—Could she possibly be doing anything wrong?
She was merely trying to learn about things that genuinely interested her through books.
That’s not something anyone could blame her for.
Lotte didn’t think for a moment that Alisha was at fault.

“—Please don’t say it’s wrong.”

So those words came out naturally.

“…Eh?”

　Perhaps taken aback by Lotte’s words, Alisha looked slightly surprised.

“Well, Alisha-sama hasn’t done anything wrong, has she?”

That’s right—she hasn’t done a single bad thing.
In fact, Alisha goes out of her way to hide things that wouldn’t normally be blamed for, just to avoid shattering the image others hold of her.
Just because Lotte found out about it, there’s absolutely no reason for Alisha to feel down.

“Lady Alisha is my—no, our idol, and truly someone worthy of respect. You’ve saved countless people, and I’m one of those you’ve saved.”
“So buying books like this—”
“What difference does buying one or two books make?”

Lotte cut Alisha off.
—There was absolutely no need to worry.
　Everyone has one or two secrets they can’t tell anyone.
For Alisha, it just happened to be in a field she hadn’t been interested in before, and the content was a bit dubious.
Perhaps she was being a little biased, but even knowing that fact, Lotte’s feelings for her remained unshaken.
Rather, if there was something causing her stress… she wanted to do something about it.
There was simply a pure feeling there.

“Lady Alisha, you’ve done nothing wrong. So, there’s absolutely no need to worry about a single thing! Well, I suppose you’ll still need to keep your true nature hidden… but anyway! There’s no need to feel bad about having this sort of hobby. At least, I absolutely won’t look down on you. What I meant to say was, um, that sort of thing…”

Having rambled on alone for so long, she couldn’t quite figure out how to conclude it—she couldn’t quite wrap it up neatly.
　Alisha listened to Lotte’s words, her eyes widening in surprise, but soon a small smile appeared on her face.
With a very gentle expression—Alisha took Lotte’s hand once more.

“Ah! A-Alisha-sama…?”

How many times today had this happened? Having her hand taken so often was starting to feel like quite a strain on Lotte’s heart.

“What is your name?”

Come to think of it, she hadn’t introduced herself—though she served the Zekrosia household, Lotte was merely a lowly maid.
It was hardly surprising Alisha didn’t know her.
In fact, not having introduced herself until now was rather rude, and Lotte hurriedly stated her name.

“I, I’m terribly late in introducing myself! I’m L-Lotte Kloos!”
“I’ll call you Lotte. Thank you—I feel saved, thanks to you.”

Saved—what an overwhelmingly generous word.
And then, Alisha continued.

“And… your words truly touched my heart.”
“Wh-what?! I only said what anyone would say—no, rather, I was just being rather presumptuous.”

Looking back, Lotte felt she’d spoken to Alisha from quite a high horse.
Now, belatedly embarrassed, her face grew hot and her cheeks flushed crimson.
The phrase ‘I wish the ground would swallow me up’ must describe situations like this.

“I-I’m terribly sorry…”
“Don’t apologise. More importantly—there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

Alisha spoke in a serious tone.

“Something you need me to do?”
“Yes. Actually—”

Just as Alisha was about to speak, there came an unexpected knock at the shop door.

“I’ll just see who it is.”

As Lotte moved to answer, Alisha grabbed her sleeve.

“Huh! A-Alisha-sama…?”
“I suspect… someone from the Knights might be here.”

So the bandits had been handed over to the Knights after all—indeed, a fair amount of time had passed.

“Th-then we must go out immediately…”
“If it is a Knight, though, could you please not mention I’m here?”
“Eh? Why—”

　By the time she said that, Lotte realised too.
Alisha wasn’t in her knight’s formal attire now, and even without the mask, her appearance was clearly suspicious.
She was undoubtedly here incognito—so she’d want to conceal the fact she was here.
Lotte nodded and decided to handle the visitor alone.
Opening the door—just as Alisha had thought—revealed a woman clad in knight’s formal attire.