Prologue: Two Weeks After the Incident in the Forest (Sienna)

“Sienna, shall we go?”

“Yes.”

As soon as we arrived at school, the homeroom instructors of each individual class—my first-year Class A included—herded their students into the Academy’s grand hall.

I followed the young noblewoman, the daughter of a count, who had called to me. By the time we arrived at the grand hall, most of the student body had already assembled.

Amid the crowd, I spotted Mihail’s golden hair and violet eyes.

Mihail Robur, the very picture of a hero plucked straight from whatever swashbuckling romance happened to be in vogue down at the harbor at the moment. He hadn’t really spoken to me in nearly two weeks, but he was still my dear older brother, and I was quite proud of him.

I saw that the rest of the student council officers had been gathered with him. Among them stood Heinz Asche, with his red hair and sky blue eyes. He had been absent from school for quite some time. I also noticed that my dear foster sister, Laviange Robur, was still absent. No doubt she was playing hooky again. I knew everything. Even though I had gone through all that trouble, using a few convenient lackeys, to send her to that horrible Poison Box Garden, the incompetent wretch had somehow managed to come back from the forest unscathed.

The hall was buzzing with whispered speculation. I could hear a few students talking nearby.

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Yeah. The reason we’ve all been called in today...”

“Think it’s to explain the accident?”

“It’s been two weeks already. The explanation’s well overdue.”

The buzz died down when the doors swung shut, after the arrival of the last trickle of students. It was silent by the time the elderly headmaster stepped onto the raised platform in front of us.

“Students, thank you for assembling this morning. I shall get straight to the point. Many of you are likely already aware that two weeks ago, during the joint training exercise between the second- and fourth-years, an incident occurred. One team was meant to be transferred to a designated training zone...but instead, they were accidentally sent to a location classified as an A-rank danger zone. Specifically, the cursed forest known as the Poison Box Garden.”

The headmaster paused as he looked out at the student body.

“As you know, all students were ordered to remain at home in the days that followed,” he continued. “That decision, regrettably, led to a flurry of rumors. First and foremost, we would like to apologize for the confusion. In light of the circumstances, and the details we have now confirmed, the Rovenia royal family, our Academy’s primary patron, has determined that an official explanation is in order. And so, to address you directly, His Highness has come in person.”

My heart skipped in a way I did not like. Because I knew. I knew exactly what had caused this incident.

As the headmaster stepped down, a tall young man with black-silver hair and crimson eyes took his place. The first prince. Even compared to my brother, he was a striking man. I couldn’t help but stare. It almost looked like he was glowing.

Prince Shua, the second prince who longed for my hand in marriage, was charming in his own way, of course. But he’d been absent from the Academy for some time now. The letters that used to come so frequently had stopped altogether.

If I were to take this as a sign, then perhaps...

Perhaps the one truly suited for a daughter of the Four Great Ducal Houses was...

“I am Regulus Rovenia. As you all know, a tragic incident occurred recently. Several students were killed or injured.”

His voice was beautiful. I was briefly entranced...until that last sentence struck like a slap.

After a moment of stunned silence, the hall erupted into a whispered frenzy once more.

“I knew it. It was that fourth-year—”

“You mean Enrique? The one pretending to be a nobleman?”

“No, wasn’t it Lady Twyla and Lord Lunach?”

“You’re mistaken. The Lunach heir survived. But they say he’s in such a grotesque state, you’d almost think it would’ve been kinder if he hadn’t...”

“His fiancée, Lady Datzia, said she wanted to stand by him anyway. But apparently, after talks between the two houses...”

“Wasn’t there a rumor he’d been infatuated with some first-year girl and neglecting her?”

My class, Class A, was full of high-ranking nobles, most of whom were quite experienced with gossip. The details were a bit too specific for comfort.

So that’s how it was... I’d never see those three again.

Well, it was the Poison Box Garden. Nothing to be done about that. Aside from my best friend, there was no one left who knew I was the one who’d used those three to orchestrate the accident. I let out a small, silent breath of relief.

Though there had been someone who’d asked me directly if I’d been involved. In fact...it was the girl I had followed here. And now she took a small, ever so subtle step away from me.

Well, I had been especially friendly with Enrique, who was...had been...a part of Prince Shua’s inner circle, and the two blond hangers-on who followed him like dogs. In fact, when Enrique was absent, Pechulim Lunach would sometimes come and stand quite close to me when we spoke.

His fiancée’s friends had warned me off more than once, so someone must have seen it. Honestly, what nonsense. Standing so close was nothing unusual among the commoners. They were being melodramatic.

Naturally, I had told the girl next to me I knew nothing, yet the nobles around me were still eyeing me with suspicion. How utterly unpleasant.

The whispers continued.

“Then the only ones who died were the fourth-years...”

“I heard the only fourth-year who came back unharmed was Lady Ujeera. She was always fair to everyone—not like the others.”

“I heard she teamed up with the second-years who made it out safely.”

“Hey... Weren’t those fourth-years the ones always hanging around the adopted girl...?”

“Shh! Now’s not the time for speculation.”

“But the second prince was always hanging around her too, and he hasn’t returned since the day of the incident either...”

You see, there’s another one throwing a nasty look my way!

The rumors about the incident had started spreading late last week. And, in just a matter of days, these turncoats had flipped on me completely. Thanks to them, I was being ostracized in my own class.

Even the student council members who I used to get along with, both upperclassmen and classmates, had all distanced themselves. When I asked what had become of the students involved in the incident, they claimed ignorance and maintained their distance from me. I had no way of obtaining information. Even though I was a member of one of the Four Houses!

However, I had gained one important piece of information. She had made it back unscathed. And she had moved into the sunniest wing on the estate—the one that was supposed to be reserved for Mihail, the next head of the family. I still remembered the fury I felt when I saw her waltzing around that wing like she owned the place, grinning like a fool.

And I had spotted workers hovering around that little hovel she lived in. Were they finally tearing it down?

One could only hope.

Prince Regulus continued with a commanding voice. “The details of the incident will remain, in part, undisclosed due to the involvement of several noble houses. However, in the course of investigating its cause, it became clear that a deep-rooted prejudice based on disparities in status and academic standing has taken hold within the Academy. This mindset contributed, in no small way, to what occurred.” His eyes narrowed. “Our Kingdom of Rovenia does maintain a social hierarchy, of course, but that does not grant anyone the right to demean or look down on others with impunity. Once you graduate, each of you will engage with the world in positions suited to your abilities and standing. Yet some among you have imperiled that bright future through your own actions, without even realizing the gravity of what you’ve done. It is this concern that has led the royal family to address you today, despite how little time has passed since the incident.”

As Prince Regulus spoke, a fourth-year boy raised his hand.

“Yes—you there,” the prince said, pointing at the boy. “Speak.”

Once granted permission, the boy rose hesitantly. “B-But we...we were simply following the lead of those who held the most influence in the Academy...” he said, scowling first at Heinz and then at me.

Excuse me?! Why was he looking at me?! And why was Heinz just sitting there, head in his hands, saying nothing? You’re one of Prince Shua’s aides, are you not? Raise your voice and defend me!

“That is correct,” Prince Regulus answered. “The royal family recognizes that Second Prince Joshua Rovenia, through his conduct and speech, was a significant influence in this. There were numerous instances in which he, alongside his companions, publicly mocked and degraded his betrothed, the first daughter of House Robur, labeling her untalented and incompetent as a Class D student.”

Prince Regulus?! What are you saying?!

All at once, every eye turned toward me.

How dare they look at me like that! I am a daughter of one of the Four Great Ducal Houses!

“In that case...”

“Even so,” the prince interrupted sharply, “that does not justify copying such behavior and turning it against those of lower standing or academic ability. In truth, the ones who committed such foolishness were only a small number.”

“S-Surely, that can’t be...” the boy murmured.

“Those of you who feel the weight of guilt, ask yourselves this: What proportion of this nation do we, the nobility and royalty, actually make up?” Prince Regulus had cut off the fourth-year entirely, letting the silence stretch as he swept his gaze across the entire hall.

What was he getting at? Proportion? Of course nobles were fewer than commoners. That was exactly why we were special, wasn’t it? Elite. Elevated. It was only natural for the privileged class to stand above the rest.

“We are protected by our birth,” he continued. “We are granted the right to wealth, and the means to multiply it. But how many among us can say that we are worthy of that privilege? What happens if the many beneath us no longer recognize that worth? Well, we know the answer. It was made clear years ago in a case between a small trading company and a noble family, was it not? Do you think we truly stand a chance against the masses we look down upon?”

A trading company and a noble in court... Yes, I remembered hearing something like that. It was when the Lyonoble Trading Company was still just a minor operation. They’d taken a noble to court.

But didn’t they end up withdrawing the case in the end?

I still didn’t quite grasp what Prince Regulus was driving at, but the fourth-year who had spoken earlier turned pale and let out a groan. He was acting as if the prince had just declared that nobility could lose—but that was impossible.

“The matter concerning Lady Robur, formerly betrothed to Joshua Rovenia, has already been settled privately,” Prince Regulus continued. “Appropriate reparations have been paid from Joshua’s personal estate.”

What?! He paid her money? A princely sum, no doubt! How unfair!

“Responsibility for investigating and resolving the matter within the Academy ought, by rights, to fall to the one involved. However, regrettably, he has taken ill. The royal physician has determined that Joshua requires an indefinite medical leave for recovery. Therefore, he has been forced to withdraw from his studies. Therefore, I will assume his place and will now serve as the head supervisor of all year groups.”

What?

Prince Shua was taking medical leave?

I instinctively turned to look at Heinz. His face had gone pale, his sky blue eyes wide and fixed on Prince Regulus.

This was the same Heinz who would always boast that he was Prince Shua’s right hand, a knight who had pledged his sword to his master. Surely he ought to have already known...right?

From that point on, I couldn’t take in another word of Prince Regulus’s speech. I think he declared the three who died or were injured to be the perpetrators, but I couldn’t focus. What mattered was this: Everything began to fall apart for me from that day forward.

The students who blamed Prince Shua for leading them astray began to turn their ire on us, the student council. As if we were responsible. He was the student council president, for goodness’ sake. It wasn’t like we chose to be around him all the time! And then, about a month later, Prince Regulus brought in royal investigators to probe deeper, claiming there might have been victims beyond Class D. He ordered a full inquiry and made us student council members assist with it. Naturally, those who were found responsible resented us. As if we had anything to do with it!

My days at the Academy, once filled with joy and the promise of becoming Prince Shua’s fiancée, became filled with pain.

And as for that wretched girl, her little hovel was completely renovated. Worse, Mihail himself cast protective and defensive wards, not only on the building, but even on the surrounding fence. Then he came to me and, in no uncertain terms, forbade me from going near either the shack or her.

Why was it only me who suffered?

Why must I bear all of this?

Everything was her fault. That incompetent, notorious villainess!

※※Aside: Before Summer Break—a Standoff (Lady Barliga)※※

“Well, well, don’t you seem happy. Heading home for the day?” I said as I caught sight of a head of pink-blonde hair bobbing across the school yard, emerging from the direction of the second-year Class D building. I couldn’t help the smile spreading across my face.

Without thinking, I touched the patchwork scrunchie that bound my dark blue hair. It was a limited item, only sold at the New Year’s festival by Class D—the class to which the girl I watched now belonged.

I was watching her from a second-story window. The school building I stood in now was the one closest to the courtyard, and had a particularly good vantage point over it.

As I watched her walk, I noticed another person of interest standing in the direction she was heading: a first-year with pink-brown hair, standing there as if lying in wait.

Well, now that I had seen it, it couldn’t be helped.

I quickly rose to my feet. A glance was all it took to signal to my friends who always accompanied me that they should stay where they were.

I made my way down to the first floor. I knew without looking that two young noblewomen would be following me. And I knew they would also be wearing scrunchies, though of different colors, to tie up their blonde and dark green hair.

Our objective was the pink-brown-haired girl: Sienna Robur, the second daughter of House Robur. One of the Four Great Houses, mind you—though she was a former commoner, now adopted nobility. Protocol demanded we address her as a proper lady.

I called out to her quietly from behind.

“It has been some time, Lady Sienna. Might we have a word?”

※※※※

We were able to move quickly thanks to the courtesy of Lady Formait, the marquess’s daughter among our number with the dark green hair. We relocated to the room she’d secured for us. I would owe her for this; I had forced her to cancel her plans with her friends, after all.

I sat down across the small tea table from the second daughter of House Robur and offered her a smile.

“While I am the eldest legitimate daughter of the distinguished House Barliga, your status as a daughter of House Robur, even though you are adopted, outranks me,” I said without dropping my smile. As the highest-ranking among my group, I was the one to speak first. “Yet, when you entered the Academy, I still went out of my way to give you advice as an upperclassman. After that, seeing that the second prince had taken an interest in you, I saw no further need to intervene”—I lifted the small folding fan I always carried to hide my mouth as I let out a pointed sigh—“so what a dreadful shame it’s come to this.”

I spoke gently, but I chose my words to cut.

While I spoke, the golden-haired daughter of House Datzia, lowest in rank among us, moved to pour the tea, then stepped back to stand behind me. That said, there was no rigid hierarchy within our group. Each of us was a prospective fiancée for one of the three princes of the kingdom, and we were thus of different factions. Of course, it wasn’t as if which prince we would be paired with had been decided, let alone if we would actually be paired with them...

Still, we would have no reason to gather like this on our own, normally. As the daughters of the leading houses of our respective factions, even being seen together too often would invite all manner of unsavory rumors. But I had received a discreet message from the first prince himself, and I suspected the other two had as well.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” the little adopted daughter in front of us asked. She looked up with a faltering smile, clearly trying to challenge us. Was she trying to present herself as a proper noblewoman who couldn’t be intimidated?

While her ambition to rival her older, legitimate sister was obvious to anyone with eyes, so was the fact that she hadn’t even drawn her notice. This was just a little girl attempting to imitate a lady whose grace she could not begin to match.

“Oh my, do you still not understand?” I kept my mouth hidden behind the fan, letting my brows draw together just slightly in displeasure.

That was enough to get a reaction. “Come now, there’s no need to be unpleasant,” she said. “Even now—”

“Even now, you remain the adopted daughter of House Robur,” I said, cutting her off. “Yes, I’m aware. And yet, rather than support the match between your elder sister and His Highness the Second Prince, you seem to have gone out of your way to pull them apart.”

“I—I didn’t pull anyone apart. My sister always hated putting in the effort, and then Prince Shua—”

“His Highness Prince Joshua,” I corrected her.

“But he asked me to call him—”

“Must I repeat myself?” I said, cutting her off once more. “Even if His Highness permits such familiarities, you are not his fiancée. And, moreover, unlike us, your name hasn’t even been mentioned as a candidate for the position.”

I hadn’t let her finish a single sentence, and when I emphasized the word us, her face twisted into a scowl.

“It is proper manners, as a noble lady,” I continued, “to use a familiar name only when in private company. You once accused your sister—which she is, even if only by adoption—of being uncultured. And yet she, at the very least, upholds the decorum expected of a noblewoman. And what of your own conduct?”

“You’re talking about my sister...?” the girl spat out in disbelief.

“You two noticed it too, didn’t you?” I asked the girls behind me, without turning.

“But of course,” they said in unison.

Just as I thought. These two were the real thing, so of course they would notice. Unlike the girl in front of me.

“One more thing. Just recently, we were personally asked by His Highness the First Prince to keep a close watch on Lady Robur, and, should the need arise, to correct the behavior of those around her. The request was made in the presence of none other than the heir of House Robur himself.” Indeed, without assurances from both parties, I would never have done what I was about to do now. “As candidates for marriage to the princes, we have been tasked with monitoring those involved with the incident, setting a proper example as nobles, and stepping in to guide them when necessary,” I continued coolly. “Furthermore, the recent misconduct by certain top students against those with lower scores is being taken very seriously by the high-ranking nobility to which we belong.”

Without saying it directly, I made the implication clear: that she, as one of the instigators, had failed utterly in her duties as a noble.

“Therefore, might I suggest that you remember your place as an adopted daughter of common birth?” I went on. “It reflects rather poorly when you continue to show such blatant disrespect to Lady Robur, the rightful daughter and heir of House Robur. One might begin to question your sense of decorum.”

The girl fell completely silent. I could only hope my words had managed, in some small way, to leave their mark.

“There were others, you know—beyond just the three of us—who have long looked askance at your behavior,” I went on. “And yet we deferred to Lady Robur, telling ourselves it was her place to handle these matters, since she was the second prince’s betrothed. In doing so, we neglected our duty as nobles. You can say we just acted as bystanders, as if it were not our business.”

The adopted daughter looked at me as though to say, And what of it? It seemed there was little hope for her after all.

“Let me frame it for you in another way. The truth is this: Lady Robur’s supposed incompetence was, in its own fashion, a form of competence. She mastered the art of retreat. Whenever you and your companions acted so shamelessly that even other students began to take offense, she made certain, before matters could ever escalate, that the hostility fell squarely on her alone. That kind of graceful evasion is not something just anyone can achieve.” Indeed, though it was plain for all to see that Lady Robur held no real affection for her fiancé, she still protected him. Even if it was only just enough to fulfill the bare minimum expected of a betrothed. “She may lack magical power and academic strength, and she may have fled from nearly every form of refinement and discipline, but even so, she fulfilled the bare minimum expected of her: to reprimand overreaching royalty, to prevent noble discontent from turning to open rebellion, and to shield the common folk where she could.”

“Just when did she do that?” the girl asked incredulously.

“Were you even aware that the prejudice against Class D had grown so severe, before the first prince pointed it out? It’s only intensified since you entered the Academy—no, since that incident in the school’s courtyard just before you entered.”

“You speak almost as if it were my fault,” she had the gall to say. “How hurtful.”

Astonishing, really. Was she not the very person who’d whispered the poison into the second prince’s ears, telling him that Lady Robur was using the Robur name to sway the school into unfairly funneling money into Class D? It was shameful the way she now feigned ignorance.

“I seem to recall you being the one shouting in the hallways like some tragic heroine in those tawdry novels that are so popular nowadays,” I chided her. “Your persecution complex is becoming so serious that I begin to worry for you, dear.”

“How cruel... To wound me like this—”

I could stomach no more. I cut her off mid-sentence, not bothering to mask my distaste. “I’ve seen enough crocodile tears and shallow attempts at flattery. The only ones deceived by such antics are men too blind to see someone’s true nature or other young ladies just as desperate to curry favor. You should have realized by now: Your fawning is vulgar and deeply unpleasant.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a touch excessive...?”

“Then let’s return to the matter at hand, shall we? The accident during the joint subjugation exercise.”

“Won’t you at least listen to—”

I turned to the girls behind me, making a show of asking, “Ah, it’s still being officially treated as an accident for now, right?”

“Yes, for now,” they answered.

The charming face in front of me gave an involuntary flinch. And that reaction said more than any words could. In that moment, I knew that my suspicion that the girl in front of me had a hand in the diverted teleportation spell to the Poison Box Garden had not been a baseless one.

“Has Lady Robur ever once deliberately harmed others the way your little clique has?” I asked. “Has she ever used her status to make unreasonable demands? Those listed in Class D’s list of aggressors seem to have believed that so long as their target was from Class D, especially her, then any cruelty would be excused. They said it was because they saw how you and your companions acted—no, how you threatened and intimidated her, day after day.”

“That’s— No, we never threatened—”

“We’ve collected testimony from the faculty as well. After all, your treatment of her was never subtle, was it? You went out of your way to humiliate her in full view of others.” The viciousness of her displays had been revolting to watch. “Yet, in spite of the danger they’ve faced, none of the students in that class suffered any serious injury. I found that rather strange. But according to the perpetrators, whenever they tried to harm those students deliberately, Lady Robur would appear nearby. She would always be wearing that smile and offer some pointed little remark.”

I imagined having her appear like that would have produced something akin to terror within the perpetrators.

“Then there’s the matter of the joint graduation project between last year’s seniors and Class 2D,” I went on. “The person who secured the involvement of the famous designer Moonshadow—yes, the one who refuses to design clothes for the nobility they detest—was none other than Lady Robur.”

“Wh-What? Moonshadow... That can’t be...” the girl said with a trembling voice.

So that rumor about her sniffing around for a connection to the elusive designer for years was true. And clearly, she’d been rebuffed.

“Another thing for your consideration,” I said. “During the ‘accident,’ the students were transported to none other than the infamously dangerous Poison Box Garden. And yet, all those who stayed close to Lady Robur came back unscathed. Now, I don’t need to inform you about what happened to the perpetrators, do I?”

“Of course you don’t,” she snapped. “All three were loyal friends of mine. It’s just that this time...they went a bit too far with their feelings for me... I do feel somewhat responsible, you know.”

“They were loyal, you say?”

“Yes. Naturally, I never meant for any of it to happen, and I truly do feel sorry for what my sister and the others must have endured. But...even now, I can’t bring myself to hate those three.” She looked down, affecting a mournful expression. It was painfully obvious she had no idea how ridiculous her words sounded. I couldn’t help but assume she had no idea about the engagement between one of the perpetrators and Lady Datzia, who stood quietly behind me, nor about how her thoughtless behavior had driven a wedge between them.

“So, those who were so loyal to you now lie dead and wounded, and yet, you’ve done nothing,” Lady Datzia said in a sudden rebuke. “You didn’t attend their funerals. You left no flowers. You’ve never once visited Lord Lunach, the sole survivor.”

“I— I meant to—” the girl sputtered.

“Lady Datzia,” I said without turning, “I understand how you feel, but...” I could well imagine what she was feeling, but this was no time to speak from personal grudge.

There was a pause before she replied. “You’re right, Lady Barliga. And Lady Formait...my apologies.”

I allowed myself a breath of relief at her willingness to yield, then turned back to the girl seated across from me. “My companion was a touch blunt, forgive her. These two have their own reasons for being here, though I’m sure you will never understand them,” I said with a polite smile. “I have one thing I need to make clear to you. You will never be so much as considered as a candidate for marriage to a prince with the way you’ve been acting.”

“Excuse me!”

She half rose from her chair, her voice raised in protest. But of course, an adopted daughter had only so much fortitude. She lacked the strength to withstand the weight of a trueborn lady’s glare. She froze half standing.

“Please, do remain seated. We’re nearly finished,” I said coolly. “Now...where were we? Ah, yes. The matter becoming public. In light of the scandal, the royal house chose to dispatch another royal to the Academy to quiet things down, rather than relying on the currently enrolled prince.”

“That’s only because Prince Sh— His Highness Prince Joshua has taken a leave of absence!” She caught herself mid-name, likely feeling the weight of my earlier warning, and winced, clearly irritated by her own slip.

“Do you truly believe that?” I replied with a hint of incredulity. “There have been times when no princes were enrolled at all. And the heir to House Robur is more than competent by all accounts. From the royal family’s perspective, His Highness’s temporary leave is a trifling matter at best.”

“Then maybe it’s just a coincidence?” She had clearly given up on pretense, pouting now like a child. How infantile.

“Would you explain everything away as coincidence? Even looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, surely you’d be able to see that this was the only proper response to an incident that involved members of the Four Great Houses on both sides?”

“I guess. And what’s your point?”

Ah, there it was. That tone that was so common among the vulgar classes. Lashing out in irritation to mask the lack of an argument. It was only to be expected of a former commoner.

“Was it not only because the Crown acted that the students intoxicated by their own power finally had their dangerous fantasies checked? Without their intervention, I’m sure there would’ve been more deaths. And not just among the perpetrators.”

“If that’s the case, then...”

“But could you, an adopted daughter, compel the royal house to take extraordinary measures on your behalf?” I narrowed my eyes. “No. No matter the reason, I am convinced that only Lady Laviange Robur could have prompted such a response.” I was beginning to realize that this girl lacked the capacity to accept the truth. She had a narrow heart, and that narrowness permeated her entire being. “My, such a displeased expression. But surely, now that even His Highness the Second Prince has begun to distance himself, you must recognize just how fragile your position truly is?” I asked. “It seems that even Lord Heinz Asche, after foolishly presuming himself to be the prince’s closest confidant and, like you, presuming to disparage and undermine Lady Robur without cause or right, has finally remembered his place.”

“What an awful thing to say...”

“Oh, forgive me. A slip of the tongue. It’s just...I find myself quite incapable of feeling anything resembling sympathy for you and your ilk.”

At last, there were tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. Real ones, this time, and she was even biting her lip.

“Even so, nearly all those who acted so disgracefully toward Lady Robur have been spared formal punishment—thanks, in no small part, to her own discretion. That outcome was only possible because the royal family announced that His Highness the Second Prince accepted his role as root of the disorder and personally paid her compensation from his private fortune, which she chose to accept. It was that public gesture which allowed the foolish students involved to escape with only light punishment.”

Those who reached settlement with their victims were merely suspended for a week. The rest were suspended from campus until the end of summer. Thankfully most of the victims had escaped with only minor injuries, which was no doubt due to Lady Robur’s uncanny ability to appear at just the right moment.

“But hear this: Now that the Lady Robur is no longer betrothed to the second prince, the three of us intend to protect her as part of our penance for our prior inaction. That would be true even if His Highness the First Prince had never come to us,” I warned. I hoped the implication was clear: Lay a hand on her again, and you will answer to us.

“Some of Lady Robur’s misfortune was of her own making,” I admitted. “She has that evasive streak, running away from anything resembling obligation. But it is still true that she did, in her own way, resolve more than a few of the Academy’s long-standing inequities. Despite being someone who no one had the right to demean, she nonetheless bore the brunt of the Academy’s malice alone and kept others from suffering worse because of it. That much, at least, is fact.”

With that, I rose from my seat and left.

Only Lady Datzia remained for a moment longer, casting one last icy glare at the adopted girl before following after us.

※※Aside: Before Summer Break: A Gift from My Dearest Friend Was a Sacred Beast’s Egg (Sienna)※※

“It’s all that villainess’s fault—all of it!”

The porcelain teapot crashed against the floor, shattering with a satisfying crack. Tea splashed across the tiles, but I couldn’t have cared less!

Naturally, there wasn’t a soul left in the room. I’d already made sure no one was lurking about, so there was no need for restraint. I was furious at those low-ranking noblewomen!

“Aaaaugh!”

I hurled the teacups next, one after another, letting them smash against the marble. A shard of porcelain grazed my ankle, but I did not care!

It wasn’t meant to be like this. Everything had been going perfectly. So why—?!

I clenched my teeth and the taste of blood spread through my mouth. I’d no idea when I’d bitten my lip, and I didn’t much care.

“How dare they, those lowborn wretches!” I sneered.

Those three insolent girls. Had I been able to ignore them, I would have. But alas, mere status wasn’t the issue. This was the Academy. And those three? All of them were in third-year Class A. What’s more, all three were officially on the short list of candidates to marry the princes. But I was not. I was the noble daughter of one of the Four Great Houses, and half of my blood was from House Robur, the same as Laviange’s! Yet father wouldn’t even entertain the idea of a royal engagement for me.

Worse, those three were famous for being three of the select few nobles allowed to order dresses from the designer Moonshadow. That alone was enough to make my blood boil!

It had all started at the cultural festival, held at the Academy right after New Year. Her class had sold a limited run of a particular item, sold at a small fortune. Then word spread that it had somehow prevented the poisoning of the young princess, and suddenly they became incredibly famous.

Everyone at the Academy knew about “the lucky scrunchies,” as they came to be called. And those three still wore theirs in their hair even now!

Apparently, the scrunchies had been designed by Moonshadow personally. I later heard the three of them had reserved theirs in advance. Patchwork fabric, in a wide range of colors which complemented their hair and their eyes—all different shades of blue—perfectly.

Had I known how it would turn out, I’d have swallowed my pride, marched into her Class D, and paid whatever price they demanded! Moonshadow’s dresses were famous for being bold and well designed, and once you wore one, nothing else would do.

Or at least that’s what I’d heard! I’d never worn one!

For several years now, Moonshadow had been designing clothing for the commoner market, distributed through the trading company they belonged to. Some nobles had adopted the clothes as informal Academy wear, but since it was labeled as being for commoners, most refused to be seen wearing it openly.

There had once been a noble who had attempted to buy up all of Moonshadow’s designs, but the backlash from the commoners had been massive and swift. The noble in question had paid a substantial settlement and vanished from the capital entirely. That had been the very court case Prince Regulus mentioned in his speech. The one between the commoner-run Lyonoble Trading Company and the noble house. The result had become infamous.

Moonshadow was renowned in high society for their impeccable conduct, and only accepted design requests through introductions from reputable ladies of standing. And if they rejected a request, it was known that the referrer would be cut off as well. Hence, those offering introductions took great care in whom they recommended. In time, those who wore the designs became as much part of the brand as the clothing itself.

I had tried to find someone to recommend me, trust me. But not even mother had known anyone who had any link to Moonshadow.

And now that little upstart noble was meant to monitor and guide me?!

Though it had been Prince Regulus that had made the request, if my brother had been present at the time, that meant he had agreed to it.

Even before I had enrolled, my brother had started second-guessing me. At one time, he had always taken my side, but ever since that little incident in the courtyard, he’d been siding with her more and more.

That day had been like playing out a scene straight from a popular novel: I was the delicate heroine, brave and blameless, protected by a prince and his loyal retainers. She had been the villainess deserving of public ruin. It should have been perfect.

Incidentally, since that author’s novels had become popular, the phrase “get owned” had taken off. It was even used by student council elites like myself. Now, there were even so-called reverse owns, in which the villainess owned the heroine. I must admit, I rather admired the author’s range.

Of course, she wrote other things as well: Boys’ Love, Girls’ Love, affairs with married women, all things one wouldn’t dare admit to reading. So most young ladies purchased them discreetly.

I had personally rushed out to purchase the three new titles that had been released a few months ago. All three were completely different genres. I’d spotted a few familiar faces in line, but we all wore scarves over our heads and stood quietly. It was an unspoken rule not to acknowledge one another. On release days, there was always a line. Sometimes there were even men lining up. The sheer breadth of the fan base was impressive.

Just as I was thinking that, the memory of her ridiculous laugh from that day in the courtyard came barreling through my skull.

“Ah... Aha ha... O-Oh, wh-what’s this? Pfft...some sort of mock trial comedy skit? Without a single shred of evidence? In real life? Oh, this is too much—I can’t! Aha ha ha ha ha!”

That day we’d surrounded her... There had been ten of us, including Prince Shua, Heinz, the three who’d later died, and myself. And what had she done? Laughed. A vulgar, ringing laugh that echoed across the entire courtyard. Absolutely unbelievable.

After that, students who’d stayed behind after classes had gathered to watch. Even the teachers came running. And what had she done? She’d just put on that usual smile and talked her way out of it.

I’d wanted to see her cry so many times! But not tears of laughter!

But I knew I wasn’t the one at fault. It was all because of Prince Shua’s misunderstanding. All I had done was mention the possibility that she’d used our family name to pressure the budget committee. I wasn’t even supposed to be there! I had just tagged along with an older student!

“I don’t care what the reason is,” I muttered. “She is not someone who should be respected.”

I felt the rage welling up within me once more. Hatred spread through my chest like a poison. Even before I’d met her—no, from the moment father told me about her—I couldn’t stand her.

I remembered our first meeting vaguely. She hadn’t worn that usual cold, emotionless smile nobles often had back then. Instead, I had thought her expression had been oddly warm.

But at that point I still hadn’t known. I hadn’t known that she had stolen the life meant for me. She lived in comfort, wearing my title, enjoying my wealth, and she’d done everything in her power to run away from it. From the education, from the responsibilities and the refinement expected of her.

Ever since I’d been taken in, I’d obeyed my brother’s every word, learned what I could—studies, manners, everything. I worked hard because I refused to be outdone by that pampered impostor.

And what had she, the “real” noblewoman, done?

She’d run. She’d dodged responsibility at every turn. And now, even the royal family had cast her aside.

She had worn beautiful clothes, had never known hunger, had lived in a spotless, spacious mansion her entire life.

So I stole all of it back. All of it.

That included mother’s affection—yes, she could be strict, but she’d always been kind to me—and the effort my brother had put into supporting her education. I stole that too.

Father, my uncle by blood, had seemed uninterested in family from the start. There was nothing to steal from him. I’d had no choice but to give up on that. Still, he had looked the other way, and that had been enough.

But now...all of it was falling apart!

My brother had renovated the shabby hovel she should’ve been confined to, cast wards to keep me away, and warned me never to approach her or the hovel again!

So naturally, when she finally slithered back to school, having skipped for weeks after returning from the forest, I’d attempted to speak with her. Yet every single time, without fail, my brother would appear and start lecturing me. Every time! Someone had clearly been reporting my movements to him. It was outrageous. Absolutely unfair!

And so I’d avoided contact with her all week. Only for those little upstarts to corner me!

“Enrique... That useless oaf...”

There was no reason to call him “lord” anymore. At least he had tried to kill her for my sake, but that was all the credit I was willing to give him. In the end, he had failed. He was a fool—his pride was the only thing impressive about him. And it turned out he’d been expelled from House Nilty ages ago!

And then the idiot had the nerve to gasp out, with his dying breath, that he wanted to make me Prince Shua’s consort! Why would he say that?! He’d nearly dragged me down with him!

That was surely the reason for the strain in my and my brother’s relationship!

As soon as Mihail returned from the forest, I, his own sister, had gone to his wing of the manor, saying I wanted to see him out of concern. And what happened? His head steward shooed me away! Even at the Academy, our schedules hadn’t lined up, so it had taken ten whole days before my brother finally came to see me.

And then, from start to finish, all he talked about was the incident. It wasn’t a conversation—it was an interrogation! He questioned me down to the last detail. The only thing I admitted to without evasion—just as my best friend had advised—was that I’d cried to Enrique the day before the incident.

“And Prince Regulus had no business getting involved...” I said through gritted teeth.

The official story was that he’d been officially assigned to investigate the accident during the joint subjugation exercise, and to restore discipline within the Academy. But his actual focus was a covert investigation into the Classes A and B students across all year levels who’d targeted the Class D dunces under the guise of “accidents.” Apparently, the Class D students had kept a list of the instigators. And after the incident, the list had somehow ended up in Lord Regulus’s hands.

Thanks to the large-scale investigation, he discovered that a surprising number of victims had just been keeping quiet and putting up with it. He’d even brought a relic of the royal family, a magical tool that exposed lies. After that, all the cowards came crawling out of the woodwork, suddenly confessing to save their own hides, begging for leniency.

But the worst part for me was being forced to assist in the investigation as a student council officer.

As a result, the student council was treated as the cause of the whole investigation, and needless to say, the hostility directed toward us only intensified.

“We were just copying what you did!”

“Why haven’t the second prince’s student council lackeys been punished?”

“He was the one who already had a fiancée and got carried away in his little affair, stirring things up!”

The kind of nonsense they had the nerve to spit at me! At me, a noble lady! I ended up isolated, both in my class and within the council. All I’d ever done was follow Prince Shua’s lead as president! We’d been bound by true love, nothing more!

Yes, true love. Or so I had thought.

The night before the joint subjugation exercise, Prince Shua had summoned me and said, “Let’s put the appropriate distance between us for now. Of course, the fault lies with me for misunderstanding your words, for never questioning them, and for interpreting Laviange Robur in a way that simply suited me.”

So afterward, I had run to Enrique, who’d always boasted of being Prince Shua’s confidant, and begged him for help. And what did that useless idiot do?! Even after my best friend went so far as to rework the teleportation array for him!

“How did a useless, incompetent girl like Laviange, who can barely manage basic household magic, come back unscathed?! If only she’d returned with some unhealable wound like Mighty did...”

In the end, Mightycarna Twyla died of her injuries. She’d always been kind to me. Pechulim Lunach too. Since the scruffy-faced leader of Laviange’s team managed to draw the correct lot, Lim had managed to fulfill the role he was given.

I couldn’t find it in me to be mad at those two, at the very least.

“And Prince Shua... Why...?”

The details of Prince Shua’s leave of absence hadn’t been made public. I’d written him countless letters in his absence, and not one received a reply. Eventually, my patience ran out, and I’d cornered Heinz to force an answer out of him.

To my utter shock, it turned out that the two of them had entered the Poison Box Garden to save the fiancée Prince Shua supposedly despised, only to fail and come back injured! Who could’ve predicted he’d do something so stupid?!

It appeared that Heinz had been silenced by the royal family, by what I guessed was some type of pact magic—he would occasionally wince and clutch his right shoulder, as though trying to endure some hidden pain.

In the end, the only ones they’d managed to pull out of the forest were Enrique’s two lackeys. A complete betrayal!

“What a mess you’ve made.”

A familiar voice rang out from behind me. I turned.

She stood slightly shorter than me, her robe pulled deep over her face as always. Only her elegantly shaped lips were visible.

It was my one true friend. The one who granted all my wishes. She was the one who had pulled me up from the life of a commoner and returned me to my rightful place. She was the only person who truly understood me.

I smiled.

“It’s been too long!” I said, delighted. “Hey, Jabi? Why don’t you just kill her already?”

“That’s not possible,” she replied. “I can’t intervene directly. That’s the rule. Also, you can break as many things as you like, but you mustn’t hurt yourself.”

I scowled at the predictable answer, but Jabi paid it no mind. She reached down and lightly touched the wound on my ankle with those thin, elegant fingers of hers. The gash faded away instantly, as though it had never been there at all.

“Oh? Your mouth too?”

Her cold palm cupped my cheek, and the taste of blood in my mouth vanished without a trace.

“I’m surprised you could tell... Thank you.”

The only person I could be so honest with was her. Jabi, my friend, whose true name and identity I still didn’t know—beyond the fact that she was an exceptional mage.

“Of course I could. You’re my precious girl, after all,” she said warmly. “But more importantly, I’ve found something that might make a very useful tool. Hold out your hands.”

I nodded and raised both palms upward. With a soft pop, a white, perfectly round egg appeared in them.

“It’s so big,” I said in wonder. “Nearly as big as my face...”

“It’s an egg that might hatch into a sacred beast. If you manage to hatch it properly, even the royal family will reconsider you. Everyone will finally admit your status is rightfully earned.”

“Really? Oh, I’m so glad! What kind of egg is it? Do I just keep it warm?”

See? Of course. Jabi always knew just what I needed.

“That part’s a surprise. And you don’t need to warm it. Just pour as much of your magic into it as you can, every day, whenever time allows. Whether it hatches or not depends entirely on you, but with summer break starting, you should have plenty of time with it,” she said with a smile. “Still, if your power isn’t enough, take this flower and touch the people who’ve looked down on you. Then, choose one person with strong magic, and press this flower to their chest. Do it when no one is watching.”

She held out the head of a red spider lily, without a stem. I took it and I stared at it, mesmerized.

When I looked up again, she was gone.

“She always appears so suddenly and disappears just the same,” I said with a pout. “I wish she’d stay and talk a little longer.”

I abruptly realized that the room had returned to how it had been before I’d thrown my fit. Jabi’s doing, no doubt. Still, thanks to her, I felt better. I had to hurry home and start feeding magic into the egg.

After making sure the hall was clear, I left the room feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

1: (Several Days Before the Incident) It All Starts with a Dream

“Bel... No. My dear nameless child, I am awaiting you. I’ve been waiting for so long.” A voice echoed from within the pitch darkness. “Ah, but there’s no need to rush. You must grow first... I pray that you may be safely born into this world.”

I recognized that voice. It was Cas, the white fox I’d known so long ago.

In the dream, I was no bigger than a thumb, floating leisurely in my mother’s womb.

“Bel... Finally...” said another voice. “Still, I can’t believe that conniving fox. How desperate must he be to have made a provisional contract with you without telling us... Hmph. No matter. I’ll keep quiet until the others catch on. I, Laguondol, shall be the second to make a contract with you. For now, it’s provisional, but once you’re born...”

By the time Lag spoke to me, the womb had begun to feel rather cramped. Looking back now, it was a bit ironic that Lag was upset at Cas. He, too, would keep my rebirth a secret from the rest of the sacred beasts, after all.

The next voice I remembered was my brother’s.

“It doesn’t matter to me if you’re a little brother or sister,” he had said in a sweet voice. “I can’t wait to meet you.”

It had been spoken quietly as our mother lay sleeping. I had found his hesitant voice so cute that I suddenly remembered how much I couldn’t wait to meet him either.

I see... I must have been dreaming of days long past.

“Listen well,” said another voice. Oh dear, this one was different from the others. Much harsher. “This time you must bear a son who takes after Lord Soviesch in every way. That is your duty.”

This must have been the voice of my maternal grandmother. At the time, my paternal grandfather, Soviesch, who had once been betrothed to me in my previous life, had still been the head of House Robur.

I would never grow close to the woman who was speaking now.

The day after my birth, she was sent away for her own convalescence by her husband, the marquess, and died a few years later. The little I remembered of her was that, whenever she visited the estate, mother would invariably lock herself away in her chambers after she left.

On the day I was born, as soon as the midwife had announced I was a girl, my grandmother had set upon my mother, screaming at her, ignoring the protests of my other grandmother, Sharona. In the end, she ended up working herself into such a fit that she collapsed on the spot.

I, meanwhile, was struggling with my first lungful of air, but even then I could feel the tension. It was all a bit of a shock, honestly.

To be fair, I had been a bit too preoccupied to notice her before that, with the whole literally head-splitting ordeal of forcing my way out of the birth canal. It hadn’t helped that she had been standing to the side completely quiet and still. It had been my paternal grandmother, Sharona—my mother’s aunt by blood as well as her mother-in-law—who had been the one standing by my mother’s side and encouraging her.

Sharona was the first to hold me, newly bathed and swaddled. I recognized her from her magic, and the familiar warmth of it moved me.

“Forgive me...” muttered a voice from the bed—my mother’s. “Oh, why...why did it turn out like this...?” She lay grieving while the midwife fussed over her.

At this point, my face was still wrinkled as a raisin, and my eyelids were heavy. I couldn’t open my eyes, so I had to rely on voice, presence, and traces of magic to sense what was going on. Because I’d been so distracted by the fighting going on around me, though, I had so far only let out a small, perfunctory wail. It made the midwife worried, and she started checking me over—so I gave it another go. A proper wail this time. I think I deserved some praise for it. After all, it wasn’t just the room I was in that had become a battleground.

“How dare anyone complain about the birth of our beloved child?!”

The roar was like a thunderclap, and it had come from none other than the onlooking Cas and Lag. Apparently they weren’t very pleased with the way things were unfolding.

In fact, they were so displeased that the sky darkened over the capital. They had summoned a storm, one that would have triggered emergency broadcasts and evacuation orders on my previous world. I believe a lightning bolt even struck one of the trees in the estate gardens.

I mean, honestly. If anyone had the right to be displeased with the situation, it was me.

And so storms raged inside and out of the Robur estate. Frankly, it’s a miracle that no one died.

Of course, Cas and Lag’s behavior blew the lid off their little secret in no time. So much for them trying to keep my rebirth a secret from the other sacred beasts.

I’ve heard they were in for quite the scolding afterward. The whole incident became something of a legend among the sacred beasts.

“How should we proceed, Lady Robur?” our former head lady-in-waiting asked Sharona.

“Hmm, yes. Well, Luciana begged to be allowed to stay through the delivery, so I allowed it,” Sharona answered primly. “But this is the estate of House Robur. Anyone who dares cast aspersions over the birth of a noble daughter of this house is to be expelled. From now on, that person is not to set foot on the grounds, nor maintain any personal association with this family. You are to inform her husband, the marquess, of my decision.”

So ordered the lady of the house, in an imperious manner befitting her station. “But for now,” she continued, “let us celebrate this child’s birth, even if no one else will. Begin preparations.”

“As you command,” the maids answered.

Something about the way Sharona had given her instructions—so briskly, without hesitation—was reassuring.

With that, I drifted off to sleep.

※※※※

Hm...? What was this? Something had hopped on top of me. Could it be? Was I waking up to the snuggle of a beautiful, feathered sacred beast...?

“...vi. Lavi...”

Were they trying to wake me up? No... Please, not yet. It was still right in the middle of the month, when it was okay for me to stay up all night, and sleep in all day.

“Honestly, what am I going to do with you? Lavi, get up!”

Thonk! The sharp jab to my forehead blew away any remaining sleepiness. I shrieked and jolted upright.

“Ow! That hurt!”

I heard a flurry of wings overhead, but I had more pressing concerns. What was that? I instinctively rubbed my forehead with both hands, trying to ease the sting.

“Good morning, Lavi. May I accompany you today?”

“Heh heh heh, good morning, Lia. What a wonderful morning—if not a bit explosive—awakening to your face,” I said, still rubbing violently. “I can’t quite remember where I’m going, at the moment, but of course you may accompany me. That said, there’s a rather aggressive throbbing sensation centered squarely on my forehead. Dare I ask what kind of surprise assault just took place...?”

I felt like I’d been dreaming, but whatever the dream had been about, the shock had sent the memories straight out of my head.

“Just because it’s summer break doesn’t mean you can laze about forever, darling child. I only gave you a gentle prod with my beak.”

“Darling child, you say... How spartan of you to wake your darling child in such a way.”

There was no blood, so clearly she’d shown some restraint. Still, it stung.

It’s true that I had been staying up far too late, and waking just before noon. No arguments there. But summer had only just begun! Surely I was entitled to a few more blissful idle mornings before Mother Hen came pecking at my peace.

But enough of that, what was I meant to do today? I attempted to force the cobwebs out of my sleepy mind.

“Ah, yes,” I said. “Today we stop by the trading company, and then we go to eat Miss Marie’s Triple-S Special.”

Thank goodness I rememb— Wait! How could I have forgotten something as special as the Triple-S Special! Could that peck have hidden a memory charm?!

I squinted suspiciously at her, but she saw straight through me.

“Don’t you dare blame this on me,” she said with a flat tone and deadpan expression.

“Oh, come now, I’m only teasing,” I muttered.

I knew she was blameless. A sacred beast who went out of her way to ask if she could accompany me was unlikely to have cast any charms.

The sacred beast in front of me was named Vamillia—Lia, for short. She was one of the oldest sacred beasts, having lived since the founding of the kingdom. She puffed up her mostly crimson feathers as she sat perched on my lap, on top of the light bedcover that was draped over me. As she did so, her feathers caught the morning light with an iridescent gleam. She was a bird-type sacred beast, and she was beautiful. When she took to the sky, her wings flared wide and her long tail feathers danced elegantly behind her. On land, she hopped around, trailing those same tail feathers after her. It was utterly adorable.

Her size, much like her temperament, was subject to change. When she perched on my head in her pigeon-sized form, she looked suspiciously like an elaborate wig.

“Oh, forget it,” I said, changing the subject. “More importantly, did you find that hatchling?”

“Hatchling? What hatchling?” she answered, blinking her large avian eyes.

Oh, be still my heart! The way she tilted her head in confusion was ever so prim. And her tail feathers were so pretty! If she shed one, I would have to ask for her to let me have it. I’d been collecting them since my previous life in this world.

“Oh my, but I seem to remember you and your kin being all aflutter about it!” I said. “What happened?”

“Ah, that business. Who knows, really? One of my kin just happened to spot it by chance. Whatever was inside the egg was obscured by the thick magic within.”

“Oh, I see.”

Back at the start of summer, Lia’s kin had raised a major fuss when one of them had spotted something very much like an egg bobbing down the river. Apparently it’d floated merrily downstream before plunging straight over a waterfall. I’d assumed it must have been one of their eggs because of all the fuss they’d made about it. Maybe I had misunderstood?

“Whatever it was, it had no parents,” she added. “Whatever happened, happened for a reason. That’s how nature works. Though, still, it seems to have had some traits that marked it as a possible sacred beast, so it’s a shame.”

“I suppose that is how natural selection works, isn’t it,” I agreed. “And you shouldn’t feel forced to take a successor, Lia. I’d be happy if you spent the rest of your days peacefully by my side.”

The situation with the egg was sad, certainly. But in this world, the rules against interfering with nature were the same as those of the other world I’d lived in. You risked interfering with the ecosystem if you meddled too much, and so we tended to avoid being overprotective.

That being said, the law of the jungle was much stricter here. For instance, if you returned a fallen egg or chick to its nest, in the other world the parents might occasionally resume care. Here, they absolutely wouldn’t.

“Quite right!” she preened. “Even if it was an egg, it might not have belonged to my kin. That’s not something you can tell until it hatches. There’s no guarantee it could survive into adulthood whether it was my kin or not. And as for becoming a sacred beast in the next generation? That’s a long shot. Whoever tried to raise it would need an enormous reservoir of magic to help it ascend.”

“True. There’s no guarantee it would go as smoothly as it did with Lag.”

“Hmph,” she said, her feathers bristling. “That was a special case. Those two were mated, so their magic was already intertwined.”

“Intertwined? My word, that sounds almost risqué coming from you, Lia.”

Lia had laid an enormous number of eggs over her lifetime and had had more partners than I could count on my hands—or feet, for that matter. She was originally an avian-type magical beast, so monogamy was never in the cards. In other words, she was a bit of a romantic whirlwind, this sacred beast Vamillia!

“Hmph,” she scoffed. “You were thinking something rude just now, weren’t you?”

“Perish the thought! I only think the best of you, Lia,” I said with a completely serious expression. But for some reason, she didn’t seem to buy it.

“Funny how it’s difficult to take what you say at face value,” she said with a sigh. “You know, if the fox or the dragon caught wind of the thoughts you just had, they really would make quite the fuss. Their illusions about their darling little girl would shatter on the spot. I know the stories you let them read keep the indecent scenes mild, but I’ve not forgotten the first novels you wrote were quite scandalous. And how old were you then? Five?” She shook her head in exasperation. “Even I was a bit concerned by that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that you had such a nice, cozy relationship with your husband in your last life, but still...”

It was true. My writing career in this life had begun quite early. That said, my material hadn’t all been based on firsthand experience from my previous life. And those “scandalous” novels? At worst, they were just barely R-rated.

“When those two read one of your steamier novels and got so flustered they soaked the capital in a long rainy season, I thought the city would turn into a mushroom colony.” Oh dear, what an unpleasant face she was making now. She must have been remembering the incident.

In my defense, I hadn’t expected them to be that shocked by it. Two sacred beasts that had lived for centuries, acting like flustered schoolgirls... I did find it rather endearing.

“Honestly, letting their emotions get away from them, stirring up their kin, and upsetting the weather...they still have much to learn.” But suddenly Lia’s scowl turned into a sly little grin. “And you’re no better, Lavi. You only pretended to burn that manuscript. I know full well you tucked it away into your little pocket dimension for safekeeping.”

For a bird, her face was remarkably expressive. I suppose that was one of the perks of being a sacred beast.

“Well, I worked hard on it, didn’t I?” I replied. “In fact, I’ve nearly finished a sequel to it. Of course, the going’s been slow since I can only sneak in time to work on it behind Cas’s and Lag’s backs...”

“Ho ho ho, you wicked little thing.”

“Aha ha ha, not nearly as wicked as you, my lady—always finding some errand to send them on just when they start snooping about.”

We looked at each other and began to laugh wickedly, our laughter echoing throughout the room. Of course, we’d made sure that the room was soundproofed before we began our conversation. I’d also noticed that there was no sign of either Lag or Cas around—Lia must have sent them on some wild-goose chase again.

“This stays a secret, of course,” I added. “If someone finds out, one of us will have to take the fall.”

Lia loved these kinds of back-and-forths. She always insisted that she’d settled down since I’d been born, but I knew better. “Of course,” she said.

“The sequel is just as you requested,” I told her. “It’s a period piece set in the other world, in the inner chambers of a royal court.”

“I have to hand it to you, dear. I am absolutely dying to read it.”

“You’ll be the first to.”

She flapped her wings with excitement, tail swishing. It looked exactly like one of those courtship dances. And, oh, that soft, downy belly... So tempting...

“Lavi! You’re getting that look again! I don’t care how cute you are, hands off the feathers!”

“Wh-What could you ever mean?!”

Curses. She had let me touch her feathers once, but had cut me off ever since, for some unknowable reason. Someday. Someday I would fluff that belly once again.

“Anyway!” she announced. “Chop chop—we’ve got places to be!”

“Just give me a moment to get ready, will you?”

“Honestly! You’re hopeless. I’ll go make some tea. You’d better wash your face before anything else!”

“Yes, yes.”

She might have acted like she didn’t care, but a mother hen would always be a mother hen.

Red feathers drifted softly through the air as she fluttered about making tea.

I went to get ready with a smile on my face.

※※※※

“So this is your latest design?” asked a tall, willowy beauty. They gave a slow spin, the hem of the skirt fluttering with the motion. Their curly ash-brown hair shimmered with the motion, as their fringe brushed lightly over stormy gray eyes, giving their expression a certain sultry allure. Ah, a feast for the eyes.

I sipped on the tea that had been put in front of me and watched their reaction. They didn’t seem displeased, which was promising.

“Looks good to me,” said a broad-shouldered man with cropped reddish-brown hair. “It makes the legs look longer than usual and the waist look smaller.”

The man’s eyes were a dark brown color that reminded me of a typical Japanese person’s. But over his left eye were four diagonal claw-mark scars slashing down from his forehead, which gave his already rough looks an even more fearsome edge. In his own words, he was still a man in his prime, and given his size, no one dared to contradict him. Most people who met him for the first time reacted with instinctive caution.

Which was a shame, really. He was actually softhearted and caring, especially with children...although, tragically, his face tended to make them cry. This had apparently caused trouble for him when we first met.

“It does make your silhouette slimmer, but how does it feel to walk in?” he asked.

At that, the beauty began walking confidently around the room. After a moment, they said, “The hem being flared gives me more room to walk. It’s much easier to walk in than with a pencil skirt. And thanks to the new elastic material, it doesn’t feel tight, even though it sits high on the waist.”

In fact, the new elastic material was something I had invented last year. I’d first used it for the scrunchies, but this time I’d incorporated it into my clothing designs.

As per usual, I was wearing a high-waisted mermaid skirt that was nearly identical to the skirt they were wearing, but in a different size. The only difference was the waistband. Theirs had a simple folded waistband with elastic inside. Mine was a bit wider, and instead of elastic, it tied in the back with a ribbon.

“I see. In that case, Moonshadow, it’s a pass. We’ll make up the pattern as usual and send it off for production.”

“I leave it in your capable hands, Chairman.”

Here at the workshop, I went by Moonshadow. The gruff man before me was Yust, chairman of the Lyonoble Trading Company—my employer and boss.

“Right. Galfi, once you’ve sketched her version, send it together with the skirt to our usual patternmaker.”

“Understood, Yust. Let me handle that. Her taste may be impeccable, but her drawing skills are catastrophically bad.”

Oof. That little jab might just have been leftover bitterness from when I politely turned down a palace invitation the other week.

Before me was the royal spy, Galfi. Thirty-one years old, surname classified. Tall, refined, and with features soft enough that, in an outfit like this, he could easily pass for an elegant lady. Today he wore a simple shirt—very much the look of a woman who could get things done.

From time to time, the three of us would gather here at the company office and work together like this.

“Oh, come now, that’s unkind. Mine look bad only because your drawings are so good, Galfi.”

“Hmph. Naturally.” He puffed out his chest in pride, despite it being meant as a complaint. Well, then.

“Once the pattern’s done, I’ll be getting this skirt back for myself as usual, yes?”

“You don’t miss a beat, do you?” Yust said with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’ll let them know, same as always. Anyway, that thing’s way too big for any woman to be wearing.” He nodded toward the skirt Galfi was wearing.

“Which is precisely why I’m considered a fashion trendsetter,” Galfi said with a little curtsy.

Indeed. I always designed with Galfi’s measurements in mind, which meant the patterns needed to be scaled down for the female market. Thankfully, our patternmaker had been with us for years. She knew precisely how to adjust everything, from waist curvature to pelvic angle.

“The royal shadow’s still as flamboyant as ever, I see,” Lia muttered telepathically, from where she was perched on my head. She’d been here the whole time, cloaked in an invisibility spell. If people could see her, I’d have looked the very image of an eccentric fashion designer, with long crimson feathers running through the back of my hair.

“He makes a marvelous woman, doesn’t he?” I responded, also through telepathy.

“A marvelous mercenary, more like. He let tiny little Lavi buy him off.”

She wasn’t wrong. Galfi, for all his high station as one of the royal family’s spies, had been thoroughly compromised. Not through bribery in the conventional sense, but with items carefully curated to appeal to his inner diva.

“Still,” Yust muttered, looking at us over his teacup, “it’s rare to see you two out and about together in broad daylight.”

“Well, this one’s no longer the prince’s fiancée, is she? No need to hide anymore. Not that the vultures have stopped circling.”

“And you still needed to show up in women’s clothing...why, exactly?” said Yust.

The conversation across the table came to a full stop. Even I looked up from my tea, glancing between them.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Galfi said, looking perplexed. “I’m simply wearing what suits me best.”

“Wait, you were serious about that?!” Yust exclaimed. “I thought you were dressing up in drag as part of your disguise?!”

“How rude. It’s not like she ever even tried to endear herself to the prince in the first place,” Galfi said, tipping his chin toward me. “In fact, I daresay she was half hoping to get caught strolling with another man, just so it could be used as grounds for dissolution.”

“Well, I mean, I just figured since the prince was her fiancé, she’d at least try...” Yust began, but then he shook his head. “Who am I kidding? Even when she was a kid, she ignored him entirely. Hell, half the time, it was like she forgot he existed.”

“Oh, come now, we got on splendidly,” I said, sipping my tea. “From the very first meeting, in fact. Specifically, on agreeing I’d never set foot in the palace again.”

“I suppose so,” Galfi sighed. “He started with that haughty ‘I’m the prince’ spiel and you burst out laughing so hard you nearly fell over. After that, when he told you never to return, you took it as your lifelong mission to comply. You rode that ‘banishment’ all the way to engagement annulment.”

“Any other noble girl would’ve been crushed.” Yust laughed. “But you were absolutely thrilled.”

Come, now. Why the looks of exasperation?

“You know,” Yust added, “last year, when she asked me to come help out with her school project as chairman of the company, I ended up visiting the Academy quite a bit. Saw the prince’s behavior firsthand. I wanted to slap him silly. As a man, though, I still feel a bit sorry for him...”

“Well, though it may have been just because his mother made him, he did write a letter, trying to reach out to reconcile in his own clumsy way. And yet she cut him down without a second thought, leaving him no second chance and grinding his youthful pride into a pulp.”

Hmm? He’s tried to reconcile? Also, aren’t you employed by the royal family? I felt like I detected a trace of schadenfreude in that last statement.

As I tilted my head in confusion, the two of them sighed.

“Well...I suppose now that the engagement’s been officially dissolved, she’s a free woman, yeah?” Yust said, after some hesitation. “That’s cause for celebration, I guess? Any other noblewoman would be facing ruin right about now...”

Galfi chuckled. “It’s not like she needs to rely on her status to survive. She’s more than a little resourceful,” he said. “Honestly, her reputation for not living up to her status makes her title more of a shackle than anything. So yes, I do believe this is cause for celebration. Right, Moonshadow?”

I smiled. “Of course.”

Galfi might have come off as a little harsh sometimes, but I’d known him since I was small. It was precisely because he, along with a few other kind adults, was so willing to teach me things that I had become so resourceful in the first place. It was for that reason he said what he did.

Even though he was assigned to observe me as part of his duty as a royal spy, he had gone out of his way to teach me how to distinguish edible mushrooms from inedible ones and to help repair the roof of the annex I lived in. He’d gone so far as to turn a blind eye to my jobs, including my writing career, and even helped me with my work as a designer.

It was only because of adults like him that I had been able to work as Moonshadow, despite my status as a member of a ducal house.

And among those adults, Yust had been helping me the longest.

My mind drifted back to the day I’d met him.

“Hey, little miss, are you all alone? You know, hanging around a place like this, someone might snatch you right up. Why don’t you come along with me and I’ll take you to get some cand— Hngh?!”

Yes. The man who sounded like he was trying to pick up a lady at the bar was Yust. And the lady being hit on? Me, at five years old.

When all of a sudden a woman had come up and given him an uppercut directly to the gut.

“Hey!” she’d yelled. “Just because she’s a cute little girl doesn’t give you the right to try any funny business! And aren’t you a bit old to be doing things like this?!”

“Huh?! What are you going on about?! You’re the one who sounds like an old busybody! And you’re accusing me of ‘funny business’ after punching me for no reason?!”

“Yes! Look at you! Your face, your words, and even your whole vibes are sketchy! You’re going to make another kid cry acting like that! Don’t underestimate the strength of a former D-rank adventurer!” she’d said, flexing her right arm.

“Listen, I’ll give you that my face and maybe my words were sketchy, but you didn’t need to say my vibe too! That’s low! And D-rank adventurers shouldn’t be able to hit that hard! For the record, I was trying to help, thank you very much!”

“When you’ve raised kids, your upper body strength grows naturally! And no, anyone would’ve thought that you were being a creep! Learn some self-awareness!”

It had been pure chaos. The kind of noisy, bustling street-corner drama I thought only existed in the Showa era.

In the end, the servant I’d gotten separated from arrived, and the husband-and-wife comedy routine drew to a close.

Back then, Yust had just started dealing in secondhand clothing, but unfortunately, his scary face kept customers at bay. So he had come up with a plan: He would win over the children first, soften his image, then profit. The plan, of course, promptly and continuously failed.

On the other hand, the lady who’d confronted him just wanted him to stop scaring away all the kids.

I had been looking for a job. At the time, the servants who had gone out of their way to care for me had been disappearing from the estate one by one, so I’d decided that I should try to use my connections to make some spending money.

The most important thing in life? Money for living expenses.

Luckily the woman also turned out to be well-connected in the neighborhood. She found me some part-time gigs, like watching the shop and helping out at the local tavern. I, of course, pretended I was a commoner, and fudged my age a little.

Before long, I found myself talking now and then with Yust, who would offer me sweets. He mentioned his family ran a small trading company, but orders for dresses were drying up. So I drew up a few designs. Ones I remembered from fashion magazines in my past life. And just like that, Moonshadow the designer was born.

The first time Yust had seen one of those sketches, he’d smiled and given a polite thanks. I knew that face. It was the face of an adult humoring a child. I’d expected something more, of course: surprise, or maybe some tears of joy.

It annoyed me terribly.

So I took some scraps of unsold cloth, stitched together a doll-sized dress, and showed him that instead.

In my past life, my granddaughter had used to beg me for doll clothes and accessories. I’d buy scrap fabric from the hundred-yen store or flea markets, then cobble together entire outfits.

That experience came flying back to me as I’d sewn together the fabric.

Later, I’d used the same experience to make corsages and fabric flowers and shown them off with pride.

I’d also been the first to introduce mannequins to this world. I’d had Yust set it outside the storefront and put one of my dresses on it—lo and behold, sales picked up, despite Yust’s scary face.

One thing led to another. I found myself designing regularly, and when I shared a few business strategies I’d learned as a consultant in my former life—well, let’s just say Yust ended up inheriting his family’s floundering company and turned it into a flourishing trade empire.

It was around then that I had met the beautiful and flamboyant royal spy in front of me. Over time, I discovered how susceptible he was to subtle bribery, and before long, my work as Moonshadow grew much easier.

“So,” Yust said, scratching his chin, “what now?”

“What do you mean?”

I tilted my head, genuinely unsure what he was getting at.

“You’ve patched things up with your brother, the engagement wasn’t annulled but formally dissolved, and it’s public knowledge that the prince was the problem,” he said. “Bad reputation or not, you’re still the daughter of one of the Four Houses—that must still count for something. Don’t you have a line of new suitors?”

“Not at all,” I replied. “After all, I’m the kind of talentless noblewoman who always comes with a disclaimer. Even if someone did want to ask, father is currently respecting my wishes. Either that, or he simply can’t be bothered. I suspect he finds the whole business of arranging another engagement dreadfully tedious.”

“That does sound like him,” Galfi added with a little smirk. “He’s always left you to your own devices. You’d think he’d have been more insistent with your etiquette lessons, seeing as you were engaged to a prince.”

“Yes. He was quite content to leave me be when I ran away from my lessons. At this rate, perhaps I will follow in your footsteps, Galfi, and remain single long enough that even the rumors of marriage proposals will start to dry up.”

“Excuse me, but could we not speak as if I’m some withered spinster past her prime?”

Oh my. I do believe I’ve offended him.

“Then, you’re planning on continuing your work as Moonshadow for the foreseeable future?” Yust asked. “That works for me. Just don’t go end up as some old noble’s second wife. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. If it comes to that, then just marry me or Galfi. We’d be happy to take you in.”

“Right,” Galfi said. “A marriage with one of us would be better than that fate, even with our age difference. It can be a marriage just for show, or a real one, whichever you prefer.”

I chuckled. “Lucky me. Two potential husbands, just like that.”

This might have just been a bit of banter, but I could tell that their concern was real.

That said, Yust had no idea that the man he’d just offered me in marriage to was one of the Crown’s royal spies. Of course, even if he did know, he’d probably carry on the same as he always had. That was just the kind of man he was.

Publicly, Galfi had taken on the identity of an illegitimate, flamboyant child of some noble house, living among the commoners with a small allowance to cover his living expenses. The two of them hadn’t met through me. Their paths had first crossed when Galfi had tried to hit on Yust at some local tavern.

I, on the other hand, always kept Galfi’s occupation in mind. Saying that, I had no idea what he said in his reports on me, and whether or not he was still assigned to watch me now that my engagement had been annulled. And it wasn’t something I planned to pry into going forward either. For both our sakes.

Whatever the case, Galfi had looked after me for years, not out of duty but genuine care. I didn’t want to lose that going forward, whatever form that might take.

※※※※

“Thank you for waiting!”

“So this is the Triple-S Special...” murmured Galfi, sitting across from me. Through our telepathic link, I could feel that Lia was just as impressed.

I chuckled. Faced with the mighty platter thumped down before us, both of them leaned back ever so slightly, trying to hide their surprise. Ah, what a gratifying moment! I knew I had made the right choice using my hard-earned Perfect Attendance Prize on these two! You see, the prize came with a delightful perk: The winner of the prize could bring along whoever they wanted to partake in the meal. Whoever devised this system deserved a medal.

“I’m sure that it tastes divine,” Lia said in awe, “but is it even possible to finish all of this?”

At the same time, Galfi hesitantly said, “I want to praise the variety, truly...but the sheer volume...”

Ah, their surprised reactions... It sent a little thrill through me. The kind one gets when a prank lands just right.

Their shock was justified, of course. Before us sat an oversized dish that wouldn’t have been out of place in an eating contest in the other world. It was essentially a kid’s meal for adults: a single plate full of delights, generous in both quantity and selection.

“Well then, what do you think, Galfi? I’ve been wanting to hold a party to celebrate the engagement annulment and the end of your surveillance mission,” I said. “I have decided to call it the ‘I Like to Watch: The Secret Life of Laviange!’ party! Thank you for all your years of loyal viewership! And now, for our grand finale, the crowning glory earned only by those with perfect attendance—Miss Marie’s very own handcrafted Triple-S Special!”

Galfi quickly looked around, the school visitor’s pass hanging around his neck flailing back and forth, before shushing me with a finger to his lips.

“Could you not?!” Galfi whispered in alarm. “That makes it sound like I’m some pervert who’s been secretly spying on you!” In that tailored skirt he was wearing, he even looked kind of salacious when he was flustered. He truly looked like a woman who could get things done: any time, any place; always prepared. But there really was no need to fret. It was well past noon, and in the middle of a long school break. In this vast cafeteria, the two of us were the only people I could see.

Though, if we considered the invisible, then of course there was Lia perched atop my head as usual. Thanks to today’s sweltering weather, my scalp was currently enjoying the experience of being thoroughly steamed.

After parting with Yust, we’d made a beeline for today’s main event: the legendary Triple-S Special. Galfi and I, with Lia in tow, had strolled merrily right to the cafeteria.

“Your meal is served, Lavi!”

“Thank you, Miss Marie.”

“Right then!” she said. “And no leftovers, mind you!”

“Not to worry. I accept the challenge.”

Miss Marie, a sprightly forty-six, was as energetic as ever. “Aha ha! Look at you now! You used to be a wee little thing that helped me peel potatoes and scrub dishes. But now you talk big, I see!” she said with a huge grin. “That staff meal you came up with has made such a name for itself, they’re regularly sending for this old lunch lady from the capital all the way to the Royal Academy! Dessert’s on the house, by the way!”

“Oh my! Flan! Now that takes me back!” Ah, a slip of the tongue. Due to my surprise, I’d blurted out a word from the other world.

“If you can’t finish it all, take the rest home, all right?” she said, setting down some smaller plates for us. “Enjoy yourselves!”

As she returned to the kitchen with her usual brisk, competent stride, Galfi suddenly stiffened, as if something about Miss Marie’s retreating figure had caught his eye. “Hey...don’t tell me that S-Rank Lunch Lady is actually...”

“Indeed she is,” I said with a solemn nod. “Do you remember the tavern where you first hit on Yust? During the day, it used to be a diner run by Miss Marie and her husband. But after she caught him cheating, Miss Marie threw him out, and they stopped the lunch service entirely.”

“Wait, that’s why they suddenly stopped serving lunch?!”

“You didn’t know? I’m surprised. Everyone was talking about it. It happened about five years ago, I believe. Do you not remember that man they found in the park, stark naked save for a sign that read I cheated strategically hung to cover his unmentionables?”

“You mean the guy tied up with a rope whose face was so swollen, no one could even recognize him?”

“That’s the one. You know, Miss Marie even used a rasp to rough up the wood on the back of the sign so it’d give him splinters. Now, that got tongues wagging. The women in the castle town have been using the same technique ever since. It’s how Miss Marie got her nickname ‘the S-Rank Lunch Lady.’ The S stands for ‘sadist,’ of course.”

Galfi stared at me. “There is so much to unpack in that story...”

Oh my. A quick peek beneath the table revealed a pair of shapely legs modestly tucked inward. A touch bashful, were we?

“Stop looking.” A blush bloomed on Galfi’s sharply defined cheeks. How utterly delightful. He had the ability to shift between elegant eroticism and adorableness. He cleared his throat. “And then?”

It appeared he had composed himself. I noticed that even the way the scrunchie held his hair had a certain elegance to it.

That reminded me... That scrunchie, in fact, was the very first patchwork design I’d ever presented to Yust. It had, as always, been claimed by Galfi as payment for his help with the sketches. The elastic I’d used to create it had been developed from the sinew of magical beasts. With a bit of clever sourcing, the production cost was practically zero. We sold them at the cultural festival, and just as planned, they flew off the shelves.

Ten of them were limited editions, specially marked, each priced at the equivalent of a full hundred thousand yen. A bit steep, perhaps, so I’d secretly imbued them with a minor protective charm. Nothing major, just enough to cause a happy accident... The kind that tended to involve slipping, tripping, and someone’s face landing precisely where it oughtn’t.

“Let’s eat while we talk,” I said. “By the way, this omelet rice is simply divine.”

It was time I focused on eating. I pulled a scrunchie from my pocket and tied back my own hair. Food Fighter Lavi, transformation complete! I wasn’t going to let Galfi outpace me, even with his masculine appetite and head start. “Lia, let’s do this,” I said, using telepathy.

“Leave it to me,” came the swift reply.

Today, we would fight as one. Lia was already fired up, wearing the scrunchie I’d given her around her neck. The colors were the reverse of Cas’s: pink as the base, with accents of navy blue. Hers also had touches of lace. I’d made hers special, enchanted in numerous ways.

The way she wore it made it resemble a choker, but I chose not to comment. In fact, it somewhat resembled a collar...though I would never say such a thing aloud.

“You know that lady that Yust used to banter with like they were an old married couple?” I asked. “She was friends with the person who owned the tavern. She was the one who introduced me to them, and recommended me for work.”

We both stopped and took a bite.

“Mmm, it’s delicious!” Galfi moaned. “The egg is so fluffy, it almost melts in your mouth. Now that you mention it, you did say something like that before. At the time, I couldn’t understand why a noble like you would be working at such a place. But considering your home life, it was a remarkably adult decision for a child. Very impressive initiative.”

“Yes—and the fried foods are so crisp! Miss Marie’s cooking is incredible,” I added. “I, of course, had to lie about my age and status at the time. I started working around five, give or take, and worked there for two years. I peeled potatoes, washed the dishes, and, near the end, I was given the task of cooking the dinners for the staff at night. Even after I left, they’d occasionally ask for help through Yust, and I’d lend a hand when I could.”

“This pasta! The sauce is so rich!” Galfi exclaimed. “There’s plenty to unpack there... Are you telling me you were still helping out after you were engaged to the prince?”

“I’m delighted you noticed,” I said after swallowing my food. “That sauce was actually something that Miss Marie’s ex-husband and I came up with. And yes. I believe that maintaining relationships with those who have helped you is important, and Yust is a firm believer in staying true to your roots. So, with his support, I’d help out twice a week during the busy seasons.”

“That makes enjoying the meal more complicated,” he said. “You were able to slip past my surveillance and work in town... Sometimes I truly don’t understand why you do what you do...”

I would very much have appreciated it if he’d stop looking at me with such open suspicion.

“Lady Robur,” said a voice, interrupting my thoughts. “You came to eat the special today too?”

The voice came from behind me. I turned and found myself looking at Ralf.

Despite his rugged face and sturdy frame, Ralf was a gentle soul with a fondness for plants. Something I particularly appreciated about him was the enthusiasm with which he always ate my cooking. He was the second son of a lesser noble house and worked part-time as an adventurer. He was also the leader of the four-member team that I worked in at the Academy.

His family’s domain had suffered extensive salt damage after the region was devastated by storms. The previous graduates of Class D had carried out research on it as their graduation project, and our specific class, Class 2D, had inherited that project for our own graduation research. We owed a good deal to his family’s cooperation. His older brother, who graduated last year, was set to become the domain’s next lord.

“‘Too’? Does that mean you came to eat it as well, Ralf?” I asked.

“Oh!” said Galfi. “Then please take a seat here with—”

“Thank you for waiting!” Miss Marie cut Galfi off. “And don’t you dare leave any leftovers!”

After that quick back-and-forth, Ralf finally settled down next to Galfi, though he politely put a bit of space between them. He murmured a quick thanks for the meal, and in the next instant, his dark green eyes gleamed with a predatory glint.

He then began to inhale his food.

We ate in silence for a time, and eventually the two across from me finished their meal in a dead heat.

“Say, you’ll share that dessert with us, won’t you?” Galfi asked with a seductive smile. “It looks delicious.”

“Of course,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest.

I fetched two small plates and dished out a serving to each of them. Their eyes lit up as they stuffed their mouths with the dessert.

“This is absolutely divine!” Galfi purred.

“Delicious!” Ralf exclaimed.

“I can’t eat another bite!” Lia exclaimed over our telepathic link.

“Me either,” I answered with a small groan. “I’m stuffed.”

She and I had finally managed to finish the main course. We’d have to save the dessert for later.

“Oh, right,” Ralf said suddenly after he’d finished his pudding. He was sitting with a contented, well-fed smile, while Galfi was rubbing his stomach happily. “I brought back some bear-rabbit meat along with the one-horned jackalopes from the recent mission I went on. Want to take a bit home?”

“Truly? I’d love some,” I said, delighted by the offer. “But bear-rabbit spoils so quickly that it’s rare to find any in decent condition. Are you sure?”

A bear-rabbit was a beast with the body of a bear and the face of an adorable oversized rabbit. If a boss jackalope lived long enough, it would reabsorb the horn into its head and evolve into a bear-rabbit. Even if properly dressed, though, bear-rabbit blood drained on the spot—when preserved with magic stones, the meat could turn pungent by the next day depending on the conditions. On top of that, it was tough and had a strong flavor. It was a rather divisive ingredient.

“We’re getting your bear-rabbit stew again?!” Lia said. “The meat melts in your mouth! Those tender sinews that just fall apart! The rich, gamey flavor! I can’t wait!” Lia did a little dance on my head. How adorable! And that fluffy down on her belly she sometimes showed...how I longed to touch it!

“I don’t mind,” Ralf answered. “It’ll spoil soon, either way. None of the other adventurers really wanted it, so I got most of it, and I’ll only end up grilling it.”

Ah! That’s right. I’d been in the middle of a conversation. I needed to stop losing myself in thoughts of downy fluff. “Then how about this,” I suggested. “I’ll take it back to my estate, do some prep to extend the shelf life and tenderize it, and then later I’ll bring you some. All you’ll need to do is heat it with some fire.”

“Oh?” Galfi said, looking intrigued. “You can do that with bear-rabbit meat?”

His intrigue was quite understandable. This was a man who was said to have once eaten raw bear-rabbit meat, sobbing through each bite, during the time he’d once spent hiding in the wilderness.

“You can indeed,” I replied. “With a bit of care, the sinewy meat will soften, and the smell mellows out considerably. Ralf, since you’ve just returned, I assume you’re off duty for a while?”

“Yeah,” he said. “And if that’ll make it taste better, I’d appreciate it. Even more so if it keeps longer. Can I leave all the meat with you? If there’s anyone else you’d like to share it with, go right ahead.”

“Consider it done. Galfi, isn’t that lovely news?”

“It is! Thank you!” Galfi said, leaning in close to Ralf. “You’re going to make some lady very happy one day!”

Ralf went still. “Uh, r-right...”

Ah! A beauty confidently leaning toward a bashful, rugged boy. Perfect! They made for a delightful pairing!

“Lavi!” Lia whispered, sitting back down on my head. I could feel her tremble with anticipation. “I think we’ve found the perfect material for your next novel!”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I must return home and start writing immediately!”

“Please make it scandalous!”

“Of course. Leave it to me!”

Though I needed to finish that court romance first...

“By the way,” Ralf said, subtly putting distance between Galfi and himself, “I saw your brother and foster sister at the Academy on the way here.”

“Oh? Both of them? Perhaps they have work with the student council.”

“Your brother was walking through the halls with the head supervisor. Your sister...” He hesitated, tilting his head slightly. “She looked...see-through?” he said finally.

I tilted my head too—in confusion. What was going on?

See-through? Was she astral projecting? Or was this one of those school ghost stories?

“Sounds like a mess waiting to happen,” I said at last. “We’ve finished eating, so once I’ve picked up the meat, I’ll make myself scarce.”

“Agreed. Best if you stay out of it, Lavi,” said Galfi with a nod. And that was coming from a person who once lived on my roof. “Though, even if you no longer have a fiancé, I still question the propriety of a young lady visiting the boys’ dormitory. I may come along as well, yes?”

“Of course,” Ralf said.

“He says that, but now it’s two boys and one girl,” Lia said, sounding delighted. “Isn’t that still a bit scandalous? Depending on how you look at it, it sounds like a debauched little party.”

Oh, Lia. How unfortunate. Exposure to my R-rated novels has clearly done irreversible damage to your sensibilities.

I ignored her. “Thank you, both,” I told them. “Let’s be off, then.”

At their sounds of agreement, I decided it was time to seal the dessert to take home. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a reusable, stretchable eco-wrap. I stretched it to the right length and placed it over the dessert with a plop. It was similar to the plastic wraps of my previous world and was made of adhesive materials. The main ingredient came from a pillow-sized, translucent amoeba that could be found in the rivers here. I had just recently perfected it. It had antibacterial properties, and I personally couldn’t recommend it enough.

“And what’s that delightful contraption?” Galfi was naturally intrigued. He was a curious person by nature, and there was nothing else like this in this world.

“It’s a reusable... Hmm, how should I describe it? You could say it’s like a cloth. You can use it to seal things or wrap around food to keep it fresh. It’s quite useful. And look.” I turned the dessert upside down. “See? It won’t fall off. I also mixed in some powdered wasa bee and a nonfragrant herb oil, which prevents bacteria from getting in and prevents drying.”

A wasa bee was a plantlike magical beast. Its shape, color, habitat, and effects were nearly identical to wasabi, so essential to Japanese cuisine in my previous life. Normally, it floated lazily along clear streams. When its white flowers bloomed and its seeds matured, it would flap its leaves wildly to scatter them. It was best harvested while still in bloom: Once the seeds formed, all the nutrients went to them, and a bitterness kicked in.

The main difference from wasabi was the way its base tapered into something like a bee’s stinger. Still, it looked to me like a misshapen plant, flapping its leaves like wings as it fluttered through the air. It wasn’t carnivorous, so you could safely catch one in a net.

“That’s amazing! I want one!” Galfi exclaimed eagerly. “I’ll bring you the materials, so please make one for me!”

“I’d like one too,” Ralf said, though he was more subdued.

I’d had an inkling they would. Perfect. “I was hoping to get more information on its durability,” I said. “I’ll give you each one. You can repay me by using it and telling me how it holds up.”

“Great!” Galfi said.

I knew he’d bite. His résumé included making things worse for himself by willingly eating writhing centipede and the putrid meat of a bear-rabbit, after all. He was always willing to try new things. He looked delighted. Ralf, meanwhile, nodded so earnestly that he was beginning to look like a bobblehead. I found it rather endearing.

With that, we gathered our empty dishes and made our way to the front, where Miss Marie was waiting. We gave her our thanks for the meal before leaving the dining hall behind.

“Then I’ll bring the meat and the wrap the day after tomorrow,” I said as we stood before the boys’ dormitory.

“Yeah, looking forward to it,” Ralf said with a nod.

“See you later, Ralf,” Galfi purred. “Next time we meet, let’s go on a date.” Galfi gave him a wink and blew a kiss, before turning away, shouldering a large bag packed with nearly an entire bear-rabbit’s worth of meat.

He received only a silent wave in response.

※※※※

“Lag, come over here for a moment,” I called.

“What is it?”

“Come, now, quickly.”

I was alone with my sacred beasts. Galfi had left after he dropped off the meat at my log house annex.

After we returned home, Lia had nestled atop my head and gone promptly to sleep, as she was prone to doing. Time had passed as I quietly finished my tasks, and suddenly I’d realized that it was already evening.

Laguondol, the dragon-type sacred beast, now appeared before me. He was currently the size of a body pillow, so I was easily able to spot the scrunchie around the mane near his tail. When his body was bigger, it tended to disappear into his wild mane.

The scrunchie’s colors mirrored Cas’s: primarily navy blue with pink accents.

“It’s rare for you to summon me yourself,” he said. “You can call me more often, you know?”

“Thank you for saying so, Lag,” I said with a smile. “Now, I need you to give this a good whack with your tail.”

“This?” he asked, looking around.

I pointed at the leather sack on the ground. I had reinforced it with a spell and put the meat inside. “It’s bear-rabbit meat,” I said simply.

“Say no more. I’m on it.” Lag was also a known devotee of my bear-rabbit dishes.

“I’ve already cast a reinforcement spell on the floor, and soundproofed the room. Once you’re done, freeze the whole pouch for me.”

“Got it.” He gave a quick nod, then got straight to work. Lag’s appetite seemed to be my ally today.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was a master class of tail-work. Elegant, really. It was a bit on the loud side, but I chose to overlook that. The more it was beaten, the more tender it became, so it was better for him to let loose.

“I’ve locked the door, so keep at it for another ten minutes or so.”

“Got it,” he said between tail slaps. “I’d like mine stewed!”

“Leave it to me.” I grabbed the bug net I’d left propped against the table, and then called to the small bird still dozing atop my head. “Lia, wake up. It’s time to go.”

I couldn’t help thinking back to when my children had still been small... My husband would take us to the mountains, and we’d catch bugs with a net just like this.

“Mnnh? Oh, I dozed off,” Lia said, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. “All right, I’ll teleport us!”

As the warm feeling from the memories flooded me, Lia spread her wings before flapping them around my head—I was sure it looked absolutely brilliant with color.

Then suddenly, we were outside.

I walked along a nearby stream for a while before I found them.

“There they are. And look, they haven’t bloomed yet,” I said, pointing at the wasa bee plants. They were bathed in the glow of the setting sun, their leaves and small buds bobbing gently on the water’s surface. “All right, I’ll go and capture some. In the meantime, how about you read this?”

Lia gasped. “Could it be...?” Her voice was trembling.

I summoned the entrance to my pocket dimension storage and a fresh stack of manuscript pages fell out of it.

“Heh heh heh. Hot off the press, it’s volume 4 of my courtly romance series!”

“Yessssss!” Lia let out a shriek. “Kimono Kisses: Sengoku Rendezvous!”

With a victory cry, she snatched the pages out of the air with her beak and landed on a small boulder nearby. Ah, she’d summoned an orb of light. I hadn’t even seen her cast it. Impressive. Bathed in the orb’s glow, she immediately began reading. Satisfied, I grabbed a worn pair of shoe soles, and used magic to adhere them to my shoes.

As I stepped toward the river, the fading sunlight caught my attention. Dusk was settling in. Suddenly, from the direction that a high-pitched squealing was coming from—Was that laughter? Pleasure?—a soft orange globe of light came floating down, hovering gently at my feet to light the water’s edge.

I smiled. “Thank you, Lia,” I whispered.

I stepped forward over the water, but my feet didn’t sink. The soles I’d placed on my feet were woven from the leg hairs of the water strider, an insect-type magic beast. With just a bit of magical manipulation to make my body lighter, I was able to skate across the water’s surface.

The water strider was a beast that stood only a little shorter than I did, so they could be quite intimidating when encountered. They looked similar to the water strider bugs in my previous world—though obviously these were much bigger—and they were similarly carnivorous. If you were caught by one, they would jab their needlelike proboscis into you and suck you dry. They were best avoided.

“Here we go!” I cried.

I skated across the river surface, closed in on my target, and then swung my bug net along the surface like a golf club.

Hole in one! I’d captured my first wasa bee.

Most plantlike magical beasts weren’t wary of other creatures, so it was often easy to capture the first one.

The real trouble came after that.

The other wasa bees that had been floating nearby suddenly scattered across the water like they were gliding.

I snapped my net into the air and flung the captured beast into my pocket dimension storage. Then I skated to the next wasa bee: swung, scooped, tossed, and stored.

Each time I repeated the process, the beasts scattered faster.

At first I was gliding at a brisk walk, then at jogging pace; by the end, I was using wind magic to propel me quickly across the water at a pace that would’ve stunned a speed skater. But I was still able to get clean hits with each swing, and I tossed about fifty of them into storage.

Even in this remote mountain wilderness, the heat of summer was in full effect, and all this movement had me sweating hard. I skated back to the gravelly shore of the river and cast a cleaning spell on both myself and my equipment. I felt much better after I’d cast away all the grime and sweat.

I peeled the soles off my shoes and tossed them into storage along with my net. As soon as I did, the little light orb that had been faithfully hovering at my feet blinked out. With a soft flutter, Lia returned, bringing her light orb with her as she landed on my head once again.

“You took longer than I thought you would,” she huffed. “But thanks to that, I finished the whole novel.” She lowered the bundle of pages in her beak. I took it and tucked it safely into storage too.

“I needed to catch more than I usually do, since I’m making those wraps for Ralf and Galfi,” I replied. “It sounded like you were enjoying the novel. I’m glad.”

She giggled. “Even within the court series, Sengoku Rendezvous is top-tier!”

I smiled at the small giggles of excitement she couldn’t contain. “That’s good to hear. Be sure to spoil it for the other member of your little R-rated book club.”

“Of course. They always wait for me to give them spoilers before deciding whether to read a book. So...should we head back?”

“I suppose we should. Today is hotter than usual, so we should hurry. I had Lag freeze the meat, but it’ll start thawing soon. Can you teleport us to the storage shed behind the house? I need to pull out that huge stewpot. I haven’t used it in ages.”

“Leave it to me.”

Just as before, the scenery changed before my eyes, and suddenly we were in front of the shed.

After pulling the large pot out and dragging it in front of the annex, I suddenly noticed that the mother hen who should’ve been atop my head had vanished.

The next moment, my brother’s voice called out from beyond the gate. “Laviange?”

“Mihail,” I answered, “what brings you out so late?”

“I saw a light while I was taking a stroll through the garden. It had me a bit concerned. This wing doesn’t usually get much traffic.”

The garden he referred to lay directly beyond my log house annex. It was modest—by my family’s standards, at least—only being about three times the size of the annex, and it was reserved for my brother’s private use.

The light he referred to came from the light ball spell, no doubt. It had been quietly illuminating my path ever since I left the shed. As it was a basic utility spell, there was no issue with me using it.

“I see. Then I imagine this would be the culprit,” I said, gesturing to the floating orb.

“So it seems. But...what are you doing outside? And what on earth is that enormous pot?”

“This? Well...”

Bzzzzzz...

Hmm? Was that the sound of a mosquito?

Smack!

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

My brother rushed over in alarm, but this was no time to worry about that. I’d missed the mosquito. And it stung.

“It was a mosquito,” I said with a sigh. “Normally I burn repellent, so they’re not a problem. But there are quite a few of them out here. It’s still too early to sleep. Would you care to come inside for some tea? It’s hard to talk with these things buzzing around.”

“Y-Yeah... Sure.”

Cradling the oversized stewpot, I strode briskly toward the front door. My brother, still somewhat baffled, followed close behind.

“Please, come right in,” I said, channeling a bit of magic into the enchanted keyhole and—click!—unlocking the door. With a flick of my wrist, I tossed the light orb inside ahead of us.

“Here, let me take the pot,” my brother said, ever the gentleman. He stepped inside and headed straight for the table he now knew so well.

I heard more buzzing, and I hurried in and quickly shut the door behind me.

It didn’t follow me in, did it?

I channeled magic into the light switch near the door and then headed into the living room...only to find my brother standing there, frozen, his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Mihail? Why are you just standing there with the pot?”

“Laviange...” he said quietly. “I know you’re not the kind of person who would do something like this. I truly do. But I also know that no one but you can enter this log house after you’ve locked it. If you were hiding something, or trying to protect someone...I wish you would’ve come to me first.”

Oh my, he sounded dazed. What could he be talking about?

I stepped closer to look at what had caught his gaze.

“You may not want to tell me who did this,” he said through clenched teeth, “but now that I’ve seen it, I can’t just pretend it never happened...”

Before him lay a leather sack, large enough to hold a person. The tie at the opening had come loose, and a dark red liquid was seeping out.

I supposed it did look a bit like a scene out of a horror movie.

“Laviange,” he whispered, looking utterly distraught. I felt a pang of guilt.

Of course, what was lying before him was only the now-thawing bear-rabbit meat. But judging by the look on his face, he had clearly cast me as some criminal disposing of a corpse.

I couldn’t blame him, really. After all, Lag had thwacked the meat so thoroughly it had gone from plump to limp, and in its current half-deflated state, it did resemble something far more criminal. Coupled with the isolation of this log house and the fact that he’d personally watched me unlock the door...

I could already imagine the title: Getting Away with Murder: My Sister, the Body-Dumping Criminal. A grim little mystery novel, inspired by tragic misunderstanding.

“Mihail, it’s just meat.”

“Human meat?!”

A sudden genre shift to psychological thriller.

“It’s bear-rabbit meat.”

After a long silence, he finally stuttered, “Bear...rabbit...meat?” Still clutching the pot to his chest, he staggered to the white sofa and collapsed upon it. It seemed he finally understood. “Th-Thank goodness...”

His head was bowed, and he looked utterly drained.

“I’m glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up. You might even say, the tension has thawed...just like the meat,” I said with a chuckle.

“I-I suppose you could.”

Quite a good dad joke, if I say so myself.

I extinguished the light ball. My brother seemed unable to look my way. The chill in the room was because of the frozen meat...right?

※※※※

And just like that, the crime scene transformed into a kitchen! It was time for some sibling cooking!

“Now then, please pour a shallow layer of water into the pot and put the steamer rack in place,” I told my brother. “Once it’s over the heat, take the three preprepped blocks of bear-rabbit meat and begin layering them with the wasa bee leaves, like a lovely mille-feuille. And that’s it.”

“R-Right...”

Though he’d never stood in a kitchen before, my brother had apparently picked up the basics of slicing, simmering, and searing during subjugation training. Watching my handsome brother fumble his way through cooking—what a feast for the eyes.

That said, I turned my attention back to the final block of bear-rabbit meat on the table.

It had already been sliced into neat quarters, courtesy of my brother’s magic. Given the size of the cut of meat, spells were far more efficient than knives. I’d laid an especially large one of my wraps under the meat. I’d made this one when I’d recently gotten a craving for udon. It was turning out to be quite useful. With this underneath, you hardly needed to use any flour for prep at all.

I’d discreetly withdrawn some wasa bees from storage, separated the rumps, with the stinger from the leaves and stems, and cleaned them. In my left hand I took a rump section with the stinger, cut just where it began to curve, and raised my kitchen knife in my right. Showtime.

With the flair of a scene from a serial killer drama, I stabbed the knife into the meat with a satisfying thwack, then twisted it to create a small pocket. Withdrawing the blade, I inserted the rump piece into the gap.

Voilà. Done.

I repeated that about ten times, evenly spaced on the meat, and the prep was complete. Simple.

Finally, I took my special premade herb salt and rubbed it generously into the surface. I then added it to the pot, which my brother had already brought to temperature. I laid a layer of wasa bee leaves over the top, forming a lid. I let it cook.

The wasa bee and herbs served both to tenderize the meat and neutralize the smell, perfect for something as gamey as bear-rabbit. The rear portion of the wasa bee was particularly potent.

“Thank you for your help, Mihail. Would you mind rolling up the wrap and tossing it into the sink for me?”

“No problem.” The same brother who, not ten minutes ago, suspected me of corpse disposal, now followed my instructions without a second thought.

I took some solace in the fact that he at least hadn’t suspected me of murder. Given the circumstances, no one could have blamed him for jumping to that conclusion... And yet, he’d gone so far as to imagine some mysterious “Suspect A” I was shielding. The old him would never have done that. It was obvious he was making a genuine effort to meet me halfway.

It reminded me somewhat of the rebellious phases of my children and grandchildren in my previous life. Having memories of living to the age of eighty-six—complete with my fair share of youthful foolishness—made things rather complicated. It was hard to take a young person’s missteps too seriously when you’d seen it all before. You started just blaming their youth, and worse yet, you grew soft and sentimental.

“Brother, would you like dinner?” I asked. “Or at this hour, perhaps it’s more of a midnight snack. Consider it thanks for your help.”

“Really? I am feeling a bit peckish, actually.”

“But of course.”

No reason to let the second burner go to waste. My stove had two, after all.

I took out some presliced jackalope meat I’d received from Ralf, and began to sear it with a satisfying sizzle.

Now, it was the cutting board’s time to shine.

I took out a wasa bee root, which was the part that most resembled wasabi, and shredded it finely. Once I’d seasoned the meat with my herb salt, I gave it a quick sauté alongside the shredded root and some of the leaves. The remaining leaves I massaged lightly with rock salt, then wrapped them in a palm-sized wrap. That was for tomorrow’s lunch. I then took a baguette I had prepared, sliced it lengthwise, and laid it beside the meat to soak up the juices while crisping the surface.

The final touch came on the plate, as I sandwiched the meat, root, and leaves between the two halves of the baguette.

And it was done.

“Thank you,” my brother said. “Ah, it’s delicious! And so tender!”

Naturally, I’d given my brother the larger half. And naturally, it vanished in minutes. The appetite of a young man was truly a force of nature.

※※Aside: Summer Break: Thze White Oath Mark, the Red Spider Lily (Heinz)※※

“You’ve done nothing but invite scorn. It’s about time you accepted that,” the noblewoman had said coldly. And with that, she began to cut into me, burn me, and then crush my bones with the water she’d used to put the fire out.

It was like the pain consumed me all over again. I bolted upright with a scream.

“Gaaah! Hah... Hah... Hah...” I sat panting in a cold sweat. I didn’t even have enough strength to scream properly.

I sat there shaking, remembering the agony that had only lasted for a moment.

Where the hell is this?! Where am I?!

I saw a shadow on the floor, and flinched back in terror, holding my breath...before realizing that it was just my own shadow, cast from the moonlight streaming in the window.

“I’ve carved an oath mark into you, so that if you attempt to speak of me, your words will stick in your throat,” she had said. “You’d best keep that mouth of yours shut. If you want to try to break the oath, your magic had better exceed mine.”

The words had been spoken like a curse, and the cold expression on her face was seared into my memory. Her hair was long and silver, loosely curled, and tinged with a pink so light that you might mistake it as white. Her eyes were a dark indigo blue with golden irises.

“A-Ah... Aaaaaaaahhh!”

I didn’t care that it was summer, didn’t care that I was soaked in sweat—I pulled my thick blanket over my head and screamed. Pain and terror wrapped themselves tight around me and refused to let go.

“P...Please...k-kill...me... M-My wounds... I-I...d-don’t want...to live...”

Unbidden, another face emerged in my mind. The face of a classmate, half of her face burnt. She could hardly open her mouth, much less properly form words. Her scalp, where fine golden hair had once grown, had been swollen and blackened.

Her name was Mightycarna Twyla. She had refused to take a healing potion. Slowly, she had weakened and died.

Next to her had lain another classmate, Pechulim Lunach. His body was a blotchy blue purple and he’d been twitching slightly as drool ran from his mouth. His eyes had wandered, vacant. Like me, he’d served under Prince Shua—no, the second prince—on the student council.

He’d wanted to live, even with the scars, so we’d given him a healing potion, and, somehow, he’d made it.

I hadn’t been particularly close to either of them. And though both of them were victims, I knew they’d also played their part in causing the incident.

So at first, I had been able to bear the guilt of failing to save them.

But then the Academy pulled my recommendation for the Knights. The Order itself rescinded its offer outright. And my own father, head of House Asche, stripped me of my name, told me in no uncertain terms that after I graduated he would no longer consider me his son, and booted me out of the estate. He said he’d pay for me to stay at the dorms until graduation as a parting courtesy; as a sort of severance pay.

And as for the prince I’d sworn myself to, I’d believed we’d pledged to overcome hardship together. But once the scandal broke, he vanished without a word. I only learned the truth of it from the first prince’s public announcement, the same as everyone else.

That was the moment I realized just how much of a fool I’d been. I had pledged myself to a shallow, self-serving prince, and had danced to the tune of the girl who had him wound around her little finger. I’d played the part of a jester, not a knight. I’d believed him worthy of my loyalty, and I’d believed Sienna Robur a pure, kind, selfless soul. But both had been an illusion.

In the end, there was no one to blame but myself. It had been my blind faith, my narrow vision, that had led me down this road. I’d told myself that over and over again.

But I still can’t stop blamin’ them.

It was unbecoming of a knight. I knew that. But I wasn’t gonna be a knight anymore, was I?

Even if I tried to tell myself I brought this on my own head, even if I kept telling myself that I had disgraced myself and let the second prince wander into danger, I still couldn’t stop blaming them.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this... It wasn’t...”

My classmates looked at me like I was dirt. And when I did my job as a student council member by investigating what had happened with Class D, I only faced resentment.

Worse yet, Lady Laviange Robur, the girl we’d mocked so freely, had turned out to be a monster.

I remembered her words to me in the Poison Box Garden: “Uncover the truth. Learn the sins of the royal family—and of the House of Asche.”

What truth? And the sins of the royal family? You dug up dirt like that, you’d end up dead.

Yet, she had branded me. Seared a white spider lily oath mark right into my shoulder. What the hell was that?! And it wasn’t just words about Lady Robur that had been sealed. If I tried to say anything about the notorious villainess Beljeanne, I locked up and pain rushed through my body.

Worst of all was the day that Sienna cornered me, demanding answers about the second prince.

“Prince Shua isn’t responding to my messages,” she’d said. “Maybe it’s my sister’s fault! She is his fiancée, after all!”

“Hngh— N-No. Shua— Haa— T-tried to help her,” I’d managed to whimper. “H-He was— Ah! H-Hurt! In the garden...”

“What?! Why was Prince Shua hurt?! No, it doesn’t matter! That’s my sister’s fault too! She can’t even get herself out of a mess without someone else’s help,” Sienna had said, biting her lip. “I’m so worried about him that I can’t even sleep at night. My sister is just like that horrible woman Beljeanne, clinging to the title of fiancée when there’s nothing real between them. I worry that Prince Shua and my brother have been fooled by her. Please, Heinz, come with me to visit him. I’m begging you!”

I flinched in pain. “I-I can’t. And don’t s-speak—ah!—so casually to me anymore...”

“What? That’s so cruel! Wait, Heinz! Heinz!”

I could barely hold myself together while she was talking, fighting waves of stabbing pain that made me want to scream.

But even with cold sweat pouring off me, trembling like I was about to collapse, Sienna hadn’t shown a shred of concern. I’d had no strength left to humor her. I ignored her cries, shut the door, and tried to leave.

But that was when it hit me. There was something wrong with my right shoulder. My body locked up.

“Please, stop it... I know I screwed up... I’m sorry... Just make it stop...”

To rid myself of this pain, I was supposed to reveal some kind of truth, something tied to the sins of the royal family and my own house... No, wait. I was supposed to uncover some truth...but she’d only said I needed to learn of the sins of the royal family... Was that it? I couldn’t tell anymore.

I’d been fool enough to consider myself an aide to the second prince, and the other students knew that. They came constantly with questions asking where he was, and each time the pain flared, eating away at my mind and body.

Then the first prince came.

At first, us student council types weren’t treated like the enemy. But then that cursed list started making the rounds while we weren’t looking. And those on the list started to corner me, asking for an audience with the second prince, demanding I fix things. Most of them were the ones who hadn’t settled with those they’d harassed, and their futures were on the line.

When I stayed quiet, they started turning on me. Said it was my fault. Said I never stopped the prince. Said I joined him in treating Lady Robur like dirt.

It wore me down mentally. In the end, I could barely drag myself to class. Just enough to keep from being expelled.

I’d never realized I was this weak.

Honestly, summer break had been a breath of fresh air. I knew the dorms would start filling up again soon, but for now, I’d hardly had to look anyone in the eye.

“It’s your fault! Murderer!”

There they were again. The voices. Guilt for my classmates twisted in my gut until I couldn’t breathe. No one had ever actually said those words to me, but I heard them over and over again in my dreams and fevered delusions.

“Help me...please... I’m begging you... Lady Robur...please forgive me already...”

I’d do anything. Just, please, end this pain...this guilt.

I’d lost everything. My home. My place as a knight. The trust of every person I knew. I had been betrayed by the lord I swore to serve...and the girl I fell for.

I knew it was my fault. Trust me. But hadn’t I been punished enough?

Knock. Knock.

There was a loud knock at my door. And before I could answer, the door creaked open. “Heinz.”

“Wh-What the...” The words slipped out as I trembled with fear. I was sure I’d locked it.

That’s when she stepped inside, a red spider lily held in her hand. The girl who’d betrayed me. She stopped right in front of me, and knelt.

She looked up and my eyes met hers. They were as black as night.

※※Aside: The Morning of the Incident: A Birthday Gift from My Sister (Mihail)※※

It was early morning, and I was sitting alone in an empty classroom, quietly filling out forms. With there being no lessons during summer break, I’d found this time before the student council showed up was conducive to concentration.

“Ah, blast it...”

I’d made a mistake, yet I found myself in unexpectedly good spirits as I reached for my other pen.

Shff, shff, shff.

The satisfying sounds it made as it erased the ink brightened my mood. I wiped away the offending scribble and allowed myself a quiet smile.

Admittedly, I’d never been particularly adept at administrative work; in fact, I quite disliked it. Yet, for the past month, I’d found the work less offensive. The reason surely being—

“Mihail.”

The door opened suddenly, and in strode none other than Regulus, the first prince, who was now serving as the head supervisor at the Academy. Gone was the disguise he’d used as school physician; his silver-black hair and crimson eyes were now on full display.

What brought him here at this hour? Was it something to do with the incident which he’d been working on since before summer break?

I hastily moved to store my pen in its case, but alas, it was too late. Those red eyes had already caught sight of it.

“What’s that?”

Regulus strode up without preamble, reaching out to touch it with one hand.

“A birthday gift from Laviange,” I said, pulling the case toward me. “Don’t touch it.”

House Robur had rarely celebrated birthdays in recent years, owing to the frigid relationship between my parents and their general disinterest in their children. But unbeknownst to them, a quiet tradition of giving gifts had been born between Laviange and me.

Not that my gifts had ever reached her...nor had I even noticed the ones she’d given me.

As a bit of background, there used to be two head chefs at the estate. On days close to my birthday, when the head chef friendly to my sister had been in charge, it appeared that she would prepare something for me herself and have it delivered.

In hindsight, I did recall these occasions: The dishes were always made from rare ingredients, nothing that had graced our table before or since. The flavors lingered in the mind... Small wonder they’d stayed with me.

She’d never actually said anything to me about it. Given her own birthdays had never been celebrated, and thinking I might reject her gesture outright, it seemed she’d decided to remain silent.

When I had finally realized, I was stunned. I’d sat in a daze.

I had swiftly investigated what had happened to the gifts I’d sent her. The head steward—hired by my mother, naturally—had rerouted them. To my mother, or in some cases, to my foster sister.

I’d dismissed him on the spot.

It went without saying that I regretted not handing the gifts to her directly. I vowed, solemnly, that I would do so next time.

Still... I glanced at the man standing directly in front of me.

There was a pause. “I see,” he said, folding his arms.

What now?

Unless I was hallucinating, I could swear I could see a black aura emanating from him. His expression remained neutral, yet the tone he’d taken had a distinct edge to it. I did not understand this man at all!

“Do you suppose your sister knows when my birthday is?” he finally said.

“She must,” I replied after a moment of hesitation. “The birthdays of the royal family are celebrated with lavish parties, after all.”

“And yet she has never once attended, nor shown the slightest interest in them. She cannot know.”

And if she didn’t, so what? She’d turned down his proposal without as much as a second thought.

“Have you seriously not given up on Laviange?” I asked in quiet disbelief.

“You were there. You heard me tell her that I would keep trying. Yet here you sit, showing off her gifts to you, looking so damned pleased with yourself.”

Was it me, or was his diction suddenly getting rougher? Wait. Were his eyes gleaming?! No, surely it was a trick of the light... Hold on. Was that bloodlust I sensed?! No...it was something else.

“Good heavens,” I breathed. “Are you jealous?”

“Of course I am. Thoroughly. Let me use it.”

“Surely you don’t mean to say you seriously fell for Laviange!” I thought he would’ve moved on after the candidates for his hand in marriage had been announced.

“I’m serious.”

“But you have candidates that are vying for your hand. You were just asking them to watch over Laviange the other day.”

It was precisely because I had seen him show concern for my sister that I’d decided to call this man by his given name, rather than his title—though I’d put off any decisions on whether to become his aide or not.

“Why do you think I wanted them to watch out for her? Besides, they’re only candidates.”

What in blazes was that supposed to mean? If he meant to treat my sister as some concubine, I would never allow for it. I wouldn’t allow anyone else from his family to ridicule my sister ever again, not after what his half brother did...

“You’re mistaken,” he said with a sigh. “I have no plans on taking anyone other than your sister as a wife. I swear it. Do not make light of my affection for her. It has lasted many years.”

Now that he mentioned it, he’d said something similar when he had knelt down and asked my sister for her hand.

Still...of the three princes, he was the one most likely to take the throne. As king, he could take as many wives as he pleased, so why would he swear that to me?

“When?” I pressed him. “When did you fall for her?”

Regulus only sighed. He was usually easy to read when it came to matters about my sister, but today he gave me nothing. The difference felt strange. “I won’t say. Not unless your sister remembers it herself.”

“In that case, I will not only refuse to help you, but actively get in your way. I’ll see to it you never step foot in that annex again,” I threatened.

Predictably, he ignored me. “Have you heard that I was once afflicted by a magical curse?” he asked suddenly.

I...had not. Was he truly in love with my sister? Wait... A magical curse?

“I have...heard rumors about magical curses,” I remembered. “They’re true? I didn’t know they actually existed. Legend holds that the victims either die in agony or live to suffer, crippled in mind and body. I read about them in some old treatises on magic. Are you saying you recovered? Then it must have been your father who lifted it...”

“No. It was your sister.”

“What?”

“Laviange was still a toddler. She took on the curse and...somehow beat it?” he said questioningly.

“Beat it?! And why are you asking me?!” There were too many things to object to! In fact, I objected to all of it!

A magical curse... Within this kingdom, there existed a legend that was known by all. According to that legend, the notorious villainess had once unleashed demons upon the land, and cursed both the kingdom and my grandmother with their magic. When I asked my grandmother herself about it, though, she’d dismissed it with a laugh, calling it a fabrication.

I’d once read the following in an old treatise:

“A magical curse is something altogether different from magic. It borrows the power of demons and twists the very principles of the world. It brings misfortune to both the one who casts it and the one who is cursed. It must never be used.”

Even among mages, only those with a rare aptitude and intuitive sense could hope to undo one. At least, that’s what I’d heard. Unraveling a curse was supposed to bring great risk to both the mage and the one who was cursed. It could kill them or leave one or both permanently damaged.

“The one who cast the curse on me was never found. Even now, their identity remains unknown. A royal order was issued at the time, barring any from speaking of it, so only a select few know the full account. Your father, the head of the Royal Mage Corps, arrived at the scene just after the curse was broken.”

“Wait... I don’t understand. When...?”

“I was cursed sometime after you were born. The curse transformed me into a black, grotesque mass of hair. Anyone who so much as touched me died,” he said, a shadow passing over his features. “Your father took steps to keep it from spreading. Not long after, I was sent to the queen’s family estate, to recover under pretense of illness. I remained there for several years.”

As I listened, a memory rose in the back of my brain.

Yes... Just before my sister turned three, there was a day our mother left the house with only her in tow. It was something I’d never seen before. I remember watching them go, and feeling a deep, gnawing unease.

“The queen’s family was, of course, a cadet branch of House Robur,” he said. “When your mother heard the rumors about me, she staged an ‘accident.’ Her intent was to have her daughter come into contact with the curse and kill her.”

“What did you just say?!” I could scarcely believe my ears. She’d hated Laviange enough to want her dead even then? For what possible reason?

“In fact, she left your sister in the annex I was confined to, and your sister touched me without the slightest idea what I was, and the curse transferred to her.”

No words would come. I could only gasp.

“She called me a ‘little black marimo,’ or something to that effect, and toddled right after me. Naturally, no one else dared come near, so there was no one to stop her. My limbs had shriveled, my eyes were gone. I couldn’t flee. She caught me easily, climbed onto my back, and used me as a mattress.”

“What even is a marimo?”

“I haven’t the slightest.”

“For what it’s worth, I apologize for what my sister did.”

I still remembered how cute my sister had been as she had toddled around at that age. Still, it appeared her actions that day had been essentially those of a tiny wild animal.

“To begin with, your sister had unusually low innate magic power, and an abnormally high resistance to magical energy depletion,” he explained. “The curse spread by latching onto magic. It entered the body through contact with the afflicted, entangled itself with the magic within, depleting it. Once the curse progressed far enough, it would completely drain the host of magic and kill them.”

He shook his head as a shadow passed over his features once again.

“But your sister’s magic was already depleted before the curse could take hold,” he continued. “Without any magic to cling to, it simply dispersed.” He gestured its evaporation with one hand.

“So you’re saying,” I summarized, “that her magic was so depleted that the curse simply disappeared when it took hold of her?”

“Precisely. And the curse vanished from my body after it was drained into her. She simply lay down on my back and took a nap, and by the time she woke up, it was over.”

There was far too much to process. I no longer knew where to begin. “So not only does my sister ignore common sense, she disregards the basic principles of magic itself...”

“You’re right to be confused,” he said. “It almost seems like a joke—a toddler with magical energy so low it looped back around into a miracle that not even the greatest mages alive could perform. I suppose it has to do with the type of curse in the end.”

He shrugged. “Since my condition was a highly protected secret, the only people present were your father and his vice captain, who were monitoring the barrier around the annex and detected a disturbance. So we’re the only three who know about the incident—excluding His Majesty the King, of course. Not that anyone would believe it even if they did hear about it. And no one could possibly replicate what happened.”

There was a faraway look in Regulus’s eyes as he finished the story, and no wonder. He had suffered under a curse for years, only to have it undone by a toddler taking a nap. It would be hard to accept for anyone.

“What did my father say?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

“He said nothing. He handed your sister off to his vice captain and came over to pour some magical energy into me... After he’d made sure that the symptoms of my energy depletion were in check, he left and returned to the palace alone. I suppose his paternal instincts were already dead at that point.”

I nodded slowly. “I see.”

I remembered that day clearly now. The vice captain had brought my sister home after that outing with our mother. It had been long enough ago that he had still been in possession of a full head of hair, before he’d begun lamenting its barren state.

If our mother had no love for us, I could accept that, but why did she direct such murderous hatred toward Laviange alone? My heart wept for her. I swore once again that I would protect her in the future.

I knew she still didn’t trust me. Why should she? I had spent too long prioritizing our foster sister over her. And she didn’t expect anything from me. She’d told me that directly.

Even so, I still wished to be her older brother.

I glanced at the pen case, remembering the day she had given it to me. It had been the same day that the man in front of me had proposed to her in the annex. We’d both been thrown out after that, but, curious as I was, I couldn’t help but return later.

I’d knocked on the door, but there’d been no reply. When I checked the handle, I’d found the door had been left unlocked.

She’d told me it was okay to come in if the door wasn’t locked, but I’d had no intention of doing so uninvited.

“Laviange?” I’d called out, but no reply came.

Rattle, rattle, clatter...

Was that the sound of something falling? Surely, it wasn’t an intruder, was it?!

The image of Sienna flinging open this door without warning surfaced unbidden, and I rushed in, heart pounding—

And there she was. Laviange was slumped over, fast asleep at the very table we’d been sitting at earlier.

It seemed she’d been writing. Two stacks of paper had partially toppled over, and one now served as a pillow. She was clutching a pen in her hand. Another pen lay on the floor nearby... That must have been the sound I’d heard. I let out a shaky breath.

Carefully, so as not to smudge the pages or disturb her fingers, I slipped the pen from her hand. Then, taking care not to wake her, I gently lifted her into my arms.

My eyes drifted to the three haphazard stacks of paper without thinking, and I saw what she had written.

I froze, standing there motionless.

When at last I returned to myself, I stiffly laid Laviange down on the nearby white sofa.

Her dark blue eyes fluttered open.

“Mihail...?”

I slowly turned to the piles of paper, my head jerking like my neck needed oil to make the movement smooth.

“What...is that?”

She didn’t comment on my expression. Likely still groggy from sleep, she simply blinked a few times before answering, “A piece of fiction, naturally.”

“F-Fic...tion,” I croaked.

Was my throat seizing up? I couldn’t seem to form whole words anymore.

“But of course,” she said, as if that were the most natural thing in the world. For a moment, I almost believed that this must just be a common thing for girls her age.

“D-Don’t...you think...it’s a bit...graphic?”

There were scenes in there that clearly went beyond mere kissing.

“Oh dear, why are you speaking like that?” She rubbed her eyes. “There’s nothing all that explicit, I assure you. A tasteful bit of affection, no more. Such things are quite normal these days.”

“T-Tasteful...affection? N-Normal...?” I said, my brain whirling.

I couldn’t make sense of it. Was she writing from experience? The descriptions seemed disturbingly confident. Or were they merely taken from the fathomless depths of her imagination? Please let it be her imagination.

No... Wait a moment...

A face floated into my head... Wharton Nilty’s, to be precise.

I remembered what he had told me. There was a novelist that everyone was raving about. The novelist was adored by all women, from commoners to nobles, fresh-faced maidens to refined older ladies. Their work spanned every genre: the classic tales of love between men and women, but also dalliances between gentlemen and tender love between ladies. The novelist offered it all, from lighthearted fluff to heavy emotional depths.

“It was...you...”

This. This was the very series that the scheming Wharton and the royal spy had been besotted with! The shameless and salacious novelist whose alias was on everyone’s lips was before me in the flesh, and it was...my sister.

The content, admittedly, was unlike anything I’d ever read, and devilishly easy to read. If I didn’t think about who’d penned it, the work stood on its own merits.

One stack of papers was a novel about two gentlemen’s devotion to one another. The second was a courtly affection blooming between ladies. And the third was about a jilted fiancée who turned the tables on her faithless betrothed and his paramour—precisely the sort of “Get Owned” tale that was so popular among the student council officers, including Sienna.

Which meant Sienna had almost certainly been reading these novels as well...

What was I to do? My sister was on a path I could no longer follow.

I realized that, truly, she was a prodigy at evading responsibility or instruction.

She was the sort of person who, when trying to improve the sharpness of a dagger, instead rigged it to explode. The robe she’d enchanted to camouflage herself while fishing for fish-type magical beasts? It also bypassed the barrier around the Poison Box Garden. The reasoning behind her creations and their actual performance rarely—if ever—aligned.

Then there was her strange disposition, with such low magical energy that she was able to just leave the Poison Box Garden.

And now I’d found out she was the author of the most indecent bestsellers in the kingdom.

Remind me, what, precisely, did “talent” and “competence” mean again?

“Laviange, you are a noblewoman from a respectable house. You can’t keep writing novels like—”

“Oh my,” she interrupted me with a soft giggle, “so you have read them, dear brother.”

I closed my mouth, disarmed by her smile. It was not the polite mask of a noblewoman, but instead a soft smile, appropriate for a girl her age. Perhaps she was just still half asleep.

“You know, these novels are quite popular,” she continued. “In fact, some even line up on the day of release to get a copy. Just knowing someone out there is looking forward to my stories makes me happy. It is one of my small joys, just like cooking. And since it brings in a modest income, I’ve had no trouble supporting myself.”

“Urk...” I froze. “I see.”

Well, I could no longer very well say, “It’s vulgar! It’s improper! A lady should never write such things!”

Until recently, I hadn’t been involved in the estate’s internal affairs. But now that financial management had passed from my mother to me, I’d discovered something: The daily allowance meant for my sister had been diverted and redirected to my mother and Sienna.

It was a considerable sum. Recovering it from them would take years, but I’d begun the process. But all that was to say that Laviange had been receiving nothing for years. No pocket money. Not even money to live on.

And yet, the clothes she wore at school were always fashionable.

I’d known for some time that she helped out in the castle town here and there, but that had always puzzled me. Where had the rest of the money she must have had come from? To think this, of all things, was the answer...

“Laviange, there was no mention of this in the royal spy’s reports.”

“You mean Galfi? Oh, I bought him off ages ago,” she said nonchalantly, as if she hadn’t said something completely outrageous.

“I see.”

What was I supposed to say? You bribed a royal spy?! That was not something one could say aloud. That was something one must never say aloud.

Also, how dare she bribe a spy?! She’d outdone herself in sheer madness.

“Yes,” she continued cheerfully, “as part of our arrangement, he gets the very first printed copy of each new release. He’s been very good about turning a blind eye to my writing activities here.” She pointed at the table covered in papers.

She bribed him with new releases?! And wasn’t the first copy something incredibly valuable? Was she really okay with that?

“Of course, I must wait until he’s away to sneak off and deliver the manuscripts to the publisher,” she added. “He’s warned me that if he caught me leaving the estate in person, he’d be obligated to report it. So I wear that cloak from the exercise that masks my presence.”

Just as I thought that perhaps the royal spy had a bit of common sense, I was brought back to reality. What was he doing?! Were he and my sister birds of a feather?!

“Was that cloak...not for fishing?”

“It turned out to be useful for all sorts of things, so I devoted quite a bit of effort to its development.”

“I feel there must have been...other things you could have devoted effort to.”

“Hmm... Not really?” she said, tilting her head slightly in puzzlement. She was utterly unrepentant.

“I see.”

As I thought, she had never had the slightest intention of acquiring the manners or education expected of a noble lady. This was impossible. It was beyond me. And yet...

She shifted to sit properly on the sofa, and I stepped closer, reaching out to gently pat her head.

“Brother?”

The texture of her hair was different now, no longer the soft curls of her childhood. I felt a curious pang at the thought.

“Are you...happy?” I wasn’t sure why I asked, other than the fact that I suddenly found myself wanting to know.

Her family life, even now, was a mess. An indifferent father. A mother who had wanted to murder her since childhood. A foster sister who schemed and sneered at her at every opportunity. And an elder brother—me—who had failed her for far too long.

“I don’t know if I’d say I’m happy,” she replied, “but at the very least, I’m not unhappy. And each day is...quite enjoyable, actually.”

“I see. That’s good enough.”

If, despite all that, she could say she lived each day with joy—that alone was a small miracle.

“Were you working on something?” I said, nodding toward the table.

“Yes. Just reviewing the final proofs. I’ll be bringing them to the publisher this evening.”

“Would you mind if I sat nearby and read through that stack of manuscripts while you work?”

“I don’t mind, though I doubt the process itself is very entertaining to watch.”

“That’s fine. I’d just like to spend time with you.”

We’d never passed the time together like this before. Perhaps that was why she gave me such a puzzled look at first. But then she nodded and offered a ladylike smile.

“In that case, do as you please.”

And as I watched my sister work out of the corner of my eye, something about the pen she was using caught my attention—and I nearly dropped the papers I was reading into my lap.

What in the world was that pen?! Was she erasing what she’d just written?

Of course, one of the two pens she was using was one I recognized. It was a common duplication pen, which had been invented during the era of the notorious villainess Beljeanne and was now standard. But the other one—it shouldn’t exist! There was no such thing as a pen that could cleanly erase ink! That was far too convenient!

I wanted to ask. Desperately. But she was clearly deep in concentration, and I didn’t wish to ruin that.

But honestly...I wanted it. Desperately.

Thanks to duplication pens, the world had become vastly more efficient than it had been decades ago. In fact, I often used one myself. But when I made a mistake, it meant crossing out text, or worse, rewriting the whole page if it became too unsightly. How many times had I wished I could just erase part of it?

If such a tool ever hit the market, I’d buy it no matter the cost.

And here it was. The pen of my dreams made manifest, being used right before my eyes. I had a suspicion that this was also one of her inventions. She had a habit of inventing useful things on a whim to meet her needs.

While I sat silently hoping that she would finish quickly, I found myself absorbed in the novel about maidenly love I was holding in my hand. Perhaps it was a bit shameless, but I would refrain from calling it indecent.

After that evening, she’d given me the erasing pen as a belated birthday gift, along with a newly designed duplication pen. It was also much improved.

Thank you, dear sister.

Lost in my memories, I had nearly forgotten about Regulus entirely, but his voice dragged me back into the present.

“I know that the student council will be meeting this afternoon, but I wanted to ask if it was you who summoned Sienna to the Academy this morning?”

That pulled me back to reality.

“Sienna’s at the Academy right now...?” Something unpleasant clicked in my head. Today, Laviange had said she was planning to visit the dining hall.

“This is bad,” I muttered. I stood up.

2: (The Day of the Incident) It All Started with Sienna’s Bags

“Long time no see, dear sister. Still dressing like a peasant, I see. A noblewoman walking around carrying luggage? Have you no shame?”

It had been some time since I last found myself face-to-face with my ever-acerbic foster sister, and, goodness, she looked quite the worse for wear. Speaking of luggage, she had quite the pair of bags under her eyes. You mustn’t ever lag behind in your daily skin care, Sienna. Time is ever undefeated.

On top of that, her hair was dry and brittle, and her lips chapped despite the summer heat. I wondered if she’d put some honey on her lips, were I to offer it.

Still, it was odd to find her standing alone on the path to the dining hall.

“Well, I find it shameful as your sister and member of House Robur,” she continued.

Wait, was she also here for the Triple-S Special...?! No, surely not.

I looked around to see if anyone else was with her, and found that she was alone. And a first-year student couldn’t claim a reward from the previous school year, so she would only be able to partake as the guest of an upperclassman.

“Glance about all you like,” she sneered. “You’re all alone. No one’s coming to save you.”

Save me? From what precisely? From having to carry luggage? Since I was wearing an outfit reminiscent of an Edo-period peddler, she must have thought that the bag I was carrying was heavy. Admittedly, it was heavy, but I’d made it manageable by manipulating its weight with magic.

“It’s no trouble at all,” I said politely, smiling my usual smile. “That said, you can’t eat that meal unless you’re accompanying someone, and since it’s still a ways off from lunch, I doubt they’ll be able to serve you anything else.”

“What in the world are you talking about?”

“The Triple-S Special, naturally.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you’re a first-year, right? I really doubt they’ll let you eat it unless you’re with someone.”

Judging by the What is this lunatic talking about? expression on her face, I surmised she didn’t understand the process at all.

“It would be best if you went and fetched the person you made the reservation with,” I explained, slowly and clearly. “I assume you made a reservation? During school breaks, the dining hall only serves water. Each person must bring their own food.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of any of that.”

“Well, no one would go out of their way to fill you in if you’re not living in the dormitories, and you’re only a first-year, so it’s hardly surprising that you didn’t know,” I said. “Now then, I’ll be off.”

At this time of day, the kitchen staff would be finishing prep work as they waited for lunchtime. It’d be better not to take too much time and get in their way.

“Huh?!” she sputtered. “And what about you, dear sister... Wait— Hold on a— Cough—”

She glanced in my direction and froze, looking as if she’d seen a ghost. And, well, if she really had seen one, I’d prefer to not be here, so I decided to continue on my way and pretend I hadn’t heard her. I didn’t have Lia with me today, and had things I needed to deliver, so I hadn’t the time to entertain her nonsense.

Behind her I could see Miss Marie standing at the glass entrance to the dining hall, watching us with a worried expression. That was a more pressing matter.

I’d made sure I’d come earlier than the appointed time, but it looked like she’d come even earlier. Strangely, she was now alternating between pointing at something behind me and waving me to come to her. She also seemed to be mouthing something. I narrowed my eyes. Hurry? Ah, she was telling me to hurry to her. I’d learned to read lips as part of my past life’s royal lessons.

“You’re so cruel, sister! You needn’t hate me so— Wait, wait! Please!”

As someone who had sat through Sienna’s little drama queen scenes before, I knew I needed to quickly make my escape. I tried to step past her without a word, only for her to seize me by the arm.

“Wait just a moment, sister!” she said, before quickly stepping back...directly into a wall. She let out a theatrical shriek. What was this, a comedy routine?

“Oh dear,” I said.

Then, suddenly, a low voice called out from behind me. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Brother!” Sienna cried before I could say anything, quickly righting herself. “It’s not what it looks like!”

Ah, it’d been a while since we’d done this. What tragic scene would she act out today, I wondered?

“And what precisely is ‘not’ what it looks like?” Mihail asked coolly.

I slowly turned to find a scowling Mihail exuding an aura of thorough displeasure. And beside him was Prince Regulus, who had his usual haughty but neutral expression in place... No, wait. Was that a flicker of exasperation I detected?

I was still most concerned by Miss Marie, though, still lingering at the edge of my vision, wringing her hands in silent distress.

Right. If the pattern held true, Mihail would now interpret Sienna’s words in the worst possible way, and in perfect accordance with her schemes, he would then blame me.

“It isn’t her fault,” Sienna began, tears welling in her eyes. “I grabbed her arm...and then...” She had tears on tap, as always. It had been a while—perhaps that was why I felt so impressed.

“And then?” Mihail prompted her. My, my. This was a departure from the usual routine.

“Ah, well...um...she just shook me off and I...sort of stumbled into the wall...”

Mihail’s calmness must have thrown her off, as each word seemed to be quieter than the last.

“Laviange, is that true?”

“Not at—”

“Sister!” Sienna burst out, cutting me off. “It was my fault that you flung me away, forcefully into the wall! It was all because of me! So even if you despise me...I will take the blame!” She rattled off the whole thing in a single breath without so much as a stumble. Honestly, the grandma inside of me could only applaud her acting ability.

“Sienna,” Mihail said. His aura of displeasure seemed to have transformed into one of anger. “I was speaking to Laviange. Be silent.”

“Ah...” Sienna paled—no small feat considering her general complexion of late.

“Well,” he said, turning back to me.

“No, I didn’t shake her off at all.”

Oh, my. As soon as I answered, Sienna shot me a look of betrayal. Careful, dear sister, your mask is slipping. It would’ve been one thing if I’d been the only one who could see that horrible expression, but Miss Marie could see everything from where she stood. And look at that. Out of the corner of my eye I could just see Miss Marie rolling up her sleeves with a look of anger. Was she coming over here?

Wait—now a young apprentice had appeared suddenly and put Miss Marie in a full nelson! Hold firm, brave apprentice! You mustn’t let the S-Rank Lunch Lady come and give Sienna a fist full of justice!

Of course, I never allowed my smile to falter as I watched the exchange out of the corner of my eye.

“I suppose Sienna stumbled after she grabbed my arm,” I added. “She does look under the weather; perhaps that’s why? Of course, she likely sees things differently than I do. Our perspectives do tend to color our views on things...and I suppose there’s no clear evidence to prove which of us is right.”

She glared at me with a look that said she blamed me for everything. Oh come now, enough of that. Even if it was for Miss Marie’s sake, I was technically defending you, dear sister.

“Sienna appears to be unwell, and that has left her a bit frayed. Might I ask you both to escort her to the infirmary?” I said. “I could take her myself, of course, but I imagine you’d be more at ease if we weren’t left alone together, wouldn’t you, brother?”

“And you’re all right with that...?” Mihail asked. “We saw what just happened. It didn’t exactly look—”

I see. He was speaking to me with the same kind tone he had the night before last. I remembered that he no longer viewed everything I did with suspicion.

“There’s no use trying to argue with someone who won’t listen to reason,” I said. “Her version of reality has already been thoroughly overwritten.”

“What?!” Sienna exclaimed in offense. “See! It’s you who is being mean—!”

“You will be silent, Sienna Robur,” I said, cutting off her usual nonsense with a tone firmer than usual.

She looked at me in surprise, before her expression contorted in anger. Oh dear. Clenching your teeth that tightly will only serve to damage them, you know?

“Do try and realize that you’re not quite your usual self today,” I continued. “I believe you may not have noticed, but Miss Marie has been watching you cycle through that lovely range of furious expressions.”

“Huh?” Sienna glanced toward the dining hall and froze.

“At this rate, you’ll have her breaking down the door by force. There’s a reason they call her S-rank, after all. You wouldn’t want to end up on the receiving end of her infamous Sadist’s Platter, would you?”

“What are you even talking about?!” Ah, she was panicking. So she did know what the Sadist’s Platter was. Good.

The prince craned his neck to look past us. His eyes widened.

“That’s Miss Marie...?”

It appeared that he wasn’t acquainted with her, despite having worked at the Academy as a physician.

“The Sadist’s Platter? Is that a weapon?” asked Mihail.

I supposed I shouldn’t be too surprised that he’d never heard of it. It was quite unassuming, after all. But that made it all the more dangerous. It had a quiet, insidious kind of force, entirely disproportionate to its appearance. And if you mishandled it, the thorns would stick you instead.

I turned to Mihail once more.

“Tell me, brother—you’ve come to blame her, but whose actions have allowed her to run wild?” I asked him. “Whose words have emboldened her? Surely the blame isn’t hers to bear alone?”

The two young men in front of me dropped their heads in shame. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Why was the prince also... Ah, yes. Of course. The one most responsible for Sienna’s behavior would be none other than his half brother. And yet, if he was ashamed as elder brother to the culprit, then logically would the blame not boomerang right back to me as Sienna’s foster sister...? So would you kindly stop?

For the record, I had enlisted the help of my sacred beasts to make sure that Sienna never targeted anyone other than me. If she had done so, they would have alerted me immediately. But Sienna had never stepped out of line with anyone else. Unexpectedly, they had alerted me to incidents of bullying on campus not related to her, so I had been roped into something of a campus patrol position...

But, more importantly... I glanced back toward the dining hall.

Excellent! Miss Marie’s expression had shifted from wrath to satisfaction. That brave apprentice had just managed to hold her back—though he did appear to now be in tears. Well done! I would have to reward him later... Wait! I realized that I was still carrying a heavy bag, but hadn’t been feigning any strain. Had anyone noticed?!

Weight manipulation might have been light on magical energy, but it demanded fine control. Technically, it wasn’t a form of magic I should be capable of handling. If someone were to guess the contents of this bag...

I needed to leave. Immediately.

“Well then,” I said, “I’ll leave Sienna in your care—”

“Could you wait here for a moment?” the prince asked. “We’ll take her and come right back.”

How inconvenient. “I suppose I have a moment...if you return before I finish my business in the dining hall. I’ll be leaving the Academy grounds shortly after, so I’m afraid I don’t have much time.” I needed to deliver the rest of the meat and wraps to Galfi and Yust.

“You’re taking that bag with you?” Mihail asked. His eyes narrowed. “Surely that isn’t...? It sure looks heavy, and yet you do not seem to be struggling with it in the least.”

Sharp as ever. Still, my practiced smile didn’t waver in the slightest. “Yes, I believe it is precisely what you’re thinking,” I said. “But do not fret, I’ve only packed it with as much as is necessary. The weight is hardly worth mentioning.”

A lie. It was absolutely stuffed to bursting.

“I see. And the thing I asked for...?”

Tch. Mihail never missed anything. But he had helped, so of course I’d made sure to prepare his share.

“I set it aside for you. Would it suit you for tomorrow’s breakfast?”

“Yes. In that case, I’ll come by then.”

“I’ll have it ready. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Miss Marie is waiting.”

“Got it,” he said before turning his sharp gaze back to our foster sister. “Sienna, surely you do not wish to disgrace yourself any further?”

I slipped past them and headed toward Miss Marie. Naturally, I paid no mind to the glare Sienna threw me as I passed.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn’t mean to worry you,” I said as I walked into the dining hall.

“Oh, thank goodness, Lavi!” Miss Marie exclaimed. “She ran herself right into that wall! What is wrong with that foster sister of yours?!”

Ah. And just like that, her fury had ignited all over again.

“P-Please calm down, ma’am. Even if she acts like that, she is a member of one of the Four Great Houses... Oh, they’ve all left.”

As I’d thought, the apprentice boy was on the verge of tears. Poor thing. Still, this was how I’d expect a commoner to react. Miss Marie’s reaction...

“I suppose I’m quite beloved, aren’t I?” I said with a soft sigh. I covered my face with my hands. It seemed that I was destined to be doted on by motherly types in this life. It comforted me. But perhaps I was too forward, judging by the blush that crept up the apprentice’s cheeks.

“’Course you are! I’ve known you since you were this small!” Miss Marie said, forming her thumb and forefinger into a little C shape like you’d see in a vision test. “You might as well be my own daughter!”

“Ma’am, that’s way too small!” said the apprentice, exasperated.

“It’s a figure of speech! Honestly, you nitpick too much!” Miss Marie said, slapping him on the back. “And don’t you go blushing just ’cause Lavi’s grown up all cute!”

“I-I wasn’t blushing!”

I laughed as she kept on slapping him on the back. The two of them looked so much like a comedy duo it was impossible not to smile.

“Well, now, you three are quite lively for early in the morning,” said a deep voice from behind me. “And, you, why is your face so red?”

I turned to the young man who’d just entered the hall.

“Good morning, Ralf,” I greeted. “You’re right on time.”

“Good morning, Lady Robur. I passed by your brother and foster sister on the way here. Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine, of course.”

“I see. Here, let me carry that,” he said, taking the large bag that I had been carrying as effortlessly as plucking a ring from a ring toss.

“This must have been heavy,” he said after a moment.

“Not especially.”

I’d dispelled the magic just in time. By the time he set the bundle down on a nearby table, it had returned to its full, proper weight.

That was close.

Next to us, the apprentice boy had suddenly become anxious; he began backing away. “W-Well then, I’ll be off now!” Then, in one fluid motion, he spun on his heel and made for the kitchen.

“Wait!” I instinctively grabbed hold of the apron strings at his waist with both hands.

“Eek! P-Please don’t mind me! I—I don’t want to die today!”

“Oh, come now. You won’t die. Probably.”

“Probably?!”

“Hm. Surely?”

“Sure—”

“But more importantly—”

“More importantly?!”

“Why are you so frightened, exactly? I haven’t done anything to you. I’m not going to either.”

“It’s not you, milady! Please just let me go!” His eyes darted past me, flicking nervously between me and something—or someone—just behind me. But Ralf was the only one standing there...

Ah. I see.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” I assured the young man. “Ralf may have an intimidating face, but he’s kind underneath. And, as for me, I’m hardly a proper noblewoman!”

“It’s not like that!” he said. “And what do you mean you’re not a proper noblewoman?!”

Still clinging to his apron strings, I found myself being dragged across the floor as he desperately tried to retreat.

“What are you two doing...?” muttered Miss Marie.

“An intimidating face...” Ralf murmured.

Neither of them made the slightest move to assist.

“All right, I suppose I may not entirely lack the feeling of possibly seeming vaguely like a proper noblewoman, so...would you kindly wait a moment?”

“What does that even mean...?” he asked.

“I’m not entirely sure myself, but that’s how it is. I just wanted to give you a little something. A token of thanks for stopping Miss Marie.”

“P-Please forgive me... Wait, a thank-you?”

Ah, he’d finally stopped.

“Yes, a thank-you,” I said with a firm nod. “Miss Marie looked like she was going to charge in, but you stopped her, right?”

“Hmph! That’s right!” Miss Marie cut in. “Watching people treat you like dirt has always ticked me off! And that was before that foster sister of yours strolled into the Academy with her persecution complex, dragging that idiot and his little moron into it to stir up trouble! They even started to call you a villainess! Honestly!”

Ah yes, that idiot would be my former fiancé, and his little moron his aide. Well, his former aide. Since he was loyal to a fault, like a golden retriever pretending to be a knight, let’s call him the puppy. I’d rather forgotten he existed.

“The kitchen staff knew better, though!” Miss Marie continued. “You always came to give us advice and to share your extra portions, didn’t you, Lavi? If you hadn’t asked me to hold off, I would’ve used my jewel knife to slice the rotten attitude right out of that girl!”

“Jewel knife...” Ralf murmured as the apprentice let out a tiny squeal of terror. Both of them held their thighs together, as if to protect a certain body part.

“I’m happy that you care so much about me, Miss Marie,” I said, “but don’t forget that dangerous tools are prohibited on campus without permission. So please, do keep the jewel knife sealed away. I would cry if I weren’t able to eat your Triple-S Special again.”

“Oh, Lavi,” Miss Marie said with a sigh. “Honestly, how could anyone call you a villainess... How dare they compare you to that Beljeanne woman.”

Oh, but I was Beljeanne. Hearing that come from someone I adored rather stung, even if it was a former life.

“Don’t let it bother you,” Ralf said quietly.

“Hm?” Don’t let what bother me?

“The misunderstandings about you are slowly being cleared up... Well, at least the ones about your personality.”

“Ah, that. Yes, well, I suppose that’s enough.” Ralf’s timing was so precise, I almost could have thought he knew I’d once been Beljeanne. As if such a thing would be possible.

“Now, let’s all sit down and catch our breath a bit, shall we?” I suggested. “Today’s dish is bear-rabbit meat à la Laviange.”

With that, I unfolded the cloth-wrapped bundle atop the table, revealing three individually wrapped portions, each about the size of a head of cabbage and wrapped in my specially invented wrap.

“Oh, you’ve used that wrap thing you mentioned before,” Marie said, peering closer.

“Precisely. You can heat them with magic as is, which makes them quite handy for outdoor excursions.”

“Very handy indeed.” Marie leaned in, intrigued. Ralf gave a small nod of approval, sparing with his words as always.

As for the apprentice...was he looking a bit put out? Ah, of course...

I gestured at the first portion.

“I tenderized the meat to rid it of its gamey smell, and then steamed it,” I explained. “This batch here was stewed, but I skimmed off all the scum. The seasoning’s on the stronger side, so you can make it into soup just by adding hot water. It’s also great with sautéed or steamed vegetables. You can even mash in boiled potatoes and stuff it in a roll. It’s so tender it comes right apart with a fork, so it’s perfect for any kind of dish, really.”

As I explained, the apprentice boy’s stiff expression gradually softened. So he had been wary of the bear-rabbit meat.

“These cuts here, I covered in herb salt and then roasted before I smoked them,” I said as I gestured at the third batch. “I sliced them thinly, so if you hang them to air-dry, they’ll keep for a month as jerky. Even as they are now, they’ll last a week if you keep them cool. They’re especially good with a light sear before eating.” As I explained, I set up each portion neatly before them.

Ralf unwrapped the salt-grilled portion.

“This wrap...it sticks to the food snugly, but it peels right off. And...” He took a slice and popped it in his mouth. He chewed for a moment. Then, “It’s delicious.”

His stern expression softened, just slightly, and that was all the invitation the other two needed. Miss Marie and the apprentice each unwrapped a portion and popped a piece in their mouth.

“I can’t believe it,” the apprentice said in awe. “It still tastes like bear-rabbit meat, but...it’s actually good! And it just melts in your mouth...”

“With this seasoning, it could definitely make a fine soup, but it’d go just as well with a stiff drink,” said Miss Marie, clearly delighted, her eyes gleaming like only a true connoisseur’s would.

“The wrap is meant to be used mainly to cover plates and bowls. If you’re wrapping food directly, then apply a bit of heat with your magic—it will increase its adhesion. It’s vulnerable to sharp edges, so avoid wrapping anything pointed. It’s strictly to be used with food. You can wash and reuse a single piece about thirty times, but I haven’t tested beyond that. If you do, let me know how durable it turns out to be. Also, there’s this...”

I slid over the folded wrap I’d set aside earlier, about the size of a large furoshiki, and placed it in front of Miss Marie. “This one’s sized for the large pot you use for work at your home,” I told her. “It can work as a lid. If it’s too large, you can simply trim it down to size.”

“This is fantastic! My parents will be thrilled!”

“Tell them I’ll drop by again sometime.”

“Of course!” she said, nodding enthusiastically.

Just then a voice floated out of the back kitchen, asking Miss Marie to begin the lunch preparations.

Ralf watched as she and the apprentice walked off, each with their share under their arm. Once they vanished inside the kitchen, he nodded toward the half-full furoshiki bundle I was retying. “Are you giving the rest to someone?”

“Indeed. To Galfi and Yust.”

“Yust... Ah, the head of the Lyonoble Trading Company? We met a few times during our graduation project. Allow me.” He took the bundle before I could hoist it over my shoulder.

“Much obliged.”

We left the dining hall together, my load lightened. The prince, it seemed, hadn’t managed to catch up. A small mercy.

※※※※

As Ralf and I walked out of the dining hall, a voice called out to us from behind.

“L-Lady Robur.”

The voice was incredibly strained. When I turned, I found the puppy, Heinz Asche, standing a few paces before me.

“My, my,” I murmured. “It’s been some time, hasn’t it? What can I do for you?”

His once-glossy red hair was now dull, and his pale blue eyes clouded. He gave off an altogether dreary aura, a poor match for today’s bright summer weather.

But there was something else that caught my attention. How should I describe it... I sensed something within him. Not magic, but something like another presence, doubling over his own. However, I didn’t let my confusion reach my face. I smiled my practiced smile and said, “Well, well. Those are quite the bags you have there.”

For there were dark bags under his eyes as well, thicker than even Sienna’s had been. I felt Ralf tense beside me. He must’ve sensed something was off as well.

“I ain’t carryin’ any bags,” Heinz said. “But if you need some, I’ll go get them for you. I just...want to talk. Please.” The last time we stood face-to-face like this had been in the forest. But this time, there was no trace of his former arrogance: He stood before me meekly with his head bowed.

“That’s not the kind of bag I was referring to. And why would I need you to fetch me any bags?” I said. “You wish to speak privately, I take it?”

“Yeah... Please.”

“Then first, raise your head, won’t you?” I glanced over at Ralf and... Hm? What’s this? He had gone still and his face was expressionless. Why did he seem so gloomy? Alas, being an old soul who’d skipped over a proper adolescence or two, I was unfortunately rather ill-equipped for grasping the intricacies of teenage boys and their brooding silences.

“Is it really proper for a lady and a gentleman to be alone together?” Ralf asked. “And have you already forgotten what you and the rest of your people did to her?”

“I...I haven’t. But— Please, Lady Robur!” he exclaimed, bowing so low this time that he formed a proper right angle.

He must’ve been desperate. It appeared that the pact I’d forced upon him was having a greater effect than I had anticipated. His emotions were so strong that they were beginning to distort his magic.

Ralf stepped in between us. “Hey. Calm down,” he growled. “Are you trying to let your magic run wild?”

Young children with deep innate reserves of magical energy could sometimes lose control like this. It would usually result in things like spontaneous flames, bursts of wind, or minor flooding. That was why the first thing children were taught wasn’t how to use magic, but how to control it. They weren’t able to use magic properly at that age, so the immediate threat was usually minimal, but as they grew, the danger increased. Eventually, the leaked magical energy became fully formed spells.

Think of it like this: When a toddler imagined fire, they imagined heat and flame, but a fully grown adult could imagine all the intricacies of a fireball spell.

In my case, if I ever lost control of my magic, we’d probably need to redraw the map.

Of course, at our age, one shouldn’t lose control at all. But, well...there were always exceptions.

The young man in front of me had once been the heir to one of the Four Great Houses, so his reserves of magic were deep even by noble standards. If he lost control, people might be hurt. But his magic should have been reacting with the oath mark I’d put on his right shoulder in the forest. The mark should have taken the excess magic swirling within him and released it outside his body...

“Hmm, what’s this?” I said. Had the magic being released just vanished?

“What’s wrong?” asked Ralf, still keeping his eyes on Heinz.

“Oh, it’s nothing...” I began, but I didn’t have time to finish.

“Hah...haah... P-Please...I’m begging you...” Heinz groaned, his chest heaving. And then suddenly his knees buckled.

“Hey!” Ralf exclaimed. He lunged forward to prevent Heinz from collapsing face first onto the ground. “Lady Robur,” he sighed, “I’m sorry. I think I need to take him to the infirmary.”

He handed me the bag of meat and... Oh goodness! He swept Heinz into his arms. Beautiful. Ralf, still in the thick of his growth spurt, was a touch smaller than Heinz, who’d already filled out into a strapping young man. The size difference was glorious. It really put the boy and the love into my imagination! The gruff younger boy cradling the brokenhearted fallen knight... The potential! A picture like this was enough to make my inner fangirl howl!

Ahh...how I longed to discover a divine illustrator who could breathe visual life into the worlds of my novels...

“Yes, please do” was all I said. I maintained my flawless noblewoman’s smile even in the midst of my daydream. Once again I was carrying the bag over my shoulder like a peddler, using my magic to manipulate its weight. “If the school physician isn’t in, find the head supervisor. You can say I sent you. I’ll finish my errands off school grounds and then come back to check on him.”

The briefest of pauses. Then, “Got it,” he said. Oh my, was that a pout I spied? Perhaps dumping the whole matter on him so suddenly wasn’t the most courteous approach...

“I’ll try not to take too long—”

“No need to hurry,” he quickly cut me off. “Frankly, you don’t need to bother with him at all. I’d say don’t come back.”

Well, Ralf was a good boy who was loyal to his teammates. He knew about the past drama between Heinz and myself, and had surely heard the things Heinz had said about me. It was only natural he’d bristle a bit at me worrying over him now.

“You’re absolutely right,” I said. “Still, if something were to happen, I might—might—feel vaguely, possibly, somewhat regretful about it...or not. Difficult to say.”

That got him to laugh. “Pfft. Which is it?”

I chuckled. When Ralf smiled like that, he looked every bit his age, even with his gruff face. He reminded me a little of a certain grumpy old man from my past life who used to secretly fret over me, even when he was gruff with everyone else.

“Who knows? In any case, I’ll be off. See you later, Ralf.”

“Yeah. See you.”

And with that, I departed the Academy grounds.

Still... Why did a few passing students stop and do a double take at the sight of me? Most curious.

※※※※

Once I’d confirmed no one was around, I teleported to one of the capital’s back alleys and continued toward my destination on foot.

This particular alley was narrow and little used, so it was my usual teleportation spot. Occasionally, someone would wander through, but between illusion magic and my enchanted camouflage robes (the same robes I’d used in the Poison Box Garden), no one had ever noticed me.

But it was much too hot to wear a cloak today. I could chill the inside with magic, of course, but it wouldn’t make it any less stuffy.

In no time, I found myself standing before my destination. Waiting outside were Yust and a kindly older gentleman.

“Hey, Lavi. I haven’t seen you in a few days,” said Yust. “That’s quite the getup you’ve got on today.”

“Oh, it’s Lavi! Want some ripe fruit?”

“Good day, Tom,” I said to the older gentleman. “I would like some. In return, take this meat. The wrap’s reusable, so you should rinse it and keep it. If you’ve got any questions, ask Yust about it later.”

“Ooh, not bad! You always bring such useful little things, Lavi. Much obliged! Go ahead and use the back room!” Tom had been the longtime proprietor of the local fruit stall. He’d been known to slip me some of his fruit that were just a touch overripe when I was small.

Usually, when I came to the capital to conduct Moonshadow business, I would visit the trading company’s main office. However, today I’d been directed to come here, so I had come as plain Lavi, the commoner girl who used to pick up odd jobs around this part of town.

This shop was the secondhand clothing shop that Yust had once run. But that had closed down some time ago. Now it was a fruit shop run by Tom, the son of the woman who had once scolded Yust for the way he spoke to me. It was used as a sort of local meeting place. His mother now ran a wildly popular takeout cake shop in another town, specializing in fruit-laden sweets.

Before heading in, I reached into my bag and casually handed him the wrapped portion of salt-grilled slices of meat. Then I headed into the backroom, where I found none other than Galfi, as stylish as ever.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Galfi,” I said.

“You’ve really outdone yourself with this outfit,” he replied. “Come on, give it here.”

He plucked my bag from me and set it on a nearby table. Despite the modest heels on his pumps, his posture was flawless. And today, he was wearing the mermaid skirt that fluttered when he turned. The effect was quite elegant; it gave the impression of a ballroom dancer, dancing across the floor.

“Pardon, I should’ve asked first.”

“It’s okay, Galfi. You’re such a—”

“I can open it, right?” Galfi cut me off excitedly, before opening the bag and letting out an excited squeal. “It’s the wrap! And is all of this bear-rabbit? Oh my, three kinds? I can have all three, can’t I? I can, right?”

“—Such an auntie at heart,” I finished. I had been going to say that he was such a gentleman, but no matter how you looked at it, this was the type of auntie who prowled the supermarkets snatching up good deals before anyone else even knew about them. They were truly the battle-hardened warriors of the other world—bargain hunters.

When I’d lived there, the very word “sale” had set my blood ablaze. I remembered all too well the battlefields of the all-you-can-bag vegetable bins.

“Hey, calm down,” Yust called out as he walked toward us. “Your eyes look like a predator zeroing in on its prey. It’s just the three of us in here.”

Galfi turned red and pressed one hand to his cheek. “Ah. Oh dear, it’s Lavi’s fault. Her cooking is just too good. Things tend to turn into a feeding frenzy now and then.”

“Don’t worry,” I reassured him. I looked around. “Tom’s the only other person around right now.”

My word, though, he was even more beautiful when he was flustered.

Strange. This shop occasionally had part-timers coming and going, so I’d brought a bit extra just in case—but, hmm...it looked like I might have one portion each of the stewed and smoked meat left over.

What to do, what to do...

“Well then, time to inspect the goods,” said Yust.

At that, I abandoned my deliberations. Best to leave it to fate. If someone asked for the extras, I’d simply give it to them. Still, hearing a burly older man with a face like that talk about inspecting the goods made it sound like something illegal was about to go down.

“Let’s,” I said. “You’ll find three varieties of bear-rabbit meat here: salt-grilled, smoked, and stewed. Please help yourself to all three. I assume Galfi has already explained the wrap?”

“He has.”

“Then go ahead and try it!”

They each sampled a slice of all three, and their favorable reactions left me quite satisfied. I gave them the same explanations I had to the others, and since no one said anything about the remaining two portions, I decided I’d take them with me.

I knotted the ends of the wrapping cloth, making it into a makeshift handbag.

“You’re quite deft with your hands,” Galfi said. “And it’s strange... It makes you look even more charming.”

I didn’t quite understand why that had impressed him, but it felt good. Being praised by these two, who knew me better than most, brought a quiet warmth. I suppose, somewhere along the way, I’d started seeing them as guardians of a sort.

I laughed. “Thank you.”

“With a smile like that, I worry that pests will try to cling to her,” Galfi joked. “As your father, I’m worried.”

“Right you are,” Yust replied, nodding.

Now what was that supposed to mean? It appeared Yust agreed, but my actual father would never waste a thought worrying about pests.

“Well, I’ve got another stop, so I’ll be heading out.”

“All right,” Yust said. “Take care.”

“Sorry, but I can’t escort you today. Don’t go wandering off with strange people, now,” Galfi warned. I couldn’t help but laugh at him acting like a worried mother hen.

“Come now, I’m not that much of a child. I’ll be fine.”

Afterward, I teleported to my secret spot in a little used room in the Academy.

“Hmm, I wonder why the entire Academy is suddenly steeped in bloodlust?” I wondered idly.

※※Aside: Day of the Incident, Late Morning—a Siblings’ Quarrel in the Infirmary (Regulus)※※

“Why are you defending her now, of all times?!”

“Sienna,” Mihail said, “I’m not defending her.”

I had accompanied the Robur siblings to the infirmary out of obligation for my position, but truthfully I longed to return to my darling Laviange’s side.

Right now, Mihail was perched on the edge of one of the infirmary’s beds, locked in a heated debate with his hopelessly self-centered foster sister. They’d kept up this tiresome exchange all the way from the dining hall to here, stopping at what felt like every corner for her to voice yet another complaint.

All I could think about was how the girl in my heart was probably getting ready to leave the school grounds. My patience was wearing thin.

Ever since my official posting to the Academy, I had watched Mihail scolding this self-centered brat for pestering my beloved Laviange more times than I cared to count. Of course, I myself had a half brother, so I sympathized; self-centered siblings, it seemed, were a universal affliction.

In exchange for Mihail’s continued assistance, I’d asked a few young ladies from the circle of potential royal fiancées to shield Laviange from any malicious acts. Naturally, that included keeping a close eye on this brat as well. They didn’t seem to mind the request; in fact, they agreed rather readily. They were well-versed in court politics and I suspected they already had their own thoughts about Sienna’s behavior.

I was sure that having Mihail at my side for the conversation made it clear to anyone where the Robur family stood on the issue. We had, of course, secured permission from the head of House Robur, the captain of the Royal Mage Corps himself. He had seemed vaguely indifferent, but that was simply his way. As long as I had his word, that was sufficient.

Eventually, though, the captain was going to have to make a decision concerning his foster daughter, for better or worse...

As for me, I was still smarting from how Mihail had treated me like some common philanderer. I was sure it was just because of how my half brother had treated Laviange when he was her fiancé.

But no matter. All of that had been handled. There was, after all, a reason no one knew who each of the three princes of the kingdom was engaged to, despite a list of potential candidates for fiancées being circulated.

“Why?!” Siena pressed, her voice rising. “Why are you defending her? Her grades are dreadful, her magic even worse! She runs from everything, including her duties and expectations, and she behaves nothing like a proper noblewoman should! Yet now you’ve decided to change your attitude toward her? Is it just because you share the same blood?!”

“Blood has nothing to do with it,” Mihail said calmly. “I think of you as a sister, just as I do Laviange. But I was wrong to treat her the way I did, without even trying to see her for who she is. That’s all there is to it.”

Admittedly, my sweet Laviange’s habit of running from her duty was egregious. Or, perhaps, impressive. Sienna, on the other hand, while self-centered, had done her utmost to live up to the Robur name. But that was ultimately a matter for the Robur family to sort out.

I let out a quiet sigh and cast a glance toward the clock on the wall. More time had passed than I’d realized.

“That’s enough!” I cut in. “This argument is going nowhere.” Surely she hadn’t left yet, had she? I would taste her cooking today, preferably with no one else around. “Sienna Robur, you’re excused from today’s student council activities. Go home. It’s clear that whatever happened between you and your foster sister was entirely your doing.”

“What?! That’s not true! I only happened to—”

“Your brother was supposed to have issued a warning. You were told not to approach Laviange while on Academy grounds. Or am I mistaken?”

“But I—”

“Mihail Robur,” I interrupted, turning to her brother, “did you relay that warning?”

“Yes. I did.”

Well, that should put an end to—

“Yes, he did. But we are sisters! Why must I be subject to such a restriction?!”

Apparently not. Clearly, this was a waste of time. She didn’t understand her brother’s feelings, nor did she grasp how precarious her own standing was.

Right then. Enough of this. I would allow nothing to delay me further—

“Pardon the intrusion,” a voice said, just as I was about to excuse myself.

The door to the infirmary suddenly opened, without so much as a knock, and in walked a student I recognized. It was the team leader of none other than my beloved Laviange’s team, Team Peckish.

At second glance, it became clear that it wasn’t that he didn’t knock, but that he couldn’t. As he strode into the room without preamble and moved straight toward one of the beds, my eyes were immediately drawn to the red-haired boy he carried in his arms. He must have pushed open the door with his foot.

“What happened?” I asked, walking over to peer at the unconscious student’s face. It was Asche. Why was this boy carrying him? What kind of connection could the two of them possibly have?

Wait. Come to think of it, I had seen Team Peckish’s leader earlier, just before we came to the infirmary. We’d passed in the corridor leading from the dining hall... Could it be?! Had he just come from a secret tryst with my dearest Laviange?! I still remembered all too well how he had thrown his arms around her when she had come out of the Poison Box Garden. I would never forget it.

“Mind if I lay him down here?” he asked. “Lady Robur said if the physician wasn’t in, I ought to find you.”

Hm? Oh, so he was doing this on her orders. And she’d thought of me. A stroke of fortune if ever there was one.

“Very well,” I said. “I’ll take a look at him for now. Lay him down there. He’s looking rather pale too, isn’t he?”

“He’s looking pale ‘too’?” the team leader asked. I ignored him.

I leaned in to look over Asche, and, with a little flourish, cast a diagnostic magic spell.

Mihail gave me a look that was equal parts exasperated and pitying, but if he ever fell for someone himself, he’d understand.

It was only then that Team Peckish’s leader seemed to notice the Robur siblings occupying the bed closest to the door. But he said nothing and simply passed them by, lowering the red-haired boy onto the next bed instead. Glancing at Sienna, I saw her fists clenched tight in her lap, head bowed. I couldn’t see her face, but whatever was on it made Mihail glance over with concern.

Then it hit me. A dreadful thought. Had my beloved already left? Even if it was too late, I was seized by the urge to chase after her. How I wished she wasn’t so cold to me...

I forced down the rising gloom and reminded myself of the task she had entrusted to me. I had a job to do.

“Sleep-deprived, malnourished, and unusually low levels of magical energy. Did you two just have a magical duel?” I asked.

Asche had once teamed up with the insufferable girl on the bed over there and my half brother, the second prince, to bully my beloved because of some misplaced sense of justice. I’d marked each of them on a little list of those who needed to be quietly, but permanently, removed...but, alas, one by one, they’d managed to destroy themselves instead. It was a bit disappointing.

“It wasn’t a fight,” the team leader said. “I was seeing Lady Laviange off when he came over out of nowhere, said something, and then collapsed.”

So she had left.

“And why were you seeing Lady Robur off?”

This was the middle of summer break! Why would he be meeting with her? And when would they next meet? I was meant to be the one who saw her off, not him! How I wished I could have been on her team too! And how dare he call her by name. I knew that with Sienna here it might have been confusing to just call her “Lady Robur,” but understanding that didn’t stop the sour churn in my chest.

“Because I’d just met with her,” he replied.

“Right, that’s why we passed each other in the hall. And why did you meet with her?”

“I have no obligation to tell you that. And shouldn’t you be more concerned with him right now?”

Tch. A fair point. What I should have asked was what Asche said to Laviange, and how exactly he’d ended up like this. But the thought that this boy might be spending more time with her than I did gnawed at me.

I clicked my tongue. “Fine. Then, tell me what happened prior to Heinz Asche collaps—”

“What’s the meaning of this?!” Sienna suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her bed and storming toward us.

What’s this?! Did this self-centered child dare scold me for clicking my tongue! Well...admittedly, it was a bit childish. I scowled, but begrudgingly accepted that, yes, I might have been in the wrong. I was just beginning to reflect on it when Sienna stormed over to the Team Peckish leader, not me.

“What’s the meaning of what?” he asked calmly, unfazed by her sudden advance.

Wait. That wasn’t aimed at me? And now Mihail wore an expression that went beyond exasperation and read more like I want no part of this. What was going on?

“You!” she said, shoving her finger at his chest. “You’re in the same lowly Class D as my sister, not to mention your class in society! And you dare to speak that way to the first prince of our kingdom?! Who, on top of that, has also been charged with supervising our Academy?! Show some respect!”

“I know who he is,” was his only reply. The boy’s tone said it all: And? I’d taken him for the quiet type, but clearly this was just a case of him not wanting to deal with her.

“What?!” Siena spluttered. “You knew and you still acted that way?! And I, for your information, am a lady of House Robur and a member of Class A! Your behavior is disgraceful!”

“Sienna, calm yourself,” Mihail said, placing both hands firmly on her shoulders from behind and guiding her back a step.

“No, brother! As a noblewoman, I can’t possibly overlook this insolence!” she said before turning back to the team leader. “I demand you leave at once!”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll go,” he replied. “But are you sure that’s all right?”

“No,” I interjected. “That would be a problem.” This was growing painfully tedious, but I still hadn’t heard what Asche had said to Laviange. Personally, it was the only thing I cared about right now.

“What?! You’re forgiving this disrespectful wretch?!” she cried.

“Sienna Robur,” I said. “That’s enough. If we’re taking offense, then you’ve been just as discourteous.”

That shut her up. She blinked at me, stunned, her mouth hanging open. Why was she always the last to grasp the situation?

“Mihail Robur,” I said finally, a bit more firmly than I usually spoke to him.

“Forgive us,” he said. Then his voice turned cold. “Sienna, stop disgracing yourself. Don’t drag the Robur name through the mud with your selfishness.”

“But...I was only doing it for Prince Regulus...”

“You will not address His Highness by name. And for the record,” he said pointedly, turning to me, “you’re letting your personal feelings influence matters too much, Head Supervisor.”

Ghh... He wasn’t wrong in the least. I looked away, unable to argue the point, and Mihail sighed before turning back to address Sienna.

“Moreover, you interrupted a discussion between two people of higher rank than yourself without being asked to speak, and, in doing so, obstructed the prince’s ability to assess the condition of an injured student.”

“Higher rank...?” she echoed, incredulous.

“That’s right. He”—Mihail nodded toward the leader of Team Peckish—“is your senior at this Academy. His class is irrelevant. And more to the point, you are a student council officer and were publicly associated with the second prince’s faction, the very one accused of promoting bias based on academic standing. You are never to bring up class rank again. Not ever.”

“How cruel, brother...” Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked toward me, and... Wait. Why was she looking at me? I was completely baffled.

“Go home,” Mihail continued. “And if things continue like this, you’ll be removed from the student council entirely. It’s time you started taking responsibility.”

“W-Wait, brother! You can’t... You can’t mean that...”

“I’m done listening to your excuses.”

She tried to form a protest, but in the end she fell silent, her eyes downcast. When she finally did speak, her voice was low and steady. “You’ll regret this.”

What’s this? Her magic was suddenly whirling inside her. But she wasn’t a child, surely she could keep her magic under control... Unless... No, it couldn’t be.

“Yes,” Mihail replied. “No matter how this ends, I imagine I will.”

I wondered if she understood his implication. She was in danger of more than losing her position on the student council. Her very status as a noblewoman was at stake. Of course, the final decision would lie with the head of House Robur, the captain of the Royal Mage Corps. Even I couldn’t foresee what his decision would be.

Sienna glared at Mihail, and her magic flared, a telltale sign that she was on the verge of losing control of it. I decided I needed to step in.

“Calm down,” I commanded. “If you don’t, you’re going to lose control of your magic.”

“Her too...?” murmured the team leader quietly.

I shot him a glance. There hadn’t been any incidents reported—was he implying Asche had lost control as well? I found myself impressed by his composure. As Sienna was on the verge of losing control, he just stood there, calmly assessing the situation. I knew that he had joined reputable adventuring parties on missions in the past and been commended for his performance. And while his academic scores at the Academy were average, he was known for his quick thinking and sharp instincts in the field.

Naturally, I’d already had his background looked into. He was, after all, the leader of my beloved’s team.

“Sienna,” Mihail said, trying his best to deescalate the situation, “you’re going to hurt yourself. Please, calm down.”

“Shut up! You’re always taking her side!” she snapped, as small bursts of flame began to pop around her. Those flames were dangerous. If they burned someone badly enough, even magical healing wouldn’t be able to erase the scars. I could no longer stand around and watch.

“Mihail.”

“I know.”

I could hear the reluctance in his voice, but he knew what needed to be done. He raised his hand and cast a magical barrier around his foster sister.

If the one performing the suppression were skilled in the art of dispellment—and especially if they were specialized in magical energy interference—it was possible to stop a person from losing control of their magic by syncing their runaway energy with the suppressor’s. That was the best method to stop any harm from occurring in a situation like this. However, while Mihail was better at dispelling magic than I was, this was no minor outburst. The risk was high that he could lose control of his own magical energy by syncing it with hers.

That meant there was only one viable option left to us: to seal the person losing control behind a barrier and let the magical surge run its course. Unfortunately, that meant that the person losing control would likely be harmed by their own magic.

The tiny sparks of flame began crackling more frequently around her. I braced myself...

...but nothing came. Instead, Sienna let out a low groan and then collapsed to the floor.

“Her too...” Team Peckish’s leader murmured.

“‘Her too’?” Mihail and I echoed in disbelief.

“You said the same thing earlier,” Mihail said, dispelling the barrier. He gently lifted his unconscious foster sister and laid her back down on the bed. She had turned sickly pale.

“I’d like you to explain what you mean,” he said finally, turning to Laviange’s team leader.

I went over and checked Sienna over quickly, just to be sure. As expected, her magical energy levels had depleted significantly.

“That fourth-year collapsed the same way,” the team leader replied, nodding toward Asche lying unconscious on the next bed over.

Now that he mentioned it, Asche’s energy reserves had also been unusually low...

“Impossible,” I said. “And yet, the impossible just happened.”

“Agreed,” Mihail murmured. “Normally, once someone loses control of their magic to that extent, it’s not going to simply fizzle out. And yet, it did. It stopped, even though her magic never stabilized.”

“Then you noticed it too,” I said, glancing at him. Mikhail gave a small nod in return. “This was my first time witnessing it, but there have been some concerning reports coming out of the Academy recently. Taking that into consideration, it’s possible that her magical energy didn’t fizzle out as it seemed.”

“Then something strange is going on,” the team leader said with a deep frown.

“Yes. Just before summer break began, we started getting reports of things like this happening to students on Academy grounds. Recently, the number has increased, especially in the dormitories.” I watched Team Peckish’s leader as I explained. “Did you not know?”

Mihail and I had recently been interviewing people around the grounds about the incident. But we’d yet to interview this boy.

“I’ve been focused on adventuring during the break,” he replied. “So I’ve barely been in the dorms at all. If you’re talking about something that’s only come up recently, I wouldn’t know much. I just spent about a week away, and I only returned three days ago. Many of us in Class D are registered as adventurers—they’ve probably been away as well. I’d guess they haven’t heard about this either...”

“I see,” I said. I turned to Mihail. “Lord Robur, inform the student council members who were scheduled to meet today that the meeting is canceled. Send them home—”

Bang!

My instructions were cut off by the sharp crash of the infirmary door flying open and a student shouting frantically, “Is the school physician here?!”

※※※※

The boy who had burst into the room was one I knew well. He was a third-year student and a member of the student council. According to my reports, when my half brother had been at the school, he’d been the only one among the student council officers who, despite being a commoner from a wealthy background, refused to follow along with the high-ranking nobles and royalty as they bullied the apple of my eye. I believed his name was Dominio.

He’d come barreling in like a madman, carrying—no, more like dangling—two noble girls, one in each arm. No doubt he’d kicked the door open just like the leader of Team Peckish had, though with significantly less restraint. The crash had echoed through the infirmary. I chose to ignore that. He must have fortified his body with magic, but his arms were shaking, threatening to give out. Mihail and the team leader stepped in quickly, each taking one of the girls from him.

With every bed now occupied, I moved to examine one of the young ladies. As I’d feared, her magical energy was depleted just like the others. Mihail and the team leader must’ve been able to guess the situation from my expression, because they looked at each other and exchanged a silent nod.

With the burden lifted, Dominio collapsed onto the floor, landing on his backside with a soft thud. I went over to help him into a chair so he could catch his breath.

“When you’re ready, I’ll need you to explain.”

“Y-Yes, of course.” Still visibly rattled, Dominio launched into his account at a rather hurried pace. “The three of us were in the student council room waiting for the meeting. We were the only ones there. One of them commented that the other had bed head, and the two of them suddenly started to argue. Things got really heated. It’s strange,” he added, shaking his head in disbelief. “It all started over something so trivial.”

Bed head? If memory served, the two young ladies were both daughters of marquesses. And yet they argued over whether one of them had bed head? What were they, children just hitting puberty?

Though, if Laviange had bed head...I had to admit I’d have found it endlessly charming.

Naturally, I kept those thoughts to myself and maintained a perfectly neutral expression.

“It just kept escalating,” Dominio continued. “From bed head to makeup, then today’s outfits, then about dresses. Before I knew it, both of them were on the verge of losing control of their magic. I couldn’t believe it. These two are high-ranking noblewomen with plenty of magic reserves, not children. And yet they both started to lose control! At the same time! How is that possible?!”

He shook his head and sighed. “There was nothing I could do to stop them or defuse the situation. I’m only a commoner. So I panicked, ran out of the room, and set up a barrier at the door. And then...nothing happened. So I peeked back inside the room, and saw both of them collapsed on the floor. Now that I think about it, their complexions hadn’t looked great to begin with...”

The same symptoms as the others. Though the trigger had been different, the pattern was disturbingly familiar. That much was clear. What wasn’t clear was how an argument about bed head had evolved so quickly into a full meltdown.

“But that was when I noticed something strange,” he continued. “Two translucent figures were standing right next to their bodies! I panicked. But there was no one else there, so I was the only one who could help them. And I’m a commoner—if I didn’t do something to save them, or if I only saved one of them, I’d be in a whole world of trouble. So I grabbed both of them and ran into the hallway. That’s when I saw it—people were collapsing up and down the hallway, and more of those translucent figures were wandering down the corridor, all heading in the same direction!”

Translucent figures? What was he talking about? Was this supposed to be a ghost story?

“So the others too?” Team Peckish’s leader asked.

Really now, what did he mean by “too”? He’d said it several times now. I understood he was the silent type, but could we please share information like civilized people?

It wasn’t like I’d never spoken with the boy before, so I supposed it couldn’t be helped that I couldn’t read that taciturn face of his, but I swear, that blank expression he wore made it unnecessarily difficult to guess what he was thinking. I wanted to take him by the shoulders and say, If you don’t speak, no one will know what you’re thinking! But it wasn’t like I could judge anybody for that...

“I don’t know about the others,” Dominio answered. “I didn’t recognize any of the translucent figures... No, wait. I did recognize somebody. Heinz and Lady Sienna.”

As the highest-ranked person here, I was the one who had been directing the conversation so far, but at the mention of his foster sister’s name, Mihail stepped in. “I see,” he said. “Do you remember how many people you saw collapsed on your way here, Dominio?”

“It seemed like most of them were first-years,” said Dominio. “I counted nearly twenty collapsed in the hallway. I ran past the staffroom along the way, and saw that the homeroom instructor for Class 1A was down, along with two students. The second-year head instructor was still conscious and was checking the situation.”

That meant that the only staff members left conscious were the second-year head instructor and myself. It had only been the three of us on duty today.

“And in the dorms, only about half of the students have returned from break,” Team Peckish’s leader said thoughtfully. “Of those, I’d estimate roughly half would be out for adventurer work or knight training, so—”

He was cut off by a sudden announcement, echoing throughout the Academy via a magically amplified voice.

“Attention, all students. This is an emergency announcement. All students capable of moving are to evacuate to the courtyard immediately. Those unable to move, remain in place and await assistance. I repeat—”

It was a standard message, projected via a magical communication tool. It sounded like the voice of the second-year head instructor.

I began casting a wide-area detection spell as I listened, scanning the entirety of the school grounds.

“The translucent...things seem to be gathering near the boys’ dormitory,” I reported. “They don’t seem to be living—it’s something like pure magical energy given a moving form. Students still on their feet are evacuating to the courtyard. The unconscious students still remain where they fell... Ah, good. The dorm residents are starting to move as well.”

I turned back to the others, addressing them now not as a prince, but as the acting head supervisor. “The three of you need to evacuate at once. Head to the courtyard.”

“You’re heading to the dorms, aren’t you?” Mihail said. “Then I’m going with you.”

So he’d read my intentions.

As the heir to House Robur, he should’ve been trying to stop me. But he knew that I’d come to the Academy undercover as the school physician on a discreet investigation, and had likely guessed at the real reason for my recent assignment here.

I’d received the approval of both the chancellor and His Majesty the King to continue my investigation, so I wouldn’t be deterred by a little risk. But Mihail clearly did not intend to silently sit by and watch as I went into danger.

I personally wished to tell him the details of my mission, but just as before the Poison Box Garden incident, I wouldn’t. At least not yet. Not until he accepted my offer and became one of my aides.

“No, I’ll be going alone—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Mihail cut me off mid-sentence, making his position perfectly clear. “I won’t be letting a member of the royal family walk into who knows what kind of danger alone. If anyone should be going alone, it should be me—”

“Ghh... Ugh... AaaaAAAGHHHH!”

It was Mihail’s turn to be cut off—by Heinz Ashe’s sudden wail. Dominio jumped in fright, while the leader of Team Peckish turned toward the outburst with a puzzled expression.

“Heinz?!” Mihail was the only one who rushed to his side.

Team Peckish’s leader, seeing Mihail run to the boy, didn’t move to help. Instead, he watched on coldly. I knew that look. I’d worn it before. It was the look you gave someone who’d hurt the one you love.

“Ah— Gah— Haa... AAAGH!”

Still, I was the acting head supervisor. I couldn’t stand by forever while a student writhed in agony. I moved toward the bed.

“His magical energy is severely depleted!” Mihail exclaimed.

Hearing that, I cast a diagnostic spell. When I saw the results, I frowned.

It was as if pain was flooding every inch of his body. It had started in the chest, then spread outward to his arms and torso. Asche writhed in agony, clutching at his clothes, clawing at himself, fabric tearing beneath the strength of his hands. His shirt ripped and I caught a glance of a red flower blooming across his skin. It appeared, vanished, and then bloomed again. And then...

I drew in a sharp breath as I caught a glimpse of his right shoulder. Mihail didn’t seem to notice, as busy as he was reinforcing his own body to hold Asche down so that he wouldn’t injure himself further. The leader of Team Peckish also moved quickly, joining Mihail in restraining Asche’s convulsing body.

“Hey! Stay with us!” Mihail shouted. But his voice couldn’t reach him.

“Ggh... Ah— F-Forgive me, milady...! Ah, aaah! No— Stop, stop it! Please stop...!” As Asche begged for forgiveness, his body jolted violently, arching his spine in arc. His sky-colored eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Wait... Who did he just ask for forgiveness?

3: (Moments After the Incident) It All Started with Tool Production

“Can I kill him this time?”

Hmm?! Was that my sweet little fox’s voice saying such a horrible thing?!

With a wave of my hand, I dispersed the unpleasant magical residue that hung about the room. It had been making my skin crawl.

“My, my, is that Cas? Isn’t it a bit early to be speaking of murder?” I asked.

With a popping sound, a fluffy white fox materialized out of thin air and landed neatly on top of my head. My patchwork scrunchie was wrapped around his leg, as always.

“He said something he shouldn’t have,” he said, whacking the back of my head with those nine fluffy tails with all the petulance of an irritated cat. Weren’t foxes canids? Perhaps they had more feline tendencies in this world. Not that I minded, of course, the tails being wonderfully soft. It was quite pleasant, really.

“Did he?” I said. “But I was the one who loosened the terms of the pact, you know.”

It was true. When I’d teleported into my secret room in the Academy, I’d noticed that the atmosphere on the school grounds had taken a strangely hostile edge. So I stashed my belongings and cast a wide detection spell. I found that all across the campus, students were on the verge of losing control of their magic, only for it to be suddenly siphoned from them. Thinking back to the pup’s condition, I focused in on the oath mark branded onto his right shoulder and traced where all the excess magic was being siphoned off to.

What I found was alarming, to say the least.

Why did he have a sigil marked onto his chest? I supposed that was the source of the presence overlapping his own earlier. And why was it a red spider lily, of all things? Someone must have had a sense of humor.

Just as I was pondering the implications, I felt his puppy magic draining at a frightening pace and realized that it was interacting with the oath mark on his shoulder, causing him terrible pain. I hadn’t meant for the mark to interact with his magic like this.

That level of pain could cause him to go into shock—it could perhaps even be fatal. More troubling yet, I could feel malicious intent from whatever was draining his magic. It was intended to be deadly.

And so I’d loosened the terms of the pact from my side and erased the oath mark, but during that brief moment, it slipped. Honestly, this boy was a lot of trouble. Naturally, I analyzed the red sigil on his chest and reapplied it in a way that wouldn’t raise suspicion. It would’ve been bothersome if anyone noticed.

The other students who’d collapsed didn’t have the same sigil as the Asche boy. Instead, each bore a small mark.

“Hmph, you should’ve just left him to his fate,” Cas huffed.

“Come now, don’t pout,” I told him. “Remember, he was different from the others, and it’s not like he was the one who twisted my arm—not like my erstwhile fiancé. He didn’t directly cause me any harm. And besides, thanks to all this, I’ve discovered something quite delightful.”

At that very moment, Cas and I were in the middle of a highly illegal operation—namely, breaking into Asche’s dorm room in the boys’ dormitory. Just to be safe, I’d thrown on my butterfly-scale robe to hide my presence from any prying eyes before I followed the faint trace of magical energy that our little puppy had left behind.

And when I arrived... Heh heh heh. I’d been expecting to find a stash of contraband magazines, or something along those lines. He was an adolescent boy, after all. But instead, I‘d found some far better hidden in the clichéd hiding spot under his bed: a thin notebook.

“And anyway, in the end, he suffered some terrible pain as punishment,” I added. “A pity, I suppose.”

“And I assume you’re going to let that foolish girl be again, aren’t you?” a new voice asked. With a sudden flutter of wings, Lia appeared above us. The weight on my head got a little heavier. Cas’s soft, warm belly fluff pressed down more fully. It was utterly irresistible.

“Could you not perch on top of me?” Cas muttered, clearly unimpressed.

I had no problem with them parallel parking vertically atop my head, but I feared that it must be looking quite festive up there, and we were now one step away from a full showdown between red (Lia) and white (Cas) fluff balls.

“Well,” I said. “If foolishness was the end of it, I would just leave her be—or perhaps even try and hold out a helping hand. After all, Sienna is Sharo... Grandmother Sharona’s grandchild. That does accord her a bit of leniency. So, in light of that, I’d like to wait until the very end to decide. Although...”

“You already know how it’s going to end, don’t you?” Lia said kindly, when I hesitated.

I couldn’t help but give a wry smile. “I suppose I do. As long as that girl stays in House Robur, her worst traits will only fester. She won’t change.” I sighed. “Father will hear about this incident, of course. Once he does, he’ll investigate and he’ll uncover the truth. If it wasn’t for that mark, she might’ve been able to bluff her way out of it. But of all things, it had to be a red spider lily. The royal family won’t dismiss this as some petty prank.”

“But they’ll have seen the white spider lily too,” Cas said.

I’d asked to have his kin give us a report of things as they were happening. Apparently, the puppy had clawed his shirt apart without even needing to reinforce his body. As to be expected from someone who’d trained for knighthood, he was ridiculously strong.

“Well, really,” I said, “aside from the sacred beasts, who else would even know what it meant? And if he passed out right away, the mark should’ve vanished immediately.”

I could no longer feel the white spider lily, the oath mark that marked the pact between us.

“Even though Bel’s true flower was the white spider lily,” Cas muttered bitterly, “the royal family said it was the red one. I really do hate them. Maybe I’ll curse them with premature baldness after all.”

“Tempting as that sounds, please don’t,” I said. “Besides, when people hear ‘spider lily,’ they think of the red one. That’s precisely why I chose the white variation for my seal as Beljeanne.”

The spider lily... After my previous life, I was now more used to thinking of it as the higanbana. During my life as Beljeanne, only the red variety had made its way here from the East. I’d just happened to have heard about the white variety.

“More importantly,” I said, rubbing my cheek against Lia as she resettled herself on my shoulder (the soft feel of feathers was the best!), “did you find any information about how Sienna was adopted?”

“I did. I asked some of my brethren that I’d left to watch over Sharona. It all started with a rare spousal argument between Sharona and Soviesch. It was such a rare occurrence it stuck in their memory. When Sharona learned of the fate of her son and his wife, she couldn’t bear to abandon their daughter. She asked Soviesch to take her in first, but he refused, saying that the daughter of a disinherited son had no place in the family. So she turned to your father. He agreed to consider it if she had a sufficient capacity for magic. They tested her, and it seems that she met that requirement.”

“I see... So I guess the bar wasn’t very high,” I said, raising a brow in confusion.

It was true that her magical capacity was high by commoner standards. But when compared to the heirs of the Four Houses, whose magical capacities had been honed through generations of strategic marriage, she was unremarkable.

“Hmph. Just like you, your father’s completely biased when it comes to Sharona.”

“Aww, Cas, look at those pouty cheeks. You’re precious.”

“Stop poking them!”

Ah! He gave me a little love bite! The sensation, combined with the feel of a fluffy belly atop my head, made me shiver with pleasure!

“Lavi, cut it out!” he said in alarm. “Stop drooling!”

“But it hurt so good!”

“Stop being a pervert!”

Lia gave my cheek a swift beak chop while Cas flounced off my head in indignation.

“Don’t be cross with me. You’ll make me cry,” I said sulkily. “Look, I wiped the drool off.”

“Well, in that case, that perch is mine— Ugyaah!”

Before Lia could claim my head as her roost, Cas gave her a swift roundhouse kick midair, before plopping belly first onto my head.

“Her head is mine!” he declared.

“Well, I can’t condone the kicking, but welcome back, Cas dear,” I said.

“You blasted fox!” Before I could even really register the soft, warm fluff on my head, Lia came flying toward Cas with a talon kick. But just before she hit him, I caught her with both hands and shifted her into my arms.

“Lavi, don’t you dare stop me— Ahn!”

Just as she began to reprimand me, I began to scratch gently under her jaw, right where her beak met the curve of her throat, coaxing out a little sound far too suggestive for polite company.

I giggled. “How adorable,” I cooed, before returning to the previous conversation. “Right, Sharona is special. And now she’s also my grandmother.”

“Even so, that doesn’t mean that what Sienna has done can be forgiven.”

I could feel Cas atop my head turning away in a dramatic little huff. I wanted nothing more than to bury my face in his stomach fluff and rub the sulk right out of him.

“Still,” I said, “whether this incident comes to light or not, sooner or later, House Robur will cast Sienna aside. If the spider lily mark is tied back to Beljeanne, grandfather will have something to say about that, and grandmother will have no choice but accept it.”

Forgive me, Sharona. I never imagined that after Beljeanne’s death, they would force you into a loveless marriage with Soviesch. I don’t blame you for seeking salvation in the form of family.

“Who would’ve thought that the egg my kin saw drifting down the river before summer would be used to do this,” Lia muttered as she flapped back up to my shoulder, snapping me back to the present.

“That’s right,” I murmured. “It was the egg you said might have potential as a sacred beast, wasn’t it?”

“Really, fools never think twice before doing something,” Cas said bitterly as Lia sank in on herself.

And like that, all granddaughterly affection I might’ve felt for my grandparents vanished like mist. After all, I was a humble servant to these noble flufflords.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Even if I love my grandmother, and even if I carry the grandmotherly heart of my past life, I won’t just let Sienna’s actions slide. Not when she’s made the two of you sad. This can no longer be excused as youthful folly.”

And with that, I resolved myself to the first ever duel between sisters of House Robur.

But first I needed to make the proper tools!

“There’s no way that foolish girl was the one who produced that sigil,” Lia said.

I opened my mouth to answer, when—

“Pbbfft! Of course not,” said Cas dismissively. “She barely has any talent with magic to begin with.”

Um, Cas? Could you kindly not do a spit take when you’re perched atop my head and my mouth is wide open?

“I’m sure you’re right,” I said, gathering myself. “But she did hold her position in Class A by working hard and getting results.”

“There are plenty of people who work hard,” Cas replied curtly. “That doesn’t give them the right to hurt others.”

A sudden swell of emotion washed over me. Deep sorrow, regret, and...something else. Was that anxiety? They were Cas’s emotions. I could feel them through our contract.

“Bel worked hard too,” he added. “Yet, even though she was hurt over and over again, she chose to save everyone she could in the end. Me, the dragon, and even the other sacred beasts who weren’t contracted to her. She gave her all so we could have a future...”

“Oh, Cas...” I said.

“Next time, don’t go and leave us behind, okay!” he yelled, before bopping me in the face with his fluffy tails and bounding off to who-knows-where.

“Aaand he’s gone,” I sighed. “Even though I told him I’d take him with me when I leave this life.”

“That was the promise you made to the fox, wasn’t it?” Lia said, nestling her small body against my cheek. She was always able to cheer me up, even at times like this.

“It was.” I nodded. “It seems to matter a lot to him. So much so that he even breaks down like this every once in a while...”

I supposed, in the end, foxes were canines. Just like a loyal hound, he’d kept waiting for me, firm in the belief that I’d come back for him.

※※※※

After that, I checked the roof of the boys’ dormitory, then quickly teleported to a room in the school’s library, where I cast a spell that masked the entrance to the room.

“What are you using this room for that you need to ward people away from it?” Lia asked from her perch atop my head.

“An excellent question,” I said, slipping off my butterfly-scale robe. I folded the robe in half lengthwise, before tying it around my waist. Then I lifted Lia from my head and cradled her in my arms. Her soft feathers brushed against my skin. I could become addicted to the feel of her downy feathers, especially those from her throat down to her chest...

“Lavi, lose that lewd expression or I’m pecking you.”

Why did I suddenly feel as if I was staring into the fanged maw of a dangerous beast...?

I chuckled. “Forgive me. As for the reason I came here, you know how that egg on the rooftop is undergoing a transformation into a curse? Well, it appears to have used my dear foster sister to siphon off magical energy from students through the marks that have been branded onto them.”

“Ah, right,” said Lia. “It’s close to hatching, and the pace at which it was absorbing energy isn’t cutting it anymore. So now it’s acting as a curse—covering the students in its dark energy and sealing their magic energy so it can siphon it off. Now translucent humanoid blobs of magical energy have started to wander around like ghosts.”

“And not just that,” I said. “It appears that it’s trapped some negative emotions as well. Perhaps it’s showing them nightmares while it drains them. Many of the students here are nobles or heirs with heavy burdens to shoulder. Stirring up their anxieties would’ve been child’s play.”

As I spoke with Lia, I came to the section of the library I was searching for and pulled out a bundle of papers before sitting down in a nearby chair.

“No doubt about it,” Lia said, “that Pup of yours was already cracking under the pressure from the white spider lily oath mark you gave him and all the scrutiny from the ongoing investigation. Unlike the others, it seems that a few days ago, a part of his soul was sealed off and then extracted. Now it’s being used to absorb other people’s magic, and he’s on the verge of becoming a vessel for the curse. And it seems that your foster sister has been marked as a potential vessel without realizing it.”

“That must’ve been what Ralf saw on the day we ate the Triple-S Special,” I commented. “That’s why I’ve decided to make a harisen to slap some sense into both of them. It’ll also burst those walking magical blobs like bubbles.”

I opened my pocket dimension storage, pulled out my tools and some rice glue, and began dismantling the bundle of papers.

“It’s true that if you burst the shell holding it in, the energy will make its way back to its rightful owner. I suppose it’s killing two birds with one stone,” mused Lia. “But more importantly, what is a harisen?”

“I’m delighted you asked! It’s the oversized fan that you read about in Kimono Kisses: Sengoku Rendezvous, said to have once been used to set the tempo for dances! In my past life it was the go-to prop for tsukkomi acts!”

“Oh! From Rendezvous?!” Lia exclaimed. She jumped onto the table and began shaking her wings and long tail feathers in a dance.

“Yes, but the fan...”

“Stick my feathers on it!” she said. “You’ve been hoarding them in that little pocket dimension of yours since the days of Beljeanne! Now, let’s dance!”

“On this...?” I picked up a sheet from the bundle and showed it to her. “But this is just an old newspaper from the ‘Please Take One’ bin?”

“Lavi, didn’t you tell me you learned traditional Japanese dances in your previous life? Then dance for me! Go on, quickly!”

“Well, just so you know, the rice glue’s going to make your feathers all stiff and crunchy...but all right. In that case, I’ll lace the magical circuitry I’m going to embed in it with holes so that the holy magic that remains in your feathers can be channeled through properly. Then I’ll add a few more layers of newspaper to increase its durability. Now, if you fold it like this,” I mumbled to myself, “you’ll get a nice, loud snapping sound when it hits...”

Making a harisen brought back good memories of the time my grandchildren had begged me to make them one. I’d fiddled around with the design until I’d made one that let out a nice, crisp snap when you hit something with it. They were absolutely thrilled.

In fact, the snap was so loud, and evoked such high-pitched squeals of joy from the little ones, that the neighbors mistook the noises for a home invasion. Still, even my husband and I getting scolded by the police was a happy memory now...

I wonder if I could get anyone here to play with the harisen like my grandchildren had...?

That was when inspiration struck.

“That’s it!” I clapped my hands. “While I’m at it, I should make us some ofuda for sealing away ghosts, to help set the mood. I used to hang one in my kitchen, and my husband would always say it made the air seem cleaner. He claimed he could see ghosts every now and then, although he was closer to having zero sense than a sixth sense. It was amusing, though, so I never corrected him.”

“Oh, is that so...” Lia yawned widely. “I dunno why, but I’m feeling sleepy...”

She appeared to be drifting off. This was something that happened as you aged. For the last few years before we passed on, my husband and I could sleep half the day away.

“Right,” I decided, “my log house basically has a layout of one bedroom and a kitchen, so the smell of food lingers longer than I’d like. I’ll go ahead and attach an air purification enchantment to this ofuda. I’ll attach some of your feathers to that, too, to spruce it up! Finally, I’ll add a curse-sealing magic circuit to it... Hmm, something’s missing...” I stopped inscribing the magic circuit and rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “Oh! Of course!” I said excitedly to myself. “I should use brush and ink and write on it in Japanese to give it that authentic feel!”

I opened my pocket dimension storage and pulled out my old calligraphy set.

“As they say, ‘Fortune comes to those who smile’ and ‘A harvest begins with a single seed.’ I’m starting to feel like some kind of onmyoji or exorcist!” I said with a laugh. “In that case, I should rig the harisen to activate with a trigger phrase... How about ‘Begone, foul spirit!’? And for the finishing touch, a phrase of blessing, ‘May you find eternal rest.’ Yes, that should do it.”

With that, I brought out my scissors.

“Hmm, these scales are too tough to cut with scissors. There are only two, though, so perhaps I should make some more. All right, then, one goes into the spell circuit. The other into mass production!”

And so I relied on my deep magic reserves to do the heavy lifting and began replicating it in bulk.

“Wah— Did I fall asleep?!”

“Good morning, Lia. Look what I made,” I said proudly, holding out the bundle of harisen fans I’d produced in just under thirty minutes.

“What is this mess of accordion-like slips of paper?! My feathers are crusty! Everything’s so needlessly gaudy! And don’t get me started on how needlessly many there are! And these symbols look absolutely cursed!” she squawked.

What?! This wasn’t the reaction I’d expected!

“Sniff... How cruel. My heart is broken.”

“Ahh,” Lia sighed. “I forgot how hopeless you are at arts and crafts. It’s incredible that you still manage to be a best-selling designer. Come now, we’ve places to be. Make sure to clean up.”

With a flutter of wings, she returned to her perch upon my head. Her blunt words had wounded me, but her warm, fluffy belly atop my crown went a long way toward healing. I was, after all, a loyal servant to the fluff.

I gathered the harisen into a neat bundle and tucked them securely into the waist of my skirt. Then I took the stack of ofuda and stuffed them into the many tactically placed utility pockets I’d designed it with. The tools went back into pocket dimension storage.

No sooner had I finished cleaning up the space than the scenery changed around me with a flap of Lia’s wings.

“Look, there they are,” she said, pointing with one wing at a translucent humanoid blob of magical energy. They really did look like a ghost you’d see in a horror movie in the other world.

“Time for a field test,” I said. Creating the tool was half the battle. Testing its functionality and operating it in the field were also essential.

I reached for one of the harisen tucked into my waistband, channeled magic into it, and dashed toward the ghostly figure. I took a big swing and cried, “Begone, foul spirit!”

Bzzt! Swack!

After I shouted the trigger phrase, the tool activated with a hum, followed by a deeply satisfying smack as the fan struck the specter. The place I’d hit tore open and the ghostly figure hit the ground, trembling violently. Then it deflated like a balloon and blew away into the distance.

I let out a delighted giggle. “A successful test!”

I smiled as memories of my grandchildren flooded my mind. With one hand holding the harisen high and the other on my hip, I struck a victory pose.

“How violent. I would never have expected such an effect from something that looks that silly,” Lia said, via telepathy. At some point she’d cloaked herself with illusion magic.

“Did the magic really just return to its owner?”

“Laviange...what in the world did you just do?”

Hmm? Those stunned voices sounded terribly familiar. I turned.

“Oh my, would you like to test it too, Mihail?” I asked.

There they stood, my older brother and the first prince, in all their glory. They looked like a still frame from an otome game—I could have sworn I saw roses blooming behind them.

“Test what?” said Mihail.

“My exorcism tools,” I replied cheerfully.

※※Aside: The Afternoon of the Incident—Exorcism, Nightmares, and Guilt (Mihail)※※

Regulus and I had the others stay behind in the infirmary. He set up a simple ward at the door, just in case.

“Have you heard of the white spider lily?” I asked him as soon as we were alone.

He hesitated. “Why do you ask?”

Regulus rarely showed much emotion, and he wasn’t easy to read. I’d recently learned about his difficult childhood, and I thought that perhaps that explained part of it. Still, we’d known each other for a long time. That slight pause before he answered was all the answer I needed.

“Then you do know,” I murmured.

The leader of Team Peckish had seen it too, I thought: His eyes had widened slightly as he helped me restrain Heinz.

The sigil on Heinz’s shoulder was an oath mark. A symbol that appeared only when someone bound by a pact violated their agreement, triggering the terms. That wasn’t uncommon in itself...but the shape of this one bothered me. Most oath marks resembled magical arrays, but this one was a spider lily, a symbol associated with the notorious villainess. But for her, the color was always red. In fact, that same red spider lily had been used for the sigil that covered Heinz’s heart, draining away his magic.

“Ggh... Ah— F-Forgive me, milady...! Ah, aaah! No— Stop, stop it! Please stop...!” I remembered his face, twisted in fear as he begged for mercy.

There were only two people in the Academy who were ranked highly enough that Asche, formerly an heir to one of the Four Great Houses, would call them milady. And both were my sisters. However, from what I’d seen of his interactions with Sienna during student council work, I could hardly imagine him calling her that now.

Then who was it? A high-ranking noblewoman from outside the Academy?

But a memory lingered at the back of my mind... Once, before summer break, I’d seen Heinz pass Laviange on school grounds. He’d kept his head down, his long, unkempt bangs covering his face. But I’d happened to see his expression. He’d looked tense.

Thinking back on it, it had been different from the way he’d looked at my sister before. I had seen neither contempt nor anger on his face. It had almost looked like he’d been enduring some kind of pain, and there had been something else... A flicker of fear?

“Don’t speak of it,” Regulus warned me. “At least, not here.” He held my gaze with his crimson eyes, and I could sense that he meant it.

I looked back at him. “Understood,” I said. “More importantly...look over there.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly, before turning his attention to what I was pointing at. “So they have gathered at the boys’ dormitories. And more than just the two we were following, by the looks of it. It looks like they’re merging their magical energy together.”

We’d run into a couple of the translucent beings in the hallway. From what we could see, they were masses of magical energy taking human form. We’d followed them here, and now they appeared to be entering the boys’ dormitory. Both were shaped vaguely like students, but blurry. There was little color to them, and the only facial feature I could make out was the bridge of their nose.

“So they really are just pure magical energy,” Regulus mused as we neared the dorm. “They have no will of their own.”

With that, he cast a magical barrier over the entire building, with us inside. I took it in, brushing my hand against it.

“This isn’t just a simple barrier.”

“No, it’s not. This barrier is constructed to repel magical energy coming in from the outside. It won’t allow any more of these things in.”

A question was still nagging at me, though. When we’d passed one of the collapsed students earlier, I’d noticed that he had a faint mark on his wrist, small enough that you might miss it if you weren’t looking closely. “Still, I wonder why whoever the culprit is isn’t taking the magical energy directly from the victim’s mark?”

“It’s difficult to say without knowing the full picture,” Regulus answered. “But what is clear is that some magic must have already been taken from those marks before things escalated to this point.”

Now that he mentioned it, Sienna had been noticeably sickly and pale whenever I saw her at our monthly dinners or at student council meetings. Not that I’d seen her very often over the summer; she had grown more and more reclusive even before the break. I remembered that Heinz and the young ladies who were now in the infirmary had also looked sickly the few times I’d seen them over the summer.

“I think you may be right. And yet, none of them collapsed before now. Why would their magical energy manifest visibly like this now?”

“Perhaps we’re thinking about it the wrong way,” Regulus murmured, deep in thought.

“What do you mean?”

“Perhaps this isn’t happening because it started using the marks to drain magic, but because the amount of energy it can drain using the marks is limited,” he said, his brow furrowing. “It’s possible that whatever is causing this needs a large amount of magical energy. But it seems it can’t get enough from the marks alone—whether that’s due to the limited magical reserves that the marked individual possesses or the nature of the mark itself, I cannot say. Perhaps that’s why it began to mark more and more students? That would allow it to get a larger quantity of energy. But I’d guess that now it needs even more magic, and quickly, though I can’t fathom the reason why. That could be why it’s made the magic manifest itself physically like this... I can’t help but wonder why those who’ve collapsed seem to be limited to a certain type, though.”

“A certain type?” I asked. It took me a moment to connect the dots. “Ah... I see.”

It was true. As we’d moved through the campus, checking on collapsed students, a pattern had certainly emerged.

“Most of the collapsed students are either first-years or members of Class A, including the ones in the student council,” Regulus elaborated.

“You’re right...”

But there was something else. My foster sister’s face surfaced in mind. Most of the collapsed students were ones who I’d seen speaking to her frequently...at least, up until the Poison Box Garden incident. And something else was tugging at my thoughts. How had Dominio recognized one of the blurry, faceless, translucent figures as Sienna?

Could it be that she was— No. I was overthinking it.

“Begone, foul spirit!”

Swack!

My train of thought was abruptly derailed by a sudden shout followed by an indescribable sound from just outside the barrier. Reflexively, both of us turned toward it.

One of the translucent figures had collapsed on the ground and was trembling violently. It shrank in on itself, its form twisting and deflating before propelling itself in the direction of the school building like a punctured balloon.

There was a cheerful giggle, followed by a voice declaring, “A successful test!”

And there was my sister, posing proudly with one hand on her hip, the other raised high with what could only be described as a child’s messy craft project.

It appeared to be made of newspaper, sloppily folded into an accordion shape, with red feathers sticking out here and there... What in the world was it supposed to be? Worse still, she had a multitude of these...things...tucked into her waistband. For a noblewoman—no, for a woman of any stripe—was this truly acceptable behavior?

“Did the magic really just return to its owner?” Regulus muttered, stunned. He must have used detection magic to trace it.

I was having some difficulty understanding what I was seeing. “Laviange...what in the world did you just do?”

“Oh my, would you like to test it too, Mihail?” she said.

“Test what?”

“My exorcism tools,” she said proudly, turning toward us with a smirk.

“Are... Are you implying that these translucent beings are ghosts?”

“Indeed I am, dear brother. You see, the other day, Ralf said he saw a translucent Sienna...” She trailed off abruptly, tilting her head in thought. “My word, but Sienna is still alive, isn’t she? Would that make her a living spirit? If magic can’t explain it, then perhaps we should just call them ghosts and be done with it,” she said with a chuckle.

Her logic was...aggressively oversimplified. These translucent things weren’t ghosts. They were magical energy given form. They were, for some reason, taking human shape, but they were still magic. If you analyzed the magical energy, then it should be simple to understand—but, well, I suppose it hadn’t been for her.

“I see... Well, they do look like ghosts, so let’s go with that,” said Regulus, nodding along.

“Precisely,” she replied with a gracious nod back.

No, it is not “precisely.” Don’t you nod along, Regulus. Don’t become another lovestruck fool. You’re not helping.

“And what, pray tell, is that object you’re holding?” Regulus asked cautiously. “It’s quite the shod... Uh, quite the— ah—bright and gar... Uh, unique piece of craftsmanship.”

Regulus, were you about to say it was shoddy and garish?

“It’s a harisen for exorcising spirits, of course,” she declared proudly. “A traditional craft item from the Eastern lands. Originally a percussion instrument used to keep rhythm, but now used more often for slapstick comedy.”

“Exorcism... Slapstick...”

Shouldn’t you be using tools more specifically made for exorcism?! And how was she able to say all of this with a straight face?! Nothing she was saying made any sense!

“What are these feathers?” Regulus asked. “May I?”

“By all means. I’ve plenty more tucked into my waistband. You may take one as well, brother.”

As Regulus stepped past the barrier, I followed after him. Laviange spun around gracefully and turned her back to us once more.

“Please, help yourselves.”

“You have my thanks,” said Regulus.

You’re actually taking one?

“Would you like one too, brother?”

“Ah— Yes, thank...you?”

Sister, for the love of decency, would you stop wiggling your hips as if to urge me to hurry up and grab one?

“I’ve been gathering those feathers for quite some time,” she said with pride, plucking one out and twirling it between her fingers. “Whenever I found one that had fallen, I’d pick it up and set it aside. They’re lovely, aren’t they? Perfect for decoration. And they’re long, so you can trim them down and get multiple uses out of just one. Very cost-effective. So I thought, why not add some in for a bit of color? It’s turned out to be quite effective, if I may say so myself.”

As she spoke, I turned the so-called harisen over in my hands... Hm? What’s with the amount of holy energy this feather is radiating?

“No...it couldn’t be,” Regulus murmured breathlessly. “The sacred beast...Vamillia...”

“Excuse me?!”

The sacred beast Vamillia?! Not only was he saying this was from a sacred beast, none of whom had been seen in generations, but from the one said to be the eldest of them all?!

And Laviange said she’d cut some of the feathers?! As I looked at the feathers on the tool in my hands, I found myself feeling nauseous... She had definitely cut them. The poor feathers had been sliced and glued—glued!—onto both ends of this so-called harisen, using what looked suspiciously like rice glue. Slathered on, no less, in the most appallingly clumsy manner.

“Oh my, I suppose that’s why they’re so pretty.”

Sister, could you please try to take this more seriously?!

“They truly are beautiful.”

That’s all you have to say, Regulus?! As this kingdom’s first prince, shouldn’t you be taking this more seriously?!

“Look, something’s coming out,” Laviange said suddenly, gazing into the barrier.

Following her gaze, I saw it too. “Is that Heinz and...Sienna?”

Two translucent figures stepped out from the dormitory entrance. Were they made of magical energy? Sienna stopped at the threshold, while Heinz kept walking until he reached the edge of the barrier. Sienna looked toward my sister with quiet resentment; Heinz, with terror written all over his face.

“Oh my, these two have faces. And how expressive too.” Laviange nodded sagely. “A strong attachment to the self is the very hallmark of a living spirit.” She seemed to be quite pleased with this insight, though I had no idea what it was supposed to mean. “Now then, you two are next!” she declared. “Prepare yourselves for a proper thwacking!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” I yelled.

What was she thinking, getting ready to cheerfully charge headfirst at a humanoid blob of magical energy while yelling that ridiculous challenge? She was clearly the least physically capable person here! If anyone was going to be “next,” it was her!

“I’ll back her up,” Regulus said firmly.

“And you wait as well!” I had abandoned all decorum, commanding the first prince like a wayward servant. Love had truly scrambled his wits.

“Oh? Would you prefer to strike the blow yourself, brother? In that case, I’ll swallow my tears and gracefully step aside. Since it’s a magical tool, do be sure to channel magical energy through it.”

Glancing down at the fan again, I saw it now for what it was: a shoddy magical tool. But why newspaper? Why old newspaper? I could feel the heft of it in my hand. There were clearly multiple pages here, each folded into an accordion shape. I’d bet anything it’d been taken from the free bin in the Academy library. If you were going to glue sacred beast feathers to something, you could at least use decent paper...

“Go on, now,” she urged, smiling with the poise of a proper young lady.

For some reason, I found myself stepping forward, holding a makeshift, spirit-exorcising “harisen” in my hand. I channeled magic into it...but nothing happened.

“Ah, you must say the words ‘Begone, foul spirit!’ or it won’t activate.”

“Why would you design it like that...?” Was she serious? Normally only exceptionally advanced magic required a verbal component.

“Vibes?” she said with a shrug.

I gritted my teeth. “I see.” Don’t add things just for “vibes”! And, Regulus, I see you standing back there trembling with laughter! “B-Begone, foul...spirit...”

“You must say it louder.”

“Ugh! Begone, foul spirit!”

A tremor rippled through the fan at once. Regulus was still trembling too—though not from the magic. As my magical energy surged through the crude magical circuitry, heat surged to my cheeks, and I flushed with embarrassment.

I see... So the feather acted as a conduit, bridging the makeshift spell array and amplifying the purification magic. What sort of miracle circuit was this?!

“And do shout it again when you hit the ghost!” Laviange said gleefully. “Embrace your inner child and summon your Harisen Blade!”

What did she mean by inner child?! Every instinct I had was screaming that this was wrong. And when had the harisen become a Harisen Blade? Her encouragement was physically hurting me.

Please, sister, stop looking at me with those sparkling, expectant eyes, so painfully bright and full of faith. It’s the first time in your life you’ve looked at me like that, and it’s breaking me. If you keep looking at me like that, I’m actually going to have to do this.

The moment I stepped through the barrier, though, the ghostly Heinz clutched his chest and began to convulse. Looking closely, I saw that faint, ribbonlike bands of magic were shooting out from the dorm entrance, striking the ghostly Heinz and being absorbed into him. Until now, he had appeared as a silhouette; the only place that showed even faint color was one of his shoulders. But as the magic poured into him, that color deepened, and his entire upper body began to take clearer form. When had the red spider lily on his chest appeared? The translucent body flushed into flesh tones, and the red hue of the flower began to darken, streaks of black seeping into the petals.

“...! ...!” Apparently the apparition was unable to speak. He opened his mouth in a soundless cry, reaching out desperately toward something... No, toward my sister, as it staggered forward. There was something in his desperate expression that made me think that he was something more than a simple clump of animate magical energy.

“Heinz! Are you in there? Can you hear me?!” I yelled, leaning closer to get a better look. I read his lips.

H-e-l-p-m-e?

Was he asking for help? His lips were moving, struggling to form words. Then suddenly, his body jerked violently—a sharp spasm, like pain had shot straight through him. But it lasted only a moment. In the next instant, the red flower on his chest turned pitch-black, and that darkness surged outward, spreading like ink across his entire body below his neck. The flower fully merged with him, sinking into his chest as if embedded there. He remained upright, but his head lolled forward like a puppet with its string cut.

“A full-body black bodysuit,” my sister sighed, touching her cheek with one hand, eyes sparkling with admiration. “Such commitment to the aesthetic, just what one would expect from a living spirit.”

Regulus, still behind her, had a hand over his mouth now, shoulders trembling again. I no longer had any idea what was going on.

“Will she end up like that too, I wonder?” Still half sighing in dreamlike awe, my sister glanced toward the other figure, eyes filled with curious anticipation.

“Sienna...” Her name slipped from my mouth unbidden. I didn’t know why. Perhaps because I couldn’t comprehend what I was witnessing. Sienna stood there with her face warped with pleasure.

What...was that expression...? Why would she look like...?

As I stood watching her, frozen in place, she turned to look at Laviange—that same thrilled expression was on her face, but her eyes now shone with bloodlust.

I-l-l-k-i-l-l-y-o-u.

I couldn’t believe the words I read on her lips.

My sister’s words brought me out of my stupor. “Black Bodysuit’s wavering...” Her eyes, full of delight, were now fixed intently on the ghostly figure now cloaked in black. Apparently she was now referring to the ghostly Heinz simply as Black Bodysuit.

He still stood unmoving, his head slumped forward. I almost felt sorry for him. But now, his eyes were wide and his expression had twisted into something akin to raw terror. He did look like he was wavering. Now that I looked closer, he appeared to be vibrating rapidly from side to side. How was that even physically possible?

“Mihail!” Regulus called my name, his voice tight with urgency. He’d been standing behind Laviange to remain out of her line of sight, and while he’d been shaking with laughter just moments ago, now he was sprinting toward me. The moment I saw him run, I sensed movement in front of me and turned toward it—and felt pain stab through my chest.

“Sienna?!” I gasped. She was standing before me, her hand touching my chest. She was still wearing that warped, ecstatic grin. “Ghh...!”

A rush of unfamiliar emotion surged through me. My magic flared, unbidden. A forced sense of euphoria overtook my body.

“Begone, foul spirit!”

Smack!

“Gh—ahh!”

A sharp, shocking jolt tore through my chest, as if I’d been struck with a bolt of lightning. I dropped the harisen and fell to one knee. I clutched my chest as I forced myself to raise my head.

The ghostly Sienna stood a short distance away, seething. But her hate-filled eyes were no longer looking at me. They were aimed at Laviange, who stood between us as if to protect me.

Wait...had I just been smacked in the chest by her harisen?

“Brother, have your emotions settled down?” Laviange was speaking to me, but she didn’t turn round.

“Y-Yeah... I think so.”

“And your magic?”

I nodded.

Then, suddenly, I heard Regulus shout, “Begone, foul spirit!”

Thwack!

The crack of impact was far louder than my sister’s earlier strike, and I instinctively turned toward it, all thoughts of chest pain and magical whiplash momentarily forgotten.

“H-Heinz...?”

I watched as the ghostly Heinz was launched backward. Had Regulus just knocked him off his feet? He hit the barrier headfirst and became lodged in it with his head and shoulders sticking through to the other side, his arms flung about as he dangled.

How was that even possible?

“He tried to embrace Lady Laviange,” Regulus muttered, glowering darkly. “I haven’t even done that yet. Filthy little deviant bodysuit.”

His anger was wildly misplaced.

“He looks like a figure skater doing a pose,” Laviange murmured. “Well done.”

I had no clue what that meant, and the way she looked at Heinz with envy only bewildered me more. What was going on?

“Lady Laviange, directing a gaze of longing at a pervert is most improper,” Regulus said, clearly displeased. “What did you think of my harisen technique?” He held up his harisen proudly.

“Oh? Now that you mention it, it was quite powerful.”

It appeared that he’d successfully redirected her attention. Laviange reached out her slender fingers and touched the harisen, channeling magic through the tool.

“As I suspected,” she said finally, “the circuitry is fried. Perhaps it’s due to a difference in magical output? Would you like another one?” And she spun around to offer him one of the many harisen that remained stuck in her waistband.

“I suppose I may have used a bit too much magic. I’ll take one,” he replied, smoothly plucking one out.

She accepted the old one from him and casually set it alight. Old newspaper burned exceptionally well.

“Should we, perhaps, do some practice swings?” she asked Regulus. “For Your Highness, perhaps something like this would be more suitable.” She strode toward Heinz and raised the fan just slightly, before giving the black spider lily on his chest a light tap.

“Begone, foul spirit!”

Whack!

Given that he was still arched backward with his arms in the air, he made for an easy target.

I looked back toward Sienna. She was shaking with rage. As I watched, she drifted slowly backward into the dormitory, still facing in our direction.

“Like this?” Regulus asked.

Whack!

Neither he nor Laviange seemed the slightest bit concerned about her.

“Oh my, the black seems to be fading a little. Hm...but perhaps just a bit more. Begone, foul spirit!”

Smack!

“Begone, foul spirit!”

Thwack!

“Hmm...” they both hummed as they regarded Heinz with identical puzzled expressions.

“B-Both of you... Perhaps that’s enough...”

Pity finally overtook me. I bent to retrieve the harisen I had dropped earlier and cast a glance at Heinz’s face, still sticking out beyond the barrier...

My face went blank.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “Laviange, face the other way. This deviant is enjoying... No, it matters not. Either way, I’ll deal with it quickly.”

What sort of sexual play was this?! If this caused Laviange’s novels to veer even more into that sort of thing, I was absolutely going to make him pay! All I could be was thankful that she hadn’t seen the expression on his face.

Laviange laughed. “So you’ve taken a liking to the harisen, have you, dear brother? Do take your time, then, and enjoy the sound and the satisfying impact.”

Hm? Why did her gaze feel so grandmotherly sometimes?! And why now of all times?!

It was a completely different expression from her usual ladylike smile. I was used to that. When she wore that smile, I could always tell that her mind was elsewhere, and that she cared little about what was happening before her. She’d often politely deflect any malice aimed in her direction at times like that. In fact, I could barely remember any times when she wasn’t deflecting.

Though there were exceptions. People she wouldn’t let slide. I’d only heard secondhand, but there was an incident where two people had met swift consequences for confronting her. There was little need to name names, but it was her former fiancé, the second prince, and the real body of the deviant creature in the black bodysuit dangling over there.

I was told that when her ex-fiancé had twisted her delicate wrist, she hadn’t given him so much as a breath to explain himself, nor had she let him use his title as a shield. She’d cornered him mercilessly. After that, the doubts that had smoldered among the students here at the Academy flared into open distrust and she’d been able to use that to her advantage, personally negotiating a rather generous compensation payment.

Before the second prince had holed himself up in disgrace, I’d seen father hand that compensation directly to her. She’d slung the sack of gold coins over her shoulder, stuck cotton to her face like a fake white beard, and declared, “It’s like I’m Santa! Merry Christmas!” and then taken it to the safe in her room in my wing of the estate.

I’d chosen not to ask what “Santa” or “Merry Christmas” meant. Instead, I’d just discreetly paid off the staff in my wing to keep their mouths shut.

I supposed that must have been the event that had made Heinz stop antagonizing her...but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more had happened. Something that would explain why a former knight-in-training now seemed to be terrified of her.

“Brother?”

“Ah—yes, right.” Now was not the time to get lost in thought. “Begone, foul spirit!”

Snapping back to the task at hand, I raised the harisen and brought it down hard on the spider lily that bloomed from the pervert’s chest.

THWACK!

Ah. What a satisfying sound.

His body jolted, then went slack. On the other side of the barrier, translucent ribbons of magic began to stream from his head. I caught the movement in my periphery, but kept my eyes fixed on the flower. I had no interest in seeing what expression he wore. My only thought was to exorcise him before Laviange caught a glimpse of it—and that thought took the edge off the humiliation of shouting the incantation.

Beside me, I could see Regulus glaring coldly at the dangling pervert. His expression hadn’t changed since he’d first whacked him with the harisen. Did he have no shame? He’d laughed plenty when I got hit. Now he stood expressionless behind my sister. The hypocrisy grated.

“...! ...!” Suddenly, a gust of black wind burst forth from Heinz’s body. Still lodged in the barrier, he began thrashing his limbs about, his mouth stretching open in a silent cry. I quickly used appraisal magic.

“What in the world...?” Regulus said with a frown.

He must have used appraisal magic too. Had his attempt been deflected, like mine? Knowing Regulus’s deep reserves of magical energy and prodigious talent, though, I suspected he’d been able to see more.

But a sudden stench drew me out of my thoughts.

Without attempting to analyze the situation, I rushed to my sister, shielding her with my body and raising a barrier on instinct. I managed to deflect the black wind rushing toward us, but the stench still seeped through. It was a thick odor, like rot.

It spewed forth from Heinz’s body in a black wind, gushing out and then being drawn back in again. Each cycle seemed to deepen both the darkness of its color and the intensity of the foul smell. Meanwhile, the strands of translucent magical energy that were spilling from his head on the other side of the barrier multiplied, one or two at a time, and then slipped free.

All of a sudden the black wind, which had been building up inside of him, seemed to find direction. In one violent burst, it shot straight toward the dormitory rooftop, and Heinz’s form vanished completely.

“Well, the stench is quite appalling,” Laviange said calmly, as if commenting on the weather. “Shall we make a timely retreat into the dormitory?”

Without waiting for agreement, she promptly turned and began striding toward the doors. The question must have been a rhetorical one.

“Laviange,” Regulus called after her. “Sienna’s magical...living spirit went in there. And there was something off about her. Let me go in first—”

“My, what a curious thing to say,” she interrupted. “That girl has never once been anything but off. Not since the first time I laid my eyes on her. Becoming a living ghost has just let the mask slip a little, that’s all. Perhaps she’s a bit more open about letting her feelings show, but that face she made is nothing new.”

Nothing new? Was Laviange intimating that Sienna had been directing that level of malice at her from the first time they met? But why? Even more perplexing was the notion that Laviange had endured this venom for years and just brushed it aside...

“And besides,” she added cheerfully, “I’d like to give her a taste of some Harisen Blade medicine. If I slapped her about a bit now, nobody would even know.”

“Wrong. We would know,” I reminded her.

Doing it in front of us wouldn’t exactly be subtle, sister. I supposed I’d have to reevaluate my previous thought that she had just brushed the malice aside. But her method of venting was misplaced. And why did she keep calling it a Harisen Blade?

“Then, dear brother, why don’t you wait outside?” she suggested. “For I am now declaring House Robur’s first ever sisterly Hide-and-Seek Chambara Harisen Battle!”

“What kind of name is that?” I asked, stunned. “I can’t tell if it’s a farce or something dangerous, but either way I do not approve of it.”

“I shall serve as judge,” Regulus said, with a completely serious expression. When had the lovestruck idiot moved to stand beside her?

“Thank you ever so much,” my sister said.

“Don’t encourage her, Your Highness. And, Laviange, technically he’s a prince. Do not make him the referee of your little harisen game.”

“Tch.”

“My, my...”

Grr, why were they treating me like I was in the wrong?! And Laviange was looking at me with that grandmotherly expression again!!!

“Well then, let’s commence with the very first Robur Sister Hide-and-Seek Championship! I’ll be ‘it,’ and you mustn’t help either of us, understood?” she said, turning to us with a serious look on her face.

“Got it,” Regulus replied without the slightest bit of hesitation.

“...”

It was pointless. There was nothing I could say. The moment she stepped through the dormitory doors, apparently, the event had officially begun.

And just what had happened to the Chambara Harisen Battle part of the proceedings?

“Well, then, let’s start with the unlocked rooms,” Laviange said with a giggle. “Ah, the boys’ dorms. This’ll provide a lot of inspiration...” I could hear her quietly muttering and giggling as she put on the robe that she’d had wrapped around her waist.

I recognized that robe immediately. It was the same one she’d worn during the Poison Box Garden incident—the one that was enchanted to cloak her presence. She’d said that this was hide-and-seek, but I now recognized it for what it was: a hunt for more material for those depraved novels of hers. The look in her eyes confirmed my suspicions. I could see it plainly: the look of a deviant.

“Lady Robur, it wouldn’t do to enter someone’s private quarters uninvited. No hide-and-seek. Let’s head to the rooftop.”

Oh! Finally the lovestruck fool had said something sensib—

“I won’t allow her to breathe in the scent of any other man.”

What the hell did he just mutter...? That dark expression on his face... First love had truly broken him.

The two of us flanked Laviange as we made our way toward the roof.

“It wouldn’t hurt to just do a little...”

“Laviange, there’s a concentration of magic...spirits on the rooftop. We should begin your harisen activities there,” I said, trying to soothe her.

Her smile didn’t flag, but she still managed to look mildly disappointed.

We began to ascend the stairs, and though it was hardly a great physical feat, it completely exhausted me. In ideal circumstances, we’d leave Laviange somewhere safe while we handled things on the rooftop, but I was terrified of what her curiosity would make her do if she was left to her own devices. Forget the old rumors about her being untalented or incompetent. The titles she was flirting with now were pervert and deviant... No, she’d already crossed that threshold. But I would not allow it to go any further—not because I was heir to House Robur, but because I was her brother. I would use all of our family’s political weight to cover it up.

But wait... Surely she hadn’t been doing things like this prior... No, don’t think about it. That line of thought would only serve to haunt me.

“We’ve arrived,” Regulus declared.

“That was quick,” said Laviange.

The rooftop door blew open before Regulus could even touch it, and a reeking wave of rot rolled in to greet us.

“Hm, the stench might make my nose fall off.” The great escape artist, who I knew would make a break for it the moment our backs were turned, pinched her nose with dismay.

The black wind that carried the stench was thicker here than the stuff Heinz’s body had released. I could tell that the magical energy was mixed with something else...but what it was, I couldn’t identify.

“As I suspected,” Regulus murmured, and warded the area around us. “Mihail, I want you to cast a barrier, but not just a standard one. Focus on using holy magic, and make it dense.”

“What’s going on? Have you figured out what’s on the rooftop?”

“I had a sneaking suspicion when we confronted Heinz downstairs, but I was unable to get a complete read on it,” he said. He didn’t turn to me, but he also made no move to advance forward. I could see a faint sheen of sweat beginning to form at the nape of his neck. “But whatever is here on the roof is the main body. It’s a curse.”

It hadn’t been that long ago that Regulus had told me about the curse he’d had during childhood, and how Laviange had saved him.

“Your Highness, please take Laviange and retreat,” I said. “I’ll handle Sienna—”

“I refuse,” he said, cutting off my attempt to shoulder the burden. “You will take her and—”

“Oh. I’m sorry, but I’m the one who will have to refuse,” Laviange cut in this time, cheerful as ever. “The Robur sisters’ Chambara Harisen Festival is still in full swing, after all. And besides...”

Since when has it become a festival? And what happened to the hide-and-seek battle? I’m growing increasingly concerned about your naming sense, dear sister.

“I’ve made some magical seals!” she continued gleefully. “And I’ve been waiting for a chance to test them! Da da daaaaan!”

I felt my stomach drop. With a flourish, she produced what appeared to be old newspapers cut into strips, with precious sacred beast feathers glued onto them like they were arts-and-crafts scrap. Noticing that they had been crumpled because she’d stuffed them into her dress pockets willy-nilly, she nonchalantly smoothed them out with warming magic while pretending nothing had happened!

I was going to be sick.

“Now then! Let the Harisen Surprise-A-Whack Festival begin! I shall have her begging for mercy!”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

I was already drowning in a sea of things I wished to object to, and she kept piling on even more. She was definitely making the name silly on purpose, to make it seem less objectionable! Well, it wasn’t going to work! She was definitely going to be the one begging for mercy!

“I combined the words surprise attack and whack, you see,” she explained.

“!!!” How had she known that I hadn’t caught the pun?!

And that look in her eyes! It was like a patient grandmother gently correcting a poor, misguided child. The only thing misguided here was her naming sense!

“I figured it out,” Regulus said.

Shut up, you lovestruck moron! Stop trying to score points!

“May I see one?” he asked her.

“Here, take a bundle. I have plenty.” She reached into her robe and grabbed another bundle of seals from the back of her skirt. Seeing that these two were wrinkled, she handed over the ones she’d already smoothed with a sheepish smile.

The prince took the bundle and tried channeling magical energy into it. “This is...” His eyes widened as the magical energy dispersed and the stench around us began to dissipate.

“Would you like one too, brother?”

“Ah— Y-Yeah...”

She handed me a bundle, this one also smoothed out with warming magic. As the prince had, I channeled some magic into it. The magical circuit was crude, yet...

“Lady Robur, what are these magical seals...?”

“Aren’t they splendid? They purify the air when infused with magical energy. When I first had the idea to make them, I intended for them to be used solely to exorcise ghosts. But then I thought to myself, wouldn’t these be better used if I made one of those shelf altars that are so popular in the East in my kitchen and placed them on there? They do wonders for clearing out lingering smells after cooking. Oh! The feather’s just a charming little touch meant to draw the eyes,” she added, as if to wave off our concerns. “Still, even if we don’t use them for their original purpose, it should be enough to slow Sienna down if we stick one on her. And then we’ll only need to whack her with the harisen, and voilà! A flawless victory!”

Why would you make these for the kitchen?! Yes, I’d heard of the shelf altars they had in the East, but they absolutely were not decorated using misshapen newspaper crafts! And what was this squiggly nonsense she’d drawn on them?! She was the one who was going to get whacked! Call off the festival now!

“Putting the air purification problem aside, surely you didn’t set up an incantation for this as well...?” I asked, a chill of dread running through me.

Right on cue, Laviange giggled and shoved her hand back into the gap of her robe, retrieving yet another stack of wrinkled seals from another pocket. “You noticed! Indeed, I did! It’s ‘May you find eternal rest!’” she said, activating it and proving my worst fears correct. “Go ahead, try it for yourself!”

Just how many pockets did her skirt have?! And how was she still walking up and down stairs so easily?! That skirt must have been impeccably designed!

“May you find eternal rest!”

Oh, for... The lovestruck idiot didn’t even hesitate! No, wait! I could see a bit of red creeping into his ears.

“M-May you...”

“Louder, brother.”

“Ghh... May you find eternal rest!” A faint tremble passed through the seal as it activated in my hand.

I caught some movement in the corner of my eye. Why was Regulus trembling again?! We’re in the same boat, you idiot!

My magical energy coursed through the seal’s crude circuit, just as the blood flooded my cheeks.

I refocused on the seal. I realized that the sacred beast feathers must have been acting as a bridge, stabilizing the shoddy circuit. But, wait...the purifying energy was being drawn inward, sealing what it purified within! This would be highly effective against people or objects tainted by cursed magic. Even without a barrier, simply carrying one of these would likely protect the holder from magical curses. What kind of miracle-grade seal was this?!

And since my sister had made it with herself in mind, the energy drain was almost negligible.

I glanced at Regulus. He met my eyes. We exchanged a silent nod and simultaneously dropped our barriers.

The black wind and the stench no longer had any effect on us.

“Now then, onward!” Laviange declared, slipping past the prince and through the door.

Damn it! I’d been too focused on the seal! I’d forgotten to keep my eye on her!

I rushed after her—only to halt at the threshold, struck by the scene before me. It was a scene straight out of hell.

“Welcome, brother,” said a distorted voice.

I turned toward the speaker.

It was Sienna’s head.

Her body was entangled in a mass of dark red tentacles that protruded from a grotesque, round mass of flesh, nearly the height of a grown man. Black wind swirled out from it, carrying with it a stench that clawed at the back of the throat.

She chuckled. “The egg’s finally hatched.”

“Sienna...?” I gasped in horror. “Is that really you?”

“Yes...brother. I am...Sienna...Robur. Your...true...little sister.” Her voice, twisted with delight, shifted with each word. Each word a little younger. A little more childlike.

“What do you mean by egg?”

“A sacred beast egg... My magic...wasn’t enough. Gathered magic...for egg... My best friend...chose Heinz...as vessel. But still...no good. Magic...all gone.”

Her halting words tumbled out in fragments, forcing me to piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle. A sacred beast’s egg? She didn’t have enough magic of her own, so she gathered it.

And “best friend”? Had Sienna ever had someone she could genuinely call that? And then Heinz was chosen as...?

No...it couldn’t be.

If that were the case, then were this head and that deviant not, in fact, manifestations of magical energy after all? Surely they weren’t actually living spirits...

Then, what Sienna was saying was that something had gathered the magical energy taken from the collapsed students, stored it somewhere in Heinz, and made him into a vessel for the egg?

And now that magic was gone. Was that because Laviange and Regulus had battered him with their harisen and I’d come in and finished him off?

Then, perhaps the black corruption that had transformed Heinz’s body had come from him merging with the egg as its vessel...? I suppose that would explain the stench...

“That’s why...the egg...rotten,” Sienna continued stiltedly. “But I offer...myself. Me and egg...become one. Contract with...sacred beast. The prince...will love me. The kingdom...will love me. I’ll become...queen.”

There was no way the Sienna before me had made a contract with a sacred beast. She was no more than a vessel now. Had we not carried those seals which purified the corrupted air around us, we might have fallen victim to whatever curse this was, and ended up just like her.

But...I couldn’t stop myself from wondering why this had happened.

Was it because she’d mistaken the hollow affections of the second prince for love? Because she clung to some fantasy of becoming queen consort? Yet the second prince had never truly loved her. Nor, I suspected, had she ever truly loved him.

And he most certainly didn’t have what it took to become king. He had been swept along by others’ expectations, perhaps, but I doubted he ever even truly desired the throne.

And Sienna didn’t have what it took to be queen consort. I understood that now. And even when I hadn’t, there had been others who had—who’d seen her for who she really was.

No sooner had I finished putting my thoughts in order than the mass of red-black tendrils began to part, sliding away from her upper body, returning to the bottom half of the fleshy mass.

What emerged was a translucent torso, covered in black, blooming spider lilies. The round mass of flesh behind her now writhed with tentacles.

“Sienna!” I shouted reflexively.

Flames surged to my hand and I tried to burn away the tendrils still covering her lower body. The tendrils ignited, but it appeared to have no effect.

“Aha ha... It’s...useless,” Sienna laughed. “You can’t touch...a sacred beast. Should I...punish you? No...you’re my...brother. I...forgive you.”

As she laughed, the tentacles pulled away from her lower half and returned to the mass of flesh, covering its upper half.

“Damn it!”

“Calm yourself, Mihail,” Regulus snapped. “Don’t lash out carelessly. That thing is no longer merely cursed...it is the curse. If you’re going to strike, use holy magic. Or better yet, use the harisen and seals. They’ll minimize collateral damage.”

“Is there no other—”

“No,” said Regulus, cutting me off. “These brightly colored and unique magical tools are our best weapons.”

Damn it! In the end, we had to resort to these crude magical implements? This was idiotic! The whole situation was cursed! And don’t think I haven’t noticed, Regulus! You still think that the tools are shoddy and garish!

I heard a quiet chuckle. “I knew you’d come to see it my way!”

I turned to see the creator of this absurdity beaming with pride.

Don’t act like this was your plan all along! You made these for comedy routines and making your kitchen smell better!

As soon as Sienna had climbed atop the fleshy mass, the writhing tendrils withdrew into it, and the black wind began to swirl, only to be absorbed into it. As the wind was absorbed, the mass began to swell and cracks began to appear on its surface. Gradually, it began to take the shape of a creature with pointed ears, an elongated snout, and a stubby, triangular tail. Sienna was now perched on what appeared to be its back. She bent forward, as if to cradle the black flower blooming from her chest, and closed her eyes as if in slumber.

I couldn’t predict what she was going to do next.

“Lady Robur, do you have a plan?” Regulus asked.

I assumed he knew as well as I did that if left to her own devices, she’d likely wander off into someone’s room again. A degenerate’s behavior, after all, was far easier to predict.

“Of course! You two will keep it distracted, and I’ll circle around and strike its legs from behind with seals and harisen. Then, before it turns around, I’ll flee,” she said cheerfully.

“Then you two will distract it again, and I’ll slip behind and strike a different leg. And we just keep repeating the process!”

What had happened to taking it head-on?! It appeared she’d never had any intention of doing anything other than using the prince and me as bait and striking it from behind. I truly had to hand it to her deeply ingrained sense for avoiding things and her self-awareness that she was the weakest of our group.

“Fortunately, there’s also a stairwell on the far side that leads up from the ground level,” she added, pointing. Sure enough, behind the fleshy mass, there was indeed a metal staircase leading up the outer wall.

The mass had now begun to resemble a grotesque rodent, and was developing what appeared to be a heavy shell on its back, like a tortoise’s. Its head and limbs were likewise encased in shell. It looked like a rat clad in armor. Sienna remained motionless atop its shell. Each time it absorbed another wave of black wind, the rat thing’s form darkened, gaining an unnatural, glossy sheen.

As the transformation progressed, I caught the flicker of my sister’s curiosity and promptly shut it down. “You’re not planning to use this opportunity to snoop around the boys’ dorms, are you? Male dorms are filthy, you know. Swear to me you won’t go sullying yourself by going in there.”

“My, how eloquently put, brother... For such a splendid turn of phrase, I’ll grant you my word.”

That might have been the first time she’d ever looked at me with something resembling respect. Her eyes sparkled, but not with expectation. This time it looked like something bordering admiration. Ever since I’d realized I’d lost her trust, I’d quietly hoped that one day she might look at me like this again...but this wasn’t how I’d expected to receive it. Not for a pun. I couldn’t help but feel it ruined the moment.

And it seemed she had genuinely been planning to sneak off before I intervened. Thank goodness I’d said something.

“GYUAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

While I was shuddering at the thought of my sister’s unseemly behavior, the blackened mass before us let out a roar, its crimson eyes snapping open as it threw its head back and howled. The sound was earsplitting, and somehow reminded me of an infant crying.

On its back, Sienna stirred. She’d been dyed black too, now, and she moved slowly, unfolding her body like a flower blooming. She sat upright and her eyelids snapped open, revealing eyes as black as pitch.

“Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa!”

Her discordant laughter echoed between the creature’s howls. There was something very wrong about it. It felt like it echoed within my head. Both Regulus and I instinctively clutched our ears, and readied ourselves.

“Well then, do your best! I’ll be cheering you on!” Laviange said cheerfully. With that she dashed forward, unfazed by the roars and manic laughter. She rushed the black rat and slapped the seal she held on to its short, dark foreleg.

“GYAAAAAAAHHHH!” The scream came instantly, and this time, it wasn’t just from the monster.

Sienna screamed with it.

“Begone, foul spirit!”

THWACK!

In a blur, my sister delivered a swift harisen strike.

“GYAAAAAAAHHHH!” Another twin shriek echoed across the rooftop. The creature’s massive frame reeled as black wind burst from it and bled away into the air.

But Laviange didn’t stop to admire her work. She spun on her heel and bolted, fully committed to escape. She slipped past us and vanished through the door we’d come through without so much as a backward glance.

It all happened in mere seconds. I’d never realized how fast she could run. As she passed, a flicker of pink-blonde hair brushed my shoulder, and I caught a glimpse of hidden earplugs tucked just beneath it. When had she put those in?!

I was still internally reeling from my sister’s sudden assault and retreat when the now-doubled-in-size rat beast lunged toward us.

“It’s coming!” Regulus shouted. “Keep one seal out for defense and have another ready in hand!”

“Already on it!” I said, drawing a second seal as I caught the creature charging toward us in my peripheral vision. We jumped in opposite directions to avoid it.

“Oh, big brooother! This is your punishment!” Apparently she was targeting me. The massive rat opened its jaws wide, revealing its razor sharp teeth, and lunged after me.

But I wasn’t even the one who hit her...

“Waaait! Big brother!”

As its thundering footsteps followed me across the rooftop, I couldn’t help noting how absurd the massive black rat looked lumbering after me at full speed. I reinforced my body and kept running, drawing it toward my destination. It swiped one of its clawed forelegs at me. I smacked it away with my harisen.

“Begone, foul spirit! Regulus!”

“May you find eternal rest!”

In sync, Regulus and I activated a seal. I slapped mine on one of its forelimbs while, on the other side, Regulus slapped his onto one of its hind limbs.

That was three limbs down.

Then, from near the staircase, Laviange appeared behind the black rat.

“Begone, foul spirit! And then—” She struck the beast’s remaining unsealed leg with her harisen, then, using the momentum, swung around and slapped a seal on it with her other hand. “May you find eternal rest!”

Not a single wasted movement.

“GYAAAAAAAHHHH!” The beast jolted back, roaring in pain. Sienna let out a shriek too as the movement jostled her. Apparently the impact hit harder than it looked.

I recalled Laviange calling it a Harisen Blade earlier, and that I had questioned it. Now, though, I could see thin cracks running through the leg she’d just struck...but surely that was a fluke. The slapdash tools she’d thrown together seemed to utilize the sacred beast feathers to their full potential, and were optimized for use against curses. Black smoke and translucent magical energy leaked upward from the cracked limb—like steam. With Sienna still enshrined upon its back, the creature turned its blackened face, twisted in pain, to look at Laviange.

But it was too late. Laviange had long since vanished, and with such speed that no one had noticed until after the fact. Truly remarkable.

I found myself reminiscing about how I’d once chased her through the estate’s halls in a desperate effort to instill some basic decorum in her. Now that I looked back on it, if someone put all of their efforts into fleeing, and broke out into a full dash every time they saw you... Well, of course I was never going to catch her.

Wait, why was I having a psychological breakthrough in the middle of a battle?

“GYAAAH!”

“Aaaaagh!”

For the first time since my sister’s initial harisen strike, Sienna displayed genuine frustration. The black rat and its rider both threw back their heads and howled at the sky. The black smoke that surrounded them coalesced, healing its wounds. The rat turned to face me, both its beady red eyes and the void-like pupils of the girl on its back locking with mine.

“Big brother...won’t forgive you anymore,” she said with a clarity that had been missing until now.

And once again... It! Wasn’t! Me!

Sienna clutched at the black spider lily growing from her body. The black wind seemed to thin as the surrounding darkness was drawn into her, and the rat’s carapace returned to its earlier red-black hue as black flower buds began to sprout across its arms and back.

Sienna unfolded herself slowly, like she had when she first opened her eyes, but this time she flung her arms wide. The blossoms burst open and black pollen scattered across the rooftop like a mist.

“Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Her discordant laughter echoed in my skull once more. This time it was louder and felt like a hammerblow behind my eyes. My vision reeled.

“Ghh— Damn it...” The harisen slipped from my hand as I dropped to one knee. Still, I forced myself to look up. The rat’s shell was now completely overgrown with black spider lilies, each one in full, grotesque bloom. The black mist had thickened, darker than ever.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Regulus. He, too, had dropped to one knee.

The seals were no longer enough. Their effect had been overwhelmed.

Suddenly, voices, male and female, erupted around me.

“That guy pisses me off!”

“What’s with that girl... All she has is a pretty face!”

“Just because her house has a slightly higher rank, she thinks she’s better than us!”

“I won’t forgive him for being prettier than my fiancé!”

Every syllable dripped with jealousy and venom.

“Sh-Shut up! I-It’s hallucinations, that’s all!” I shouted.

I had to say it aloud for my own sanity. It felt like the words were physically carving themselves into my mind, and my heart was pounding horribly.

“I won’t forgive you!”

“Why can’t it be me?!”

“How dare you!”

“I hate you!”

Before I knew it, those voices had begun to bleed into my emotions. I just barely managed to cast a mental enchantment on myself, pushed down the feelings, and stood to my feet. I looked up—and froze.

Sienna’s grinning face was mere centimeters away from mine. A thicket of black vines made of the twisting stalks and dark leaves had coalesced from the black spider lilies branching out from the black rat’s body, and from it Sienna was suspended, almost like she herself was blooming from it.

She held black spider lilies in both hands, pressing them to my chest. There was no pain this time, unlike when she had touched me before.

“I don’t want to die.”

“I want to live.”

Those two sentences, spoken in the voice of a small child, echoed again and again inside my head. I felt a primal terror of death, a desperate hunger to live.

My consciousness began to slip.

My legs gave out, and I collapsed to both knees with a dull thud.

※※※※

I felt something warm against my back, and my consciousness began to rise to the surface.

In the pitch dark, I heard a steady hiss—rain, perhaps? My whole body was soaked, and every joint throbbed with a dull ache. Something felt wrong, as though I were wearing a stranger’s skin. Blinking against the wet, I opened my eyes and stared, dazed.

There was wreckage in front of me. Had this once been a carriage? One of the horses lay still in the distance, reins still attached.

But it wasn’t just that horse, I realized. A great many people lay strewn about. Men, women, and children were scattered about in broken heaps. I’d trained with the Royal Mage Corps long enough to recognize the signs of what had occurred. These were bodies that had fallen from a great height. And now we all lay soaking in the rain, me and the corpses alike.

But there was one thing I could not understand. Why was I looking down at this man from such a low eye level?

“Wh-Why...?” the man said in a trembling voice.

His hair, a soft pink blond, had been cut short and was matted with blood. I knew that color well, though I had never met him. But if memory served, I had seen his likeness in a handful of portraits. This was my uncle. He was cradling a lifeless woman with dark brown hair, shielding her with his broken body. A jagged piece of wood was lodged deep in his abdomen, blood soaking through his clothes. I thought, instinctively, that I must quickly heal him, but this small body I now inhabited refused to move.

His dark blue eyes stared at me in disbelief.

Confused by it all, I still found myself staring into his eyes—eyes just like Laviange’s and grandmother’s, just as grandmother had said—and found the reflection of Sienna, as she’d looked when I’d first met her.

Sienna’s face was twisted in fear.

“I-It’s all your fault, dad!” Sienna yelled through her tears. “I-I was supposed to be a daughter of a Great House!”

“I see... I was happy, you know... Sienna. I’m sorry. You must have always...resented me...” His eyes began to close. His face, so much like his mother’s and my sister’s, was steeped in sorrow.

Sienna began to cry. “Hic... Why did this happen...? D-Dad... M-Mom—” She rubbed her face with her small, trembling hands, her breath hitching between sobs.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Sienna,” came another girl’s calm voice, and arms wrapped around Sienna in a gentle embrace. She knelt to gather Sienna close. Her entire form was hidden beneath a robe. The only clues I had to her identity were her height and the softness of her voice, but I guessed that this girl was about the same age as my sisters were now.

“If your father hadn’t run off and eloped, if he’d just stayed with your mother in House Robur, then his sweet little daughter wouldn’t have had to go through any of this,” the girl said as she reached over and slipped something into my uncle’s breast pocket. “But no, he didn’t want to become the next duke, so he ran. He was an irresponsible man. And your mother encouraged him. It’s not your fault you were born to such people, poor thing. So, no, you’ve done nothing wrong. You’re only going back to where you were meant to be.”

What was it that she’d put into his pocket? A cufflink, perhaps? Ah... That must have been the cufflink they later claimed was recovered from his body. It bore the crest of House Robur.

“But...” Sienna began to protest.

“Shh...everything’s going to be okay,” the girl said. “Sharona, your grandmother, has always had a soft spot for family. And your grandfather has always given into what she wants out of a sense of duty—she protected his former fiancée until the very end. I promise everything will work out.”

The girl pulled Sienna into another tight embrace. “We’ll always be best friends, Sienna. But now, you must sleep. You’re wounded, and we wouldn’t want anyone to get suspicious.”

With that, a slender finger tapped lightly against Sienna’s forehead, and the world went black once more.

“Do your best to become a proper lady, now. My sweet little—”

The voice cut off as Sienna lost consciousness.

※※※※

The scene before me shifted.

Bathed in the harsh glow of a stage spotlight, the Sienna of the present day straddled someone’s body, plunging a dagger into them again and again.

I rushed forward, only to freeze when I saw who lay beneath her.

“I’ll never forgive you,” Sienna screamed. “Even though you run away just like my father, you still get to keep your status! I gave up everything to become a noblewoman, yet you just smile and look exactly like him! And just when I’d taken what was rightfully mine, you steal it again! I hate you! I hate you!” she howled as she plunged the blade into my real sister’s lifeless body, pouring every buried ounce of resentment into each strike.

Then, out of nowhere—and despite the horror unfolding in front of me—I felt warmth spreading across my body. It came from somewhere around my left thigh, and it brought with it an odd sense of calm.

Now that my panic was gone, I realized that I was trapped inside the curse. What I had seen before was Sienna’s past—and now, her deepest desire.

So this was how much she resented Laviange...

“I’m sorry, Sienna. But as the next head of House Robur, I have no choice but to cast you out,” I murmured to myself.

Then, as if awakening from a dream, I felt my consciousness begin to return. As awareness rose to the surface of my mind, I thought I heard that small, childlike voice echoing somewhere around me once again...

I don’t want to die.

I want to live.

※※※※

Heat flared against my back and my left thigh. I jolted upright, eyes snapping open.

“Aha ha ha, aha ha, aha ha ha ha ha!”

“GYAAAH! GYAAAH!”

The warped, grating sounds of laughter and screeching clawed their way into my skull. I sprang up instinctively, disoriented for a moment as I tried to grasp what I was seeing.

Black spider lilies stretched as far as I could see. I was now perched on the back of the massive black rat, its fur blooming with the twisted flowers. And just in front of me was Sienna—the very girl I had resolved to cast out of House Robur.

Her lower body was still buried in the petals, and with her back turned, I couldn’t see her face. But I could hear her laughing. Dark pollen scattered in bursts into the air around her.

No... Not pollen. These were clouds of curse particles, steeped in malice. Every time they touched me, it made my skin crawl.

And in front of Sienna was Regulus. He was on one knee, desperately fanning the harisen he held in one hand and holding a magical seal in the other. He was just barely clinging on.

The sheer absurdity of that shoddy magical gear was so at odds with the horror of the situation, the whole thing almost felt farcical. As the brother of the one who created them, I could hardly bear to watch. But I had more pressing concerns—like the steadily rising heat in my left trouser pocket. What had I put in there? I reached in and pulled out a wad of hastily made seals. I then reached behind myself, where the heat along my back burned hotter still. My fingers brushed paper, and I tore it free—another seal, faintly glowing with traces of my sister’s magic. The only time she could have placed that there was when she brushed by me after landing the first strike on the black rat. If she’d been able to do that at the same time she put those earplugs into her ears, calling her dexterous would be an understatement.

Looking closer, I saw the magic circuit on my back was the only one laid out with any precision. Its purpose wasn’t to seal the purifying power inward— No, it couldn’t be—?!

In a flash, I understood everything—what the circuit did, why the other charms were heating up—and immediately hurled the entire bundle away.

Reinforcing my body with magic, I vaulted over Sienna, snatched Regulus up over my shoulder, and ran.

“Mihail?!”

I couldn’t blame Regulus for his confusion, but there was no time to explain.

“D’you think I’d let you go?”

Sienna’s upper body lunged after us, writhing through the field of black petals. But I didn’t dare look back. Not now.

“The seals! Throw all your seals at her—now!” I yelled. I didn’t have the time to dig through his pockets myself. I leaped off the back of the black rat. Fortunately, Regulus seemed to sense the urgency of the moment. He threw them immediately.

Relief flooded through me...

Rustle.

...only to vanish the very next instant.

Why did I feel old newspaper on Regulus’s back?! You’ve got to be kidding me!

“Laviaaannnge!” I cried in frustration as I yanked the seal off Regulus’s back. I let go of him midair, flung the seal straight at the pursuing Sienna, and braced for landing.

The moment that seal left my hand, the one on the rat’s shell burst into flames. And then, in rapid succession, every seal touching Sienna and the surrounding vines ignited in brilliant red fire.

“GYAAAAAAAH!”

Sienna and the black rat were instantly engulfed in flames. The black mist and pollen-like malice burned away with a hiss, crumbling into ash as the blaze consumed them. Wreathed in searing flames like some hellish beast, the curse-turned-fire-rat thrashed, screeched—and then, to my horror, charged right back at us.

I couldn’t react in time. The explosion’s shock wave had thrown me off course. I hit the ground hard, pain shooting through my side, and my body refused to react. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Regulus tumble across the ground. He’d managed to dampen the impact by rolling with the fall, but the lingering effects of the curse had left him sluggish, unable to move just yet.

The flaming rat bore down on me, closing fast. I braced for collision—

“Multi-Harisen effect, activate! Begone, foul spirit!”

WHACK!

A deafening smacking sound split the air.

Laviange had charged in from behind the creature—she must have reinforced her body with the last of her magic. She leaped high into the air and brought her harisen down in a full-force swing straight into the flaming rat’s face.

With a dull, meaty thud, the creature was launched backward. The flames extinguished midair, and it tumbled to the ground, now just a black soot-covered rat.

Multi-Harisen effect? Oh, she seemed to have taken the bundled harisen from her waistband, gripped them in both hands, and then... But what would that even accomplish?!

Regulus looked just as dumbfounded. But Laviange paid us no mind. She sprinted toward the fallen rat, where Sienna still bloomed from its side, burning.

“Begone, foul spirit!”

“GYAA!”

First, she brought her fan down hard, taking aim at the point where Sienna’s upper body connected with the writhing tentacles and smacking through it cleanly with a tremendous whack. Then, with theatrical flair, she tore off her robe and hurled it—at Regulus?! She replaced the multiple harisen back in her waistband and... Hold on, was she seriously using the first prince as some kind of personal attendant?!

Regulus, lovestruck fool that he was, looked like he’d fallen for her all over again... And, wait, did he just fold the robe and run over to place it safely by the entrance?! How kind of him!

“Begone, foul spirit! Begone, foul spirit! Begone, foul spirit!” My sister chanted the phrase like a battle cry as she laid into Sienna with the last remaining fan. Each blow snuffed out a little more of the fire, and before long, the flames were entirely extinguished.

“It hurts! Ow— Wait! It hurts!” Sienna cried.

“Oho ho ho ho! I most certainly won’t wait! I’ll have you squealing in no time!”

“GYAAAHHHH!”

The fan snapped through the air with one crisp smack after another. Laviange looked positively delighted, as if she were venting every frustration against Sienna she’d ever bottled up.

The scorched black rat behind her was still howling on the ground, but she didn’t spare it a single glance. I had to commend her focus. Just in case things got out of hand, though, both the lovestruck idiot and I quietly moved to positions where we could pry her off if necessary.

But her face said it all. There was no trace of her usual elegant smile—instead she wore the wild, gleeful grin of a mischievous brat. She’d quit saying the incantation a while ago. At this point, she was just hitting Sienna for her own enjoyment.

You only needed to say the incantation once to activate the magical seals and keep them going, but the harisen needed to be activated each time. Still, it made satisfying enough noises as she swung it—though she was clearly using it less as a magical tool and more as a comedy prop at this point. I had the sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t being done to conserve her magical energy, but instead as a part of the “festival” she mentioned earlier.

Sienna, on the other hand, was still in shadow, but the inky blackness had begun to fade. Her once pitch-black eyes had now turned a deep red. She looked less like the other translucent “spirits” we’d seen and more like a frightened child.

Looking even closer, I observed that she didn’t actually look much like a clump of magical energy anymore... Was this what a curse looked like? Charred black flowers clung to her like ash, and the rest of her had been slapped into a tattered mess. She didn’t seem to realize the fan was no longer striking her directly and instead just slapping the ground.

Honestly, Sienna, stop cowering and notice what’s happening around you already. You’re embarrassing yourself.

“This girl has been such an absolute menace! What a naughty child! If she had a backside, I’d be giving it a proper spanking! Now bring out your bottom! Come on! Come on!”

No, dear sister, you sliced clean through that vine... I don’t think the bottom’s going to come out.

But, at long last, Sienna had begun to apologize.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!!!”

“GYAAAAAAAH!”

Laviange continued to ignore the rat shrieking behind her. “Now listen up! Not wanting to die and wanting to live—those are perfectly reasonable desires! I take no issue with that!” she lectured. “However! Draining others’ magic, causing mass panic because you were worried about hatching, and then hatching in an incomplete form, shortening your own lifespan in the process—that I find unacceptable!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“GYAAAAAH!”

Hm? What was she saying? I couldn’t hear clearly over all the whacking. But the screaming seemed to be calming down a little...

“And on top of all that, you let that half-baked, bargain-bin, cruel wannabe heroine steal your body, then tucked your soul away into some hollowed-out trash can of her cheap, diluted magic?” Laviange went on. “Honestly, you’d have been better off dying quietly from the start! As it stands, you’ll be dead soon anyway!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Gyah...gyah...” All the black rat could muster now was a short...groan? If you listened closely, even the curse seemed to sound off now, its voice shifting just like Sienna’s had earlier. Hold on, though... “Wannabe heroine”? “Trash can”? What was she talking about? I’d never heard her speak like this in my life... “That cruel girl—the one rotting your stolen body from the inside, clinging to it through searing pain, too driven by her selfish little desires and pride to let go—even she has more spine than you ever did!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

The black rat was trembling silently. Still alive, then. Wait a moment...didn’t Laviange just say something dreadfully important right now?

“You ran from the very body you say you want to live, yet with her taking over, all you ended up creating was a perfect festering mass of cursed spell sludge, wasn’t it?! Are you seriously trying to finish yourself off now? If you’re still alive, then act like it and reflect on your actions!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sor— Uuuuhh waaahhh!”

“GYA HA HA HA HA—HA HA HA HA!”

One of them had burst into tears, the other into warped laughter that drilled into my head. What had Laviange’s harisen done to them?!

“I’m a sacred beast! A sacred beast, I say! I’m greater than the king! Aha ha ha ha!”

Sienna?! What happened to wanting to become a queen consort?!

4: (Crisis in Full Swing) It All Began with a Rotten Armadillo

“Laviange, what was that just now...?” Mihail asked, staring at me in shock.

The prince, on the other hand, was silent. His expression remained blank as he stared at me...yet, did I detect a glint of ecstasy in his eyes?

“You only said what you saw,” Lia said, still perched invisibly upon my head. “What are they getting so worked up about?” I frowned along with her. I hadn’t the faintest clue either.

“Aha ha ha ha ha! Oh, dear sister...are you jealous? Because...I’m even more deserving...now? I’ve become...a sacred beast! Aha ha ha ha ha!”

“Hmph. Sacred beast, my tail. You’re just an accursed little girl.” Indeed, Sienna was hardly a sacred beast. I couldn’t blame Lia and the others for being indignant at her grouping herself in with them. I rather wished she would quit it.

“Lady Robur, is that not your younger sister?” the prince asked, pointing at Sienna’s form in front of me.

“Her magic, yes.”

“And now the prince is spouting nonsense. Lovely,” Lia huffed.

“And...what’s the rest of it?”

“A rotten armadillo, is it not?” I answered, perplexed at why he was confused.

“Waaaah! I— I’ve rotted?!” The creature nestled inside the blob of magic in Sienna’s form began to wail in earnest.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now. Still, I gave it a small pat to comfort it—well, I couldn’t actually touch it, of course, with it being a lump of raw magical energy, but I pantomimed the motion anyway. It’d only just hatched, poor thing. More punishment would’ve been cruel. When I noticed the switch, I’d made sure to slap the ground next to it with my harisen without activating the incantation.

“An...arma-what? Laviange, what was the black rat?” Mihail asked.

“An armadillo, as I said. It’s sort of like a rat, but with a hardened carapace protecting certain parts of its body, such as its back. They’re not native to our kingdom, so it must have found its way here from elsewhere,” I mused. “Even abroad, they’re terribly rare. I would daresay they are borderline endangered. I once caught a glimpse of one in an old bestiary, likely brought over from some distant kingdom ages ago.”

It wasn’t surprising that my brother didn’t know what an armadillo was. They were common enough in the other world, but as far as I could recall, this kingdom had none. In my days as a princess, I’d only ever seen a single drawing of one. In the other world, they were mammals, but I hadn’t the foggiest how they fit into this world’s ecosystem.

“Whether it was born from an egg, or if that rounded shell was actually bone, I couldn’t say, as I didn’t see its original form,” I continued. “It does have magical energy, so I suppose it counts as a magical beast. But what you see before you now is a fully formed curse.”

“Is it...Sienna, then?” Mihail asked cautiously. “There’s still a faint trace of armadillo in there, mind you.”

“Waaaah! My bodyyy!”

Armadillo, dear? Were you not the one who tried to escape your body? Why cry about it now? Surely you don’t want to return to it in the state it’s in now, do you?

It was technically still attached to its body, even if just barely. If I’d waited even a moment longer to sever that vine, it would have already been too late. What happened now depended entirely on its own choices.

“Is it...really a sacred beast?” Mihail asked.

“Absolutely not,” I said at once.

“But Sienna said she had the egg of a sacred beast—”

“Sacred beasts are born from magical beasts, you know.”

“What is your brother blabbering about? Has he gone soft in the head?” Lia asked. I could only shrug my shoulders.

“You understand how a magical beast becomes a sacred beast, then?” the prince asked.

“Why wouldn’t I? Even children know the oral tradition passed down from the royal family and the Four Houses, do they not?”

“But all those stories say is how they were saved by the sacred beasts...”

“Precisely. And surely the obvious conclusion that can be drawn from them is that once a friendly magical beast ascends and gains purer holy magic, it is then powerful enough to be called a sacred beast, yes? Then, if it has a destructive nature, it is classified as a disaster-class beast. Or, if it forms a pact and offers protection, it’s a holy beast. However, that thing,” I said, pointing at the fallen mass, “is but a rotting magical beast—and a curse.”

Technically speaking, for a magical beast to become a sacred beast, it needed a pact-bearer and the right conditions for ascension. But after Beljeanne’s death, who knew how much of the truth had survived? I saw no reason to explain everything in full.

Besides, the prince had never actually claimed ignorance. And from my past experiences with him, I knew he was the type who liked to test others.

Putting all that aside, the beast before us clearly possessed the potential to become a sacred beast—otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to cause this much trouble due to its desperation to live.

Perhaps it was because this world was steeped in magic, but simple strength of will could give one power.

“Then, have you seen another curse before?” the prince asked. “Can you tell the difference between regular magic and a curse?”

“After looking at that big lump of pure curse, who wouldn’t be able to tell the difference?” Lia asked in disbelief. She was quite right, of course. We both looked at him in confusion once again.

He looked back at me with some sort of expectation in his eyes. I truly couldn’t fathom the meaning behind it. I’d seen curses before, of course—both in my previous life and as a child in this one. And the prince himself had shown signs of recognizing what was happening when he saw Black Bodysuit...

But something had been nagging at my attention for some time now. When I’d come out onto the roof of the dorm earlier, I’d gone ahead and cast a ward of holy magic over the area to make sure that none of the curse escaped. I now turned my attention to the presence I felt on the other side of that ward. Father... I suppose he’d acted quickly this time—unusually quickly, for him. Perhaps he’d been drawn in by the presence of the curse, what with his obsession for all things magical.

“If you’re asking about the difference between curses and regular magic, surely it’s no different from the way detection spells distinguish between magical beasts and humans? Curses feel different. They’ve got that crawling sort of sensation, haven’t they? And they’re black,” I added, turning my attention back to the prince. “You two said yourselves that this was a curse, and anyone who sees it would know that just by looking. In some ways, I think curses aren’t that different from a magical tool. You take negative emotions, a soul, and a vast amount of magical energy, and pack it all into a vessel. The negative emotions manifest as a whispering black wind, or something like a fine mist. Though I do not know if the vessel must be living, or if any object would do.”

“Why do you say it involved a soul?” Mihail asked. Even he was looking puzzled now. Goodness.

“I did say it was a living spirit from the very beginning, didn’t I?”

He frowned. “You did, yes.”

Then why was he still looking at me in confusion?

“Why did you think it was a living spirit?” asked the prince.

I took a deep breath and puffed out my chest. “Because there were half-transparent people tottering about everywhere! This is a classic school haunting! And they had faces, so clearly they were living spirits!”

“I see.”

That appeared to convince him. I nodded.

“But how did you know that Sienna’s soul and the arma...arda...the soul of the armored rat got swapped out?” Mihail insisted. He’d landed on the simplest possible name.

“The armadillo,” I corrected him gently. “The colors of their eyes were different, you see. Hers were black, and this one’s were red. Besides, if I were to strike Sienna, she’d have just doubled down on her tragic heroine routine—she’d either sneer at me or glare. She would certainly never apologize, and she wouldn’t look genuinely terrified.”

“And that was your basis for judgment...?” Mihail asked. He looked positively mortified. I wondered why.

As a matter of fact, the Sienna inside the curse was currently cackling at me and giving me quite the sneer, even though the condition of her legs left her unable to move.

“Also, when I sliced through the vine with my harisen, something shifted. It felt almost like it was recoiling,” I added.

“I see,” he said with a solemn nod.

“That’s an awfully convenient explanation to accept without question.”

Now, now, Lia, there’s no need for that. He doesn’t know much about curses, unlike the prince. Let’s be kind.

I hadn’t lied when I said that curses were similar to magical tools. I just hadn’t told the entire truth either. The only thing that could truly become the vessel for a curse was a soul steeped in malice. You needed to feed that soul magical energy, seal it into a vessel, then steep it further in negative emotions. Once the soul was thoroughly saturated in resentment and the magic within transformed into something more suited to a certain being’s taste, that was when the vessel’s eyes would turn black and the curse was complete.

Of course, the stench was also a helpful indicator. It hadn’t just been the rotting armadillo that smelled. For some reason, corrupted magic always reeked. Even that little black marimo had smelled rotten, though its eyes hadn’t fully turned black yet.

“I don’t want to die,” the thing before us sniffled. “I’m scared... I want to live, I want to live...”

“Honestly, what a nuisance,” Lia sighed.

Truly. And yet, I could not bring myself to hate it.

My brother and the prince just stood silently watching, their eyes filled with pity. This child, who simply wished to live and not die, could have never become a curse on its own. Curses didn’t spring from something as pure and simple as the will to survive.

Even as it fled the pain of its rotting body, this being had never once given in to envy or hatred. It had the innocence of a newborn. Perhaps that was why it had the makings of a sacred beast. The more magically potent the creature, the better it would serve as a vessel. I guessed that was why the curse needed to consume the magical energy and bitterness of so many students. Corrupting the soul of a vessel this powerful would require vast amounts of magic and malice, wouldn’t it?

Of course, the fact that this child would have been absorbing magic to begin with was largely due to its own will. When a magical beast hatched, it naturally consumed magic. And so, from the very moment an egg entered this world, it absorbed magic and stored it within its shell. This began when the parents shared their magic to keep their egg warm.

A magical beast with high magical capacity needed a vast energy reserve to hatch. So perhaps this little one, lacking any parent, had simply acted on instinct and tried to gather what it needed?

But there was one question that perplexed me even more: Were armadillos even egg-laying creatures? From the very beginning, I’d heard reports of an egg, but was that an egg in the way the word was usually understood? I was completely baffled by the creature’s biology.

Still, one thing I did know was that whoever had placed the marks on the students must have been connected to the egg and able to supply it with magic. Therefore, the most likely candidate was Sienna. I had seen her attempt to mark Mihail earlier, after all.

In that case, though, who was the one who’d set it up so that energy could be absorbed through the marks in the first place? That strange presence lingering in the Asche boy’s room, and the incident where the teleportation circles were interfered with before the joint exercise... It all smelled fishy.

Perhaps it was a demon, just as I’d been suspecting? To begin with, curses involving souls were a demon’s specialty. Without a demon’s involvement, it would’ve been impossible for the curse to transform the students’ magical energy into malice.

Yet, the question remained... Who would have summoned it? Or...could it be the one from...?

No, it couldn’t be. I took them down with me when I died...

“Lavi, what are you thinking about?”

“Oh, my apologies. I seem to have gotten lost in thought, thinking about this child’s emotions.”

“I see... Was Bel like this too, when...it happened?”

“Uh... Oh, hmm... I-I wonder. Dying certainly was...”

I’d certainly been frightened, yes. But I couldn’t say I’d truly wanted to live.

I let that thought go before it could be transmitted telepathically. If they knew, I’m sure the sacred beasts would have been heartbroken.

“Yes... I suppose that’s why I pity it, yet find it endearing.”

“Endearing?”

“Yes. To cling to life to the point where you end up like this... No, I suppose I should say to cling to life despite ending up like this...it’s truly tragic. And yet, seeing it express such a pure desire to live so innocently, I can’t help finding that endearing.”

That was the one thing that set this child apart from the me of the past. If I had clung to life as it did...could I have found another way?

If I had acted quicker... No, there was no point in wondering. The past could not be changed. And in the end, I’d made the best choice.

I was who I was now, in this life, because of the life that came after that.

Ah... I missed my husband terribly. How I wished I could just sit and talk with him about nothing on the veranda one more time, sipping the tea he always loved...

“Lavi?”

I chuckled.

“Suddenly, I’m craving a hot cup of roasted green tea.”

“Is that so? Then someday, you’ll have to put on a pot while you read me Kimono Kisses: Sengoku Rendezvous.”

“Hm. I’m the one reading it in this scenario, am I? That rather ruins the mood, dear Lia.”

As my brief bout of nostalgia vanished like mist, I took the opportunity to meddle with the armadillo’s magical energy and draw it into my own oath mark. Its counterpart had been dragged into the curse along with Heinz’s magical energy. Now all that was left was for this child to realize that and use its own magical energy to find its way back to their real body.

“It’s time to focus. It’s coming!” Lia warned.

“Aha ha ha! Be cursed! Grovel before me! Aha ha ha!”

With Sienna’s mocking laughter, black spider lilies once again bloomed across the rooftop and a sudden haze of pollen of pure malice filled the air, plunging everything into darkness.

※※※※

“...forgive you.”

Crack!

“I won’t forgive a filthy little brat like you—”

Crack!

“That you’re allowed to be called a princess is unforgivable enough, but for your eyes to have golden rings...”

Crack!

Ah... I remembered this all too well. It happened more than once.

Before me stood a striking crimson-haired woman in an unmistakably elegant dress. Her red-violet eyes gleamed with hatred. She cracked a whip as she spoke with a chilling calm.

Just behind her stood a boy with silvery hair tinged faintly with green and eyes the color of the sky. His features were well-formed and handsome, yet they were spoiled by the smug grin he wore.

Now, if the little girl who should’ve been cowering before them had actually been there... Well, the only way I could’ve described that scene would be downright grotesque.

Looking at the scene as it was now, though, just made me wonder... Given my current mother’s proclivities, was it possible that all people took a liking to whips as they aged...? Even facing this sight which had once caused me so much suffering, I remained surprisingly calm. I realized I truly had moved past this.

But, more importantly! Was this not the perfect reference material for a BDSM novel?! Unlike my mother’s favored short whip, this one was long and supple, and watching it again now... She was good. Her technique would put the cowboys from those old Westerns to shame.

At times, she’d crack it gently—whish!—just to make you flinch. Then, without missing a beat, she’d strike the exact same spot as before with surgical precision—crack!—as if peeling back the flesh itself. She really was incredible... I’d have to take detailed notes and put this to good use in my future writing!

I circled around the whip-wielding woman and the grinning boy. As I looked around, I realized that we were in front of a very familiar shed. I wondered what had become of it now? Back then, it had stood alone in the gardens of one of the palace’s detached residences. I hadn’t thought about it in ages.

Surely it must have been torn down by now, right?

I saw that the surroundings were just as they had been back then: mostly barren earth with the occasional stubborn weed poking through. And just beyond that stood a worn, stone building. That was where I had lived in my first life.

“Lavi.”

I was studying the motion of the woman raising her whip from beside her when someone called my name. I looked up just in time to see a fireball burst into existence, then swiftly transform into a vivid red bird I knew all too well.

“What in blazes is this disgusting scene?!” Settling onto my head, she aimed a mighty flap of her wings at the two figures.

Fwoooosh!

In an instant, twin pillars of fire shot up around them, incinerating them in the blink of an eye! But why?!

“Ahhh?! My beautiful BDSM scene!”

“What are you saying?! Have you completely lost it?! Don’t tell me the curse has corrupted you too?! I’ll peck some sense back into that skull of yours, right now!”

Oh no! A beak chop was incoming!

“W-Wait, Lia, it’s not what you think! I was just a little overexcited at getting to observe a live performance. That’s all. I only wished you’d waited a bit longer before you set it all on fire.”

“What are you saying?!”

“Well, you know... The young princess who should’ve been a part of this wasn’t actually here, right? That’s something that ended a long time ago. But since it hurt me back then, I figured I might as well get some value out of it now...you know, by studying it. It would’ve been a waste otherwise.”

There was a long pause. “That’s fine, I suppose,” Lia said at last.

It was most likely that this space, and the two people who inhabited it, had appeared because our earlier conversation had stirred up memories of my first death.

Lia gave another sweep of her wings, this time toward the shed and the old stone building. They weren’t a part of the BDSM scene, so I couldn’t care less... Although...I supposed it depended on how you looked at it, but didn’t it seem like we were the ones caught in the blaze right now?

“You know, it’s a little late to be lashing out at this place,” I said.

“I’m just angry at myself for turning a blind eye back then and pretending not to see anything... Hmph!”

I smiled. “You’re adorable, Lia.” I took her in my arms and cradled her, gently scratching under her beak, right where it met her chin. As expected, she let out a scratchy little purr. “If you’re feeling remorseful, then why not let me enjoy this fabulous body of yours? Come now, let me nuzzle those soft feathers and—sniff sniff—umm, ah! Ow ow ow!”

“Don’t get carried away!”

Apparently overcome with embarrassment, Lia launched herself from my arms with a dramatic flap and—bam bam bam!—delivered a triple peck to my forehead!

“Ggh...! What are you, a woodpecker?” I dropped into a crouch, rubbing my poor forehead with both hands. It only somewhat helped dull the pain. “How strange,” I muttered. “We’re in a dream influenced by the curse, yes, but I never let my control go, so I shouldn’t feel any pain... Hm?!”

I thought I saw something exceedingly strange... The old mother hen flying above me in the sky was laughing?!

“Never underestimate a pact-bearing sacred beast,” she said.

So she was the one who’d taken control of my dream.

※※Aside: Within the Nightmare: Regulus’s Dream (Regulus)※※

“It hurts... Somebody, please...”

My whole body ached.

I knew this pain.

“Somebody please help me... I’m scared...”

I knew this voice too.

“Please let it stop... It hurts...”

It was my own, from long ago. I had screamed for help endlessly, until at last I’d surrendered and begged for it all to end.

I opened my eyes, yet the world remained dark. Or had I gone blind again?

I remembered what had happened. The black pollen had surged toward us suddenly, and I’d pulled my beloved Lady Robur into my arms to protect her. I recalled, dimly, raising a barrier around us.

A cold sweat trickled down my back. Had I taken a curse into my body once more, just as I had in childhood?

My childhood curse had struck without warning. Thinking back, it could all be traced back to that remote Palace Retreat. I hadn’t even known it existed until that day—that day that I’d stumbled upon it and snuck inside.

It had lain hidden among overgrown trees, heavy with shadow. That was where Princess Beljeanne—branded by all since as a notorious villainess—had once lived with her mother, a royal consort.

In those days, I was subject to endless lessons on etiquette and strict instruction for my royal education. Life was a daily torment, and I blamed it all on her. It was only because of that villainess’s existence that such rigor was demanded of me, or so I had been told. I never questioned it, of course, even though I’d never so much as seen her. I cursed her name all the same.

In the beginning, mother, a royal consort, had praised me for my effort, and that approval was what kept me going. But that changed a few years after my half brother was born.

On that fateful day, she had said the same thing as all the others. “You are the firstborn, the son of the queen consort. This is your duty.”

That was when my patience had finally frayed to nothing. That day, I slipped out of my prince’s palace and snuck into the abandoned retreat.

From the outside, the palace had not seemed so forlorn, but within, it appeared it had not gone untended for merely the decades since the princess’s passing, but perhaps since even before that. Every corner of the palace was ruin and rot.

Though it was midday, the corridors were dim. But my curiosity drew me onward, until I found a garden—or something like one—choked with weeds. And there, standing all alone, was an old wooden shack.

Thinking of it now, it reminded me of the little house where my beloved resided.

Compared to the dilapidated palace around it, the shack had almost looked presentable. I reached for the door, but froze when I heard footsteps. I thought I would be scolded, so I darted around the back and peered out to watch.

Two figures appeared. I could hear them speaking, but soon the voices cut off—I guessed they had cast a soundproofing spell. But even from the little I heard, I recognized one of the voices. It was my chief lady-in-waiting. She would be the very first to die from my touch when I was under the curse. The other wore her hood low, her face and hair completely hidden. Likely a woman, but I gleaned nothing more than that.

When the lady-in-waiting left, I felt a wave of relief. I waited for the right moment, and stepped out from behind the hut...to find the hooded woman standing right before me. She must have known I was there, as she was standing right next to my hiding place, and had masked her own presence.

I remembered nothing after that. The next thing I knew, I was lying in my bedchamber. Every joint in my body creaked. Something crawled within me, as if gnawing through my insides. A shiver of dread slithered along my spine. My magic had been drained, and I could barely breathe as my lungs felt like they were being wrenched from within. I opened my mouth, but could not scream. The pain assaulted me relentlessly, leaving me frozen in terror.

The lady-in-waiting who had touched me died screaming. Several others had rushed to the scene when they heard her, but they fared no better, falling victim to the curse in turn.

Finally, Duke Robur, captain of the Royal Mage Corps, was summoned, and confirmed that I had fallen victim to a curse. He covered my body in a protective film of magic to keep the curse from leaping to anyone else. He successfully sealed it within me, at least enough that brief contact would no longer kill.

But that was all he could manage. He provided no cure, no relief. The hellish torment carried on, unbroken, for years.

When I was finally able to be touched, however briefly, I was sent away under the guise of convalescence, exiled to my mother’s family estate, well away from any other royals, lest the curse spread. My body blackened and sprouted hair, and before I knew it, I had gone blind. I lost any semblance of a human form and could do nothing but endure the terror, alone. At first, servants still came, though only now and then. They would douse me with cold water and scrub my body with a deck brush. It was at that time that I began, even with a child’s heart, to wish my life would end.

Eventually, the servants stopped coming altogether. No food was brought. In that stillness, a change crept into my heart.

Why must I suffer this?

Mother, father... No one comes. No one cares what becomes of me.

It’s infuriating. Why must I be the only one to endure this pain...? I hate them all.

The emotions that welled up in my chest were pitch-black. My heart grew savage, steeped in hatred for everything and everyone.

Yes. Hate. Why had I always suppressed that emotion?

I remembered the day that I returned to the castle after being cured of the curse. Everyone had come flocking back to me, as if nothing had happened. Even my own parents.

I should never have forgiven them!

I could feel my heart drowning in the black sludge of hatred. Was this the same emotion I’d felt in childhood? Or was it the result of this new curse? It didn’t matter. I hated them all. I wouldn’t rest until I had my revenge—

Whoomf!

Suddenly, everything turned to an all-consuming crimson flame. I froze in shock, but there was no heat. Only a strange, gentle warmth.

The fire slowly faded, and the world blurred into a soft, white haze. A tiny hand touched my body, and a voice—clearly that of a small child—spoke to me.

“Your eyes are white. You can’t see. Were they red once? I’ll fix them after.”

This was the voice and hand of a still toddling Laviange Robur.

Of course... How could I have forgotten the day I had first fallen in love?

She’d come to me that day, appearing out of nowhere, and given me the mysterious nickname of “black marimo.” And in the space of half a day, she would free me from my years of torment.

First she had buried herself in my fur. Then she had felt around until she found the eyelids covering my crushed eyes, and pried them open with those fearless, adorable little hands. Even though this was but a dream conjured by the curse, I could still feel her touch, and with it came a wave of warmth and fondness.

She leaned close and gave a little sniff, as if she was checking for something.

“You stink. I will clean you.” With that declaration, she cleaned my body with magic.

I was honestly taken aback. At the time, I could only guess her age from her height and voice, but a child that small shouldn’t have even been capable of grasping the concept of spellcraft. But she paid no attention to my hesitance. Instead, she stroked my black fur, braided it here and there, and even wove bits of weeds into the plaits as she pleased. Yet her touch was gentle, and the warmth of her hands brought tears to my eyes.

After reliving that experience, I offered no resistance as I felt myself waking up once more.

※※Aside: Within the Nightmare: Mihail’s Dream (Mihail)※※

When I opened my eyes, I was standing alone in a pitch‑black void.

When the black pollen had overtaken us, I’d seen Regulus take my sister into his arms without a second thought. I had then cast a barrier over both of them...or at least, so I had thought.

Had I been taken into the curse? Had the barrier had no effect?

Suddenly, the scene before me shifted. I was suddenly aware that my vantage was shorter than I was now used to as I heard myself shouting words I knew all too well.

“Mother, stop!”

A part of me was detached enough from the situation that I was able to analyze what was happening before me. Was this a dream of my past?

“Mihail, you are the future head of this house! Why do you shield that wretched failure?! Have you no shame?” mother yelled. “You are the sole heir to our family. How many times must I tell you she isn’t even good enough to be a spare?! She’s nothing but a parasite.”

For as long as I could remember, this had been the way of things. Mother would torment my sister, and any attempt to shield her from it would earn me this same tirade. Before, she had always struck my sister with her bare hands, but ever since my education as heir began, she had taken to using a whip instead. Perhaps she was emboldened now that my sister and I no longer spent as much time together.

Laviange, as always, had curled herself into a ball for protection. Her small back was riddled with fresh welts. I had taken to cutting my lessons short, or deliberately arranging my schedule so it didn’t quite match the one mother knew, so that I could come and see her.

I now stood between my sister’s unconscious body and my mother. How long had the whipping gone on this time...? She was always unconscious when I interrupted mother’s beatings. Perhaps her body entered this deep, almost sleeplike unconsciousness as her body’s last defense for a child too small to fight back.

I glared at the healer who stood behind mother. The man, who happily ignored these incidents in exchange for his pay, crept forward at last, sneaking glances at mother’s face before stooping to mend the wounds along that tiny back.

A man gifted in healing, yet content to overlook cruelty toward a child. He made me sick. And I, as her brother, was no less contemptible.

“Your actions will decide whether your sister lives or dies.”

A threat. This was mother’s way of telling me to keep silent about this, and if I didn’t... Damn it! Even knowing this was only an illusion, I couldn’t control my emotions. Was it an effect of the curse?

My sister, who never shed a tear, seemed unbearably pitiful. Yet I knew that if she ever had cried, it would only have pleased mother, who loathed everything about her, and would have invited even harsher blows.

In my heart, I begged her, Please, never cry.

Even when I had tried to provoke mother into turning on me instead, it had only made her beat my sister harder. I had given up on that plan quickly.

I’m sorry, Laviange. I was supposed to protect you, but I was too weak. I was afraid to go to anyone for help. I didn’t know what she would have done to you.

I knew that I needed to learn magic. I needed to grow stronger than mother. Clinging to that thought, I had spent my days training, until at last I had been allowed to study healing magic. I had thrown myself into it with everything I had.

I had even petitioned father directly to give Laviange proper instruction and have her assigned a tutor. Anything to lessen mother’s pretexts for cruelty, and to keep the two of them apart while I was away.

Yet in the end, Laviange had chosen to flee any attempts at instruction, and she was now a master of escape...

And then that day came—

As if in sync with my memories, the scene before me changed.

“Mother! You’re going to kill her!”

That morning, mother had gone out with my sister in high spirits. But that afternoon, I had been informed by my personal head butler that she had returned in a murderous rage. A dreadful premonition had struck me, and I’d bolted from the wing that had by then become my own refuge.

By the time I’d reached them, mother had been conjuring blades of wind in an attempt to kill my sister.

I’d leaped forward and thrown up a barrier, but having learned only healing magic, my defense had not held completely. My sister, dressed in a threadbare old frock, had taken a deep gash across a belly that was far too thin for her frame.

“Laviange!” I yelled in despair. “Mother! Where is the healer?!”

“Tsk! Useless girl! Couldn’t you even dodge that?” mother said with a sneer, before turning to answer me. “The healer isn’t here. Heal her yourself! If she dies, it will be your fault!”

She swept out of the room, leaving me staring after her in disbelief.

This was madness!

Blood was pouring from Laviange’s belly and would not stop. Calling for help would have been pointless. I was sure that mother had already dismissed the servants entirely. I poured healing magic into her wound again and again. My skull throbbed, nausea and dizziness rising to choke me, but I didn’t stop, even as my magical energy ran close to depletion.

“How did it come to this?!” I screamed. “How dare she! How dare she blame me!”

Then, from somewhere in the corner of my mind, I heard a voice.

“I never wanted a sister! I never needed one! She’s nothing but trouble, a burden, always in the way...”

What...? I’d never said that. And yet, that had clearly been my voice...

But wait... Had I said it? Some strange wrongness tugged at my emotions, and with it, a rising tide of hatred that wasn’t mine.

“I hate her, I hate mother. And I hate my sister—”

Whoomf!

A streak of crimson flame flashed before my eyes, and the hateful thoughts came to a halt.

“Brother,” said a familiar voice, snapping me back to reality.

I looked down. In my arms was my sister, as she was now. Her dark blue eyes met mine.

“Thank you for saving me then,” she said softly. “It’s okay now.”

She’d never said anything like that back then. Nor had she given me a soft smile that warmed my heart so completely...

And yet, I felt as if my soul had been saved.

The scene before me dissolved into a gentle, white light.

I didn’t resist as I felt myself slowly waking up.

※※※※

My mind stirred to consciousness as I heard my sister’s voice say, “Neither of them are waking up... Hmm, perhaps it’s time for a bit of a Smack Fest for everyone here...”

A Smack Fest...? That sounded rather ominous, didn’t it...?

I heard the sound of paper rustling.

Ominous, indeed!

I forced my eyes open with sheer will. Laviange was standing over me, holding a fan in each hand, both raised high. She was about to bring those down on our faces, wasn’t she?! No! She was already swinging!

I guessed that the person lying beside me was Regulus. But I didn’t bother to confirm; I simply rolled away on instinct. Glancing back to where I had been lying, I saw Regulus clutching one of the fans, in both hands, inches away from his face.

“You caught it with your bare hands?” my sister said. “Well played.”

“It was nothing, really,” he replied, almost bashfully. “Yet to earn your praise, no matter the deed, is a pleasure.”

Good heavens, why was he lying there looking at my sister as if he were still in a dream? I should have just caught the fan myself!

“Dear brother,” Laviange said, shaking her head, “how very disappointing of you.”

“I...shall strive to do better next time,” I said contritely.

Sister, don’t look at me like that. I will catch it next time!

A glance around revealed that we had been entirely ensnared by those accursed vines. Here and there, black spider lilies bloomed, though I saw no trace of the possessed, red-eyed Sienna. Had she vanished for good?

I wondered how we had made it through safely. Perhaps it was because we had, in our panic, cast a barrier around ourselves? The barrier still held strong, though I could hear it groaning under the crushing force of the vines. At this rate, our magical energy would eventually run dry trying to keep the barriers in place, and the vines would crush us.

The situation was bad.

I looked down and saw that a new seal had been placed on my chest—and on Regulus’s too. I did a quick analysis of the circuit. Needless to say, I was eager to make sure that these had not been programmed to detonate.

“Worry not, dear brother. That explosive seal was a uniquely crafted masterpiece, conceived in the throes of... Well, let’s just call it the angst of adolescence,” Laviange reassured me. “Alas, I have no more of them on hand. The one earlier I merely stuck on you in mistake; it was meant to be my secret trump card for a dramatic climax. But never mind that—here, for you.”

Her explanation was full of holes. The angst of adolescence...? I’d rather not ask. I felt that I would lose something vital if I did.

Ignoring my inner turmoil, Laviange offered me the very harisen she had just used to assault me. Did she expect me to fight with this? “Take this as well,” she said, producing more magic seals from one of her pockets.

Just how many seals did she have?! Surely these had to be the last of them?! And of course, these were crumpled too! If her intention had always been to split these among the three of us, then surely she could have treated them with more care... Hm?

The seals she handed us were mostly the same as the other feathered ones, I noticed, except for the one on top.

“Is this a scale?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered proudly. “Only using feathers seemed a little uninspired, so I made some special ones with scales.”

I examined the blue-silver scale on this new seal... Wait. This lingering magical signature...was it not brimming with holy magic on the same scale as the feathers?

“No...it can’t be...” Regulus murmured. “Are these...the scales of the sacred beast Laguondol?”

“What?!” I exclaimed.

The sacred beast Laguondol. We had seen him in the Poison Box Garden... How in the world had she acquired these scales? And, true to form, she’d slapped this scale on with the same messy glue as the feather beside it!

“Oh my, so that’s why the scale is so pretty,” she said with a smile.

You’re being too carefree by far, sister of mine!

“It is beautiful indeed,” said Regulus.

Is that all you have to say?! Does a mere nod before moving on truly suffice?!

“I found them lying on the ground in the Poison Box Garden,” Laviange explained. “I do wish there had been more. But since there were so few, I tried to cut them in half using scissors. Alas, it wouldn’t yield, so I could only make two. They are strictly to be used for decisive moments. Ideally with a striking pose.”

I paused.

“I shall do my best.”

Just use them normally, you lovestruck fool!

And Laviange! You stop trying to cut national-treasure-class artifacts with scissors! And don’t glue them to old newspaper!

“And how do you use it?” I asked hesitantly. The use was obvious, but I was desperate to change the subject.

“The same as the others, of course. It should slow down the enemy, though I haven’t tested it yet.”

“Got it.” Just as I’d thought.

“Oh, but since I went through all the trouble, I changed the incantation.”

Don’t change it! In fact, don’t set one at all!

“And that would be...?” I asked.

“May you be purified!”

Do not puff your chest out at that! Why must every single one of your incantations be like this?!

“An incantation most befitting,” Regulus said, looking at her with adoration.

Why must you encourage her, you lovestruck fool... Wait. Befitting? Something about that snagged at my mind. I looked at the seal once again.

“Its purifying energy is unusually strong, isn’t it...?” I asked.

The crude circuit in the seal appeared to somehow balance the opposing magics of the feather and scale—fire and water—and amplify them. The cleansing aura it radiated put the Church’s blessings, even those meant to purify corrupted land bought with donations, to shame.

With this, we might actually be able to free Sienna from the curse...

“No, it is only for delaying enemies, I assure you,” Laviange said nonchalantly. As I’d suspected, the actual creator of this crude yet miraculous circuit was blissfully unaware of its power.

“Indeed. It’s meant to delay,” Regulus said with a firm nod.

Technically correct, you hopeless fool. For, truly, anything purified by this would be forced to stop, like it or not. And it retained all the effects of the other seals besides.

But stop encouraging her. Something about this is off...

“Oh, how dull. I couldn’t absorb you after all,” said the strange voice. Or voices? It almost sounded doubled. It echoed in my skull, and my thoughts froze. There was no longer any trace of childishness in that voice.

The vines that had been constricting the barrier slackened. Sienna’s face peered through one of the resulting gaps. I nearly flinched.

Her face had warped and twisted into something unspeakable. Had the rotting armadillo serving as the body of the curse begun to influence her appearance? I could imagine the stench that would be surrounding us now if it hadn’t been for these purifying seals. The only mercy was that her body had turned a pitch black, masking at least some of its grotesqueness.

“Oh my, quite the scary entrance,” Laviange said. Her voice was so relaxed it seemed out of place. Not that she would do something as untoward as screaming, of course—she was a proper young lady.

I glanced at her... Wait, what exactly was that spellbound expression she was wearing?! Was that curiosity gleaming in her eyes?!

“Perhaps my next work will be whip-wielding BDSM horror...” she murmured.

What in the world was that supposed to mean?! No! I refused to ask! Whatever it was, acknowledging it would mean losing something I could not name! Look, even Regulus couldn’t excuse... No, wait. I didn’t understand his expression either... At first he’d stared at Laviange in shock, but now he fixed Sienna with a cold, hateful glare.

“Tch. First the stench of men, now the stench of rot.”

What was he saying?! And with a vexed look on his face to boot! I barked the thought in my head, but before I could fully process it, the vines suddenly whipped aside, revealing our surroundings.

We were completely encircled by the tangle sprouting from the toppled black rat. Sienna’s black upper body had reemerged, exuding a mist of shadowy malice that drifted like a fog around her. The nightmare I had seen earlier was no doubt a product of this hateful miasma. Could it have affected Laviange and Regulus as well?

But what about that flame I had seen? And what of that vision of my sister who had brought a warmth to my chest like fleeting salvation?

Ah... It had been the seal.

Even now, the crude seal radiated a gentle heat from my chest, thanks to that holy beast’s feather. Truly remarkable.

As I was having this revelation, Sienna began to approach Laviange. But the barrier stopped her advance and she clicked her tongue. She recovered quickly. Her face twisted in delight as she approached the edge of the barrier. Regulus shifted subtly, placing himself between her and my sister.

Sienna giggled. “Oh, are you that envious that I have become a sacred beast and risen so high above you?” she said with a smirk.

Wait, wait. Sienna, that is a preposterous misunderstanding of the situation! That spellbound expression was not one of envy! Notice reality before you drown in your own smugness!

“But alas, I still absolutely despise you.” This time her face twisted with raw hatred, so revolting that nausea threatened to rise in my throat.

“Oh dear, is that so?” Laviange said, with that ladylike smile on her face. Yet her eyes were cold. I knew that look. She was thinking, What is this fool prattling on about now?

Honestly, I believed that Laviange had very little interest in Sienna herself. If anything, her thoughts were probably wandering to tonight’s dinner menu. I could tell because I had spent a lifetime being brushed off by that same smile.

“Hah... There you go again... You always just brush it all aside as though it means nothing...” Sienna must have picked up on it as well. Her expression had soured, frustration clearly gnawing at her, and the black mist about her thickened.

But today something was different about Laviange. She stepped out from behind Regulus and walked to the edge of the barrier, until her face was nearly touching Sienna’s through the invisible wall. “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “Honestly, I couldn’t care less—about your words, your actions, or even your existence itself.”

“Wh-What...?”

Perhaps for the first time, Sienna heard Laviange’s true feelings. Her face, which had always sneered and needled without end, contorted in shock.

“I expect this will be the last time we ever have a proper conversation. So I shall indulge you this once.”

I moved to stand by Laviange’s side. That’s when I saw it. Laviange was no longer wearing that ladylike false smile she usually turned toward Sienna. In its place was a warm, grandmotherly smile.

“Wh-Why... Why are you looking at me like that...?”

“First of all,” Laviange said, her voice quiet but clear, “I’ve never once seen any value in engaging with you. From the very first time we met, you were never truly looking at me, were you?”

Sienna’s dark, clouded eyes wavered. My sister’s dark blue eyes gazed into them.

“I don’t understand,” Sienna said quietly.

“Did you think I didn’t know? What you’ve been competing with is my title of Lady Robur, daughter of House Robur—not me.”

Something must have struck home, because for the first time, Sienna fell silent.

“In the first place, your resentment is entirely misplaced,” Laviange went on. “It’s true that, had your father not run off and eloped, perhaps you would have been a proper heir to House Robur. In that reality, my father would not have inherited the house, just as had been originally planned. Naturally, he would then never have married my mother, so I would not exist. And even though your own mother had been a commoner, perhaps you could still have been born as a proper heir. But your father did not choose that path. And that is all there is to it.”

“That’s only because mom tempted dad into it,” Sienna spat.

So she did call her parents that, just as I had seen in the dream. Then Sienna truly...

“No. It was entirely your father’s decision,” Laviange said. “Of course, what follows is only my own deduction. But I believe he knew that your mother could not endure being in the position of wife to one of the Four Dukes.”

“That’s only because she wasn’t good enough,” Sienna said. “They only ran away because it was easier—just like you do.” The darkness around her thickened. Perhaps that understanding of things was part of the reason Sienna had always seen my sister as an enemy.

“You are diligent in your studies,” Laviange continued. “Your effort bore fruit and you were even on friendly terms with the royal family. So it is natural that you’d feel that way. But surely you, someone so genuinely dedicated to learning, do not truly believe that is the whole of it?”

I knew the true reason that our uncle had run away and eloped...had Laviange come to realize it too?

“Your mother lacked one thing above all else—the ability to protect her own life. That much is undeniable. Nor could she have protected you, who was yet to be born. A woman of common birth marrying into the Four Houses? Her life may as well have been forfeit. Someone would have seen to it that she disappeared long before she could even conceive you. Given the balance of power at the time, I could name multiple houses that would have done just that.”

“Th-That’s... That’s a lie!”

“And why would I lie? Surely you’ve looked into it yourself? Given your obsessions, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t look into your origins. Not out of something as childish as curiosity, of course, but because you cannot bear to leave a potential weakness undiscovered, lest it be used against you.”

Sienna faltered. She glared at my sister in silence.

“Besides,” Laviange added, “you’ve spent years at the side of my mother. A greedy woman, self-important and arrogant. Do you think she wouldn’t have done something to you or your mother to get ahead? You can’t convince me you never noticed what she is capable of. And I very much doubt she would have kept silent about it either.”

I agreed with her every word, but it was a harsh truth.

“I won’t be swayed by you!” Sienna said with a sneer. “I’ve managed to live safely all this time as a member of House Robur!”

“You’re right. You have,” Laviange replied. “But you remained safe precisely because my father was already head of house, and you were in the position of an orphaned foster daughter. Because of that, mother took on the role of keeping you alive. That is what has shielded you.”

“What are you talking about?” Sienna asked. Even though she was glaring at Laviange, I could tell she was listening with rapt attention. Perhaps, like me, she wanted to know the rest. What did Laviange mean when she said that mother was protecting Sienna’s life?

Seeing us both so rapt, Laviange laughed. “Why pretend not to know? Or have you truly not realized? It was decided long ago by both families that mother would marry the next Duke Robur. In other words, before the elopement, it was your father—the heir apparent—who was her fiancé. And the one who hated your mother, the woman he ran off with, more than anyone, was mother herself. Marrying father, the younger brother, must have been an unbearable humiliation for her. That is why she never loved either me or our brother. Even though you’re his daughter by blood, I resemble your father far more than you do. My features, my hair...everything.”

Sienna’s face crumpled, on the verge of tears.

“Are you not the same?” Laviange asked. “Is that not why you can’t see me as a cousin or a foster sister? To make matters worse, mother’s own mother desired her to bear a son that was alike to grandfather in every way. Imagine her disappointment when I was born with the face and coloring of the very sister our maternal grandmother despised most. Mother was berated after she gave birth to me, and given no words of comfort.”

Even Sienna seemed taken aback at that. When Laviange had been born, father had been away on business, and I had been waiting with grandfather. Both our grandmothers—sisters by blood—had attended the delivery. From what I recalled hearing, our maternal grandmother had collapsed during the birth.

I had never heard my sister speak of this before. Judging by the way Sienna’s warped expression faltered, she hadn’t either.

“To mother, I am the symbol of the failure that has marred her life. And I also represent the man she hates most, her former fiancé who chose a common woman over her. She is the pitiable result of a first love gone wrong.” Laviange spoke calmly, as if to console, but her face was unreadable. How could she speak of such things with that serene smile on her face? I glanced over my shoulder and saw Regulus watching her with a worried tenderness in his eyes.

“I was the daughter who caused her such pain and refused to bend to her will, and so day by day, my mother’s resentment festered,” my sister went on. “Then came the day I was chosen as fiancée to the second prince, and I left the palace without a care for her reputation. Of course her hatred boiled over. And because of that, she lost even the magic she prided herself on, while I gained a worse and worse reputation. It’s no wonder, really, that we never shared the love of mother and child.”

How did she know all that? Even I was hearing this for the first time.

“Then why,” Sienna burst out, “why would she dote on me?! I’m the daughter of the man she hates most!”

“That,” Laviange said with a laugh, “is the charming part of mother’s twisted personality. It’s like a story straight out of a soap opera... She got hooked on the drama of it.”

It made sense that Sienna would ask that. What made less sense was that Laviange looked absolutely charmed by it. And what was a “soap opera”? I didn’t understand.

And why was I empathizing more with Sienna—who was taking a step back in horror? Perhaps I was still under the influence of the curse...

“At first, I think her care for you was meant to needle me,” Laviange said finally. “She never gave me any love, only hatred, but I think she still craved the validation of being a mother. Or perhaps it was a way to comfort herself, as a woman who could choose nothing without her husband’s approval. Of course, I never cared much if she hated me; my indifference probably left her starving for some kind of acknowledgment, and her hatred only grew.” She spoke dispassionately, sometimes curling her lips into a faint smile as if at some memory. Both Sienna and I were left speechless. As for the reason for that little smile, I had no idea.

“In the end, all the hatred that she should have had for you was redirected to me,” she continued. “You even played into it, didn’t you? By helping to belittle me, you won her over, and fueled her hatred further. I suppose, in the end, it was all for the better that I alone suffered from her hatred.”

That last remark, I sensed, came from the heart. “I alone”... In other words, she was saying, I’m glad you didn’t suffer, brother.

“Ha... You speak like you’re some altruistic heroine.”

And still Sienna resorted to sarcasm. Anger rose in me, but more than that, I was simply exasperated. I turned to give Sienna a look of disapproval when... What is that? The vines behind where Sienna was “blooming” from the black rat were starting to darken, turning a reddish black...

“There’s no need to jump to conclusions,” Laviange replied. “I’m only telling you my truth. I’ve never sought my parents’ love. If anything, I feel a stronger attachment to you and brother—as their grandchildren—than I ever have to mother.”

As their grandchildren? We had never been close to our grandparents. Why would she place such importance on them?

“In any case, among the current children of House Robur,” Laviange continued, “you’re probably the one who has inherited its temperament the most.”

The temperament of House Robur... Grandfather came to mind at once, the man under whom I currently studied domain management.

“In House Robur,” she went on, “many are born with a knack for saying exactly what people want to hear, and for steering others to their will, whether they know they’re doing it or not. Perhaps you could call it skillful maneuvering. It’s why our house has fundamentally remained neutral, even if they sometimes support the Crown. And father has only bolstered that stance in recent years.”

Even as I listened to Laviange, I couldn’t ignore the spreading discoloration behind Sienna. I discreetly let magic flow through me, ready to activate those crude magical tools at any moment, as I watched from the corner of my eye.

“Like father, many in this family have disliked being bound by obligations, and you could say that their maneuvering has been in service to that love of freedom,” said Laviange. “But while you’re good at maneuvering people, Sienna, you never could do it with the same detachment as the other members of our family. You’ve always let your immediate whims take priority, and that immaturity is why you’ve failed.”

The black mist around her grew thicker as Sienna’s face twisted in rage. She didn’t seem to notice the reddish black spreading behind her.

“Either way,” Laviange added, “mother found your behavior convenient. It pleased her enough that she accepted you as a foster daughter. And I’m sure there were other reasons... Perhaps she saw inviting commoner blood into the house as revenge against grandfather. After all, he was the one who made the mistake of marrying her to the younger brother of her ex-fiancé.”

“What does grandfather have anything to do with it?” Sienna asked.

“He opposed taking you in, didn’t he? I suspect that mother did something to your birth mother before uncle ran off and eloped. Grandfather may have turned a blind eye to that—knowing him, perhaps he even encouraged it. He was always very much a true Robur. Maybe that’s even why they ended up eloping. Of course, this is all speculation, but it’s not unfeasible,” Laviange mused. “Grandfather might well have assumed that mother would eventually rid herself of a foster daughter, given the chance. The only problem was that my presence stopped that. Another supposition, but a reasonable one.”

“Why would grandfather allow such a thing...?”

Laviange opened her mouth to answer, then seemed to think better of it. After a moment of silence, she said, “Who can say? Only he would have known his heart.” Something about the exchange told me that she knew more than she was letting on. She gave a bitter smile, almost as if indulging in a long past memory. “Even so,” she continued, “a runaway brother’s child returning as the younger brother’s foster daughter is a scandal, no matter how you frame it. I imagine you suffered in your own way, didn’t you?”

“Liar!” Sienna shrieked. “If that were true, then why didn’t grandfather ever act openly against me?!”

Even if they didn’t have a close relationship, it appeared that the mere suggestion that her grandfather might have harbored murderous intent toward her drove Sienna to an emotional outburst. And yet...the black mist seemed to be thinning? In contrast, the swelling mass behind Sienna was growing larger, gradually beginning to take on a human shape.

But Laviange appeared to show no interest in the developments happening outside of the barrier. She was as composed as ever. “By the time uncle died, our grandfather had already retired as head of the house and withdrawn into the domain. He couldn’t do anything openly. Even a former head cannot overturn the formal decisions of the current head. That is the way of the Four Houses, and father holds a position of power beyond merely that of the head of the family. If there were a dispute, the one who would lose would be grandfather.”

It was true. Father’s standing as captain of the Royal Mage Corps carried enough weight to crush most opposition, though he himself didn’t seem to care.

“And, as if in contrast to their calculating temperament,” she went on, “once someone or something makes it into their heart, the members of the Robur family tend to hold on to that attachment dearly. It’s ironic, isn’t it? That’s why uncle eloped with your mother, and why he remained a commoner for the sake of his wife and child. Imagine it: a man born the heir to one of the Four Great Houses reduced to hiding as a commoner, living in secrecy. It’s not hard to imagine how hard that must have been. And yet in the end, it was his own daughter who...”

Sienna flinched, her face going rigid. “No...that’s not... I...”

“When you first scattered that black pollen across the rooftop,” my sister said softly, “for some reason, I saw your nightmare too. I saw the truth of that carriage accident—the one that took your parents.” Laviange exhaled a long, quiet breath, and there was a glimmer of pity in her eyes. “Why couldn’t you be content with what you have? No matter how much you mocked me, no matter how you schemed to take my title as a true heir to House Robur—so long as you didn’t cross that final line, I had no intention of doing anything to you. My current standing means very little to me. Even the hostility and hatred you and your ilk threw at me—I could brush that off with a smile. I wouldn’t have even cared about your past.”

What did she mean? Had Laviange done something...?

But what caught my interest more was how accepting she was of the malice that was thrown her way. From the time she was old enough to be aware, she’d been exposed to our mother’s cruelty. And as she’d amply shown throughout this conversation, she was well aware that she was still hated by many. She’d been constantly belittled by her former fiancé and by Sienna, and her reputation was absolutely abysmal. And there had been many nobles who’d taken advantage of that.

She said that she didn’t care, but surely at some point it must’ve ground on her. At the very least, she must have wished for her parents’ love as a child. The fact that she could speak so calmly about it was, frankly, abnormal. Even stranger, she almost sounded like she was confronting grandfather.

That man was the very embodiment of the Robur line. He showed no interest in anyone but our grandmother, and spent his life fulfilling his role dispassionately. When the situation demanded it, he could wear the face of a loving man, but if it wasn’t necessary, he rarely involved himself with others.

Laviange was very similar... But, no, perhaps not. She’d had years to show her willingness to cut Sienna off like this, but she never did. The same with mother and me. Instead, she’d always chosen to simply endure the malice shown to her, only occasionally showing her emotions and mostly letting what others did to her slide. With her skill at evasion, she could have kept her distance and escaped unscathed. And yet, she didn’t.

It was moments like these, when she showed emotion, that made me feel as though she was watching over us from the perspective of a grandparent. Tenderly, and yet in some way detached.

“You’re always like this!” Sienna yelled. “Always making it look like you know everything! But all you do is run away from everything, just like father did! And yet you get to remain a true member of House Robur—and, on top of that, you were even made the prince’s fiancée?! It’s unbelievable! And yet, I’ve had to live my whole life looked down on as a mere commoner!”

Even as Sienna’s anger rose, the black mist continued to thin. Meanwhile, the reddish-black mass behind her had finally taken on a shape that could only be hers.

“What’s the point of retreading that?” Laviange asked. “I’ve never denied it. And yet you’ve never even tried to understand why I’ve retained my status as a member of House Robur, or as the prince’s fiancée, when I never wanted it, have you?”

“What’s to understand?! You could have risen to marry the crown prince! Or even to be queen consort!” Sienna raged. “And what is with that face?! Why are you looking at me like a grandmother would?!”

“Because you’re just so adorable. Don’t they say the more foolish the child, the more dear they are?”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it! So you’re saying you’ve thought I was a fool all along!”

“Ah, a slip of the tongue,” Laviange said with a smile. She tilted her head slightly. “But you needn’t worry about that anymore.”

“Hmph, of course not. I’ve become a sacred beast now. If you grovel and beg for your life, I just might—”

“Pfft... Aha ha ha! Aha ha ha ha ha!”

Before Sienna could even finish, Laviange suddenly burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?!”

“You? A sacred beast? Pfft... Ha ha ha ha! Stop, you’re making me laugh... Pfft...”

Apparently that had set her off again.

“How dare you! That’s it, I’m going to kill you!”

“But you can’t. Isn’t that right, Mr. Armadillo?”

“My bodyyyy!”

As if waiting for the signal, the reddish-black mass behind Sienna suddenly bloomed with bright red spider lilies. The reddish-black Sienna lunged forward, seizing the black Sienna from behind in a tight hold.

Then, just for a moment, I caught sight of it—on the reddish-black Sienna’s right shoulder, a single white spider lily had bloomed. Against all that red, the white stood out too starkly to be a trick of the eye.

“You, a sacred beast? Is this another one of your comedy routines? Like the one in the courtyard?” The gentle smile Laviange had worn until moments ago vanished, and her eyes turned cold. “Oh, please... You really do need to stop making me laugh.”

She stepped out from the barrier. “Begone, foul spirit!”

Whack!

“Gyaaaah!”

“Come on, you two!” she yelled back at Regulus and me, but she was already smacking away. When had she grabbed the harisen from her waistband?! And why was the massive Sienna that she’d dubbed Mr. Armadillo screaming in pain too?! Was that supposed to happen?!

“Begone, foul spirit!”

“Gyaaaah!”

That was supposed to happen, right?! It was okay if Mr. Armadillo was screaming too, right?! Because the lovestruck fool next to me had gone and smacked it too!

“Begone, foul spirit!”

“Gyaaaah! Gyaaaah!”

I joined in as well.

“Begone, foul spirit! Begone, foul spirit! Begone, foul spirit!”

Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Gyaaaah! Gyaaaah! Gyaaaah!”

At this point, the rooftop was in utter chaos; it was impossible to tell whose screams were whose, or whose harisen were making which whacks. The black mist was gone, the red-and-black flowers and vines were being hacked apart here and there, and the cursed spell was slowly, steadily shrinking.

“Begone, foul spirit!” Laviange yelled. “You two, use the seals from before, and then use the sparkly one!” The fact that I even knew what the “sparkly one” was left me with a feeling I didn’t have a name for.

“May you find eternal rest!” Regulus shouted as he used magic to place all of his feathered seals onto the cursed Sienna all at once.

“Gh...! M-May you find eternal rest!” I yelled reluctantly as I followed his example.

Now all that was left was the “sparkly” one...

“Make sure to strike a pose!” Laviange yelled after us.

You’ve got to be kidding me?! I’d been trying to forget that part! Perhaps I could just pretend I didn’t hear that...

“May you be purified!”

It couldn’t be?! The idiot prince actually went and did it!

“Damn it all! May you be purified!” I followed his example, of course. Just like him, I kept a perfectly straight face as I slapped the talisman in place, then struck a pose as if I’d just cut someone down with a sword. If I was going to do it, then I was going to do it properly, with all the dignity I could muster as an elder brother.

“Bravo! Long live teenage angst!” Laviange cheered. She actually jumped up with joy and struck a triumphant pose. It struck me that for once she actually looked her age. She was wearing what I guessed was the most genuine smile she’d ever shown me...

I supposed it was worth it, then.

Meanwhile, I was trembling with shame and couldn’t shake the feeling that I had just lost something vital. I looked toward Regulus and our eyes met... Ah, I wasn’t alone. He was also frozen mid-pose, looking just as humiliated as I felt. The two of us quickly abandoned our poses.

If it embarrassed you that much, maybe don’t take the lead next time.

Boom!

Suddenly a pillar of flame erupted into the sky and the two Siennas were engulfed in fire. Regulus and I turned to stare at them in shock.

“Gyaaaah!” they both shrieked in unison. They tried to flee, but the talismans on their limbs held them in place. The flames only surged higher, feeding on them, until they were charred pitch-black. Then the fire suddenly snuffed out.

The tentacled mass and the two Siennas had now been reduced to three charred lumps. And yet not a single scorch mark marred the white spider lily or the sparkly talismans.

“Ugh... Ah...” One of the lumps—the one without the flower—let out a faint groan. The other two didn’t so much as twitch.

Then, from the sparkly talismans, a whirlwind of water erupted. It engulfed the charred remains, spinning violently in place, tearing them apart. The water turned a deep, murky black as it churned.

“Now that’s one high-pressure washing machine...” Laviange murmured. Not for the first time, I had no clue what she was talking about. But I promised myself I would not ask. Some things were better left alone.

Eventually the seals flared with a bright light and disappeared along with the water, leaving behind a single small lump of gray ash.

“Wah, wahhh...!” The lump was wailing like a newborn, its limbs twitching feebly as it flailed on its back, like an overturned turtle.

“Oh my,” said Laviange, stepping toward it.

But Regulus stepped in front of her. “My lady.”

At some point, the barrier had vanished. Did that mean the curse was gone?

“It’s dangerous,” Regulus warned. “There’s a lump of pure magic—ahem. Excuse me, a living spirit laying over there.”

He’d decided mid-sentence to keep playing along with Laviange’s ghost theory, apparently. But sure enough, if you looked closely, Sienna’s translucent upper half was lying face down a short distance away from the wailing lump.

“I’ve already placed a seal on myself. Look,” Laviange said, suddenly lifting up her shirt to bare her stomach.

“W-Wait!” Regulus yelled.

There, right below her delicate sternum, was a thoroughly crumpled talisman. So that was why the black mist hadn’t affected her.

Well, at least I now knew that the wound she’d been given by mother’s wind magic hadn’t left a scar...but still, what was she thinking?! I immediately reached from behind and yanked her shirt back down into place.

“Laviange, that’s enough,” I scolded. “It’s far too stimulating for the prince.”

“Oh, is that so? My apologies.”

“No worries,” Regulus said, averting his eyes. He was slightly flushed.

Seriously? That flustered him more than that ridiculous pose did? I felt an irrational surge of irritation and shot the reticent pervert a glare.

Meanwhile, Laviange had taken a step back to size the two of us up. She wore a dreamy little smile and I was absolutely certain she was thinking something entirely unwholesome. “ B...and L...” she murmured.

Nope. I was absolutely not going to ask what that meant. The letters alone reeked of trouble.

Without warning, my sister spun on her heel, turned her back to us, and stooped to pick up the little creature that had been reduced to weak, pitiful whimpers. On the side of its shell, where I guessed was probably around its right shoulder, the mark of a white spider lily shone.

Why was it white?

Thinking back on it, wasn’t that where the white flower had bloomed on the reddish-black Sienna? Yes, and it was also in the very same spot as Heinz’s mark had been. That was too much to just be mere coincidence.

“Look at that,” Laviange said, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she gazed at the pale, ash‑colored belly of the creature she cradled. “Mr. Armadillo’s belly is so soft and fluffy...”

I had a bad feeling. But as usual, she didn’t seem to notice my unease in the slightest.

The little thing whimpered weakly as I got my first good look at it. The description “armored mouse” suited it well. Rolled up, it would look like a ball or an egg, though I imagined its outer carapace had to be hard. A quick appraisal confirmed it to be a juvenile magical beast. Its magical energy was nearly spent, and it was badly weakened. Most likely, it wouldn’t last much longer.

That was when I noticed the translucent torso of Sienna using its arms to drag itself to my sister’s feet. When she lifted her face, I saw that while her coloring had returned to normal, her features were still twisted as grotesquely as when she’d been under the curse.

“Why...? I did...nothing wrong... My body... My magic... Give it back...” Sienna said, reaching a hand toward my sister.

Laviange turned toward her and made no move to avoid her hand. “Sienna,” she said in a gently chiding tone, “if you don’t return to your body soon—”

Thomp, thomp.

Laviange was cut off by the sound of two dull thuds, which drew all of our attention. Near the entrance to the roof two figures stood, and at their feet were two others, sprawled out as if they had been tossed.

“See? That’s what happens when you abandon your body,” Laviange said, shooting Sienna a mildly troubled glance. She was calm. It was almost as if she had expected this all along.

I recognized the two on the ground first. Judging by their hair, they were the bodies of Sienna and Heinz.

Heinz stirred first, dragging himself upright, only to sit hunched and trembling, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. Even from a distance, his complexion looked as poor as before.

I couldn’t see Sienna’s face...but I could see her limbs, which were dried up like a mummy. I didn’t understand why.

And the two middle-aged men standing at the entrance were...

“Knight Captain Asche and Mage Captain Robur... Why are they here?” Regulus murmured under his breath.

Dario Asche. Captain of the Royal Knight Corps. He was the current head of House Asche...and Heinz’s father. He was a striking man with copper red hair. As befitting his position as knight captain, he wore a sword at his hip, and, clad in only light gear, his long‑trained physique stood out. His violet eyes carried a different impression than mine, but the hue was inherited from the same bloodline; his were tinged red, like those of the previous king’s mother, who’d gone into seclusion after the death of the infamous Princess Beljeanne.

And next to him stood the captain of the Royal Mage Corps—our father—who looked much like me, save for the mole at the corner of his left eye. He, too, was lightly equipped, wearing only a thin robe.

Why would these two men, heralded as the Crown’s sword and shield, come here? And why had they brought Heinz and Sienna with them?

“We came here with the leave of the king,” Captain Asche announced. “Captain Robur here said that these two were the curse’s vessels, and so we went to the location of their true bodies to dispose of them. However, once we saw them, Captain Robur began to suspect my foolish son might not be the true host after all. He said that if we brought the bodies close to the origin of the curse, things would become clear. So we brought them. But when we arrived, we found a barrier set up by His Highness the Prince. And unlike the one in the infirmary, this one seemed risky to tamper with, so we chose to observe quietly from nearby.”

He turned to my father. “Now, what do you say?”

“It appears that your son nearly became the vessel, but that it was prevented. In the end, it appears that the former foster daughter of House Robur was chosen instead.”

So father had cast Sienna aside as I’d expected. Yet he spoke as if this wasn’t something she chose, but was instead something that happened to her. That meant...

Heinz jerked his head up. “No! It was Sienna who—!”

“Silence. Your opinion is irrelevant.” Captain Asche’s voice was curt. Heinz’s mouth snapped shut, and he lowered his head again, lips pressed into a tight line. “If necessary, I’ll dispose of my son. But what do we do with that one’s body?” Captain Asche gestured toward Sienna.

Heinz lifted his head again, as if to protest. His father glared at him with an almost murderous gleam.

“Don’t make me say it again. Next time, I will take your head.”

Trembling, Heinz lowered his head without a word.

After watching the exchange between Captain Asche and his son, my father finally addressed his erstwhile foster daughter. “Sienna.”

“F-Father...h-help me... It hurts...” Sienna begged, her voice broken and halting as she crawled toward him. There was relief on her face, as if she finally believed she could be saved. She was unaware that she’d already been cast aside.

Father’s eyes remained cold as he regarded her translucent form. Then he bent down and lifted her withered body into a sitting position from where it lay. “Do you want to live?”

“Wha...? My...body? Why? Th-This...can’t be...”

Sienna’s face twisted in despair and horror as she finally saw what had become of her own flesh. And no wonder. Her body was shriveled, and her hair had lost all luster; she looked like the abandoned body of some old woman. Worst of all, her face was grotesquely warped in horror.

So this was the fate of one who became a vessel for a cursed spell.

“This again...” Heinz muttered. I could only guess at his meaning. Perhaps he’d faced a moment like this before, some cruel choice between life and death.

“Th-This can’t be...happening. S-Save me...J-Jabi...” In her despair, Sienna was begging for salvation from someone. Suddenly her translucent form vanished.

“Ah!” And in that instant, the withered body in front of father stirred awake. “N‑No... What happened to my body...?! Jabi! Jabi, I know you’re here!” All at once, she began to speak clearly, though her voice was now rasped and brittle, befitting her mummy-like appearance.

“Oh, Sienna,” a voice suddenly said. “I thought we promised I would remain a secret, no matter what happened. Such a naughty girl. But no matter, ours has been a long acquaintance when put into terms of a short human life, so I went ahead and saved you.”

The voice was that of a young woman. It sounded like it was descending from above us. We all looked up toward the source: In the air was a figure in a robe, just off to the side of the rooftop.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Knight Captain Asche resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“What do you mean you saved me? Look at my body!” said Sienna in ashen-faced horror.

“I did save you,” the woman said brightly. “I let you return to your body and ensured that it can keep going for a few more years. After all, your body aged to its limit all at once.”

Sienna struggled to her knees and began crawling toward the woman. “N-No, no, no! This isn’t being saved! I’d rather die than live like this!”

Perhaps understanding the meaning behind her words, the robed woman crouched down to meet Sienna’s eyes. “Oh? I thought you wanted to live. In that case...die.”

“Huh? W‑Wait, no, why... Why can’t I move my—”

Before Sienna could finish speaking, the one she had called Jabi snapped her fingers. Sienna immediately clutched at her head.

“Ah... Ahhh...” she groaned. Her eyes, filled with terror, found me. “B-Brother...save me.”

I didn’t fully understand what was happening, but I moved quickly toward her. As I looked into her tear-filled eyes, some instinct screamed at me that, against her will, she was about to snap her own neck and die.

Everyone was watching in silence. I could feel their gazes on my back. And in my head, I knew it was the correct choice. But my body still moved. I couldn’t stop myself from trying to run to her—

Thunk.

There was a dull impact as Sienna suddenly toppled over, and I froze mid‑step.

Hm...? Was that an ashen ball rolling away from her...?

Bzz.

Suddenly, I heard a short, high-pitched buzz come from the ball, reminding me somewhat of a mosquito... I wasn’t imagining things, was I? That was the dying armajadi...armored mouse. Ah, now it’d flipped over, like a turtle on its shell...

I turned to look at the others and saw that Laviange was resetting her stance as if she had just thrown something. There was absolute silence, even from the robed woman.

“Throwing a ball at the elderly... What a terrifying girl,” the robed woman said at last. I couldn’t see her expression beneath the hood, but I didn’t need to. She was definitely weirded out by Laviange’s behavior.

“Oh please, I’d rather not hear it from someone who tried to force a person to snap their own neck,” Laviange said as she strolled right toward Sienna. “Oh, she really isn’t moving at all...”

She knelt down and began prodding Sienna’s—Unconscious? Yes, surely just unconscious—body with her harisen. But she really wasn’t moving at all... She wasn’t dead, right? Maybe the armored mouse’s shell was harder than I’d thought...

“Did I misjudge my strength? It was my first time throwing Mr. Armadillo, so I might have... Oops?”

Yeah, I figured as much. I’d never thrown one either. I’d also never thrown a ball at a person to begin with, though.

“Maybe I should give her a little ‘whack-up’ call...?” she murmured.

Then a small sound came from Sienna. “Hnmm...”

“A pity,” Laviange sighed. She was definitely just looking for an excuse to hit Sienna again... She even sounded disappointed.

Well...at least my sister wouldn’t become a murderer today. Thank you for living, Sienna, even if only for that.

My sister scooped the armored mouse back into her arms and walked straight past Heinz. He shuddered as she passed, but she didn’t take any notice. Instead, she stopped before his father, Captain Asche, and offered him her harisen.

“This is for you.”

“And what exactly is this...?” Even the famously unshakable Captain Asche looked faintly bewildered at this absurd situation.

“I was curious about that,” father said. “That’s a feather from the sacred beast Vamillia, I take it?” Ah, it seemed she’d drawn his interest. He took the last harisen that remained tucked into her waistband. “Laviange, what’s the incantation to activate it?” he asked.

Wait. Had he been watching us? From what point?

“I’ll take it.” At the mention of a sacred beast, Captain Asche accepted the harisen my sister had offered him.

Laviange let out a small laugh. “Does it please you as well, father? The incantation is ‘Begone, foul spirit!’”

“I see... And there are no more seals?”

The moment father spoke, a chill ran down my spine. I sprinted toward my sister—and I noticed that Regulus had begun running at the same time. Her hand was already reaching for the hem of her shirt. Not happening!

“Here, take a loo—”

“Stop right there!” Regulus and I yelled in unison. We caught her just in time, pinning down her shirt before she could lift it.

“Laviange,” I scolded, “in such cases, you reach under your clothes to retrieve it.”

“You needn’t make such a fuss,” she replied.

“I really must object to that, my lady,” Captain Asche muttered, looking appalled now that he understood what she’d been about to do.

“Is that so? But isn’t it the same as taking out a bandage or warm rag from one’s back?” My sister tilted her head in genuine puzzlement. Honestly, have a little shame, for once.

“It appears that way.” Father shrugged. He didn’t care in the slightest. “Laviange, the magic seal.” Clearly, the seal took priority for him. He really was obsessed with magic.

I was concerned about what she’d said, but relief won out as she retrieved the crumpled seal properly, by hand, without lifting her shirt. Father gave it a light flick, and the wrinkled charm snapped into a perfectly crisp state.

“My word, that’s something!” Captain Asche marveled. “It may be shoddy craftwork and circuitry, yet it really brings out the feather’s magic. It’s a damn miracle if I’ve ever seen one. But why is it stuck to some old newspaper? Couldn’t you have gotten some decent paper? And the incantation is one devil of a problem too. Sounds like a cursed joke made to make a fool of you.”

My sentiments exactly. Suddenly I felt a kinship with the man. He seemed the lone voice of sanity.

“More importantly...you seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit.” As expected, our father wasn’t bothered about it in the slightest. He just changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

Wait. Enjoyed herself?

“I did,” Laviange replied, beaming in delight. “The two of them even struck a pose in the end.”

Father hesitated. He seemed taken aback by the look on Laviange’s face. “Good.”

It could have been a heartwarming sight, if not for the fact that I felt as if I had been mortally wounded. A curse, surely. Some lingering effect of those seals with the sacred beast feathers. A humiliation‑based curse.

“Pfft!” Captain Asche suddenly sputtered, shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter. Meanwhile, Regulus and I trembled for entirely different reasons.

“Since I seem to be being thoroughly ignored,” the robed figure suddenly said, “perhaps I’ll take my leave.”

I had been keeping her in the corner of my eye out of caution, yet somehow her presence had slowly faded away. Perhaps that was an effect of my sister’s cursed tools as well.

5: (End of the Incident) It All Began with a Failed Trap

“That may be difficult,” father responded to it, and as if reacting to his words, a red magic circle flared to life at its feet.

“Oh? When did you set that up?” it asked. If that had been in its real body, it would have been caught.

“Lavi...” came Lia’s telepathic voice from her perch atop my head. I noticed that it held a trace of anger.

“I know. I suspect it is...but why...?” Even if its shape was different, both of us knew what it was, instinctively.

The moment it laid its eyes on me, poor Mr. Armadillo began to tremble silently in my arms. He seemed to have an unconscious aversion to it. To think it had marked him the moment he was born, and that he was now nearly out of time... How wretched.

I shifted him gently in my arms. Then, through the white oath mark that had passed from the Asche boy to him, I took a portion of his pain. Wanting to show him that he wasn’t alone as he faced death, I stroked his head, and his trembling lessened.

“I set it up when you bent over my former foster daughter,” father explained. “I just needed her shadow to reach your feet.”

I’d noticed it as well. He’d set a binding spell into Sienna’s shadow, compressed into just a seed of magic. It took considerable skill to keep it dormant while also hiding its magical signature from it.

“Is that so?” it asked. “Always so quick to use her, aren’t you?”

“She stepped outside of the protection of House Robur, whether by her own accord or not,” father answered. “Still, she could have died peacefully had you not dragged her back into that body. Was it you who created the cursed spell as well?”

“I did. Only for it to be nullified by your daughter in the most ridiculous way imaginable.” It spoke calmly, even as flecks of red light spilled from the circle and hardened around its feet.

I glanced at father and saw the slightest hint of a frown on his face. He’d probably realized by now that the resistance he should be feeling through the spell wasn’t there. And, perhaps due to the many years he’d worked with my father, the knight captain—who shared the same eyes as the former queen consort—seemed to notice something was off and placed one hand back onto the hilt of his sword.

“I see. And why did you approach her?” father said, gesturing with his chin toward Sienna’s shriveled form.

“Finding her was, in a sense, both chance and inevitable,” it said. “I’d been observing those with ties to the royal family and the Four Great Houses for some time, watching for anyone with latent potential, magical or otherwise.”

Observing... So I’d been right. A flicker of anger stirred somewhere deep in my chest.

“Then your wife, even if in name only, caught my eye,” it continued. “Her hatred was agreeable to me, but it was the object of her hatred that truly interested me. When I went to find him, I found Sienna. She was full of envy, and from the time she was able to understand her circumstances, she was constantly on the verge of lashing out at those around her. I found that delightful. She had the makings of a Chosen One, so I decided to cultivate her.”

“A Chosen One, it says...” Lia’s voice trembled with fury. My head was hot... She’d better not be so mad that her flames were appearing...

“But to think I’d be thwarted time and time again by that little failure.” Even with its eyes hidden beneath the hood, I could tell it was looking straight at me— Oh? My, my... Father stepped in between us.

“Explain what you mean by that.” And now even the knight captain had joined him. His voice was clipped. The two of them were so tall it felt like there was a wall in front of me.

“Two captains standing there holding harisen... The scene has no gravitas.”

“No, Lia, you’re wrong. This is the thrilling moment right before the Smack Fest begins.” I chuckled to myself. Yet again, I was reminded of the fun I used to have with my grandchildren.

“She spent her life envying a cousin she’d never even seen, only to find out the girl was unimaginably untalented,” it explained. “It was worse than even I imagined.”

I’d been trying to enjoy a peaceful moment, but I now found myself under the scrutiny of multiple pairs of eyes. Why did it feel like they were looking at something disappointing? Was that my imagination? I even felt the stare of the knight captain in front of me, even though his eyes were affixed to the thing standing in front of him. How peculiar. And the two young men, who had at some point come to stand beside me, seemed to be staring right at my face. I failed to see why.

“On top of that, the girl always deflected anything thrown at her. So no matter how much hatred I stoked in Sienna, it was never pure enough to be useful.” It let out a sigh, as if lamenting some distant memory. The red light continued its slow crawl upward toward its chest, and yet it paid it no mind. “The first and second Chosen Ones were so much easier, really.”

The first Chosen One... Would that have been my half brother from my previous life as Beljeanne? In this life, he was famous as the crown prince who slew the notorious Beljeanne herself. But then who would the second Chosen One have been? I didn’t recall anyone who could fit the description...

“The first,” it continued, “couldn’t bear the brilliance of his half sister, the princess. Jealousy festered into hatred, and that became the root from which his potential grew. The poor princess... Used by not one but two Chosen Ones, and in the end, they still stole all her glory.”

Used by two Chosen Ones... Wait. Could the second one have been the former queen consort? The mistress of the whip and mother of the prince?

“The princess...” murmured Prince Regulus. It was almost apologetic. I was surprised to hear no revulsion in his voice, as was usual when speaking of the royal family’s great shame, the infamous villainess. Had he learned something of the truth?

But in contrast, the knight captain in front of me radiated anger. From what I had learned from the sacred beasts, the only ones who knew the full truth were the king, the queen consort, and the heads of the Four Great Houses. If he did know the truth, then why was he so full of bloodlust?

“In the end,” it continued, “it was the princess who ruined everything. Who would’ve thought a mere human could destroy not only the perfected curse offered to me, but also my manifested form along with it? But in a way, I’m grateful. By shifting the blame to the princess after her death, I made sure they failed to notice the second Chosen One who brought me back from the brink of ruin and gave me freedom.”

I see... So after my death, my half brother’s mother...

“Unfortunately, to inhabit this newly made, temporary body, I had to consume her soul. A shame really. I’d never come across a person so consumed by jealousy as her. But now, nothing of her remains.”

“You wretch...” The knight captain’s rage seemed to increase tenfold. If he kept squeezing the harisen like that, it was going to snap in half.

“And so,” it continued, unfazed, “I began searching again for someone who might become the next cursed vessel. There are restrictions to manifestation, you see. Quite the nuisance. That’s when I found Sienna. With the right guidance, she had the potential to become the third Chosen One.”

“What an irredeemable load of nonsense,” Lia growled. I understood her anger. No decent person could listen to this without feeling revulsion. I felt my brow begin to crease, but I wouldn’t allow my smile to falter. I was a lady, after all.

“I thought I could use the prince there, or Sienna, to produce a new curse. This time, I was sure I’d manage a proper resurrection, and yet...” It looked at me again and let out another sigh.

Wait... The prince was nearly turned into a curse?

“Who would have imagined that this useless girl would be so difficult? A ‘master of escape,’ of all people, is what’s getting in my way.” It let out a long suffering sigh. “And just what are those ridiculous magical tools? They’re made of half-baked circuits which seem to do nothing, and yet they somehow turn into useful, sturdy weapons despite the shoddy craftsmanship...? And don’t get me started on that silly incantation you’ve created...”

I laughed. “I’m so pleased that you’ve taken notice. Shall I make you a nice helmet as my next design?”

Finally, someone had praised my work. I decided I would commemorate this by making one of those helmets that my grandchildren so loved...

“I wasn’t complimenting you, and I don’t want any of your tools.”

Hm? Why did it only sound sincere when it was rejecting me? Worse still, everyone apart from father and the prince gave me a fleeting glance that seemed to say that they agreed, and were on guard for any unwanted presents... I couldn’t fathom why.

“Why me?” It was the prince who broke the awkward tension. I suppose it was understandable that he’d want to know why he’d been targeted by a curse.

“You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” it answered. “I had no way of knowing how much of that conversation you’d overheard, and I’d always wanted to try my hand at a curse that spread like a contagion. So you were made into somewhat of an experiment.” It shrugged its shoulders. Even the prince couldn’t keep his face neutral at that. His expression grew dark.

“You already had a few years on you by the time I found you, and by then you had a level of envy that was appropriate to your age. Still, it wasn’t enough. So I thought I’d try to raise you into a worthy vessel. Thanks to that experience, I came up with the idea of trying to create a curse by combining a separate vessel and a soul to inhabit it.” It seemed quite cheerful. I knew how experimenting by oneself could grow lonely, so perhaps having someone to listen was putting it in a good mood. How needy...

“But that experiment was ruined by you too,” it said, turning back to me. “Who would have ever thought that your low magical energy paired with your unusual resistance to energy depletion would actually cause the curse to loop back around and dispel? Exceptional only in your mediocrity. I can’t fathom it. Nobody could have predicted that.”

Excuse me? The only curse I’d lifted back then was from that cute little marimo... Wait. Was it saying that cute little fluff ball was the prince?! I’d assumed it was some poor magical beast! Hm? Why was the prince now blushing and glancing my way? I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

The knight captain stepped forward. “Were you the one who manipulated Enrique, formerly of House Nilty, into interfering with the teleportation circle for the Academy’s joint subjugation exercise a few months ago and teleporting the team into the Poison Box Garden?”

It began to chuckle. “Indeed. At that point, Sienna had crossed the line into openly wishing for her foster sister’s death, and I thought it was a good time to remove her from her troublesome position as the second prince’s fiancée. If Sienna could have become betrothed to him—no, better yet, if she and the prince could reach that stage of the relationship all the more quickly—then I thought I could run an experiment of raising an ideal vessel for Chosen One from scratch. Alas, I no longer have any interest in doing that.”

Was it just me or was its presence growing thinner as it spoke?

“I managed to crush the potential of a future candidate for sacred beast,” it said, the red light climbing to its chest. “A magical beast that had yet to become self-aware, driven only by a hunger to live, its body brimming with potent magic. It was completely ignorant and innocent—a perfect container for a soul to form a curse. With the princess gone, all that’s left standing in my way are the sacred beasts. The princess was a sly one, you see. Even after enduring a lifetime of torment, she never fell to despair, and in the end, she freed every sacred beast from their contract, turning them to her side and then entrusting them with some tedious little wish before she died. Still, if even one of the beasts can fall, then the rest will follow in time. I’m very patient. I have all the time in the world.”

With that, its body turned to dust and blew away in the wind.

“Did it escape?” the knight captain asked.

“That must not have been its real body to begin with,” said father, dispelling the magic circle. He stepped over to where it had stood, and bent to pick something up. The knight captain walked over and leaned in to get a better look.

Through the gap in their tall bodies, I caught the glimpse of a thread. Most likely magic had been woven into it, animating it, and making it appear as a convincing decoy it could control from afar.

But wait...it wasn’t a thread. Its color—white pink shot through with silver... That was...

“Is that...?” the knight captain began to ask.

“It’s hair,” father answered.

“This color...”

Suddenly their expressions changed.

I could feel Lia trembling with rage atop my head. I understood her feelings... I hadn’t expected it to still be defiling Beljeanne all these years later.

“Lavi,” she growled.

“What is it, Lia?” More importantly, what was it that she’d decided? That tone of voice didn’t suit her.

“You understand, don’t you?” she asked.

“Perhaps. But there’s no reason for you to go that far...”

Mr. Armadillo, still held tightly in my arms, was barely moving now. And yet, through the mark on my right shoulder that bound us together, I could still hear his ardent will to live. I couldn’t even pretend to ignore it.

“It must be a fragment of the demon from back then,” she said through our mental link. “I’m guessing that, using Beljeanne’s cut hair, a body was made for it to temporarily inhabit. With hair that held Beljeanne’s magic, it wouldn’t have been impossible. And I have no doubt that it was that woman who made it. I’d wager it was her that the demon called the second Chosen One. Back then, we sacred beasts had withdrawn completely from the side of the royal family, and because of that, we didn’t know. I’m sorry, Lavi. This is a desecration of your body.”

“The one at fault is the queen consort. And besides—here I am, reincarnated, alive again in this world.”

So don’t you dare take on some misplaced sense of responsibility.

“But if that...thing...is showing itself, then it’s certainly placed other plans in motion. And I doubt it’s told us the whole truth. For it, a hundred or two hundred years is nothing. But you will grow old, Lavi. Your magic and strength won’t last a century.”

“Well, I won’t deny that.”

In my previous life, my stamina had taken a sharp dive by forty, and by seventy-five, illnesses had started visiting far too often.

“When my time comes, it wouldn’t do for the number of sacred beasts to dwindle any further, would it?” Lia said softly.

Only the sacred beasts could truly stand up against a demon. I knew that. And yet...

“You still have at least a hundred years ahead of you...” I whispered.

Lately, Lia had been sleeping more and more. I knew what that meant. Her lifespan was slowly coming to a close. She was the oldest of the sacred beasts, and had lived more than long enough. But sacred beasts were long-lived by nature. I’d thought she’d at least be around for the rest of my remaining lifespan.

“Lavi, I loved your ancestor, you know? Just like you, his soul had a wonderful scent, and I adored the way he would clumsily scratch under my chin. He loved his family dearly, but when I ascended, he still wished for my freedom, just like you. I fell for that man, and I made a vow: I would protect his descendants for as long as I lived.”

“What an unpleasant man to share my blood with.”

Never mind raising a magical beast to be a sacred beast, that man had shackled Lia to his bloodline. I detested him for that. Not that I’d been much better during my life as Beljeanne...but I would have to put my own sins aside for the moment.

I could feel my well-practiced lady’s smile slipping as a frown threatened.

“What’s wrong?” It appeared that my brother had noticed the slip, but I didn’t feel like answering him.

“Ah, yes, he said the same himself,” Lia said.

“He’s dying,” I said, looking down at Mr. Armadillo. “It may be too late anyway, and it’s not because I threw him.”

Lia laughed quietly. “I know. You cast protective magic on him. You used the magic and life force of that boy that nearly became the vessel to transfer your oath mark to this little one, and then forcibly severed his connection to the curse. And even though I know that your insides must feel like they’re on fire, you’re still feeding the little one magic and keeping them alive. I know you even took on a bit of their pain yourself so that they would suffer as little as possible.”

It was true. My whole body was in pain. But ignoring pain was something I’d had ample practice with as princess. This much was nothing.

“Lia, you’re far too softhearted. My ancestor has long since passed,” I said. “Don’t tell me you’re still clinging to old feelings—”

“I could say the same of you.”

Oof... She always knew exactly where to poke and prod. And this one stung.

“Listen,” I said seriously. “Fluff is justice—”

“That doesn’t mean you can just rub your face on their belly. I had to stop you earlier—what if they’d died from shock?”

“Wh-What?!” I exclaimed out loud, before I could stop myself.

“What’s wrong?!” asked the two boys at my side. Even the stern-faced knight captain and my father had turned to look at me.

“Honestly. This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Lia said. “Who would’ve thought that my dear Beljeanne would stoop to such depravity?”

Really now... At a time like this, she treated me as if I were some kind of degenerate. I felt like crying for more reasons than one.

“Anyway... Please, Lavi,” Lia begged.

After a long moment, I said, “Fine. But...this time, I’ll be the one waiting. So come back to me soon.”

Lia huffed, “I will.” She spread her wings as if to comfort me, pressing her head against mine and rubbing affectionately.

“Milady?” I looked up when I heard the prince’s confused voice. He was staring at me—no, my head—in shock.

“How long have you been wearing that ostentatious wig?!” my brother exclaimed. “No, wait, is that a bird?!”

His surprise was understandable. With Lia manifesting herself atop my head, she could easily be mistaken for an elaborate wig.

“Is that a sacred beast?!” the knight captain exclaimed as he took a step toward me.

“I’ll be borrowing her for a moment!” Lia said.

“Laviange?!”

I thought I heard my brother shout my name, but then, with a sharp flap of her wings, Lia teleported us to the secret room in the Academy that I’d favored since my days as a princess.

Lounging on the sofa, and about halfway through the bear-rabbit meat I’d left behind, was Cas. When his eyes flicked past us, his scowl deepened.

“Oh, Lavi and the bird... You brought something back with you...”

Honestly, we had plenty of bear-rabbit meat left at the log house, and yet here he was snacking on my portion. Still, it was impossible to stay mad at a literal white ball of fluff in the middle of a snack.

But more importantly, what did he mean...? Oh my, what’s this?

“Milady...”

I turned to find two tall men standing behind me.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Lia said. “I honestly thought that Beljeanne’s magic would keep them out.”

“Father? Your Highness...? How did you— Ah, the feathers...”

Right, I’d given both of them a harisen and the seals. I’d only given all that to them as new fuel for my daydreams... Who would have guessed they would serve as an entry pass?

※※※※

“You have golden rings...”

“I suppose I do.”

Having thought that I’d teleported to a safe place, I’d dispelled the glamour I usually placed over my eyes, so the golden rings around my irises must have been plain to see now. Normally, I had the sacred beasts suppress my magic, but I’d now returned to my normal levels to give Mr. Armadillo an extra dose of magic. It was enough for him to perk up and start making noise again.

“Gyaa...”

As for the usually hidden sacred beasts, I was now the one supplementing their magic for a change. Given a little time, the damage my body had taken would heal as my magic recovered.

“So, I was right... You’ve been hiding quite a bit,” father remarked.

“Oh my, you’d noticed?” And here I’d thought that he’d held no real interest in me. My word. So he’d known all along and said nothing?

“I hadn’t noticed the golden rings. Though the Robur family carries royal blood in its veins through marriage,” he explained, “so it isn’t entirely surprising. When you were still in your mother’s womb, I sensed an impossible surge of magical energy and a strong will that wouldn’t be bound by anything. That was when I saw that you would bear a blessing-name. And I twice caught that white puppy over there waiting until your mother was asleep to speak to her belly. I was able to piece some things together after that.”

“I’m a fox,” Cas said. “Hmph, but I guess that goes to show that you truly are Lavi’s father.” Oh, Cas. Even when he wore a prim little expression to keep up appearances, his tail was puffed right up.

“Pfft,” Lia laughed. “You probably just got overexcited after discovering Lavi, and threw all caution out the window.”

“I did not! I was just totally caught up in Lavi, that’s all! Now move it already, bird!” Cas said, launching a flying fox kick at the top of my head. Embarrassed at being called out, were we? I was able to dodge the kick with grace and catch him with my free hand as he flew past.

I chuckled. “That makes me happy, Cas. But for now, let Lia have my head, won’t you? We’re running out of time.”

He must have sensed that I wanted to remain close to Lia for even a little while longer, because he obediently climbed up onto my shoulder and settled in with a gentle plop. Ahh... The feeling of his fluff against my cheek was pure bliss.

“Hmph,” he huffed. “Are you serious, bird? You do realize that this will put a burden on Lavi too, don’t you?”

“I’m serious,” Lia responded. “And even if it puts a burden on her, it’ll be nothing dangerous—not like what the dragon put her through. This time, we’ll all be with her. And unlike the dragon, this child isn’t jaded—in fact, the poor thing sees Lavi as a motherly figure. There won’t be any fighting against her. And this child has gotten used to her magic, even without having been with her for long.”

She paused as she looked at the armadillo in my arm, then sighed. “There’s no strong will to protect someone, but that can’t be helped. I’ll have to take care of that part. But enough of that—you’ve been watching everything anyway, haven’t you? Don’t think I didn’t see you stress eating bear-rabbit meat.”

That got Cas ticked off again. “Hmph, you nagging old mother hen. Lavi, shall we call the dragon?”

“Yes, let’s. Lag, can you come—”

“Already here.”

“Quick as always,” I said with a giggle.

Lag coiled his body around my waist and rested his chin on my free shoulder. Ahh... The feeling of his silky mane against my cheek...delightful. They were all trying to comfort me... Perhaps now I could rub my face...

“No!” all three yelled in unison.

“?!” I jolted in surprise. Of all times, now was when they chose to be in sync?! How did they even know what I was thinking?!

“Sacred beasts... Three of them...” the prince murmured as he watched them. “And one is Casquette, who completely disappeared so long ago... And yet they all look so joyful...”

Father’s eyes seemed to soften as he watched me by the prince’s side.

“Hmph. Because it’s Lavi,” Lag said, puffing out his chest. “Bird, are you serious—” He’d begun to speak to Lia, but he must’ve noticed the meat Cas had been snacking on. A smidgen of killing intent began to seep into the air. “Fox, is that my meat...?”

“Hmph.” The white ball of fluff turned his head away in an unbearably cute huff.

“It’s fine,” I said, trying to calm the situation. “Lag, you helped me a lot by tenderizing the meat, so I set aside plenty of it just for you. And there’s some for Lia too— Oh...” I trailed off sadly when I remembered, and Lia pressed her head against me again, rubbing gently.

“Lavi...I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I’ll keep some saved for you...so don’t be too long...”

“Of course. I already can’t wait to see you again.”

After a long moment, I was finally able to calm down.

“All right then, let’s get this over with,” Lia said. “From here on, it’s a race against the clock. We need to keep focused. And the two of you better swear to not try to interfere or go blabbing,” she added, turning to my father and the prince. “If you do, we’ll just have to rewrite your memories.”

And Lia wasn’t the only one threatening them—the other two sacred beasts had turned cold glares on them as well.

“We swear,” both of the outsiders answered. Neither of them seemed to be the least bit rattled. In fact, was that a gleam I detected in father’s eyes?

It brought to mind the bright, sparkling eyes of one of my great-grandchildren toddling headlong toward the family cat. Of course, in terms of cuteness, my great-grandchild won by a landslide. My angel could hardly lose. But it did remind me that before being a duke or even a father, I suspected that father was, at heart, a lover of magic.

“Please, pay us no mind,” he said. “You can do with us what you will. We could even seal it with a vow of silence if you wish. Now, hurry.”

Yes, a magic-obsessed fanatic whose first concern was seeing what was going to happen. The sacred beasts all gave him a look reserved only for things that were deeply disappointing. For some reason, they seemed to keep glancing between him and me... I couldn’t fathom why.

“Truly, like father, like daughter,” one of them murmured.

I suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable. Father, of course, wasn’t bothered in the slightest. I, however, refused to accept being lumped in with him.

Father turned to me. “Laviange, are you not going to make us swear an oath? You said you were pressed for time.”

I paused. “Yes, that is true. But I see no need to go as far as pact magic.”

“I see...” And why, exactly, did he sound disappointed? “That spider lily mark on the rat’s shoulder—you were the one who put it there, weren’t you?”

“You noticed. Quite so. It was originally on Heinz Asche’s shoulder, but I dissolved our pact and transferred only the mark. But surely there’s no need to use pact magic on the two of you, is there? Keep pestering me, though, and I will have you thrown out.”

He looked at me. “Hmph.”

At last, father fell silent. Yet the sacred beasts and the prince continued to give us that same look, eyes darting between the two of us as though comparing something deeply regrettable.

“Truly like father, like daughter,” they all said in unison.

“Gya! Gya!” Oh dear, Mr. Armadillo suddenly began to cry.

“I’m sorry, little one. I haven’t forgotten you.”

Cas and Lag floated away from me, gliding toward the center of the room as if beckoning for me to follow. As I did, I slipped my hands under the armadillo’s forelegs so I could look into that dear little face. Tears spilled down his cheeks, so pitiful it made my protective instincts flare.

“Am I...going to die? I don’t want to die. Mama said...live.” He couldn’t speak aloud in his beast form; instead, the images in his mind took shape as words in mine. Not quite telepathy, but close enough.

“That depends on you,” I replied. “But I will help you as best I can.”

I shifted him carefully in my arms and stroked his head, channeling more magic through the mark linking us. He had quite deep magical reserves—filling them would be no quick task.

“It’s warm. Like mama’s tummy. Back then...I could sleep so peacefully.”

“I see.”

“Mama hid me...then she was gone.”

“I see.”

In the images that reached me, I saw a riverbank. He was much smaller then, with a softer carapace. Another armadillo—surely his mother—had hastily covered him with leaves, before running off crying. She either had had almost no magic to begin with, or had spent it all giving birth. Several sets of footsteps chased after her—likely carnivorous magical beasts looking for the easy prey of a mother and child. What became of the mother after that was unclear. But by the next day, when no one had come for him, the little one had wandered the riverbank, hungry, and fallen in when trying to drink.

So that was what had led Lia’s kin to spot him bobbing along downstream.

Desperate to survive, he’d used all his magic to grow quickly, armoring the edges of his carapace with conjured plating and sealing himself inside. In his desperation to build a stronger carapace, he’d trapped himself inside, unable to get out. The demon must have found him after that, likely drawn by his vast reserves of magic.

“First, let’s strengthen the protective magic around this space,” I said. As things stood, the room wouldn’t withstand Mr. Armadillo’s ascension.

“I’ll put up a barrier,” Lag volunteered.

“Please do.”

Lag turned silver and began to float around the room. The air in the room, which was roughly the size of two elementary school classrooms put together, grew cooler as his barrier sealed it off from the outside world. Now, no one would be able to enter or leave—except, of course, the other sacred beasts and me.

“This is...incredible,” said the prince.

“I see...” Father nodded. “A barrier specialized in absorbing and nullifying magical energy.”

Then, suddenly, father’s magic began to swell. What was he...?

Whoosh!

Father suddenly summoned a great swirl of flame and then unleashed it at the wall. It didn’t burn, of course; the barrier simply absorbed it.

“I see...” he said, his eyes sparkling as he kept on blasting the wall longer than strictly necessary. The prince beside him looked utterly appalled.

“Hey, I’ll toss you out,” Lag growled.

“Show some restraint,” huffed Cas.

“Aren’t you a little too full of curiosity?” Lia put in.

All three had their share to say, but in the end it was Lia who flapped her wings and cut off the flames. Fire was her specialty, after all.

I silently apologized in my heart for my father being like this.

“Hmph.” Father looked positively sullen. He reminded me of one of my grandchildren.

“Father, may I suggest that you just watch quietly? Lag really will throw you out.”

Ah, suddenly I felt those same pitying gazes aimed toward me. I looked and saw that once again the sacred beasts and the prince were looking between father and me as if looking at something very disappointing.

“Truly...like father, like daughter.”

Tch, how insulting. I was a much more well-behaved child than that.

Ahem. “Now then, Mr. Armadillo?”

“Gya!”

Yes, a swift change of subject was clearly called for, and the adorable little reply helped me feel a little better.

“You’ve grown attuned to my magic now. Shall we form a contract?”

“Contract? How do we do that?”

“Would you accept the name I give you?”

“What name?”

The three sacred beasts suddenly drew in a sharp breath. Whatever for?

“Well, you’re an armadillo, so how about Jiro—”

“It’s a girl, Lavi!” Lia interrupted, with a peck to the top of my head.

“Oww!” I dropped into a crouch, rubbing the spot furiously to dull the pain.

Lia took off from my head and flapped about in an indignant display. Even through my tears of pain, I noticed that she had at some point put on her scrunchie.

“I knew it,” said Lag.

“She has no naming sense,” Cas sighed.

What did he mean, “no naming sense”?! I just hadn’t realized it was a girl! In my previous life, it was quite traditional to name boys Jiro, Taro, or things like that, thank you very much!

The spot where she’d pecked me still stung. She’d really laid into me.

“A retort straight to the skull...” I said, wincing. “So Mr. Armadillo was a girl all along...”

“She’s my successor, Lavi,” Lia said sternly. “You do understand, don’t you?” The little bird hovered right in front of my face, baring her teeth—well, beak—like some carnivore ready to pounce.

“Milady...”

“Laviange...”

The men across the room were giving me exasperated looks as well. Father’s gaze, in particular, was hard to stomach.

“What’s my name?”

Ah, those big, trusting eyes...they stirred up no small amount of guilt in me.

“Well...under normal circumstances, you’d have lost your life when you fell into the river. Yet you survived and became strong... How about Diana?” A name from Roman mythology, representing vitality and the moon.

“Even if you’re stealing it from somewhere else, that’s pretty good for you, Lavi, considering your usual lack of naming sense.”

Cas...? That was supposed to be a compliment, right? And, Lag, don’t think I didn’t hear that sigh of relief from behind me.

“I’m Diana!”

“You like it?”

“Yes! Diana’s perfect! Thank you!”

The unguarded, sincere response made her painfully dear to me. She soothed my heart. Ah...and this soft, fluffy belly fur was in perfect contrast to that hard carapace on her back. I couldn’t resist diving my face right in—

“Lavi!” exclaimed the three sacred beasts in unison. At some point they’d surrounded us, floating in the air. Why did they always have to be so quick to notice?

Feigning composure, I swiftly summoned beneath my feet every magic circle needed for the ascension, one for each affinity.

People, magical beasts, and even sacred beasts each had strengths and weaknesses dictated by their magical affinity. The magic one’s body produced was almost always skewed toward certain elements. In this life, I’d originally had strong affinities for water, wind, holy, and dark magic, along with weaker affinities for fire and earth. After a great deal of training I’d mostly balanced my affinities out, but for most, balancing out their strong and weak affinities was near impossible.

The prince drew a sharp breath, while father looked utterly fascinated. Naturally, I ignored them both.

“Will you make a contract with me?”

“If I do, can I stay together with you? You won’t disappear, like mama?”

I slipped my hands under her soft white-gray sides and gently bumped our foreheads together. “Yes. Until death parts us, I will raise you and stay by your side.”

This was powerful pact magic. It would allow me to supply her with my own magic and life force so she could ascend into a sacred beast. If she failed, I would die with her.

“Yes! Together forever! I’m so happy!”

Somewhere far off, I heard a heavy clunking sound, like a gear turning. Our magic tangled together and bound itself tight. The pact was now sealed.

“I’m happy too.”

There was no need for this innocent little one, so full of joy, to know the truth about the danger she faced. After all, even Lag, who’d rejected all of humanity due to the actions of my half brother, had been able to ascend in the end. It had been difficult, even with the help of his wife and Cas, but we’d managed it. This child was purehearted; compared to Lag’s trials and tribulations, it would surely be easier. I was certain she would succeed.

I channeled magic into each of the circles at my feet, focusing on one element at a time to activate them. The arrays flared in a rainbow of colors, glowing softly as they began to rotate around us.

“Repeat what I say, but use your own name and declare it of your own will.”

“I will!”

Even though this was my second time doing this ritual, it still demanded a great deal of magic and focus. But I could feel all the sacred beasts bound to me lending their strength, helping me to endure it.

“I, Laviange Yevina Robur, swear upon my name to guard and sustain Diana with all my power, and to remain by her side, always.” Just as father had said, I had been born with a blessing-name, Yevina; the exact same one as Beljeanne before me.

“I, Diana, swear upon my name to guard and sustain Laviange Yevina Robur with all my power, and to remain by her side, always.”

As the magic circles flared one by one, Diana echoed my vow. Her eyes shifted from red to the same dark blue as mine, flecked with gold. The pact between us had been irrevocably sealed. Now came the real work.

With a sharp pull, a great surge of magic drained from me. The magic circle that glowed white gold blazed brighter, and through the spider lily mark I’d placed on her, my magic streamed into Diana.

“Wow...”

“Bestow the blessing of the holy upon Diana.”

Another wave of magic drained from me, the black-silver circle flaring before its light was pulled into her.

“Bestow the blessing of the dark upon Diana.”

She accepted my magic without the slightest resistance, proof that she truly trusted me. That by itself made this far easier than when I’d done this with Lag.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Lag looking guilty. He had no need to be. With royal blood in her veins, Beljeanne’s magic reserves had been nearly as deep as mine. And more importantly, the magical affinities of her body had been perfectly balanced right from the start. That was why there had always been a good chance of success in making Lag a sacred beast.

“Laviange...”

Now came the blessings of the water in blue silver and the wind in green silver, one after the other. Gradually, Diana’s expression turned uncertain.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course.” Still, it was getting harder to keep my composure; I could feel the first beads of cold sweat forming.

But now it was time for the greatest test of all.

Of my natural affinities, fire and earth had been my weakest. Of course, the fact that I had strong affinities for four elements, and at least weak affinities for the other two, was remarkable in itself. Perhaps you could even say that was proof enough of my direct descent from one of the Four Houses.

“Diana.” With a flap of her wings, Lia landed on my shoulder and faced the young magical beast I’d only just named. “From here on, I’ll be supporting Lavi while passing my sacred power to you,” she told her. “What you’re about to see will be hard for a young one who knows little of the outside world. But you mustn’t forget that Lavi and the rest of us will be right here with you.”

“Will it be scary? Will it hurt?” Now that I was linked to her emotions, I could feel the fear behind her question.

The succession of a sacred beast from one generation to the next passed on not only power, but memories as well. And Lia was a special case. She had been the first sacred beast of this kingdom. Diana would be inheriting the bloodsoaked memories of the founding.

On top of that, it was hard to imagine the power that the original bond between her and my ancestor held. They had managed to have Lia ascend without any predecessor’s help. In either the current ritual or Lag’s, it would have been impossible for me to pull off the ritual without the help of a sacred beast.

I could feel Diana trembling in my hands. Of course she was. Until recently, she’d been rotting alive, on the brink of death. That pain and fear would still be raw in her memory. I needed to focus on her now.

“It’s all right. You’re not alone anymore.” I spoke the words in my heart as I shifted my hold on her, hugging her close. She curled up into a tight ball, like a sphere in my arms. After a little while, the trembling faded. She was a good girl.

“I’m sure it will be scary, and maybe it will hurt,” Lia said. “But listen well, Diana. It isn’t enough for you to just let Lavi protect you. You must also protect yourself. And I want you to use the power I’m passing to you to protect not only the Lavi of today, but also the Lavi of long ago who lived while carrying her wounds.”

Lia rubbed herself against my cheek. She was the sacred beast who had sworn an oath to my ancestor to protect his descendants for generations to come. Surely, just as I held no grudge toward the royal family and Sharona’s descendants, she held no grudge against me.

Thank goodness. I was grateful.

Intrigued by Lia’s words, the little ball opened slightly, Diana’s face peeking out. “I must protect myself and Laviange?”

Lia hopped down my arm to Diana, before deftly hooking the scrunchie from her own neck onto the younger beast’s.

“That’s right. Lavi hasn’t only sworn her magic to your protection, but also her life. So you must learn to protect yourself and gain the strength to protect your new mother this time. That way, you won’t be alone until she passes of old age.”

“I don’t want...to be left behind anymore. I will protect Laviange.”

“That’s a good girl. Lavi, set her down.”

I did as instructed, lowering Diana to the center of the two remaining magic circles. Stepping back two paces, I watched as Lia expanded from the size of a small bird into something the size of a crane, landing before Diana with her back to me.

Enveloped in the glow of five colors with crimson at its base, in this form Lia reminded me of the phoenix I’d read about in my previous life—though I’d never seen that legendary creature in the flesh, of course. She craned her neck to touch the spider lily on Diana’s carapace. Slowly, both the carapace and the fire magic circle beneath her began to glow crimson. In turn, the light enveloping Lia’s wings began to fade away.

Tears welled in Diana’s round eyes, spilling freely down her cheeks. She must have touched the oldest of Lia’s memories, and the new emotions they stirred were already pushing her young mind toward growth. It would take time for her to fully digest them, but her reaction told me that she had a pure heart. Some of it could have come from Vamillia’s deeply loving personality already working its influence on her, yes, but I could also tell that she was desperately trying to take in what was being given to her.

All of us were now pouring our magic into her, each powerful in a way that only came from living a long life. As for the vitality that formed the very root of that power, Diana already possessed that in spades, born from her fierce will to survive. Once Diana successfully inherited Lia’s power, the rest of the ascension would depend on the two of us.

“Lavi.” Lia turned her head to me. Her radiance had left her, and her feathers had lost their luster, the once vivid crimson now a muted red.

I hesitated. “Yes.”

When I looked at Diana, I saw that her once white-gray shell and fur now bore a faint flush of scarlet. She lay sleeping. She must have been exhausted.

“Lia...are you truly sure about this?”

“Of course I am. Let’s finish this.”

“I... I see. Yes, you’re right.”

I knew that once the fire affinity circle was fully activated, Lia would...

So before that...

“Sacred Beast Vamillia.” I lowered myself, resting my right knee and left fist on the ground, placing my right hand over my heart and bowing my head. This was the highest gesture of respect that a pact-bearer could give a sacred beast who’d decided to end their life in order to entrust their role to the next generation.

I heard shuffling behind me, and knew that father and the prince—realizing what I was doing—had mirrored me, bending the opposite knee and arm, bowing their heads. That was the correct posture for paying your respects to your superior.

“I offer you the gratitude of all, from our distant ancestor down to our generation, for the years of affection, for your trust, and above all, for the time we’ve shared together.”

For a moment, she didn’t reply. “The pleasure was mine,” she said at last. “Thank you.”

When Lia hopped close to me, I rose to my knees and embraced her. “I pray that we may meet again in my lifetime, Lia... Let the wheel of rebirth bring us back together.”

“I hope the same, Lavi.”

“I’ll do my best to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.”

“And I, as well.”

Telling myself that this was only a temporary farewell, and I let myself take a moment to come to terms with it before I stood again.

“Vamillia Lavi.” I called her by her full, formal name, which bore a part of my own, given to her as her pact-bearer. “This is my first and last command. Burn your flame of life, and together with me, bestow your blessing upon your successor, Diana.”

With my naturally low affinity for fire, my magic circle alone couldn’t raise a young magical beast into a sacred beast. No matter how much I’d trained, the quality of magic simply wasn’t there. That was why I needed a sacred beast specialized in that element to fill the gap.

And because the magic circle was mine, it could only be reinforced through magic given to me through command. I had thought I would go my whole life without ever giving an order to one of my sacred beasts...

“Of course, Laviange—my final master. Take my love!”

Even as she spoke, her avian form wavered, and in an instant she became a great bird of living flame. The magic circle flared in the fire’s colors. The flames carried no heat, nor could they harm us. They were simply warm, like being embraced in Lia’s feathers.

I slid my hands under the unconscious Diana’s forelegs and lifted her. The crimson-silver magic circle blazed with phoenix fire, flaring bright before vanishing, its power drawn into her through the mark.

I caught my breath. “Bestow the blessing of the fire...upon Diana.”

Even with a sacred beast’s aid, releasing so much magic of an element I had so little affinity for, while also refining its quality, was far more taxing on my body than I’d imagined. I was gasping for breath... Even speaking was an effort.

On top of that...the hollow ache that came with the sudden loss of my pact with Lia threatened to send my emotions into a spiral.

“Laviange.” The two remaining sacred beasts called out my full name.

Yes, I knew what must be done.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. I couldn’t afford to lose focus now. There was still one magic circle left, and unlike the others, this one wouldn’t be so easy to blend with Diana’s magic.

Diana’s strongest affinity was earth. That was why I’d applied the blessing of fire directly before this, to let it blend so it could act as a catalyst. Only once that had been done, and I’d offered the earth’s blessing alongside the sacred power Lia entrusted to me, could Diana truly ascend into sacred beasthood.

I hugged her tightly, letting a thin veil of my magic wrap around her small body. The protective enchantments I’d placed on the scrunchie at her neck activated as well, helping the magic to meld together.

Once the magic melded, I heard a small, youthful voice say, “Laviange?”

Perhaps due to Lia’s power, Diana was now able to speak in human words. Her voice was innocent and utterly adorable.

“Good morning, Diana.”

“Good morning. Um, I, Diana—no, Dia—wish to stay with you forever. Is that okay?”

“Of course. And you may call me Lavi, Dia.”

“Thank goodness! Oh, and Aunt Lia said she’ll come back someday, so look forward to it! But if you get lonely, I’ll make it better!” With that, Dia stretched up and nuzzled her face against my cheek.

“Are you an angel?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. My heart was positively aching from the sweetness! Was this enough cuteness to be a lethal dose? The soft fur brushing my neck was clearly inviting me. And why shouldn’t I? The meddlesome mother hen was gone, I was heartbroken, and here Dia was, comforting me! Surely I was allowed to snuggle her a little, maybe bury my face in the fluff and take the tiniest...

“Absolutely not!” came the voices of the other two sacred beasts.

How did they always know? Sacred beasts were entirely too observant.

“You’re a pervert, ain’t you? Let’s keep it going, yeah?” rang a voice in my head cheerfully, accompanied by some kind of music that sounded like it was being played on some natural instrument. It was a telepathic nudge from the sacred beast whose help I needed to channel the earth magic circle.

Wait, was I truly going to be treated as some degenerate here too?!

“Lavi, finish it before he actually gets curious enough to come here in person!” Cas warned. Lag nodded vigorously in agreement.

“He...?” the prince asked.

“Hm?” father said with a curious look on his face.

It appeared as if they had picked up on the urgency in Cas’s voice.

“Lavi? Was that an angel? Are they here to get Aunt Lia?”

Ah, my heart nearly melted on the spot. At this rate, I’d be the one who would need an angel to come get them. But no, I had to keep it together!

“Well, he might be around, but I don’t think he’s here yet,” I replied. “I suppose we should move to the next step. Listen, Dia. Now I’m going to activate the earth magic circle. To strengthen our affinity, I’m going to give you a command. When I do, answer by shouting that you want to stay with me forever, with all the love you can muster. Just saying something like ‘I love you’ will do nicely.”

“Got it! I’ll shout!”

I chuckled. It was time for Operation Ascension: Love and Peace!

“Is shouting really necessary...?” asked Cas. “That command feels suspiciously self-serving.”

“Maybe I’ll shout it too,” muttered Lag.

“Don’t even try it, dragon. If anyone’s going to shout alongside her, it’ll be me.”

Oh my, were the fluff balls fighting over little old me?

Cas caught my glance. “I’m not really going to shout! Get to it already!”

“Utter rejection...?” I muttered, hurt. But he was right.

Unlike with Lia, who specialized in fire magic, we had no sacred beast specialized solely in earth magic. Which meant I needed to use both Cas, who held an affinity for earth, and our string-strumming sacred beast guest.

“Casquette Bel Tsukina Lavi. Drogolena Lavi. Lend your strength to the blessing I bestow.” Since he’d been contracted to me since my time as a princess, Cas had a particularly long name.

“Leave it to me!”

“Leave it to me!”

Unlike Lia, these two weren’t passing on their power to Dia. All they needed was for her to absorb their magic. So the way I phrased the command was, by necessity, different.

The final magic circle flared yellow silver, and at once my heart wrenched with a harsh, grating pain.

“Ghh—”

Not good... Just a little more...

“Lavi?!”

I heard Dia’s anxious voice coming from where I held her, but my vision was already blurring. I clung desperately to consciousness, my face betraying more than I wanted it to. But then—

“Honestly, this girl... Come now, just grit your teeth and hold fast, Lavi.”

It was Lia. Her voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away.

Yes. I wouldn’t let her sacrifice be wasted. I had to endure.

Suddenly, magic other than the sacred beasts’ flowed into me. The crushing weight on my heart eased. But now wasn’t the time to question who it came from. If I was going to finish this, it had to be now. I just needed to hold fast!

I forced every last drop of magic I had into the circle, letting Diana draw it in all at once.

“Diana Lavi!” The command tore out of my throat, ragged. “Receive the blessing of the earth and ascend!”

“Now we’ll always be together! I love you, mama!” she yelled in her adorable voice, and in that instant, Diana’s body was enveloped in rainbow light with silver at its base. The scrunchie around her neck burned and disappeared. From deep within her small frame, dense magic welled up in a spiraling torrent, heat surging into my hands where I held her.

“Lavi!” Cas yelled.

Now in his larger form, he struck my hands away from her with one of his tails, and then wrapped all of them around me, shielding me from the light and soothing where it burned me.

Of course—Dia must have inherited Lia’s phoenix fire.

A glance toward father and the prince showed that Lag was shielding them with a barrier of water. Both men, I noticed, still had their harisen tucked into their belts.

And then...the light faded. And in the center of the room, sat an armadillo now large enough to fill half the chamber. Her once white-gray body had turned crimson, her carapace gleaming with the five-colored brilliance that had belonged to the holy beast Vamillia.

“We did it...”

With those words, my consciousness slipped away.

6: (Several Weeks After the Incident) It All Began with a Claim for Recompense

“Have you recovered?”

“Yes.”

Seated across from me in the room I’d been taken to was none other than Dario Asche. With his grim face and a physique built from years of discipline, he looked every inch a captain of knights.

When I’d awoken, after collapsing when Dia ascended into a sacred beast, I’d found that there were only two days of summer vacation left. Worse still, it was already evening. When my brother’s chief butler had told me, I’d promptly crumpled to my knees. I had slept away two whole weeks.

Still, I swore that I would be attending classes on the first day. Mihail had, of course, protested, but nothing could stop me from getting perfect attendance and its prize, the legendary Triple-S Special.

“But you don’t look as though you’ve been sleeping well.”

“Starting tomorrow, I fully intend to sleep properly.”

Between the return to school and all the things that needed doing, a little lack of sleep couldn’t be helped. But I refused to grant the dark circles threatening under my eyes permanent residence. My body was still young, after all.

“So then, what is this request so important that you needed to visit me in person?”

At last, we were getting to the point. The man was surely busy enough without me loitering around.

“I’d like for you to give me your son,” I said.

“My son? Which one?”

“Your third one.”

His eyes narrowed. “Taking into account the offenses that wretch has heaped upon you, and that he is now quite useless besides, I can’t imagine that taking in such refuse would be anything but a burden on you, milady.”

Naturally, he was suspicious. Understandably so. The boy was a disaster—he had been in the days when he brimmed with righteous zeal, and he still was now, languishing in the dormitory like some hermit.

“It’s simply a matter of him being in the right place at the right time,” I explained. “I hear he’s now given up on becoming a knight after graduation, and more to the point, he’s grown so paranoid he can hardly bear to show his face in public. But it’s his last year at the Academy and his attendance for the first term wasn’t so bad, so even if he misses some classes here and there, he should be able to graduate all the same.” A wry smile formed on my face. “What a relief that must be for you. I hear that he’s set to be completely cast out of your house once he graduates.” I drew a notebook from my bag and placed it where he could see.

“This is...” he said as his eyes passed over it. “Where did you get this?” Oh my. From his tone, it was clear that he already knew the notebook existed.

“I happened to acquire it by accident.”

“By accident... Ah. It’s my son’s, then.”

Hm? Just who had he thought it belonged to? And that relief after he flipped through a few of the pages... Wait. Could it be? No, never mind. Probably best not to ask. Though I was terribly curious.

“That it is,” I confirmed.

“And what exactly are you trying to say, showing me this?”

“It was precisely because I saw what was within this notebook that I found myself wanting your son. How should I explain...? Well, let’s call it recompense for all the times he insulted and berated me, both in public and in private, even though he may have only been following the prince’s example.”

At that, one of his well-kept eyebrows raised sharply. Ah, did that make him wary?

“I’m not asking for monetary compensation,” I added. “Just the boy himself will suffice. Surely you cannot pretend the House of Asche was ignorant of its son’s misdeeds, can you? Rest assured: Give him to me, and I shall consider this matter settled. Just as before, I have no intention of making anything public.”

“I’d been told that your own head of house considered the matter already settled...”

“I received this,” I said, retrieving a folded piece of paper from my breast pocket, “from the head of my house, with instructions to deliver it to you.”

The paper gave a faint rustle as I opened it. It bore a single sentence: Give my daughter what she wants.

I’d stopped by for a visit to the Mage’s Tower before coming here, and told father that I’d be asking the knight captain for recompense. He simply wrote this down and handed it to me, without even asking what I was going to request.

Was that truly the best way to handle it, father? Well, I supposed he was never particularly interested in these things to begin with.

Duke Asche sighed.

“Very well. But know this—he will be bound by a spell pact to never again bear the name of Asche, nor walk the path of a knight. Even if you wed him, milady, there would be no advantage in it for you.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “Wed him...?”

He tilted his head right back at me. “Is that not your intent?”

We sat there a moment, staring at each other in silence. What a strange situation.

“It...seems I was mistaken,” he said at last. “I confess, it did make me wonder for a moment if you just had appalling taste. Tell me, then, what is your purpose?”

Yes, quite the spectacular misunderstanding. Though I did now recall a scene in a drama where someone had said to their partner’s parents, “Give me your son.” I supposed my phrasing had not been ideal...

“Like I said, I want him. Exile may await him, yes, but that will not happen until after he graduates. Until then, he remains here in the kingdom, correct? I’m sure he was given that leniency out of the love a parent has for their child—or perhaps you just wished to keep an eye on him. Which it is, of course, I cannot say.”

“And? What of it?”

Oh my, was he trying to intimidate me? Naturally, I ignored the attempt.

“Well, first of all, we’ve all been ordered to remain silent on the matter of the demon and the curse. To the public at large, we were all simply swept up in an inexplicable case of mass magical depletion. Most conveniently, if that is the official explanation, then no one can be held at fault. The former foster daughter of House Robur is no exception. Furthermore, if there can be no public punishment for her, then what was decided regarding the incident in the Poison Box Garden cannot be overturned.”

Again, one of his thick eyebrows twitched. Of course. The matter regarding Asche’s trip to that forest alongside the second prince had never been made public.

“But surely we cannot know for how long these explanations will be accepted, can we?” I asked. “And besides, I personally do not trust him.”

“Meaning?”

“Simply that I wish to avoid the risk of someone using him as a means to interfere with me. I am, after all, this kingdom’s sole pact-bearer with sacred beasts—the first since the death of Princess Beljeanne.”

Incidentally, no one outside of those who had been in that secret room knew the truth about Dia. And I’d used my trump card to cover up what happened to poor Lia; I’d had father report that she’d died of old age.

“That is why I would have House Asche relinquish all claim to him and all matters concerning him, effective immediately. I am, of course, well aware he is to be cast out after graduation, which is precisely why I have come to make this request.”

After all, I wanted to put him to use without delay, as well as avoid any inconvenient revelations he might make.

“I see. So, even if House Asche were to discover some use for him, you would have us neither revoke his exile nor reinstate him. And should the boy himself try to crawl back, we are to turn him away. Is that it?”

“Precisely. Even if you would never allow such a thing to happen while you’re head of house, who can say what may happen in the future?”

The atmosphere in the room seemed to chill. Was he trying to intimidate me again? Perhaps he’d caught on that I was implying that he might be tempted to step down to make that happen.

“Besides,” I added, “I have no intention of trusting House Asche, and surely the feeling is mutual, is it not?”

He looked at me. “Oh?”

The mood seemed to become even more tense, but rather than cower at the knight captain’s attempts at intimidation, I simply maintained my ladylike smile. After a few tense moments, he let out a long sigh, and the tension ebbed away.

“You know, I’d heard tales that you were a talentless, useless noblewoman, long mocked by the second prince and his clique, always running away from her duty, shirking her education, and cruelly oppressing her foster sister.”

I chuckled. “Some of that is true. I won’t deny it,” I admitted.

“I know your father, Duke Robur, well enough. So seeing that he dismissed such rumors out of hand, I never put much stock in them. And yet, you rarely see such a gulf between rumor and reality,” he remarked. “Very well. In any case, I had intended to make amends, as a father, for my son’s offenses against you. His tuition and board have already been paid through to graduation, and so long as he remains at the Academy, House Asche will cover his expenses until the year’s end. But from this moment forward, we wash our hands of him completely—this I swear to you. After graduation, he will receive no aid whatsoever. And as of today, he is struck from our house records.”

I nodded. “You have my gratitude. I apologize for intruding upon your work. With that, I shall take my leave.”

“Allow me to see you out,” he said, beginning to rise from his desk.

“Oh, no need. I came without so much as a word of notice, which was most discourteous of me. Please, don’t trouble yourself.”

“Hah. So you did. Then take care on your way home.”

I had been discourteous from the start, and toward one of the Four Dukes and the captain of the Royal Knights, no less. I needed to show that I knew my place. With my smile still fixed in place, I departed the knight captain’s chambers, which were located in the Knight’s Tower on the castle grounds.

The last time I’d come to the castle had been to meet my former fiancé. That day, I’d ended up slipping out alone through the garden before heading home.

“Did I play hide-and-seek well enough?” Dia asked sweetly through our mental connection. She’d been perched on my head all along.

Her control over her magic was still raw, so a delicate spell like concealment was tough for her. Father had, of course, seen through it immediately. Still, little by little, Dia was learning to control her power, gaining practice with each attempt.

“You did splendidly,” I told her.

The knight captain had very nearly caught on as well, so I’d helped her out a bit. But I kept that to myself. She was still young, after all. It was best to praise her and let her grow.

Anyway, today I had come to the castle in the same carriage Sienna had once used for school, which meant I needed to cross to the opposite side of the castle to reach the carriage stop to leave.

One problem, though. Ever since I’d stepped out of the Knight’s Tower, I’d felt someone’s eyes following me. And now I could feel that someone approaching me.

It seemed they’d finally gathered the courage to speak.

“Well, if it isn’t Mihail’s little sister. It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?”

“My, what a surprise. It has been a while, Lord Nilty.”

The one who’d addressed me so casually was none other than the eldest son and heir to House Nilty, Wharton Nilty. With milk-tea-colored hair and greenish-gray eyes, the very shade of the previous queen consort’s, he remained as singular in presence as ever.

I supposed if I were to cast him using an archetype from my previous life, I’d say he played the part of a frivolous playboy. Yet there was something about him that suggested he was a man who missed very little. If I recalled correctly, he was three years older than my brother.

“Please, call me Wharton,” he said. “Did you have business with the Knights?”

“I’d finally decided what I wanted in recompense, so I came to negotiate.”

“Ah, for the third son’s excesses, no doubt. But why now?”

Though the matter concerned another house, he was remarkably well-informed. I decided to play his game, trading half-truth for half-truth.

“I’d simply forgotten, that’s all,” I said with a chuckle. “But I happened to cross paths with the captain the other day, as he accompanied my father, and it came back to me. So I thought, why not take advantage of the coincidence? Hence my visit today.” I avoided any clear admission, framing my words so that, if anything, I might be judged to be the unreasonable party.

“In that case, I suppose we also owe you recompense for the actions of my erstwhile brother. If there’s something you desire, would you please tell me?” He must have known that proper recompense had already been paid for the late Mr. Pedigree. Was he just fishing for a way to engage with me?

“I have already received reparations for that matter. If I asked for more, my brother would surely scold me.”

“Then allow me to give you something purely out of friendship. Now and again I find myself wanting to indulge in the feeling of being an older brother to such a charming little sister.”

Naturally, I declined him outright. I had things I wished to attend to, after all. “I’m afraid I have no reason to cultivate such a bond. Perhaps you should petition your parents for a sister of your own?” But...something about him tugged at my memories. I could swear I’d seen his face somewhere before...

“Mama, is this person bothering you? Is he an enemy? Cas and Uncle Lag said I should make enemies go boom!”

Dia’s voice in my mind snapped me back to the present. Honestly, what were they teaching my angel? And what, pray, was “make them go boom” supposed to mean?

“Wait, Dia. We’ll have a proper talk later about when it’s appropriate to use your power. Besides, this man isn’t quite an enemy, you see.”

“He’s not? All right. But tell me if you want him to go boom, okay?”

“I will. Thank you.”

I would do no such thing. Surely she was talking about some type of explosive magic, and I’d never ask my angel to do something so violent.

“How cold of you. Just like Mihail—you truly are his sister.”

“Thank you. I don’t hear such things often. It pleases me. And what brings you here, my lord?”

“Wharton, please. Stubbornly refusing to call me that is also like your brother. Just for the record, I do serve as an aide to the first prince. You needn’t be so reserved,” he said with a smile. “More importantly, I was about to head into town to buy some books. Would you care to join me?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve things that must be done today.”

“Ah, a pity. I was hoping to pick up one of those novels everyone’s been talking about of late, and thought you might recommend something. What sort of books do you read?”

“I don’t read much of anything.”

A lie, of course. Lately I’d been enjoying the occasional first-person novel sent my way from a friendly publishing house.

“I see. Well, there’s a marvelous author who I must tell you about. They’re all the rage these days. From commoners to nobles, fresh-faced maidens to refined older ladies,” he added delightedly. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer, it seemed. “Their work spans every genre: the classic tales of love between men and women, yes, but also dalliances between gentlemen and tender love between ladies. From lighthearted fluff, to heavy emotional depth—they offer it all. Even some gentlemen count themselves among the faithful. They have quite the diverse and devoted readership.”

What?! A novelist who managed to write in all genres and was skilled at each?! “They do truly sound wonderful and like they have an impressive breadth of genres,” I sighed.

Ah! I’d found myself dragged into the conversation despite myself. This heir to House Nilty was more devious than I thought!

“And the world-building is quite solid, and the plots well constructed,” he added.

Ghh! I was interested! If the novels were that good, I’d quite like to read them...

“These days I even stand in line to buy them myself,” he continued. “But since their publication is irregular, one never knows whether the next volume will continue an existing series or be a brand-new work. Therein lies the trouble.”

Oh? Why did that sound so much like my publisher’s complaints about my own manuscripts...?

“I’ve been using House Nilty’s spies to attempt to uncover the release dates for any new books and which series it will be a part of, but alas, it has proved elusive,” he said before leaning in conspiratorially. “But that just makes it all the more enticing.”

“...”

“Oh yes, but if I were to recommend one for you, milady, it would have to be Little Fox Konkon’s Matchmaking Mischief. There’s a certain innocence to it, and the word count is light, so it’s easy for a new reader to finish.”

That was the novel I wrote at Cas’s request! It was a light romance for all ages!

I finally remembered: This man was one of my readers! I’d seen him at the bookstore countless times. He was such a dedicated reader that I was able to recognize him despite the fact that he used wigs and magic to alter his appearance when buying my novels!

The heir to one of the Four Great Houses had actually been buying my books personally?! And not just once—this was a true devotee who’d faithfully purchased five copies of each new release, before restrictions had been put in place due to their popularity.

To think I’d meet him here of all places! It was truly a miracle! I nearly got on my knees and pressed my hands together to give thanks for his continued support!

“What’s wrong? Should I make him go boom?”

“No, Dia. He’s someone very important to me. He’s supported me for years, you see.”

“M-Mama? I-Is he...gonna take you away from me...? Wa-Waaaaah!”

There was a rumbling sound.

“Oh my.”

“Hm?” Lord Nilty said, as something dropped onto his head and then bounced off and rolled to my feet. It was a lump of hail, about the size of a tennis ball.

He swayed unsteadily, and then toppled over.

“Oh dear...?” I said.

Thunk. Thunk. Rumble, rumble.

“Wahhhh! Wahhhhh!”

Thunk. Thunk. Rumble, rumble.

Oh, my word! With every sob, the hailstones were getting larger! And what’s more, they were somehow avoiding me as they fell! Could this be Dia’s mysterious boom?

“No, Dia, you have it all wrong! Please stop crying, otherwise I shall start crying myself!”

After all, the way things were going, I was going to lose a longtime reader right before my very eyes...

Lord Nilty groaned.

Thankfully, it appeared as though he had quite the hard head. It had helped that after the first strike, I’d been deftly shattering the falling hail with bursts of wind magic to keep them from landing directly on him.

Just to make sure all was well, I leaned over and gave him a tentative poke... He stirred, thank goodness.

“Wahhh... N-No, I have to stop crying. I must stop...” Dia said with a sniffle.

“That’s my little angel.”

Was it possible that Dia had somehow gained the ability to control the temperature through the powers she’d inherited from Lia? The hailstones had been roughly the size of the chunks of ice you might use for a household kakigori machine. It seemed a shame to waste them. Perhaps I ought to take some home and make them into crushed ice...

“Milady!”

Suddenly, someone seized me by the upper arm and pulled me to my feet. It was the first prince.

“Oh my, how very timely of you.”

“What’s going on...?” he said, before narrowing his eyes as he stared at the space above my head. “Is something there?”

Ah, it seemed that he’d noticed Dia’s presence, just like father had.

“Quite so,” I said. I pointed to the fallen young man in front of me. “More importantly, he was struck by an out-of-season hailstorm.”

I made sure to present the matter as nothing more than an unfortunate act of nature.

※※Aside: After the Incident—Milady’s Guardian (Regulus)※※

“Oh. It’s just Wharton. Leave him—”

Wharton interrupted me with a gasp. “Where am I...? Ow...” He put a hand to his head, where it had just been bloodied.

The gall of this foppish man. Just moments ago, he’d been staring out the window of the palace chambers during an official meeting, clearly not wanting to participate. Then, without warning, he’d leaped up and made a grand exit. I couldn’t care less that he was bleeding. Looking at the scene, I could surmise that the brightly colored turtle-rat had rightly taken offense to his presence and tried to murder him with a hailstorm. Completely understandable. It served him right for trying to sneak off and meet with my beloved behind my back. I’d have preferred it if he’d lain there quietly and just been swallowed by the earth.

The turtle-rat, for her part, was glaring at me, presumably thinking herself unseen. Her body might have been cloaked by magic, but her spellwork was sloppy. Once you noticed it, seeing her was quite simple.

I could tell that her anger stemmed not from the fact that she was a sacred beast and I was royalty, but from jealousy. The look in her eye mirrored my own: We saw each other as rivals, fearing the other was going to steal the one we loved.

The same could be said of the fox and dragon, who both also vied over the possessor of that soft, shiny pink-gold hair.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Laviange said. “We had a bit of hail just now. Is your head all right?”

The foppish peacock of a man looked around in confusion. “Y-Yes... Hail, did you say?”

Why would the turtle-rat have used hail, of all things? It wasn’t exactly a subtle choice. It left behind plenty of evidence and was completely out of season. This would only lead to Wharton suspecting Laviange was behind it.

“Yes, hail. Nature can be a frightening thing, can it not?” said Laviange. “My lord, you’re bleeding. Shall I—”

Tch. Always too kind for her own good, even to this feckless fop. It made one worry about her being taken advantage of.

I muttered a spell and sealed his wound, stopping the bleeding and nothing more. That was more than enough for a court lackey who shirked his duties to go gallivanting after my beloved. He could glare all he liked. I didn’t care. Let it swell a little—he could lance it later if it bothered him.

“There, I’ve healed it,” I said crisply. “Now, where are you headed, milady?”

“I thought I’d go fetch the order I requested from the knight captain.”

“Something about that doesn’t sound quite right... Where are you fetching it from?”

Her composed ladylike smile altered ever so slightly into something else. But I still caught it—my instincts were well attuned to any change in her demeanor, no matter how small. Alarm bells began ringing in my head, as I felt my jealousy flare.

“Hee hee hee, from the boys’ dormitory at the Academy,” she said.

“And...what exactly did you order?”

She chuckled again. “Oh, just a plain old Heinz.”

I paused. “Why?” My instincts had not failed me. She’d ordered something male. Something dark roused within me.

“Hee hee hee. I plan to use his body to serve me.”

To say that with a look of rapture... Wait, his body...to serve her?! A mire of emotions churned inside me, thick and foul as sludge. Only years of princely training kept it from showing on my face.

“Would I not suffice...?” I said, a silent plea in my voice. I would serve her endlessly, in any way she wanted. Let it be me, and me alone.

But as expected, my plea was only met with a puzzled look on her face. Damn this training of mine, it only served to hide what I was truly feeling.

“You owe me no compensation, Your Highness,” she said hesitantly. “Besides, that just wouldn’t do. Those who serve me must obey my every command, and possess the temperament of a hopeless masochist, besides. Otherwise, my demands could never be met. And forgive me for saying so, but...Your Highness may lack the technique and endurance for what I want.”

“Yet, you believe Asche does possess it...?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the foppish fool beside me begin to smirk as my beloved laid bare her fetishes. Did he wish to die?

But there were more pressing considerations than him. Perhaps I needed to devote myself to mastering the techniques necessary to satisfy her.

“I’ve already confirmed that he has the potential,” she said. “With just a bit of training—hee hee hee—I’m certain that he can be polished into something capable of bringing me pleasure.”

What...? How had she confirmed that?! Don’t tell me she’d already experienced him?!

“Ghh... But I can hardly let you go after hearing you intend to enter the boys’ dormitory alone...” I said through gritted teeth. “As a matter of school duty, I cannot in good conscience overlook it. I’m coming with you.”

The jealousy twisting inside me was pitch-black and hideous, threatening to spill out. I forced it back down into my chest. If it’s come to this, I’ll abuse my authority and sabotage her.

“I’m not going alone,” she said. “I’ll have help from a lovely older woman—a friend of mine.”

“A threesome?” I asked in shock.

A lovely older woman?! And what exactly was she going to be helping with?!

“Oho,” Wharton said with a grin. “An older lady? Now that’s something I’d very much like to witness myself.”

Stay out of it, you fop! Wipe that smirk off your face and drag your mind from the gutter, you absolute degenerate! You’d like to witness it?! Over my dead body!

“Well...you are a longtime reader...” Laviange said, as if considering it. “But, no, that’s all the more reason to decline.”

“If you wish to keep Wharton away, then surely bringing only me along would be the lesser evil?” I said desperately. “Of course, I would do nothing more than observe...as long as no school rules were broken.”

The moment one was, I’d put an end to it immediately, of course. This, surely, was the very reason I’d been born a prince!

Laviange let out a long-suffering sigh. “Very well... If it is only Your Highness, then so be it.”

“I’m wounded,” said Wharton, placing a hand to his chest.

“Wharton, prepare the documents we talked about earlier. You will not be coming with us.”

“There’s no reason to bristle so... But fine. Try not to be gone for too long.” And with a wry smile, he winked at Laviange. He had a lot of nerve. When we returned, I’d see to it that his workload was doubled.

“Then let us be off...” I held out my arm to Laviange—only for a sudden burst of hail to fall between us.

“My my, the weather’s quite unstable, it would seem,” Laviange said, her usual smile returning. “You needn’t trouble yourself.”

She gave the turtle-rat on her head a gentle pat before striding off without hesitation. The creature glanced back at me and smirked... Tch.

It didn’t matter if they were just a newborn, what sex they might be, if they were a sacred beast, or if I was acting childishly; I felt jealousy toward them. I had to recognize that my obsession with my beloved was warped. Whether that was because I was once afflicted with a curse or whether I’d always been this way, I knew not.

And yet I couldn’t help the feeling of regret that burned within me.

That she’d been shackled for years to that half brother of mine... I knew that she’d made an art of fleeing, which seemed to make her delight in her freedom all the more, but that didn’t matter. It was clear that the fool had belittled her, in word and in deed, wounding her whenever he could.

If only I had proposed to her sooner... It was a regret that still haunted me.

The identity of the little girl who’d saved me had been kept hidden from me. I suspected that her father had used his influence as captain of the Royal Mage Corps to do so. As I’d never so much as seen the girl’s face, it took no small effort to discover her identity.

What’s more, I’d been cursed. It was clear that someone was trying to end my life. Therefore, even after I’d learned my savior was the daughter of House Robur, I could not simply approach her.

Truth be told, I had little interest in the throne. But I feared that involving myself with her might bring her harm, and that I might then be left without my reason for living. So I worked toward a single goal: that I might be in a position to propose marriage to her by the time she turned ten. It was during this time that I learned to scheme—I used Wharton to make contact with her brother, Mihail.

Never did I imagine that, just before she turned ten, she would be betrothed to my half brother. Each time we passed one another in some deserted corridor of the Academy, I’d wrestled with the urge to simply seize her and lock her away somewhere for myself.

Why the second consort had accelerated the second prince’s engagement to Laviange, I could not say. Outwardly, she and my mother, the queen consort, were hardly on bad terms. Nor did she show much ambition for her own son’s claim to the throne. And yet, when the betrothal had been dissolved, she was the one who had shown the greatest resistance. There was no doubt in my mind that the second consort had some kind of fixation on Laviange.

Perhaps the reason was because Laviange possessed memories from before her birth as a daughter of House Robur. The moment I’d heard the fox’s pact-name, I’d sensed as much. It also explained why she hid her true strength, and was so fixated on freedom.

And now, my beloved lived a carefree life. For that very reason, I could not bear the thought of forcing her to be bound to me.

But how long could I resist?

“Will you be riding with me?” Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts. We had arrived at the carriage stop, it seemed.

“Yes. If possible, I should like to. Would that be acceptable?”

“Yes.” She granted her consent with her usual smile. Whatever her true feelings, I would not squander this opportunity. I stepped into the carriage after her, and we sat facing one another.

The turtle-rat perched atop her pink-gold hair glared daggers at me, but I ignored her. My attention was fixed solely on my beloved. “Have you fully healed?” I asked.

This was the question that weighed most heavily on my mind. When the turtle-rat had ascended, Laviange had immediately collapsed. I’d gone in secret to visit the Robur estate once since then, but she’d still been sleeping. Word came to me later that she had awoken, but I hadn’t had the chance to visit her immediately. It came as a surprise to see her at the Academy a mere two days later.

“Yes, thanks to the care of my father and the sacred beasts.”

“Your father?”

“Indeed. At the very end of the ritual, he replenished my magic. Being tied by blood, our magical affinity is naturally high. Perhaps Lia foresaw that...” she mused as she looked out the carriage window. “In any case, without his intervention, I may have been forced to forgo my Triple-S Special.”

At that point, her body had plainly been at its limit. The vast amount of refined magic such a ritual required would leave her constantly in danger of collapsing, and what followed was a grueling ordeal where the sacred beasts forcibly supplied her with their own magic to sustain it. Yet, in the end, through sheer will alone, she’d been able to activate a magic circle of the earth element—the one for which she surely had the weakest affinity.

To force her body to use an element it was ill-suited for must have put a strain on her heart—if things had gone badly, there was every chance her heart would have stopped. If she was correct that the sacred beast Vamillia had brought her father to the room that day to deal with that very eventuality, then perhaps I’d been the only unwanted guest.

But what weighed on me now was something else. Even pale and unsteady as she looked, she still showed a truly deranged passion for that Triple-S Special... I found myself wishing she might spare even the tiniest fragment of such devotion for me.

How good can that damned lunch be?

“I see... And you still wish not to tell my father of your pacts with multiple sacred beasts?” I asked her.

“Indeed not. I wish to remain free. Even if the Crown were to learn of it, nothing could be done. Why invite needless trouble?”

True enough. And this secrecy was still preferable to her deciding she’d had enough and fleeing the kingdom. I was sure that Captain Robur had no desire to bind his daughter with chains of duty either, even though at times it seemed that he regarded Laviange less as a daughter, and more as a fascinating subject of magical research. They had a complicated parent-child relationship, to say the least.

“I see... And yet I cannot help but wonder, why has my father said nothing yet about your former pact with Vamillia?” I mused. “I heard that you and your father attended an audience with him last week. Only my mother and I are aware of that audience, mind you, but I can’t help but wonder if something happened?”

These were the questions that had been bothering me for the last week. It was strange that I’d heard nothing from my father about the meeting.

“Please forgive me for reporting the existence of Vamillia to him,” I added, bowing my head in apology. “Unfortunately, Vamillia was seen by both the knight captain and Mihail, so I felt I had no other choice. But I made sure to say nothing of any of the other sacred beasts.”

Knowing her tendency to flee, my father had made sure to summon Laviange for a meeting with him the moment he’d heard she’d awoken.

“At the very least, I assumed His Majesty would inform the heads of the Four Houses and their heirs that you had made a pact with a sacred beast,” I said. “And yet...”

“Ah, please don’t trouble yourself over that. I never believed that it could be kept hidden,” she said. “And the reason nothing’s happened since is because Lia was an ardent reader of my novels, and His Majesty happens to have read them as well.” Perhaps she was remembering something that happened during the meeting—Laviange’s usual ladylike smile shifted into something younger. She stifled a soft laugh.

The first time I’d ever seen that smile was when I’d healed her arm, back when I was still acting as the school physician. It was so charming and disarming that it had stirred a closeness I had no right to feel, and a hunger to keep it for myself alone.

“Your novels?” I asked.

“Yes. I write them on occasion, when the mood strikes me. Among them, Lia’s favorite was a courtly romance series. When I showed them to His Majesty, it seemed he decided that he must keep things secret for the sake of his honor.”

“His honor? Is it some kind of exposé?” Could it have something to do with the truth about Princess Beljeanne? In that case, I could hardly fault His Majesty for commanding that it be kept quiet.

“I do not know what honor was at stake, but yes, I was ordered never to reveal it to anyone. So it remains a secret.” Her conspiratorial expression was altogether charming. If she wished to call it a secret, then it would be. If this was just some type of game on her part, I would of course play along.

My father, too, wouldn’t have dismissed her for any such petty reasons, given her status as a daughter of House Robur and a pact-bearer to a sacred beast. I nodded to myself.

“We’ve arrived,” she said, breaking me out of my reverie. She was looking out the window, bubbling with excitement. Could she truly be so eager to meet Heinz? That black feeling swirled in my chest once more.

Cruelly, the carriage had halted outside the Academy’s back gate—the shortest route to the dormitories, of course. The coachman got off the carriage to come open the door.

“Milady, do you truly plan to meet with Asche?” I asked.

“But of course— Ah, Galfi!” she cried in delight when the door opened. She hurried out at once. Ordinarily it was the gentleman who stepped down first to offer his hand...but was there already a man waiting for her?!

“You’re late,” said a husky voice. “How long do you think I’ve been waiti— What on earth did you bring with you?!”

I seemed to have startled the person waiting.

Laviange chuckled. “I just happened upon him?” she said, sounding almost guilty.

“You’ll be the death of me!”

The speaker was a woman—tall with a lean frame. Loose waves of glossy ash-brown hair fell around her shoulders and her eyes were a dark, stormy gray. She would no doubt be called a beauty by any standard. Her skirt resembled the one worn by Laviange in design. Not gaudy, but refined, with a cut that did not sacrifice her freedom of movement.

I swear I’ve seen this person before...

“Your Highness, this is Galfi, one of the people from town who have for a long time acted as my guardians. Galfi, this is His Highness Prince Regulus, the first prince of our kingdom, who is now serving as the head supervisor of the Academy.”

“I suppose he is... It’s an honor, Your Highness. I’m Galfi.” The fluster from earlier vanished in an instant, replaced by an alluring smile. A commoner, no doubt, yet she gave only the lightest of bows. Even so, there was no stiffness in her movement. To a commoner, I should have been an object of awe, even fear. She had been startled at first, but now she held herself with remarkable composure.

I had already learned from reports that Laviange had worked in the castle town as a child to survive. The moment I’d read as much, I’d found it impossible to sit still, and I slipped away into town in secret, intending to lend her aid. But I’d found that she’d already settled in, thriving there as a commoner named “Lavi,” blending in with ease and leaving me with nothing to do but watch from afar.

So this Galfi was one of the adults who had looked out for her in those days.

“Well met,” I replied. “Please just think of me as the Academy’s supervisor. I happened to hear that Laviange was heading to the boys’ dormitory today, and regardless of whether or not she has her guardian’s consent, I could hardly allow a young lady to venture there alone.” I laid out my reasoning plainly in the hope that I could gain her guardian’s confidence. Regardless of what she was intending to do with my beloved, I would treat her with the respect she deserved as someone Laviange trusted.

Brimming with enthusiasm, Laviange pulled something from her skirt pocket and pressed it into her guardian’s hand. “Here’s our entry pass. Now then, let’s be off!”

She looped her arm through Galfi’s and strode off in high spirits. How I longed to be the one at her side like that.

“You’re so impatient,” Galfi said.

“I’ve been searching for someone like him for so long. Now I have permission, I’m fully prepared, and I want to begin training him this very instant!”

“Well...part of me thinks it serves him right, but I almost feel sorry for the boy.”

Laviange laughed. “Well, he owes me a great deal for all the things he did to me. And now I intend to collect my payment in full!”

If only, as that fool’s older half brother, she would collect from me as well...

Brooding, I followed after them. Matching her brisk pace, I found—much to my dismay—that we reached our destination all too swiftly.

I was still reeling at the revelation that my beloved already knew which room Asche occupied when she knocked on the door—and grew quickly impatient when her knock went unanswered. From her pocket she drew two wires and began to pick the lock. Without even using magic, she’d unlocked the door in less than half a minute. I suddenly realized that, so long as she had a wire on hand, she could trespass wherever she pleased.

As head supervisor, could I truly overlook this? Perhaps I could... She did possess the consent of the boy’s guardian who paid for the dorm, as well as his rights and dignity besides.

“It’s open!” she said, turning to me with a triumphant smile and raising her thumb. It was so refreshingly pure, so full of youthful energy, and utterly charming.

“She has the makings of a criminal, our girl,” her guardian said, half exasperated, half proud, and patted her on the head. If only I could do the same.

(The turtle-rat, which had been perched there all this time, had flipped over to present its belly. In truth, the guardian’s hand was rubbing its belly, not Laviange’s head, but the beast disguised it neatly with illusion.)

When we entered the room, we found Asche huddled under his blankets, trembling. He was now only a shadow of the would-be knight who’d mistakenly accused my beloved of being a talentless villainess alongside my half brother and her foster sister.

※※※※ (Laviange)

I opened the door after using some wire to pick it open, and Heinz let out a gasp.

“Who’s there?!”

Just as I’d suspected, he was pretending he wasn’t home. He had a blanket pulled over his head and was drenched in sweat. The weather had cooled down recently, but it was still hot during the day.

I laughed. “It’s been some time, hasn’t it? You seem to be dreadfully sweaty—have you been keeping yourself hydrated?”

“L-Lady Robur?! Why are you here?!”

“With permission from your father, Duke Dario Asche, I have come to claim you as compensation for the cruel words you hurled at me and your tireless efforts to drag my name through the mud far beyond anything I deserved!”

He stared at me, eyes wide in shock, then the panic set in. “Comp— Compensation! N-No, no, no, no! Please spare me! I don’t want to hurt anymore!”

Poor thing. Being that tense couldn’t be good for his health.

“Then perhaps you will listen to my request?”

With a dramatic toss of his covers, he threw himself at my feet. “I will! I will! Just...please...” He burst into tears.

“Splendid. Then from today on, you’ll be spending some time in the atelier with this person.” I gestured, and Galfi stepped forward.

“I’m Galfi.”

“Who...? A commoner?!”

As soon as my dear Galfi was standing by my side, the boy seemed to lose his wits and began repeating the word commoner over and over again.

I giggled. “Quite beautiful, yes? That said, you, too, are a commoner, now.”

“Wh-What do you mean?!”

“Duke Asche has washed his hands of you, both as a father and as head of house,” I explained to the pitiful boy. “Beyond paying this year’s tuition, dormitory fees, and whatever small necessities are owed while you remain at the Academy, he will no longer have anything to do with you. As of this day, you have been struck from the family records. That means that, in all practicality, you are a commoner. Given your current status, you’ll no doubt find it difficult to become even a mercenary, much less a knight. Had I not asked to take you in, I fear you would have found yourself on the path to becoming a beggar.”

“That can’t be... I... What am I supposed to do now?” He was still clinging to my legs, and trembling so hard it felt as if I myself were shaking.

Shouldn’t Yust have been here by now? The prince had thrown a wrench into things, but I would have liked to thank him personally for all his help with setting up the atelier and doing all this for me. Of course, the only reason he’d agreed was because there would be profit for him down the line. That was why I’d decided to include certain scenes in my novels, like one with a fan and a megaphone, so that Yust could use the interest that generated to increase the quality of his goods and raise his sales. My novels had grown in popularity, especially among the nobility, and we would take advantage of that. Call it a marketing strategy.

Yust had rearranged his atelier to shut out all distractions, recreating something like the phenomenon I’d heard about during the Showa era where workers were shut in a room to work all day. Add to that Asche’s current mental state, worn down by the curse to the point where he wasn’t sleeping... Well, all the better. If he couldn’t sleep, then we might as well give him something to do with his time. We would work him so hard he’d be forced to sleep from exhaustion!

“Thus, I have claimed you,” I said. “But because you have been cast aside, my compensation must come from you alone, which will be difficult as you have become a commoner and have no bright future before you. I can’t imagine that you’ll ever fully be able to repay me for all the cruel things you did to me, even if you became a slave and did backbreaking labor for the rest of your life...”

“N-No! Please, no! Not slavery, anything but that! Please, I beg you! I’ll apologize!”

Oh my, I never said anything about actually making him a slave. This kingdom had no such institution. At worst, he’d be sent north to the forced labor camps.

Come to think of it, that was where Sienna had been sent, or at least that’s what the kin of my sacred beasts had told me. If that girl had only shown the talent I’d desired, then perhaps I would have spared her that fate. But alas, she’d fully become a vessel for the curse, and now her hands trembled to the point where I doubted she could be useful.

In my previous life, I’d begun to shake like that in my sixties. By the time I reached my eighties, I only dared to fill half of my teacup, lest I spill it everywhere. Aging was truly a dreadful thing.

“Say... Is this the first time this boy’s apologized to you?” Galfi asked me.

“Hmm...” I pondered. “This is the first I remember.”

Hearing that, Galfi fixed the boy with a hateful glare. A beauty’s scorn, coupled with my reply, made him shake even harder, clutching at my legs with clammy hands. The dampness was rather unpleasant.

“If you truly felt remorse, you might have apologized long before now, don’t you think?” Galfi asked. “For an aspiring knight, your character is appallingly lacking.”

“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong! So please, please...”

It reminded me of when my grandchildren were small. They, too, would cling to my legs like this from time to time. Until my sixties, I could still walk about with them hanging on, letting them enjoy the ride as though I was some kind of human roller coaster.

Galfi considered him. “I suppose that, as long as you pay with that body of yours and provide us with satisfaction, there shall be no issue. Of course, during that time you’ll be expected to earn your own keep for food and clothing, and for lodging as well after you graduate. I’ll arrange work for you, but if you fail to acquire the skills we require... Well, I’ll leave it to your imagination.”

That’s right.

From the moment I’d seen the sketches in his notebook, I knew what I wanted: a personal illustrator, one whose work could delight both me and my readers. One day, perhaps, I might even get a full comic adaptation! But for now, I’d settle for illustrations and postcards.

“P-Pay with my...body? Provide ‘us’? For m-multiple people?!”

“Heh heh heh, we’ll train you first, of course,” I said. “We’ve already prepared the necessary materials and tools.”

“T-T-Tools?!”

But of course! I’d spent sleepless nights gathering every size of pen and brush, both narrow and wide, and even proper ink, all for this very purpose!

“Yes,” I said, “but first we will need to train you in, ah, the behind stuff, and broaden your worldly knowledge.”

“Be-Behind...stuff? W-Worldly...”

He looked almost dazed as he sat there shaking. Understandable. From what I had seen in his notebook, he was quite good at drawing people, but quite hopeless when it came to things in the back—like backgrounds, decorations, and shadows.

“Don’t worry too much,” Galfi said. “This line of work carries no danger to your life. Once you grow accustomed to it, it’s far less taxing on the body than a knight’s training. As for the mind... Well, that’s an entirely different matter.”

Deadlines could cause terrible mental anguish. And soon he would be stuck in a room, working the day away. It wasn’t exactly the same as a battlefield, but still harrowing in its own way.

“Do listen to Galfi—she’s an expert in such matters,” I told him.

Galfi’s paintings were good enough to sell. His rough sketches were incredible. But what I sought was the technique to make manga and anime. I’d once tried to show him by drawing a sample, but all that had earned was a horrified stare. He just didn’t understand!

I turned to him. “And also, here’s this.”

I handed him Asche’s notebook. Asche himself looked on in shock.

“Th-That’s... Huh? B-But...that’s...” Asche stuttered. Utter bewilderment was written all over his face.

An understandable reaction. I had borrowed it without permission, after all. But I’d already received his guardian’s permission, so he could hardly complain. He would just have to accept it. I intended to pay him a modest wage during his training, so that should settle matters nicely.

“This is... I see. Indeed, this would be a bit difficult for me,” Galfi said.

“Precisely. You’re too realistic, is all. But that,” I said pointing at the notebook, “is what I want. Fantasy over realism. Faces that stir one’s imagination. If we can make what’s in that notebook a reality, and then add your mastery of depth and shadow, wouldn’t it be incredible?”

“Hmm... Yes, if we can add to this foundation...”

“We’ll be swimming in profit!”

We clasped hands in midair, as though we were arm wrestling, and then nodded firmly in agreement.

Hee hee hee. In this world, novels have no illustrations. Once we add them, the sales will skyrocket.

Finally, Asche let go of my legs...only to drag his bottom on the ground as he used his hands to shuffle quickly backward. He watched us with an expression of abject horror, as if seized by some nameless terror.

He really is frightened, isn’t he?

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You...you’re really going to sell me?”

“No, no,” I said. “Not you. We’re going to sell the technique you’re about to acquire.”

“T-Technique?!”

For drawing backgrounds, solid blacks, screentone, and more besides.

“For now, you’ll be coming with us to the atelier, where you’ll undergo some intensive training. You will follow Galfi’s instructions in all that you do. Oh, and one more thing...”

I’d nearly forgotten. The boy was technically a knight-in-training. Being rebellious was one thing, but I couldn’t allow him to, by any chance, injure Galfi or Yust... Well, Galfi was a royal spy, so it wasn’t like Asche could actually do anything to him. But that also posed its own problem—if he tried something only to be struck down by Galfi, it would be rather inconvenient.

So I stepped close, pressed my forefinger lightly to his right shoulder, and inscribed my mark upon him once more.

“N-No! P-Please, don’t!” he yelled.

“There now. I restored it to the way it was.”

Well, mostly. This time, I’d made it so that it wouldn’t activate unless he hurt someone... Oh? He’d fallen asleep. Well, that might be for the best. Once we reached the atelier, he’d need his focus, and for that, a little rest would do him good.

Galfi looked at me. “What did you just do?” he asked.

I giggled. “Oh, nothing. I just remembered that a gentle touch and a few words can have quite the effect.” I gave Galfi a big smile as I hid the truth.

“And what are we going to do now?”

“I guess he was sleep-deprived,” I mused. “He’s very much like a child, staying up so long that you collapse.”

“People don’t usually fall asleep with their eyes open and rolled back into their head,” Galfi mused. “But I guess this will make it easier to transport him. If he started thrashing and shaking, I’d be tempted to strangle him.”

“My, my. Do remember that we need to use him to broaden our world. He’s a most valuable asset—cough—person. Don’t discipline him to the point where he breaks.”

Strangely enough, the prince, who had been silently observing until now, turned a startled gaze upon me. How odd.

“Thinking about all the things he did to you makes me want to work him into the ground,” Galfi said. “But I’ll restrain myself. He’s going to be our golden goose, after all.”

I smiled. “Quite so. Still, I should like some results within a few months. Do you think you can get him there?”

“Are you in such a rush?”

“I’m simply eager to see the results, that’s all.”

“Oh, Lavi.” Galfi gave me a slightly troubled smile, and then cupped my cheeks in both hands, brushing his thumbs gently over the shadows under my eyes. Such tenderness from Galfi was rare, and it left me momentarily blinking in surprise. Then I was pulled into a firm embrace, big, warm hands stroking my back, almost like soothing a child. It was comforting.

“I understand how you feel, but matters like this are best not rushed. And you haven’t been sleeping much yourself, have you?” Galfi asked. “No doubt you got caught up in one of those waves of instinct you always get, and you’ve been running around and doing things without a break.”

“Well...yes. I may have gotten a bit carried away.” Galfi’s tone was so close to parental that it left me feeling oddly abashed, as if he had seen through me.

“You’ve just gotten yourself too wound up,” he said. “I’ll have him trained in the shortest time possible, so go home and rest for today. Don’t worry, the atelier has been arranged by Yust. He may be profit driven, but he’s attentive. He’ll keep an eye on things with me and make sure I don’t grind the boy down.”

“You’re right... Perhaps I have been pushing too hard. What matters most is laying a solid foundation for future work. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Galfi hugged me tightly into his broad, firm chest. I felt my tension ebb, and a drowsiness that I’d been ignoring for days overtook me all at once.

“That’s a good girl. Leave it to me.” His hand stroked my head—though he was actually stroking Dia’s belly, as usual.

After that, the prince and I left the two of them behind and made our way back to the carriage we’d left at the back gate. Behind our carriage, there was a black lacquered one with a burly coachman. That would no doubt be Yust. We waved to each other. He seemed to catch on to the situation quickly and shooed me along with a gesture.

I boarded the carriage with the prince, and—before I knew it—I was waking in my own bed, in my brother’s wing of the estate.

※※※※ (Regulus)

“Has she fallen asleep? Slow down a little, would you?” I asked the driver.

With the turtle-rat perched in her lap, Laviange had been in the middle of happily showing me that notebook of hers when she’d suddenly dozed off. The carriage rocked more than I liked, so I told the coachman to slow his horses.

It appeared that talking with her guardian had allowed her to relax a little.

The turtle-rat was still glaring daggers at me, but, perhaps mindful not to wake Laviange, she remained still and silent. I refused to lose in a battle of wills, so I met her stare head-on...all while stealing glimpses of my beloved’s sleeping face, of course. As I glanced at her, a certain portrait came to my mind.

It was part of a series of miniature paintings, each featuring a young girl. In every painting but one, she faced the front, her features cool and unreadable. Only a single piece stood apart: The girl, viewed from a slight distance, was turned away at an angle and held a bouquet of white spider lilies, smiling gently at someone beyond the frame.

I had suspicions that the girl was the princess of legend. She had silvery-pink hair so light that it could be mistaken for white, along with dark blue eyes rimmed in gold: the same that Laviange had shown us that day.

The face of the sleeping girl before me and the smiling girl in that portrait seemed, for a fleeting moment, to overlap in my mind.

What had compelled the artist to depict her in such dramatic contrast to the rest of the paintings, I could only guess. What I did know was this: Every one of the portraits had been imbued with holy magic.

At present, not a single trace of the princess remained within the castle. Her presence had been erased so thoroughly that it bordered on the unnatural. Even that shack out by the Palace Retreat held nothing. All of it erased, no doubt, to lend credence to that most disgraceful lie that she’d summoned a demon.

If so, then the one who’d ordered her existence be erased would have been her father...my own great-grandfather.

“Rat,” I called softly.

The turtle-rat gave a twitch, then promptly turned its head away. Quite the attitude for a creature that let her master scratch her belly.

“Do you know about the princess... No, never mind. Is her body truly healed?” I asked, nodding toward Laviange.

Despite having the outer appearance of an animal, the turtle-rat was incredibly expressive. She shot me a look full of suspicion. Perhaps it was deserved. Clearly what I’d said was not what I had originally intended. Needless to say, I had intended to ask about the princess.

There was something in the princess’s eyes and features that resembled my beloved. Was it a coincidence, perhaps? Yet I knew that, even if I asked the turtle-rat about this, I would not get an answer.

The fox, on the other hand... If anyone would know the meaning behind Laviange’s blessing-name, and why only the fox’s pact-name contained a completely different name to all the others, it would be the fox.

It was said that blessing-names, granted only to those with royal blood, remained bound to the soul while you were alive. They were said to be proof of an ancient promise made long ago with a sacred beast, and passed from ruler to ruler for generations. However, it was now considered taboo to reveal one’s blessing-name. For reasons no one could quite explain, instinct itself warned against it, and we were taught from childhood never to ask another for theirs.

The story of the princess herself showed how dangerous it could be for someone else to learn that name. And yet that, too, was something that was never truly explained to us. We were merely taught that it was forbidden, without ever being told the reason why.

So, like everything else connected to the princess, even that had been scrubbed from the palace. Come to think of it, there were a few other lessons that, when viewed in a certain light, also seemed suspicious.

The only place where any trace of the princess remained was that old Palace Retreat that my great-grandfather withdrew to after his fall from grace. There was an old diary, a single letter tucked between its pages, and a handful of miniature portraits. The seal on that letter bore the white spider lily.

I’d only come across them because I’d temporarily been moved to that exact retreat after it was discovered I’d been afflicted by a magical curse that spread a deadly disease. In pain and terror, my magic spiraled out of control, and I’d destroyed part of the wall. That was when I’d found them preserved under a stasis spell.

When I touched the holy magic woven into the portraits, only then did the pain and fear begin to ease. I’d clutched them to my chest until the magic within them was spent.

The diary and the letter, however, were no longer in my hands. I was sure the king must have removed them elsewhere. They’d already been gone by the time I’d returned to retrieve them. Perhaps only the heir to the throne would ever be told where they were now kept.

Thump.

The sound snapped me out of my reverie. I must have been deeper in thought than I’d realized. I looked up quickly.

At Laviange’s feet, the notebook had fallen open, face down on the floor. A few pages had been creased in the fall. I noticed that at some point the turtle-rat must have fallen asleep too.

I reached down carefully, mindful not to make a sound, and picked the notebook up. I was about to smooth the folded pages with a bit of magic when—

I hadn’t meant to look. And yet, I’d seen it.

It was a drawing of a person. A knight, sword at the ready. Was this Heinz, though he’d become a commoner now...? Perhaps not? The knight stood guard over an old woman, face twisted beyond recognition. It didn’t look much like her, but was this meant to be the self-centered Sienna?

Each figure did have their name written beside them, but the artwork was very distinct in style, making it difficult to recognize them.

Were these doodles? Why had Laviange looked so thoroughly entranced by it?

No. No matter how hard I tried, I just didn’t get it. Not the drawing, nor the suspicious words she had used, like tools, behind stuff, technique, depth... None of it made any sense. And what was the “wave of instinct” that she got caught up in to begin with?

Without a word, I quickly smoothed the creases, closed the notebook, and slipped it back into her bag just as the carriage pulled up to the Robur estate. I moved to wake her, but Mihail stepped into the carriage before I could, and he carefully lifted her into his arms, making sure not to disturb her sleep.

He shot me a single glare, and that was the end of it. I was promptly sent back to the palace without being able to say a word in protest.

Epilogue: Several Months After the Incident: My Sister’s Literary Endeavors (Mihail)

For the past few days, I’d been assigned to the joint public exercises held by our kingdom’s Royal Mage and Knight Corps. A handful of students from each year of the Academy’s mage course had been selected to attend, myself among them. We were all well-versed in healing magic, so the training doubled as practical field experience.

Today was the final day, and since it was billed as a public exercise, there were more onlookers than usual. This was the only day that commoners had been permitted to attend. Their cheers and stares, particularly those directed at the more popular participants, bordered on excessive.

Beyond that, there was a strange phenomenon this year: In the hands of the young women dotting the stands were fans and curious cone-shaped contraptions called “megaphones.” Apparently, some popular novelist had featured these products, specifically made for cheering, in one of her books. And, as if that weren’t enough, she had included something called “inserts”—art in a style completely distinct from traditional painting—depicting them in detail, including sound effects.

A major trading company had caught wind of the trend. They’d featured the items in one of their popular theater productions and promptly sold out. Now the so-called illustrator of the insert images was even selling illustrated cards... What in the world was my sister doing?

I was in the big tent, giving my daily report as team leader to Regulus, who, as head supervisor, was acting as leader for each year, when—

“My oh my, if it isn’t the most radiant first prince, and young Mihail!”

Wharton Nilty burst onto the scene. As with the prince, I had grown accustomed to calling this man by his proper name, though in my heart he was still just a slippery snake.

“What are you doing here...?”

“Ha ha ha! I thought the exercises must be nearly finished, and the two of you about ready to slip off for a tryst. So I chose my timing most carefully.”

Both Regulus and I were here on duty. I wished he wouldn’t phrase it in a way that invited scandal. And for heaven’s sake, stop winking.

“Ah, the Robur siblings never change, do they? Still as cold as ever,” Wharton went on. “I managed to get my hands on one of those popular novels, and thought I’d share the joy! It’s a pity that I couldn’t get more than one copy of the first edition, but I secured copies of the reprint! Do you know how hard it was to get three vouchers?!”

So the man had bought both the first edition and the reprint...

“I don’t want it,” I told him, but my protest was entirely ignored, and the book was shoved into my hands.

“This is the dawning of a new era! A breath of fresh air in the world of literature! As a noble, it is your duty to embrace it!”

Hm? Even the cover has an illustration. It was, admittedly, unlike any painting I had seen before. It wasn’t a person, but instead a tea set arranged in a garden, drawn in soft lines that would no doubt appeal to women. Prodded by Wharton’s expectant gaze, and my own uneasy curiosity over whether this might be my sister’s work, I glanced through the pages with Regulus.

Ah. It is hers after all.

A sequel, by the look of it, to that Girls’ Love romance I’d once glimpsed in manuscript form. The last volume had ended just as the younger girl from the mage course and the older girl from the knight course were finally growing close.

It did explain a lot. Laviange had seemed restless last month and unable to sleep. I’d fretted over her health. Evidently this was what had been keeping her up at night...

I thought back to the time she had dispelled the curse using one of her ridiculous magical tools. A sacred beast had appeared on top of her head. It had been only the second time I’d seen one in my whole life. For a moment, I mistook the beast as an especially gaudy wig—though I would never admit that to anyone.

Never would I have thought that my sister would become the first pact-bearer to a sacred beast since the incident involving the notorious villainess. Carried off by the creature, she was later found unconscious from magic depletion. I was told that the flamboyant red beast itself had afterward quietly expired.

My father had returned with my sister in tow and, in a rare display of tact, had given me a word of reassurance, telling me that there was nothing to worry about. Frankly, I was more shocked by that than anything else. But Laviange had never collapsed because of something like that before, so of course I was worried.

“This...illustration...” Flipping through the novel that had been foisted on him, Regulus appeared to catch a glimpse of that rumored new world everyone was talking about.

I, too, found myself turning pages, though not without hesitation. Reading further felt uncomfortably like spying on my sister’s indecency. To distract myself, I forced my thoughts toward my sister’s bond with that red sacred beast, Vamillia.

From what I’d been told, the creature had already been near the end of its lifespan, and Laviange had collapsed when the pact was severed in its final moments. But the real mystery was why my sister had become its pact-bearer in the first place.

As it turned out, my sister had written novels far more raw and scandalous than this one. According to her, Vamillia had read them...and somehow became a fervent admirer. So eager was she to read my sister’s latest drafts before anyone else that she entered into a pact with her and had even bestowed upon her a pocket dimension, specifically to store novels of that sort.

A sacred beast, reduced to little more than a beast of base appetite. She was one of the oldest and most revered of their kind, and yet...she behaved like that. Even after hearing the tale, I could scarcely bring myself to believe it. And who could blame me? We were speaking of a sacred beast, for heaven’s sake.

Unfortunately, Vamillia had arranged for the pocket dimension to be inherited fully by Laviange before she’d passed. And the novels that came out of it... No, I would not describe their content.

As for the fact that one of the noble daughters of one of the Four Houses had been a pact-bearer for a sacred beast? Well, His Majesty himself ordered that the matter be concealed. The reason for that decree...? No, I refused to utter it. I, of course, had heard it from my sister directly.

For the record, not even Regulus, who had been present at the passing of Vamillia, knew the particulars of how the pact came to be.

“I only kept it a secret because I didn’t want to trouble you, brother,” she’d told me, as she handed me a book taken directly from her pocket dimension storage.

It was at that moment that I was struck, as if by lightning, by the realization that my sister was the shameless author of scandalous fiction far beyond anything I’d imagined.

I wouldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t gratifying to be entrusted with such a secret by my sister. Yet it was also a secret I dearly wished she had carried with her to the grave. Instead, it became a secret I’d have to carry to my grave.

My sister was now in possession of an incredibly rare ability to access a pocket dimension for storage, but it could only be used to store scandalous novels. Useless.

What principle the pocket dimension used to identify a book’s contents, I could not fathom. When Laviange attempted to place in it a book of refined learning, it hurled the thing back with terrifying force, as though proclaiming a rejection of anything refined. The volume embedded itself in the wall.

“Surely not...” With a start, Regulus began reading the novel in earnest, while Wharton looked on with delight by his side. At this point my sister was beginning to resemble a cult leader, and Wharton one of its members. There was no need to spread her creed of shamelessness to such a bothersome man.

“Come to think of it,” Wharton said, “I heard the former foster daughter of House Robur vanished quite suddenly. Has anything happened with that matter since then? They say her poor conduct at the Academy was the result of an illness.” He wore an expression that suggested worry, but his green-gray eyes were sparkling with barely concealed curiosity.

If that devil’s words were true, Sienna only had a few years left to live, and her remaining time would be spent as an old woman with a warped face...

For years she had tormented and disgraced the true daughter of House Robur. Worse still, she had of her own volition become the vessel for a magical curse, endangering innocent students. Her crimes were grave, and she had been judged as a commoner. Yes, a commoner.

Even before father and Captain Asche had arrived on the rooftop, all traces of her existence from the day she’d entered the Academy had been retroactively struck from the family records. Afterward, her sentencing had been carried out in secret, decided by a council between only my father, head of one of the Four Great Houses, and His Majesty the King.

She was sentenced to forced labor in the frozen wastes, where most felons lasted only for a few years. In a kingdom without the death penalty, this was the highest punishment in practice. It was, of course, a life sentence.

That said, even if she’d been retroactively struck from the family records—in much the same way that House Nilty had recently removed one of their own—it was incredible how easily the actions of House Robur’s erstwhile foster daughter had been swept under the rug. Just what sort of conversation had my father had with His Majesty?

I had looked for the answer, yet found none. Only one explanation came to mind: the fact that, after all these years, the sole person to form a pact with a sacred beast was a daughter of House Robur.

The royal family and the Four Great Houses had already lost the trust of the sacred beasts. And yet a member of a house so close to the throne was the one who became a pact-bearer. To hand down punishment upon her family would have been unthinkable.

To make matters worse, the bully of said lone pact-bearer was a member of the royal family, her former fiancé, the second prince, who’d urged other children of the Great Houses to join him in her torment.

“Well now...who can say?” I answered the scheming snake, while my thoughts drifted once more to my sister.

I could only hope that, after all the suffering she had endured thanks to my inability to protect her, she might at last live without being bound by royalty or sacred beasts. I wished for her to be free...but not too free, for her brand of freedom tended toward the excessive. I wished for her to be moderately free, and to live a happy life besides.

Afterword

Hello, I’m Hanako Arashi, the author of this book. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing this novel from among so many wonderful works.

I’m relieved to have safely delivered this, the second book of my debut series. How did you like it? Compared to the first book, which I wrote without the faintest idea of what I was doing, I hope this one felt a little smoother, a little more fun, and a little easier to read.

In this volume, I touched on some of the wounds from the main characters’ pasts, Laviange’s parting with her stepsister, Sienna, and above all, her heartbreaking farewell to the fluffy sacred beast she loved so dearly. (I’ll admit, I was nervous about introducing some of these darker elements!)

At the same time, I did my best to make sure things never got too heavy. In fact, I had Laviange cause even more trouble for her brother, Mihail, than in the first book, forcing his internal snark to level up dramatically. Regulus, meanwhile, was plunged headfirst into first-love confusion mode, and at the end, I let the Robur siblings’ father, Laiyevist, show off his hopelessly over-the-top magical obsession (and general cluelessness).

As I mentioned in the afterword of the first volume, even though she doesn’t necessarily mean it to, Laviange’s life becomes a bit of a comedy, and eventually turns into a comical story of revenge on something (or perhaps someone)! If that came across, then I’ve achieved what I set out to do.

If you enjoyed the story, I’d be very grateful for your continued support in the future.

And now, I have some exciting news for everyone supporting the story!

This series is being adapted into a manga!

The artist is none other than Kazusa Subaru—yes, the very same Kazusa Subaru who worked on that manga I’ve been following for ages! I was absolutely floored when I got the news. Of course, I agreed to the adaptation on the spot. I was nodding so hard, it probably looked ridiculous.

Updates on when the serialization will begin and other details will be announced both on the Kadokawa BOOKS official site and on Kakuyomu, the web novel site where I post this story’s web version.

Kazusa Subaru has an incredible talent for drawing characters who are both beautiful and irresistibly cute, so I’m already looking forward to seeing how the manga turns out.

And of course, a huge thank-you goes to Wan Hachipisu, who continued to illustrate for this second volume. Just look at Lia on the cover—she’s the very image of an immortal phoenix! The vivid contrast between the flames and the red of the spider lilies left me speechless. And then there’s Laviange in the frontispiece, bumping foreheads with Diana. It’s too cute for words! Mihail’s embarrassed flush in another illustration had me squealing with delight. I lost count of how many times I stared and grinned at those image files after I received them. On top of that, I can’t thank Wan Hachipisu enough for being so patient in handling requests for revisions even in the late stages.

My heartfelt thanks also go to my editor, who once again waded through my chaotic draft to help shape it into what you see now. Truly, thank you! Your encouraging words between edits truly lifted my spirits. As a sidenote, I’m continuing my ongoing battle against the sinister Fat Storage Organization, thanks to your advice. (If you’re wondering what on earth that means, please check the author bio section!)

Finally, to everyone who had a hand in bringing this book to life, and to you, the reader holding it now, I offer my deepest, most sincere gratitude.