Chapter 169
A week had passed since the duel incident.
The talk surrounding the duel had finally died down, and the dishonorable rumors about Monica and Glen had also begun to settle.
As Felix looked over some documents at his desk in the classroom, he muttered to himself that it had been the right decision to ask Eliane and Albert to make the necessary arrangements beforehand.
The duel incident could hardly be called a complete victory for the student council, but they had managed to keep Monica, so for the moment, it could be considered settled.
However, the other matter Felix was dealing with could hardly be called smooth sailing.
...That was the search for the Silent Witch.
"Your Highness."
Cyril, seated nearby, addressed Felix with a grim expression.
Cyril held a list in his hand. Lined up on it were the names of the female students at the academy and their accompanying attendants.
"Regarding the search for the girl who injured her left hand, well..."
"Yes, I know. What a mess."
When Felix glanced around the classroom, several girls took the opportunity to show off the bandages on their left wrists, deliberately picked things up with their left hands only to drop them, or even pressed their left hands and said things like, "Ow..."
Cyril frowned and looked down at the list in his hands.
"Furthermore, all the female students in this class have already been investigated."
"...Of course they have."
For once, Felix made no attempt to hide his disappointment and sighed.
The reason the search for the Silent Witch was proving so difficult was that the number of girls with injured left hands had suddenly increased over the past few days.
"Apparently, a strange rumor has been circulating around the academy. Supposedly, 'His Highness Felix wants to marry a girl with an injured left hand'..."
"Where did the rumor start?"
"I'm sorry. I investigated it, but I couldn't determine a definite source..."
According to Cyril, the rumor itself apparently had several variations.
One version claimed that His Highness had been targeted by an assassin, and that a passing young lady had shielded him and been injured. His Highness had supposedly felt responsible and wanted to marry her.
Another claimed that His Highness had been attracted to a girl who had injured her left hand while protecting an injured animal.
Yet another said there had been a prophecy that a girl with an injured left hand was the one best suited to become His Highness's wife.
...And so on. All the versions agreed that a girl with an injured left hand was a candidate to become His Highness's wife, but the rest varied so wildly that tracing the rumor back to its source was apparently difficult.
The duel incident fading from the public eye was also due to the influence of this new "boom."
(Apparently, it will be difficult to identify Lady Everette from her left-hand injury.)
Felix secretly let his shoulders sag, thinking that the clever Lady Everette must have started this rumor too.
＊ ＊ ＊
(Bridget-sama is amazing...)
As Monica walked down the hallway alone, she marveled at Bridget's abilities.
Just today, Monica had seen more than ten female students take off their left gloves and bandage their hands as they passed by.
The rumor Bridget had spread was something Monica could never have come up with, and even if she had, she probably would have found it difficult to put into action. The only reason the rumor had spread so far in just a few days was Bridget's influence.
Monica's left hand had recovered considerably, and at this rate, she should be able to use it normally within a few days. All she had to do was avoid making a blunder in front of Felix, and she could maintain the deception.
Perhaps because she was distracted by those thoughts, Monica failed to watch where she was going and collided with one of several male students approaching from the opposite direction. Though only her right shoulder was struck, Monica was so small that she easily fell on her rear.
"Eep...!"
The male student she had bumped into looked down at Monica with displeasure.
"Hey, isn't this that girl... from the student council?"
"Yeah, the one rumored to be Hubert Dee's mistress..."
"She'll take any man, right?"
Monica flinched and shrank back at the voices from above.
Although this sort of rumor had mostly died down, it seemed to have taken root as a distorted perception among some of the students.
The boys looking down at Monica were apparently among them.
Their eyes had the look of customers choosing a woman at a brothel.
"Dee's weird for liking a mousy little runt like this."
"Maybe she's got some good tricks in bed."
"Heh, then how about we try them out?"
Somehow, the conversation seemed to be heading in a very ominous direction.
Still sitting on the floor, Monica slowly backed away, but one of the boys stepped on the hem of her skirt.
"...Ah."
When Monica hurriedly tried to pull her skirt out from beneath his shoe, the boys burst into laughter, apparently finding it amusing.
"Um... could you move your shoe, please...?"
"You're not even a noble, and you're ordering us around?"
When Monica's throat trembled with a tiny squeak, the boys laughed again, as if they were laughing at an insect with its legs torn off.
Monica knew that kind of laughter. She had experienced it many times when she was at Minerva.
Back then, Bernie had come to her rescue, but now Monica had to manage on her own.
(I-I need to raise my voice... at times like this...)
She knew that in her head, but her throat tightened, and all that came out was a pathetic wheeze.
Even so, Monica desperately moved her trembling lips.
"S-stop, p-please...!"
"Mmm, mm, mm, mmm?"
At that moment, a familiar humming voice came from behind the boys.
The moment Monica realized who it was, the boy who had been stepping on her skirt was kicked behind the knee and sent rolling helplessly down the hallway.
"W-what the hell...!?"
Hubert Dee rammed the sole of his shoe into the shouting boy's mouth and curled up the corner of his lips in a grin.
"Mm-mm-mm, that's no good. My foot slipped. If I put my weight down like this... I might break a few teeth, huh?"
The boy whose mouth was blocked by Hubert's shoe went pale, while the other two male students slowly backed away.
"Whoops, now my finger slipped."
When the finger bearing his ring clicked, the other two male students were surrounded by a ring of flaming arrows.
This is the worst, Monica thought, turning pale.
She had thought she was surrounded by bullies, but somehow an even more vicious bully had appeared.
And Hubert Dee was not just any bully. He was an exceptionally dangerous and vicious delinquent.
One of the male students targeted by the flaming arrows cried out in terror.
"I-I'm sorry. I apologize for touching your mistress. So..."
"Mistress? Oh, come on now! She isn't some cheap woman, you know?"
Still grinding the man's face beneath his shoe, Hubert swiveled his head around and looked down at Monica.
"Hey, Monica. Tell me to beat the crap out of these guys, like you're ordering your lapdog. Then your good little mad dog will bite the bad guys to death for you, yeah?"
"S-stop! Please stop, Dee-senpai...!"
When Monica cried out, Hubert gave a cruel little chuckle in his throat.
"She says stay. Such a kindhearted owner. I'm moved to tears."
As Hubert lifted his shoe from the man's face, a clear, dignified voice rang out behind him.
"What are you doing there?"
A beautiful young noblewoman, Bridget Graham, approached them without a single attendant, her gleaming golden hair streaming behind her.
Even in this situation, Bridget showed no fear as she glared at Hubert.
"Answer me, Hubert Dee. What is going on here?"
"Just an accident. My foot and finger slipped a little... right?"
When Hubert looked at the male students as if seeking their agreement, they all nodded in unison. Their faces plainly said they wanted to leave immediately.
Bridget looked down at Hubert and the male students with a cold gaze.
"I see. If this was an accident, then take responsibility and carry the people you dragged into it to the infirmary."
"Well, you heard her."
When Hubert turned his gaze toward the male students, the boys who had been so bold a moment ago all tried to flee at once.
Two of the three managed to get away, but the boy whose face Hubert had stepped on was too slow to react, and Hubert grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"Come on, let's go to the infirmary. Mm-mm, shall I nurse you back to health?"
"Aah! Stop, let go of me!"
The male student cried out miserably, his behavior now utterly different from the arrogant way he had treated Monica.
Unable to bear watching, Monica timidly spoke up.
"Um... Dee-senpai, please don't be rough with him."
Hubert grinned and, still holding the male student by the scruff of his neck with one hand, gave an exaggerated bow.
"As the queen commands."
With that, Hubert began walking toward the infirmary while humming to himself.
Watching Hubert's back disappear, Monica let out a deep, long sigh.
Still slumped on the floor, Monica brushed the footprint off her skirt with one finger, and Bridget held out a hand to her.
"If that is your lapdog, you ought to put a collar on him."
"Eek! N-no, no, no, no, no, absolutely not!"
Monica timidly took her hand, and Bridget pulled her to her feet.
Once they were standing close together, Bridget's beauty was even more striking, and she smelled wonderful. Bridget possessed the poise and elegance that made Monica think this was what people meant when they spoke of a beauty everyone admired.
"Do you have some time after this? Would you care to have tea with me, Miss Monica Norton?"
Bridget made the proposal with a friendly smile.
But the quiet gleam deep in her amber eyes said otherwise.
Today marks one week since our promise...
Monica gulped and nodded.
"I-I accept."
"Oh, wonderful!"
Bridget clasped her hands together and smiled radiantly, looking utterly charming, but her amber eyes were still not smiling.