From inside the house, Ana was sitting at the dining table, struggling to read a book with only one hand. She heard the first knock but made no move, as she was expecting someone else to open the door. After a second series of knocks, no one went to the door, so when it was knocked for the third time, Ana finally took it upon herself to go to the door.

As she opened the door, Ana came face to face with a tall young man whose blue eyes and silver hair made her straighten her back in surprise.

"Good evening, Miss Ana."

"Good evening, Lord Mael. What a surprise to see you here."

"Sorry for, once again, coming unannounced; I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Mael asked, casting a glance at Ana's plastered left arm.

"Not at all, I was doing nothing," Ana reassured, opening the door wide and gesturing for Mael to enter. "Please, come in."

Mael nodded and stepped inside, but just as he did, from the upper floor, a girl dressed in maidly outfits descended, while asking rather rashly, "Hey, Ana, who was it that knocked at the door, ear—?"

By the time she reached the point where she took notice of Mael's presence, the girl had already spoken too much.

"It is a guest, Edya." Ana answered.

The girl, being self-aware enough to understand her blunder, immediately apologized profusely to both Ana and Mael.

To get the girl away, Ana proposed, "What about you get Lord Mael and I something to drink?"

"Immediately," the girl tensely announced, before taking her leave without even asking what kind of drink Ana and Mael would like.

"Please forgive her, Lord Mael; she is, as you've seen, somewhat new," Ana explained, leading Mael to the dining table.

Mael merely nodded.

As they arrived at the table, Mael simply sat in silence, his eyes set, for reasons obscure to Ana, on her.

Ana, not sure what to say, ventured, "If you're looking for Arte, Uriel, or Xavier, I'm sorry to say that they are currently not here. Uriel is probably at the academy, and Xavier claimed he would be holding an exhibition for his paintings, though I'm not sure exactly where. Arte is probably at the Rose Blanche."

"Actually, Miss Ana, I didn't come here for Arte, or Uriel, or Xavier."

"You didn't?"

Mael didn't immediately answer; instead, he allowed the young girl maid to slowly and tremblingly pour him and Ana tea and finish before continuing.

"I actually came here for you."

For some reason, these words her heart racing in her chest.

"For me?"

"Yes, I believe you have recently been accidentally involved in a complicated affair."

"Ah that. Well, I did."

"And if I'm not mistaken, that earlier girl as well."

"Yes, it is as Lord Mael said; she too was involved in it. I'm sure Lord Mael already knows most of the details, so... After the incident, she stated that she no longer wanted to be a flower, so I suggested she work around.

"I see, that's understandable." Looking down at Ana's plastered arm, Mael asked, "about this arm?"

"Ah, this? Huh?" Tensely mumbled. "This has nothing to do with what happened," she explained.

The truth was that Ana didn't really know what to say about that arm.

"I can heal it if you wish me to," Mael proposed.

"No, actually no. It's fine. I don't think I need it to be healed." Ana took a deep breath then confessed, "The truth is, I asked a friend to do this to me."

"May I ask why you did that?" Mael asked, intrigued.

"Well, what I'm going to say might sound weird and absurd, but I asked her to snap my arm as a reminder. Before you say anything, Lord Mael, let me explain, I'm trying to forget about this whole incident, but the truth is that I know I won't, and yet I think that the first step in me turning the page on this incident is thinking that I can."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I can understand that."

"So here I am trying to forget, but there were two lessons I learned from this incident that I didn't want to go on and forget: this broken arm is so that I won't forget, which is why I can't have it simply be healed."

"I see. May I ask what these two lessons are?"

Slightly embarrassed, Ana went on, "Well, those aren't really life changing lessons, but if Lord Mael wishes, I'll try sharing this wisdom I've been enlightened with."

"Please do; consider me intrigued and curious."

"The first is that I am too curious and obstinate. I think Lord Mael knows I got involved in this whole affair; had I beforehand learned how to keep my curiosity at bay, I would have been kept away from all these things I went through and had to do. When you came out of confinement and asked if I was okay with us, putting aside what we had planned together, I said I was, but the truth was that I wasn't."

"You should've said so..."

"Indeed, I should have, but I didn't. Instead, I went on to take refuge in doing what I do best—digging up things that are not mine to dig up, and obstinate as I was, I think we both know where that led me." Looking at Mael straight in the eyes, Ana announced, "I was set on knowing what happened that night."

Mael didn't utter a single word; he simply looked at her as though scrutinizing any changes in her expression. Facing this, she averted her eyes before going on, "But you see, Lord Mael, I came to realize I didn't really care what happened that day; I'm not some sort of hero, vigilante, or saint to care about the deaths of people I didn't even know anything about; what I cared about was you not showing up to the date we set, which brings me to the second lesson I learned, "I'm stupid, but I'm particularly and fatally stupid when I'm in love with someone, which in this very particular case, and for the first time in my life, happened to be you."

Mael looked at Ana in shock, his eyes wide.

After an intense extended silence, he seemed to be about to say a few words, but Ana could not allow that.

"I may not express it openly, but I've always taken pride in having been raised in a unique yet noble upbringing; in other words, I've always considered myself to be a bit special compared to the other girls out there, thinking that I wouldn't be like them. Yet from the day you visited this manor for the first time, and possibly way before that, I've been strangely obsessing over you, thinking about you all the time, when I obviously see nothing and know nothing beyond the mere and superficial layer of a person that you are. I know nothing of you, Mael Edouard. This could be a "heating phase," as a friend of mine suggested, that every girl goes through, but after seeing where this phase has taken me, I think instead of running away from it, I should confront this issue right here and now."

Ana stood up from her seat, her legs feeling as if they were noodles, but she forced herself to stand up to confront Mael.

"So it's now or never, Lord Mael. I know this is going to hurt, just like with this arm, but once it's done, I can promise I'll do my best to forget about you. So let's DO this."

Seemingly confused, Mael asked, "Let's do what exactly? I don't think i follow."

"Huh? I just confessed my love earlier, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

"So, shouldn't this be the part where you, you know, reject me?"

Did I miss a step? Ana wondered.

"Why would it be?" Mael asked, approaching Ana.

"Because that's the path it's supposed to go down, right?"

"Not necessarily"

"Huh? I'm sorry. I think I'm starting to get some strange fantasies up here, so I'm going to ask," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

"By that, I mean that while you expect me to reject you here and now, there is no rule stating that it has to end this way, isn't there?"

"There isn't," Ana stammered, her hands trembling slightly. "But isn't there someone else out there that you have feelings for?"

"At the moment, I have no one."

"I see."

"But even then, I would like to make one thing clear: I am not here asking you to go out with me; I'm just saying that I don't have to turn you down here and now, and we can at least give each other a try; after all, wasn't it you who just said that you knew nothing of me?"

"I did."

"See, you still have a lot to learn about me; I might actually be hundreds of times more insufferable than I might appear."

"I could say the same thing about me."

"One more reason for us to at least try to get to know each other," Mael said, before holding his hand out, apparently for Ana to reach onto, "I think we were already on a good path with the date Xavier set up for us, so what do you think about just starting from there?"

"As long as you don't ever stand me up, why not?" Ana announced, reaching for Mael's held-out hand.

Mael looked down at their intertwined hands and gave Ana a gentle squeeze. "There isn't much I can promise about myself, but I think I can make a promise about never having it happen ever again."

Ana's heart swelled with joy at Mael's words, and she couldn't help but smile.

For a brief moment, the two of them stood there, smiling at each other, until they were interrupted by the sound of the manor door opening, followed by the sound of an approaching footstep.

Soon a long-blue-haired young man came into view.

"Mael?" the boy said, clearly surprised by Mael's presence.

"Hi, Uriel." Both Mael and Ana greeted.

"Hi, you two. Did I interrupt anything?"

"No, you didn't interrupt anything, right?"

"Yes, it is as Lord Mael said. You didn't interrupt anything, at all."

"I see. I'll be in my room, then."

"Uriel, actually. Wait, I think I've already talked about what I came here to discuss with Miss Analyze. But there is something else I would like to talk to you and your brother about."

"Something...?"

"Yes, it's about an old, common friend of ours."