#103
“For this upcoming exam, let’s try to use mana as little as possible.”
“Yes, that’s what I was thinking.”
Magic wasn’t an ability that could improve dramatically in an instant. Since it was closer to innate talent, most people maintained similar skill levels and improved very slowly. In such a situation, if I showed completely different skills from before to many people, I would only be proving that I was different from others.
I plan to hide this power I’m using as much as possible. Now that I have the ability to do so.
* * *
Somehow, it feels like I’ve gone back to when I first came to this school. These days, I’ve been trying to avoid Persis and Iria as much as possible. I declined their invitations to do things together by saying I was sick or had errands to run. Normally, Rikin would have appeared suddenly to drag me away or stayed by my lonely side, but lately I hadn’t seen much of Rikin either.
Fortunately, Iria had also been preoccupied with the recent assassin issue, so she made fewer offers to me. Though I was worried about her safety, Persis must have made a request to the school, as security had increased recently. I thought perhaps I could worry a little less about that aspect. Of course, I couldn’t completely let my guard down.
I also tried to avoid eating in the dining hall as much as possible. It would have been too easy to end up sitting with Iria or Persis, so it was better to avoid the place. I knew that suddenly avoiding the two of them was wrong, but for their sake, I needed to step away. Due to various recent incidents, I had been forced to be near them, but originally there was no place for me. There shouldn’t be.
Still, it was fine. Sometimes I missed the previous bustle, and I felt sorry for constantly refusing, but all this was unavoidable for the sake of a happy ending.
I should handle my own affairs. From the beginning, Persis was in a precarious position. And with Iria hiding her identity as a princess, it was impossible to know what might happen to her at any moment. I couldn’t make these two people even more endangered.
I was certain of this, but…
“Please step aside.”
I said to Persis, who was blocking my way. I could feel the students walking through the corridor to attend morning classes glancing at us. It was indeed a sight that would arouse others’ curiosity—the prince and the young master of this country standing rigidly in the corridor.
Standing under the gaze of so many people was also a hardship. It seemed like all Persis had to do was move aside, but he stood still, looking down at me without giving way for me to walk.
“Ana.”
He calls me Ana. Persis had called me Ana many times before, but I don’t know why his voice now reaches my ears and won’t let go. I guessed it might be because of the mana that kept trying to surge despite being stabilized.
I swallowed down the emotions that were bubbling up, trying to spill out, and faced Persis nonchalantly.
“What are you going to do today?”
“Pardon?”
“Yesterday you said you needed to practice magic alone, the day before you said you weren’t feeling well and had to go to your room, and the day before that you said you had questions and needed to find a teacher. After that, you said you had prior engagements with someone else. Right?”
With a clear face and a smile, Persis listed each excuse I had made. Persis is certainly intelligent. It’s amazing that he remembers even passing events so well. I was first struck by how remarkable he was.
“Today…”
“Yes, today. What schedule does our Ana, who has ‘suddenly’ become so busy these days, have today?”
Persis’s eyes formed beautiful curves. It was such a lovely sight that I was momentarily entranced. Unable to say anything, I rolled my eyes around. What should I say today? Usually, I would decide what to say during morning classes, but it was still early morning before classes had even begun. Struggling with what to do, I glanced at Persis’s expression and painfully began to speak.
“Well…”
“He has a prior engagement with me.”
Suddenly appearing beside me was Yutis, who had been absent frequently lately due to my requests. Yutis stepped between Persis and me, his back blocking my view. Thanks to his appearance at such a tense moment, I almost let out a sigh of relief. Since Yutis was blocking my view of Persis, I shifted slightly to the side. Then I saw Persis, whose pretty curved smile had disappeared, replaced by a deeply furrowed expression.
“He has a prior engagement with you?”
The voice that sounded unmistakably sarcastic stuck in my ears. I should have retorted something, but my lips were stuck together and wouldn’t move. In my place, Yutis stepped forward again.
“Yes, that’s right. The Duke said he had something to tell him.”
“And that’s something I shouldn’t hear, right?”
“You know well.”
Without Yutis even providing a proper explanation, Persis instantaneously deduced and grasped the situation. It was very like Persis to know ten things from seeing one. I knew this wasn’t the time to be amazed at Persis’s extraordinary qualities, but I couldn’t help but admire his excellence anew.
I somehow reined in my wandering thoughts. This wasn’t the time for such things. Though I couldn’t speak, I could move my body, so I repeatedly nodded my head to support Yutis. This should increase the credibility enough.
“Fine then. I’ll give up today. ‘Today.'”
Persis made eye contact with me as I peeked out, and spoke. Being in the position of constantly refusing unintentionally, I felt apologetic. But all of this was for Persis’s sake. If the two of them got a little closer, or if they became lovers, then perhaps afterward…
When that happened, would there be a place for me?
“Yes, then. We’ll be going now.”
I cut off my thoughts abruptly, grabbed Yutis’s arm, and quickly walked to the end of the corridor. I wanted to get away from this place as quickly as possible. How far had we walked? Only when we reached a place with no people around could I stop walking.
A sentence that had flashed through my mind and then disappeared was now lodged in my heart. A place for me. It was so selfish, and I didn’t know why such a thought had occurred to me. I had felt this emotion before. When was it? Yes, I felt something similar when young Persis came to me and said goodbye.
I must have felt regret because a close friend was suddenly distancing himself. Thinking that, I gathered my struggling heart.
“Andelion?”
I came to my senses at the sound of Yutis calling me.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
I quickly released Yutis’s arm and moved away from him. It would be understandable if he was flustered by my suddenly grabbing his arm and pulling him along, but Yutis seemed more worried about me, frowning as he examined my face. Somehow, I felt apologetic for causing concern to those around me.
“Thank you. I survived thanks to you, Yutis. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have just blurted out something strange.”
“I’m glad I could be of help.”
Yutis said that while watching me. It seemed like he thought I had something to say.
“Actually, I do have something important to tell you, Andelion.”
“What is it?”
“Do you remember the student named Tus whom you asked about before?”
I hadn’t encountered him recently, so I didn’t know how he was doing. As time passed, Karn was bullying Tus in increasingly subtle ways. Since it wasn’t very noticeable, other teachers or Iria couldn’t help either. Come to think of it, why did Tus ask me for help? Iria would have been the first to step forward.
She was the protagonist by anyone’s standards. Not only did she have perfect character and abilities, but she was also a person who shone brighter than anyone else. It would have been better to ask Iria, not me… She wouldn’t have hesitated like I did, and she could have solved any problem.
Because unlike me, she had the power to do so.
“Yes. Did something happen?”
“I try to help whenever I see the situation, but given my position, there are many difficulties.”
Though Yutis attends this school as a student, he is an employee of the Duke’s family. Though this school claims to provide classes without distinction of status, the deeply rooted class discrimination among students didn’t easily disappear. So even if Yutis stepped forward to help, the situation didn’t improve. Moreover…
“He avoids me.”
“Who?”
“The student you asked me about.”
I opened my eyes wide in surprise. At first, I didn’t understand what Yutis was saying. Tus was the one who had gathered courage to come to me with a request. He must have needed a helping hand more than anyone, so why did he reject Yutis’s approach?
“Since it’s difficult to help in visible places, I tried to make contact in places where people’s eyes couldn’t reach, but all attempts failed.”
“Why…?”
“He probably couldn’t trust me.”
Yutis spoke as if representing Tus’s feelings.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
