Episode 122
- Ding dong dang dong
"Argh."
Irina, who had been fiddling with the orb while nestled against Frey, was startled when the school bell rang and jumped up from her seat.
"...How did it get to be this time already?"
The Blood Oath was a ritual that required considerable concentration and magical ability, so Irina had performed the oath without even realizing time was passing.
And as a result, Irina experienced the major incident of being late for class for the first time.
"Frey, wait just a moment."
Hurriedly trying to rise from her seat, Irina gently pressed Frey back down and whispered.
"I'll come back as soon as class ends..."
Saying that, she carefully lifted the bucket beside Frey and placed it in front of him.
- Shaaa...
Soon, Irina used magic to float the bucket in front of Frey.
"Hmm."
Then she narrowed her eyes and began looking around.
"Now, stay well."
Irina, who whispered thus, began to lean her face toward Frey's face while blushing.
"Euu..."
But in the middle of doing so, Irina suddenly stopped moving and began making a dazed sound.
For her, who had been immersed only in magic research and war in both the previous cycle and this cycle.
The act of kissing the opposite sex required more courage than she had thought.
"...Hup."
Irina, who had been fighting with her inner self for a while,
- Chup.
Finally succeeded in carefully pressing her lips against Frey's.
"Euu..."
Though it wasn't a kiss with tongues, nor did it last long, it was merely a fleeting moment.
But since it was the first affectionate act she had ever performed of her own will in her life, it held its own meaning for her.
"I, I'll be late for class."
As a result, Irina, whose ears had turned completely red, cleared her throat and hurriedly began to exit the room.
"...Hehe."
While quietly rolling a slightly hazy orb mixed with silver and red colors in her hand.
- Click.
When the closed door was locked by an automatic locking magic. The canary that had flown to sit on a nearby tree when Irina was looking around...
"...Chirp."
Flew back to the windowsill and began examining the room.
Soon, confirming no one was in the room, the canary carefully flew inside.
"Chirp♪"
Perched on Frey's shoulder and began quietly singing a song in his ear.
"...?"
The canary, who had been gently closing her eyes and singing for a while, suddenly turned her head and began looking toward the window.
"Kuuuuuu!!"
"Gugugugugu!!"
".....!"
Discovering a white owl and a pigeon fiercely fighting each other while approaching the window, the canary hurriedly flew to a nearby pillow and hid herself.
- Thud
The owl and pigeon, having entered the room and fought for a while, simultaneously dropped letters on Frey's desk and both began flying toward the window.
"Kuuuu!"
"Gugugu!"
Pecking fiercely at each other until the very end.
"...Chirp"
The canary, who had been watching with a pale expression as the two birds disappeared leaving only feathers flying everywhere, soon carefully flew to the desk.
"...?"
Then, 4 letters came into the canary's view.
'The letters the owl and pigeon dropped were definitely only 2...?'
And Klana, who had been sharing the canary's vision until then, pondered for a moment.
- Rrip!
Soon, she began carefully tearing the letters using the canary's beak.
'Just in case there's an assassination magic on them... I'm just checking in advance.'
Thinking that, Klana, who was opening one of the letters originally on the desk, discovered the name written on the envelope and sharply frowned.
- Rosewin Solar Sunset
'...Ha?'
Klana, who saw the name she hated hearing most these days and quietly ground her teeth.
- Hello, Frey-nim. I heard news that you collapsed recently and I was so worried I couldn't sleep...
"Chirp."
After confirming all the contents written in the letter, she made a cold expression and pushed the letter with her foot into the trash bin beside the desk.
'...This one?'
Klana, who was opening the next letter with a relieved expression, soon began tilting her head.
- Frey, why haven't you contacted me? You said you'd comply with my threat. We need to meet before we can negotiate or not.
Or is this your way of handling people? As expected, there's a reason for all those rumors.
If that's how you want to play, I have plans too.
Be prepared.
[Aishiga.]
"....???"
Klana, who tilted her head at the letter's contents, soon decided it was fine since there was no assassination magic and returned the envelope to its original state.
'Is that a letter Serena sent?'
Klana, who had finished checking all the letters and was about to return to her place, hesitated when Serena's letter came into view.
- Swish...
She quietly extended her beak.
- Bzzzzzt!!!
"...Chirp!!"
But at that moment, the defensive magic placed on the letter activated, and the canary Klana was controlling was electrocuted.
'Ouch...'
Fortunately, since her body was composed of solar mana, Klana didn't suffer major damage.
Still, she was quite shocked, and with teary eyes, Klana ultimately gave up on peeking at the letter and stepped back one step from Serena's letter.
'...Huh?'
Then this time, Perloche's letter came into her view.
'Why did she put the envelope inside the letter?'
Klana, who was momentarily confused by Perloche's odd behavior of still having the envelope inserted inside the letter, soon began carefully reading the letter's contents.
[Perloche Astelleid]
Stop doing wrong things! Breaking a promise!
Don't you know gratitude? We promised last time!
No need to say more! Come find me this evening!
'...What is this?'
Klana, looking at the paper torn from the diary she had gifted, feeling an inexplicable sense of discomfort, distorted her expression and muttered.
'Come to think of it, Perloche still doesn't know Frey collapsed.'
Feeling slightly depressed about the fact that she couldn't reveal the truth to Perloche, who was her only friend until she discovered the truth about Frey.
'...It can't be helped. I can't let Frey get hurt again.'
She thought that and flew up again.
"Chirp!"
Soon, Klana flew back to Frey's side.
'The Blood Oath against the Sun and the Empire... I ended up making it to you.'
She burrowed carefully into Frey's embrace and muttered inwardly.
'...I really am unfit to be Emperor.'
It was a thought that would have made the past her, who staked her life on the throne, turn pale, but Klana, muttering inwardly like that.
'Still...'
She wore a sad yet gentle smile.
'I'm satisfied with this.'
Having finished her muttering, Klana lay on the bed in her room, covered herself with blankets, and quietly closed her eyes.
"Mmm..."
Thus, Klana, now fully connected to the canary, fell asleep while gently closing her eyes in Frey's embrace.
Though it was dark inside, Klana wore a happier smile than ever before.
.
"Hmm-hmm~ ♪
That evening.
"Now, let's see... let's check the daily tasks I had to do today!"
Perloche Astelleid was humming as she busily moved her pen.
"First... dawn prayer! This is done! And, attending classes! This was obviously done too!"
She, who had been checking off her checklist with an excited expression for a while, suddenly frowned and began muttering.
"Surveilling Frey...? I couldn't do this..."
Perloche, who frowned at not being able to check off what had been progressing briskly, rose from her seat and said.
"Right! Frey hasn't been visible all day today! Besides, I sent a letter but he didn't come find me!"
Perloche, saying that while huffing angrily, began heading toward the room's exit.
"Be prepared, Frey! I already warned you!"
Soon, having left her room, she began walking down the hallway snorting through her nose.
"Where are you going, Saintess?"
"Is something making you angry?"
"I'm busy right now trying to catch Frey!"
"Yes?"
Perloche, who answered with an ambitious expression to the people who had been watching her with puzzled expressions and asked questions, left the dormitory with a calm expression.
"...Hmm?"
But she soon began tilting her head.
"Um, where was the noble dormitory again?"
"It's over there."
"Ah! Right! Thank you!"
Perloche, who had asked a maid for the location of the noble dormitory, thanked her and hurriedly headed toward the noble dormitory.
"...Saintess? What brings you to the noble dormitory?"
"I need to catch Frey! I request your cooperation!"
Soon arriving at the noble dormitory, she declared proudly to the maids guarding the entrance.
"Ah... I see. Then please go ahead."
"Thank you!"
Of course, the maids had no choice but to grant entry permission immediately.
This was because Perloche, though a commoner according to school rules, held a position equivalent to a ducal house and even the imperial family in terms of external status.
"...Huh?"
However, Perloche, who took that as simply the maid's kindness and was smiling brightly, saw two people talking in the hallway and began tilting her head.
"Why are they doing that?"
The people who entered her view were Kania and Serena.
"It seems like something is going on with Perloche?"
"Yes, that's why I'm telling even the suspicious you..."
"Hello!!"
Perloche, who had been staring at them for a moment, soon smiled brightly and interrupted their conversation.
".........!"
"What were you talking about!?"
"Ah, well. You see."
While Kania stammered at her unexpected intrusion, Serena answered with a composed expression.
"We were fighting."
"Fighting?"
"Yes, one of us needs to nurse Frey."
At those words, Perloche made a puzzled expression, and Serena, covering her mouth with her fan, began to speak.
"Frey collapsed from illness yesterday, you see. As someone who needs to nurse him, his butler Kania and his fiancée, me, were chosen."
"F, Frey was sick!"
"Yes, but we both hate Frey, right? So we were both pushing the responsibility onto each other."
Having finished speaking, Serena smiled with her eyes and said to Kania.
"Well, if you hate it that much, it can't be helped. I, his fiancée, will have to do the nursing."
"W, what?"
Kania couldn't help but be flustered at those words.
Because now, it was her turn for the nursing rotation.
"Why are you acting like that? You were saying you didn't want to nurse Frey so much until just now."
"W, well..."
"Then, please rest for a while. I'll stay until dawn..."
"Then, I'll do it!"
"What?"
Serena, who was smiling at Kania and heading toward Frey's room.
"Everyone, please wait..."
Discovered Perloche, who had somehow opened the door and was peeking her head out.
"Wait a moment."
She urgently grabbed her arm and said.
"That thing you mentioned before, no matter how I think about it, you know about..."
"Ah, geez!"
Perloche, pulling her arm away from Serena and puffing her cheeks, said firmly.
"I don't know about DLC or anything like that!"
"...What?"
"Then, everyone please rest for a while!"
Having finished those words, Perloche entered Frey's room.
"M, my turn..."
Kania extended her arm with a blank expression.
"What?"
Serena muttered with a cold expression.
"Did she just pronounce 'DLC'?"
Somehow, the sun was setting and the moon and stars were rising.
"Sure enough..."
In that time, Serena said with a smile of realization.
"...My prediction was correct."
"Was he really sick, not faking it!"
"...?"
Until the next statement came out.
"That naked massage you gave me last time, I wanted to receive it again!"
"Ha?"
Serena's expression distorted slightly.
"It's really too bad!"
In contrast to Perloche, who was writing something with a cold expression inside the room.