episode_0014

Wednesday, after school.

It was two days before Irha heard the news of Mirha’s terminal illness from the Mother Superior of Livingston Orphanage.

*Rustle-* This was a quiet cafe where only the soft, elegant sound of turning pages could be heard.

In this old-fashioned and cozy cafe, only two people sat, enjoying their afternoon tea.

“How is it? Does the new tea suit your taste, Lizley?”

The owner of the voice that broke the silence was Leon.

His venomous snake-like appearance that had sent shivers down one’s spine on the rooftop Monday was nowhere to be seen; his voice was tender and sweet.

Even his somewhat overbearing and condescending tone and manner had softened considerably since that day, becoming more casual.

Though he had gripped Lizley’s neck and turned her into a dog subservient to him, he was kind to his pets.

He was a generous master who bestowed favor, as long as they didn’t disobey his commands or bare their teeth at him.

His attitude towards Lizley, which had drawn a thin but perceptibly clear line, had completely changed since Monday.

“Ah… it’s comforting, Your Highness. Fragrant… and it feels like my fatigue is melting away?”

“I even personally selected the tea leaves in a way I thought you’d like, so I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

Of course, precisely because he was such a person, Lizley feared Leon even more.

She knew that the favor she currently received would turn into a dagger and a whip when she eventually disappointed Leon.

Though a nasty woman, Lizley was also worldly and shrewd, so she keenly understood what kind of person Leon was.

Lizley knew that since she had taken his outstretched hand, she could no longer escape Leon’s grasp.

‘If I’m to be a pet… yes, I’ll have to crawl into the master’s bedroom…’

Lizley had abandoned the thought of simply ending their relationship with secret, clandestine meetings like this.

She only pondered how to remove Marisa and Ras, who were obstacles, in a way that would please her master.

However, unlike his terrifying demeanor on Monday, Leon had not given Lizley any instructions since.

From Lizley’s perspective, she dared not ask her master impertinent questions, so she simply remained silent.

Yes, only two days had passed. *He must have a plan…* Just as Lizley was thinking that.

“Recently… I coincidentally got my hands on quite an interesting thesis. Would you like to read it too, Lizley?”

Leon gracefully handed the thesis he was reading to Lizley.

It was a collection of theses covering several individual cases of rare symptoms related to mana.

Unlike typical theses, this was closer to a type of confidential research material that couldn’t be obtained through normal means.

Initially, rather than a thesis, it was more like an experimental report compiled after a small amount of clinical testing and sampling that wouldn’t harm the subjects.

Extremely poor individuals, who often couldn’t even afford proper examinations for rare diseases due to lack of money, would sometimes provide their personal information and participate in tests and experiments.

However, for Leon, a prince, it was naturally the kind of material that could be obtained again without much difficulty.

Lizley, having received the rare material, also skimmed the thesis with a slightly intrigued expression.

Lizley was also an outstanding mage for her age, with a wide range of interests in magic.

Furthermore, the section the prince was reading was not an unfamiliar topic to Lizley, though it might be to others.

The content stated that mana had solidified and condensed in the shape of ice crystals near a young girl’s heart.

There had been a case among the past heads of the Gracia family, famous for their magical prowess, who suffered from similar symptoms and miraculously recovered.

She slowly read and analyzed the thesis, offering her personal opinions on awkward parts.

“It deals with quite a rare symptom, doesn’t it? The child in the case is too young… six months? The information here is wrong. It should be corrected to a maximum of three months… No, but why is this…”

Leon smiled faintly and pointed to the title section.

“Whatever it is, the title is very important. Even commoners’ novels circulating in the market aren’t popular if their titles are boring.”

“….?”

Lizley looked up and read the title section Leon was pointing to.

“Doesn’t that name remind you of someone familiar? Like our classmate who enjoys strange food, for instance.”

“Irha… Irha Livingston…?”

Leon, offering no further reply, soon smiled gently and took something out of his inner pocket.

What he took out was a transparent crystal bottle filled with a clear liquid.

“What is this?”

The liquid in the bottle, emanating a radiant, transparent glow, felt similar to water that had been filtered and distilled to its utmost purity.

“Succubus’ Tears. It’s quite an effective aphrodisiac. How about it, isn’t its color beautiful for an aphrodisiac?”

“Succubus’ Tears…?”

Even Lizley, born into a noble family and well-versed in potions and poisons since childhood, had never heard of this name.

“A single bottle of this colorless, odorless elixir can make a man and woman who were just moments ago stabbing swords at each other’s throats immediately spend a night of bliss.”

Leon uncapped the crystal bottle and held it lightly to Lizley’s nose.

As the words “colorless and odorless” implied, the shimmering liquid had no scent.

Leon capped the bottle, placed it in Lizley’s hand, and finished speaking.

“Since this is a medicine secretly used even within the Imperial Palace, there are no issues with post-detection or anything like that. You can use it freely.”

The younger sister of a poor, commoner classmate, suffering from a rare disease. And the aphrodisiac he had taken out and shown, which left no trace.

Leon gently stroked Lizley’s cheek as she held the bottle with a dazed expression.

To him, Lizley still harbored only nascent malice and remained largely naive.

However, an imperial prince’s, and moreover, a future emperor’s pet dog, should not be naive and foolish.

It needed to think for itself and entertain its master with ingenious and wicked tricks, sometimes even those its master couldn’t conceive.

If she couldn’t orchestrate the scenario proactively even with such good clues and props provided, she was disqualified as a pet.

“Lizley. The best actor should be able to create their own script with only the given props. Think of it as a kind of test for a future business partner. I’ve given you all the clues and props.”

“I understand what you mean, at least for now. I’ll do my best.”

The dignified quality of a venomous mastermind, evident in how she quickly grasped the situation with just a word or two… Lizley was indeed Lizley.

Leon swallowed his praise internally but was simultaneously anticipating the scenario Lizley would construct.

“If you drag it out too long, the excitement fades. I’d like you to show me the play by at least before May, alright?”

“Understood. In the near future… to ensure your utmost enjoyment.”

Lizley carefully placed the medicine bottle into her pocket, bowed to Leon, and then left first.

Once outside, she pulled out a communication device, quickly found a contact, and wrote a message.

The recipient was Emma Agnelli.

[Emma, I have something urgent to tell you. It’s very important, so come alone to the Tellamine Salon by six o’clock.]

Amusingly, the very first thing she did after deciding to truly become Leon’s pet was to create her own hunting dog.

*

Back to Friday.

After receiving the news of Mirha’s terminal diagnosis that morning, Irha couldn’t remember what she had done all day.

She forgot everything: the bread she voluntarily offered Ras every morning, and the snacks and meals she had started to enjoy comfortably.

Ras, and Marisa, with whom she had become friendly a few days ago, noticed Irha’s mood and left her alone without speaking to her.

And two other people in the classroom were keenly observing Irha, who was trembling all day with a pale complexion.

Lizley and Emma, the women who had a long conversation late into Wednesday night at a secret salon.

In a completely sealed space, Lizley and Emma forged a clear and secret new master-servant contract between themselves.

What was exchanged was absolute loyalty, and a commensurate, reasonable reward.

Confirming Irha’s condition, the two women looked at each other and nodded slightly.

To someone floundering in a bottomless swamp, even the hand of a murderer would feel like nothing less than salvation.

During homeroom, in Ras’s class, Professor Tiria was briefly explaining the team evaluation that would take place next week.

“You know there’s a team evaluation starting next Wednesday, right? This year’s evaluation is a Maugen Dorf Forest exploration.”

Maugen Dorf Forest is a fairly large forest located not too far from Leone.

This forest is managed by the Leone and Sephiroth Empire sides for use as a practical training and evaluation ground for students.

The monster ecology is also managed to prevent uncontrolled outbreaks, and magical traps are periodically installed and checked.

“The specific evaluation criteria will be announced right before entering the forest… and this counts for the most in this semester’s evaluation, so gather over the weekend and discuss diligently. You’re dismissed!”

Even without specific evaluation details, if it involves exploring a forest as a team, the evaluation criteria are almost predetermined.

Cooperation, attitude in dealing with crises, finding something hidden by the academy, survival, and so on…

Most students were already individually contemplating in their minds what the specific evaluation would be like.

There were already several students gathered in small groups, putting their heads together and discussing.

“Hey, Irha.”

Ras poked Irha, who was sitting blankly in front of him, unable to even think about packing her bag, and called her name.

“Uh… huh? Ras. Yeah…”

“We’re on the same team, you know. We’ll have to meet over the weekend to prepare.”

Of course, those words didn’t properly register in Irha’s mind.

“Uh… right… evaluation… team…”

Ras and Irha’s group members had also gathered beside them without them noticing.

Ras raised his hand to calm the children who were buzzing and talking about something.

“Alright, alright, since I’m the team leader, I’ll organize whatever needs to be said. As for supplies, most of what you prepare will probably be rejected anyway. Surviving only with provided supplies will likely be part of the evaluation…”

Ras spoke, roughly piecing together his memories of the forest exploration evaluation from his past life.

At the time of the exploration, Ras hadn’t been able to remember the minute details, like the content or progression of the evaluation.

Back then, Ras’s mental state was far too shattered to focus on the evaluation.

However, he was roughly rattling off what he remembered about the test’s framework and the overall atmosphere.

What he was subtly more concerned about, however, was Irha’s condition.

It seemed certain that Irha had confronted her tragedy…

Lizley and Emma, sitting across from him with their own group members and watching Irha, also seemed to have joined hands just like in his previous life.

‘It’s a mess, an utter mess. If Emma approaches Irha now, is it roughly similar to the old situation?’

From Ras’s perspective, contact between them would likely be established today, and Irha would be at a crossroads.

“Alright, let’s just finish up here for today. I have somewhere urgent to go. We can talk in more detail tomorrow while having lunch outside. Let’s meet at the main gate by 11:50 AM.”

Ras quickly wrapped up the situation, packed his bag, and stood up.

Ras glanced at Irha, then left the classroom.

Confirming Ras had left the classroom, Lizley and Emma also casually dismissed their own group members.

Lizley packed her bag and left the classroom, and soon after, only Irha, still sitting there forlornly, and Emma, who had approached her without her noticing, remained.

“Irha Livingston. Shall we make a deal?”

At Emma’s sharp voice, heavily laced with malice, Irha foolishly lifted her head.

Her eyes were hollow and dazed, like a seagull that had swallowed a rotten piece of bread.

“A deal…? With you? Who… are you again…?”

*Snap-*

Irha had spoken thoughtlessly because she truly didn’t know Emma well, but it was enough to infuriate Emma.

As an extreme status fanatic, she found this situation of conversing with Irha—a commoner, or rather, one of the poorest commoners, subtly called a ‘low-born’ behind her back—unpleasant from the start.

But for a mere low-born to treat her like a nobody, her anger doubled.

However, she quickly suppressed her rising anger.

For her, this was the first step in glorious queen-making.

She couldn’t ruin things with petty anger.

“Oh, honestly. She’s Emma Agnelli. How could you not even know a classmate?”

“……”

Irha, who was mentally exhausted and, to make matters worse, dizzy from having starved all day, couldn’t even reply.

“Alright, what does knowing or not knowing matter? Your sister is very sick right now, isn’t she?”

Emma, knowing the importance of guiding the conversation to a topic the other person would care about in such situations, simply went straight to the point.

“How do you know that?”

She took the bait.

Seeing Irha’s eyes immediately widen with vitality and desperation, Emma inwardly smiled grimly.

“My desired career path is in arcane medicine. I happened to see it in a scholarly journal that was recently published.”

Of course, it was a blatant lie, but Irha wouldn’t know any better, so it was enough to just make something up.

“Ah… then this ‘deal’…”

Emma glanced around, then elegantly swept her hair back and spoke.

“Hmm… there might be listening ears here, so… shall we move somewhere else to talk? I’ll buy you a cup of tea, at least.”

Emma then deftly and quickly packed Irha’s bag, and as if they were close friends, she linked arms with Irha and led her to a cafe.

In the quiet cafe where only the two of them sat, Emma’s tongue skillfully flapped.

*

It was the last day of her part-time job at ‘The Bald Man’s Delight’.

This peculiar restaurant showed a strange pattern: it was even quieter on a bustling Friday than during the weekday.

The Friday evening, with only one or two customers finishing their simple meals and leaving, was quiet and solitary.

Irha casually wiped down a table, then casually sat down in a chair.

The memories of the conversation she had with Emma at the cafe, just before coming to work, were replaying like a panorama in her mind.

“It’s nothing huge, but during the next evaluation… could you perhaps discreetly give this to Ras at the right time?”

“What is this? What is it that you want me to give to Ras…?”

The incredibly transparent, clear water-like liquid looked no different on the surface.

“The pressure from my family is too intense… I need to get good grades on this exam. And Ras is my direct competitor.”

The academy’s top grades, regardless of year, were virtually unmovable.

The section where grades fluctuated was precisely the ‘ambiguous ones’ segment, where students like Ras and Emma were clustered.

Emma skillfully wielded her tongue, so much so that Irha couldn’t even properly question her.

“Normally, I wouldn’t ask for something like this out of pride… but Ras, he beat Blaber, what could he have eaten wrong? Thanks to that, Ras needs to falter a bit in this exam…”

Emma hadn’t yet explained the mysterious transparent liquid, but Irha vaguely understood what it was.

No, even if she was called foolish, she could obviously tell that it wasn’t some tonic or elixir.

“It’s a drug that temporarily interferes slightly with mana manipulation. It’s a mild medicine that detoxifies itself over time without side effects, and its efficacy isn’t so strong that Ras would fail, for instance.”

“B-But why me, of all people…”

Emma moved closer and sat right next to the stammering Irha.

And she spoke very discreetly.

“Firstly, because you’re in the same group as Ras. And… the situation is urgent enough for you to keep a secret, isn’t it? After reading the thesis, it seems your sister definitely needs surgery. But you probably don’t have the surgery fees, do you?”

Naturally, a family like Emma’s Agnelli family couldn’t afford Mirha’s surgery fees, but Irha couldn’t know this either.

In Irha’s narrow-minded world, nobles were incomparably the wealthiest people.

To Irha, Mirha’s surgery fees were something she, in her poverty, or the orphanage director couldn’t afford even if they sold all their organs, but it seemed easily attainable for nobles.

*Gulp!*

Seeing Irha, who swallowed her saliva while conflicted, with serious eyes, Emma felt it was time to drive the wedge in.

If she was conflicted due to her aversion to harming others, then all she needed to do was alleviate that aversion.

“It’s really nothing. If you want, I can even drink this right now and show you what the side effects are like.”

Emma took out an identical bottle from her pocket, uncapped it, and gulped it down.

Naturally, it wasn’t ‘Succubus’ Tears’ but just plain water she had prepared beforehand.

“From now on, there will be a slight hindrance in mana manipulation for about two or three hours, but look… it’s not like I can’t use it at all, right?”

Emma’s face, smiling faintly as she conjured a small flame, looked like a tiny demon.

“Think carefully… your sister’s life is at stake, you know? Of course, I’ll absolutely guarantee the secret. You save your sister, and I benefit in my own way… How about it?”

“Then… Ras? He hasn’t done anything wrong?”

Emma instantly extinguished the flame she was conjuring in her hand and stroked Irha’s head as she spoke.

Emma found it laughable that Irha was trying to cling to petty morality and conscience.

It was also nauseating to see her pretend to be pure and agonize over a choice that was already decided anyway.

“Ras has become much stronger, and since he’s going to inherit the trading guild anyway, he doesn’t care much about grades. He’d probably forgive you even if he found out you gave him the medicine later?”

Emma finished speaking and stood up.

As a born villainess, she instinctively knew it was time to retreat a step for the negotiation.

“If it’s truly too burdensome and you feel too much guilt, then it can’t be helped. If you refuse, there’s no one else I can ask anyway. Well, for me, if things don’t work out, I can just drop out and get married, as my father says…”

Her finishing touch, speaking as if it couldn’t be helped and expressing regret, even hinting at her own supposedly unfortunate circumstances, was extremely skilled.

“So, Irha. If you’ve made up your mind, tell me by Tuesday. I hope for a positive answer. Well then, see you next week?”

Judging by Irha’s wavering eyes, Emma was certain that the foolish commoner would definitely take her hand.

Thinking how truly astonishing her master’s carefully written script was, Emma scoffed as she left, leaving Irha behind, unable to offer a proper refusal.

Even as Irha thought Emma was like a demon from an old story, she kept thinking about her retreating figure.

‘Yes… a decision…!!! Irha..! I need to harden my heart!’

After much internal conflict, Irha finished agonizing.

Once her deliberation was over, her stomach, which had been empty all day, felt incredibly hungry, and she felt like she needed to go to the kitchen and grab something to eat.

It was then.

“Do they not take orders here? The food is delicious, and the bald man shines, but shouldn’t the sign be changed to say, ‘The waitstaff is clueless,’ Teacher-nim?”

*Squawk!!!!*

At the sudden voice, Irha jumped up in surprise, like a startled seagull seeing a cucumber [a proverb about being easily startled].

“Oh my~ Ras. You should speak kindly to girls. Irha was startled because Ras said something harsh~”

Standing abruptly in front of Irha were Ras, and Professor Rosalie.

It seemed the two had come together to ‘The Bald Man’s Delight’ for dinner.

“Ras…!”

“What…!”

To Irha, who called out Ras’s name with her eyes squeezed shut, Ras replied in the exact same manner.

When Irha opened her eyes, transparent tears welled up, and her voice was slightly choked.

“Food… buy me food…! I’m hungry… I… I’m so hungry…!”

Ras looked at Irha’s tear-filled eyes and her usual somewhat blank expression, now with a slight tearful edge to her voice, and smiled.

It was a smile that somehow seemed greatly relieved.

“Kids…! What are you doing talking so loudly in a public place…!”

Of course, the clueless Rosalie merely scolded the loud individuals.

It was a Friday night, where everything was different from ten years ago.