It was less than a week later when Adrian received a reply. She was surprised, since it had to come from so far away. Franziska must have taken the time to write back fairly soon after receiving the letter. Of course, Adrian, without anything else to do, started writing back almost immediately after she received the letter, but Franziska actually had things to do. Then again, she seemed efficient enough to manage anyway. She envied that, although she supposed it could also become quite overwhelming. She wondered if perhaps Franziska didn't have overly high standards for herself.

She opened the envelope carefully. It was just an envelope, so she felt like she was being silly, but she didn't want to just rip it open and throw it away. She had kept the envelope from the other letter, as well, but she had justified that as being for the address, which was given as the return address.

Dear Adrian Andrews,

I can assure you that it is no problem. I am in excellent health, as always. Being shot is very nearly a von Karma right of passage, anyway, though a foolish one. It is not serious in the slightest, and had Miles Edgeworth not foolishly dragged me to the hospital, I would have certainly been prosecuting that case myself.

She found herself chuckling at the last sentence in particular, though only with the knowledge Franziska hadn't succeeded in doing such a thing. Even without knowing her all that well, she could certainly see her trying that. Franziska would tell the judge, "The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," and he would look at her incredulously and ask, "M-Ms. von Karma… Your shoulder is bleeding. Are you sure?" She would whip him and tell him it was just a minor inconvenience, and only a fool would let such a small thing interfere with the trial. She would probably proceed through the entire trial normally, if possible, too.

On the other hand, that could have had bad consequences, both for Franziska and for Maya, so she was glad the prosecutor had been taken to the hospital. She wondered what was meant by it being "very nearly a von Karma right of passage," though. She didn't follow court proceedings except the one she had been involved in, so she was unaware of the entire DL-6 and Manfred's similar shoulder wound.

Yes, that was quite the trial. I followed it on the hospital's foolish television. I had to whip the fool to let me change the channel from the foolishness that had been playing to a broadcast. Phoenix Wright was a fool to allow such things to happen. Why would you let someone defenseless wander around someplace a murder has just taken place? Even if he didn't technically know it was a murder, they follow him everywhere he goes, so he should have known anyway. Fool. Despite his carelessness, I can assure you that you would have been in no danger had I been prosecuting. I had a perfect plan set up, of course, which was guaranteed to work so long as you didn't confess to tampering with the scene of the crime. Miles Edgeworth clearly didn't have as efficient a strategy, which was why you ran into the troubles you did. Not that I'm surprised; he will never be as great a prosecutor as I am, of course, since he wasn't raised under the von Karma family name for the majority of his life.

The last part, unbeknownst to Adrian, was a bluff. As Franziska had admitted to Edgeworth, she did feel like she was in his shadow the majority of the time. However, she would never admit this to anyone else, and the more she acted like she thought it wasn't true, the more she thought people would believe she really didn't feel that way. Someday, in the future, she would tell Adrian the truth, but that would not be for quite some time, when Adrian had succeeded in the difficult task of truly earning Franziska's trust. Despite this, Franziska was aware that Adrian already seemed to trust her quite a lot, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she took care not to betray that trust.

Perhaps we could meet again, when I return there. I cannot say when at this time, except that I am taking a short break from prosecuting, and will likely return when that break is over. It won't be for long, of course; simply long enough for me to study a few things. When I do return, I will certainly let you know in advance if I am able. More than likely, though, it would be for another of Mr. Phoenix Wright's foolish trials, in which case I doubt I'll have much time for other things.

Adrian noticed that Franziska seemed to enjoy using that word, "foolish." She wouldn't have noticed it except that it was somewhat of an unusual word. She didn't think she had ever used it, actually, or heard it anywhere other than in this letter. Then again, she must have heard it somewhere, or she wouldn't know what it meant. She also noticed that Franziska had answered the unasked question of why she had been instructed to say nothing about her crime. She supposed it was only natural that someone would wonder about that… or perhaps Franziska had a good enough intuition she had guessed it anyway. She thought the former was most likely the case, but after Phoenix Wright's whole thing about "Psyche-Locks," she couldn't completely dispel the latter, either. Actually, she still wasn't really sure what a Psyche-Lock was, and she wondered if Franziska would know. She wasn't sure how well Franziska knew much of anything about Phoenix, really, but she thought the prosecutor to be fairly knowledgeable upon most subjects, even if part of that was her idealizations.

I am glad you are doing well. I believe we should be able to stay in contact, as I would enjoy that as well.

Sincerely, Franziska von Karma

The last sentence was written somewhat awkwardly. Adrian could tell Franziska was not used to saying that sort of thing – perhaps she wasn't good at displaying her emotions. The fact that she had been willing to say such a thing to her made it all the more meaningful to Adrian. She read it over once more before starting on a reply.