I was sitting on the couch in my room, reading a book, when I heard a discreet knock at the door.

'It's open, come in,'
'Excuse me, master. I have a letter for you.
'Oh, thanks again, Anima. Can you leave it there?
Yes, sir.

　
　Anima is used to it, and after hearing my response, she quickly places the unread letter in an obvious place on her desk.
　And it's usual for Anima to bow and leave, but today, that's where I opened my mouth.

'........Anima.
Yes?
Hey, I need to ask you something. Is this a good time?
Yes, no problem!

　Smiling at Anima, who replied with a big salute, I decided to ask her about the conversation between her parents and Anima that I saw earlier.

''Well actually, I just happened to overhear Anima, Mom and Dad talking earlier...''

　As I said that much, I noticed that Anima had some kind of pale expression on her face. Huh?　What is this reaction.........

''No, it's not!　Well, I didn't mean to disrespect my master when I said earlier...
'Oh, yeah. No, I'm not mad at you I'm just sorry for the way I said it.

　

'Well, I don't know what to say... I'm not mad at you, but the content was a bit unexpected.
Surprised?
'Yeah, maybe it's just me, but I thought that if it had been Anima before, she would have been more over-hyped about me in there... which was a little surprising. So I wanted to ask you about that a bit. Oh, of course, I'm not saying I'm going to force it.

　Anima had grown up a lot compared to before, and she felt like she was growing up, especially on the mental side. Perhaps that's why I wanted to ask her what kind of change of heart she was experiencing.
　At my question, Anima fell silent with a puzzled expression on her face, and after a little while, she announced in a muffled and understated voice.

''Because ... it doesn't matter, sir.''
Yeah?
'Oh, no, no!　Not in a bad way, but it's just... uh... well... it'll just be a minute!　I'll put words together.

　After telling her to roll up, Anima closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then she took off the hat she was wearing and held it to her chest with one hand before opening her eyes and looking straight at me as she began to speak.

''I'm ashamed to say this, but I think my former immature self was in a hurry, as my master pointed out to me. Not just in terms of ability, but also in terms of spirit.
....
'It's hard to explain, but I'm sure ... he wasn't sure of his position as a squire either. So I praised my master excessively. 'The master I serve is so great,' I think he was shouting like a beast claiming his territory, 'The master I serve is so great,' like a beast claiming his territory, that he is also great at serving such a master.

　I'm not saying it doesn't come to mind. The former Anima was not a thoughtless personality either. Rather, I think she was thinking about a lot of things.
　And looking back on it, she called herself an a**h*le when they first met, and felt inferior to Alice...maybe fundamentally, Anima was not confident in herself.

'Looking back on it now, I'm ashamed of what a fool I was for imitating, but at the time I didn't even have the time to notice the soles.
But you've changed your mind now, haven't you?
'Yes ... no, maybe it hasn't changed. I think I just 'noticed' it.
Did you see that?
........During the one year and eight months that the master was back in the other world, I had plenty of time to think. So I took a second look at my feelings.

　After announcing that and separating her words, Anima fell silent again for a little while and conveyed her thoughts while looking at me with eyes filled with strong will.

''Well it doesn't have to be awesome. It doesn't have to be strong. I'm not serving my master because he's an awesome person, nor do I want to serve him because he's strong.

　Each time she continues to speak, Anima's face turns red. Still, she doesn't stop speaking and spins the words with a bright red face.

I'm working on it!
.........
'Because I realized that thought, because I was sure of its certainty.......I no longer have the need to lift up my master excessively. I think.

　She didn't fall in love with me because I'm a great person, she didn't fall in love with me because I'm a strong person... she fell in love with me just as I am, without any embellishments... These are the words that contain all the feelings she has for me.
　This is how she felt as she clearly answered the feelings that had been hiding in the background since the Sixth King Festival.

　They were really helplessly warm and--and happy words.