I was to meet with Brother Oscar.

　I don't want to invite him to my room, so I head to the reception room inside the royal castle.

　Saria is waiting behind me. I'm afraid to meet her alone, or perhaps I should say no, but I asked her to accompany me anyway.

　And when I entered the room..................Oscar-sama was there.

'Alice. It's been a while.
'It's been a while brother Oscar....

　He was haggard. His cheeks were slightly furrowed. The stubble also stood out. I thought that was unusual for a man who cared so much about his appearance.

　Did this case resonate with him more than he thought?

''Excuse me.''

　When we are seated, I face him across the table.

'I'm so sorry for what happened...'

　When I see him bowing his head honestly, I accept it. It's not that I can't start refusing to do that here. As for my emotions, I have my thoughts......I'll show you a firm response.

''No. I haven't suffered any direct damage. Rather, I thought it would be better to apologize firmly to the person who caused you trouble.
'It's already done, of course. But I don't think that's enough to absolve me of this crime, but...

　Surprisingly, I thought it was an auspicious thing to say.

　The man has always been somewhat enthusiastic or blindly trusting, so I'm a bit impressed with his remorse this time around.

'Well then, my apology is accepted, so I'll take it from here.
Oh. Thank you for taking the time to make time for me.

　I stare at my brother Oscar, who bows his head on the spot, and I break my gaze and go straight back to my room.

'That was kind of anticlimactic,'
Is that so?
Yeah.

　He speaks of such things as he and Saria are on their way back.

'But you certainly seem to have changed a bit,'
Right?　I don't know if it's a lack of supremacy or what, but the apology was proper, so it doesn't matter.
It was, but...
What's going on?

　She pretends to think about it for a bit.

　Then I stop and ask her how Saria is doing.

''Well on the contrary, she's changed too much and there's something wrong with her...''
What do you mean by that?
You don't think so?
It's just that I'm a little different now, I guess.
Is that right?
Yeah.
'Well I suppose you're right. It's just my imagination.
'Saria always says thoughtful things. Oh, God, no.
'Hmm. I'm sorry.

　At this time, I had no interest in that person at all, so I was just playing along.

　It was more important now to know when the doctor would return.

　But for sure, there was no doubt that a great will had begun to move without my knowledge.