Ch.40The Principled One (4)

I entered the political science classroom, but I was able to access the student council room together with the others.

There were fewer eyes watching there, and there wasn’t really anywhere suitable to stand outside the student council room.

In the end, the student council room contained myself, Judy, Asena, Daisy, and the student council president Lucil Hover. The other two male student council members had gone to handle external affairs.

In the center of the room, furthest from the door, sat Lucil Hover. Daisy was positioned on the right side from the door, while Asena sat on the left.

Judy and I stood behind the people we were guarding.

Due to our positions, Asena was directly in front of me, so I could see her whether I wanted to or not.

She maintained a stern expression while checking documents on her desk. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t look happy. She didn’t even glance in my direction.

I also felt somewhat uncomfortable staring directly at Asena, so my eyes kept meeting with Judy’s who stood behind her.

I shrugged my shoulders ever so slightly, sending a signal that said, “What can we do?”

Since everyone here except Lucil Hover had witnessed the morning’s fight, no one was speaking. The student council president, sensing our atmosphere, wisely chose not to break the silence. I thought it was a smart decision on her part.

However, I didn’t want to walk on eggshells just because Asena was in a bad mood. She was the one who had done wrong, and my opinion on that hadn’t changed. Even though I was being childish by using formal speech with her, I didn’t feel guilty.

I started feeling like I’d lose if I got swept up in Asena’s mood. Why should I remain silent?

I had something I wanted to say.

Standing behind Daisy, I noticed something on her desk.

The flower I had given her during the jousting tournament.

Naturally, it had withered with time. It was dried and twisted, looking like it would crumble at the slightest touch.

“…You haven’t thrown the flower away yet?”

My curiosity cut through the silence.

Judy and Lucil Hover looked at me, but Asena, probably out of pride, didn’t.

“…”

Daisy turned to look at me briefly before looking back down at the flower.

“Ah, yes.”

“It’s completely withered.”

“…Still. It’s a meaningful flower. You gave it to me after winning the tournament. That’s not something that happens often… right?”

“I appreciate that you cherish it, but you really don’t need to. It’s not like I gave you something you couldn’t throw away.”

“I suppose so. That’s what it seems like. But I still don’t feel like getting rid of it.”

She and I smiled at the same time.

Just as our conversation began to lighten the atmosphere in the student council room, Asena’s sharp voice cut through.

“…Daisy. You’re being noisy.”

“…”

“…”

The atmosphere instantly turned cold. Looking at Asena, I saw she still wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes remained fixed on her documents.

I adjusted my posture and looked directly at her.

“Was I disturbing you? I apologize, Lady Praester.”

The sound of paper crumpling echoed. Asena’s hand was clenched into a fist.

“……”

Only Asena’s eyes rolled to look at me. I didn’t avoid her gaze. But at the same time, I thought that truly, anyone else would have swallowed in fear at such a look.

She didn’t say anything beyond looking at me.

Anger, or perhaps hurt, pierced through her gaze. As if dumbfounded, she blinked three or four times, let out a short breath through her nose, and then returned to examining her documents.

Her expression had grown even more severe.

The student council president, Lucil Hover, stared at me. I could roughly guess why she was giving me that look. I’d been getting a lot of these reactions lately.

Judy, Daisy… after my argument with Asena, everyone looked at me with a sort of reverence.

These reactions confirmed Asena’s status at the Academy each time.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

-Knock knock.

‘Mail carrier here. May I come in?’

“Come in.”

When Lucil Hover answered, the door opened and a young man entered, bending his waist in half as he bowed.

Afterward, he walked quietly with a hunched posture and handed Lucil Hover a stack of letters about a hand’s width thick.

After Lucil Hover received the letters, the mail carrier bowed deeply again before quickly exiting.

The student council president was sorting through the documents when she spoke in a surprised voice.

“Ah! It’s that time again. Asena, this is for you.”

I looked at the student council president curiously. She held up a thick envelope sealed with a wax seal bearing a snake emblem.

It was from our territory.

Before Asena could react, Judy moved first. She received the envelope from Lucil Hover.

While it wasn’t a knight’s duty to handle such menial tasks… it would also look strange for a knight to remain still while her lord was present.

From my perspective, Judy had moved wisely.

Judy handed the envelope to Asena.

Asena took out a letter knife from her desk and skillfully opened the envelope.

Being a Praester myself, I was curious about its contents.

Was it from Grandmother Riana?

Judging by Lucil Hover’s reaction, it seemed like something received regularly.

Several documents emerged from the envelope.

Asena examined the letter with her still uncomfortable expression.

After glancing at me briefly, she gathered all the documents and turned back to Lucil Hover.

“…It’s the same as always today. Grandmother says we should discuss this with the student council members.”

“…?”

As I kept expressing confusion from behind, Daisy whispered to me to explain.

“…It’s a list of criminals caught in the Praester territory. The former Duchess Praester sends us cases of criminals with special circumstances so we can discuss what punishment they should receive. It’s for us to gain experience.”

“Ah… I see. Thank you for explaining.”

Lucil Hover smiled and said to Asena.

“Please convey our gratitude to the Duchess for this experience.”

“…I will.”

Asena returned to her seat.

Lucil Hover read through the documents and said:

“There are quite a few… but let’s start with the first one. Age 34. Father of two children. Caught stealing bread… for the third time. After being caught, he said, ‘I tried to find work but couldn’t. I was afraid my children would starve to death, so I committed another crime. I’m truly sorry.’ What would you do?”

Daisy glanced over her shoulder at me.

“…What would you do?”

“…Me too? I wonder if it’s appropriate for me to butt in…”

I thought this was ultimately a decision for those involved in politics. It didn’t seem like my place to interfere.

“…These are already closed cases anyway. The Duchess Praester only sends us cases where sentences have already been carried out.”

“Oh… I see. Then, speaking freely… even though he had his reasons, he was caught committing the same crime multiple times. If we don’t punish him properly, victims will continue to live in fear… I think four years of hard labor would be—”

While I was quietly whispering to Daisy, Asena’s firm voice echoed through the room.

“Death penalty.”

Everyone turned to Asena in shock at her words. My brow began to furrow. If she was continuing to pour cold water because she was in a bad mood, that wasn’t admirable behavior.

But Asena added an explanation.

“He’s already been given multiple chances. No matter how hungry his children were, that’s no excuse for stealing someone else’s food. What about the people who suffered losses? They might have had children too. We need to think about them as well.”

Lucil Hover carefully said:

“…But the death penalty seems a bit…”

“Death penalty. This person shows no potential for rehabilitation.”

Immediately after, Asena looked at me.

I met her gaze and muttered to myself:

“…Rehabilitation…”

It was a thought-provoking word. Can people truly not be rehabilitated?

Asena remained unwavering. I also thought it might be excessive, but… this wasn’t my business. It was just a discussion, so there was no need to get too invested. I shrugged at Daisy and kept quiet.

But for every criminal case that followed, Asena’s verdict was solely the death penalty.

Death penalty. Death penalty. Death penalty.

She eloquently presented her arguments, explaining point by point why the death penalty was necessary and why leniency shouldn’t be shown, making it difficult to counter her.

There was definitely a coldness to her approach. She showed no compassion, as if she were thinking of these people as fictional characters rather than real individuals.

Of course, she had her reasons… but the more I listened, the more it felt like this was Asena’s way of expressing her dissatisfaction with me.

She was deliberately going to extremes to get my attention. After all, when we were in the territory, it was my job to scold them when they made wrong choices.

Occasionally, after saying “death penalty,” she would look at me, which I took as evidence of this.

Was she waiting for me to say something? Perhaps she was waiting for me to approach her after all this was over, as I used to do.

And through a scolding situation, she might want to resolve our previous conflicts as well.

Or maybe she was imagining me approaching her and saying something like “You seem really upset,” trying to comfort her.

After all, I had given in many times before.

“…”

But this time… I didn’t want to do that unless something happened.

I stiffened my posture. No matter how many times Asena said “death penalty,” I didn’t react.

The more I did this, the more frequently Asena glared at me.

****

After dropping off Daisy, I was heading back to the dormitory.

Kirsy hadn’t been seen all day today.

I was still in a sour mood that hadn’t improved.

I still intended to use formal speech with Kirsy when she appeared.

But on the other hand, it was strange that she hadn’t been seen all day.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t worried.

However, more than that, I felt disappointed that I couldn’t show her how angry I was since she hadn’t shown her face.

I hadn’t reacted to anything Asena did all day. When I had to speak, I used formal speech.

I acted like a complete stranger.

When we finally parted, Asena seemed to be waiting for me outside the classroom, but I whispered to Daisy not to stop. We completely ignored her as we passed by.

She shouldn’t take me too lightly.

She was trying to suppress me by picking unreasonable fights, and I didn’t need to tolerate it.

“..Yawn…”

I arrived at the dormitory while yawning.

“Brother!”

Someone called me from a distance.

It was Eric Endra, the protagonist of the novel I had possessed.

“…Eric. Where have you been coming back so late?”

“Ah. Haha. Just trying to expand my connections…”

“You’re working hard too, I see.”

“I need to raise our family’s status.”

We entered the dormitory while making small talk.

Eric seemed to be steadily increasing his influence. I had my own matters to attend to, so I wasn’t paying much attention, but it was fascinating to think that the novel’s plot was progressing in places where I wasn’t present.

Suddenly, I wondered if my switching of the twins had negatively affected Eric.

After all, he would eventually grow stronger by confronting the twins.

Well… but I had also prevented the extinction of many families. I hadn’t done anything wrong.

We walked toward our rooms while sharing our day.

He mainly asked questions about the twins. Kirsy hadn’t shown up for classes at all, and Asena seemed to be in a bad mood, he said.

I briefly explained that it was because the twins and I had fought.

When we reached the door, I placed my hand on the handle and inserted the key.

“…?”

But the lock was already open.

“…Eric, did you not lock the door today?”

Since I had left early to start my guard duty, Eric should have locked the door.

“What? No, I did lock it.”

“…”

We both felt uneasy at the same time. We had experienced this before.

Someone had picked the lock and entered to bully us, completely turning the room upside down.

Anticipating what might happen, I sighed and opened the door.

-Creak.

The room greeted us, looking the same as usual.

“…Huh? Nothing happened.”

“…Hmm… I don’t really have anything worth stealing anyway.”

“…Me neither.”

“…Hmm… Ah, maybe I left the door open this morning? I’m not sure since it was early…”

Eric scratched his head.

“Ah… well. It’s fine. As long as nothing happened.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

“…That’s true.”

Eric seemed to relax a bit and yawned.

“Phew… Brother. I’m tired today. I’ll go in first.”

“Sure. Today was a long day for me too. Go rest.”

“Good night.”

As Eric took off his coat and entered his room, I also headed to mine.

-Creak. Thud.

After entering my room, I started taking off my clothes one by one.

I removed everything except my pants and shirt, including my tie, coat, and other accessories.

“…?”

During this, something caught my eye.

It was the bed.

It looked normal at first glance, but… the blanket was strangely bulging.

Feeling puzzled, I slowly approached the blanket.

Did I leave something there?

Carefully, I lifted the blanket.

“…Kirsy.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The person who hadn’t been seen all day.

The one I had worried might be crying somewhere.

Kirsy, with clear tear stains on her face, was sleeping peacefully in my bed like an animal.

I wondered how long she had been there.

Beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

Her scent rose up as I lifted the blanket.