The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 85

"That is the word you like to use, right?" said Corvina. "I assume it's a profanity from your world. I'll admit it really viscerally captures the emotion of a moment like this, doesn't it? Just... fuck."

"Yeah..." said Anne. "Fuck is a useful word.".

Corvina sighed and shook her head. "A romance novel, huh?"

"Yeah..." said Anne. "Fantasy romance."

"What makes it a fantasy romance, specifically?" asked Corvina.

"The setting," said Anne. "Mostly the fact that there's magic here."

"There's no magic in your world? None at all?"

Anne shook her head. "They have technology instead. Technology is sort of, like... physical objects with mechanisms inside, kind of like clockwork, right? Only most of the pieces have gotten a lot smaller, and it's mostly powered by electricity."

Corvina cocked her head to one side. "Electricity?"

"It's like... a kind of natural energy that people figured out how to channel through things? It has something to do with atoms and electrons, which are like, the tiniest building blocks of matter? Not that I can explain exactly how it works..." Anne snapped her fingers. "It's like the stuff lightning is made out of."

"That sounds a lot like alchemy," said Corvina. "Using the natural properties of objects to create desired effects."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so?"

"And at the end of this fantasy romance novel, you really marry my fiance and have me executed, do you?" said Corvina, in a teasing tone.

"Not me!" protested Anne. "But I mean, well... yeah, all that happens sort of towards the end. I never actually finished reading the whole book. Just most of it."

"Hmm," said Corvina, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "That's a shame. It would've been useful to know the ending."

"You believe me, then?" asked Anne. "You don't think I'm crazy? And you're not mad at me for hiding this from you, even after I lectured you about not telling me things?"

Anne kept fidgeting nervously with the edge of her sleeve. Corvina reached across the gap between them and took Anne's hand in her own, holding it still.

"I believe you," said Corvina. "And I'm not mad at you. Actually, a lot of things you've said to me since we first met are making a lot more sense now, in retrospect."

Anne laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I haven't always been all that good at blending in."

Corvina smiled. "That's what I've always liked about you. The ways you stand out."

"But you're really not freaked out?" asked Anne.

"I'm really not," said Corvina. "Look, I've told you things about myself before that I genuinely thought would change the way you saw me, maybe even make you hate me. But you've always taken those things in stride, accepting me and showing me true empathy. Like that was the only natural response to have. How could I not do the same for you? It must have been really hard, dealing with this alone all this time."

Tears were rolling down Anne's cheeks now. "It's been so hard," she said, sniffling. "And you still love me? Even though I'm a fraud? I would understand If you'd changed your mind."

Corvina paused for a moment.

Of course she still loved Anne! If anything she loved her more. This incredible woman from another world who had traveled here from another world to save her from death. From her father. From herself. How could she not love her?