Chapter 4: Wish Upon a Book

Wait... Is it just me, or am I in serious trouble right now...?

Mia's instincts, finally awakened from their sweets-induced stupor, were now issuing her a dire warning: this request was incomparably more dangerous than even the recent attempt at revolution in Remno.

S-Sweet moons! I-I need to figure out how to decline her offer...

She began wracking her brains for an exit strategy, only to discover it was far too late.

"Like Prince Sion so generously explained, the Serpents are everywhere. That's why you are the only ones I can talk to right now."

"Hm... Mm? Wait a minute," said Abel with a puzzled frown, "if they react to the Holy Book, can't you use that to weed them out?"

Sion shook his head. "No, that probably won't work. Remember what happened with the White Crows? The central instigator of the incident was indeed Jem, but it was the rest of the members doing the actual legwork."

"I see... It's not just this secret society of Chaos Serpents we're up against. It's also the people they're manipulating..." mused Abel.

"Exactly," said Rafina. "These are cunning people who will take great care to avoid situations that might expose them to be Serpents. They'd never appear in places where they might be subject to a reading of the Holy Book. At most, they'd send one of the people they're manipulating."

"When you put it like that, it's sort of a miracle we managed to capture that Jem guy," said Abel as he looked to Mia with a sense of admiration.

"It is indeed. And despite the circumstances, I still have a room full of people here that I can fully trust. I think I should actually consider myself lucky," said Rafina with a gentle smile as she turned toward Mia as well. "None of this would have been possible without your help, Mia. I'm so glad to have you as a friend."

"Uh, erm, d-don't even mention it! We're, um, friends. And friends help each other, right?"

"They most certainly do," agreed Rafina with a pleasant nod.

"I see... Well, if Mia's on board, then I certainly can't back out. My kingdom was also a direct victim of their actions, so I'd be happy to help," said Abel with a firm nod.

Wait, what? I... I'm on board? When did I say that? I'm pretty sure I never—

"In that case, count me in too. Considering they even managed to infiltrate my kingdom's spy agency, this is hardly a problem I can afford to ignore. Since there's no telling who might be on their side, I'd prefer to have a trustworthy circle of people with whom I can share information."

As Sion pledged his support, Tiona quickly followed suit.

"Um, I don't know what I can do, but I'd like to help too."

Mia, faced with the development of an uncomfortable new reality...

Mmmm, the exquisite sweetness of this cookie... it really hits the spot. Delicious. Simply delicious.

...Had opted for good old escapism.

How can sweets possibly taste this good? Oh, I know! This is a dream, isn't it? It has to be! Pretty soon, I'll wake up in the morning going, "Awww, and I was just about to eat some more too." Look. I'll make it happen right now. I'm going to reach for that terribly tantalizing cake, and I'll wake up right before I touch it...

It didn't work. Undeterred, she reached for the next piece. And then the next. Even after devouring every last thing on the table, she did not wake up. She did, however, get a good scolding from Anne later for eating so much that she had to skip dinner.

"Ugh... I guess it wasn't a dream after all..."

The next evening, after finally coming to terms with the fact that the events of the previous day were real, Mia began taking action. She had, after all, wrestled her fate at the guillotine into submission and won herself a new lease on life. She might not look like a hardened survivor, but she was well aware that the longer she lazed about, the more likely it was for a bad situation to get much, much worse.

This did not change the fact that Mia generally wished to avoid anything that even remotely resembled hard work. Whenever possible, she'd prefer to cheat and save herself the effort. In accordance with this penchant of hers, she began pining for something that would make things easier.

"Oh, I wish I had something to point the way for me so I could avoid all the dangers down the road. Something like that diary..."

To her dismay, no such thing materialized. Her diary was still gone. Granted, even if it had reappeared, she wasn't particularly excited to read about her days leading up to the guillotine again, either.

"Speaking of which... Didn't I see a similar item recently?"

Something had made her say something to the effect of "Oh, I guess this is just like that diary" not too long ago, and she struggled to recall what.

Then, it hit her.

"Oh, now I remember! It was that history book! Maybe I'll find something relevant in there!"

The book had contained a description of the future that vanished in front of her eyes. She'd gone over the book a few more times afterward, but the passage never reappeared. Now, however, she had a feeling that might change. Figuring the sooner she found out the better, she hopped off her bed and made her way toward the library.

Saint-Noel Academy's library was situated in the common area of a building that joined the boys' dormitory to the girls'. Books were valuable items, and the entrance to the library was guarded by staff, but access was not heavily restricted. So long as the books stayed in the library, they could be read freely by not only students but attendants as well, making it a fairly busy place. Unless, of course, everyone was gone for the holidays.

There wasn't a soul in sight as Mia walked in, and she quickly spotted the book she was looking for.

"Okay, well. It can't possibly be this easy..."

She scoured the book from cover to cover, but the passage in question was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, wait a minute... Didn't that passage mention it was actually an excerpt from some other book? What was it again? Princess Mia Chronicles, I think?" She paused. With a grimace, she said the title out loud again. "Princess Mia Chronicles..."

She did not like the sound of that title — for good reason. Imagine, if you will, you were staring at a book whose title was your name, followed by "Chronicles." How would that make you feel? A bit morbid, no?

"...Do I really want to read something like that? It sounds like the kind of book that'll leave me feeling depressed."

Still, she tried looking for it, but nowhere in the shelves could she find a book titled "Princess Mia Chronicles." Fatigued from her search, she seated herself in a nearby chair.

"Ah, figures. Not that I held out much hope to begin with," she muttered to herself in an attempt to ease her disappointment. "Oh moons, how I wish I could have some guidance... It doesn't have to be as detailed as that diary, but something... A lodestar to guide my way..."

She gazed wistfully up at the ceiling.

"Maybe something will just fall out of the sky..."

For a few seconds, she entertained the ultimate fancy of the indolent. When it became clear that no savior would be descending from the ceiling, she let out a woeful sigh and got up to go.

All of a sudden, a bright flash of golden light assaulted her eyes.

"Hyaah?!"

She let out a yelp so loud it would have earned her a stern scolding from the absent librarian before falling backward onto the ground.

"Wh-Wh-What in the moons?! What's going on?!"

She quickly scooted away from the source of light on her hands and rear. Only after placing some distance between them did she stop to take a good look at it. As the glow slowly waned, the faint shape of a person appeared. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if they were deceiving her.

"Wh-What... is that?"

Just then, something occurred to her — something very alarming. This was a very large and empty library, and she was here all by herself. Furthermore, her current position near the back wall was extremely removed from the entrance where the staff member stood. The air here was stale, and it was uncomfortably dark and quiet. Basically, it was a pretty creepy place.

Now, to make things clear, Mia was not the type to believe in ghosts. Officially, anyway.

"O-Ohohoho. Gh-Ghosts? Don't be silly. Only children believe in those. Th-They don't actually exist. N-No one-eyed monsters... no evil fairies that take away your teeth... no demons that possess your body... N-None of those are true!"

After all, she was a mature, twenty-something lady on the inside. It would be ridiculous for her to still believe in ghosts and goblins. Grown-ups like her simply didn't—

Patter... Patter...

She froze. The sound came from the light, which she suddenly noticed was getting closer. It flickered and dimmed, revealing more of the distinctly human figure inside as it crawled across the ground toward her.

Mia screamed. Rather, she wanted to scream, but her voice was gone. She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth in a pitiful display. Her mind wanted to call for Anne, but fear had robbed her of breath. Then, the ghostly figure reached out with one of its slender arms, and the sheer horror of that sight was enough to jolt her into action. Acting on pure primal instinct, she leapt to her feet and bolted, dashing at full speed in terrified silence all the way to her room, after which she promptly dove into her bed and pulled the covers over her.

...Later, when Anne was comforting the sniffling Mia in her bed by gently stroking her head as one would a crying baby, she said, "Oh, milady, it's okay. Ghosts aren't real. You probably just had a bad dream. There, there..."

For the sake of Mia's reputation, Anne chose to keep the events of that night a secret.