The Flying Letters and the Auto Memories Doll (Part 2) (飛行手紙と自動手記人形 後編, Hikō Tegami to Ōto Memorīzu Dōru Kōhen?) is the sixth chapter of Violet Evergarden Volume 2.
Summary[]
After completing their work, the employees of the C.H Postal Company are finally able to attend the Aeronautical Exhibition. Hodgins comforts Lux, who is wrestling with her frustration over not being able to handle a work-related matter as well as he did. He gives her some money to buy everyone something they wanted, then goes to look for Cattleya and Violet, hoping that they have become friends.
He finds her sitting alone on a bench, but another man reaches her before he does and asks her to walk around the exhibition with him, grabbing her arm as he did so. Cattleya immediately twists his arm around and drives her knee into his crouch. Upon seeing Hodgins, she excitedly runs up to him, while he regrets that he wasn't able to stop her impulsiveness. She tells him that she is sitting here because she is waiting for Violet, who had run off after a black-haired man in a military uniform—the person she called "Major." Hodgins is shocked upon hearing this and runs off in the direction Violet had gone. Cattleya is sullen at being left behind by Hodgins, but her mood is quickly changed with Benedict's approach.
Dietfried tells Violet to kill herself.
Meanwhile, Violet catches up to the man, who turns out to be Dietfried. He is hostile towards her and believes that she is still a dangerous and murderous tool that only listens to orders despite her telling him that she will no longer kill anyone, even when ordered. He tells her to kill herself, but she tells him that she won't, since Gilbert ordered her to live. Dietfried wishes that Violet had been the one to die instead of Gilbert, and that even now he still visits the families of those she killed to give them money. Violet attempts to ask if there is something she can do to help, but Dietfried shouts at her that he doesn't want anything from her.
Dietfried tells Violet to leave, but she refuses as she has questions for him. Their exchange is drawing attention, so the two go off to somewhere more secluded. Once alone, he tells her he won't listen if she wants to tell him about her resentment of him, but she reveals that she doesn't resent him at all. Dietfried, enraged, tells her that she is the one who made him this way and her past deeds still haunt his nightmares, but he doesn't hate her despite that because he knew that she only killed his subordinates because they tried to force themselves on her, and that the violence is only a cycle. Violet recalls Hodgins' words about burns.
She asks Dietfried if it is okay for her to be alive and expresses confusion over her feeling emotions through interacting with other people, even though she was only meant to be Gilbert's tool. She asks Dietfried these questions because he was her former master, and then asks why he gave her to Gilbert in the first place. Dietfried has no answer, but instead tells her that if she won't die even if he tells her to and feels remorse for what she has done, then she should live until someone kills her or her lifespan runs out, because it's harder to stay alive.
Violet asks Dietfried if Gilbert is alive. When Dietfried asks her what kind of answer she wants to hear from him, she concludes that Gilbert must be alive after all, because if he had truly died, Dietfried would have already killed her. Just then, the Flying Letters program begins. Claudia spots the two of them and drags Violet away. Claudia tells Violet not to approach Dietfried ever again, because he hates her and Claudia is worried that he might drag her back into the military. He asks her if Dietfried said anything strange to her, but Violet only answers that he gave her encouragement.
Meanwhile, Dietfried returns to the control tower and encounters Gilbert. Dietfried informs him about his talk with Violet, including the part where he told her to live as much as she can and then die, but didn't mention that he confirmed her hopes about Gilbert being alive. Dietfried warns Gilbert not to fall in love with her, but Gilbert responds that this has nothing to do with him, and that if he tries to hurt Violet, he will crush him even if he is his own brother. Dietfried realizes that Gilbert is no longer the little brother he had to protect. He tells Gilbert that even if he is a terrible brother to him, he does love him.
Characters[]
- Claudia Hodgins
- Lux Sibyl
- Cattleya Baudelaire
- Benedict Blue
- Violet Evergarden
- Dietfried Bougainvillea
- Edward Jones (mentioned)
- Gilbert
Trivia[]
- Elements of this chapter are adapted into Episode 13 of the anime.