Ch.327Changed Life (3)

After the conversation with the Chancellor, we headed to the dormitory where we would be staying, guided by Rina.

Even on the way to the dormitory, there were no escort knights except for Adelia Cross and Kate Louise Angelica. Instead, I often noticed personnel patrolling and keeping watch around us.

Unlike at the main gate, they didn’t clear a path for us, which I was inwardly grateful for, but suddenly a question occurred to me.

“Rina.”

“Yes?”

When I called her name, Rina, who had been walking ahead, turned around with a puzzled expression. I silently stared at her face for a moment.

As I always thought, Rina’s beauty was also very splendid, much like Marie’s.

Blue eyes as calm as a lake. Golden hair reflecting sunlight.

Eyes that contained both innocence and maturity, and a straight nose. Finally, pink lips.

And lastly, perhaps due to her unique elegance, her charm seemed to shine even more.

‘Will Rina really come to me too?’

Such a thought briefly crossed my mind, but that wasn’t important right now. I quickly shook it off and spoke.

“This might sound like a stupid question, but don’t you have any escort knights?”

“Escort knights?”

“Yes. Even if not knights, shouldn’t you at least have attendants?”

This was actually something I’d been wondering about. Before, she probably didn’t bring escort knights or attendants because she was with us.

But in a situation like this, she should have escort knights. Currently, besides Adelia and Kate, there are none by our side.

As I just mentioned, there are only knights patrolling around us. This is probably the best consideration from Rina who knows my personality, but a question is still a question.

And after hearing my question, Rina blinked her eyes slowly and then answered.

“I’m attending the academy now. I only have attendants when I’m at the imperial palace, not at the academy. There’s a policy that says we should handle our studies ourselves, not our official duties.”

“Policy?”

“Yes. It’s a principle unique to our imperial family that after becoming an adult, you should solve things yourself without anyone’s help. So I don’t have attendants, though I’m not sure about escort knights. Of course, if I return to the imperial palace, that would be different.”

It was the first time I’d heard about this, but it made sense. Certainly, Rina was the type to solve things herself rather than delegating to others.

You could tell by how she came to apologize personally when she announced her hiatus, rather than instructing someone else to do it.

“Isn’t it inconvenient?”

“It’s boring without someone to talk to, but that will change now. You and Marie will be moving into the dormitory. Oh, by the way, are you going to live in the same dormitory as Marie?”

“She said she wanted to live together after the wedding.”

“Ah… really?”

For some reason, Rina seemed disappointed. I raised one eyebrow questioningly.

“Why are you disappointed? Don’t tell me…”

“No, no! I’m not a pervert, why would my thoughts go in that direction?”

I haven’t even said anything yet, woman. I looked at Rina, who was vehemently denying, with an incredulous face.

I had left my sentence hanging just in case, but she went and blew herself up.

“Ahem. Ahem. Anyway, do you have any questions about the dormitory?”

Feeling awkward under my salty gaze, Rina changed the subject.

I wanted to dig deeper, but there were people listening around us, so I let it go.

Besides, I did have questions I was planning to ask.

“I understand that Adelia will be in the same room as me, but I’m curious where Kate will be staying.”

“I could also stay in Issac’s room…”

“No.”

Kate subtly requested to live together, but I flatly rejected it. The situation is already like leaving fish with a cat.

And living together would be like directly putting the fish into the cat’s mouth.

When I refused outright, Kate pouted her lips. Her expression remained the same, making her look quite cute.

“Wouldn’t it be better for Cardinal Kate to go to the temple rather than stay in the dormitory? I think that would be best.”

“That would be fine, but not yet. We don’t know when those filthy devil worshippers might threaten Issac. I need to stay as close as possible.”

Kate’s words were not wrong at all. Rina seemed to understand and nodded.

“I see. Then I should assign the room right next to…”

Rina paused mid-sentence. She pondered for a while and then began to look at us nervously.

Just as I was starting to worry that there might not be any rooms left in the dormitory, Rina spoke in a careful voice.

“…Come to think of it, there aren’t many suitable rooms. Cardinal Kate will be assigned to a room one space away from Issac. Issac needs to be close to Marie’s room.”

“What room number is Marie in?”

“Room 4. And my brother Leort and I are in rooms 1 and 2 respectively. Room 3 was used by Princess Hyria, but she vacated it.”

“Ah. Did she go back?”

“Not completely. I heard she’s just taking some time off to recover because she wasn’t feeling well.”

Well, she was practically an invalid, so recovery is essential. Especially since she’s a warrior whose body is her greatest asset, she would need thorough care.

If I move into Room 3, Kate would naturally be placed one room away.

After listening to Rina, Kate thought deeply about something and then spoke to her.

“Princess Rina.”

“Yes?”

“I sense something sinister in your words. Is it just my imagination?”

“…”

Kate asked with an innocent face, as if she had sensed something strange in Rina’s words. Rina couldn’t answer immediately.

Honestly, it’s a bit funny that Kate would ask such a question. Kate, who had awakened to sexuality, was nurturing a snake in her heart in a different sense.

After quietly listening to their conversation, I threw a question at Rina.

“Rina.”

“Y-yes?”

“Can you let other people into the dormitory? Adelia is my personal maid, so she’ll be staying with me.”

“L-Lady Cross?”

As if she had momentarily forgotten, Rina’s head turned toward Adelia. When Adelia met her eyes, she bowed her head in greeting.

Rina stared at Adelia for a moment, then exclaimed as if she had just realized something.

“Ah! That’s right, Lady Cross was here!”

Rina smiled broadly, seemingly happy that I would be living with Adelia, though I didn’t know why. But soon after, she froze in that position.

She probably knew I was already suspicious, and this reaction only confirmed my suspicions.

She even stopped walking, which made it certain. When she stopped in place, we also stopped.

Swish-

In that state, Rina just turned her head and began to look at me nervously. The elegant demeanor she usually exuded had completely disappeared.

All that remained was a child caught red-handed in the act of stealing. I looked at her and snickered, then placed my hand on her shoulder.

I could clearly feel Rina flinch greatly when I put my hand on her.

“It’s okay. These things happen. I can understand. Everyone has different tastes.”

“…”

“Is this the sinister thing Kate was talking about?”

Rina couldn’t say anything. She probably wanted to hide in a mouse hole if one was available.

I patted her shoulder a few times as if to say it was okay. To think that such an elegant princess had this kind of hobby, it was a moment that reminded me once again that Rina was human too.

“How long are you going to stand there?”

“…Please don’t tell anyone else. I’m begging you.”

Rina said in a small voice, her face instantly turning red. She couldn’t even meet my gaze, which I found cute.

Fortunately, we were the only ones who discovered her taste. There was no one around us thanks to the guards.

‘It seems like many people already know though…’

I didn’t bother to say it out loud. After all, one should respect people’s preferences.

“Princess Rina. There’s no need to be so embarrassed. As Luminus said, it’s only natural to have sexual desires for a man like Issac. I felt the same way.”

“…”

“So there’s no need to suffer in silence.”

Of course, Kate, with her perverted tendencies, had no such restraint. She probably thought she was comforting Rina by mixing in her own experiences.

Kate’s words were like driving a wedge into Rina, who was already on the verge of collapse.

As soon as I heard those words, I looked at Rina’s reaction first. I could only see her back, so I couldn’t tell her expression.

However, her ears, visible through her hair, were bright red. Red enough to be noticeable.

‘She’s accumulating one more black history.’

The elegance of Rina in my mind began to gradually fade.

*****

The dormitory we arrived at, guided by Rina who had accumulated a black history, didn’t look different from an ordinary dormitory at first glance.

But that was just the exterior. From the entrance, knights in full armor were guarding, and they patrolled the surroundings at regular intervals.

Moreover, the patrol teams didn’t just consist of knights, but also magicians and well-trained military dogs. As befitting a place where VIPs stay, it boasted fortress-like security.

The inside was the same. Surveillance magic was installed in the corridors, and even simple doors had security devices.

It’s similar to the door locks I often saw in my previous life. While regular dormitories could be accessed with keys, VIP ones required crystal orbs.

The crystal orb is a kind of card, and even reissuing one is quite complicated, so they warned us not to lose it.

“…If you have any questions, feel free to ask anytime.”

Rina, who now couldn’t even meet my eyes, said this and then left hurriedly. I could understand her, so I just gave a simple hand wave and entered the dormitory.

Before I entered, she gave me a strange look, but I deliberately ignored it. The best thing now is to be considerate and let her compose herself.

And at the same time, check out the interior of the dormitory. The luggage will arrive soon, so I plan to look around until then.

“This isn’t a dormitory, it’s more like a villa.”

“Indeed.”

As Adelia exclaimed with admiration, a scene completely different from our previous dormitory unfolded.

The floor was covered with marble as a basic feature, and a small chandelier was installed on the ceiling.

And a little away from the entrance was a large bed, big enough for at least three people to sleep on.

Lastly, unlike the student dormitories which were studio-style, this one had quite a lot of rooms. While looking around the living room, I chose one of the many rooms and entered.

“There’s even a training room?”

“Really?”

Surprisingly, there was even a personal training room equipped with various exercise equipment. It seems I won’t need to go to the training ground unless I want to do cardio.

Just from the equipment visible, it looks like I can handle about 90% of my training needs. While Adelia was examining each piece of equipment, I looked around the other rooms.

‘This room would be good for Adelia.’

There was even a room prepared for attendants. It wasn’t small at all, about the size of our previous dormitory.

Besides that, there was a room for official work, a laundry room, and so on. It was too much even for a VIP dormitory.

‘It really is a villa.’

It’s not just like a villa, it is a villa. There’s even a kitchen, so if we have ingredients, we can take care of our meals too.

The only drawback is that there are almost no windows to view the outside scenery, but that’s acceptable for thorough security.

Actually, until now, I didn’t feel like the treatment had changed much since revealing my identity, but after arriving at the dormitory, I could clearly feel it.

Woong-

“Huh?”

While looking around the room, I suddenly heard a strange noise. Looking at the source, it was from the entrance area.

Soon, particles of light began to gather gradually in the empty space next to the entrance. I stared at the scene with a blank gaze.

The particles, which were gradually merging into one, soon showed a form and, surprisingly, began to take on substance.

“…Could it be teleport?”

The scene unfolding before my eyes is, as everyone knows, teleportation. A top-tier magic that easily ignores spatial constraints.

It might seem a bit faded because Cecilly and Gartz use it all the time, but they’ve installed teleportation in a personal dormitory, of all places.

Of course, given the space, it’s probably only possible for simple items. But even this is enough to be surprising.

Just think about how much it costs to install one of these. Note that it’s not a magician directly chanting, but an installation.

Swish-

I checked the item transmitted through the teleport. Probably inside would be a typewriter and manuscripts.

Sure enough, when I opened the box, very familiar items came into my view. Along with them was a small letter.

Let’s check the letter first, putting aside everything else. It seems to be from the mansion.

[To my beloved Issac. The fact that you’re checking this letter means the teleport has been used. I hear that each dormitory has fixed coordinates, so if there’s anything to send, it can be transmitted anytime.]

As expected, it was a letter from my mother. According to the letter, the teleport device in the dormitory has fixed coordinates, so items can be sent whenever desired.

Originally, it took several days to exchange letters, but now that time will be greatly reduced.

‘How much money did they spend on this?’

I looked at the letter and then at the space where the teleport had just been activated. I’m not sure if I should say this is typical of the Empire.

Still, it provides extreme convenience for me, so I plan to use it well.

[However, sending things from there to the mansion is difficult. The coordinates of the mansion haven’t been properly established yet. So for the time being, please send items through Lord Balack. I don’t know what kind of life you’ll lead from now on, but this mother always supports you. From your loving mother.]

A short letter, but filled with mother’s love. I read the last part of the letter with a gentle smile.

[P.S. It’s still an adaptation period, so you can take your time with the Biography of Xenon. Mom can wait.]

She says that, but she’s the one who loves the Biography of Xenon more than anyone. She probably means I should adapt quickly and start writing.

Of course, I plan to pick up the pen again once the adaptation period is perfectly over. It won’t take long anyway.

‘Is adaptation all that’s left?’

Just about two days after thinking that.

“…So, what exactly did they do?”

“They were a student who kept following Issac. We arrested them based on a report from another student.”

“…”

A knight who was guarding me brought someone in. The problem is…

“Hehe…”

“…”

That person was Leona Lions, not Cherry.

“What should we do?”

“…Just let her go.”

If there’s a twist, this would be it.