Chapter 76
[Crocus Academy]
It was an academy with a legendary history, said to have been established by the nameless hero to train successors for the distant future.
Of course, the truth was that it had merely been established by the hero's holy sword, Solaris, acting on its own judgment.
Regardless of its origins, [Crocus Academy] had always been renowned for its finest facilities and instruction.
It was the place where people first learned about new professors, course material, and groundbreaking papers.
"Phew..."
In a secluded park within the academy, Ariel gazed at the sky and let out a quiet sigh.
"I'd heard it was the best academy, but..."
It was beyond her imagination.
Were there a lot of assignments?
No, not exactly.
The sheer amount of coursework was small.
The faculty had moderated it through discussions, having concluded that assigning too much work would harm the students' motivation and efficiency.
But even if there were few assignments, they were by no means simple.
Critical thinking, application skills, depth of knowledge, and an understanding of the subject that could only emerge from serious contemplation of it.
They assigned extremely difficult problems that could barely be solved even with all those skills.
What was even more problematic was that, as befitted the faculty of the finest academy, the problems they assigned were incredibly difficult yet still solvable.
...
As Ariel gazed at the sky for a while and pondered how to handle her next assignment, she naturally began thinking about Abel, who was not here.
'Come to think of it.'
Every morning, she learned roughly what was happening with Abel through the stories exchanged via the typewriter.
She had heard that Abel's subordinate had been brutally murdered while investigating Saria Island, and that only his head had been returned submerged in a salt jar.
She still remembered it: the typewriter's calm voice as it conveyed that fact.
[I intend to set out to avenge the one who murdered my subordinate.]
It had come from the typewriter.
Just a mechanical typewriter that revealed nothing about its writer's handwriting.
But Ariel could roughly sense Abel's emotions from that sentence on the typewriter.
He was angry.
Not rage exploding like a volcano, but a quiet anger like lava.
...Who are you?"
Ariel had been lost in thought about Abel for a moment when she involuntarily turned her gaze toward the approaching footsteps.
"Oh... my apologies."
"Lord Kairon?"
A man with black hair and sharp eyes.
Kairon de Stellaim.
He was the heir to House Stellaim, one of the Empire's four great ducal houses and the ruler of the north.
"What brings you here?"
Although Ariel said that, she had a fairly good idea why Kairon had come looking for her.
No, it would have been stranger if she did not know.
Ever since she had cared for Kairon after he fainted from the possession spell during the train attack, he had come to visit her almost every day.
"Ah, well... I merely followed the breeze here while taking a short break."
"Ah..."
At Kairon's answer, Ariel could only offer a somewhat bitter smile.
This was the most untouched park among the academy's numerous parks, which she had discovered was the size of the imperial palace.
It was a park one could only reach after making one's way through paths as complex as a maze, and he had simply wandered here following the breeze?
It was a lie.
"Lord Kairon."
Ariel was by no means stupid.
She was perceptive enough to guess why Kairon had come here.
Swish.
Ariel immediately rose from the bench and bowed, determined to sever this relationship once and for all.
"I'm sorry."
This past month. No, a month and a little more.
The thread of their slightly precarious connection that had continued throughout that time.
If Kairon had approached her out of genuine affection—in other words, affection between human beings rather than romantic affection—Ariel might have gladly spoken with him.
Why had she come here?
Surely it was to rest.
Of course, the sudden truth about this world that Abel had thrown at her had given her a headache, especially after she learned that this academy was the highest-priority target. But her original goal had been to rest.
In that sense, making friends was also part of that rest.
But Kairon had not approached her intending to remain merely friends.
Man to woman.
Yes. Kairon kept approaching her because of his romantic feelings.
"There is already someone in my heart."
Of course, this was a lie.
She did not know why Abel's face had come to mind as she said it, though.
"So, please."
Ariel spoke calmly, but in a firm voice that allowed no room for argument.
"Please withdraw your feelings for me, Lord Kairon."
"..."
Whoooosh.
Feeling the icy wind sweep over his body, Kairon involuntarily opened his mouth at Ariel's rejection and let the emotions in his heart spill out.
"...The person you have in your heart..."
He knew. Nothing was more pathetic than saying something like this.
But.
It had all been lies.
The rapidly shifting mood of the Empire.
The vicious struggles taking place beneath the surface as people maneuvered to become emperor while the current emperor lay gravely ill.
And from their perspective, the heir to House Stellaim, which ruled the northern part of the Empire, must have been incredibly tempting prey.
How exhausted must he have been by the beauty traps sent to prey upon such an alluring target?
How disgusted must he have felt toward women who lost their reason and became obsessed with him because of that damnable face?
Then Ariel appeared.
It was the first time.
A woman who, like Ariel, did not look at his family or appearance, but simply gazed at him with concern.
"Could it be..."
Don't say it.
Just how pathetically was he planning to beg for love?
His hands and feet trembled, and his heart began beating even faster than when he had first picked up a sword.
Yet the blood pumped so fiercely through his body was unbearably cold.
He knew in his head that nothing good would come from saying these words.
Though he told himself to think rationally, Kairon ended up losing to his emotions.
"Is it Wilhelm?"
The crown prince of a certain kingdom whose interactions with Ariel had been increasing little by little lately.
Kairon pathetically asked whether it might be that man.
"..."
"If so..."
I, I...
"No."
Ariel cut him off and denied it.
"No. He's probably someone you've never met, Lord Kairon."
"Ah..."
"I'm grateful for your feelings, but I'm truly sorry."
Then.
Ariel dipped her head slightly and left the park.
It was an unmistakable rejection, no matter how anyone looked at it.
An ordinary man would naturally have given up then and there.
Ariel's attitude had not offered the slightest opening.
But.
"Never met..."
Kairon's feelings did not die out.
The fact that Ariel had not immediately told him who she loved meant that it was probably someone she found difficult to speak about openly to others.
He surely was not someone within this academy.
When people grew distant, their hearts naturally grew distant as well.
"Then I have a chance too..."
Of course, all of this was a leap in logic.
A leap in logic bordering on Kairon's delusion.
But Kairon had no intention of escaping from that delusion.
He had fallen in love for the first time, and it had blinded him to rational thought and judgment.
"I'm good at waiting..."
Kairon gazed at the sky and muttered that.
If Abel had seen the scene, he would have lamented, 'Ah, damn this romance-fantasy world.'
.
.
.
"Phew..."
Unaware of Kairon's resolve, Ariel entered the women's dormitory assigned to her while suppressing her pounding heart after rejecting someone for the first time in her life.
"Ah!"
A typewriter lay on the table in the center of the dormitory she had just entered.
Seeing the words written above the typewriter, Ariel instinctively broke into a bright smile and hurried over to read them.
[I'm back.]
"..."
It was an incredibly short message.
But as Ariel read it, she smiled happily at the fact that Abel had returned safely and let out a small sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.
She had never thought Abel would lose, but she had paced anxiously and prayed in case he was injured. It seemed her prayers had worked.
After all, he had left a message so soon after returning.
Ariel let out a sigh of relief and was just about to place her hand on the typewriter to speak with Abel when—
She froze.
The hand that had been about to move the typewriter stopped.
"Hmm."
Abel must have left this message immediately upon returning to the Nebula Duchy.
He might be resting, and she did not want to disturb him.
Knowing the distance between Saria Island and the Nebula Duchy all too well, Ariel suppressed her desire to speak with Abel and immediately began reading the stack of papers in one corner of the desk.
They contained information about suspicious movements that Ariel had obtained in her own way by cooperating with the headmaster, since there were people targeting [Crocus Academy].
"Good."
Let's begin.
Having muttered that, Ariel slowly began examining the reports.
That day, the light in the dormitory room where Ariel stayed remained on until late into the night.
***
The Nebula Duchy.
Abel's room.
"Right."
Abel looked at the woman with distinctive purple hair sitting before him.
He slowly opened his mouth as he gazed at Bellias, the boss of [White Shadow].
"You said you'd found suspicious people around Saria Island?"
[Yes.]
"Hmm..."
Clink.
As the ice in the cocktail glass he had prepared for a simple drink clinked clearly, Abel smiled with interest and opened his mouth.
"Care to explain?"