Write of passage

Dearest mother and father in another world...

"Aha, I think I can read this now!!" I proclaimed, pointing at the word I assumed meant maid on the sign on our door.

I am happy to say that my endeavours into learning how to read have been going surprisingly well! It's only been a few days, but thanks to the basic teaching of the alphabet by Hugo and some over night practise, I have finally been able to somewhat guess what certain words may say, albeit only simple ones. Currently I had the literacy rate of a small child in nursery school- however since I had some basic understanding in how languages worked already from my past life and because thankfully Antoinette did seem to have some brain smarts in her, I was making some fast progression.
"Wow, I mean we were told in the past anyway that it said Maid quarters, but it's pretty impressive when you can actually read it!!" Sana mentioned from behind me as I ignored the snippet on it being obvious and let my pride take over a little.
"Ha! This is nothing, soon I'll be reading every sign in the manor with ease!!" I announced, pointing to another sign within the room, Sana placing her hands together in amazement.
"Wow Annie! I'm excited for you, I'll be cheering you on!" Sana told me with a small clap.. this girl really was like sweet mother, it filled me with so much hope!
"Hmm... Is reading all that important?" Came Felicia's voice from behind us as the monotonous maid proceeded to finish getting dressed.
"Absolutely! I'd argue that it is a must for everyone, to learn the fundamentals of this world!!" I proclaimed as to this Felicia simply tilted her head in thought...
"Well... we've made it without pretty well so far haven't we...?" She put it bluntly as I felt myself falter for a second. Well, she wasn't lying... but still...
"Well I think it's a wonderful opportunity! No ordinary maid would be given this opportunity so you can count it as being a special privilege, right Felicia?" Sana noted amidst our discussion, looking over to Felicia who blankly foxed her head dress.
"Hmm... I guess..." she replied dully.

I turned my attention from Felicia and back to Sana.
"Hey Sana, could it be you are interested in learning how to read?" I questioned her as for a brief moment Sana seemed a little surprised to hear me ask this... when she then gave a slightly meek smile...
"Ah... well I can't say it doesn't intrigue me... though I don't think I would be able to be lucky enough to be taught like you are Annie..." she replied with a somewhat accepting tone. Though it was this response that sparked a small idea in me as I clasped Sana's hands.
"You don't need anyone big to teach, how about I teach you?" I then brought up, taking Sana off guard a little. "I'll be sure to learn all the basics properly, then I'll come teach you everything I have learned! How about that??" I then asked her as Sana was speechless for a few seconds... before then a rather happy and warm expression came on her face as she then nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" She replied happily as I gave a pleased expression in response back, before I looked back to Felicia pointing at her.
"You too Felicia, I'll teach you too!!" I exclaimed to her as Felicia patted her dress down.
"Ah you are loud... you need to learn to read first don't you?" She replied blankly as despite her not seeming so interested, I still took it as a yes as I smiled at her.

Now I was even more fired up to learn how to read and write! Not only could I learn but I could start to teach the other maids too. I was thinking more on it on the night previous, but in case of a bad end, Sana and Felicia would also be caught in the cross fire... though maybe if I could educate them, they would want to leave the manor with better jobs before the bad end activated! Well even if there was no bad end trigger, having the maids learn to read really wasn't a bad idea. It's amazing that they had been able to get by doing stuff so far without incident without knowing how to read. As there friend I had an obligation to now try help them aim for s better life too and avoid the death flags we all unfortunately had!

And speaking of death flags!

"Look at this your highness, I have written toilet paper!!" I proclaimed, showing a piece of paper with my learnings to the prince happily...

Dante stared at my piece of paper, with an expression mixed with that of confusion and slight annoyance... before he then squinted at me...
"Are you making fun of me...?" He questioned- ah- could he never say anything nice?! I had taken time to learn this word just for him.
"O-of course your majesty, I learned this word so I can help with the files!" I told him firmly as this piece of information didn't appear to impress at all, much rather it had an opposite effect.
"Since when did the files have anything to do with toilet paper?!" He barked at me angrily as I found myself genuinely shocked at this information.
"W-wait- it didn't?!" I exclaimed.
"Of course not you dumb pig maid- do you seriously have a walnut for a brain?!" He proceeded to lecture me. Actually I apparently had the brain and intelligence of a nursery student actually. Danté raised up the paper before me furiously. "Also, who do you think you are showing off to anyway you stupid maid, did you think that I would be impressed by you being able to write something so simple?!" He proceeded to speak me down as I bit back my tears as I looked over to him with a wince.
"It... It at least says toilet paper though... right?" I then questioned him nervously as the prince fell silent to this question I asked, not a change of expression on his face... before without a single answer to my question, he burned up the paper right in front of me, much to my horror!!

"Khh- I uh- pfft- I see... so he.. really- keh- did that, huh?" Hugo muttered, desperately trying to hold in his laughter as I kept my head on the table from within his room which I was in for another lesson.
"It's not funny..." I replied sorrowfully as the young knight burst into hysterics of laughter over the matter unable to keep it in.
"I'm sorry Miss Silverston but it really is!" He put it across to me as I frowned. It seemed all the motivation I had gained up earlier had been burned along with all my hard work that, that prince just eradicated.
"Urgh, I really thought that maybe he'd at least appreciate the effort..." I muttered in a gloomy manner as Hugo did his best to stop laughing.
"Well, he isn't really an easy one to impress Miss Silverston" he pointed out, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes as I kept my head down. I knew that, anyone could guess... though I suppose I was at least somewhat hoping that he would see me as more useful... if anything as usual I just seemed to be irritating him more. Hugo seemed to realise that I wasn't particularly sharing as much enjoyment from this as he was, as he then gave me a sympathetic expression. "If it goes to mean anything then, I happen to think you have been doing really well Miss Silverston" Hugo then told me as I looked up at him.
"Really?" I asked, partially expecting him to follow up with something mean... though despite my initial doubts he actually nodded to me. Wait... really??
"You think so??!" I quite suddenly got my energy back as Hugo gave a startled expression to my abruptness, stepping back a little.
"Well, you are already a decent way into the book I gave you right? Of course you are!" He assured me, as I gave a sigh of relief. It seemed like my efforts weren't as bad as I thought.
"I mean, I wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for you helping me out, I really can't thank you enough!" I then pointed out to him with a happy beam on my face. His surprise at my energy burst seemed to die down a little as he then smiled back to me.
"Honestly it's been quite fun actually... so it's no worries..." He replied cheerfully. Well I was certainly glad to see that at the least I wasn't being too bothersome.

The conversation with Hugo had completely revived me from my shot down with Dante and after my lesson that evening I found myself happily making my way back down to the maid quarters for the night. That was right, even if what I was doing wasn't particularly impressive to that childish prince, it still was a huge step forward for me!! I decided that for now, I wasn't going to try do much in terms of showing the prince my writing - much rather I was going to focus on learning how to read and discover what I could about the world around me. I checked all the signs I came across, seeing what it was I could read. Many of them were still rather difficult, however I could make out some of them.

When I came up to the door of the maid quarters, there seemed to be a small crowd of the maids around it and lady Irian, all of them muttering amongst one another. I raised my eyebrow to my his odd situation as I ran up to the crowd to see what it was that was actually going on.

I was able to meet with Sana and Felicia from within the crowds.
"Hey Sana, what's going on??" I questioned as Sana seemed like she had been expecting me.
"Ah, you have finally finished class for the day Annie? You made it right on time! Apparently there are notices around the house right now, but since most of us can't read, Lady Irian is reading it for us now!" Sana explained as I looked back over to Lady Irian, noticing a sign post behind her... I squinted my eyes, trying to see if I could make out exactly what it said.
"Is it... about hidden pasta?" I questioned in a tone I assumed was quiet- though apparently it was loud enough for the ever sharp hearing Lady Irian who proceeded to glare at me as she corrected me.
"It says's hidden passageways actually Miss Silverston..." she pointed out- ah well I was half there. The head maid took a deep breath as she had now caught the attention of all the other maids. "As you all know, there are some passageways with the manor's walls that are hidden. This was made for the royal family in case of an emergency..." Lady Irian began to explain as honestly, at first I had absolutely no idea what on earth she was talking about... before then I suddenly began to recall the passage way to the prince's room I had to enter during the storm- huh, so like that one? "However, this notice is to inform you that recently manor guards have been discovering some new unused ones within the manor... since these have never been used before and are known most are known to have weird exits we ask that if you happen to stumble across one, you don't enter them and report them upon seeing them" Lady Irian proceeded to inform us of some fairly interesting information. Just how many secret passageways did this manor need anyway?? I knew this place was big but I suddenly became aware that this place was probably alot larger than it let on. The head maid sighed to herself as she reflected on something. "We've already had to break down one of walls in the west wing to save one of the guards who got stuck in there, so please can we not have a repeat of this..." she announced before she then looked at me in a rather icy fashion. "We don't want any problems coming from the maid sector, do you all understand?" - Urk, her words were spoken to everyone but absolutely were directed at me- I guess I wasn't in Lady Irian's good books right now...

"Just how big is this manor house- isn't secret passages overkill?" I announced to myself from my bed during that evening as all the maids seemed to be chatting to one another about the notice themselves.
"Well this is a manor that belongs to the royals... Though I am surprised to hear there were more than we knew of..." Felicia replied dully, though her face didn't reflected this supposed shock she felt.
"I mean... I guess..." I replied, realising 'belongs to the royals' was just an explanation I was just going to have to get used to.
"I- I actually think it's a little scary truthfully- that you can get trapped in the walls that is..." Sana told us with a timid laugh as I thought on it more... before falling back on my bed.
"It'll be annoying for sure, but I'm sure if we bang on the walls of the manor enough, you'll catch somebodies attention soon enough" I responded as Sana tilted her head in response to this.
"Are you sure?" She double checked.
"Positive! They got that guard out right? There's nothing to be scared of!" I gave her a very certain reply to this... I didn't notice the two peering eyes beside me suddenly glint.

"AaArReE yOoUu SuUuRe AbOuT tHaT?" Came a eerie taunting voice that made both me and Sana flinch, we looked beside us to see one of the maids had very suddenly crept up on us... She was a maid who by day, had a neat and fairly unremarkable appearance, tidy black hair in an updo and thick rimmed glasses over her eyes which hid her eyes. ... but by night, once she let her hair out, she took on almost an entirely new sense of being, her messy unkempt hair sprawling all over the place, falling slightly over her face, covering that of her greyish blue eyes that were forever squinting the moment she took her glasses off. Honestly the first night I saw her, I could have easily mistaken her for a youkai- it didn't help that despite her seeming quiet alot of the time, she had a pretty rumoured eccentric personality.
"Ah... Harriet wasn't it...?" I replied in a fairly uncomfortable manner.
"Harriet Budds, no need to introduce yourself, you are quite notorious amongst the maids Miss Silverston..." Harriet replied casually as I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Ah..." Was that a good or bad thing?? Harriet took no time to hear us question what she was doing to begin with.
"If you think you have nothing to be scared about in the hidden passage ways of the manor then you are surely mistaken!" Harriet then proclaimed to us all, making a fairly bold claim... eh...?

"Harriet, don't get scaring the newbie! It's almost lights out!" A maid from across the room called as Harriet flinched at the maids accusation.
"I- I'm not trying to scare her!! I'm trying to warn her and in fact it's best is everyone knows about this!!" Harriet stated firmly before looking back at me. "Miss Silverston, you should heed my warning!!" She pointed at me as I gave her a dry expression.
"Annie is fine..." I pointed out- though Harriet didn't seem to really pay this thought much mind.

"Little do any of you know, but the walls of the manor are coated with a dark dark history!" Harriet jumped right into her story telling. "The royal family have committed many terrible crimes against the people of this country, and those who have been wronged now curse and haunt the passages or the manor. Trapped in there by powerful magic the royals use to protect themselves!" Harriet continued- as I felt Sana huddle up to me... Ghosts huh? I couldn't say I really bought it, though the thought of the family Dante of all people came from having a dark history didn't surprise me. "They say that in the middle of the night you can even hear them moaning within and scratching the walls... pleading to get out!!" Harriet lowered her tone, wiggling her fingers at us... Sana didn't seem to be taking to this story very well, she was hiding behind my arm, it had also seemed her story had caught the attention of the other maids in the room. Well... this certainly was an atmosphere now... B-But it wasn't like I'd by into this sort of stuff. I took a deep breath patting Sana's head.
"Well... that's creepy sounding... but it's unlikely. I mean I haver never heard scratching or wailing in the walls, neither has anyone else..." I noted to Harriet with a strained smile on my face. Harriet was quiet for a moment at my response... before then she began to laugh shallowly to herself...
"Heh... heheheheh..." she slowly pointed her finger at me. "You have guts Miss Silverston, but guts will only get you so far! Just so you know, it's people like you that these spirits like to torment the most!!" Harriet leered.
"Is that so..." I answered, doing my best not to be unnerved- what was this- did this girl have a sudden vendetta against me?? Harriet continued to give me a very creepy grin.
"You never know, maybe you will get stuck inside the walls Miss Silverston... or maybe one day, the spirits will find there way out..." she pointed out. "And when they do, they'll surely come to find you first... and then they will certainly-"

Click

The lights suddenly went out and the room erupted into an array of cries and screams, every girl in the room panicking completely aside from me, Harriet... and who appeared to be the culprit for this happening-
"Ah... sorry... it's lights out..." Felicia mentioned emotionlessly, standing at the light switch as I could only give her a stiff expression in return as Sana clenched onto me, shaking me about as she freaked out. Felicia really couldn't read a room could she??
It was then I saw Harriet draw closer to me, trying to see my expression.
"So how is it Miss Silverston? You scared??" She slithered her way over to me- if anything the most terrifying thing here was her. I wasn't going to admit to her that her ominous aiming of her story at me personally had at least given me a chill, I looked away from her.
"Of- Of course not..." I replied stubbornly as Harriet appeared to take quite a bit of joy in my response, wriggling in even closer.
"Oh? Was that a stutter?? How interesting- I think that you actually are- FUGYA!!!"

Her creepy rambling was suddenly cut short by a maid with short brown hair smacking her atop the head.
"I said that's enough, geez, you try this with every new maid..." the new maid mentioned, holding up her fist as Harriet groaned. I found myself staring at the maid, kinda surprised to see her appear so suddenly to my aid... the maid looked at me... before she then gave me a warm smile, grabbing Harriet by the collar.
"Sorry about that. Sleep well Miss Silverston..." she told me, giving a small wave as she walked off. Ah- huh... I swear I had seen her before... I waved the maid off.
"Uhm yeah... thanks..." I replied, still a little dazed as Sana remained glued to my side.
"Annie, let me sleep next to you, I can't sleep now!" She proclaimed.

I lay in my bed with Sana now sleeping beside me after she begged to share my bed, now staring at the ceiling with a perturbed expression... I didn't want to admit it, but Harriet's story earlier definitely didn't help me in my plight to sleep. It wasn't that I was particularly scared if ghosts... but I did feel a little on edge... I was never going to admit that though.

Instead I thought on giving this time to think a little more on what I was going to do in terms of the Dante situation... As of right now, he still definitely did not like me... and he didn't really seem to care much for the fact that I was practicing on how to read and write in this language... if it wasn't for my own interest in reading and writing, you could probably call this whole learn more about the prince through books plan a bust. I didn't seem to be going forwards anywhere at the moment, in fact I was arguably going straight back to where I started off. I sighed a little, straining my mind on what it was I should now do next. As it stood, all I knew about Dante really was that he didn't like me...

I suddenly was met with a gripping of my arm as well as the sound of heavy breath beside me... I looked to my side in shock-

Only to see it was Sana, staring holes into me as her eyes bulged.
"Annie, I need the toilet..." she whispered as I looked over to her dully... well I guess this was at least a good time to practise some of my reading.

"A-Annie, please don't leave from the door okay?" Sana called to me from the staff bathroom on the maids wing , as I simply replied whilst holding both my book and a lantern in my hands.
"Don't worry, I'm here..." I told her with a empathetic sigh. Who knew a girl who was also willing to argue with the demon prince could be so afraid of something that didn't exist. I dutifully read my textbook as I waited for Sana to finish her business. Maybe if I wrote something real fancy tomorrow, it might mean that Dante will at least not turn my writing into charcoal tomorrow.

It was I stood out in the quiet hallway that I became acutely aware of my surroundings and the noise of the clock ticking from in the hallway. Though usually the night seemed quite serene here, tonight it held a particular chill.
'They say that in the middle of the night you can even hear them moaning within and scratching the walls... pleading to get out!'

Urgh, why was I remembering Harriets words now at a time like this? Ghosts obviously do not exist!

I proceeded to turn the pages of my book, trying to keep my mind distracted. That was until I heard a sudden rumble, which made me flinch. I lowered my book, looking around the barren hallway around me... beforr I shook my head gulping. Geez, Sana's nerves had even put me on edge now... how long exactly was she going to take in there? I couldn't even properly focus on my reading like this.

With a gulp, I decided to try to read anyway, just to keep my mind off things... though- I was soon distracted again by noticing something moving from outside the window... outside appeared to be a slow, creeping silhouette, one which was stalking about... and though instantly my mind started reasoning with itself that it was seeing things and arguing that I should also run away, I still found myself staring at it soundlessly, not doing a thing. Just- what...

"Miss Silverston-"
"GAH!!"

I found myself giving a loud and sudden cry to who appeared to be Hugo approaching from the side of me.

My reaction was quickly met with that of a more predictable sharp snort coming from Hugo's nose as he did his best to make his very obvious laughter, not as obvious.
"Ah-Miss Silverston I never realised you were so easily jumped..." he muttered amidst stifled laughter as I flinched at this.
"Wha-no- I wasn't jumped, I just-" I went to point at the figure, however it was no longer there... was my mind just playing tricks on me??
"Miss Silverston?" Hugo questioned as I found myself backtracking on everything I said.
"Ah- sorry- I mean- I was just being absent minded is all..." I noted to him, laughing off my embarrassing reaction of a screech earlier... it then dawned on me however.

"Say... what are you doing here at this time?" I questioned him as Hugo tilted his head at me in response.
"Well I could ask the same.." he pointed out as I simply pointed to the toilet.
"I'm keeping watch of the toilet for Sana..." I put forward bluntly as Hugo looked to the the toilet door.
"Ah, is that so..." he noted, his tone suddenly sounding alot more sympathetic... he then pointed at himself. "Actually I was just about to use the staff toilets too? The toilet in my room isn't working properly for some reason..." he noted. Wow, the high class of this manor even had one suites like Dante.
"Do you not know what caused it to break?" I asked as Hufo gave an awkward laugh in response.
"Actually they think that the toilets along right wing are all playing up now after they freed they guard earlier, they had to damage some pipes to get to him" He explained- wow so it turned into a real rescue mission.
"Do you know where those passage ways are Hugo? I know you have been in some before" I then decided to ask as Hugo simply shook his head.
"Unfortunately or I should say fortunately no... These passage ways are hard to stumble across and I've only ever really been in the two main passage ways before..." Hugo noted.
"So there are only two in service? Why are there hidden ones in the manor if they only use two?" I queried, only to be met with a just as unknowing reply from Hugo himself.
"Well nobody really knew they existed or why only now they are activating. Though they think these were from a few hundred years ago when the manor was built..." Hugo responded as I nodded.
"As... I see..."

It was after a momentary silence that I placed my fingers together, tapping them off one another as I gave a fairly quiet question.
"S-Say... you don't think anything is in those passages right?" I whispered, my fidgeting becoming more noticeable however it didn't seem that Hugo heard me.
"What did you say Miss Silverston?" He asked as once more I found myself fleeing from my own words.
"No... no... I'm just thinking aloud..." I replied, laughing shallowly. Hugo simply tilted his head at me, not really questioning more on it... though it seemed he had noticed the book under my arm.
"Oh, you are practicing?" He asked as it took me moment to realise what he meant... before I looked fo the book under my arm.
"Ah, yes, I decided it would be a decent use of my time whilst I waited!" I nodded, opening up the book.
"Well, it's nice to see that you are studying" Hugo smiled to himself as I found myself grinning back.
"Yes, well obviously! I had said I had been practicing hard right, I have to make it up to you for all your help!" I pointed out.
"Well there's no stress to make it up to me!" Hugo mentioned with a shrug as I then looked into my paper.
"Though I guess I could ask for you help with something... Do you know how I would write 'fortuitous' Sir Hugo?" I then asked him, this question alone apparently putting Hugo at a spin.
"Huh?" He questioned, genuinely at a loss as I pointed at my book.
"If I write something complex, maybe then his highness might start taking my study seriously- and fortuitous was the first thing to come to my mind-" I noted as my explanation was quickly met with a new laugh from Hugo.
"Eh?? What's do funny, is fortuitous not a complex word??" I then questioned as Hugo shook his head.
"N-No, it's not that- it's just... that does seem like a very you idea Miss Silverston!" Hugo pointed out, wiping tears from his eye- geez it wasn't that funny was it??
"What is that meant to mean?" I questioned as Hugo shook his head, before he the tapped a page on my book, starting to gesture lines across it.
"So fortuitous is written like this. It's actually pretty complex since it has a few lines in it" He explained to me very suddenly as I faintly got an idea of how it would look. Hugo then smiled at me. "I don't have a pen right now, so this is the best I can do, but I'll write it up for to copy tomorrow!" He finished as I gave him a pretty surprised expression. For as much as this guy liked to tease me, he did actually seem like a good guy deep down. "Though I can also give you a list of even more complicated words to try too!" Hugo then noted, his secondary comment sort of snapping me out of it.
"Ah- thank you! I think I remembered how it went! But I'll do my best memorising the list you will give me!" I told him firmly as Hugo snorted a little.
"Is that so?" He responded.
"Yup!" I assured him instantly. Even if Dante didn't appreciate my efforts, I had to show Hugo I was taking this all seriously.

The time I had with Hugo was soon cut short by Sana exiting the toilet, a girl who had been instantly jumped by Hugo's presence
"S-Sir Hugo!! I thought you were a ghost!" Sana exclaimed, hugging the bathroom door as Hugo gave her a sympathetic expression.
"Ah, is that so..." he answered.
"Sana, reallly, there is no ghosts!" I told her off as Sana still didn't seem so certain.

****

From the down the hallway, someone who had secretly come to use the staff toilets since the toilets in the west wing was broken, no surprisingly found himself hidden behind the corner to one of the hallways- for reasons he didn't really know himself. Dante peered back round the corner to see Hugo chatting to the 'pig girl'... before he then frowned..
"What's that about..." he muttered...

****

IRIDESCENT!!

A large and neatly written script of writing was held before Dante's face on a piece of paper pridefully the next afternoon as both be, I and Hugo all were now in his private library. Dante stared at the piece of paper... before then looking up at me.
"What is it now?" He questioned, seeming to be rather fed up as I stood my ground.
"It's the written language for iridescent your highness!!" I proclaimed as Dante put down his pieces of paper, rubbing the space between his eyes.
"I know what it says, I'm asking why you are showing me it!!" He reworded himself with an irritated tone.
"I can now write more complex words, meaning I could help your highness!" I then put it out there, Dante simply narrowing his eyes at me.
"Can you read a full paragraph of words yet?" He asked as I faltered a little at this request.
"U-uhm... well... I..."
"Then I don't care" He shut down my attempts instantly.
"Wh-Wha- But I never even said anything-"
"You didn't need to, you have an expression you pull whenever you are about to say something ridiculous..." Dante noted as I flinched at this.
"I don't, do I??!" I gave a genuine question of shock before I then shook my head. "Th-That doesn't mean anything, though yes I can't read full paragraphs yet, I can certainly help out with smaller things now like signing off files your highness!" I then put forwards adamantly as Dante simply put down his papers and began to stare me down. "Do you know how to write in cursive yet? Do you know how to write a royal signature? Do you know all 300 ways to say no to somebody and why?" Dante then proceeded to ambush me with an array of questions as I found myself sinking into myself. I pointed at my paper...
"But I can write words like iridescent your highness..." I stated quietly as Dante's eyes narrowed even further...

****
"Noooo, don't burn up the paper, I spent all morning trying to write this out!!" Came my wail as Hugo sat in the corner of the library, doing his best to pull a straight face. He had a feeling this might happen, but still...
"If you spent all morning trying to write a word as simple as this, then you are a thousand years too early to help me out!!" Dante declared, much to my horror.
"But this is meant to be one of the hardest words in this language to write- ahhh the papers smoking, please stop it!!" I pleaded with Dante as he tutted looking away from me.
"Write me pig girl on a piece of paper a thousand times right now and I'll consider it..." he admonished as the paper in hands set ablaze.
"IYAAAAAAA!" Came my cry as I found myself reluctantly having to let it go, the paper turning to ash in the air.

I walked over to Hugo tearfully.
"Sir Hugo, my plan didn't work..." I informed him woefully as Hugo appeared to quite literally be quivering in his seat to maintain a straight face.
"Yeah, I can see that..." he replied quietly.
"I need to learn how to write paragraphs..." I went on.
"Yup, you do..." he answered as I continued to whine.
"What on earth is a royal signature even meant to be??" I asked as he put his hand up to me, trying to cover his face.
"We'll go over that later..." he told me as I gave it a moment to look at his figure that was very obviously doing it's best to repress it's laughter... before I looked at him with even more of a grimace.
"Do I really need to write pig girl down 1000 times?" I decided to ask as it seemed Hugo was at his limit- though not before Dante then slammed his none broken hand on his desk, speaking into a ring.
"Pig girl, if you have time to be bothering my knight, you have time to make tea and clean up some of the shelves in here!" He announced, the bell on bracelet starting to go off. I looked back at him with a resentful expression.
"You already burned up my hard work, I have nothing to lose..." I replied in a sulk as he then lit a flame up in his hand.
"I never knew you wanted to be bald that bad you pig girl..." he simply replied.

You know, tea sounded like a wonderfully fun activity right now. I quickly picked up the tea pot tray, giving a feigned laugh, becoming increasingly aware of the flame pointed at me, that stayed pointed at me right until I left the room.

******

There was a small silence in the library not long after I had left... though it was soon to be broken by Hugo bursting into a fit of laughter finally after doinh his best not to.
"It's not funny..." Dante pointed out to Hugo who kept chuckling to himself.
"No, it really is your majesty, though you probably don't see it the same way I do..." Hugo mentioned, Dante then frowned to himself, looking down to the ash pile of the piece of paper he burned on the floor.
"Geez, what's up with her anyway? She's being more annoying than she has been before... she was better when she was in a jail cell..." Dante muttered as Hugo took a deep breath to calm down.
"Well, you should know by now that you can't even keep her in jail your majesty..." he pointed out, Dante's brow only furrowing more to this.
"That old man... I could have done all of this on my own, he should have just fired her..." he continued to grumble to himself as Hugo could only faintly laigh at the prince's words.
'He does realise that if he just told her she did a good job, she'd probably stop showing him right?' Hugo thought to himself, as Dante put his head on the table.
"Urgh, how many files must I read through anyway, it's a headache..." Dante gave a frustrated sigh.
"Well you did lock yourself up and avoid your duties for a week your highness..." Hugo reminded the prince who didn't seem any more at peace upon hearing this.
"I still would be if not for the old guy..." Dante grumbled, rolling his pen on his paper as Hugo simply smiled at him.
"Well you could always get Miss Silverston to help-"
"Absolutely no way..." Dante rejected the idea straight away. "She'd only get in the way, there's already too much work to begin with..."
"She's not that bad your highness. If anything you can at least say she is trying her best..." Hugo responded with another small laugh. Dante didn't reply to this for a moment...
"Really... why are you her spokes person all of a sudden..." Dante mumbled, before he gave a curious look over to Hugo. "Say, Hugo... what was it that you were-"

"Pardon the intrusion your highness, Sir Hugo... we need Sir Hugo to come chat with us and the guards as soon as possible..." Lady Irian had peered her head around the door, cutting off their conversation there.
"Ah, of course... Excuse me your highness, I'll continue talking to you when I return!" Hugo looked to Dante who in return simply looked back to his files with a sigh.
"Yeah, it's alright..." Dante nodded, letting Hugo walk off. Dante took a moment to look at his file before he thought back to the night before...
'There's definitely something strange going on between them...' he thought to himself. '...and I'n going to find out what...'

*****

As soon as I returned to the room, I noticed a certain lack of Hugo in the room, in fact now there was only me and Dante... and though this definitely wasn't the first time, I still hadn't quite forgiven him for what he did to my paper. Nonetheless I begrudgingly walked over to him, tea platter in hand and I began preparing his tea for him... and for a few moment, we didn't speak- we didn't even acknowledge one another. I expected this as much and because of that you could imagine my surprise when it was him of all people who broke this silence not long after...
"Say... you seem to have gotten very close to Hugo lately... why is that?" Dante questioned me sharply just as I finished putting the milk in his tea. I gave him a rather lost expression in response to this...
"Eh?" I replied as Dante gave his usual frown.
"Is 'eh' the only word you know what to say?" He grumbled. "I'm asking what it is you did to him..."
"Did to him...? I haven't done anything..." I answered plainly, Dante's curiosity not seeming sated by this response.
"That's not true, you have been chatting alot lately..." Dante replied to me suspiciously. What- was I not allowed to chat to Hugo anymore? What was this prince on about anyway, what have I done to him? I thought on it a little... did he mean the chats we had been having over teaching me words? Did we seem closer? Apart from a few moment, most of it had been him teaching me, teasing me and then laughing at me. I raised an eyebrow at Dante who appeared to be burning a glare into my head. Did he not know Hugo had been teaching me? Why else did he think I had been trying my best to show him my progress in learning?? For a moment I considered just telling him... though it was then that the memory of the steaming embers of my hard work came back to me via sight of the ash pile now in the middle of the room. Well, if Dante could have his secrets, I could certainly have mine.
"That's between me and Sir Hugo, I don't need to tell you..." I turned my nose up at him, much to the prince's shock.
"Huh?!" He exclaimed as my past experiences came to me in the form of me fleeing.
"I finished your tea, so I will now clean the shelves like you asked your highness!" I quickly blurted out, rushing off to go work on the shelves in the back of the room so he couldn't threaten me right away.
"Hey, wait-" I heard the prince call after me, but I was quite skillful in the arts of pretending I didn't hear anything.

I started putting the books I found disorganised back in their rightful place with a small sigh. Geez what was with that...? I felt as though I was being interrogated... what was it to that prince anyway that Hugo and I had a better relationship now, for me that just proved to be a good thing. At least I had once less enemy in this manor now... but it still didn't concern Dante, even if he technically was both our boss...

I gave another deep exhale as I stared at one of the books in my hand... ah another strand of words I couldn't quite make out... Why was this language so difficult to learn anyway... every time I felt I had made a step forwards in learning it, I was reminded on just how little I really knew. My eyes trailed to the book shelf before me, multiple strange titles staring back at me, some readable, most of them not... I hadn't really taken the time to look at this library, but it really was huge wasn't it? I wonder just how many books in this room Dante had read... judging by some of the titles on this shelf, alot of the books in this section were none fiction books, probably filled to the brim with information... ah... if only I could read them, I'd probably be in a much better situation right now if I could.

I found myself looking across the shelves as I placed more books back, trying to see if I could understand some of the titles. Most of my understanding of them was broken, but it gave me a general idea... Something about gemstones, another about flowers. One was most likely about geography since it had a map on it's cover. One book read the ancient arts of magic and how to control mana and-

I paused upon the last title, realising I could actually understand that book title pretty clearly... and there was one big reason for it... I looked at the blue book on the higher end of the shelf in awe. Japanese!!! It was a spoken and written language in this world! The game creators of this world actually decided to make Japanese one of this worlds languages, thank goodness, I thought the knowledge of the language from my past life would be useless now! With this I could prove to Dante that I could actually read and write in another language! I decided I was going to try reach the book off the shelf, standing on my tip toes and stretching up to reach it.
'I hate people who lie'
I'd make him eat those words, I bet he'd never expect this!!

And yet I too never expected him to be behind me...
"What are you doing?" Dante asked me abruptly as I almost tumbled over in surprise. I looked behind me in awe.
"Y-your highness! I- Uh- I wasn't doing much..." I stammered as Dante didn't appear to buy into this.
"It doesn't seem like your doing nothing..." he pointed out as I bit my tongue a little. I decided to revert things back on him.
"What- What are you doing here your highness?" I questioned him back as Dante tilted his head at me angrily.
"I'm here because you didn't answer my question..." Dante reminded me as I blinked at him blankly. He was still on about that?
"Huh?" I questioned dryly before then-

BUMP

"I said I want to know what you and Hugo are talking about, getting all buddy buddy over..." Dante hissed at me acidly, slamming his none broken arm against the book case to block me.

Ka

Ka

KABEDON?!* Even in my past life, never had I found myself met with with mythical kabedon, even if it was only the one armed version!! I looked back at Dante palely as he continued to stare daggers at me very close up- Wooah- what do I do here- I had never once expected myself to be met in this sort of situation- still your inexperienced little heart Annie, even as Annie you are older than this little twerp.
"W-Well..." I spluttered as Dante leaned closer to look at my face as I looked away.
"Hmm??!" He persisted.
Geez, what was up with this, a simple npc like me shouldn't be going through stuff like this. This was heart event material...

My eyes widened faintly at this thought... oh no, I hadn't accidentally triggered a heart event for this prince had I?! Could that happen?! I mean what other reason would he have to kabedon me?? Think Annie... he's doing this because I have been chatting to Hugo...

Wait? Doesn't that count as jealousy dialogue?? Does he see Hugo as a rival already?! Then this really was a heart event!! But why though?! All he had done so far was insult me and quite literally burned any attempt I had to build bridges with him. I looked back at him and noticed he was still staring right at me with a frown. N-now I saw up close, he really did have ruby looking eyes didn't he... My face scrunched up a little as I flustered faintly- oh no- oh no- I couldn't show I was embarrassed by this sort of thing, especially not to this kid of all people.

Apparently Dante wasn't as phased by all of this as I was as he grew tired of waiting.
"Well?!" He pushed again as I tried to lower myself so I could slip away whilst looking away from his face.
"L-l-listen your highness, if you wanted to chat to me, you know..." I began as Dante seemed to process what I was saying for a second... before he then jumped as he realised it.
"Are you stupid, I don't give a single damn about you. I'm worried for Hugo!" Dante instantly rejected whatever my mind had gotten itself thinking. Hugo?! This was a heart event for Hugo?! I looked back at him in a mix of confusion and faint relief.
"H-hugo...?" I questioned as there suddenly came a click from behind me...

I moved forwards slightly, looking back to see that the book about flowers had now been pressed rather far in....

Did that book just click?

Neither I or Dante had much time to question on as to why, because quite suddenly the floor and wall began to to turn rather rapidly, scooping both me and Dante up with it and flinging us round with it, with a bang.

It took me a moment of being in slight pain and a daze to come to my sense- I now found myself on the floor in a fairly dusty stony hallway... there was a continued rolling noise from behind me, as I looked behind me, to see the book case that was seemingly facing us, slowly turn back around as though it had intended to do a 360 spin, before it stopped with a click, leaving only as flat stone wall behind us...

I gave a wince as I looked around, still not being one hundred percent sure what had happened just then... but it was as I came to more that I found myself suddenly looking around for Dante in the darkness.
"Y-your highness??" I questioned, trying to listen out for him... but as I heard no response I began to panic. "Your majesty?? Prince??? Prince Dante?!"
"Geez will you shut up already..." Came Dante's voice as I turned to see a flame appear before my face very suddenly. I jumped back as Dante got to his feet, rubbing holding up the flame in his hand as a light source, a wince on his face as he looked i to the darkness of the hallway.
"Urgh, it looks like we fell into one of those hidden passages they were talking about... why was it in the library??!" Dante commented, holding the flame up to the ceaseless darkness of the passage. Huh- what did he say...?
"One of the passages?! You mean the ones with no proper exit?!" I exclaimed with a panic as Dante gave a small tutt.
"Don't be ridiculous, why on earth would they make a passage way you couldn't get out from? We'll just go out the way we came!" He announced, turning back to the wall, seemingly expecting to see the book case there... though he fell surprisingly silent as he saw that all that was there now was a wall... He gave it a blank expression...

...

"'-Tch" Dante sucked his teeth, kicking the stone wall in frustration- did he think abusing the wall was going to change anything?? - wait did that mean we were really stuck in here?! I looked up to Dante palely... I was stuck in the hidden passage ways in the wall with Dante of all people?? Dante looked back at me with a icy glare...

Aha... it really seems that I might die soon, dearest mother and father in another world...