episode_0069

I approached Sepia, who was standing by the shop door.

“Sepia-ssi, how did you know to find this restaurant?”

As far as I remembered, the first customer was only supposed to arrive at this restaurant a bit later.

That’s why I came here, thinking of Johanna who dislikes crowded places, but I never imagined someone I knew would come in.

“This is a restaurant?”

Hearing my words, Sepia looked around the restaurant in surprise.

Did she come in without even knowing it was a restaurant?

“I didn’t exactly come in knowing it was a restaurant. My younger sibling just wanted to go in here once, so we did. I can’t believe you’re here.”

Sepia’s younger sibling?

Now that I looked, a small girl, whose head only reached Sepia’s waist, was hiding behind Sepia, holding onto the hem of her clothes.

“But you didn’t come here alone…………. You came with Princess Freya?”

The corners of Sepia’s mouth, which had been smiling while speaking, dropped when she spotted Johanna.

Are they on bad terms?

I don’t know, as there were no scenes of them conversing in Croaca.

Peek.

Sepia’s younger sibling peeked her head out slightly from behind Sepia’s back and looked at me warily.

Smiling beneath my mask, I waved my hand to greet the child, who startled and hid her face entirely behind Sepia’s back again.

“Rania, she’s unnie’s friend. Say hello, okay?”

Sepia said, stroking Rania with an affectionate voice.

So her name is Rania.

“Hmph!”

Hearing Sepia’s words, Rania, as if gathering courage, let out a small, cute determined sound and came out from behind Sepia’s back.

But she tightly gripped the hem of Sepia’s clothes with one hand.

Rania had her bright sky-blue hair tied cutely and wore bright sky-blue clothes matching her hair color.

“I, I’m!”

Ah! My voice cracked.

Her face burned red!

Rania’s face burned red, as if embarrassed.

And her eyes welled up with tears, looking as if they might fall at any moment.

“Rania Lybaiden…….. that’s me.”

Rania said in a whispery voice, holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

‘So cute!’

If I hadn’t maintained my poker face, I would have burst out laughing without resistance.

Sepia, too, found Rania cute, turning her head and desperately trembling her body to keep from laughing.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Loki.”

Anyway, Rania wouldn’t be able to see my eyes because of the mask, but I knelt on one knee and extended my hand to greet her, trying to meet her gaze.

Rania rolled her eyes, contemplating whether to take my outstretched hand or not.

“Is the mask scaring you?”

Sepia found Rania so cute, she gently stroked Rania’s blue hair and said playfully.

“Then if I take off my mask, will the little lady accept my greeting?”

Just as I was speaking playfully as well.

“Let’s go.”

Johanna, who suddenly appeared beside me, said, taking my hand.

“Haven’t we not paid yet?”

“I did.”

When on earth?

When Sepia was looking around the restaurant, was the reason she didn’t see Johanna because she was paying?

So Sepia came into the shop, and she immediately went to pay?

Johanna pulled my hand, as if she wanted to leave the restaurant as quickly as possible.

Just as I was about to go outside, led by Johanna’s hand, Sepia grabbed my other hand.

“Hogu, want to talk for a bit before you go?”

“I’m busy.”

Before I could even answer, Johanna looked at Sepia’s hand holding mine and replied in a chilling voice.

“I wasn’t speaking to Princess Freya, though?”

“…………………”

The two glared at each other without a word.

I was flustered, but Rania seemed even more so, her eyes welling up with tears that looked ready to fall at any moment.

Clap!

I clapped my hands together to make a sound, attracting their attention, and opened my mouth.

“It seems the little lady is still uncomfortable around me, so let’s talk later.”

I approached Rania and knelt on one knee again to meet her gaze once more.

“Now~ take a look here.”

“Ta-da!” I said, making a sound effect myself, and showed Rania the flower that appeared in my hand.

When the flower suddenly appeared out of thin air, Rania’s eyes widened.

“It’s a small gift for the little lady.”

I handed the flower to Rania.

Rania received the flower I offered with trembling hands.

This was not an illusion, but a flower taken from a sub-space.

It was a flower I had put there when I was experimenting with sub-space a long time ago.

“Th-thank you.”

Rania said, tightly clutching the flower she had received in her hand.

“See you again next time.”

* * *

After coming out of the restaurant, Loki said to Johanna, “Oh, that’s right.”

“Sunbae, could you wait here for a moment? There’s something I forgot to say.”

Hearing Loki’s words, Johanna furrowed her delicate brow, as if displeased.

“To that woman?”

“That woman, huh?” The appellation was a bit strange, but Loki didn’t pay it much mind.

“No, not to Sepia-ssi, but to the restaurant owner.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“How long do I have to wait?”

“It won’t take that long. Three minutes at most?”

Johanna was about to say, “Is it something I shouldn’t hear?”, but then she remembered what her mother had said before they left the mansion earlier.

‘If you’re too obsessive, the other person might run away.’

It wasn’t as if Loki would run away, but even if he tried to, she had no intention of letting him escape.

However, Johanna, thinking that a conversation was fine as long as it wasn’t with a woman, opened her mouth.

“……You have to be back in three minutes?”

“Of course. I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

Loki went into the restaurant, and Johanna reinforced her ears with mana, concentrating to hear every sound coming from inside the restaurant.

Exactly 189 seconds later, Loki came out.

She didn’t like that three minutes had passed, but since it didn’t seem like he had talked to a woman, she decided to let it slide.

“Just this once.”

“Huh? Just this once? What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing.”

And so, Loki walked to the academy, conversing with Johanna.

Johanna said there was a faster way to the academy, so I followed, and nothing happened except that it took more than twice as long as the usual route.

. .

“Ugh.”

I threw myself onto the bed and lay down, then stretched.

Even before entering the academy, I underwent tough training at Duke Adelien’s household, but after entering the academy, more difficult things kept happening.

“As expected, school is the root of all evil.”

For a moment, I recalled my school days in my original world.

‘Hmm………..’

Right, at least here I can wear a mask, so that’s a relief.

In my original world, I couldn’t even walk around with my face covered.

After experiencing many things during my six years of elementary school, I wanted to go to an all-boys middle school, but since there wasn’t one near my house, I had no choice but to go to a co-ed school.

And three days after entering middle school, I regretted going to a co-ed middle school.

The boys said they envied me, but being confessed to by girls I had no interest in at all was not pleasant.

In my first year, there was a third-year boy who picked a fight with me, claiming I had charmed a girl he liked.

For the record, I didn’t even know that girl’s name or appearance at the time.

There was also a girl who came to my house and brandished a knife, causing a disturbance, just because I didn’t accept her confession.

Just thinking about that time sends shivers down my spine.

‘Of course, it’s different now.’

Back then, I was scared to walk around with my face uncovered, fearing some crazy woman might stab me with a knife, but now, being stabbed with a knife won’t kill me.

Though it would be different if Johanna swung one.

“Hahaha.”

Even I found it absurd, and a hollow laugh escaped me.

Why would Johanna ever swing a knife at me?

Just as I was lost in old memories.

Ring. Ring.

Today, too, the sound of the communication device rang out without fail.

Talking with Yerika every night has now completely blended into my life.

When I talked with Yerika, my mind would become peaceful, and I wouldn’t have nightmares.

“Huh?”

Only now did I realize what that sense of unease was that I felt when I woke up in the carriage earlier.

Why didn’t I have a nightmare then?

I hadn’t passed out or anything; I had just fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Furthermore, I naturally hadn’t taken any medicine, nor had I talked to Yerika right before falling asleep.

Ring! Ring!

First, answer the call, and then think about it later.

If I don’t answer for too long, the call might get disconnected.

“[Clown-nim, why are you answering so late!]”

As soon as I answered, Yerika spoke in a loud voice as if she were angry, but her voice was full of laughter.

“I was just tidying up some things and accidentally answered late. Did anything happen to you today, Yerika?”

“[Me? I spent my day wondering if Clown-nim was thinking of me, too.]”

“I, too, was always thinking, ‘What is Yerika doing right now?’”

“[Chuckle!]”

“Pfft!”

We both laughed at the same time.

After that, we didn’t have any particularly special conversation with Yerika.

But the more we talked, the more at ease I felt.

“Did something like that really happen at the imperial palace today??”

“[Huh? Suddenly?]”

“I just said it once.”

“[Really! You’re incorrigible.]”

As I was spending time talking with Yerika, I heard a familiar sound from somewhere.

Ring. Ring.

This sound was definitely coming from a communication device.

To be precise, it was a different communication device than the one I was talking to Yerika on; it was the one I received from Johanna.

Ring, ring!

“[Clown-nim, what’s that sound?]”

Yerika also heard the communication device’s sound and asked.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

The communication device rang obliviously.