Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjo, Aruiha Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen - Volume 9 - Chapter 3.3

3

They had finished dinner.

Late night, twelfth floor of the hotel.

The hallway was dead silent. In the meeting area at the end of the hall, Iska sipped a canned coffee.

“…We really made it back to the Empire.”

He glanced ahead at the vending machine from which he had purchased the beverage.

The coin slot took Imperial currency. He couldn’t use the shared paper currency of the rest of the world. That was probably because the machine was Imperial-made, meant for use only within the Empire. The newspapers it stocked were also published by Imperial companies. Their articles all featured headlines about the Empire, which filled him with nostalgia.

If there was one thing that seemed out of place, though…

“…This is definitely nothing like the capital.”

The scenery the hotel looked out upon was a far cry from the familiar sights of the Imperial capital. Here on the remote eastern edge of the Empire, the near-futuristic buildings of that city were nowhere to be found.

Three AM.

The town was deserted, its residents asleep. Even the hallways of the hotel were empty, save for Iska, who was on guard outside the room.

“…………”

He took another swig from the coffee can.

Of course, if Jhin had been around, he would have pointed out that Iska was behaving unusually. He typically refrained from taking stimulants voluntarily unless he was eating in the company of others.

In other words, he was so mentally and physically exhausted that he had needed a small amount of caffeine.

…But I was just lying down. And I just traded places keeping watch with Jhin.

…I can’t believe I’m still sleepy.

He knew the reason why.

Now that he was back home, he had subconsciously let his guard down. There was the fatigue he had endured from being in the Nebulis Sovereignty, an enemy nation, and being home had likely dispelled all tension he once had felt.

“Come to think of it, even Jhin fell asleep right away without reading for once. I guess everyone else is feeling this, too.”

Their long journey would soon end, and they now had a clear goal. They would take Rin to her destination. Once that was done, they would cleanly cut ties with the Sovereignty.

“I was worried how this would go at the start, but Rin’s been behaving.”

Things had been uneventful post-dinner. All the ruckus she’d made during the daytime had probably tuckered her out. Rin had grown quiet after arriving at the hotel. She was probably sound asleep at this very moment.

Or so Iska thought.

Ka-chak. The door to her room gingerly opened right in front of him.

“Iska…”

“Rin? I thought you were asleep… Whoa, why are your eyes red?!”

Rin unsteadily poked her head from out the door.

Though he had been convinced she was sleeping, she was still wearing the same suit as earlier. What’s more, she looked pale with fatigue, and her eyes were bloodshot, as though she’d been awake all night.

“Wait, you weren’t asleep?”

“…………” Rin nodded firmly in affirmation. “I shouldn’t have gotten my own room. As soon as I was on my own in this Imperial hotel, it felt more and more like I was being watched…”

“You’re being way too cautious!”

“This is the Empire we’re in. There could be bugs and hidden cameras all over my accommodations…”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Iska assured her.

“…That’s just it.” The tired brown-haired girl motioned for him to approach. “Despite the shame I feel, I will tell you this. There’s something I’d like you to help me with…”

“You want me to just sweep the room? Like to make sure there aren’t any suspicious devices in it?”

“Your guess is spot-on.”

“Well, we’ve had similar experiences. I did that at the estate.”

He was referring to the Lou family’s villa. The experience of checking for anything that seemed like a camera in his unit’s lodgings was still fresh in his mind.

…Back then, Sisbell also said there weren’t any.

…So I can understand how Rin feels.

“I got it. I can help with that, at least.”

He headed into her quarters. Beginning the sweep with the living room, he found that it was surprisingly clean. Then again, that was probably because she had been too hesitant to use anything.

“I don’t see any suspicious mechanisms behind the curtains or near the outlets. No small holes in the walls, either. See, it’s like I told you. Just your run-of-the-mill hotel room.”

“…Okay, I get it. I’ll agree that there isn’t anything set up in here.” Rin relaxed. “I can finally use it.”

“Well, that’s what’s important. I’ll go back to guard duty, then…”

“There’s something else, too.”

“Huh?”

“We’re leaving at six AM, right? That’s barely three hours away.”

He’d already finished the inspection for her.

Rin pulled out her towel from her suitcase right in front of Iska as he watched, puzzled. It was large enough to wrap around her whole body.

“I am Lady Alice’s attendant. To serve the royal family, I must always keep my hygiene in order. That means I need to maintain my personal appearance.”

“And what exactly are you asking for from me?”

“…For this.” Rin pointed at the bathroom. It was probably just his imagination, but she looked both pale and flushed at the same time. “I have some business to attend to in there. You understand, I take it?”

“……Yes. So you’re saying I should make myself scarce, right?”

“Tsk!” Rin shot a glare at him.

He thought he had been considerate, but it seemed that hadn’t been what she had been aiming for. She squeezed the towel in her hands.

“So, um…come on! How do you not get it?!”

“Get what?”

“Guuuh! Seriously! I want you to keep watch over my accommodations while I’m in the bath. That’s what I mean!” Rin howled. “Obviously, I’m defenseless in there. Even if this place isn’t tapped, the Imperial forces could very well rush in on an innocent girl like me.”

“No way that’d happen!”

“I’m asking for this just in case. Until I finish bathing, I’d like you to watch over the room and my personal effects.”

“…Okay, I’ll bite. Are you serious?”

“Of course. I don’t plan on telling anyone else about this, either. We can keep this between you and me.” Still clutching the towel, Rin turned her back to him. Or so he thought, until she half turned around like she had remembered something. “You wait here. If you so much as touch the bathroom door, I’ll treat you like the animal you are for the rest of your life.”

“I’d never.”

“You’re not allowed to sniff the steam coming from here, either.”

“Do you take me for a pervert?!”

“Anyway, just wait here like I’ve told you… I will specially allow you to partake of some of the fine tea I’ve brought with me. Please pour yourself a cup.”

Rin quickly headed into the bathroom. After she left, he found the tea set on the table.

“…Maybe she noticed I was drinking coffee.”

This was essentially his reward for keeping watch. She was being considerate in her own way by offering him something superior to the crude coffee he had been sipping.

“Still, having tea right after canned coffee… Though I guess she’d be mad at me if I didn’t have any. I see. So the tea I brought was unappetizing, she’d say while glaring at me…”

He’d down a cup just to avoid having her grousing at him.

Iska opened the bag of tea and filled the kettle that came with the room with water, then waited.

Thunk.

Just then, he heard something heavy fall.

“…What was that just now?”

It was a dull noise. This could have just been his imagination, but it sounded a lot like it had come from the bathroom, where Rin had headed into.

“Rin? I heard a crash.”

He received no reply. Perhaps that was because the door was closed or because she couldn’t hear him over the noise of the running shower.

…That wasn’t a gentle noise, either.

…It sounded heavy, like dozens of pounds heavy.

She had asked him to keep watch. In light of that, he couldn’t just ignore what he’d heard.

“Rin? Hey, Rin!”

Getting as close to the bathroom door as he could, Iska called her name. He received no answer.

He could hear the shower beyond the entrance, but she still hadn’t responded at all.

“Hey, Rin?! …Can you really not hear me?! Listen, in five seconds, I’m going to open this door if I don’t get a response!”

The five seconds went by in the blink of an eye. Gulping, he placed his hand on the doorknob.

The bathroom.

Beyond the glass wall that was clouded with heat and vapor, he could vaguely make out a girl still holding the shower nozzle, slumped against the wall.

“Rin?! …Are you okay?!” he knocked on the glass and yelled, but she remained slouched over, facedown.

Was she unconscious?

“That’s enough! You better not get mad at me later!”

He grabbed one of the prearranged bath towels and opened the glass door.

“Rin!”

Amid the bright white steam, she sat unmoving on the floor. He wrapped her naked form in the bath towel and picked her up.

“…Uh…” The sopping-wet girl let a sigh slip out.

She’d likely gotten dizzy from a combination of her fatigue and the heat.

…Is it because she’s been nervous ever since coming to the Empire? But it’s barely been a day.

…In that case, she’s probably been exhausted since way before.

When he thought back on it, Rin had regularly been burdened with responsibilities ever since they were in the Sovereignty. She had performed as both Alice’s attendant and guard. She had participated in the plan to infiltrate Snow and Sun and arranged things so it would play out perfectly. Unit 907 hadn’t been the only ones who’d been feeling stretched thin.

“Rin, I’m going to take you to the living room.”

Iska carried the towel-clad girl and laid her on the sofa.

He would need to watch over her after that. If he didn’t see any improvement, would he go to the hotel infirmary? No, considering she was unclothed, there was a small but real chance they would realize she was a witch.

“It’d be best if Commander Mismis or Nene woke her up. She’d probably think it was weird if she saw me…”

“Uh, ugh…”

The brown-haired girl weakly opened her eyes.

“Rin?! Oh, good. I had no idea what to do.”

“…………”

Rin sat up from her horizontal position.

She stared for a while at herself and the bath towel wrapped around her. Then she rubbed the back of her head, which she seemed to have bumped.

“I was…”

Rin got up from the sofa. Ensuring she had a secure hold on the bath towel that just barely covered her, she quickly pushed aside her wet bangs.

“……I see.” She nodded meekly. “That was a blunder on my part. I cannot believe I lost consciousness while bathing.”

“I’m glad I realized you had. Do you know why it happened? I think you were so tired that—”

“Please, do not say it. I have gathered what occurred.” Rin interrupted Iska, then continued. “This is how things played out: You’re so depraved that once you knew I was bathing, you took the opportunity to assault me suddenly from behind.”

“……Come again?”

“And then you took me to the sofa in order to take advantage of me.”

“W-wait, hold on! I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding—”

“There has been no such thing!”

The dripping-wet girl took a large step forward. Though the force of her movement exposed her strong thighs, she was so incensed that she didn’t notice.

“Are you trying to claim that I collapsed in the bath of all places, and from dizziness at that? …There is no way I could have let something so embarrassing happen to me!”

“You know exactly what happened, then!”

“…Guh. I cannot believe this.”

Drip. A water droplet fell from the tip of her hair as Rin gritted her teeth.

“For an Imperial of all people to glimpse my shame…when only my father has seen me like this…and then for that same Imperial to move me from there to here…”

“L-like I said, I had to!”

“I am well aware. I don’t blame you.” Rin gritted her teeth again. She pressed her hand against her breast, which was hidden by the towel. “However, Iska, I must tell you something important.”

“Wh-what…?”

“You cannot think that what you saw was all that I am. Though even Lady Sisbell has overtaken me, I will surely outgrow her someday!”

“What?!”

“I will not always be as flat as a great plain. Someday, I shall reach the same level as Lady Alice, and then I will eventually be as marvelous as Lady Elletear!”

“…Can I leave now?”

“Oh, don’t you dare run away from this! Listen, if you speak of my bosom, I will never forgive y—”

Still wearing the bath towel, Rin pursued Iska. He sprinted away from the girl, who was ranting at him with a vigor that far outdid any previous rants of hers.

Several hours later.

The morning of their second day in the Empire.

“Wait, Iska. There’s something we still need to do in town.”

“Hmm?”

“Please come this way.”

They were right outside the hotel. As Iska had been headed to the parking lot, Rin pulled him aside by motioning at him.

“You need something?” he asked.

“Over here. Come with me.”

Rin was headed to the commercial street. It was the opposite direction of the hotel parking lot.

“Everyone’s already waiting in the parking lot,” he told her. “Shouldn’t we hurry up and get to Sisbell?”

“It’ll take a few minutes at most.”

Rin strode gallantly down the main road. She had settled slightly compared to the day before, when she’d been hiding in Commander Mismis’s shadow. As she walked alongside Iska, it almost seemed like there was a spring in her step.

“Actually, Rin, I know I’m only asking now, but did you change back into your old clothes?”

“Suits are too stiff. I am much more used to this outfit.”

She had gone back to wearing her housekeeping uniform. However, it was slightly different from the clothes Iska had seen her in up to now. In a nutshell, it looked like they had been designed for mobility.

“I decided on this outfit after getting a sense of the Empire for myself. Of its fashion, I mean.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If I am dressed as a housekeeper, no one will think me suspicious. I probably look like nothing more than a waitress from a café walking down the street.”

Indeed.

She must have come to that realization from her experience eating dinner the night before.

…But she was practically cowering from the stress then.

…I guess she was keeping an eye on the things that counted in the Imperial streets.

He supposed he should have expected that from her, seeing as she would never allow herself to make any oversights. Then again, as one of the Imperials being observed, he had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

“I am not the only one with new garb. Lady Alice has also made a wardrobe change.”

“She has?” When Rin mentioned that in passing, Iska stopped in his tracks unintentionally and repeated her statement. “Alice’s clothes? You mean she’s wearing something different from her royal dress?”

“…Oh no.” Rin put her hand over her mouth. She’d accidentally let something slip. Now that Iska knew, however, he couldn’t just leave it at that.

“I must stress that this cannot reach anyone else,” Rin said. “Not even your three colleagues.”

“I wouldn’t tell them. I won’t, but…”

Now he was curious. The white royal garb that Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX wore was custom-made for her. But now she wasn’t wearing it anymore? What caused her to need to do that?

“Interested? I won’t tell you, though. This solely concerns Lady Alice and the royal family. I cannot reveal anything to an Imperial soldier.”

“I get that. I’m not going to launch an investigation into it or anything.”

Rin could have lied to him anyway. The fact that she had straightforwardly told him she couldn’t discuss it with an Imperial soldier was the greatest confession she could make. For now, all he could do was speculate.

…If this were the Imperial forces, changing her uniform so abruptly would mean a huge promotion.

…But is that what happened to Alice? What’s above a princess?

The only title that came to mind was queen, but there was no way. Or maybe there was another reason for the change of outfit?

“Hmm.”

“Ha-ha, I take it you’re racking your brain to figure it out?” Rin asked.

“…Well, I can’t think of a reason why she’d change clothes. Anyway, I’d like to ask you about something else instead. Where are we headed?”

They were already in the thick of the shopping district. They had left the hotel far behind. If they kept walking, they would also be well past the parking lot where Jhin, Nene, and Commander Mismis were waiting.

“This will do.” Rin stopped in the middle of the main thoroughfare. There were, of course, many pedestrians. Right in the center of everything, she pulled out a high-grade digital camera from her bag.

“Yes,” she said. “I’ll start with that conspicuous building.”

Then she snapped a picture. She took photo upon photo of the bustling streets immediately outside the hotel.

“Mementos of my time here,” she told Iska. “Since I am a tourist, after all.”

“…Right. I suppose you are.”

It sounded exactly like what a spy would say if, for instance, the military police took them aside. If she was going to pretend to be a tourist, then naturally she would need to have taken a photo or two of the Empire.

“…Personally, I’m a little uneasy about you going about your spy activities in front of me,” Iska commented.

“This isn’t classified information, so I don’t see how you could take issue with it. The photos I am shooting hardly differ from those in public Imperial travel guides.”

“Well, I guess they don’t…”

“Hmph. You sure have a lot to complain about. Fine, I’ll snap a different type of picture, then.”

Rin sighed.

Or so he thought. Instead, she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him close to her. She turned the camera lens at them, and…

“Uhhh?!”

“Don’t struggle or it’ll be out of focus.”

She took a selfie of the two of them together. A photo of a young man and woman in the main street of a tourist town. Iska came out slightly blurry, since he’d been moving.

“…Now, this may sound odd for me to say, but people are going to get the wrong idea from this picture,” he told her.

“It’s an important shot,” Rin insisted in an entirely serious tone as she immediately checked the selfie they had just taken. “This shows that I have entered the Empire safely and that you are accompanying me as promised. This picture will let me kill two birds with one stone.”

“Wait, are you sending it to Alice?!”

“Obviously.” Rin shrugged at him. “I am certain I am causing her a great deal of worry right now. She’s forced her most beloved attendant to fight her way through enemy territory alone, after all.”

“…Alone? I think we’ve been helping you out a whole lot, too.”

“When we passed through the Imperial checkpoint,” Rin continued, “those three military vehicles pursuing us from behind put up a dangerous fight.”

“How much are you planning on embellishing?!”

“I’ll keep it reasonable.”

Rin rapidly operated the digital camera, pressing a complicated sequence of buttons that weren’t on any of the models up for sale.

“There. I’ve finished sending it. Now, don’t worry yourself over this. I sent her our selfie together. There isn’t a shred of secret information from the Empire in it.”

“A picture of my face? I feel kind of weird having Alice see that…”

“What? What are you talking about? What is important is my face.”

She put her camera into her bag. Once she had fulfilled her objective, she looked up at the sky in satisfaction.

“I am certain that Lady Alice will be pleased to know I am safe.”

The Nebulis palace. Star Spire.

The princess’s private chambers.

“…You look oddly pleased,” Alice murmured, head propped up in her hands and wearing an incredibly strange expression. She held a small monitor. Displayed on it was the scene of a town she did not recognize. This was one of the pictures Rin had taken of the Imperial streets. Alice didn’t mind that aspect of the photo. She was, of course, happy to see Rin safe and sound, and she had certainly gained some pluck after learning details of their pursuit of Sisbell.

“…Ngh.” No, it was the selfie of Rin and Iska that Alice was glaring at. “Rin, aren’t you a little too close to Iska?”

There were more pictures. Scenes of them both walking together. Photos of him eating at a café that she’d snuck from close proximity.

She’d probably been acting out to avoid the others catching on to her.

Alice got that. She understood full well that this was necessary on her attendant’s part.

“Ugh! I’m always telling you, though, Rin. Iska is supposed to be mine…”

She had started fidgeting. She simply couldn’t help but be concerned about what Iska was doing with the opposite sex without her, his rival.

…Well, it is Rin, after all.

…It is what it is. I trust that this won’t turn into a Sisbell situation.

She had felt something similar in the past.

Back when Iska had held her little sister’s hand.

At the time, her sister had actually come to steal him from her. Alice had started to feel rather murderous then, so this was tolerable by comparison.

“But you know what, Rin? You can’t get any closer to Iska. I cannot permit it.”

Alice shook her head at the small monitor.

Rin hadn’t heard that, of course.

“Even if that isn’t what you intend. You are in a distant land, in the Empire, together, alone. If you do that…”

A scene flashed into Alice’s mind.

As if I could leave you alone. I’ll always be by your side.

Imperial swordsman…no, Iska. Are you sure? Are you certain you want a woman like me…?

Rin, quivering with anxiety over being in the Empire. And Iska, supporting her. Though she would refuse his kindness at first, eventually Rin would open her heart to him, and the distance between them would diminish.

“But then…forbidden feelings could bud between them, overcoming even the fact that they are enemies. No, I’m certain those sensations have sprouted already!”

The two of them would eventually come to a decision.

They would elope.

Bye, Alice; good-bye, Lady Alice—that was all they would say to her before heading off to a land far from the Sovereignty and the Empire to dwell in a den of love for only the two of them.

“How utterly sordid!”

Alice flung away the monitor as she tore at her hair.

“Romance between a person of the Sovereignty and one from the Empire. Preposterous! I cannot abide it!”

Perhaps…the two of them had made progress out of the camera frame? That is, they had passed into the adult world.

“M-maybe…they have even kissed… Oh, ahhh! No, no, no! I cannot simply stand by and let this happen. I must tell Rin that she is forbidden from engaging in further shamelessness—”

“What is forbidden?”

“Yeek?!”

Alice jumped involuntarily at someone speaking to her from behind. When she cautiously turned around, she found the queen in a nightgown.

“Alice, I cannot condone you making such a commotion at night. What shall we do if the guards in the hall were to overhear?”

“I-I’m so sorry, Mother!”

She quickly hid the monitor behind her back.

…That was close. She doesn’t know about Iska.

…If she was to ask who the boy in the photo is, I would be in such a predicament.

The queen was combing through her hair with her fingers to dry it out. She had just been in the bathroom past the living room ten minutes earlier. It seemed she had already returned from the bath.

Considering how quick the queen had been, Alice doubted she’d spent enough time there.

“Mother, are you done already?”

“Old habits die hard. The bathroom is cramped and enclosed, visibility is low from the steam, and I was unarmed. I would have been in quite the pickle had I been attacked.”

“You have me, Mother.”

“Of course.” The queen, who was flushed from the bath, smiled slightly. “Though as your mother, I would rather not force you to shoulder this burden. I have been inviting myself into your chambers every night, after all.”

“It’s fine. I feel at ease knowing you are with me at night.”

Let’s sleep together for the next few days. Alice had proposed that as a defensive measure the night before.

…Mother is still injured.

…And I do not have Rin, either. It’s much better to be together at night.

Their astral powers had high compatibility as well. Though Alice’s Ice was resilient in the face of bullets and explosions, the walls she created could not ward off airborne contaminants such as tear gas or smoke. The queen’s Wind astral power, on the other hand, could easily sweep away such things.

“Mother, would you like something to drink?”

“No, I am fine. We must wake early tomorrow, so I will borrow the bed now, if I may.”

“Please do. I will drink a glass of milk and then come right to sleep.”

The queen headed to bed.

Alice watched her mother’s fluttering golden hair, which was so similar to her own, then sighed in relief. It seemed she hadn’t noticed the monitor Alice had hidden behind her back.

“…Phew. That was close.”

She opened her living room closet and stashed the monitor away. That had been her preferred hiding spot for years. Only Alice and Rin knew of it. Incidentally, she had an entirely different place where she hid things she wanted to keep secret even from Rin.

A place that her attendant would not stay for long even if she happened to set foot in it. And that place was…

“Oh, what have we here?” The queen’s voice came from Alice’s bedroom. “Alice, what is this?”

“What’s wrong, Mother?”

“Nothing at all. I simply righted the pillow, since it was askew, and found this below it.”

The queen was standing beside the bed holding a portable screen. It was different from the one Alice had hidden in the living room.

“…Oh—”

Oh no.

Before she could say those words, Alice scrambled to stop herself.

This was bad. That monitor contained forbidden footage. Though no one was supposed to know about it, the queen was the last person she would have wanted to lay eyes on it.

“M-Mother, that’s—!”

“Hmm…I believe I have seen this before.” Her mother tilted the screen quizzically. “Oh, it’s the computer that saves the footage from the safe house’s security camera. So you had it, Alice.”

“N-no…um…it…it’s a little……”

“?”

“Mother!” Alice shouted, her mind made up. “I—I wanted to use it! Um, so please give—”

She was too late. Before Alice could reach out, the queen had already pressed the button to play the footage. A boy and a girl appeared on-screen. One of them was Rin. The other was Iska, but the queen would have been unfamiliar with him. The issue with the footage Alice had recently been watching every evening was…

“Um…I was taking a shower…”

“Wh-wh-what do you think you’re doing?! I-I’m…seventeen years old! A young maiden! And you’re an exhibitionist!”

The footage had been taken about a week ago at the Lou’s safe house.

As the queen watched the monitor, the scene of the buck-naked black-haired boy was undoubtedly burning itself into her retinas.

His body was slender yet toned. His hair was wet. The droplets coming from the ends of his hair rolled down the muscles of his neck and glistened, giving him a dubious sense of maturity.

“Th-this is?!” the queen exclaimed in surprise. Perhaps from the suddenness of it all, she was unable to peel her eyes away from the shocking footage. “Alice, were you keeping such a vivid image of a man in the nude under your pillow…? What is the meaning of this?!”

The queen’s face was slightly red.

I cannot believe my daughter would do this.

How could she secretly take footage of a naked man?

This was the first time Alice’s mother had stared at her like this. It was shocking.

“I-it isn’t like that! Wait, Mother… Um, yes, that’s it. This is, um…important intel on the enemy. In order to know the enemy—”

“This boy is younger than you, is he not?!”

“That isn’t what you should be focusing on!”

Alice’s deflection was in vain. The queen’s eyes were glued to the screen.

“You had such a tender boy undress and… No. I suppose a boy of this age does have a certain captivating beauty about him, like a large flower on the cusp of blooming.”

“……Come again?”

“His sunbaked skin perfectly captures the aura of a youth in his prime. And the prominence of his muscles along his neck is beautiful. And oh, those drenched black locks. Why, the way the ends of his hair cling to his neck and flick slightly could only be described as precious…”

“…Um, Mother?”

“Nevertheless!” The queen lifted her head animatedly. She turned around vigorously enough to overwhelm her daughter. “Nevertheless, Alice! A princess must have incredible self-control. I cannot believe you would do something so shameless as to disgrace this boy. Most of all, as your mother, I would like you to learn the charm of a mature man!”

“Mother! As I said, I am not engaging in any disgraceful activity!” Alice retorted, red in the face. “I am observing the enemy. I look at this every night to see his bare…no, I mean, to understand him better. I never renege on my daily study of—”

“Every night?!”

“That wasn’t the point!”

She was too slow.

This black-haired boy was a stranger to the queen. She could only assume her own daughter had been watching him unconscionably night after night.

“I am confiscating this.”

“Nooooo!”

“Oh…wait, Alice? Stop that! Let go!”

Alice was feverishly intent on stopping the queen from taking away the screen.