Chapter 17
Bellatrix drilled warning after warning into Belver before sending him off to meet Roho.
She was even more intense than usual because Roho was the person she hated most.
She went so far that even Belver, who usually humored her in everything, was inwardly shouting, Enough already!
She’d been at it ever since he told her about meeting Roho yesterday and said he wanted to see her again today.
Bellatrix knew she was overdoing it, too, and decided this really would be the last time.
Not that she was going to stop; she just had to give him one final warning.
“Commoner. If she tries anything weird, don’t hesitate to slap her. Got it?”
“She wouldn’t do anything like that?! I’ll just talk to her.”
“I’m worried. She’s a real black-hearted snake.”
Belver understood perfectly.
He’d felt yesterday how Roho kept drawing him into her rhythm.
Today, he’d come prepared by practicing with Bellatrix so he wouldn’t get caught off guard.
They might have different methods, but both of them were equally good at pulling him in.
It was just that he always ended up getting completely swept along, and then there’d be an explosion followed by a lecture.
In truth, it wasn’t practice so much as getting beaten up in advance.
“Oh, right. Your period’s due soon, so be prepared.”
“Th-that’s sexual harassment!!”
“I warned you, didn’t I? Don’t cling to me and cry like last time.”
“Just go already!”
Belver thought back to the day he’d gotten his first period and blushed furiously.
He’d been so shocked that he’d burst into tears in Bellatrix’s arms when she came running over, startled.
He really hated that such a terrible day was coming around again.
After living his whole life as a man, the feeling of realizing he could give birth to a baby was truly strange.
It was as if a femininity he’d never had before were suddenly welling up inside him.
Even though he’d never have a child.
Besides, once it started, his head would get all fuzzy and he’d start acting strange. He hated it.
“Ugh. I’d only just managed to forget.”
As Belver headed for the Spring Garden, he resented Bellatrix.
He’d worked so hard to forget that memory, and she’d brought it up so mischievously.
She’d already explained everything last time, so he knew his period was coming soon.
She’d known that perfectly well when she said it.
He was sure of it.
Judging by how cheerfully she’d smiled, she’d definitely brought it up on purpose just to treat him like a little girl!
Bringing up periods to a girl was harassment!
He trembled and let out a deep sigh, dreading the approaching hours of fear and despair.
“Why are you sighing again?”
“Eep!”
“Oh! You held it in a little this time, didn’t you?”
“Cut it out already.”
As he walked along grumbling about how much he didn’t want to go, Roho had somehow come up beside him and startled him again without making a sound.
Since it was already the third time, Belver managed to suppress the little girl inside him a bit.
If the first time had been more of a “Peep?!” this time he’d only managed a “Peep!”
He wasn’t such a hopeless fool that he couldn’t improve after being caught off guard twice already.
But the result was still that he’d squeaked, so he shot her a resentful glare.
Roho, the target of his glare, just beamed as if she were enjoying the whole thing.
Even though he knew she was secretly cooking up some strange scheme behind that smile, it was hard to say anything to her.
Belver wasn’t the sort of person to spit in a smiling face without so much as blinking.
And even if he did, he’d immediately feel bad and wipe it off himself.
“So, what should we do now? Have you got anything in mind?”
“No.”
“Then come with me. Let’s go to a lecture together. You never come.”
“Shall we?”
“Exactly. Students should attend lectures. I go even though I already know everything.”
Since Belver had wanted to attend a lecture anyway, he nodded right away.
The last lecture hadn’t been especially substantial, but it was fun just to listen to a subject that didn’t exist in his world.
Now that it was the middle of the semester and exams were just around the corner, he couldn’t help hoping this one might be interesting in its own way.
A bright curve of a smile appeared on his face.
Roho was so pleased by the clear, warm smile curving Belver’s lips that she giggled to herself.
It felt as if she’d finally found someone she could spend time with instead of always wandering around alone.
All the students in the Department of Magic treated her like a superior, after all.
The people she could call friends were the children of other Mage Tower Masters, but aside from Bellatrix, none of them were at the academy right now.
She’d always wanted to get close to them and kept tagging along, but she’d failed every time.
Roho thought it was nice that she’d finally found a chance to become friends with someone.
‘Love really is amazing. A simple emotion—not magic or a miracle—can change someone this much. Maybe love itself is the real miracle?’
Roho was deeply grateful to Belver, Bellatrix’s lover.
Thanks to him, she mistakenly believed Bellatrix had opened up to her.
It was a complete misunderstanding, but if it made three people happy, then it was a good one.
Bellatrix was happy not to be pestered by Roho, Belver was happy to have a friend, and Roho was happy to have a friend, too.
No one was unhappy.
As Belver listened to Roho’s one-sided chatter about everyday life, they arrived at the lecture hall before he knew it.
The moment Roho and Belver entered the lecture hall together, the room froze.
It was a warm, friendly scene they’d thought they’d never see in their lives.
To people who’d spent their whole lives studying the unknown, this looked like an unknowable mystery they could never prove.
“Do you like sitting up high?”
“If I sit here, no one can see me.”
“But I can see you. Is that not okay?”
“You’d look even if I said no.”
“If you tell me not to look, I won’t.”
Belver was flustered when Roho really did turn her gaze to the blackboard and nothing else.
He’d answered brusquely to keep up his Bellatrix act, but deep down, he’d enjoyed talking to her.
He’d loved how the conversation kept flowing without a break.
A chilly feeling crept down the back of his neck, and he shivered.
He’d be in trouble if she was angry.
Of course, Roho had seen all of it.
It was a timid little revenge for all the times she’d had to beg him for attention.
Bellatrix’s withered social skills, after never having any relationships with people at all, looked adorable to her.
“You can look, though….”
At last, Belver gathered his courage and relented first.
It was really embarrassing.
He’d just told her not to look, and now he was taking it back.
His voice burrowed deeper into a hole, like an ant trying to build its home farther underground.
There was no reason for Roho to refuse this.
She immediately turned her head, nodded, and smiled brightly.
She was just so cute.
Was this really the same Bellatrix who used to hurl ice shards at him at lightning speed just for looking at her, telling him to lower his eyes?
“No take-backs, okay?”
“Yeah.”
The other students listening to their conversation thought,
What on earth am I hearing?
Most students in the Department of Magic were nobles, and many knew about Bellatrix and Roho’s relationship.
For those two to be so affectionate—or rather, for Bellatrix, who had always pushed Roho away, to be the one drawn toward her instead…
The rumors that Bellatrix had changed because she was in love seemed to be turning into fact.
“Aren’t you listening to the lecture?”
“I already know all this. It’s more fun watching Bella.”
“You said students should attend lectures.”
“I am listening right now, aren’t I?”
Belver was speechless.
Wasn’t that the exact logic of, since you lost it, it wasn’t yours, but since I found it, it was mine?
And although it was wrong in spirit, it was technically correct by the definition of the words, leaving him even less to say.
He hadn’t known she was this kind of person.
The Roho he knew always smiled brightly, but inside was her true self, tired from putting on an act.
So why was she bringing out her mischievous true self from the start?
He wished she’d put her mask on, for once.
Getting teased by mischievous pranks was enough from Bellatrix alone.
“I’m going to listen.”
“You already know all this, right? Just have a nice little chat with me and let the lecture be white noise.”
“No.”
Belver wanted to listen to the lecture and chat amiably with her.
So for now, he pretended to refuse while continuing to answer her.
This was exactly the kind of goofing off with a friend during class he’d always wanted to experience at least once.
“What do you think of what the professor’s saying?”
“It seems pretty good.”
“Right? Our professor is from the Red Mage Tower.”
“I see.”
“Wow, you really are like a different person. Would I change like Bella if I fell in love, too?”
The lecture was pretty helpful to Belver, so he was listening intently.
He would’ve stayed focused if that sudden comment hadn’t startled him.
When she suddenly said he seemed like a different person, he felt oddly called out and broke into a cold sweat.
Roho had only meant it figuratively, but she’d accidentally hit the nail on the head.
“Can’t you answer me? Just how much do you love her to have changed this much?”
“No.”
“Please~”
They weren’t lovers to begin with, so how could he possibly be so in love?
He figured he should give her some kind of answer, or she’d keep asking, so he’d give her something vague.
Love didn’t only mean romantic love.
If he counted platonic affection as love, then Belver loved Bellatrix a great deal.
First, Belver conjured up an imaginary Bellatrix in his mind to gauge just how much he loved her.
He carefully studied the Bellatrix he’d imagined while observing his own feelings, too.
“?!”
At that moment, the imaginary Bellatrix began moving on her own.
She scooped Belver up, sat him on her lap, and ruffled his hair over and over from behind.
Faced with this impossible scene, he hurriedly shook his head again and again to send the imaginary Bellatrix flying away.
The emotional blow made his face flush red with a pop.
Of all the tiny things he’d unconsciously wished Bellatrix would do, this was the one that had come true—and at the worst possible moment.
Even when he tried to picture her again, all he could see was that scene, making it impossible to continue.
Watching from beside him, Roho decided she didn’t need to hear his answer after all.
After seeing that, what did it matter how much he loved her?
She just hoped the man wasn’t a bastard.
“Nothing indecent….”
“It’s okay. I get it, so you don’t have to tell me.”
“Nothing indecent….”
“Pardon…?”
“Anything lewd is punishable by death….”
Roho found herself curious about what on earth their love life was like, but at the same time, she no longer wanted to know.