[Realm of Little Alice]
Grimm did not immediately respond to the girl's words.
For a moment, he simply watched her because something about the situation did not quite align in his mind.
He did not understand why this girl was speaking to him like this.
It would have been almost laughable to consider them close. By any reasonable measure, they were strangers. This was only their third interaction, and none of those encounters had been particularly warm or familiar. If anything, they had been defined by friction—irritation, blunt remarks, and a constant push against one another's temperament.
And yet here she was.
Speaking in a way that was personal. Uncomfortably so.
There was no guarded distance in her words now, no attempt to maintain superiority or control. Instead, she spoke as though something had slipped through—a crack she either had not noticed or could not close.
("Is this just childish naivety?")
Grimm wondered.
