After a moment of silence, Anna stepped forward, scooped Leona up by her thighs, and gave her an extremely textbook princess carry.
She used her actions to prove to Leona that she indeed possessed the capability.
Leona couldn't help but pat her own forehead; she never expected that one day she, too, would judge a book by its cover.
“I get it, Your Highness. Could you please put me down?” Leona asked, looking at the small face that had caused her to misjudge the girl's abilities.
She even felt like she was the one who needed protection.
“Um... all right,” Anna replied, bending over to set Leona down.
“But how do you know my name?” Leona asked her second question.
“You told me,” Anna said, her tone remaining completely consistent, as if she were incapable of ever losing her temper, forever gentle.
A look of confusion crossed Leona's face. “I told you? But I've never met you before?”
“To be precise, your heart told me,” Anna said as she walked over to tie off a rope hung with a string of bells.
My heart?
Leona grew even more confused, but she didn't probe further, having a feeling that Her Highness the Princess would tell her in due time.
Watching Anna's actions, she pointed at the bells and said, “These bells must also connect to the room above so you can hurry back if someone comes.”
“You're very smart, Leona.” Anna pulled out a chair and sat down, gesturing for Leona to take the other one.
It seemed they were about to have a secret conversation here.
Sitting down, Leona remarked, “Considering you managed to create a secret passage inside such a heavily guarded royal palace, I doubt this tiny bit of cleverness compares to yours, Your Highness.”
“You're not from here, so there's no need to call me 'Your Highness.' Just call me Anna,” Anna said, resting her chin on her hand. “Besides, when I said you were smart, I wasn't referring to this.”
“I meant how you killed God's person and framed God's faction for it.”
Leona's expression turned even stranger as she looked at Anna. Knowing her name was one thing, but knowing things she had actually done was a little too game-breaking.
“No need to be surprised. I can simply read people's inner thoughts, just like how you have the ability to change your appearance, don't you?” Anna said casually, as though possessing such a miraculous ability were completely ordinary.
“So that's how it is,” Leona muttered, lowering her head.
Everything made sense now. Earlier, when she had looked up at the wishing well, she really had been thinking about framing God's faction.
But how could a princess have mind-reading abilities?
“Are you an invader?”
She looked up and asked directly. Since they were on the same side, there was no need to beat around the bush.
Anna frowned, looking completely unfamiliar with the word “invader.”
“Invader? Is that what you outsiders call yourselves? How strange.”
Normally, only the invaded would call invaders “invaders.” Who would call themselves an invader?
Leona's eyes narrowed, confirming that Anna was indeed a native. If the girl were an invader, they would belong to the same broad camp, so there would be no reason to lie.
Considering the hunter's nearly immortal body, Anna having a mind-reading ability suddenly didn't seem so surprising after all.
“Was this ability granted to you by the Main God?” Leona asked again.
Anna shook her head. “I don't know who this 'Main God' you speak of is. I've had this ability since I was born. You might think being able to read minds is a blessing from God, but I feel it's more like a curse. Sometimes... you hear unpleasant things.”
Leona finally understood. Anna's ability was likely passive, constantly active at all times. In front of her, a person would have no secrets whatsoever—an undeniably terrifying ability.
But correspondingly, it brought her disaster as well; she could hear every negative judgment directed at her.
It might not seem like much now, but could anyone imagine a little girl of just three or four hearing endless verbal abuse every day, even comments wishing for her death?
“You're just calmly telling me about your ability like this? Aren't you afraid I might kill you just like the rest of them? After all, I'm not from this world either,” Leona said in a playful tone.
To her disappointment, however, Anna didn't show a hint of panic.
“I told you I can see inside your heart. You are a very gentle person, Leona. Your heart tells me that you want to protect me. Since that's the case, if you want to know, I shouldn't hold anything back.”
“Mother said that people's hearts are reciprocal,” Anna said, her eyes involuntarily drifting to the stone statue wearing a flower garland.
“It's true that I want to protect you right now, but that's only for now. Your mother was wrong—people's hearts aren't reciprocal. Maybe one day, the person you trust most will take your life.” Leona laid out the cruel reality to the naive girl.
This instance had just opened, and she didn't think Anna would live for very long. Perhaps after Anna died one day, an invader would replace her as the story's protagonist.
Anna didn't argue with Leona, merely giving a faint smile.
“Leona, I want to help you,” she said.
“H-help me with what?” The topic changed so quickly that Leona couldn't quite keep up.
“Help you escape,” Anna said, pointing at the ground. “This secret passage wasn't built by me; it was made by my mother to help me hide from Them.”
“Them? Do you mean the invaders?” Leona asked.
But on second thought, that didn't seem right. This instance was opening for the very first time; where would invaders have come from before this?
The fifth piece of information from the diary suddenly flashed in her mind:
【At night, you do not need to worry about the Princess's safety. Any outsider who tries to harm the Princess will be watched by Them, including you.】
Anna's shake of her head also verified her suspicion.
“No, I am not afraid of invaders. I remember every single person in the royal palace, top to bottom. But just this morning, a lot of people I don't know suddenly appeared, and every last one of them—except you—wants to kill me.”
Leona's expression right now was quite something to behold. She hadn't expected that the Main God was unable to tamper with Anna's memories!
The Main God would logically insert invaders whose roles matched the story into the narrative and fabricate a past for them.
Many maids knew the maid she had killed during the day, which meant the memories of these locals could indeed be tampered with.
But Anna was an anomaly.
Now she understood how impressive the protagonist was. No wonder Aria had gone through so much trouble to recruit her.
“Then who are 'They' that you mentioned?” Leona was utterly baffled. What kind of existence could make Anna not even fear invaders who suddenly appeared out of thin air wanting her life?
Did this “They” refer to humans, animals, or some kind of unknown entity?
At this point, Anna finally showed a hint of fear.
“Sometimes I really just want to give myself a death and go see my late mother. But Mother told me that someone would lead me away from here.”
She looked at Leona and said in a complex tone, “At night... at night, you will see Them.”
“At night, you will be able to see the true face of this place.”
Rate on N.U.
