episode_0092

*Is that girl Lea? Is that the ‘Hero’ Ras spoke of?* Rosalie looked at Lea, whose appearance was hidden by a mask and robe, recalling the past connection Ras had told her about. The woman who was his past comrade, and whom the man who was currently her lover had burned to death in the past. Ras hadn’t said much about Lea Iorca. No, it wasn’t that he hadn’t said anything, it was just that he didn’t know much about her, so there was nothing to say…

*Anyway, her face… I’m curious about her face. How pretty must she be to say something like that upon meeting for the first time…!* Rosalie didn’t unnecessarily flaunt her own beauty, but she wasn’t the type to feign humility, so she already knew she was quite beautiful. Thus, she was genuinely curious about Lea’s appearance, as Lea had boldly blurted out, “She’s not as good as me…!” right to her face upon their first meeting.

And on the other side, Lea was… *She’s really, totally pretty. Not as good as me, but probably second-best?* She was the type whose spoken words matched her thoughts, so there were no additional inner thoughts. However, Lea’s first impression of Rosalie couldn’t have been better. She liked pretty and handsome people, but even more so, Rosalie herself felt pleasant to her. Her soft, benevolent impression, and her sweet scent. With the joy of having found a lost family member, Lea acted more affectionately than ever towards a stranger.

“Excuse me, pretty unnie. Have we met before? Or are we somehow acquainted…? I don’t know why you feel so familiar and friendly.” “Well… even so, if you ask that while your face is covered by a mask…” “Ah…!”

Of course, because of Lea’s minor intelligence issues, the embarrassment was left to the Emperor standing next to her. “Rosalie. It’s a bit difficult for this child to reveal her face yet, so I’ll introduce you properly later.” “I understand. But Your Majesty, what brings you here?” “A light inspection, and to ask you to examine my body. There’s also someone I need to see before I leave…” “It’s a bit surprising for you to visit without prior notice. Let’s go for now. It’s only right to attend to a patient.”

Having heard Ras’s pre-regression story, she had recently found the imperial family, with the exception of Skada, quite despicable, but business was business. It was not in character for Rosalie Berhart to neglect a sick person due to personal negative feelings. “Hehehe!! Pretty unnie~ Shall we link arms~?” “Oh, my… What is this…? But she’s cute, too…”

Rosalie was flustered by Lea clinging to her like a duckling following its mother, but being naturally nurturing, she readily accepted Lea’s affectionate behavior. The Emperor, feeling slightly awkward from being left out, cleared his throat unnecessarily and followed Rosalie and Lea towards the infirmary.

*

The Emperor’s condition had been adequately diagnosed and treated. Perhaps because Lergo’s death had completely stopped the death curse, Rosalie’s divine power worked even better than last time. Anyway, having finished their business, the three were now heading to the dining hall to have lunch together. With a lighter body and gait, the Emperor truly felt his visibly improved condition and offered Rosalie light thanks and praise.

“I’m always indebted to you. A healer as excellent as you should rightfully be in the imperial palace.” “Why would I go to such a stifling place? Don’t talk nonsense, just hand over the money. My medical policy is to charge Your Majesty a high price for treatment.” “Hehehe!! Old man, you have so much money, don’t be stingy and just shower the pretty unnie with it all. You’re old and won’t have anywhere to spend it anyway!!”

Rosalie was scolding, and Lea was being cheeky from the side. Being a magnanimous emperor, he didn’t get angry, but he couldn’t help but feel a little sad, so he just shed tears internally. In fact, the Emperor could immediately sense that Rosalie disliked him more than usual, but he couldn’t fault her for it. He knew well that since Rosalie was Ras’s lover, she couldn’t help but feel negatively towards him, Leon’s father. However, seeing Lea being cheeky next to him, he couldn’t help but feel displeased. Lea was simply delivering pure criticism!

*I must maintain my dignity… Instead, when I return, I’ll put her through some ultimate hellish endurance training…* As the Emperor walked, grinding his teeth internally, Rosalie suddenly seemed to recall something and asked him. Rosalie already had some knowledge, however small, about Lea Iorca’s existence and role, but the sight of the Emperor and Lea together felt unfamiliar to her.

“By the way, Your Majesty, Lea… was it? Who exactly is this child? It’s my first time seeing Your Majesty on an outing, and it’s curious to see you with a girl I’ve never met.” “I’ve been temporarily taking her under my wing and teaching her the sword. She’s a rough gem I found while visiting the main temple of the Heavenly God Cult. Though she has absolutely no manners…” “I thought her divine power felt somewhat unusual; so she’s from the Cult.”

Rosalie hadn’t heard the pre-regression history in great detail, but she did know that the Emperor had remained bedridden due to the death curse and eventually died early. *The sword… So the Emperor is teaching her directly. That must be a change from before the regression, right? Something is changing thanks to Ras saving the Emperor’s life.* Although the Emperor had a somewhat indecisive and foolish side, there was no denying that he was an extremely skilled warrior, having reached the transcendent realm of martial arts. *That child will eventually fight against some despicable and evil Demon Lord or whatever, so being taught by a skilled practitioner like the Emperor will definitely be better for ‘us’.*

Anyway, just as Rosalie decided she needed to tell Ras about this, “Eh..! What! It’s Ras! Hey!!!!!! Ras!!!” Lea suddenly shrieked at the top of her lungs, seeing two men and women walking a little distance ahead of the three, chuckling affectionately. “……” Rosalie and the Emperor, who had been conversing, were startled by this loud noise (which rivaled Irha’s) and quickly looked forward. Of course, the two men and women walking ahead were also surprised and turned around, leading to an awkward encounter for all five at once.

“Mari…sa?” The Emperor, in particular, was quite surprised to see his niece and prospective daughter-in-law, whom he had intended to meet today.

*

“What was that?” No lie, the voice was as loud as Irha’s, and I was startled enough to turn around. It was a very friendly tone, like calling a friend of ten years, but the fact that it wasn’t a voice I was particularly familiar with was oddly unsettling at the moment. Normally, Irha, Marisa, and I would have lunch together, but today Irha had been dragged off to the cooking club, so it was just the two of us. We were having a pleasant chat on our way to the dining hall for the first time in a while, when our ears were suddenly assaulted.

But after turning around and looking at the group standing opposite us, I couldn’t help but be even more surprised. My beloved Rosalie-ssi, the foolish Emperor, and even the incredibly self-absorbed Hero… I couldn’t help but be shocked to see two people I didn’t expect to be here, blatantly present. Meanwhile, Lea, despite being completely covered by her mask, was grinning broadly and dashed towards me in the blink of an eye, using oddly familiar footwork, then boasted.

“Hey! Did you see that? Did you just see that~? I practiced this after watching you do it. Isn’t it amazing?? Isn’t my talent charming? My talent is as great as my face. Admit it??” “……”

The familiar footwork was my unique footwork, Ice Shadow Footwork. The footwork I had briefly shown during our confrontation on Friday night, she had absorbed it, and after a few days of practice, she was now effectively integrating it into her own movements. Seeing her, who had acted prickly last time, now strangely friendly and boasting, made me feel a bit strange. However, that strange feeling soon turned into a slightly flustered one. Because when she saw Marisa standing awkwardly beside me, she suddenly continued speaking, and the content was quite outrageous.

“Wow… Ras, I thought you were just a liar, you know? Honestly, I thought you were the type who’d never even held a girl’s hand properly. But just as you said, you really do have a very pretty lover!!! Wow~ Youth! The atmosphere is really good!!!” She… as I noticed last time, her voice is too loud…

“Your voice, your voice… keep it down…” Anyway, Marisa was ‘still’ rumored to be Leon’s fiancée, and from the Emperor’s perspective, who was right next to them, she was also his niece and prospective daughter-in-law. I tried to subtly stop her, but Lea paid no attention.

“Oh, why! It just looks good. Hello, Ras’s pretty lover! But honestly, saying she’s prettier than me was a lie. I’m a bit better!” Meanwhile, seeing her casually greet Marisa and then overtly declare “I’m prettier!” made my head throb. The Hero from before the regression, during the time they fought to the death in Sephyr, was foul-mouthed and reckless, but she didn’t feel as tactless as she did now… Come to think of it, perhaps because she wasn’t an adult yet, the current Lea had a distinctly childish side. She had no real malice, so she wasn’t truly unlikeable, but she was rather difficult to deal with.

“….Lover… Is that how it looks to others?” Meanwhile, I glanced sideways and saw that our elegant Lady, perhaps flustered by the word ‘lover,’ was asking something irrelevant with an unusually bewildered expression.

“Of course! My dynamic vision is excellent, so I could tell you two were absolutely showering each other with affection even from your backs. A fresh and harmonious academy romance. That’s the feeling I got!” Meanwhile, Rosalie-ssi and the Emperor had also somehow scurried over to where we had stopped.

“…Ah, Your Majesty, what brings you here…? Professor Rosalie is with you too.” The polite and elegant Marisa, somewhat flustered, first greeted the two elders, and I awkwardly followed suit, observing their reactions. The Emperor was alternately looking at Marisa and me with a slightly flustered expression. Friends could, of course, share a meal, and the Emperor naturally knew that Leon and Marisa’s relationship was distant to begin with. Their engagement was practically forced, and judging by the various anecdotes about Marisa that he had heard before the regression, they hadn’t gotten along well even as children. However, because of the word ‘lover’ that Lea had shouted so loudly again and again, the Emperor was looking at me with eyes full of confusion.

I subtly shook my head, conveying the message, ‘(Not yet), old man,’ and only then did the Emperor regain his composure. Rosalie-ssi shot me a very subtle, slightly sour look (it was a ‘Already! Again!!!’ look), but seeing me shake my head, her expression immediately returned to her usual gentle one. With that gentle and mild expression, Rosalie-ssi smiled faintly with her eyes and corrected Lea about the facts.

“Lea, Marisa isn’t Ras’s ‘lover.’ Ras has a different lover.” “Eh?? No way. They were being super affectionate. Even at the cult, people secretly dating to avoid others’ eyes had exactly that vibe…” “Ras is dating me. He’s my lover. He’s mine.” “Ah.”

As expected, our Rosalie-ssi… Her declaration of being a lover silenced the room, and Lea began to fluster and stumble. Wearing a strange mask and sweating profusely… it was quite a sight, like a cartoon protagonist from my childhood. Rosalie-ssi, who could shut down the rampaging mouth of the Hero, as if possessed by a malevolent spirit, with a single blow, was truly a capable and genuine priestess skilled in sealing.

“Alright! So… since we’ve met like this, how about Ras and Marisa join us for a meal? You two are okay with that, right?” Rosalie-ssi thus settled the situation at once, then swept everyone off towards the dining hall like a storm.

*

After school. Having finished a rather ordinary and quiet meal compared to their noisy encounter, Marisa felt somewhat disturbed and bewildered throughout the afternoon. *Ras-kun… finally with Professor Rosalie…! They’re like this, and that, and… Tsk!!! This won’t be good news at all for Pisces and Irha, my two poor friends… But my friends’ affairs are my affairs… It’s utterly disheartening. This displeasure I feel right now is truly because of my friends. Hmph.*

Marisa, who still had no idea that Ras was legitimately and brazenly two-timing Rosalie and Pisces, could only click her tongue inwardly. But… was it truly only because of Pisces and Irha? *Honestly… earlier, when that strange masked woman talked about ‘lovers’… I didn’t feel bad. Ras is much better than someone like Leon, even if he had a hundred lovers.*

As Marisa groaned and continued walking, her magic communicator rang. [I’ll be waiting near the school gate, Marisa. Let’s have a cup of tea and a chat after a long time.] The Emperor of this country, her uncle-in-law, and her future father-in-law… *Ha… what a terribly complicated and annoying household. I want to quit it all.*

The Emperor was a good person, but she disliked the Imperial family. The Valencia ducal family was just tiresome and stifling. Leon… his character, which she had observed since childhood, transcended mere disgust.

*Anyway… I suppose I have to see His Majesty. By the way, last time he was very ill, but it seems he’s recovered again in the meantime.* Nevertheless, Marisa, who always worried about the health of the Emperor who had always been kind to her, was elegant and gentle.

“Marisa, it’s been a while… well, not really… Anyway, the situation earlier wasn’t comfortable enough for a proper greeting.” “Not at all, Your Majesty. I apologize for not properly inquiring about your health. But what brings you all the way here without notice…? And who exactly is that strange woman?” With Rosalie and Ras gone, Marisa, feeling slightly relieved, bombarded him with various questions. The Emperor, meeting his beloved prospective daughter-in-law after a long time, chuckled kindly as they conversed.

“Which cafe is popular near Leone these days? Back when I attended Leone~” “Ah… for a quiet conversation, Café de Brezel is good.”

After about fifteen minutes of walking. “Haa… Old man. Are you really the Emperor?” Lea, who had been walking a little behind them, suddenly sighed and asked curtly. The Emperor let out a slightly bitter sigh and shook his head from side to side. “It seems my face isn’t as famous as I thought. Lea, deal with them and hold them. I’ll personally come to interrogate them after I’m done chatting with Marisa.” “Oh. I don’t like being followed, so can I beat them up a bit?” “Yes. But don’t kill them or turn them into too much of a pulp.”

Marisa was bewildered by the swift exchange of dialogue, then soon realized what was happening. Lea and the Emperor had noticed the ‘surveillance’ that Leon sometimes placed on Marisa, which Marisa herself occasionally had a sense of déjà vu about. “Ah… surely, someone was following us?” With a calm, even voice, the Emperor sighed deeply and replied to Marisa. “That’s right. They are unruly ruffians… Are you, by any chance, accustomed to such situations?” “It’s happened a few times. I thought Your Majesty would know, since it’s Leon’s doing… but it seems you had no idea.”

The Emperor, a skilled warrior, and Lea, a born genius who was slated to be trained as a top-tier elite agent of the cult, as well as Marisa, who was a skilled witch. They deliberately did not reveal that they had noticed the surveillance like amateurs. And so, when a path appeared that was most suitable for a counter-pursuit,

“See you later, old man. And see you again later! Ras’s pretty lover.” “Oh…!” Lea launched herself away so swiftly that not even a lingering image was left, darting off to intercept the pursuers. In the awkward atmosphere, the two arrived at their destination cafe, mechanically ordered drinks, and took their seats. The Emperor quietly, but with a voice slightly subdued rather than flustered, called Marisa.

“….Marisa…” “Ah… Your Majesty… that person must have misunderstood…” Perhaps because of his sad eyes, Marisa stumbled over her words, speaking uncharacteristically, but the Emperor cut her off. “To get straight to the point… if you wish, you may break off the engagement. I will permit it. However, I must hear at least a little about you and Leon…” “…..”

Though it was something she had desired so much, now that the opportunity was laid out, Marisa found her mouth a bit heavy. “Two Squirrel Fairy’s Special Misutgaru Lattes!! Coming right up!” Fortunately, this heavy atmosphere was dispelled by the perfectly timed appearance of the cute, small, fairy-like cafe owner. Along with Café de Brezel’s specialty, the ‘Squirrel Fairy’s Special Misutgaru Latte,’ which was so delicious you wouldn’t notice if one died while eating it. “First… my throat is dry, so I’ll drink a sip of my beverage before speaking.” “Do so.”

Marisa took a sip of the latte. The sweet drink she usually enjoyed had no taste at all today.