episode_0112

“Jester-nim, it’s truly been a long time since I’ve seen you in person.”

Yerika said, with a lovely smile that would make even a priest who had trained for decades lose their wits for a moment.

“…………”

It was my first time realizing that when people are too flustered, they lose their ability to speak.

I had so much I wanted to say, but all those words were fragmented, unable to form sentences, and vanished within my mouth.

The Emperor’s Shadow had called me, and since the Emperor was also currently at the Academy, I naturally thought the Emperor had called me.

But it wasn’t the Emperor in the classroom; it was Yerika.

“Hehe, you’re surprised because I’m even prettier in person, aren’t you?”

Although I was wearing a mask, Yerika seemed to instantly notice my fluster, and with a mischievous giggle, she took one step, then another, slowly approaching me.

Watching her, a small snort of laughter escaped my lips.

‘She certainly wasn’t like this when we first met.’

At some point, Yerika occasionally started showing brazen sides, just like me.

Of course, it’s not that I dislike this side of her.

Unlike the other people I’ve become close to, Yerika didn’t appear much in the game, so I didn’t know much about her until we became close.

But precisely because of that, each new side of her, like now, felt even more refreshing.

‘Come to think of it, Johanna also subtly changed at some point.’

Things like the chilling gaze she sometimes gives me, or the cool hand that brushes my neck.

“Jester-nim? Am I not pretty?”

Yerika, who had approached right in front of my nose, tilted her head and looked up at me.

“Impossible. You are so beautiful that I momentarily forgot how to speak. When I first entered, I almost knelt down, thinking a goddess had descended upon the Academy!”

“Ahem! I am indeed that pretty.”

If there had been a priest nearby, they would have been furious, calling it blasphemy.

But Yerika and I, not caring about such things, engaged in silly banter.

“Honestly, aren’t I prettier than the goddess? I don’t really see what’s so pretty about her.”

Suddenly, Yerika began badmouthing the goddess, like a villainess gossiping about another woman, but I could tell it was an act immediately.

From the start, Yerika and a villainess didn’t suit each other at all, so every single line of dialogue felt awkward.

“I’ve also thought so in my heart for a long time. Should we create a new religion, just the two of us, while we’re at it?”

I rubbed my hands together like a sycophant, responding to match her act.

“Heehee, so Jester-nim will be the first believer?”

“Are you making me a Pope? I never expected to rise in status like this.”

“Not exactly. Well, if you follow my orders well, I *might* make you Pope.”

If a real Pope were watching this, they probably would have collapsed from high blood pressure.

But as I said before, only Yerika and I were here.

“Just give me any command! If I can become Pope… no, if I can be of help to the Goddess-nim, I will leap into a pit of fire!”

“Ahem! Then come here and massage my shoulders. I’ll specially permit you to touch my shoulders.”

“Yes, Goddess-nim! I will consider it an honor for life!”

And so, Yerika’s and my peculiar play continued.

The actors were Yerika and I.

The audience was also Yerika and I.

The script was entirely ad-libbed.

The play’s name: The Villainess Princess and the Sycophantic Jester’s Religious War.

Even using the honorific ‘Goddess-nim,’ wouldn’t the Holy Kingdom have something to say?

Just as the new religion Yerika and I created had half-destroyed the original one.

“Pfft!”

Unable to hold it in, Yerika and I finally burst out laughing simultaneously, and for a while, only the sound of laughter filled the classroom where only the two of us were present.

“By the way, Princess?”

After laughing for a long time, I spoke to Yerika first.

“…………”

Yerika didn’t answer at all, instead puffing out her cheeks and turning her head sideways, as if explicitly letting me know she was sulking.

Of course, I knew what mistake I had made.

It must be because I called her ‘Princess’ instead of ‘Yerika’.

It was true that calling her ‘Yerika’ had become more familiar than calling her ‘Princess,’ but seeing her in person, my old title for her slipped out without me realizing.

“Yerika.”

“Yes! Jester-nim!”

Her voice was bright and cheerful, as if her sulking just now had been a lie.

“Jester-nim, how about we speak informally now?”

“Ahaha, it’s still more comfortable like this for now.”

“I’ll let it slide for now. But! Later, I’ll definitely hear you speak informally to me.”

After chuckling at Yerika making such a strange vow, I asked her something I’d been curious about ever since I saw her here.

“But why are you wearing our school uniform, Yerika?”

Yerika was currently wearing the Kroa Academy uniform.

It was so natural that I momentarily forgot to ask.

“How is it? Does it suit me?”

Yerika elegantly spun around once in place, then slightly lifted both ends of her skirt as if curtseying at a ball.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

For the best reaction, I covered my eyes as if I’d directly stared at the sun, pretending to be in agony, and hunched over.

“You’re so radiant, I can’t see anything!”

Yerika’s giggles echoed through the classroom.

“Originally, I didn’t particularly want to attend the Academy.”

“Is that so?”

“Lucas Oppa will become Emperor anyway, and it’s not like I want to become stronger, right?”

When we talked through the communication orb last time, Yerika said she would enroll in the Academy next year.

“But if Jester-nim is by my side, I thought the Academy might be fun, so I decided to attend after all.”

I also think it would be more fun than now if Yerika were by my side.

“I will help Yerika have the best time for two years.”

Anyway, once I become a second-year, I won’t have much to do, so enjoying a normal Academy life wouldn’t be bad.

“I appreciate it, but why two years? The Academy goes up to the third year, doesn’t it?”

“When Yerika becomes a third-year, won’t I have graduated and no longer be at the Academy?”

Hearing my words, Yerika hummed, stroking her chin as she pondered seriously.

And then, as if a brilliant idea had struck her, she gasped.

The method Yerika came up with after much deliberation was…

“Jester-nim, do you want to repeat a year?”

“Pfft!”

“Don’t laugh! I said that after serious consideration!”

Yerika told me not to laugh, but anyone would have burst out laughing.

To think the solution she came up with after so much thought was to repeat a year.

“That’s a bit difficult… Excuse me for a moment.”

I sought Yerika’s understanding and concealed both my and Yerika’s forms with an illusion.

It was because I sensed a presence nearby.

“Jester-nim? Is there a problem…?”

“Shh.”

I raised my index finger and placed it to my lips.

Fortunately, Yerika didn’t say anything, and a very short time later…

-Clank.

Someone opened the door and entered.

“Didn’t you hear something in here?”

“You must have misheard. This is an unused classroom.”

The people who entered were a man and a woman in Academy uniforms.

From their atmosphere and the fact that they were holding hands, I could deduce they were a couple.

Seeing that they were holding whips, it seemed they had just come from training.

‘Whips, huh? They use unusual weapons.’

Considering they had trained, neither of them were sweating, so it seemed they hadn’t just come from training but rather stopped by on their way to training.

[Let’s just stay like this until they leave.]

I created text with an illusion that only Yerika could see.

Yerika responded by nodding her head.

“But how long are you going to keep holding my hand?”

“You grabbed mine first.”

“No, you grabbed mine first, didn’t you?”

“Then let’s count to three and let go at the same time. One, two, three!”

“What? Why didn’t you let go? You actually tightened your grip.”

“You did too.”

The couple, unaware that Yerika and I were there, started to act lovey-dovey.

So fresh. So innocent.

I also had times like that…

No, I didn’t, did I?

Before transmigrating, I was engrossed in Kroa Academy.

The couple’s physical contact grew longer, and now they were kissing.

Ah, youth. Yes, if it’s youth, they should at least intertwine tongues…

‘Tongues?’

The couple’s atmosphere was slowly becoming risque.

‘Right, since there’s no one else here anyway, intertwining tongues is fine.’

I’m not that conservative.

But, even so, no matter what…

‘Taking off clothes isn’t right!!’

I lowered my head and looked at Yerika, who was clinging to me.

Yerika groaned, covering her flushed face with both hands.

I had no hobby of watching other people’s intimate moments, and especially for Yerika, whose face was getting redder and redder, I resolved to stop their ‘great deed’.

However, stepping forward directly wouldn’t do, so I created a sound with an illusion.

“Meow.”

When a cat’s meow suddenly sounded from outside, the students, who had been kissing, flinched.

“Didn’t a sound just come from somewhere?”

“It’s just a normal cat. Don’t mind it, just keep undressing me, you horny bastard.”

“Yes, Master.”

Hearing the woman’s words, the man began taking off his clothes.

Horny bastard? Master? I must have misheard, right?

“Why aren’t you undressing quickly?”

The woman began to berate the man who was undressing.

‘Ah, damn it. Surely not.’

Crack!

But my damn hunch wasn’t wrong, and the woman started whipping the man.

‘Damn it.’

Seeing that, Yerika seemed to be in cultural shock, covering her mouth with her hand in horror.

Honestly, even I was flustered by that.

No, why are these brats doing such disgusting things at the Academy?

‘If I keep watching that, I’ll go insane.’

Instead of a cat’s meow, I borrowed the voice of one of the professors I had heard earlier at the disciplinary committee.

“Who’s there!”

Hearing the voice, the couple hurriedly put on the clothes they had shed and left the classroom.

“………………”

“…………………”

The classroom, now empty of those perverted bastards.

Silence dominated Yerika and me.

“Uh… um, Yerika? When men and women usually engage in relations… doing it like that isn’t normal, so you shouldn’t watch and imitate it…”

“I know that much!”