#25
“You don’t have to attend that school. We can invite excellent teachers anytime.”
“It’s alright. I should meet other children my age.”
“So you’re determined to go out, is that it?”
Anyone listening would think he was sending me away for good. It’s just enrolling in a boarding school for a few years.
I stopped eating and looked at the Duke sitting across from me. The way he mechanically chewed and swallowed his food while speaking to me seemed truly indifferent. This aspect of him was why I could never fully trust the Duke despite living with him for so long.
Though I had been with him for a long time, I had never once seen affection for me shadow his face. To him, I was an obligation. Someone he had to look after and keep by his side. Nothing more, nothing less.
Early next year, the Duke will reveal his ambition by rebelling against this country. He will draw the sword in my room and abandon both his vassals and his son, turning half of this country into a wasteland.
After observing him for a long time, I realized the Duke I saw in the game was very different from the man before me. That’s why everyone will be shocked by his change and be caught off guard. I couldn’t be one of them.
“Yes. I really want to attend school.”
I told him exactly what I wanted to do. If I spoke this clearly, he wouldn’t oppose my words. As expected, the Duke simply nodded and said he understood.
“Then take Yutis with you.”
“Ah.”
“Enrolling together will be helpful.”
Yutis Karshan. A child the Duke brought from the streets when I turned 13. He currently works as the Duke’s vassal and will later stand by his side as his right-hand man even when the Duke receives power from the demons, but he too will eventually be betrayed by the Duke.
In most other characters’ stories, he dies along with the Duke, but in Yutis’s story, he falls in love with the game’s protagonist and together they defeat the Duke.
That’s right. Yutis is another conquest character in this game. I knew he would be enrolling with me, but I didn’t expect us to go to school together in this way. I had anticipated it, but it was still unsettling when it actually happened.
It’s not that I disliked Yutis. I had affection for most characters. It was my favorite game, after all.
It’s just…
“He can accompany you when shopping for supplies as well.”
The problem was that he really, truly disliked me.
Suppressing a sigh that threatened to escape, I nodded and said I understood. If I said I didn’t want to here, the Duke would listen to me, but I couldn’t use the “Duke chance” every time.
How hard could shopping be? It would only take a brief time together, so there was nothing to worry about. Besides, Kara was planning to accompany me. I could just stay close to Kara. Thinking this way, I pushed down my uneasiness.
* * *
Why did it have to be today?
I glanced up at the man standing beside me, his face plastered with discontent. Wearing the perfectly angled Duke family employee uniform, he stood straight, looking into the distance. When I first met him, he was shorter than me, but I don’t know when he grew this tall.
Both then and now, he was quite poor at expressing emotions. This type of personality probably helped him learn from the ice-cold Duke. I understood a little why the Duke kept him by his side until the end while abandoning everyone else.
Originally, today was supposed to be me, Yutis, and Kara together. Kara would be enough for our protection, so we didn’t need to bring anyone else.
However, Kara had an urgent matter today and couldn’t accompany us. I thought they would assign another guard, but it seemed everyone in the Duke’s household was busy today as no one came with us two.
If it had been someone other than Yutis, it wouldn’t have mattered much. The problem was that the person accompanying me to shop today was Yutis.
Yutis’s dark eyebrows twitched. He wasn’t from this country. Presumably a refugee from another country, though even in the game, his history wasn’t revealed. His exotic face stood out wherever he went.
“Let’s go.”
After getting off the carriage, Yutis, who had been walking ahead, suddenly turned around and spoke to me in a stiff tone. I nodded and followed him as he walked quickly.
Yutis didn’t particularly show that he disliked me. He didn’t deliberately try to make things difficult for me, nor did he speak ill of me. Nevertheless, I was certain he disliked me for a reason.
His expression, which remained unshaken in any situation, would instantly crumple when he stood before me. It seemed he disliked me so much that he couldn’t control his expression. Since I also avoided being with people who disliked me, this journey with Yutis wasn’t particularly welcome.
“First, I’d like to look at fountain pens for class.”
“They’re this way.”
As soon as I spoke, Yutis pointed the way as if he had been waiting. He clearly came out to the streets more often than I did, as his footsteps were unwavering.
The streets were very quiet on weekdays. Even in the capital, where people overflow, not all areas are always bustling. There were many times like now when there were few people, and some areas struggled due to lack of customers.
I had heard from Kara that these streets would be packed with people on weekends. Since I didn’t want to stroll through crowded streets, I had chosen to come out on a less crowded weekday.
Yutis looked around and walked with long strides. Though I’m not particularly small, it was beyond my ability to keep up with Yutis’s pace. He must really dislike me to walk so fast. When we get to school, I should stay away from Yutis as much as possible.
Before I knew it, Yutis stopped in front of a fountain pen specialty store. Fearing I might see Yutis opening the door for me with a frown as if he had no choice, I quickly put my hand on the door. This made Yutis’s face contort more harshly than ever before.
I felt like asking, ‘What did I do wrong?’
There was no end to paying attention to Yutis’s every move. I tried to ignore the unpleasant emotions that seemed to be emanating from above his head and enter, if not for the commotion I heard from behind.
“Did you see it? I’m asking if you saw me put my hand in your pocket!?”
“B-but. That’s mine!”
“It could be an identical one!”
I turned my footsteps, which were about to enter the store, to look at the two loudly shouting people. One man was threatening another, waving a money pouch in his hand. It seemed like a situation where their claims differed. One said his pouch had been stolen, while the other insisted the pouch was his own.
The few people around merely whispered while looking at the two, with no intention of intervening.
“J-just now, you bumped into me as you passed by, and took it!”
“No, do you have proof I did that!? Do you?!!”
“Inside! There should be colored paper that I put in! You can check!!”
The intimidated man gathered courage and extended his hand to the other. The other man laughed as if incredulous and handed over the money pouch, almost throwing it.
“Fine! Check it! If it’s not there, you’ll see!”
The way he threatened with clenched fists was quite unpleasant to see. The man who received the money pouch quickly rummaged through it while hunching his shoulders. After wriggling his fingers and looking inside the pouch, he lifted his head with a brightened face. Then he took out a piece of colored paper and held it out.
“See! It’s here! I told you it would be!”
“What? That’s nonsensical…!!”
“You pickpocket!!”
The few people around, unlike before, began to talk noisily. Some started pointing fingers at the man who had created the hostile atmosphere. The man, cornered as a pickpocket, backed away in confusion.
“N-no. I…”
“You already took the money that was inside, didn’t you! Where’s all my money!! Give me back my money!!”
After confirming the man was a pickpocket, the once intimidated man began to act boldly, backed by the murmurs of the people. He grabbed the confused man’s collar with both hands and shook him threateningly.
I had been watching quietly from a distance, but things were taking a serious turn. Finally, with a sigh, I tried to take a step toward them.
“You can’t.”
Yutis extended his hand to stop me as soon as I tried to move.
“It’s not something you should concern yourself with.”
“But…”
“I’ll inform the guards later. So for today, let’s just…”
“Should I call the guards?”
While Yutis and I were wrestling with the decision, there was already someone approaching them. Confident steps, upright posture, unwavering eyes. The figure I had been imagining in my mind slowly walked between them.
I almost stopped breathing the moment she gave them a confident smile. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this with my own eyes. That person was Iria Shuits, the protagonist of this game, whom I had only dreamed of.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
