Chapter 118
“What does the Baron like most about Miss Felice?”
Annie asked.
The butler looked flustered, and Claude opened his mouth but then hesitated, unable to answer right away.
“Annie, questions like that might make the Baron uncomfortable.”
Ben tried to intervene, but Annie held firm with the courage of a true hero.
“Please answer.”
Claude paused, then replied, “
Let’s see. She’s beautiful when she smiles, and when she tells old stories she’s beautiful too… even when she tells little lies, she’s still beautiful.”
“Wait just a second.”
Annie immediately paused the interview and gave the butler’s arm a tap.
“Please delete that last part, Ben.”
“So much for the ‘Racliffe Times’ being based on facts, Annie.”
The butler said, smiling as he neatly crossed out Claude’s last answer.
“This newspaper only prints what’s true for Miss Felice!”
“All right, there you go.”
Ben said, showing her the crossed-out line. Annie gave him a big thumbs-up.
“Great! Let’s keep going. Next question: Have you apologized to Miss Felice?”
Annie glared at Claude with big, serious eyes.
“Not yet…”
“Not yet? Why not?”
Annie jumped up from the sofa, but Ben’s gesture made her sit back down, grumbling.
“If you did something wrong, you should apologize right away!”
“I want to, but… things aren’t resolved yet.”
Claude replied, looking away from Annie’s sharp gaze.
Annie let out a dramatic sigh, still staring at him.
“All right, I’ll change the question. When are you planning to apologize, then?”
Even Ben turned to look at Claude for this one.
“…Today.”
“Not today. Do it on the day the newspaper is delivered,” Annie said firmly.
“Okay.”
“The paper will be in Miss Felice’s room tomorrow morning. And don’t forget: Dad says the west garden’s roses will be in full bloom tomorrow too.”
With that, Annie announced the interview was over and stood up.
“Can I have my own article in the paper?”
Claude asked. Ben looked towards Annie
“Nope! Only Annie publishes this paper!”
Annie grinned and left the study with Ben.
Before going back to her cottage, Annie took the notebook from Ben and immediately went up to her bed, where she took out her colored pencils.
On the last page—where her name was written—she drew a portrait of Felice with great care. She gave her a crown and as many ribbons as she could fit.
Then, thinking a princess ought to have a prince, she added Claude beside her.
“I’ll give this to the teacher tomorrow!”
* * *
Annie’s newspaper was delivered to Felice’s room early in the morning.
Felice was first surprised by the unexpected gift, and nearly burst into tears when she saw the writing on the first page:
[The Racliffe Times: Only the Facts!]
Knowing exactly what that meant, Felice had to close the notebook for a moment to swallow the lump in her throat.
“…Ha…”
Once she’d calmed herself, Felice opened it again.
Inside were far more stories and comments than she’d expected.
Almost all of the questions were for Felice’s sake, and she could feel the staff’s concern in every answer. There were even little notes and asides from Ben scattered through the pages, which made Felice laugh as she flipped through.
When she reached Claude’s section, she paused.
For this part, Ben had faithfully written out every single word from Annie’s interview, even describing Annie’s thumbs-up gesture in detail. Felice could almost hear their voices as she read.
When she came to Claude’s answer—[I want to apologize, but things aren’t resolved yet.]—Felice let out a helpless little laugh.
“So, he’ll tell me once it’s all settled.”
At the very end was Annie’s drawing, overflowing with love.
There, Felice was clearly a princess and Claude a prince.
Felice let out a long, deep sigh as she saw it.
She couldn’t help but gently stroke the drawing before glancing out the window.
The sky was full of dark clouds. The rain hadn’t started yet, but who knew what tomorrow would bring?
As she was about to close the notebook, she realized there was one more page at the back. Felice turned to it.
[Will you give me a chance to apologize—to explain myself—in the rose garden tomorrow?]
In Claude’s neat handwriting, the request was written in large, clear letters.
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