Chapter 52
Kadisha's dogeza.
A form of apology in which you kneel and bow your upper body until your face is hidden.
‘Wow….’
Mella was frankly impressed by the sight.
‘She really can do that.’
It was the first time Mella had ever seen someone do that in real life, and just watching made her feel embarrassed.
But hadn't Kadisha done it a little too naturally?
‘Had she been rehearsing this in her head all along?’
So she could bow her head to Gilliam whenever she had to.
Gilliam was infamous for the way he tamed his women. Had Kadisha prepared herself by imagining what she would do if he did the same to her?
‘Surely not.’
…Surely not?
Gilliam was just as flustered.
“Why are you doing this, Professor Kadisha?”
“B-because I blamed a cadet without even checking the circumstances….”
“Even so, you didn't have to go this far, did you?”
“Th-then you'll forgive me?”
Reading the room.
Reading the room….
In fact, everyone present was watching to see how things would unfold.
Kadisha was watching Gilliam, the one she'd wronged.
Gilliam was watching Kadisha, who was going this far.
And Mella and Sillon were watching to see how Gilliam would react to Kadisha's apology.
〈Next Praise Recommendation (LV.3)〉
【Automatically identifying target→Kadisha Flareheart】
Recommended line: 「I sincerely admire your upright and just nature, Professor」
Mood: With just a slight smile
‘It's been a while since it gave me something normal.’
It had been so long that it felt strange. Lately, it had only given me weird lines that could hardly be called compliments.
‘Still, thank goodness. I needed something like that right now.’
I never thought I'd be so relieved to get a compliment that wouldn't come with some strange side effect.
“Professor Kadisha, please raise your head.”
“Y-yes?”
Kadisha raised her upper body.
She was still kneeling, with both hands resting politely on her thighs.
Mella thought again.
‘That woman really does see Everchess as a man more than any of us….’
Gilliam crouched in front of her and smiled faintly.
“I sincerely admire your upright and just nature, Professor.”
On the surface, it seemed like an ordinary remark.
But those words froze everyone in the infirmary.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“…Professor?”
Because this was a romance fantasy.
‘He'd say something like that in this situation?’
To the three of them, accustomed to the aristocratic society of a romance fantasy, Gilliam's words sounded like this:
You're an upright and just person→But can you really call yourself upright after this?
I sincerely admire you→Please don't do anything to shatter that admiration.
In other words.
Show genuine remorse.
Don't think you can get away with just kneeling and bowing your head.
Mella swallowed without thinking.
‘But she'd already gone this far…’
So this was Gilliam's infamous way of taming his women.
In exchange for protecting his women absolutely, he demanded that they submit to his will.
Of course, they could leave whenever they wanted if they didn't like it. He didn't threaten or force them.
It was just that.
If they wanted to stay by Gilliam's side, they had to accept being tamed by him.
‘So this is what it was….’
Mella swallowed again.
Even though she was only observing, not the one involved, her throat was going dry.
Her body was heating up, too.
Kadisha's throat was going dry, and her body was heating up, too.
“I-I understand… what Mr. Everchess wants….”
Twisting restlessly, Kadisha took out some paper and a pen and began writing something.
“?”
“??”
Mella and Sillon peered over to see what Kadisha was doing, then cried out in shock.
“P-Professor Kadisha!?”
“Professor!?”
The name of the subject Kadisha had taught on the academy's first day.
Mana Studies.
The study of using mana to bring about various supernatural phenomena.
Delving deeper into those phenomena revealed the individual forms of magic.
Among the supernatural phenomena made possible by mana was a contract that could bind a person with mana.
It was so dangerous that people rarely even mentioned it, since it could ruin someone's life if misused.
Kadisha was making one of those horrifying things.
And the terms were…
“I, Kadisha Flareheart… hereby swear, as a sign of my… r-remorse… to do anything—anything Gilliam Everchess asks of me, once….”
Mella and Sillon were genuinely horrified.
“Wait, Professor Kadisha! You can't do this!”
“S-she's right, Professor! Think this through! This is too much, no matter how you look at it!”
Gilliam raised an eyebrow.
“Is this too much?”
Because he genuinely had no idea.
‘What is this, anyway?’
But to the professors, his words sounded like this:
Isn't this what it takes to earn my forgiveness?
“Y-yeah… it's not t-too much…!”
“Wait—”
“Stop—”
Her two fellow professors tried to stop her, but…
Kadisha pushed them aside and poured her mana into the contract.
The contract was complete.
Though it was limited to a single use, Gilliam now had the absolute right to command Kadisha to do anything.
“H-ha ha….”
Kadisha smiled.
Trembling.
With fear.
And.
With anticipation, too.
Still on her knees.
The right to give her a single unrestricted command,
with both hands,
respectfully,
she offered it.
A professor to a cadet.
A woman to a man.
“N-now you'll forgive me, right?”
“…You didn't have to go this far.”
“No, it's fine.”
Yeah.
It's fine.
She absolutely didn't see Everchess as a man, so this was okay.
Even if Gilliam used the contract to make her do something.
Even if he made her do something to satisfy his desires.
She absolutely wasn't doing this because she saw him as a man.
“He-hehe…♡”
A sweet laugh spilled from between Kadisha's lips.
Watching her, Mella covered her mouth with both hands.
‘You crazy woman….’
Mella liked being treated like a madwoman. She liked being regarded as a genius, and geniuses were thought to harbor unpredictable madness.
But after seeing Kadisha like this…
‘A truly crazy woman.’
Something inside Mella, a self-proclaimed possessor of madness, broke.
——————
“Uuugh… Everchess….”
Crown Prince Roderick had been depressed lately.
The reason, of course, was that the man he hated most had become the person who saved his life.
Even Roderick knew he had to keep a low profile for a while.
The cadets of the Crown Prince faction watched him anxiously.
‘Is this really okay…?’
‘His Highness the Crown Prince is getting way too fixated on Gilliam Everchess….’
‘H-he is still going to become emperor, right?’
It was still true that Roderick had more support among the nobles than Elettra, the Second Imperial Princess. After all, he was just incompetent enough.
But if he was too incompetent… that would be a problem in its own way.
An emperor who was too incompetent.
An emperor who was too capable.
Both would be a burden to the nobles.
“Uuugh….”
Roderick picked up a dart to throw at the target, which had Gilliam's photo on it and was now reduced to a tattered rag.
Just then, a female cadet of the Crown Prince faction hurried over.
“Your Highness! Everchess—”
“If you're about to tell me Everchess killed or saved someone again, I'll throw this dart between your eyes.”
The female cadet fell silent.
Roderick sighed.
“…Which was it this time?”
“I heard he killed someone.”
“Who?”
He didn't think he'd be surprised by any name at this point.
“They say it was someone ranked tenth in a heretical group called the <Cult of the Abyss>.”
“….”
That wasn't just any name.
“He was attacked while doing a gathering quest a professor gave him outside the academy, and he heroically protected Cadet Maron, who was with him—”
Roderick's expression darkened.
“Heroically?”
“Ahem!”
The female cadet cleared her throat.
For the record, this cadet's name was Terry Marizia.
When she'd been attacked by a large poison-using Void creature, Gilliam had given her an antidote herb, but she'd trampled it and ended up licking dirt in a humiliating state.
Later, she'd brought him chocolate as an apology, only to see him putting collars on women and training them inside his home. Horrified, she'd run away. She was one of those two women.
“I was so distracted by Your Highness's impressive appearance that I misspoke. I apologize, Your Highness.”
Roderick's expression brightened again.
“Really? Hm, I see.”
Terry was relieved, glad that His Highness was stupid.
“Anyway… since Everchess defeated the heretic, they're going to hold another—”
She watched his face as she relayed the news.
“They say the commendation committee is going to convene. The expected reward is between 3 and 5 points….”
“…Heh.”
“…Your Highness?”
“Heh, heh heh. Heh heh heh heh…! Heh heh heh heh heh heh!! Hwahahahaha!!”
Laughing, Roderick pounded his own thigh over and over, then…
“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
He picked up the container of darts and hurled it straight at the target.
The darts spilling everywhere seemed to reflect the chaos in his heart.