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Episode 5:
I Am a Third-Year Student Now
THE ACADEMIC YEAR CAME TO AN END AND I became a third-year student at the Academy of the Magical Arts. Seasons changed and it was now early summer, just a few months away from my ninth birthday. I would be a big girl once I turned nine! I wouldn’t let anyone call me a little girl anymore.
As for things that had changed, at long last it seemed that people had finally gotten used to me, and now my classmates actually said hello to me! It had taken over two years, but finally!
Though, thinking about it, maybe it was all thanks to the ten or so people that Fanny got to know on the first day she transferred to the school? Possibly? Or maybe it was because I was more mature now? Maybe this meant I was about to reach the age where I got to enjoy more romantic attention than usual! This was about the age that Noah and Nia both started regularly receiving letters and people confessing their love to them. That hadn’t happened to me or Tina yet, though.
As for me and Rick, that turned out to be nothing.
But why had he been acting that way? Was it just because he really thought of me as a little sister? Even though he was being so pushy about it? I just don’t get that dummy.
Е́ n ũ m а̀
I asked Shelly if boys acted weird around her too and she said, “It’s your punishment for being so beautiful!” along with a bunch of other stuff that made no sense to me, so it didn’t help me solve this mystery. Perhaps I could claim innocence because I was of unsound mind? But I was glad that I hadn’t gone and asked Rick directly. He would have been really hurt to have been so misunderstood.
I doubted that Rick would ever come see me at school, lie in ambush for me, or roughly grab my hand and drag me away anymore.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Hey!”
I was too quick to let my guard down. Damn.
Tina was accompanying me as I was heading to the salon to skip—I mean, take a break from classes—when someone called out to me in such a crude way.
There was only one person in the entire kingdom who would dare to address me like that.
We b̈nо̊ v ѐ l̆ Ёn u.m ӑ
“Big Brother Ludoric.”
Rick was essentially the kind of self-centered guy who had a huge ego, so he barged straight toward me, leaving his guards and attendants behind. However, there was something different about him today—or perhaps I should say there’d been something different about him in general lately.
He reminded me of a mercenary who had encountered a strong monstrosity and then wound up gathering a train of them as he ran away. Though in Rick’s case, it was a train of girls.
“Was he not aware of it?” one might ask. He was royalty after all, so it was only natural for him to have all kinds of followers. The way he was so popular yet so utterly oblivious made me mad.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Oh, the numbers just kept growing.
Until a few years ago, he’d just been a cheeky brat, but he was twelve now. He must have also been starting to grow into our bloodline or something, because he was so tall now that I had to look up at him.
W̄eb̌nо̄v̇ ё l̈ Е̂ṅúṁ а̄
“Yulucia, come with me.”
“Huh?”
Was he not aware of the current situation? The girls who had been breathlessly trying to keep up with his quick pace now realized he was talking to a girl and were directing their hateful radio waves of jealousy at me.
I couldn’t blame them, though. Rick was so huge, they probably couldn’t see who I was.
“Did you all need something from us?” I made my presence known and the girls practically jumped backward.
“Eek!”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Eek”? I may look scary, but no one has ever had that kind of reaction before.
Oh, it must be because of the bloodlust Tina was emanating behind me in reaction to Rick’s behavior. There really was no helping that girl. I smiled in an attempt to reassure them.
“Hey, uh, come on.”
“Huh?”
Rick looked really anxious about something as he proceeded to ignore the frozen girls and start leading me somewhere by the hand.
“You’re grabbing my arm again!”
È ṅ.ūṁă .іd
“Oh, be quiet.”
What was going on? Surely he knew he was crossing the line. Thinking that Tina might make a fuss again, I glanced back at her, but now even Tina was making a face just like his.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
But why?!
Rick brought me straight to the entrance of the salon that only us higher nobility could patronize, looking around to make sure that no one else was here before he scrutinized my face. “Yulucia, has something been bothering you lately?”
“Huh?”
Why was he asking me that? Did I look bothered? Maybe I had seemed annoyed by Tina and the girls, but then why did Rick seem fine? I couldn’t be sure, but maybe I had done something that made me look unhuman? I felt around my face with my free left hand and then glanced at Tina. She nodded several times, sighing with relief.
W̆ еb̌_n ǒ v е̄ l Е n ŭ.m̊ ӑ
I must have been making a weird face, then.
Rick also looked relieved. “There, you look back to your normal self now.”
“My normal self? What do I look like normally?”
“Uhhh, sleepy?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
What? Look, that’s just because I inherited my father’s slightly drooping eyes.
“What were you so upset about?” he asked.
Ẃ е̌b n̆ о̄ v̇êl _Ě ṅ ǔm̆à
“I don’t know.” And that was the truth. It wasn’t like I was that mad at Rick or anything. “Perhaps it’s because you have turned into a person of ill character who deceives girls.”
“Why do you think that?!”
“Because of the gaggle of girls accompanying you.”
“That isn’t my fault! They just follow me around without asking. Besides, I’d never do anything that would make you angr—”
“Hm?”
“Uh, never mind.” His ears turned faintly red as he looked away.
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He really was such an enigma to me.
“Anyway, how long do you intend to keep holding my hand?”
“Oh, oops.” He finally noticed that he was still holding my hand, but for some reason it still took him a second before he finally let me go.
I was such a soft and fragile girl. He was going to end up leaving a bruise, holding my hand so firmly. Such a pushy boy. It reminded me of my time back in the Demon Realm.
“Oh yeah, there was something I needed to talk to you about. Here, let’s go inside the salon.”
“Huh? Wait.”
W̆ë b̌ ǹо v_е l̀ _Е̌ ň u̇ṁа̌
Rick wound up grabbing my other hand this time and dragged me inside the room.
Why did fate surround me with so many aggressive people?
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“Don’t fall asleep.”
“I wasn’t.”
Yeesh, just what was everyone’s impression of me?
I sighed as I sipped the bright red tea that Tina had made for us.
Е́n̂ u m̊ ӓ .і d_
As an attendant, Tina wouldn’t have normally been allowed to come in here, but there would have been all kinds of problems if a boy and girl were alone in a room together, even if they were just children, so she had special permission to wait on us.
Speaking of which, was it safe for humans to drink the kind of tea that I found delicious? Tina had made enough tea for Rick, as expected, but he was making choking sounds for some reason.
It was safe for them to drink too, right?!
“By the way, did you know that the Church of Kostor is building a new cathedral in Koltz?” Rick asked.
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What?
“They are?”
W̊е b́ ň о v̆_ě l̂ E n ǔ m̂а
This was what he’d dragged me in here to talk about? Not that it was a weird topic for conversation, but still.
“Yeah. That will make five cathedrals in Talitelud. The Crown and the reigning lord of that territory are splitting the construction costs.”
So the kingdom was funding it. Was that a good thing? Probably, since it was the kingdom’s official religion and all. As the Holy Kingdom, Talitelud had no separation of church and state.
In any case, the pontiff of the Church of Kostor had the influential voice of a cabinet minister, and authorizing something like that required approval not only from the church, but the king as well.
However, I still wasn’t sure why Rick had brought this up.
“Has something happened regarding this new cathedral?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Not yet. But probably today or tomorrow, Uncle—the Grand Duke of Versenia—will tell you that the newly appointed archbishop and the lord of Koltz have jointly signed a petition asking for you to visit as the next Saint and Princess of the Holy Kingdom.”
“Huh?” Go to Koltz? But why? Wasn’t Koltz really far to the north? Like, really far away. “I have no desire to travel so far from Toure, though.” Toure was my home base. I was only in the capital for school and had only just returned home from my last trip, so I disliked the idea of going somewhere so far away.
“I bet they’ll try to convince you to move there if they can. If you say no, though, they can’t force you.”
“I hope you’re right. What are they even expecting me to do there?”
“The same kinds of things you do here in the capital and in Toure sometimes: Use holy magic in front of the citizens, cure the very sick and injured, maybe preach before gatherings of people…though I bet that’d never happen.”
“Hmph.” Was he poking fun at me? I puffed up my cheeks and tried to whack him, but he laughed and easily dodged my attack. Then his expression turned serious.
E ň ü m а
“Regardless, this is a request from an archbishop and a lord who rules over a large territory. Uncle will not be able to refuse it either. You’re probably going to end up having to go.”
“Well, I guess I can go if it’s just for a few weeks.” I would say no if they wanted me there for a year, but a few weeks including travel time was no different from a trip.
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However, Rick was giving me a weary look for some reason. “Yulucia, you know you’re the Princess of Versenia, right?”
“Uh, what about it?” Huh? Did I miss something? I glanced at Tina, but she looked as confused as me.
“This is Koltz we’re talking about here! Koltz! It’s part of Duke Capell’s lands, and he’s basically Uncle’s political rival!”
“Oooh.”
Ën̊ u m a. i.ḋ
If I remembered correctly, that was Mr. Zesh’s family. He was one of the members of the Glimmering Darkness or Whatever Society whom I had healed. Tina quietly clapped her hands together in recognition as well.
“You remember now? And considering who the guy is, who knows what kinds of things he’s going to say to you if you go? And it happens to overlap with a time when Uncle is away on a diplomatic trip too. I doubt Uncle will want you to go to a place like that all by yourself.”
I understood now. Rick was worried that Duke Capell was up to something nefarious. And since he was a duke and requesting me as the “Princess of the Holy Kingdom”—the face of the kingdom—the royal family couldn’t say no just because they thought the request was suspicious. This situation was all Grandfather’s fault for throwing that job at Father. However…
“If I remember correctly, Lord Capell and Father are on bad terms with one another,” I said with a carefree smile. Sorry for not remembering. I had completely disregarded the man.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
In any case, this invitation was a bold move. I was kind of looking forward to going now.
“Why are you so…?” Rick massaged his temple, like he had a headache. And then it seemed like he had made up his mind about something as he looked at me again. “If you’re going, then I’m going with you.”
W̄ ēb̀nо̃v̂е l̀ Е n̆ ûm̌ӓ
“What?” I asked after a pause. Why, oh why had it come to this? “Um, I’m sure that I will be fine on my own.” Is he intending to come along as a chaperone?! Ugh, no thanks. Despite my thoughts, I kept calm and inclined my head with a puzzled look.
Rick shook his head at me. “Maybe you just didn’t know since Uncle has been protecting you, but some nobles out there are capable of doing terrible things on a fancy stage while laughing about it. But you should just go on imagining that the world is a pretty place. That’s what Uncle wants—and me too.”
“Oh, Big Brother Ludoric.” Saying stuff like that is sure to give girls the wrong impression, you know.
Yikes. Was he actually one of those himbos who were oblivious about how charming they were? In any case, I understood what he was trying to say. Rick wanted to be a shield to protect my honor and heart against the evil intentions of Duke Capell, who was sure to try to bring about my downfall in a place where Father could not protect me. Perhaps my calling him “Big Brother Ludoric” had given rise to these brotherly emotions within him.
Oh, Rick. You’re so dumb. If I’m in danger, then as my shield, that would mean you’re in danger too.
Oh, well. I would just have to protect Rick too, then.
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There was still that human world with overflowing light I had so longed for.
I loved Father and Mother too. It was so much fun I hardly ever got bored of it, yet when something suddenly made me think of the Dark Beast, I started feeling a bit lonely.
What had he been up to? Was he still mad at me?
Oh… I guess I miss him.
Regardless, I had zero intentions of apologizing to him or going back!
After all, human malice was my favorite food, so what was I to do?
Enüm̄à
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