"...Five more minutes, please..." The sleeping girl mumbled as someone poked her cheek. The sun was already up and hanging on the sky, yet the sister of a certain repairman seemed to forget what might happen anytime soon today.

"Well... She went through a lot yesterday. Can't do much about that, eh," said William as he stood beside her side of the bed, apparently giving up.

Waking up a bit late as well, William himself freaked out a bit when he woke up and realizing their stupid mistake, but seemed like nothing out of the ordinary happened... for now. After failing to knock some senses into Lucie's mind, William went outside for a breather.

Standing amidst the sea of green outside of the stable they were staying, William sighed as he scratched his hair. Deep down in his heart, he know they should evacuate from here as soon as both of them could, but the sky seemed to promise another slow day for the people of Bruhl. He could feel the cool breeze of wind soothes his mind as he stared among the endless horizon of the grassy plains, trying to find a fault somewhere on his vision to regain his alert senses. Obviously, he could not spot anything wrong at the moment, so he went back inside, noticing the horse in the corner.

"Hey, I almost forgot about you. Ate something already?" William stroked the horse's back, feeling the unkempt fur across his hand. The horse neighed a little, as if trying to answer back. "Silly me, of course you don't," continued William as he tried to fix the position of the saddle.

Trying to find something to eat for the horse, William glanced around the stable to find nothing of the sort to offer.

Well, nothing except... the makeshift bed out of hay bales that Lucie stacked yesterday. A grin plastered across William's face.

The slow wind caressed William's cheek, his eyelids almost closing once again for the third time this morning. It's been quite a while since Wiliam and Lucie started sightseeing Bruhl. With Lucie steering the horse and a note on her hand, they traversed the town through every nook and cranies, enjoying the view as much as time allowed. She wrote and drew something on the note occasionally, sometimes nodding the herself when she felt satisfied. William, on the other hand, was busy fighting against the allure of sleeping. On his cheeks, a mark of shame can be seen clearly by every bystanders in a form of a red hand. Their reactions varied, from amusement to utter disgust.

"I wonder if you really are a girl," murmured William as he rubbed his cheek, the pain haven't subsided yet.

The perpetrator, or rather the prank's victim, didn't even look back to him. "You were saying?"

"N-Nothing, maam. Keep on going." He sighed silently behind her. He stared at the spot where Lucie's hair was eaten for a tiny bit. It was purely luck that the horse only ate the edge of her hair. William wondered if he would still be alive if the horse actually ate her bangs instead.

Their next stop - It's actually only Lucie, William was too caught up with his drowsiness - would be the biggest windmill located in the middle of plaza. It didn't take long for them to arrive. Just looking at the windmill made her pumped up, thinking about the grandiose secret behind such a grand landmark.

"Whoa! This giant windmill is so cool! Right, Will?" She elbowed Will lightly. Her brother didn't respond.

"...Will?"

"O-Oh! Yeah, the plains sure was very green and healthy... Wait, were we talking about the plains?"

"William."

"Sorry, guilty!"

After receiving a knock on his head, both of them jumped down from the horse. They went closer to the windmill, observing the man-made structure.

"So many windmills around, but this one definitely killed it! What did they call it? 'Sister Mills?'"

"Yep." William looked all over the giant mill while folding his hand. "Apparently this was built from the ruins of an old castle tower, at least what the residents here said. If only a certain family of mine managed to grow tall as this beauty too." William laughed a little hearing his own tease as Lucie only pouted and continued silently on drawing the windmill. This wasn't the first time he remarked her stunted height.

A strategic angle of placement. Those smoothly paved rocks as the wall. No traces of wild vines nor cobwebs. William whistled as he eyed on the details of the windmill. Back in Palazet, there were windmills as well, though not as many as they see here. William could count how many windmills had he climbed to maintain back in the day. None of them looked as grand as this one.

"If I fell from this one, how many bones would crack?" William asked out of random curiosity.

Lucie kept writing to her notes. "I hope it would render you unable to walk, at the very least. If possible, permanent bed rest for life."

"That's admittedly true, but still... for real, Lu?"

"I haven't heard a single 'I'm sorry' until now."

"It was a prank!"

"Then someday I'll break your tools and call it a prank as well. I was joking, right?"

"Hey, that's taking it too far..."

William sighed. He moved closer to see what kind of thing his sister wrote on her notes. Sensing this, she turned her back against him, covering the notes. William sighed deeper.

"Look, it was funny for a bit, but... Sorry."

Lucie plugged one of her ears with her hand. "You were saying?"

"My lovely and adorable sister. Your dearest, most handsome, and striking brother said sorry."

"...Eh?"

"See, you could listen! I'll take it as a yes, then."

"No, not you! You hear that!?" Lucie glared at William as she unplugged her ears, trying to hear more clearly this time.

Confused, William stared at Lucie, dumbfounded with her reply, thinking it was time for their usual comedic banter. She cupped her ears, to which William followed. It was slow at first, but they could hear a hum slowly coming from the sky.

"William, look!" Lucie pointed above them.

Following her hand, William's eyes widened as something fell from the sky, aimed at the big windmill right behind them.

"Run!" William quickly grabbed Lucie's hand and moved away from the Sister Mills.

A loud eruption rung across the sky as they ran. Both of them could see a mortar shell flew above where they stood not too long ago, hitting the Sister Mills directly. Some of the bricks fell as the windmill itself rumbled, forming ripples on the ground.

They ran to the closest alley, abandoning their horse back in the windmill. Not for long, soldiers soon swarmed the plaza. The army that they once encountered, the Imperial army.

"Dammit," William murmured.

It was 1935. On the fifteenth day of the third month, there marked the invasion of Bruhl by the Empire.