance.
"Oh- Sana, yeah, sometimes I wonder where she get's all that optimism from" I responded, playing off that the knight in training had caught me off guard once again; before I then looked over to him tilting my head. "You aren't going with his highness?" I asked Hugo who gave a small stiff laugh at this.
"No, it seems that maybe I teased him a little too much earlier, he told me to stay back here" Hugo mentioned to me as he reflected on it.
"Hmm? Teased him about what?"
"Nothing in particular... in any case, I can't say that I imagined you would be taming a dragon during your stay with us. I wasn't wrong, you are an interesting person Miss Silverston" Hugo changed the topic as I pouted faintly to this. Interesting was the last thing I was aiming to be, it seemed I hadn't changed too much in the eyes of the young knight before me.
"I can't say it was what I imagined either... I swear, the rumours that come from this are going to give me a headache..." I gave a small groan, already feeling very aware that Harriet was rattling some stories amidst the staff, Hugo chuckling a little about this.
"You do seem to be a bit of a magnet for strange events. However I don't think that's a bad thing about you at all. You seem a little better from earlier, are you feeling better?" He then asked me as I felt myself a little shy to his words. Not a bad thing huh...? Urgh, that was right too, I had a complete mental breakdown earlier...
"I'm doing much better now... though I'm sorry that you had to see me that way S- Hugo..." I bowed my head, feeling a little embarrassed on it, now I remembered just how much of a panic I was in earlier. Hugo simply shook his head with a rather cordial smile.
"Not at all, rather, I am glad I could be there to help you calm you down. If anything... I'm sorry I couldn't really help much more in finding the divine beast for you until things got so tense" Hugo instead seemed to be apologising to me much to my surprise. To be honest, nobody foresaw Yoru being a huge dragon in this series of events, so it was hardly anybody's fault for missing even a dragon as huge as him at first.
"You don't have to apologise! I told you Yoru was a puppy, not a dragon. Besides, I am grateful you came to help me when you did. If you didn't help to calm me down and offer to find Yoru, I never would have been in the headspace to find his highness or even think of being outside to stop Yoru... You were in a tense situation yourself- but you still took your time to look out for me and even decided to add more to your plate by helping me look around" I assured the knight before I gave him a rather heartfelt smile to this. "I guess... if your guess on me being interesting was correct, that means my first impression of you being a good person was correct too... rather- I guess what I mean to say is thank you!" I bowed to the young knight in training who paused upon hearing my words, his eyes widening faintly to this...

It seemed to take him a few seconds to regain his composure... before a small laugh came from his throat.
"Haha... I still have to wonder what made you think I couldn't be a good person to begin with..." He brought up as I found myself returning an awkward chuckle.
"Well... I guess at the time, any association with his highness put me on edge"
"Is that so..."

"You have some nerve to be talking about someone behind their back like that..." came a sharp voice from behind me that almost made me jump out my skin.

"I- I wasn't talking about anything in particular haha!" I instantly corrected my tone as I looked behind me to see the prince frowning in my direction.
"I could get angry at this; however I have bigger things to worry about right now... I'll cut to the chase, pig girl, do you have any plans for this evening?" Dante seemed to just ignore my panicked response.
"Huh?" I questioned.
"Your ears are as broken as ever, I asked you if you are free later..." Dante squinted his eyes fiercely as I couldn't read by this tone if his asking me this was a good or bad thing. Maybe he planned on brawling me for gossiping mindlessly- Uwaaah I hope not, the image that conjured in my brain was not a pretty one, nor did it end well for me. I shook my head, putting my rather chaotic anxious filled visions to he back of my mind.
"I- I mean... I don't think so. The festival looks to be cancelled... so I think I will just be sleeping all day to remove the emotional exhaustion the day has brought me later" I replied rather honestly to the prince with a worn-out expression as Dante gave a sharp sigh.
"Then before you go to sleep- make sure you stop by my room later today! Make sure not to waste my time..." He told me sternly whilst pointing at me, his words and actions causing me to twitch somewhat. What? Was it really a brawl?
"I'm not very strong... maybe a battle of wits would be best?" I uttered nervously to myself as Dante's face somehow scrunched up even more.
"I don't know what you are talking about, I just know it's pointless! Anyway! Don't forget what I told you- I won't forgive you if you do!!"

******

That was how I now found myself here a few hours later anyway... I knocked on the large door before me for the first time in quite a while now.
"Your highness, I'm here now" I announced as for once I didn't find Hugo poofing out of nowhere to greet me- rather for once it seemed that it was Dante who answered the door. No sooner had he done so, did he give a small frown.
"It took you long enough..." He mentioned pointedly as I gave a somewhat stiff smile to this.
"Ahaha, yes sorry. Actually Sana held me up a bit- apparently, she and the maids are all throwing a small party later with some things we have collected since we didn't get to visit the village today" I explained to the prince who raised an eyebrow upon imagining such a thing himself.
"The maids are all doing something?" he double checked as I nodded... before then jumping to assure him.
"O-Oh don't worry though- it's only small and we'll all be in bed early it's only for an hour or so- so we won't be late to our duties tomorrow" I over explained the specifics as Dante shook his head.
"It doesn't really matter... in any case, you still have time now, right?" He brought up with a sigh as I nodded, still a little curious as to why I was here myself.
"There's no rush at all on my end, so I'm here as long as you need me" I answered whilst the prince looked around me with a squint.
"Fine, there's nobody else with you too, right?" he jumped to another question as I jolted a little to this with a stiff expression...
"Uhm... well... not necessarily- "

YAP

Coming up from my apron pockets and jumping round onto my pocket, Yoru, now back in his puppy form leapt up to make himself known, evidently somewhat understanding what we were talking about.
"Uwaah- Yoru!" I jumped at the puppy's sudden movement as Dante gave a rather estranged expression to the sight of the small puppy.
"That's... the dragon...? Isn't it meant to be fully grown now?" Dante brought up as I looked back to him with an uncertain smile myself. Yeah, it was something I didn't quite understand myself.
"That's what I thought- though not long after his highness left, as the guards tried to move Yoru, he suddenly transformed back to this state. Uhm... Lord Eldesfair said it has something to do with only being able to maintain that form when he has a high enough mana- that's why you don't see many large divine beasts about, usually they look more like while their mana stores up" I informed the prince- recalling how with a giant black poof of smoke the dragon popped back into the form of a small puppy once again. The moment he had done so, Yoru came racing up over to me and refused to leave my side since. At the least, I didn't really have to hide the puppy, though I didn't think I would now find myself with a puppy now at my hip. I jumped a little as I thought of something. "O-Oh! But if you want to keep Yoru with you, that is perfectly fine, he is your diving beast afterall...!" I brought up to the prince who in turn stared at Yoru. Yoru stared back at the prince... before flicking his nose up at him, shuffling more behind my hair, much to the prince's annoyance and my shock.
"Y-Yoru- this is your master!!" I scolded the dog as Dante simply looked away from him with a small frown.
"No thanks. In any case it seems to like you more- for now you have a duty to make sure it doesn't go on a rampage again..." Dante informed me, not seeming too pleased with the idea of keeping the divine beast who was equally unfond of him regardless.
"Ahaha... I'll try..." I already felt a heavy weight of stress and responsibility weigh on me with those words to add on to the whole death flag stress... though it wasn't as if I could really turn down the idea either. I didn't want a death flag from a dragon anyway- but also it truly seemed like the small divine beast was super attached to me. I wondered why it was that Yoru seemed to reject the prince so much when he was part of him? Maybe he really was broken like Dante summarised.
"Anyway, if it's just you and the dog you can come in" Dante brought up, walking inside as I stood to attention at his voice.
"R-Right!" I agreed before following him inside. I pondered why it mattered if I was alone or with someone anyway.

When I walked it, it was pretty dark, the evening had truly set in now, only giving a glimmer of deep reddish purple in the far distance of the sky from what I could see from the window. It was odd to see that the lights weren't on, though perhaps he hadn't really thought to do so just yet. I decided to bring up something that had been on my mind in any case with the prince as I followed him to the back of the room by the glass windows.
"Is Sir Hugo not here right now?" I questioned the prince as Dante shook his head.
"Not at the moment, he said he wanted to go rest for a bit in his room, so I let him have the evening off" Dante explained dully as I nodded somewhat understandingly. Hugo had been running around all day similar to how I had been, it was no surprise to hear he was now worn out.

Still though, it was sort of strange to be in the room with Dante off hours without Hugo with us. We had been alone before- but other than with the ball, I never really got a chance to spend time with the prince when I wasn't serving him or in some sort of trouble. Rather this whole scenario was a little out of nature for us both.
"In any case- Hugo mentioned that you were upset earlier. Are you feeling better now?" Dante questioned me rather suddenly as he opened up the glass doors that led out to the balcony on his room, his question catching me a little off guard. Ah- Hugo had mentioned my breakdown, had he? That was a little embarrassing!
"U-UH... yeah, much better now. I think I was just a bit overwhelmed; a lot has happened lately! But you know me, I bounce back pretty fast!" I explained, trying my best to speed the topic along with an awkward scratch behind my head.
"Well... that's an understatement. You are stupidly optimistic... though I guess that isn't a bad thing about you" Dante seemed to reply with something rather sincere in that moment that made me pause a little. Was... that so... I couldn't really explain it but hearing that it wasn't a bad or annoying thing to the prince managed to bring a small smile to my face. What a relief...

I got a little shy by the out of nowhere compliments- so I decided to change to topic quickly.
"I- Uh... that's right! How are you feeling now your highness? Do you feel a little better from earlier?" I returned the question to the prince who shrugged as he looked out the glass windows.
"I already told you earlier that I wasn't feeling mad anymore. Though, I guess I feel a little less complicated than I did before..." Dante answered in a more reserved manner as his words were extra assurance to me.
"That's a relief to here... I guess today wasn't such a mess after all..." I muttered to myself, my hand to my chest with a relaxed exhale as Dante simply raised an eyebrow to my words.
"It's nothing to think that hard about..." he told me before turning his eyes away as he leaned against the wall. His face turned completely to the windows however in that moment as he changed the subject. "Ah... looks like its started now..." he uttered, his words catching my attention as I found my eyes turning to that of the window.

Slowly from the edge of the balcony rails there came a small glimmer of warm light that wavered up before us both... and soon it was accompanied by many more lights, floating steadily to the dark sky above as though fighting top contrast with it... at first I had thought that I was seeing small stars glimmer up from in front of us, racing to the stars above, however as I did a double check I soon realised that instead it was multiple flower shaped lanterns, the light of them soon engulfing the manor gardens and brightening up the dark room we now both stood in, my eyes widening and starting to shimmer the reflection of the golden lights raising high into the air.

The lanterns weren't just visible to me and the prince, all around the manor were the lights flying upwards, being released by multiple manor staff, the maids who had all been informed of the event included. The hillside that held a solitary manor that had been pushed off from the eyes of most of the world, now gave the most dazzling glow that sought to replace the sunlight that was hastily retreating beyond the horizon.

I was left rather speechless for a few moments as I saw all the lanterns fill the dark space before us, my breath being somewhat taken away.... Before I then gave a rather sudden gasp as I ran up to the doorway of the balcony to get a closer look.
"This is- This amazing! Oh my goodness, look at all the lanterns! I haven't been able to see anything like this before!!" I exclaimed as I took in the radiance from the lantern. I looked over to Dante rather excitedly. "Aren't they beautiful your highness?! Where on Isen did all of these Lanterns come from??!" My eyes were rapidly jumping from Dante to the lanterns as I felt a sudden rush of energy from seeing all the lights before us.
"This is the last part of the festival. Since my mom's family is represented by flowers of flames, they figured this would be the best way to honour her" Dante explained to me passingly as I gave a nod to this, my eyes looking back outside. That made a lot of sense- I had no idea that this was the way the festival was usually meant to end- no wonder Sana was excited for me to see the evening part of it. It was something I would have been very sad to have missed out of.... Though... thinking on it.

"Huh.... Wasn't the festival cancelled... and the manor doesn't take part in the Fia festival..." I spoke my curiosity aloud as I found my eyes turning to the prince puzzled. Dante was looking at me before he gave a small sigh...
"I spoke to the old man about hosting the end of the festival here..." He mentioned as his words at first only made me even more puzzled. Dante did? But didn't he say he didn't like celebrating the festival... these were my thoughts until the prince then looked away from me, his voice a little bit quieter this time. "You said you wanted to celebrate the festival earlier, didn't you? And curls said that this was your first..." his voice trailed off somewhat as it upon hearing this that my expression of confusion, melted into astonishment.

He had done this for me. I could feel a warmth hit my chest that matched that of ethereal glow of the light outside as I clasped my one hand over the other.

Back in my old life in Japan, I had heard of how bright festivals could be... from my hospital window I could sometimes see the glow of local festivals in the distance and hear the sound of fireworks booming in the distance. It was always an event I had wanted to go to at some point when I got better. Even if the crowds were too overwhelming, even if fireworks and smoke was too much for my body to handle. I wanted to go... however I only was able to find myself enjoying it vicariously through the distant festivals I got to see pass by and play on the local news.

I didn't think I would ever see a festival similar to the ones I saw in Japan, let alone one taking place right in front of me...

"I usually can see the festival lights from my room each year... so I figured that this was the best place in the manor to see them... Ah! Though don't read too much into this! I'm not doing this for any special reason!" The prince described his actions a little more to me before jumping with a rather flustered scowl the longer he was met with silence. Though this silence wouldn't stick around for long as all as I looked over to him was a bright and heart felt smile.

"Your highness, thank you! This is truly beautiful, I'm very, very, happy! I'll be sure to treasure this!" I gave him very deeply felt words of gratitude, trying not to get too emotional from how sweet his actions were. Dante appeared to freeze in space for a moment; not replying at all to my thanks as I glistened a large grin to myself... when he seemed to get rather shy as he turned to face the outside before us completely.
"That's-... no... it's okay... it's a part of the festival I have never entirely hated myself so if you like it... that's a good thing" at first the appeared to try to run away from my sincerity... however he bit his tongue and gave in- for once being a lot more honest with his words. "For earlier- for protecting my mother's statue that is. It was a really dumb move- however... I appreciated it. I can't be honest about caring about that sort of thing so... for caring in my stead... thank you..." Dante seemed to shrink into himself more and more then longer he spoke onwards as he paused- as if he was going to say something else for a moment... before he then seemed to collect himself. "I hope this sort of thing makes up for all of that" he told me seriously as in all honesty- I was never expecting any gratitude for my action to begin with. Rather the tyrant prince who I had been scared out outraging this entire time and I was told disliked me was the last person I pictured ever doing something like this. I was aware that he was much nicer than he led others to believe, but I never thought he would have this much more considerate side to him to. To be on the receiving end of such kindness admittedly made my heart race a little bit... maybe this was what the gap moe effect was meant to be like?

"It definitely does make up for it all! Seriously your highness, thank you again, I'm glad I could spend time with you today!" I admitted to him as Dante once again didn't seem to know how to respond to earnest conversations like this.
"If you are happy with it, then just enjoy the scenery..." he muttered as I could only draw my attention back to the sky...

Around the manor, everyone could see the lantern lights of the Fia festival, all of them having their own conversation.

*****
"Miss Budd's don't run whilst holding the lanterns! - And stop tampering with your own!" Lady Irian scolded Harriet who was seeming to make her own sort of cryptic flower lantern, the other maids standing in the lower gardens each releasing their own lanterns.
"Uwaah! I'm so happy! I was so worried we would miss this, this year!" Sana seemed on the brink of tears as she and felicia both let a lantern off together.
"We have been quite lucky..." Felicia replied, a small smile seeming to be on her face for once as she nodded, both the maids releasing the lantern.
"I'm so happy... I just wish I could see Annie's reaction right now..." Sana mentioned with a conflicted look of joy on her face...
"I wanted to ask actually, where is she right now? I heard she got into quite the drama earlier..." Litsa brought up from beside them as Sana jumped a little to hear her voice.
"Ah- Litsa! Oh, yeah, you were in the village at the time, right? You missed quite a bit, it's a long story, but we'll explain it a little later. As for now, if you can keep it between us, Annie was called to help his highness with something..." Sana answered Litsa's questions as Lita looked over to the prince's room.
"With the prince?" she repeated as Sana gave a half-hearted smile to herself.
"Awww, before we know it, Annie is going to snatched from us, we have to remain strong don't we Felicia" Sana continued to sigh to herself as Felcia shook her head.
"We aren't her parents Sana..."

It was as Sana and Felicia chuckled to themselves that Litsa gave a somewhat troubled expression to herself, her eyes turning away from Dante's room.

****

Meanwhile in a room that was now shut off from the lights of the lanterns outside, three people now spoke amongst themselves. All three were obscured by the rooms contrasting darkness.

"So his highnesses divine beast was found safe and well?" one of the people with a nervous shrill to their voice spoke up as a much deeper voice confirmed their words.
"They were..." the second answered, the third seeming to panic upon hearing this.
"What the?! How in Isen was that thing able to survive, not only was it taken away from its host, but it was poisoned quite considerably. It surviving is a wonder but being fully healed?!" The first voice began to cry out to themselves. "There's no doubt they are going to find out who was the one who did this! It's over for us, they'll have our heads!"
"I can assure that won't happen- they don't seem to have any leads... in any case, I am confused. I was told that separating his highness from his divine beast would only land minor consequences on him. I wasn't informed there would be major consequences on the village and the rest of the manor too..." the second cut in the first's squawking, seeming to direct his voice to the third person in the room, that person simply just giving a rather cocky laugh to themselves.
"Eh? Both of you are men who have dealt with war before, surely you know to get a job done there needs to be a bit of necessary damage right?" The third voice questioned the other voices quite snarkily, the two becoming somewhat uncomfortable. "Well I guess we are all lucky things didn't get any worse... however- I do want to know ______ why thing went wrong to begin with?" The third voice focused their attention the second who gave a rather awkward grunt to this.
"The divine beast apparently had latched onto a new host in the meantime... the new host has already been causing problems for us" The second clarified as the third only became rather intrigued to this.
"Oh? That one again, is it? How interesting!" the third chorused, apparently feeling rather humoured to hear this... before their tone became a lot more sinister. "They certainly have been fun to have a round for a while... but this is getting tiresome... I am doing you a very big favour right now- so surely a little accident won't bother anybody?" the third proposed as both the second and first voice seemed to be against this idea.
"That's far too risky!" the first cried as the second agreed.
"Forgive me, ________, but the fourth prince has become far too aware of this person now- if something was to happen, he would be very suspicious of it all" the second brought up as the third voice's tone was much colder to this.
"So you are both cowards huh....?" He uttered; the other two remaining silent... this severe air in their conversation hovered for a little while- before the third then gave a rather giddy laugh that broke the tension. "No matter then- I can deal with that situation myself- I have my ways!"
"That's still not- "
"I can cut off our deal at any point ______" the third voice stopped the second's objections right away as the second faltered immediately.
"I mean... excellent idea ______" the second gave in, the first not daring to step in. The third seemed rather happy with this reply- for their voice once more returned to how jovial it was.
"There's no way they would guess it's me... so mean time, let's just make sure nothing else goes wrong, alright?" The third seemed to be shining a rather playful smile in the direction of the first two voices, both of the voices only able to reluctantly give in to the third.
"Of course...."
"As you wish _______"


*****

Hugo, who was now in his room, sat at a desk and working on what appeared to be some sort of letter. He put down his pen mid writing to look up to his window, the lanterns now all shining brightly from outside it...
"I see, that's what he wanted to talk to father about..." Hugo mentioned, giving a small smile to the sight of the lanterns outside of his window. The fourth prince he had been set to guard had always turned down hosting any celebrations at the manor in regards to his mother and family since he had gotten there- even his debut ball had been up in the air. It seemed that the maid that had been prominent most in their life recently really did seem to have an impact on him... though he didn't really have any doubts that she would eventually... she was a good person after all...

'...that means my first impression of you being a good person was correct too...'

Hugo's eye's became a lot more uncomfortable as he put down his pen, looking at the letter he was currently writing.
"I'm much less of a good person than you think I am, Miss Silverston..." he uttered to himself, a conflicted shake now to his voice...


*****

The manor seemed to be busy with all its own little stories as I stared up at the sky above me entranced. The lanterns were starting to fly out of our sight and reach now. From here they truly did look like stars, going beyond the clouds and sky itself, maybe to another world itself.

Whilst staring at them all fly above me- it gave me some time to think to myself. Today had really been a wild one, to be staring at lanterns peacefully now was not on my list of things to happen at all... but I was glad that things ended this way. In all honesty- though I had many questions I had answered or put into perspective for me today, there were still many more that had left unanswered. For the record, just who Kaguya really was... I almost asked Dante about it earlier- however we were interrupted by Yoru tearing through the skies. Looking back on it though... maybe that was a sign that it wasn't really the right moment to be asking. Rather, I sort of felt it in my bones- that this was going to be a topic I would have to bring up another time... at the very least, Dante didn't seem to hold me in as much of a negative light for how I looked... I guess that wasn't a bad thing at all.... In any case... was it a silly idea for me to want to believe that these lanterns could be seen as stars for my parents to see in my home world?

It was as I let my thoughts drift me away, tracing the lantern lights with my hand before me that Dante watched me do so, his attention not really on the lanterns at all. It was as I thoughtlessly placed my hand in the direction of the lanterns that a rather familiar image of someone else reaching their hands out to the moonlit sky traced Dante's mind, the boy's face appearing a little more troubled by the memory he had... his face turning away from me as he got up off the wall he leaned on.

"In any case... I've given it some thought... about becoming friends that is. I don't really do friends- you can't really ever be friends with royalty" Dante cut me out of my daydreams as I looked back over to him- his words making me feel a little disheartened... ah was that so... I mean- as a maid maybe I was asking for too much... "However... Hugo seems to like you... and it's been annoyingly quiet without you around. So I guess it's fine if you want to consider us both friends. Because of that- I'd prefer it if you would keep helping out with stuff for me and Hugo as you have been" he admitted something rather contradictory to what he said to me before; my previous let down quickly vanishing.
"Huh? Really?! You'd consider us friends now your highness?!" I questioned as Dante snapped back to the cheerfulness of my tone, obviously not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
"Only friends, not best friends! You are Hugo's friend so not being your friend makes it awkward for me when both of you are around!!" he was quick to backtrack any sincerity of his words- however it was a little too late to do that- I had already started to recognise properly now when Dante was being dishonest about these sorts of things.
"I'll be happy to be your friend sand keep helping you your highness! Oh- that's right we still have to help one another write in both the Isen language and mana language, right?! I can continue to help you that way!" I brought up as for a second, Dante flinched upon hearing this- almost seeming to realise he could have used this an excuse himself... before he then shook his head.


"Sure... though you have a party to go to soon, right? You should probably get going there, now the lanterns have stopped" Dante pointed out to me, as he reminded me of the maid party that was going to happen any minute now! Ah, that was right, it would be by now the maids would be getting ready for it. I wondered if they had fun releasing the lanterns earlier... though recalling the party gave me an idea as I looked over to the prince.
"Would you like to join your highness?" I brought up to the prince who frowned at me.
"Huh?!"
"I- I mean... nobody specified only the maids could take part! Plus it will be fun to have you around, maybe we could ask Sir Hugo to join us! I know the other maids will enjoy both of your company!" I put forwards somewhat shyly as Dante at first didn't seem to know how to respond to this... he looked away from me, seeming to become a little distant again.
"I doubt it... I'm not really the best company to be around. You should go and enjoy the rest of the festival with the others, I'm fine here" Dante responded to me, his wall coming back up at the thought of interacting with the others, so it seemed. At first, I didn't really know how to get around it... I was happy Dante wanted to be friends with me now... but I was hoping that maybe he could befriend the other staff too... really I wanted to open his world up a little more and help him learn that not everybody was out to hurt him... maybe it was something we would have to take step by step- however... now I was his friend, maybe it was something I could truly start to help him with...

"Well... you forgot a crucial part about what I wanted with the festival your highness" I said to Dante, who was a little confused by what I was saying. "I said that I wanted to celebrate the festival with you together! It wouldn't be a proper party if you weren't around" I then clarified to him with a confident beam in his direction- Dante keeping quiet for a moment that sort of made me ponder if I said the wrong thing... when for once I actually heard something from the prince, I didn't think I ever would... A small exhale that almost sounded like a laugh escaped the prince's mouth.

"You really didn't have to be that specific about it..." Dante replied to me as I found myself a little shaken up by the quieted by warm smile that traced his face for a few seconds... it was the first time I had ever seen the tyrant prince give any semblance of a genuine smile- in an instant the prince looked like a normal boy his age- rather than a stern and hostile tyrant. I came to realise that he was far from a bad looking person... I mean part of me knew that anyway- he was one of the front cover characters of an otome game but still... a smile could really make a difference, couldn't it? He was going to grow up to be a very beautiful man... the heroine of this game was really lucky...

I shook my head, looking away from the prince somewhat shyly.
"Aha... sorry... so does that mean you'll come along?" I asked him with a small stutter, somewhat using Yoru who now seemed to be glaring at Dante to hide my face a little.
"I guess it does now since you are so hell bent on it... You better invite Hugo however..." Dante gave in with a sigh, his stern look returning to his face as though that smile never existed at all.
"O-Of course!!"

It was as we walked down the hallway from Dante's room that Dante thought on something to himself, the last lanterns of the manor now being high in the sky above us. He hesitated; his I mouth opening up to say one thing... but shortly changing to another...

"Say- Miss Silverston.... Thank you again..." he brought up on our way down- his sudden use of my name causing me to stop mid step for a moment... in those few seconds my face turning a little red... though soon it changed to that of a more elated smile as I nodded to him.
"Don't mention it, your highness" I replied...

Dear mother and father in another world...

Things are as chaotic as they have always been. I don't doubt that the life I live will ever be as normal as I had anticipated it being... however I can't say I particularly mind it. Today we sent out a load of paper lanterns to the sky above- my hopes are that my thoughts and the light of those lanterns reach out to you in some way! For now, until we can one day meet again, I'm going to try living this new life granted to me to the fullest!!

Dante walked off a little ahead, his own face rather flustered...

'Get back here AN- '

It was probably for the best that at that time, the air headed maid behind him hadn't heard him use the nickname so many of the other maids has been calling her....


TO BE CONTINUED

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