Hajins brought Violet to the company.
"Violet is practically a blank slate. Give her a variety of experiences."
Since Ioannis had said that, he intended to give her light work. If she worked, she would naturally learn how to get along with people, develop a sense for money, and understand how to do a job.
"Ah, I’m out of the army now, so I’m not a lieutenant colonel anymore."
"Then what should I call you?"
"Boss~"
He stepped into CH Mail.
CH was a name taken from the initials of Claudia Hajins.
The mail company still carried the atmosphere of old days. It was a large building of red brick, an old-era structure with a touch of modern design added to it.
"I bought an old mansion and renovated it a little. The first floor is the reception desk, and the second floor has the office and the ghostwriting department."
"Ghostwriting."
"Yes! It’s the department that writes letters and such on behalf of clients. There are still a lot of people who can’t write yet."
"I couldn’t write either. Not until the Major taught me."
"I see..."
The two of them entered the mail sorting warehouse.
"After the war ended, I thought I ought to start some kind of business. The government’s postal administration doesn’t reach civilians yet, so... I figured it might be worth trying. So!"
Hajins turned and looked at Violet.
"This is an order. Violet Evergarden. Ioannis entrusted you to me. So, in his place, I’m giving you an order. You haven’t been abandoned. You have somewhere you can be useful. Here."
"I’m sorry. I cannot follow the boss’s order."
"W-what?"
"The Major told me not to obey anyone’s orders."
Hajins stroked his chin.
After thinking for a moment, he said,
"But you do listen to Ioannis’s orders, don’t you?"
"Yes."
Violet said it as if it were only natural.
"Ioannis transferred his authority over you to me. So my orders are Ioannis’s orders."
Ioannis had never actually said such a thing, but Hajins trusted she would understand.
"Understood. I will follow the boss’s orders."
Violet was settled.
Now he just had to put her to work.
There was one person suited for that.
"Benedict."
"What is it, boss?"
A youthful voice came from the corner.
"You should say, ‘What is it, Boss?’"
"So what do you want?"
Smack!
Hajins hit Benedict on the head with a wad of paper. It was a light blow.
He had platinum-blond hair and blue eyes, just like Violet. Their moods were opposite, but there was some resemblance in their looks.
"Ow! That hurts. What was that for?"
"You did that on purpose, brat. Anyway, this is Benedict, the delivery boy. We’ve had bad blood since before I even started the company."
Hajins looked at Violet.
"Benedict, this is Violet."
Violet, who had been about to salute, hesitated. She gave a slight bow. It was awkward.
"She’ll be working as a delivery girl starting today."
"...This little kid?"
"Her mission performance is exceptional. Anyway, I have to go check on the bank, so make sure you teach her everything, all right?"
Hajins left.
Benedict stared at her with a sulky expression. She simply looked back with blank, round eyes.
"Leave your things here."
"Understood."
"Change into the uniform."
"Understood."
Violet took the uniform and suddenly started to strip off her clothes.
Her white stomach and the area just below her chest were exposed.
"Hey, hey!! What are you doing!?"
Benedict nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden undressing. He flailed both hands and turned his head away.
"W-wait...!!"
He covered his face with his hands. What kind of kid was this? Taking her clothes off so carelessly in front of a man?
Whether she knew or didn’t know about Benedict’s distress, she calmly changed clothes.
"It suits you."
The uniform was a little loose on Violet, but her frame was well-proportioned, so it still looked good on her.
"Wouldn’t it be better to take that off?"
Benedict pointed at Violet’s gloves. She bit down on one glove and pulled it off with her mouth.
"...."
Benedict’s blue eyes widened. All traces of his teasing vanished completely. Could those really be human hands?
"Sorting the mail may be a little difficult."
"There is no problem."
"Then sort it by the addresses written here. There’s a lot, but there’s no need to rush, so use the second-floor break room."
"Understood."
She saluted.
"Then I’m off to work."
He left.
Benedict returned to the company at sunset.
When he entered the mail sorting warehouse, Violet was still working. How much was left? If there was any, he should help her.
'...What the hell. She’s already done?'
"I will be finished with the task shortly."
Violet said, sensing his presence.
"You’ve been at it the whole time? Without resting..."
"I am accustomed to long operations."
Benedict scratched the back of his head and said,
"Then, how about going out on deliveries next?"
"Deliveries?"
"Taking the letters to the addresses written on them."
Violet turned her head and looked at the Leiden map.
"...Then I’m heading back."
Benedict clocked out. And he had no idea what his words would bring about.
*
The new mail company had many competitors. For CH Mail to grow, it needed more money.
"Haa... They’ll review whether to lend money after checking our achievements, huh..."
Hajins, who had returned from the bank, let out a sigh.
He had consulted with the bank clerk until evening, but the result was empty.
CH Mail’s future was uncertain. There was no way the bank would lend them money.
Hajins slumped in the tram seat.
His family was wealthy.
But Hajins had cut himself off from them and wanted to build a company of his own.
There was no way he could go to his father now and say, “Could I borrow some money?”
As he looked weakly out the window, he witnessed a strange sight.
A young girl was pulling a cart. At this late hour.
"Is there a mail company that does night deliveries? With our situation, that’s still too hard..."
Just then, the cart turned. A brand came into view.
CH.
It was his company.
There was only one girl with platinum-blond hair in the company.
Hajins hurried over in a panic.
"Miss Violet! What are you doing?"
He called out to Violet after jumping down in a rush.
"Delivering mail."
"What!?"
He heard the full story from Benedict. For now, Hajins took Violet to a restaurant.
"No, I meant for tomorrow!"
Benedict really did seem wronged.
It was simply a mishap caused by Violet’s misunderstanding.
"Miss Violet. You need to rest in between while you work, all right? You were just discharged, after all."
"There is no problem."
"You hear that? There is a problem! There is!"
At Violet’s calm attitude, Benedict let out a long sigh.
"Violet, you can eat."
At Hajins’s words, Violet picked up her fork and knife.
"I will eat."
"Once you finish, I’ll take you back to the company. I’ve already cleared out the attic so you can sleep there."
Violet awkwardly used the knife.
"And... once a week, you’ll learn etiquette from the Evergarden family."
Violet gave a small nod.
After the meal, she parted ways with Benedict.
"I’ll walk you back."
The two of them walked along a road softly lit by streetlamps.
After a few minutes, Hajins spoke.
"What... final order did Ioannis give you?"
"Do not get hurt, do not let yourself be used, always stay healthy, learn many things, live freely. And sa-"
Violet stopped speaking.
The Major had said, at the end, to love.
Was "love" really an order?
The girl who did not know what love was could not tell whether it was an order or simply words.
Hajins lowered his eyes.
"You’ve spent your life carrying out missions in the military since you were young. From here on, you’ll come to learn many, many things."
Hajins stopped walking. Violet turned and looked back at him.
"But... maybe it would be easier to live if you didn’t learn. If you didn’t know."
Perhaps it would be better to remain as she was now, living as a soldier. She would not have to agonize over anything herself. Ending her life by living only through orders might be another way. But then she would never escape being a weapon.
"You still don’t realize that, because of everything you’ve done, the fire is slowly spreading through your body and burning you from the inside."
Violet looked herself over. She seemed perfectly normal.
"I am not burning."
"You are."
"I am not. That is a strange thing to say."
"...No. You are burning. I... only ever watched you like that."
Ioannis had taken on the most dangerous missions himself in order to end the war, and for Violet’s sake as well.
He had brought peace closer by succeeding at impossible tasks.
When Ioannis threw himself into hell like that, what had Hajins been doing?
Hajins pressed his lips together, then parted them again.
"When Ioannis asked me to take care of you, I thought it was a chance given to me."
"...."
"Someday, there will come a day when you can understand what I’m saying now.
And when you do, you’ll realize that you were suffering from a terrible burn yourself."
That night.
Violet climbed onto the roof and looked up at the night sky.
Whenever she looked at the night sky like this, the Major had always been beside her.
"Do you know what that constellation is?"
"What is a constellation?"
"I’ll point it out with my hand."
The Major took Violet’s hand. He stretched her fingers out and traced the constellation.
"If you draw a line from there..."
Violet stroked her own hand.
The hand the Major used to touch.
But now she felt nothing at all. The doctor had said she would never be able to feel sensation in her hands again.
Her hand felt like cold steel.
The next day.
It was early morning, and Violet was cleaning the windows when a man in shabby clothes came in.
"Um... is this a doll?"
"No. I’m Violet."
"Ah... Lady Violet. I’d like to request ghostwriting."
"Ghostwriting?"
Violet tilted her head at the unfamiliar word.
"Yes... I can’t write, so... I’d like you to write a letter for me instead."
"What should I write?"
"D-do I have to say it here?"
"Is there some problem?"
"N-no, I mean... to my childhood friend back in my hometown. I-I heard that girl is being matched with another man... so, I want you to tell her!"
The timid man, who had been speaking so cautiously until then, suddenly raised his voice with confidence.
*
Tap-tap-tap.
Elegant fingers skillfully struck the typewriter.
"You were the first person who ever treated me kindly."
The Major embracing the girl who was being oppressed by Colonel Dietfried.
"You were my whole world."
Violet, marching along, could see only the Major’s back.
"For your sake, I can do anything."
The battlefield was raining bullets. The Major, sword in hand, charged into the enemy trench, and Violet followed behind him.
"I want to understand how you feel."
Violet killed the enemy as she followed the Major.
"I want to understand your heart."
A bayonet struck the back of the girl’s hand. The girl counterattacked and took the enemy’s life.
The girl saw Major Ioannis far ahead of her.
"Even if we are far apart like this now."
Tap-tap-tap.
Her fingers typed busily.
"I am ‘in love with you’"
In love with you.
Violet’s eyes twitched. Every line of the letter struck at her heart.
"...Would that be all right?"
CH Mail’s finest doll, Cattleya, finished typing.
"Yes!"
The shabby man’s face broke into a radiant smile.
"Then, please complete the delivery procedure at the first-floor reception desk, sir. Thank you sincerely for using the automatic handwriting doll service."
Cattleya bowed neatly.
The man left with a bright expression.
"So."
Once the customer was gone, Cattleya erased her smile and looked at Violet.
"Who are you?"
Behind the partition, Iris and Erica watched Violet with wary eyes.
The atmosphere made speaking awkward, but Violet did not mind.
Instead, she asked back,
"How can you tell?"
"Huh?"
"How can you know what the person who just came in meant when he said ‘I love you’?"
*
"You want to take on automatic handwriting doll work?"
Violet said in an excited voice.
"Yes. Holding a pen is still difficult for me, but I can operate a typing machine."
"That’s not what I mean... What I want to hear is why you’d want to do such a job—"
"I want to know!"
Violet showed her heightened emotions.
Hajins was taken aback.
"I want to know what ‘I love you’ means."
Violet’s delicate philtrum tightened.
"After the Major’s final order, he said those words to me. It was the first time the Major had ever said something like that."
Violet’s voice trembled.
"What state does that refer to? As for me, I..."
Violet clutched the hem of her skirt.
"I couldn’t understand it..."
"Normally, people become automatic handwriting dolls because they already know that."
Hajins rested his chin on his hand.
Was she saying she couldn’t do it? Violet lowered her head.
"But... all right. There’s nothing my company can’t do."
After Violet left the boss’s office, Hajins was writing a letter.
It was a letter to his close friend.
-
The girl who had only ever followed your orders has, for the first time, asserted her own will.
The girl who had been called a tool, one without a heart, wants to know what ‘I love you’ means.
-
"By the way, this bastard. Isn’t he basically a criminal? How many years apart are they?"
By rough estimate, it was a fifteen-year age gap.
Hajins kept writing.
'I’ll do my best, Ioannis. So that the girl you love can break free from being a tool.
I’ll help her understand what love means.
So, Ioannis. Could you invest a little in my company?'
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