Chapter 87: Scars and Salve

Act 4, Scene 2.
International Individual Competition.

Before that time arrived, a new task was added to my schedule.
Resolving Iris’s nightmares through training.

Iris diligently followed my instructions and trained every day.
As a result, she has recently been experiencing nightmares less frequently.

“…I didn’t have one again.”

An early morning after finishing training, Iris stared blankly at me, astonished by the absence of nightmares once more.

“How did you do it?”

“It’s all because of your hard work, Lady Iris. You’ve managed to neutralize the power of the nightmares through training.”

In truth, it was all thanks to Iris’s efforts.
I hadn’t done much at all.

Iris faithfully followed my guidance, channeling her aura aggressively to expend the nightmare’s energy.
It’s no easy feat by any means.
Her achievement was purely the result of her own determination.

“…Is it like… exercising hard helps you sleep better?”

“It’s somewhat similar. Many cases of insomnia arise because the body still has too much energy to fall asleep.”

Still, this isn’t a perfect solution.
The more Iris uses her aura, the stronger she will become.
Eventually, she will reach a point where she won’t be able to exhaust all her aura in a single day.

‘Iris is a genius, after all.’
Her growth rate is on an entirely different level from ordinary people.

Someday, the nightmares might catch up to her again.
But for now, this method works as a temporary measure.

Above all, I will resolve her nightmares before that day comes.

“So, how is it? Following my advice wasn’t a bad thing, right?”

“Yeah.”

Iris didn’t deny it and gave a brief reply.
However, doubt lingered in her eyes.

“How does Hanon know that I have nightmares?”

The source of Iris’s nightmares is an evil deity.
She is vaguely aware of this herself.
But it’s not something she can discuss with others.
Iris has no intention of risking her life by revealing it.

So, she has lived desperately, convinced of her selfishness.

And then, someone appeared who knew about the nightmares she had been hiding all along.
Iris had never once mentioned that her insomnia was caused by nightmares.

The fact that I knew her insomnia stemmed from nightmares was naturally puzzling to her.

I smiled gently at the curious Iris.
“Is that the only thing you’re wondering about?”

“……”

Of course not.

Everything I’ve done so far must have been incomprehensible to her.
Even the Third Princess’s intelligence network couldn’t make sense of me.
That’s who I am.

To Iris, I must seem like a complete enigma.

“Previously, Lady Iris said that the things I’ve done weren’t for your sake alone.”

Her gaze fell on me.
That day, Iris’s face had been particularly somber.
She seemed to recall it, nodding slightly.

“As you said, I haven’t been acting solely for your benefit.”

Disappointment flickered in Iris’s eyes at my answer.

“But, helping you is undeniably one of the reasons behind my actions.”

I hope for Iris’s nightmares to be resolved.
She has suffered her entire life, tormented by the evil deity, unable to sleep peacefully even once.
In the end, her life was fated to conclude as the final villain, reduced to being the puppet of that evil.
I didn’t want her life to end that way.

I wanted Iris to live enjoying what someone her age should enjoy.
If she wished, I hoped she could let go of the title of princess and simply live her life to the fullest.

“Lady Iris, I want you to live a peaceful life, free from nightmares.”
Before I knew it, a gentle smile had spread across my lips.
“Because you undoubtedly deserve to live such a life.”

Iris stared at me with a dazed expression.
One thing was clear: she understood the sincerity behind my words.

I love all the heroines and characters in the Blazing Butterfly Arc.
Even though Lucas, the protagonist, isn’t here, I am willing to do whatever it takes to lead all of them to a happy ending.

“Helping you live that kind of life—That, too, is one of my goals.”
That was both my purpose and my aim.

“…I haven’t done anything for you. I don’t know if I ever can.”

She is the Third Princess.
The youngest, who climbed all the way to the throne only to become the final villainess.
For someone like her, unconditional help doesn’t exist.
Everyone always wanted something from her and expected an equal return for anything they gave.

“That doesn’t matter at all.”

But I didn’t want anything like that.

“Just helping you escape from your nightmares is enough for me.”

I took Iris’s hand, which had been injured from today’s training.
It was a wound from overexerting her aura.
Noticing it, I pulled out some ointment and carefully applied it to her hand.
The ointment, brought specially from the Zeryon Academy infirmary, was highly effective.

“So, if at any point…”
I meticulously applied the ointment to the wounds on Iris’s hand.
“…if you decide you don’t want to be the Empress, please tell me.”

A confident smile played on my lips.
“I will help you with that, too.”

It might be a highly irreverent statement, but as long as the person hearing it doesn’t take offense, it doesn’t really matter.

“…….”

Iris remained silent, gazing at me.
In her eyes, I could see a mix of emotions—perplexity, among others.
I couldn’t fully discern all her feelings, but I knew this was something she had wanted to hear at least once.

Iris had only risen to this point because of the Duke of Robliaju.
She herself had never truly desired the throne.
That’s why she made the choice she did in the end.

Lucas couldn’t have said these words to Iris.
He, too, was a citizen of the Empire in the Blazing Butterfly Arc.

Anyone who had grown up within that world, bound by its norms, would never have dared to utter such words.

But I was different.
I was merely a player of the Blazing Butterfly Arc.

Modern people know all too well that the position of Emperor, no matter how coveted, is far from a happy one.
The immense weight of responsibility is enough to drive a person insane.

That’s why I told Iris the words only I could say.

“Having one classmate with a lot of secrets makes things pretty fun, doesn’t it?”

As I ended with a final joke, Iris silently looked at me before slowly shaking her head.

“It’s not fun.”

Not her taste, I guess.

As I clicked my tongue in disappointment, Iris gently cradled the hand I had applied the ointment to.

“Still, thanks to all this, I think I’ve realized something.”
A gentle smile appeared on Iris’s lips.
A red rose blooming in full.

Maybe it’s because she’s been sleeping so well lately, but her smile was the most radiant I had ever seen.

“The reason I can sleep so well when I’m next to you, Hanon.”

At some point, Iris reached out her hand and lightly tapped my chest.

“It’s because you’re warm, Hanon.”

Physically speaking, I do radiate warmth, as I bear the flame within me.
But Iris’s words went deeper, touching on something far more essential.

“Thank you. Maybe I’ve always wanted to hear something like that from someone, just once.”

Leaving those words behind, Iris turned and headed back to the dormitory.
She looked a bit more at ease.

* * *

Training, classes, training, classes, training, classes.
Every day was spent relentlessly honing the strength I’d need even more in the future.
Before I knew it, the international Individual Competition was right around the corner.

The international Individual Competition was a goodwill tournament held to represent the prestige of each nation.
The faces of the students preparing for it were filled with tension.
And among them, some had faces wrecked for an entirely different reason—
The student council.

“Just kill me! Just kill me now!”

One member of the student council, overwhelmed by work, let out a scream of despair.
The other council members continued their tasks silently, unfazed by his outburst.

Since the boycott incident, the student council had not been spared from scrutiny either.
Fortunately, under Nikita’s leadership, this year’s student council had avoided any misconduct.

As a result, they escaped punishment.
Instead, the investigators pursued responsibility from the academy’s alumni, digging thoroughly into their actions.

Zeryon Academy is one of the Empire’s symbols of prestige.
The corruption that had taken place there prompted a determination to root it out entirely.

It was also revealed that Sylvester, the former president, had quietly shielded the council from external pressures by leveraging the Drapen family’s influence.

Although Sylvester resigned as president, taking full responsibility, his reputation within the council soared.

People often only realize the value of a flower after it has withered.
With the fall of two such flowers, Nikita and Sylvester, only darkness remained within the student council.

The empty seats of the president and vice president.
The workload, exacerbated by the absence of advisors.
And the looming international Individual Competition.

The student council was drowning in a tidal wave of work.

“Ugh… huff, huff.”
Sitting next to me, Poara let out incoherent groans as he flipped through documents.

“Hmm.”
Beside him, Midra, the first-year runner-up in martial studies, calmly organized the files.
He had a surprising knack for clerical tasks.

But among all these busy figures, one stood out as particularly dire.
Amid the chaos, the council secretary, utterly drained, stared blankly out the window.

Nivolans Panima, the top student in the third-year literature department.

In the student council, the secretary traditionally holds the third-highest position.
But with both the president and vice president absent, he now had to shoulder their responsibilities as well.

The first-ever triple crown in the history of the Zeryon Academy student council: president, vice president, and secretary!
It was a position of great honor, but his eyes held nothing but sorrow.

“…I can’t take it anymore.”

At that moment, Nivolans clenched his fist tightly.

He adjusted his glasses and looked around at everyone.
“At this rate, we’re so buried in student council work that we can’t even live properly at the academy. No matter how you look at it, the workload being dumped on us is just too much!”

No one responded to his outburst, but their faces all showed agreement.

“We need reinforcements—support to prepare for the international Individual Competition. The meeting is tomorrow!”

Grinding his teeth in frustration, he buried his face in his hands.

The pre-meeting between academy student councils was set for tomorrow.
As a secretary, not even the president or vice president, Nivolans didn’t feel confident representing the council there.
Moreover, if he left, the student council would be utterly swamped by the workload in his absence.

Being the top student in the literature department, he was handling a full third of the student council’s tasks.

“Hanon Airei.”
“Yes, senior secretary.”

Hearing my name called out of the blue, I paused my work and looked up.
He stared at me with desperate eyes.

“I’ve heard that you spend time with the Third Princess.”

Ah, so his ears are sharp. I quickly grasped the situation.

“The Third Princess is slated to be nominated as next year’s president of Zeryon Academy.”

Slated? More like guaranteed.
Iris, with her excellence in both academics and martial prowess, her grace, and her status, lacked nothing for the role.
It would be stranger if she didn’t become president.

“There wouldn’t be any issue with her taking the position a little early.”

In other words, he was asking me to suggest to Iris that she take on the interim presidency.
Given her qualifications, she wouldn’t refuse.
Especially since she was already planning to become president anyway.

“And currently, the vice president’s seat is also vacant.”

Originally, they’d planned to hold a special election for an interim vice president.
However, the string of boycott incidents had left the position unfilled.

“You’re also close with the second-year top student in magical studies, Sharin Sazaris, daughter of the Blue Tower Master, right?”

Wait a second, this is heading in a bad direction.
While Iris might agree, Sharin was highly unlikely to cooperate with something like this.

“Make the Third Princess the interim president, and Sharin Sazaris the interim vice president, and bring them both to the World Academy Conference tomorrow! No exceptions!”

Our secretary has officially lost his mind.