episode_0087

The snow on the mountain in the distance was slowly melting and revealing a blue hue, and anyone who saw it could feel that spring was approaching. Of course, it was still quite chilly, so Agnes was wearing a coat.

I sat at the table and leisurely sipped my tea. I enjoyed the regular sounds in my ears. Blame, blame, blame, blame.

Of course, that sound was the sound of my disciples running with their magical powers burning. It had been quite some time since they started training, so they were now quite used to it. Considering that on the first day, they could barely run and collapsed on the ground, it was a huge improvement.

Yugram naturally filled my empty cup. I admired Yugram’s profile as he poured me tea. Yugram, you have such a beautiful face today.

It’s been quite some time since I admitted that I like Yugram, but our relationship hasn’t changed at all since then. I didn’t even think about telling Yugram how I feel. What’s so regrettable about Yugram that he has to marry a woman like me?

Of course, there is a good chance that Yugram will reject me, and I don’t really want to think about that. I’m talking about what would happen if he did accept.

Let’s say that Yugram is the ideal man for me as a spouse. But what about Yugram? Yugram must also have various conditions he wants as a spouse. Since I was a man in my past life, I have a rough idea of what men like and prefer. I looked at Cosette running in the distance.

Swaying, swaying.

Cosette’s huge breasts jiggled with every step she took. Even though she was wearing underwear that minimized movement for training, she was still like that. Compared to Cosette, I was… flat.

How about height? Well, for a woman, she’s just average… A little bit? A little shorter than average? But anyway, compared to Yugram, she’s so small that she’s almost like a child. Who would like such a short kid?

There’s also the health condition. I’m not sure if I can get pregnant because of the curse, but how long will I live in the first place? At least, looking at this body that barely grows, I can tell that it’s not in normal health. Judging by the way Yugram evades his words whenever I ask him questions, it’s clear that it’s not in a good situation at the very least.

In conclusion, on this topic of malicious inventory, is it really a confession attack on Yugram? Wouldn’t that be blocking Yugram’s marriage path and repaying the favors I’ve received so far with a grudge? I have a sense of shame, so I couldn’t do that.

I just continued on as I had been doing until now.

Rather, I didn’t think much of it because I admitted it so coolly. The only difference would be that I felt some kind of gratitude and happiness from seeing Yugram every day and having him take care of me.

Now that I feel that way, I have to admit it even more, because I can’t imagine living alone without Yugram… and I think I’ve liked Yugram for a long time.

It’s like, ‘Why are you suddenly making such a fuss when that’s how it was all along?’

Suddenly, I remembered the time when Ayla and the other kids kept nagging me about whether I liked Yugram, and I felt quite embarrassed. Of course, I had no intention of admitting it now. I never intended to tell Yugram himself, so why would I reveal this? I planned to die with this secret for the rest of my life.

While I was drinking tea with Agnes and leaving Gidbin alone, Ayla arrived first. Not long after, Mathias arrived, and while the two were resting, Cosette arrived. Since I had told them in advance to only use half of their magic power today, no one collapsed from exhaustion.

“That’s it. This is my 387th win.”

“Sigh.”

Agnes sighed deeply, but the world of competition is so cold. It is fate that one will win or lose, but that victory or loss is not determined by fate, but by the efforts and talents accumulated by each individual. So it is only natural that Agnes, who has encountered a huge wall called the country, will collapse.

“Aniès, don’t blame yourself too much. Still, you’ve improved quite a bit compared to last year. At this rate, you might be able to beat me once before graduation, right?”

“Just wait and see, princess.. I will definitely win.”

Well, even if there comes a day when I feel a sense of crisis, if I were to settle all 300 or so of the debts I’ve accumulated so far at once, I think I’d run away because I didn’t want to get hit.

Anyway, we sat at the table for a while to cool off. Since no one had done light exercise or sweated, there was no reason to go to the dormitory. We did that on purpose. After killing some time, we headed to the training ground. However, it was a different place than the one we were used to.

Since there were five grades in the academy, there were naturally five or more facilities that could be used by all grades, and the training grounds were no exception. The facilities did not change depending on the grade, but the same facilities were used from the first to the fifth grades. In any case, as I walked to the training grounds, which were different from usual, there was a huge crowd of people.

“There are surprisingly a lot of people?”

“Maybe you came for a similar reason to us.”

Cosette and Ayla whispered. It seemed like the Dean had gathered the students today to talk about something, but honestly, I thought there would be many students who wouldn’t come because they were too lazy. We just came because we didn’t have anything to do and were curious about what was going on, so we just wanted to listen in.

The faculty was lining up the students by grade level, so we went behind some familiar faces. Looking around, there were quite a few people from other grades, including ours. Was it a mandatory event, unlike what we thought? It wasn’t.

While waiting for a moment, the students who had been noisily chatting suddenly became quiet. Ayla quietly said that the Dean looked much older than the last time she saw him. It seemed that the Dean had arrived. I couldn’t see the stage at all because of the students in front of me.

“..Princess, will you listen?”

“Is it okay?”

Why would an old man endure such shame to see something like that? He’ll just listen to the voice.

“..Okay, students. Let’s cut all the nonsense out of the way and get to the main point. You all probably remember that unfortunate incident that happened last year.”

The dean, who was expected to start off by talking about how the weather was and whatnot, suddenly got straight to the point. The students were surprised and murmured. There probably wasn’t anyone who had already forgotten last year’s memories. Of course, except for the freshmen.

“Last summer, our academy was attacked by a group with malicious intent, and your precious friends were caught up in the group’s evil curse and ended up dying. The faculty of our academy, including myself, worked hard to find the person behind it, but… we ultimately failed.”

The students’ murmuring grew louder. It would be strange not to be surprised by this, since the story was essentially a half-admission that the Academy had no power to stop or prevent the attack.

What on earth is the Dean thinking? The Dean continued his story.

“This academy is responsible for the safety of the students being educated.. We would like to inform you that, as of today, we have decided to refund all tuition fees paid so far if a student submits a letter of withdrawal. The relevant department will provide a detailed explanation. In addition, the planned banquet has also been canceled. This is the end of my story.”

As soon as the dean finished speaking, the training grounds became a complete mess. It was noisy because the students were talking to each other, and they were yelling all over the place, asking why they were having a banquet in the first place, and asking if they were just trying to get a refund on their tuition by colluding with the clothing store. It was a total mess.

We immediately turned around and headed to the shopping district because it was too noisy. Maybe it was because the students were still talking in the training grounds? The shopping district was very quiet.

“..What on earth are you thinking? The Dean, or the Academy.”

Agnes muttered, but of course no one answered. That must be because no one understood the mess that was being made.

Why on earth did the Dean say he would hold the banquet? And why did he cancel it? The decision to refund tuition in case of withdrawal is somewhat obvious, and if there is enough money to do so, there are many things to say about why the Academy is in such a mess.

It was true that I could not understand the current situation simply with common sense or rational judgment. As I was walking along the shopping street with a feeling of unease, two familiar faces walked by from the opposite direction. The combination was so strange that I blinked and doubted my eyes.

“Hey, Leah. Long time no see.”

“Uh.. Uh.. Yes. Katrina. And Gilbert.. Right?”

“Yes, that’s right, Mask Princess.”

One of them was Katrina, who I occasionally greeted whenever we met, even though I had a bad first meeting with her, and the one next to her was… Gilbert, who I had probably met first when I arrived at the academy. Gilbert nodded, and I also accepted the greeting awkwardly.

In my memory, Gilbert was a pretty cute boy in his first year, but now he has grown quite a bit and is taller than Katrina. Even though Katrina is quite tall for a girl like Ayla, Gilbert will probably grow even taller in the future. But until then, I thought it was normal for a boy to grow tall and stuff, but what was shocking was the fact that these two were actually linking arms!

As I was blankly staring at it, Katrina must have felt my gaze as she smiled and hugged Gilbert.

“Didn’t Leah know? We decided to date.”

“Oh.. Oh, is that so?”

I don’t remember well, but I’m sure I used to really hate him. Well, it was 2 or 3 years ago, so there might have been something going on. We chatted about this and that, and then we parted ways with a simple greeting that we should have a meal together later. It’s really interesting to see so many things at the beginning of the semester.

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“Kuhaha, did you see Leah’s face? No, she had a blank expression anyway. She looked quite surprised.”

“..Yeah, right.”

“What? That reaction. Hey, by the way, you were talking to Leah before? ”

“Huh? Oh, no. Lina is much better now.”

“..hehe. It’s embarrassing if you do that all of a sudden~”

Katrina suddenly started flirting with Gilbert in a voice that seemed to melt. This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, so Gilbert looked back at her and smiled, hugging Katrina’s shoulder. The fact that she was shy while pretending to be strong was the charm of the woman he loved.

But apart from that… Gilbert was thinking about the time he first saw Leah a few years ago. At that time, Gilbert had clearly seen a radiance radiating from Leah that seemed ready to explode. At one point, he had thought that he had just seen things wrong, but no matter how much he thought about it, it wasn’t.

But just now, rather than a dazzling light, she felt a kind of… indescribable, sticky darkness. Of course, it was only for a moment, and it disappeared when Gilbert closed his eyes again. However, the feeling remained in Gilbert’s heart and brain so strongly.

‘What on earth does this mean..?’

It was a question he didn’t even know who to talk to for an accurate answer. Gilbert walked down the street with the woman he loved, carrying unanswered questions.