The next morning, Helen carried a tray of coffee into Corvina's room, planning to wake her up. But Corvina was awake already, smoking a cigarette out on her balcony. So Helen brought the coffee out to the balcony and began setting it up.
"Good morning, my lady," said Helen. "You don't usually smoke this early."
Corvina was wearing a white dressing gown, and leaning against the balcony, staring thoughtfully at something held in a handkerchief in her hand. Helen couldn't read her expression or make out what it was that was in the handkerchief. Corvina took a drag of her cigarette and folded the handkerchief up, tucking it away. "Helen, would you return in about half an hour? I will have a letter prepared that I'd like to be delivered to the Cathedral as soon as possible."
Helen curtsied. "As you wish, my lady."
"And please inform the chef and the other maids that I'm expecting company for tea this afternoon." Corvina put out the cigarette and picked up her cup of coffee. She smiled a little, as if amused at some secret joke. "That is, if it's possible to expect anything of our unpredictable Saintess. But I certainly hope I'll have company for tea this afternoon."
"Of course, my lady," said Helen.
After Helen left, Corvina pulled out the handkerchief again, unfolding it to reveal a lock of chestnut brown hair. After staring at it for a moment, Corvina made a sort of scoffing sound, shook her head, and put it away again, reaching instead for a paper and pen.
Eva gently placed a hand on Anne's arm to wake her up, handing her a glass when she blearily opened her eyes. "Here, drink this," said Eva. "It will help you feel better."
Anne sat up and took a sip of the mixture. She gagged. "What is this?"
"It's a hangover cure," said Eva, with her usual gentle smile.
Anne shook her head and put the glass down on the bedside table. Anne felt terrible, but not terrible enough to drink that. "Nu-uh, no way. Hangovers are mostly dehydration, really. Just bring me a really big glass of water. And maybe some breakfast. But definitely the water first."
"I promise this mixture will make you feel better faster than anything else," said Eva. "It's an old family recipe."
"No offense to your family," said Anne. "But I would rather be nauseous and have a headache all day than drink that."
Anne climbed out of bed, ready to go find her own water and breakfast if she needed to. It was then that she noticed that Eva had brought several acolytes with her. One of them was carrying a basket full of various combs and brushes and scissors in different sizes.
"I told you before, but it's important to maintain your appearance as the Saintess," said Eva. "It's important that we fix your hair before you go anywhere."
Anne pointed at the acolyte who wasn't carrying anything. "You, what's your name?"
"It's Marietta, Saintess," said the acolyte, with a small curtsy.
"Go get me some food and a big glass of water, Marietta," said Anne. "The biggest glass you can find. Please."
The acolyte curtsied again and left, and Anne sat herself down on the chair in front of the mirror, resigned to the fate of someone messing with her hair some more.
The hair was surprisingly not that bad. Slicing all your hair off in one go with a weapon like that is never gonna give you a neat style, exactly, but the knife really had been very sharp, so at least the cut was clean and the hair was largely undamaged. It was something to work with, anyway.
"My name is Betty," said the acolyte who had brought the haircutting things. "I only trained as a hairdresser for a little while before entering the church, so I'm not sure I can really do any sort of fancy style..."
"That's okay," said Anne. "Just try to even it out and clean it up a bit, please."
"It might end up looking rather masculine. I mostly did haircuts for the local village boys..."
"That's fine," said Anne. In fact, it was what she preferred.
Anne was actually feeling pretty good. She did have a pretty bad hangover, and she was horribly embarrassed by her behavior the night before, but she also felt more... free than she had since she'd been reborn in this body. She was beginning to feel more like herself.
In her previous life, she'd always worn fairly masculine clothes and hairstyles. It was how she felt comfortable. At first she'd thought she would have to keep dressing femininely in this new life in order to fulfill the role of Saintess, but there was precedent for more masculine Saintesses. Back in Anne's previous world, Joan of Arc, who had dressed as a man and led an army, was one of the most famous female religious figures in history.
Of course, Joan of Arc had also eventually been burned at the stake as a witch, but Anne was trying not to think too much about that part. For now she just wanted to enjoy this feeling of self-actualization.
While Betty worked on her hair, Eva pulled a stool up and sat next to Anne. When she spoke, her voice had a patient tone. "I just want to say that I'm so sorry, dear Saintess. I should have done more to help you prepare, or I should have supported you better while you were at the ball. I see that now. You must have been so stressed to have resorted to drinking so much. I should have kept a better eye on how much you were drinking as well, but I really thought you seemed fine until you... Never mind that. The point is, I'm truly sorry. This has put us in a little bit of a difficult position, but that's okay, I'll find a way to salvage it for you." Eva sighed. "But to think you would cut off your beautiful hair... you were always so proud of your hair..."
Anne's happy mood disappeared in an instant. This was the main reason Anne hadn't seriously considered cutting her hair earlier. Anne had no idea what Eva was thinking behind that gentle smile of hers, but Eva had been the closest person in the world to the real Saintess, ever since they were kids, and would be the most likely to notice something was off. And now Eva was watching her carefully, probably closely judging her reaction.
Perhaps it was time to pull out the nuclear option. The excuse Anne had been saving as a last resort.
"The Goddess told me to cut it off," said Anne.
Eva looked genuinely taken aback. "What? The Goddess spoke to you?"
"She didn't speak to me in words, exactly," said Anne. "More like she spoke to me in feelings and ideas that came to me. I suddenly realized that having such long, luxurious hair was merely... a vanity that distracted from my relationship with divinity. As soon as I had this revelation, I had to act on it immediately. To bring myself closer to the Goddess."
"To bring you closer to the Goddess..." said Eva. Her smile was more strained now.
Betty, on the other hand, seemed to be in awe. She practically had sparkles in her eyes as she stared at Anne. Anne had to clear her throat to get Betty to start cutting her hair again.
"Well, regardless," said Eva. "After that commotion I really do think it's best if we steer away from Lady Corvina for now. I'm not sure what it is you said to her last night, but I'm sure she'll be even more dangerous to you now that you've shown her a side of you that she may consider a weakness that she can exploit. We might carefully attend some other noble social events where she won't be present, and work on feeling out more whether there might be those amongst the nobility who are sympathetic to our cause."
Anne just grunted noncommittally while Eva rambled on and Betty finished her haircut. Admittedly, Anne wasn't entirely she wanted to see Corvina again, either. At least not right away. Anne could remember most of what she'd said the night before, and it was all mortifying.
I can't believe I told her I loved her, thought Anne. I might just die of embarrassment if I see her again, but I also don't want to never see her again! What would even be the point of living in this world if I never get to see Corvina?
There was a knock on the door and Marietta came back in carrying quite a large glass of water and some eggs and toast on a small tray. There was also an envelope on the tray.
"A letter came for you, Saintess," said Marietta, placing the food and water on the table in front of Anne, then holding out the tray so Anne could take the letter herself.
"Who's it from?" asked Eva.
"No one said," answered Marietta. "They just handed it to me because they knew I was bringing things to the Saintess."
Anne looked at the envelope. The only thing written on the outside was "Saintess" in an intricate script. The envelope was sealed with dark purple wax with a serpentine dragon stamped into it. Anne could remember this seal being described in The Foundling's Wings. It was Lady Corvina's personal seal.
Anne tore open the envelope.
"Well, what is it?" asked Eva as Anne pored over the letter inside.
"Lady Corvina has invited me to tea this afternoon at her estate."
Eva sighed. "I'll help you write a letter to politely decline."
"I'm going," said Anne. Anne looked at herself in the mirror, running her hand through her hair and examining Betty's finished work. It was certainly very short, and boyish, and a bit messy still. Her hair had been wavy when it was long, and it seemed that, when short, it just stuck out at all angles. Anne liked it.
"Marietta, would you fetch me some pants?" asked Anne.
Eva, Marietta, and Betty all looked at Anne with shock. Anne stared back at them with a new found determination. "Dresses are also a vanity!" she said. "I need to wear pants to be closer to the Goddess! Now, go!"
I don't know how I feel about her going the boyish look route but then again, I'm not turned off by it. Novels always seem to make one of the female lead more boyish in looks or identity to still keep that sense of a straight relationship(In my opinion) I don't think I've read many novels where both leads could be considered your typical girlish, adorable type, one is always the ice-cold beauty, or another is the masculine knightly type. But maybe this dynamic is more entertaining to read.
Thank you for reading, and for all your comments and your review! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far!
I did want to just respond here and say that I actually am a butch lesbian myself, and part of why I wanted to write this story is because I've never seen anyone like me as a lead character in this genre (and I really love this genre.) Which isn't to say that Anne is a one-to-one perfect self insert (she's different from me in a lot of ways,) but that aspect of her is intentionally drawing on my own experiences.
I know you didn't mean anything rude by your comment, and I hope my response doesn't come across as rude either. I just know from personal experience that society doesn't view a lesbian relationship as essentially straight just because one woman has long hair and one woman has short hair, and the lived experience of being a masculine woman is a unique one that's rarely authentically explored in fiction.
I have almost never seen an actual butch character in a yuri romance. Often, one of the leads might be slightly less feminine than the other in relative terms, but they almost always maintain a certain acceptable level of femininity, which can feel really alienating to me as a woman who is unfeminine.
With all that said, you might still find this pairing interesting compared to the dynamics you've mentioned. In this case, the butch one IS the cute one in the pairing. She can be pretty adorable, she's just not girlish. ;)
Again, I hope this doesn't come across as combative! This is just an aspect of the story that's important to me, so I hope you can respect where I'm coming from. I also really hope the rest of the story does turn out to be an entertaining read for you! I've really been putting my heart and soul into it. Thanks again for giving my story a shot. :)
@TeddyStonehill
I feel like we've had different experiences as readers because I often find books where they have a boyish look - even though there have been few which have done it well - and while not all of them have short hair, I often find myself reading books where the protagonist cares little for scars and their feminine appearance, instead, taking a more carefree or knightly approach. I haven't read many stories where both could be considered adorable or considered ice-cold beauty types.
So that's why I brought it up; not because I don't like it, but more because I read this too often lol.
@GioBlaze9239
Respectfully, it sounds like you have a broader definition of boyish than I do. That's why I mentioned that it's common for one girl in a pairing to be relatively less feminine than the other, but it's very rare for them to be truly unfeminine. Anne isn't a tomboy, she's a butch, and there is a difference.
I know it may not come across as an important distinction to you, and that's fine, but it's important to me.
Butch is an active identity, not a passive one. Anne didn't cut her hair and insist on wearing men's clothes because she doesn't care about her appearance. She did those things because she does care, and appearing overtly feminine makes her feel uncomfortable and not like herself. She wants to look nice, she just wants to look nice according to her own standards, not the standards that society has imposed on her because she's a woman.
There are other differences as well. And I know it might not be as instinctually easy to tell the two apart if you don't have personal experience with butches, but I just find it frustrating to never see myself reflected in media and then to be told all the time that people like me are overrepresented.
@TeddyStonehill
hmm... It seems like I have offended you without meaning to; something I definitely did not mean to do.
I really do get the distinction that you've mentioned above and using the word 'boyish' didn't show that. I clearly didn't use the right word choice, leading to my insensitive - maybe slightly dismissive - sounding comments. A misunderstanding on your part also seems to have given you the impression that I think she, as a butch, doesn't care about her appearance, something that is definitely not true.
I won't say anymore because I'll end up making more of a fool out of myself as I'm very bad at using the right words for things, just know I enjoyed the book and the first comment was just a general statement about novels and wasn't meant to devalue the book in any way.
I would recommend you some books like yours but, unfortunately, I can barely remember the name of the book I read a couple of minutes ago, let alone days or weeks ago.
Sorry for the offence, if there was in fact any, and I would delete the comment because it seems to be causing a lot of misunderstanding but I don't want to seem like I'm running away from the discussion.