Ch.292Doubt (2)

After being noisy about impersonation and such until a few days ago, things suddenly quieted down. In other words, life had returned to normal.

And when ordinary days repeat, time flies by. Thanks to the typewriter, I was already finishing up the 22nd volume of the Biography of Xenon.

Once I completed the final revisions and mailed it to the publisher, volume 22 would be done. It ended so quickly that I considered starting on volume 23 right away, but decided to take a short break instead.

Though “taking a break” just meant spending time with friends. By the way, Cecilly still wasn’t here.

She hadn’t come to the academy yet because she was managing internal affairs in Helium, and might even have to skip the entire semester.

Fortunately, Halo Academy understood her situation. There was a principle that exempted students from repeating a semester if unavoidable circumstances arose.

In Helium’s case, being such a special situation, they might even exempt her for a full year.

Although I felt somewhat empty without Cecilly at the academy, we were still in contact through Gartz Balack.

I was enjoying the relaxed academy life and welcoming a peaceful weekend of rest.

“198… 199… 200! Stop!”

In a corner of the common training ground, still humid with lingering summer heat.

As soon as Adelia’s command to stop reached my ears, I released the tension in my arms.

The hard sensation of stone pressed against my chest, and a sense of comfort enveloped my body. I could have fallen asleep right there.

“Thirty seconds of rest, then another 200 repetitions.”

But Adelia’s cruel words from behind me snapped me back to reality.

Without turning my head, I complained to Adelia who was sitting on my back.

“Can’t we rest a little longer?”

“No. Stop whining.”

Adelia answered with a strict voice, ignoring my plea. She never compromised when it came to managing my physical condition.

These weren’t even normal push-ups. I had to do them with her sitting on my back.

As a well-trained knight, Adelia had more muscle than average, making her heavier. According to her, she weighed around 75kg.

Given that her height was exactly 173cm, and the average weight for that height was about 60kg, it meant she had an extraordinary amount of muscle.

Even simple push-ups became incredibly intense with Adelia on my back. This was something even holy power couldn’t help with.

Holy power was only suitable for an auxiliary role; it didn’t directly enhance my strength. My growth depended entirely on my own efforts.

“Noona.”

“Yes?”

“You built your body through effort alone, without holy power, right?”

“Of course.”

Judging by her confident answer, Adelia’s true talent lay in effort and self-reflection.

Rather than mindlessly pushing forward, she thought carefully about the most effective methods, implemented them, and produced results.

If those results weren’t satisfactory, she would develop new theories and test them again. Through this endless cycle, the person known as Adelia was born.

“As you know, unlike my other siblings, I didn’t receive proper support. I had to do this much just to catch up.”

Adelia, still sitting on my back, spoke with a slightly bitter voice. I remained silent for a moment.

As she said, the Kingdom of Teres only provided her with basic necessities; everything else, Adelia had to figure out on her own.

Even her swordsmanship was secretly taught by a knight. But when it was discovered, that knight was demoted to another post.

The more I heard about Adelia’s hardships, the more I questioned how the Kingdom of Teres governed, but it’s common for ability and character to be inversely proportional.

Perhaps they held the elitist mindset that they must look down upon their subjects. That’s probably the most likely explanation.

‘This works for me though.’

Thanks to Adelia, I could feel my recent growth. Just a month ago, doing push-ups with her on my back would have been impossible.

But due to her passionate teaching and assistance, I was able to achieve rapid growth.

Additionally, she acted as a brake when I got too absorbed in my maid duties, which was invaluable.

She might be a worthless illegitimate child to the Teres royal family, but to me, Adelia was an unexpected blessing.

“But look at you trying to slack off. Hurry up before I add another set.”

Of course, she remained a strict teacher. With 200 push-ups per set, it was better to finish quickly.

Although our training in the common practice ground should have attracted attention, no one paid us any mind.

At first, a few people glanced our way, but since we looked like a trainer and client, they quickly lost interest.

They were all busy with their own training anyway, and had no reason to pay attention to us.

The place was full of good-looking, fit people, so there was no reason for them to focus on us.

“Issac.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever thought about learning martial arts?”

Adelia casually asked me this question while I was doing push-ups.

Judging by her serious tone, it wasn’t a joke. She was sincere.

I pondered her question while continuing my push-ups without pause.

“Hmm… not really? I learned basic self-defense from my father, so I’m fine, but martial arts don’t particularly appeal to me. And I don’t have time for it.”

“Really?”

“Is my body that good?”

Though somewhat ambiguous, Adelia would understand what I meant. I felt her flinch momentarily.

She then covered the awkwardness with a forced laugh before answering my question.

“It’s not just good—it’s exceptional. Even with holy power, it’s difficult to improve your body this much in such a short time. You definitely have talent.”

Despite Adelia’s praise, I wasn’t particularly interested. As I mentioned earlier, I barely had time to write the Biography of Xenon, let alone learn martial arts.

In a way, it’s like planting only potatoes in fertile soil. Still, my mind was made up.

“Sorry. I’m not interested right now. Besides, even if my body is good, who knows if I have talent for swordsmanship?”

“You don’t necessarily have to pick up a sword or spear. There are weapons like axes or maces that just require swinging. I can teach you basic grips and techniques. That’s also a form of self-defense.”

“I’ll consider it. Let’s finish this first.”

Exercise is more important than martial arts or whatever right now. Adelia seemed to understand this and quietly helped me.

“That’s enough for today. You can go rest now.”

“Thanks for your hard work. Oh, by the way, Noona.”

“Yes?”

“Marie said she’ll let you have me today.”

“… …”

When I said this with a smile, Adelia blinked a couple of times.

Eventually, her face visibly flushed, and she deliberately turned her head away, cleared her throat, and quietly replied.

“…I’ll be waiting.”

Adelia switched to formal speech, unlike before. This was the attitude of a personal maid, not a guard knight.

I stroked her cheek once and prepared to return to the dormitory. I could finish showering there.

Though I’d soon be sweating again after the shower, cleanliness was always important.

Being uncomfortable is much worse than being inconvenienced. With that thought in mind, I headed back to the dormitory.

Unlike Marie or Cecilly, Adelia didn’t express herself outwardly, so she must have been holding back.

After pushing my body to its limits, I expected tomorrow’s awakening would be difficult.

“Huh?”

It was when I came out of the shower, feeling refreshed and anticipating another intense battle later that night.

An envelope that hadn’t been there when I arrived at the dormitory was now lying conspicuously at the entrance.

There’s a mail slot under the dormitory door, so occasionally letters or mail would be left like this.

Most were letters sent from the mansion or manuscripts for the Biography of Xenon, with occasional notices.

‘Did Mother send this?’

Recently, I’d been exchanging letters with Cecilly too, so there was a high possibility it was from her. There was no reason for the mansion to send a letter unless something had happened.

I picked up the letter while drying my unnecessarily long hair with a towel.

The envelope was an ordinary white one, commonly seen anywhere. It was quite different from the elaborate stationery Cecilly or Mother used.

‘Who sent this letter?’

Could it be a love letter? With such useless thoughts, I carefully opened the envelope.

Inside was just a single sheet of paper. With increasing puzzlement, I unfolded the letter.

And…

[Are you Xenon?]

I couldn’t help but blink at the neatly written text.

‘…Is it Hyria?’

Though there was no evidence, only one person would do something like this.

‘But what am I supposed to do?’

I have no idea how to respond.

*****

‘This should do it.’

Rewinding time a bit, while Issac was cleaning himself.

Hyria slipped a letter into the mailbox of Issac’s dormitory and quickly left the scene.

She was disguised, so there was no worry about being recognized, and she even wore glasses that partially concealed her features just in case.

‘Why is he so diligent?’

As she moved away from the dormitory, she recalled Issac’s daily routine that she had observed for days.

From what she had gathered, Issac’s life was the epitome of a model student. Except for occasional meetings with Marie or Adelia, he stayed holed up in his research lab.

Even when he left the lab, he always headed to the library, then returned to the lab again.

He was the perfect example of a scholar, but this wasn’t what Hyria wanted. What she wanted was to understand his exact relationship with Cecilly.

But Cecilly was currently absent due to internal affairs in Helium. According to rumors, she might even take a full semester off.

Because of this, Hyria couldn’t help but feel anxious. She needed to determine whether he was Xenon or not, but already there were complications.

What she wanted wasn’t to prove that Issac was Xenon. She just wanted to confirm whether he was Xenon or not.

‘If he sees the letter, he’ll react.’

If he wasn’t Xenon, he would act as usual, but if he really was Xenon, there would be some change in his behavior.

Discerning this was her primary goal. She could formulate subsequent plans at her leisure.

If Issac wasn’t Xenon, she could just take what she wanted as originally planned, but if he really was Xenon…

‘No. That can’t happen.’

Hyria shook her head vigorously. If he truly was Xenon, she would literally fall into the abyss.

One thing she had learned while following him was that his relationship with Adelia had deepened.

This wouldn’t matter even if he wasn’t Xenon, as long as Marie, the daughter of the Reckyless ducal family, permitted it.

The opposite was the problem. Issac surely knew about the circumstances between Adelia and the Teres royal family, so what if he really was Xenon?

‘The Kingdom of Teres would be completely isolated.’

The moment they touched Xenon, Helium and the Church of Luminus would directly intervene, and perhaps even Alfheim might take action.

That had to be prevented at all costs. Despite being headstrong, Hyria possessed at least a minimum of common sense and understanding.

Although she became a knight because she disliked the idea of being married off like merchandise, she knew a fair amount about diplomacy.

‘Using Adelia might allow for some recovery, but…’

While Hyria was sorting through her complicated thoughts and walking briskly, it happened.

Thud-

“Ah!”

“Huh?”

Perhaps because she was looking down while walking, Hyria collided with a passerby.

Despite the collision, Hyria remained standing, while the person she bumped into fell to the ground.

Judging by how they were gently rubbing their backside and groaning, they must have fallen quite hard.

‘Pink?’

Strangely, the woman who collided with Hyria and fell had pink hair.

Like Issac’s red hair, it was a cherry blossom color, famous for being rare in the world.

Normally, upon seeing pink hair, she would have tried to deduce which family they belonged to, but her mind was too preoccupied to think about it.

“Tsk. Get up.”

Hyria clicked her tongue and extended her hand to help the woman stand.

It was appropriate to help since she had bumped into her while lost in thought.

The pink-haired woman accepted her hand and slowly rose to her feet.

“Th-thank you.”

“Watch where you’re going.”

It was absolutely not something Hyria should say, but she said it out of pride.

Despite her barely courteous behavior, the passerby said nothing and simply brushed past her.

Hyria’s eye twitched at this, but she only grumbled inwardly and continued walking without delay.

As the distance between them increased…

‘She really was a stalker.’

The pink-haired woman, Cherry, muttered to herself as she watched Hyria’s disappearing figure.

Last time, she had avoided detection due to a series of coincidences, but now she was watching from a distance just in case.

Fortunately, the stalker seemed unaware that she was being followed and didn’t notice Cherry’s presence.

‘I should report this right away.’

As soon as Cherry identified the stalker, she moved without a moment’s hesitation. Her destination was precisely Issac’s dormitory.

Upon arriving at the dormitory door, she raised her hand and knocked lightly.

Knock knock knock-

“Senior Issac. It’s Cherry. I have something to talk about…”