Before class, Mitche had cried and screamed about not wanting to enter the chapel, so I left him outside the door. Since he was a magic byproduct, I thought maybe he feared divine power and just left him be. While he was outside alone, he must have cried so sadly that he was covered in tears and snot.
“Kreung!”
The guy dangled like a keychain and wiped his snot on my bag. Ugh. I secretly detached him and placed him on Cesare’s bag. Then he wiped his snot while clinging to Cesare’s bag.
“King!”
Aw. Our Mitche is cute even when crying. Blow your nose all you want. It’s not my bag anyway.
“…Come out to the clock tower. Dress nicely. Since you’re doing well, it’s like a reward. Are you listening to me, Lionel?”
“Huh? Yeah yeah! Of course I’m listening really well!”
I wasn’t listening for a moment because of Mitche, but thinking I’d get another earful if I said I wasn’t paying attention, I quickly smiled and answered. Cesare seemed satisfied with my answer and muttered while brushing up his bangs.
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem like much, but I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
Is he talking about the lunch box we discussed earlier?
“I’m really looking forward to it though?”
“Vyo!”
Mitche also answered with a beaming face, having finished wiping all his snot. The summer sunlight must be strong—I’m worried because Cesare’s face looks slightly flushed.
* * *
The Balkan Mountains on the border between the Empire and the Principality were one of the highest mountain ranges on the continent, with a cool chill that came from perpetual snow that didn’t melt throughout all four seasons.
“Haa, haa…. Damn bastards. They keep coming relentlessly!”
Lampel, having consumed much mana, leaned his body against the castle wall railing while exhaling rough breaths. It hadn’t been long since he returned from Taitus Principality, yet the demonic beasts kept popping out from somewhere without getting tired.
It was busy days of exterminating and repairing barriers every day, worried that if he blinked, the demonic beasts would enter the residential areas. And even though there wasn’t enough time to focus on exterminating demonic beasts, he was confused because what Lionel had mentioned about the Empress kept coming to mind.
“Elaine. If by chance you remember me….”
No. That tragedy must not happen again. As Lampel strongly denied and shook his head, a soldier rushed in urgently.
“Your Grace!”
Lampel quickly took his hand off the railing as if nothing had happened and straightened his back. He had also quickly erased any signs of fatigue.
“What is it?”
“Greedy Pigs are raiding the supply warehouse at Outpost No. 1!”
At the news that Greedy Pigs—demonic beasts that look like pigs, are very greedy, and strip everything they see—had attacked, Lampel erupted in anger.
“You sent reinforcements and are reporting to me, right? It’s like this every day, and there’s still no word from the Grand Temple!”
“My apologies! We sent reinforcements, but there are too many of them…!”
The soldier turned pale at the reprimand. What wrong had they done? If there was fault, it was only with the shitty Emperor who, despite knowing the current situation, absolutely refused to acknowledge that divine power had weakened.
“I’ll go to Outpost No. 1 myself. No need to send more reinforcements. Right now, it seems we need to conserve our forces as much as possible. Tell everyone to rest well when they have time.”
“Yes! I’ll prepare for Your Grace’s deployment right away!”
The soldier ran out with a slightly brightened face.
“Hortega! You vile and filthy bastard. A guy who was just a beggar by my side….”
Reciting curses along with the old name of the current Torusian Emperor, he looked south toward where the Imperial Palace would be and picked up his staff.
– Clang.
The wing-shaped pendant attached to the end swayed with a clear sound. Lampel’s dark red eyes watching it also swayed together.
‘What are you staring at?’
‘Because Your Grace is so handsome!’
He recalled his first meeting with the young princess who had smiled more beautifully than anyone. He had thought no one would treat him, who acted crooked toward everyone, that way. But to think there would be another person who spoke so boldly.
“Did he say he was the son of Roger and Ophelia? Really now. Is it a hobby of that bloodline to poke around everywhere?”
Lampel removed the pendant from his staff without hesitation. A piece of paper and a quill pen flew from somewhere. Catching them, he wrote a brief message on the paper.
And after wrapping the pendant well in the letter, before infusing mana, he fidgeted with it for a moment. Unlike when he had removed the pendant from the staff earlier, now that he was about to send it somewhere else, it seemed a small regret remained.
“Addiction…. This shitty magic. Will it be undone when I die?”
After a while, as if having made up his mind, he emanated mana and threw the pendant forcefully up into the sky.
* * *
“The adjustment period is over, so what will you do, rookies. Well then, work hard.”
‘I’m going to puke.’
If I could meet my past self, I would grab my own hair and drag myself out of Professor Peter’s lecture hall right away.
I started taking notes quickly while watching the magic chalk that kept writing assignments on the blackboard without stopping. Professor Peter left the lecture hall grinning as if our suffering was amusing to him.
‘This is a week’s worth of assignments? Instead of the guillotine, I’ll die doing homework!’
That crazy old man must have a motor in his mouth—he taught a third of a 30-chapter textbook in just one week.
Forget dreams or whatever, I should have adjusted.
Looking at my tearful face, Mitche held his belly and laughed. While I was quickly writing down the assignment without time to give Mitche a chestnut flick, a box of chocolates was placed on my notebook.
When I raised my head, Jayden was looking at me with an awkward expression.
Since I had been the one to sneer first in the last presentation and his face wasn’t particularly welcome, I asked coldly.
“What?”
“It’s nothing much. You saved my life in the swamp and I never properly thanked you, so it was bothering me…. When I saw during the cruise, you seemed to like this. And I think I was too harsh on you all this time….”
Looking properly at the box he held out, it was chocolate with Fieldsbury jam, the kind Mitche and I had eaten like crazy in the Principality. Mitche was already drooling and happily vyo-vyo-ing on top of the chocolate box.
But this was the guy who had deceived me and dragged me to the swamp. Since I had also picked a fight first, I couldn’t be certain there wasn’t some trick with this chocolate, so I spoke gruffly.
“What’s your scheme, Jayden? Did you put poison in it?”
“…Even when I say thank you, really. There’s no poison, so eat it.”
Jayden kept avoiding my gaze while nervously nodding his head. He was twisting his body exactly like a boy in front of a girl he likes, which gave me goosebumps. If he just glared at me as usual it would be one thing, but this kind of approach was a first.
‘Why is this guy acting like this.’
“Lionel. We’re making a study group for this class, do you want to join? Crown Prince Cedric-sunbae will also be there, so I think it’ll be much easier to do the assignments. I don’t know what the project he’ll assign later will be, but it’ll be helpful.”
Aha. Is this that pattern? Pretending to be friendly to make me let my guard down and then screw me over? Pretending to study while only giving me wrong materials and telling me the wrong assignments, right?
Having already mastered various web novels and Korean dramas, I could see right through that trick. He must be trying to prevent me from even getting a P, which gets 70%, so I immediately refused.
“No. I’m more comfortable doing it alone. It’s also bothersome to make time to meet.”
“I-I see. Sorry for bothering you. But if there are any difficult parts, don’t hesitate to ask. Cedric-sunbae has taken Professor Peter’s class several times, so he shares a lot of good materials for doing assignments.”
Really now. After doing this, he’ll later accuse me of copying his assignment, right? Ugh. Obvious. So obvious. Change up your repertoire.
“Okay. Got it.”
I smiled with the feeling of ‘hurry up and get lost,’ but the guy didn’t think to leave.
“Lionel. On Friday, there’s a Rose Day event at the social gathering I belong to, so come and casually have some tea….”
“What’s this now?”
Suddenly Cesare appeared and held up the box. Mitche desperately struggled while gesturing for him to give him the chocolate, but Cesare, who couldn’t possibly see that, handed the chocolate back to Jayden.
“Sorry, but Fellox. Dogs die if they eat chocolate. Shouldn’t a junior know that?”
“What? Dog? Who’s a dog?”
“Ah. Cesare? Isn’t this the time you should be practicing magic?”
Rather than being excited by Cesare’s sudden appearance, I was nervous. Right now was the time when Cesare practiced magic alone, so he shouldn’t be on campus.
‘Did I not bring him something? Tea? Notes? A spare shirt?’
As I stared blankly trying to read his mood, Cesare grinned and put his arm around my neck.
“It seemed like class ended, so I came to pick up my puppy.”
Gasp. He came to pick me up to see me? How nice… no wait. Why is he acting like this? I quickly turned my head and came to one conclusion.
‘There’s a 200% probability that I did something wrong.’
Although I like Cesare and my eyes turn into heart shapes whenever I see him, that’s that, and a situation where he comes to find me first wasn’t familiar. Because when that happens, it’s always when I did something wrong.
I rolled my eyeballs and looked at Jayden as if asking ‘Did I say something wrong?’ but the guy wasn’t Cain and didn’t catch my eye signals.
“Lionel. Are you happy that I came?”
When an obviously different, artificial voice from usual called me, the hair all over my body stood on end. Seeing him act like this, I definitely seemed to have done something wrong, but I absolutely couldn’t figure out what.
‘Today there’s no practical swordsmanship class, so I don’t need to prepare cold tea? Did I not return a borrowed book? No way. Devier said he did all that?’
“That side should get lost.”
– Whoosh.
“Urk!”
As if Cesare used magic, Jayden was pushed aside. Mitche hiccuped at the sight. Mitche must have sensed some scary energy too.
“What’s your next elective class?”
“N-next class?”
Is he telling me to skip next class and silently follow him?
I don’t know why I’m suddenly reminded of a scene where when dogs make a mess of the house, the owner personally brings them to show with their eyes and scolds them.
“Yeah. Where’s your next class. I’ll take you there. You’re not understanding things well today?”
It was strange that he said he’d take me when I’m not an elementary student and it’s not like I can’t walk to my next class on my own. It sounded exactly like ‘I’ll take you to hell,’ and I felt like I was going crazy.
What mistake did I make, Lionel Mellans!
“Th-there’s no need! You must be busy researching magic alone too.”
“Lionel.”
Being called by name once more, sweat poured down my spine. After continuing to worry, I carefully asked, wondering if it might be this.
“C-could it be, Cesare. Does your great-aunt relative need money again?”
