episode_0288

The act of making Agnes listen to Prince Antonio’s bathing story naked was done with a certain level of calculation.

It wasn’t about teasing Agnes or anything like that. It was simply thought to be the most effective way to handle the situation.

“Agnes is easy to handle when she thinks she’s just following her principles.”

Agnes was someone whose standards became quite lenient when it came to things she put in the category of “things that need to be done anyway.”

A normal woman wouldn’t naturally enjoy showing her naked body to a foreign man, but with the condition of “necessary for telling the bathing story,” the boundary lowered quite a bit.

If Agnes didn’t realize how strange it was herself, then that was the end of it. Prince Antonio, who was deeply in love with Agnes, would have no reason to refuse intimacy with her.

“Prince Antonio may seem naive, but he’s quite faithful to his desires for his age.”

His faithfulness to his desires could be proven by his actions over the past month. He even chased after the Witch’s Forest just to create an opportunity to get closer to Agnes, who was known for her cold demeanor.

So, even in the highly abnormal situation of entering the bathroom naked when telling the bathing story, Prince Antonio would likely keep his mouth shut and not tell Agnes the truth.

Then it would be smooth sailing. Prince Antonio, who already liked Agnes, would naturally develop feelings of attraction towards her with just a little push, even if he didn’t feel any emotions upon seeing his body.

Even if she didn’t feel any emotions upon seeing Prince Antonio’s body, it didn’t matter. After today’s events, Prince Antonio would pay even more attention to Agnes.

“I saw Agnes naked, so I have to take responsibility. Well, that’s probably what he’ll think.”

Just making it seem that way would be a success. Once Prince Antonio entered the academy next year and had more interactions with Agnes, their relationship would gradually become closer.

Ultimately, women were happiest when they were with men who loved them. This was even mentioned in a study I saw on the internet in a past life.

When happiness levels were surveyed among married couples, men were happier when their wives were beautiful, while women were happier when they felt beautiful themselves.

Feeling beautiful would lead to husbands treating their wives better, resulting in happiness, according to the study.

And among the men I knew, Prince Antonio was the one who could treat Agnes the best.

“Well, even if things don’t go well, it’s not really my fault.”

If I did my best and nothing happened, then it was Prince Antonio’s fault, not mine. I did what I could.

I was looking forward to whether Agnes would have a different sub-couple ending than the original.

***

And so, three days had passed since we defeated the final monster in the Witch’s Forest.

After completing the witch trials of Lala and Riji, we were each riding a carriage towards our respective territories at the entrance of the Witch’s Forest, naturally saying our farewells before parting ways.

“Um, thank you so much, R-Rosewood… Thanks to you, I was able to pass the test safely…”

“No, Meichiling. There are others who did much better than me.”

“Still, Rosewood helped me the most… If it weren’t for you, I might not have passed this test… If that had happened, I would have been really… ugh…”

Lala, who had successfully completed the witch trials with Riji, held my hands tightly and expressed her gratitude.

Lara, who seemed to be imagining the penalties for failing the exam, grabbed her arms as if shivering.

“So, what’s the penalty for not passing the exam?”

“Y-yes?!”

“Now you can tell us. Everyone here helped you and that guy over there with the exam, right?”

“Uh, well….”

“…..”

“T-the, the name…. it got changed….”

“….Huh?”

“The name?”

“What does that mean?”

Lara, trembling as if she didn’t want to imagine it, answered, while others focused on her words.

Only Agnes and I, who knew the contents of the penalty, quietly turned our gaze.

“T-the, the name…. it got changed to Lya, Lya Maychilling….”

“…..”

“…..”

“…..Is that it?”

“T-that’s not it…! C-changing my name as a witch, h-how embarrassing is that…!! It’s like falling behind the other witch apprentices! Just because I didn’t pass the exam on time…!! A-and on top of that, Lya Lya is such a difficult name to pronounce…!!”

Agnes’ expression stiffened as she heard the identity of the ‘penalty’ from Lara’s mouth.

She intentionally didn’t let her say the penalty, expecting this kind of reaction.

The people here had been guarding the altar near the forest for a month, facing dangers where their lives were at risk, so if they were given such a trivial penalty, it was natural for them to feel a sense of disillusionment.

“You, you went through all this trouble for us just for something like this….”

“Oh, right! I just remembered, if you didn’t take the exam this time, you wouldn’t be able to take it until 10 years later, right, Lara?”

“Oh, yes, y-yes…. Because the purest energy seeps into the Forest Altar once every 10 years….”

“If you didn’t take it this time, you would have had to wait for 10 years without a chance. It could have been a real disaster, right?!”

“T-that’s important, but, m-my name….”

“Alright, the story’s over. Anyway, if you pass the exam that only happens once every 10 years, that’s good, right? Isn’t it?”

Geytmyoshaygat, who had belatedly joined the conversation, added supplementary explanations about the witch exam. She did this because if Agnes got angry, the entrance to the witch’s forest could turn into a sea of flames.

In fact, to witches who lived for hundreds of years, 10 years didn’t feel as long as one might think. Of course, it wasn’t an incredibly short time, but compared to the 10 years an ordinary human would feel, it was a much shorter time.

So, Lara didn’t seem to pay much attention to that part, but Agnes seemed to somewhat understand the fact that the exam only happened once every 10 years.

“…If it’s such an important exam, you should have told us in advance.”

Agnes had lived more days than others, even dividing her sleeping time to live more days than others until just before entering the academy.

Having given up on the growth that should have come during her prime years to focus solely on studying magic, Agnes couldn’t help but feel weak at the mention of an exam that could only be taken once every 10 years.

After roughly making Agnes understand, they decided to split up and return with the three carriages that had gathered here.

One carriage brought from the top of August.

One personal carriage driven from the northeast Great Plains by Geytmyoshaygat.

And the imperial carriage we had ridden from the capital.

In fact, the simplest way would have been for each person to ride their own carriage back to where they came from, but that was not a very efficient choice.

In just ten days, the second semester of the Luminaire Academy would start again, so it would be a waste of time to spend several days visiting the capital or other places on the way back.

Therefore, the 11 people were divided into three temporary groups to travel together. Those with the same destination would travel together, and if there were people passing through along the way, they would stop briefly to drop them off.

“Well then, see you at the academy in a week, Lillis.”

“Yes, Miss Riji. Take care.”

First, there was the upper carriage that Liji and Kaham rode in.

It was a carriage belonging to the August family, so the August siblings, as the owners of the carriage, naturally had to ride it back. Especially since Kaham was the coachman who brought the carriage in the first place.

And there was one more person who got on this carriage.

“Do you remember the elective courses for next semester, Lillis? Introductory Advanced Elemental Studies and Applied Pyromancy….”

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry, Agnes, we’ll take them together.”

“…Alright. Don’t forget.”

Since one of the Elizabeth family’s branches was on the way to the August territory, Agnes decided to ride the same carriage back home.

Originally, Agnes was supposed to return to her own family’s territory after returning to the capital, but with the addition of the Gyetmujoshegi party at the last minute, there were now many people heading towards the capital.

Rather than squeezing into a cramped carriage, she decided to become indebted to the August family. With only three carriages, they had to divide themselves up.

“Oh, and I secretly put the box that Lillis wanted in the carriage. The one with a light blue X mark on it….”

“…I know, so keep it down, Miss Riji.”

It would be complicated if Eden found out. If he found out that she bought something like that, it would seem like she was not satisfied with him in bed.

It was just an item bought for insurance and as a souvenir for visiting the Witch’s Forest, not specifically purchased for Eden’s use.

Meanwhile, Agnes and Prince Antonio were also exchanging farewells rather warmly, unlike me and Riji.

“Agnes, take care!”

“…Alright.”

“I’ll send a letter to the address you gave me! And a gift too….”

“Don’t bother. It’s unnecessary meddling.”

“Yes….”

“……”

Agnes easily switched between chatting like old friends and drawing a clear line, which made Prince Antonio gloomy as usual.

As I watched Agnes, thinking that my plan wasn’t very effective, she suddenly waved her wand lightly on the ground before getting on the carriage.

-Whoosh!

A brief flame appeared and disappeared from the ground in an instant.

Where Agnes’s fire spell had passed, there were scattered scorch marks that seemed to have left some sort of letter-like stains.

“Agnes, dear?”

“My dorm address.”

“What?”

“I can’t stay at the main house for long. If you’re going to write a letter, send it here. Don’t send anything else.”

“Oh, okay! Thank you, Agnes!”

At least from this reaction, it seemed that Antonio and Agnes had reached a level of ‘friendship.’ Calling each other by name and being much closer than before.

Of course, the road ahead for the two of them still seemed quite long.