For You 60

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#60

Behind Iria was another student who was cowering. It seemed Karn hadn’t learned his lesson from last time. I couldn’t believe he would pick a fight so quickly.

Even in front of Karn, who was taller than her, Iria held her head high and glared at him firmly. Her confident attitude must have irritated him, as Karn raised the wooden sword he was holding with a distorted face.

It appeared that the event Iria was originally supposed to proceed with had unfolded in a different way. Karn hadn’t stopped harassing commoners to that extent, and Iria wasn’t the type to silently watch someone struggle right in front of her.

“Just a commoner bast—”

“You know that if you say more, you’ll immediately violate school rules, right? Don’t you know that here, whether noble or commoner, everyone should attend as equal students without distinction? Does our noble lord not know even that? Indeed, different beginnings make different people. To think you couldn’t even learn that much.”

Iria cut off Karn’s attempt to belittle someone as a commoner in one swift stroke.

By this point, I was curious about what Iria couldn’t do. She was good at swordsmanship, skilled in magic, adept at politics, and eloquent. Though I should have quickly left the scene, I found myself entranced, watching to see how Iria would respond.

The confident Iria had a captivating charm. The students around couldn’t take their eyes off her, just like me.

The same was true for Karn, who was facing Iria. Of course, unlike us, he was glaring at her with a face that couldn’t help but be angry.

“Where do you get off being so mouthy? Fine, I’ll show you. You better grab that—”

“Alright. How shall we do this? Competing with just swordsmanship is boring. How about the upcoming exams? We’ll add the scores from all subjects plus the practical scores for swordsmanship and magic. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll only evaluate the subjects we take together. We share quite a few classes, don’t we?”

Karn, who had been gripping his wooden sword intending to duel right now, froze in place, unable to say a word. While he seemed to have confidence in his swordsmanship, it appeared other subjects were a different story. Seeming to know all this very well, Iria responded with a bright smile.

“Surely our noble lord, who started off differently, isn’t backing away because he thinks he might lose to a commoner?”

Trapped with nowhere to escape, Karn shouted loudly that he could do it in response to Iria’s words. The curious gazes of the stirring students gathered on the two.

Though not as much as a main event, it seemed like this would become an incident worthy of attention for Iria at this school. It was just a bit regrettable that I was the only one witnessing this. If at least Persis could have seen it…

“What are you doing here?”

I couldn’t believe I would hear this voice here. They say speak of the tiger and it appears—Persis would be no different, I suppose.

I faced Persis, who had approached me and spoken.

“Ah, today’s class was canceled, so I was walking around.”

“Why does your face look like that again? Is your stomach hurting again? Have you eaten?”

As soon as he saw me, Persis kept asking questions. I wish he would at least give me a chance to answer, but his questions were endless, as if overflowing with curiosity. Despite his indifferent expression, I could see his concern for me. He was such a kind child who cared for others, both in the past and now.

My face was probably troubled because of yesterday’s events, but my stomach wasn’t hurting. As for food, I hadn’t gone to the dining hall since Yutis wasn’t around.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten yet.”

“I thought so. Let’s eat first.”

“Ah, well, I’m fine…”

“You don’t want to eat with me?”

When he came at me like that, how could I possibly say no? I was contemplating what to say when I surrendered to Persis’s anxious gaze.

“Yes, let’s eat.”

Somehow, I felt like the number of people I was losing to was increasing as time passed.

* * *

This wasn’t the time for me to be doing this. But when Persis put it that way, what could I do? That’s how I made this ridiculous excuse to myself.

I glanced at Persis’s face as he sat across from me, waiting for the menu. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a meal with Persis. In fact, even when I was his playmate, we rarely ate together. After all, it wasn’t proper to share a table with royalty. Of course, Persis had insisted on eating with me, but still.

I can’t forget the palace employees who would glare at me in surprise each time. It wasn’t even my fault, so why blame me? Those people would probably still do the same.

“Is stew okay?”

“Pardon?”

“You like stew, don’t you.”

I nodded at Persis’s words. I did rather like stew with bread to dip in it. It was a food I often chose because it was easy to eat and soothed my stomach when it was upset. When did he figure out my food preferences? I thought it was a bit strange since I didn’t like stew when I was younger.

“Yes, I like it. Let’s go with stew.”

That should be enough to satisfy my empty stomach. As soon as I finished speaking, Persis ordered the food with great familiarity. I felt guilty, as if I was pushing all my responsibilities onto Persis. I looked for something I could do, but Persis had already taken care of most things, leaving nothing for me.

To think he was even good at such thoughtful gestures. I was newly impressed by how remarkable Persis was. While I didn’t care for the palace employees, seeing how well-mannered Persis had grown made me think they must have done a great deal.

“Is your stomach hurting again?”

“What? Ah, well…”

My stomach was slightly acidic, but not severely painful. Persis seemed concerned about me, perhaps because I continually appeared unwell.

It seemed that the memories of me collapsing when I was young or panting as I failed to keep up with Persis’s pace were strongly imprinted in his mind. But I was different now, and I was relatively normal compared to others. It was absurd to compare myself with Persis, who had physical strength incomparable to ordinary humans.

However, either Persis couldn’t make an objective judgment about himself, or perhaps he was surrounded by similar people, making me appear relatively weak in comparison—he treated me as if I would blow away with the slightest breeze.

“I’m not in pain. I just couldn’t sleep well.”

“Sleep? Is your bed uncomfortable? Is the bed hard to sleep in? Or is it because of the pillow?”

After pouring out a barrage of questions, Persis seemed to realize he wasn’t giving me a chance to respond and promptly closed his mouth. He turned his eyes away from me, pretending to be nonchalant, but I could feel him watching for my reaction.

He seemed worried that I might find him burdensome. Just a short while ago, I might have thought he was being annoying and that I disliked it, but in reality, that wasn’t the case at all. It was surprising that I hadn’t recognized Persis’s visible behavior until now.

“The sleeping arrangements are fine. The bed and pillow were personally prepared by Kara, so they suit me perfectly. It’s just that we had a major incident yesterday, didn’t we? That’s why.”

“Then, are you hurt somewhere from yesterday?”

“You know very well I don’t have a single injury.”

I recalled what I had done yesterday to protect Persis. At that time, not knowing my limitations, I had stepped forward to protect him, and he had overlaid another spell to protect me. If I had been alone, I might have sustained at least minor scratches, but thanks to Persis, I hadn’t received a single wound.

“Still, you never know. Your stomach might not feel well. You might be dizzy from suddenly using magic.”

If he truly thought so, Persis didn’t take his eyes off me. That serious demeanor somehow looked a bit cute. I swallowed words I couldn’t speak aloud and shook my head.

“Really, I’m fine. It’s just that I have something troubling me.”

“What? What could possibly—”

Persis, who was about to question further, firmly shut his lips. His frowning face with tightly closed lips made him look displeased. Even though I knew his true feelings, I found myself being careful around him.

I wanted to tell him that he could ask as many questions as he wanted, but I couldn’t do that. Honestly, I wanted to tell Persis everything. That I might be a bit different from others, that I have a sword, and that I’m worried because the sword hasn’t spoken since this morning.

I formed these words that I could never convey on the tip of my tongue several times, but swallowed them with my breath. What good would it do to reveal this to Persis here? If I made a mistake, the relationship I had carefully built might crumble again.

Suddenly, a feeling of emptiness washed over me. After trying so hard to distance myself from Persis, I was now afraid of losing him again after briefly growing closer. I should have been standing in the position of an observer, but once held, the wish was embedded deep in my heart, using the reality that it couldn’t escape as an excuse.

“It’s just that a close friend suddenly stopped communicating with me.”