Chapter 59: The Dreams and Memories of a Cold-Stricken Mia

"Uuugh... Uuuuugh..."

Mia groaned as she lay in bed, suffering from a bout of illness. On the day of the swordsmanship tournament, she'd stood outside in the rain, getting soaking wet as she watched the riveting match between Abel and Sion. After its conclusion, she'd quickly run over to Abel to lavish him with praise. Already thrilled by his performance, her excitement reached a peak when he pointed out how the sunlight dancing off her wet hair gave it a dazzling new luster. As a result, despite Anne's repeated attempts to convince her to dry herself off, she spent the rest of the day running around with her hair wet, which promptly led to her catching a cold.

At just past midday, Mia slowly opened her eyes.

"Anne? Are you there? Anne?"

Her eyes still heavy with sleep, she took a slow look around the room.

"My, how odd," she murmured in a puzzled tone.

It was completely silent. No one was there but her. The room was a mess. Only a cursory attempt had been made to fold the clothes that were strewn about, and pens had been left uncovered on the desk. Though it was clearly poorly managed, the sense of disarray in the room felt strangely familiar.

Ah, I know... This was from...

She remembered a time during the previous timeline when she'd also been sick with a cold.

"That's right. I remember. When I woke up... That girl wasn't there."

After Mia had fallen asleep, the girl who served as her maid-in-waiting had left her to go outside. Being the third daughter of a powerful noble family, she was never lacking in smiles or flattery when in her presence. She had always been a favorite, and Mia found her generous compliments to be music to the ears.

I remember overhearing from others later that she didn't want to catch my cold, so she went to have tea with her attendant friends...

Having woken up completely alone, the bright rays of the afternoon sun illuminating the emptiness of her room, she felt suddenly very small. An overwhelming sense of dread took hold of her heart. She tightened her grip on her covers and closed her eyes, feeling as though she'd been left behind in a barren world all by herself.

"Milady... Milady..."

She felt her body being shaken. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Milady Mia, are you okay?"

Anne's worried face appeared in view.

"Fwha? Oh, Anne... Then... was that a dream?"

Confused, she took a nervous look around the room. It was perfectly tidy. Had someone cleaned up while she was sleeping? There wasn't a stray shirt in sight. Not only that, but something about the room felt reassuring. She could feel the tension seeping out of her. It was the opposite of the room in her dream. That one made her feel uneasy, as though it didn't belong to her at all.

"You've been very restless. Did you have a bad dream?"

"Oh... D-Don't worry about it."

Anne let out a sigh of relief and sat down again. She'd moved a chair to her bedside and seemed to have been watching over Mia all this time.

"Anne, you should stay away... or you'll catch this cold, too..."

"What are you talking about, milady? I'm super healthy, so don't worry about me," Anne declared with her hands on her hips. "Stop thinking about so many things and just let yourself rest for now."

Then she removed the cloth on Mia's forehead and replaced it with a new one. A comfortable sensation of coolness permeated her feverish forehead, and Mia quickly drifted off into slumber again.

"Princess Mia, look. That girl's reading by herself again."

"My, is she now?"

It was early afternoon, and one of the members of Mia's retinue smirked and pointed to the corner of the classroom where Chloe sat. Chloe didn't exist in Mia's memories of her past life. They had never been friends, and there was almost no interaction between them whatsoever. Therefore, Mia had no recollection of what had happened on this day.

"Say, Princess Mia, what do you think about that Chloe girl?"

"I heard she bought her title, with money. I can't believe the academy would let in someone like that."

As Mia's entourage took turns making fun of Chloe, Mia didn't participate, but she didn't stop them either.

"I don't see what you find so interesting about her. More importantly, have you heard? Apparently, Prince Sion's attendant is a commoner, but very handsome..."

"Ah, Princess Mia. Are you awake?"

When she woke up again, Chloe was at her side.

"Ah, Chloe..."

Chloe quietly closed the book in her hands and leaned in.

"Is there anything you'd like me to do for you? Would you like some water? Or something to eat?"

"Thank you for coming to see me, but you shouldn't come too close to me or you'll catch... What's that?"

Mia couldn't help but ask when she noticed the white fabric covering the bottom half of Chloe's face, obscuring both her nose and mouth.

"It's a sort of mask, and it stops colds from spreading."

Mia was impressed. The daughters of wealthy merchants were not to be underestimated. They clearly knew their stuff.

"Anne went to go get some more cold water. Oh, and I brought some cold medicines that my dad sent me a while ago. I'll leave them here. Please make sure you take them later," said Chloe with a smile.

Mia bit her lip. After a moment, she said in a soft voice, "I... owe you an apology."

"Huh?"

She disregarded the blank look Chloe was giving her and continued.

"That day, I saw your suffering... and I chose to ignore it. I'm terribly sorry for that."

"...Um, Princess Mia, was that a dream you had or something?"

The young merchant girl giggled.

A dream... Maybe it was.

Perhaps it really hadn't happened. And even if it had, it was from a time long gone. What difference was there between a future that never came to pass and a dream? Perhaps they were one and the same. The guilt, however, was real. She could feel the dull pain of it pressing down on her heart.

"Princess Mia, ever since you became my friend, I've had so much fun. I really enjoy doing things with you, like when we made sandwiches together. Moreover, I get to talk to you about the stories I read. I've always dreamed of having a friend like you. So please, there's nothing you need to apologize for."

As she listened, Mia felt the weight on her heart grow just a tad lighter. Her eyelids drooped again, and she whispered softly, "Could you... tell me a story..."

"Hm?"

"Something I'd like you to do... If you've read any interesting stories lately... Could you tell me one?"

"All right, then. Let's see. In that case..."

Feeling the breathy tickle of Chloe's soft voice in her ears, Mia drifted off to sleep once more.

"Well. Take care on the road then, Lady Tiona."

It was the last day before summer vacation. Sion was sending Tiona off with a bright smile. She leaned out the window and smiled back. Only after her carriage began rounding a corner did she sit down again.

Numerous people had gathered around Sion, all hoping to bid him farewell. The growing crowd made Mia increasingly anxious, but she continued to exchange farewells with her own group of girls.

"Princess Mia, my father would love to have a chance to meet you in person."

"As would I. May I have the honor of paying my respects in person to you and His Imperial Majesty during the summer?"

"No, you must come visit us first! Though our kingdom is small, it's a wonderful summer resort."

As she went through the motions of addressing their requests one by one, she kept sneaking glances at Sion. Once, he looked back in her direction and their gazes met. His normally-bright eyes suddenly grew cold. For a second, his expression darkened. Then, he looked away, as though he'd already lost interest in her.

Mia saw the shift in his expression, but she had no idea what it meant.

I do wonder why Prince Sion isn't coming to say goodbye... Ah, I know. He must feel awkward after turning down my lunchbox. Oh, he's so silly. Does he really think I'd hold that against him?

Mia remained completely oblivious to the sentiments of Sion and Tiona until the fires of revolution began to rage. Not only that, she didn't even have a good grasp on what the girls of her own retinue were thinking. Never did she spare a thought for the feelings of others. Not even once... until the world as she knew it came to an end. That was why...

During the last year she spent at Saint-Noel before strife consumed the land — when the Empire had begun to collapse under the weight of its own financial problems and violent riots started to spread — Mia found herself alone on the final day of school.

"How... did it come to this?"

There remained not a single person who bothered to come say farewell. None of the other Tearmoon nobles were in any condition to be sending their children to school, and students of other kingdoms had no desire to associate with the princess of a falling empire.

She was alone now. Truly and undeniably alone.

As she wandered the courtyard, she found Sion. Surrounded by a crowd of students, he was popular as always. When he saw her, he fixed her with a cold, harsh look and, in a voice that could cut steel, said, "I despise you, Princess Mia."

"Hyaaaaaaaaah!"

Mia screamed as she sprang up from her bed. She was soaked in sweat.

"Ah... A-Ah... It was... a dream?"

A cup appeared in front of her. She grabbed it and gulped down its contents. Cool, refreshing water soothed her parched throat.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"You're very welcome. Are you okay, though? I assume you were having some sort of nightmare, considering how violently you were tossing and turning."

A hand touched her forehead. It was nice and cool. She was about to close her eyes and enjoy how good it felt when the voice began to fully register in her mind.

W-Wait... Don't I know this voice...?

Slowly, she craned her neck to the side and ventured a nervous peek.

"Eeeeek!!"

She started and let out a yelp of surprise when she saw the person's face.

"P-Prince... Abel? But, but... What are you doing here?"

His gaze was gentle, and his voice was soft.

"Right, sorry about that. I know I shouldn't be watching a lady sleep, but Miss Anne asked me to keep an eye on you for a bit."

Mia had a vision of Anne giving her the thumbs up.

I know you think you're helping, Anne, but you're helping in all the wrong ways!

She pulled her covers all the way up to her mouth.

"Thank you very much for coming to see me, but you shouldn't stay here. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold from me."

"You know, I wouldn't mind getting sick."

"Huh? What do you mean."

"Oh, it's just, uh, where I'm from, they say you can get rid of someone's cold by catching it yourself. If it really works, then I'd want nothing more than to catch your cold so you'll get better." With a mixture of amusement and embarrassment, he scratched his head and laughed.

"My..."

His youthful charm elicited a giggle from Mia as well, and the two of them indulged in some friendly banter for a while.

"Speaking of which, it's almost time for summer vacation," said Mia.

"Will you be going back to the Empire?"

"Yes, I will. There are a lot of things I'd like to do back home. I plan to stay there until school starts up again."

A long vacation didn't mean she could just sit around and dawdle. She had to do as much as she could to save herself from that looming guillotine.

"What do you plan to do, Prince Abel?"

"I'm going home as well, but I plan to come back to school a little earlier. I was hoping I'd have a chance to spend some time with you then, but it looks like I won't be so lucky this summer."

H-How is it that he can say things like that with a perfectly straight face? Oh, my heart...

Mia quickly averted her gaze and willed herself to calm down. Just as she was about to take a deep breath, she heard a knock on the door.

"Oh, that reminds me. Prince Sion and Lady Tiona mentioned that they were going to come by later. That must be them."

"My, I seem to be quite the celebrity today."

Of course, in her head, she was thinking, Ugh, what a nuisance. As if the cold wasn't bad enough.

Then, she frowned. There was a strange dissonance between her words and her emotions. For some reason, she didn't feel as annoyed by their visit as she'd thought. She decided to chalk it up to all the sleep she'd gotten. Even her fever seemed to be receding, as she noticed her head felt much lighter.

"Excuse us," said Sion as the door opened. "Hello, Princess Mia. How are you feeling? Is it a bad cold?"

"I brought you something to help with the fever," added Tiona. "My younger brother made it with the herbs he grows. It's nothing fancy, so I hope you won't mind..."

Gradually, a friendly, pleasant atmosphere filled Mia's room. It was a kind of ambience that had been thoroughly absent from her previous life, and she spent the remainder of the day in its gentle embrace, enjoying the welcoming warmth of companionship.