"Maybe in a dream."
Annan hid his feelings. Colette was a clever girl... In "Valencia's January Seventeenth," only Rainer had seen through his identity before she did.
Speaking of Rainer...
"That pickup line is outdated." A girl who looked somewhat like Colette appeared beside them.
Rosella was here too.
She caught Annan's surprise and asked, "Do you know me?"
"You were both in the same dream."
The remark sounded almost like flirting and could have been offensive. But when it came from a beautiful boy who looked only fifteen or sixteen, no one got angry.
"Black hair... Which family are you from?" Rosella asked curiously.
"He's the Princess's knight..." The Deputy City Lord came out of the hall and stood beside Annan. "Miss Colette, he also had a connection to your father..."
"What connection did he have to my father?"
The Deputy City Lord seemed to know Colette. He spoke to her as he would a younger relative. "He was the one who brought news of your father's death..."
"I'm Annan," Annan said helplessly.
Colette looked dazed for a moment, then regained her composure. "I'm Colette..."
Annan suddenly felt a pang of regret... Colette had changed. The resolve and confidence she'd had three years ago were gone, replaced by quiet uncertainty.
She was like a traveler who had lost her way.
"I know you... Archbishop Valencia told me about you before he died." Annan realized he couldn't avoid Colette, so he deliberately brought it up.
"He talked about me?" For an instant, Colette came alive.
"He said... if you see Colette, tell her I'm proud of her..."
"He didn't say that, did he?"
"...Yes, he did."
Annan had played Valencia on January seventeenth. That made him Colette's father, and anything he said was something her father had said.
Annan raised