Vol. 7 Ch. 15: Meanwhile, Cyril Ashley Was Sneezing

The match between Serendia Academy and Minerva in the chess tournament ended with Monica winning the opening match and Minerva taking the middle match. With one win apiece, the anchor match would decide the outcome.

That anchor match, too, was nearly over, but Lana couldn't stop worrying about Monica, far more than about the chess game.

After Barney Jones of Minerva lost to Monica and stormed out of the venue, Monica quietly left a little while later, too. She had probably gone after Barney.

Lana was worried that Barney might take his anger out on Monica or say something cruel to her again.

Cyril and Neil seemed to have gone to the waiting room to see what was happening, so probably nothing too serious had occurred, but Lana had a strange, uneasy feeling in her chest.

While this was going on, Neil, who had left his seat, returned. Rather than go back to his own seat, he approached Felix at a brisk pace and whispered something in his ear.

(...Vice President Ashley isn't with him?)

The fact that Cyril wasn't there and Neil's grim expression only heightened Lana's anxiety.

At that moment, the anchor match ended. The winner was Elliot Howard. Serendia Academy had won, two matches to one.

After this, there was supposed to be a short break, followed by the match between the academy and Minerva... but.

"Sorry to interrupt just after the match ended. I'd like everyone to listen."

Felix rose to his feet and called out loudly.

His usual gentle, serene smile was nowhere to be seen.

"I've received information that there is an intruder in the academy."

Lana was left speechless by the unexpected words. Everyone there was equally shocked. They all wore anxious expressions.

As if to calm them, Felix softened his tone slightly.

"Please, rest assured. The intruder has already been apprehended, and guards are stationed outside this room. However, I would like the guards to patrol the academy as a precaution, so please remain here for a little while."

Felix's words caused everyone to murmur uneasily. Even so, perhaps because they had been told guards were outside the room, no one panicked.

(Wait, what about Monica? What happened to Monica, who isn't in this room?)

Just as Lana was about to speak, someone quietly approached their seats. It was Neil.

Neil beckoned Lana, Claudia, and Glenn over with a "May I have a word?" then lowered his voice and whispered.

"Miss Norton happened to be there when the intruder was apprehended."

Glenn almost cried, "What!?" but Neil swiftly clapped a hand over his mouth. Lately, Neil seemed to be getting better and better at silencing Glenn.

Neil said, "Shh," for emphasis, then continued.

"Fortunately, Miss Norton isn't injured, but I think she may be in shock... Could you all stay with her?"

"Where is Monica now?"

When Lana asked in a rush, Neil answered in a low voice so the others couldn't hear.

"The infirmary."

Thus, at Neil's request, Lana, Claudia, and Glenn secretly slipped out of the venue and headed to the infirmary under guard escort.

"Monica, are you in there?"

After knocking and peeking inside the infirmary, they found no school nurse. Instead, Monica was perched on a chair.

—wearing nothing but a man's jacket over her underwear.

Lana tackled Glenn at lightning speed and shoved him out of the infirmary, then slammed the door shut, leaving only herself and Claudia inside. Glenn's "That's so mean!" could be heard from the hallway, but they had more important things to worry about now.

Monica did not seem particularly bothered that Glenn had seen her in her underwear. Still seated, she looked up at Lana unconcernedly. "Oh, Lana."

Lana strode over to Monica and asked in a trembling voice.

"...Monica, whose jacket is that?"

"Um, Cyril-sama lent it to me..."

Lana covered her face with both hands and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Vice President Ashley!"

"Huh? L-Lana...?"

"And to leave a girl dressed like this all alone and go somewhere else... You're the worst!"

As Lana cried out in anguish, Monica anxiously lowered her brows.

Claudia alone remained calm. She looked at the wet uniform hanging in a corner of the room, her expression suggesting that she had figured out more or less what had happened.

"...As if that blockhead were capable of something like that."

"But...! In this situation, what else was I supposed to think!?"

As Lana shouted with bloodshot eyes, Claudia pointed to the uniform hanging in the corner. When Lana looked at it, her eyes widening in confusion, Monica murmured quietly.

"Um, you see... My uniform got wet, and I was cold, so I took it off to dry. But I didn't know how to take off the corset by myself... I'm so glad you came, Lana..."

"..."

Lana fell silent for a while, but eventually raised her head and fixed Monica with serious eyes.

"...You're not hurt?"

"No."

"Nothing hurts?"

"No."

When Monica nodded repeatedly, Lana crouched down on the spot and let out a deep sigh of relief.

＊　＊　＊

After Lana helped Monica remove her corset, Monica took off her soaking-wet underwear and changed into the simple nightclothes kept in the infirmary.

Frankly, she was so cold she could hardly stand it, so she borrowed a thin blanket from one of the beds and draped it over herself.

Claudia silently held out a tin mug. Apparently, she had prepared a hot drink for Monica.

Monica gratefully accepted it and took a sip, then pressed her lips into a straight line and froze.

"S-spicy... ngh..."

"...It has ginger, chili peppers, and citrus peel. It'll warm you up."

The mixture seemed designed solely to warm the body, with no consideration given to taste, but sure enough, as Monica sipped it little by little, warmth gradually spread through her body from within.

When Monica breathed out a soft sigh, Glenn, who was finally allowed back into the room, asked:

"So, what happened, anyway? The student council president said there was an intruder or something."

Monica agonized for a while over how much she should tell them.

Apparently, the people at the chess tournament venue had been informed about the intruder, too. If so, sooner or later, whatever Monica knew would become the subject of rumors.

(...Maybe I should keep quiet about the assassin disguising themself as a Minerva teacher.)

Thanks to Barney's quick thinking, Monica was, as far as anyone there knew, just a bystander caught up in the incident.

The assassin probably hadn't realized that Monica had attacked them with magic without an incantation. If Barney backed up that story, Monica could continue her school life a little longer.

There was only one thing Monica couldn't understand.

(...Why did Barney protect me?)

Even though he had hated Monica so much.

Even though he had mocked her for playing at being a student as though she had it easy.

At the very end, Barney had lied so that Monica's true identity would not be exposed.

──You should spend the rest of your life thanking me.

(I've been grateful to Barney ever since the first time we met.)

Still unable to understand him, Monica sighed and began explaining what had happened in halting snippets.

"...Um, Barney... I followed Minerva's anchor player to the waiting room, and he was in the middle of fighting an assassin..."

"I see, so you got caught up in it? And your clothes are soaking wet because of water magic or something?"

"Yeah, it was a spell that trapped me in a sphere of water..."

When Monica explained that was why her uniform was wet, Claudia stared intently at her with unreadable eyes.

"...You nearly got poisoned at a tea party, got caught up in a collapsing pile of lumber, and now you've encountered an assassin... What a fulfilling school life. Maybe you should have the church check whether you're cursed."

"Ugh..."

The attempted poisoning at the tea party aside, the latter two incidents had both been connected to assassination attempts against Felix. As his bodyguard, it was only natural that Monica had been present at the scene, but from an outsider's perspective, it probably looked as though she had unbelievably bad luck.

Actually, she couldn't deny that she might be a little... rather... incredibly unlucky.

As Monica once again contemplated the depth of her bad luck, Glenn muttered while swinging his legs carelessly from his chair.

"So, does this mean the chess tournament's gonna be canceled after all? Even though Monica won..."

Lana nodded at Glenn's mutter.

"That would be the sensible thing to do. There are few students here today because it's a holiday, so the disturbance has been contained to this level, but starting tomorrow, it'll become a huge uproar."

"Then does that mean the school festival will be canceled too?"

Lana's face fell at Glenn's question.

"There are only four days left until the school festival. If something like this happens just four days beforehand, of course they'll cancel it..."

Lana, who had been in charge of the school festival's stage costumes, seemed deeply dejected. It was only natural; everyone had been looking forward to the festival.

Glenn also drooped his shoulders in disappointment and said, "Guess that's how it's gonna be..."

But unexpectedly, Claudia denied their concerns.

"...The school festival will go ahead."

She was not saying this in a tone meant to encourage Lana and Glenn.

With her usual gloomy expression, Claudia stated categorically that the school festival would proceed, as though announcing a depressing fact.

Glenn and Lana objected, looking puzzled.

"But there was just an assassination attempt on the Second Prince, wasn't there?"

"Normally, they'd cancel it out of concern for the prince's safety."

Their point was perfectly reasonable. But Claudia muttered with an expression that made it clear she found explaining tiresome.

"...Duke Clockford will force the school festival to go ahead, no matter what."

Duke Clockford—the powerful nobleman who was Felix's maternal grandfather.

He was the person who secretly ruled Serendia Academy, and everyone knew that the academy was under the duke's control.

But would Duke Clockford really force the festival to go ahead even if it meant disregarding the safety of the Second Prince he supported?

Monica timidly asked Claudia.

"Um, er... Duke Clockford is the Second Prince's backer, right? Then wouldn't he put His Highness's safety first...?"

...Duke Clockford isn't that kind of person."

Monica had never met Duke Clockford in person, so she knew him only by reputation.

According to Louis Miller, he was "a ruthless, ambitious man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals."

The security will be tightened, but the school festival will definitely be held. Because the festival is the Second Prince's public debut. Duke Clockford will certainly prioritize that debut over the prince's safety... and the Second Prince will not refuse. Not while that Second Prince remains Duke Clockford's puppet."

The Second Prince was Duke Clockford's puppet—that was the very phrase Casey had used.

Yet Monica could not shake the feeling that the word "puppet" did not suit Felix at all.

With a strange unease stirring in her chest, Monica took another sip from her cup.

She could only hope that the shivers running down her spine were caused by the cold—and nothing else.