Chapter 48 · The Academy (3)

“I won’t let this stand.”

Ark was trembling, his face pale.

“How dare they make an academy student do such menial work… And not just one or two people, but dozens!”

He seemed to have grasped the situation right away. I cooled my head for a moment, then asked Melvian, who had simply been watching us quietly.

“Lord Laselles, do you know Freesia Ishtar?”

He answered with serious eyes.

“Yes, at least that she is the one the princess brought here.”

“Then have you ever witnessed her being bullied by a group?”

“…”

He hesitated.

“Please answer. Without any falsehood or understatement.”

He lowered his long lashes and let out a sigh.

“…I suppose there’s no helping it. If I tell the truth, the princess will hardly think well of me from our very first meeting.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“She is the academy’s open… sandbag. A target anyone passing by can vent their anger on.”

“What did you say?!”

“Those insane…!”

Ark clenched his fists.

“I have only been enrolled for a few months, so I don’t know much, but every time I saw her, she was being harassed. By so many students that I couldn’t even identify who specifically.”

It was because of me. I had pushed her into suffering.

“…Did no one help her?”

“When doing so would mean opposing Princess Stella and the great noble houses, who would dare?”

I had known she would struggle. I had known what kind of people the nobles were. And yet I, a half-baked princess who couldn’t even properly support her, had been so careless.

As I was berating myself, Melvian bowed his head deeply with a dark expression.

“But that cannot be an excuse. I, too, did nothing.”

“What could someone as young as you have done alone, my lord?”

“…Pardon?”

He opened his eyes wide in surprise. Hmm, I suppose it does sound strange coming from someone who outwardly looks older than me.

“B-but Laselles is a family that values honor. My actions were not honorable.”

“Even so, recklessly stepping forward when you’re certain to lose isn’t honorable—it’s foolish.”

“…”

He stared at me blankly, and Ark, who had been clenching his teeth in silence, suddenly cried out.

“Princess, what should I do? You’re not going to just let this be, are you?”

“…Ark.”

Even though I was angry, a small smile crept onto my face.

“Wh-why are you smiling?!”

“I was reminded of the old days. Ark, you used to bully Rizen.”

“Th-that was…!”

He flushed red and muttered.

“I really was immature back then. I regret it to death.”

“You’re not like that anymore, so I’m smiling because I’m proud.”

“…If it weren’t for the princess, I would still be that kind of person.”

Oh? For Ark to say something like that. He really had grown a lot in three years.

“So teach me. Tell me what I can do.”

“Ark, you can’t step forward.”

“Why not?!”

I spoke coldly.

“Can you oppose your family? Can you be prepared to break with them? You’re the eldest son.”

His expression hardened. Right, no matter what, he couldn’t go that far. What kind of family was Ellenoa? Aristocratic to the bone, and the solidarity with surrounding nobles built over dozens of generations was ironclad.

“From the day I swore loyalty to the princess, I abandoned any intention of following my family.”

“What…?”

I had thought it was just childish bravado, but he had been that serious from the start?

“Please don’t dismiss my resolve just because my words seem light. I know well enough what path it is to follow the princess.”

I was left speechless. For some reason, the bridge of my nose stung. Because I had never imagined I could receive such trust from a noble like Ark.

“All right. Then let’s show them what hot feels like.”

Ark’s expression brightened as if he were wagging a tail at my words, and then he suddenly snapped at Melvian, who had been quietly standing there.

“But you, you little brat, why are you here listening to all this? The princess and I have a strict lord-vassal relationship, but what are you!”

The touching moment really doesn’t last even a second…

But Melvian ignored Ark as if he weren’t even there, lifted my hand, and lightly kissed the back of it.

“?!”

While Ark and I were flustered by the sudden act, he smiled a smile that could melt anyone and spoke.

“As expected, the princess is just as I heard—wise, valiant, righteous, and… beautiful.”

What kind of child says such embarrassing things…! Marquis Laselles, what on earth have you been telling your grandson?

“I too will do anything that is of help to the princess.”

“Hey, let go of her this instant! You pervert!”

Ark finally came to his senses and shrieked, shoving him. But Ark, you also kissed my hand during your loyalty oath!

“Keep your distance from the princess at two cubits. Don’t come any closer than that, you bastard!”

I pressed my forehead and left the room. First I needed to find Freesia and heal her hands. But could I heal a heart that had already been wounded…

◇ ◆ ◇

‘What do I do?’

Freesia was sitting alone in the space behind the stairs of the west tower.

‘For the princess to come to the academy. I can no longer hide how I’ve been living!’

To her, Anastasia was a small god. The small god who had shown her a new world, who had saved her from hell.

Freesia had resolved to endure any hardship. As expected, the nobles’ territorial bullying was severe. They wouldn’t sit where she had sat, they covered their noses and snickered when she passed, and if she made even a small mistake, they laughed openly and mocked her.

But that was nothing compared to what she had endured in the organization she had belonged to. She had been given warm meals, a cozy bedroom, quality lessons, and a large library where she could study to her heart’s content. The academy even provided a generous living allowance to her mother, who lived alone.

But when she advanced from the beginner class at a terrifying speed and began to stand out even in the intermediate class, the intensity of the bullying grew worse and worse.

“…I can no longer accept requests like this.”

When several intermediate class students threw their laundry at her, Freesia mustered her courage and spoke in a trembling voice. Giselle, right in front of her, laughed in a high voice.

“Did you hear that? What our Plegia has to say.”

Plegia was the derogatory name they had given Freesia—a combination of ‘plebs,’ meaning lowborn, and Freesia.

“A request? We’ve never once made a request of you.”

“What on earth do you think you are? Requests are made between people of equal station. You just have to do your duty.”

“…Doing your menial chores is not my duty! The academy has dedicated servants, doesn’t it?”

“Hmm… This one’s gotten bold today. What’s going on?”

“It’s because we’ve been too kind to her.”

“My father always said. If you’re too good to the serfs, they get spoiled. They only come to their senses when they’re beaten.”

They approached her. Freesia flinched and backed away. If it came down to sheer skill, Freesia would never lose, but if she resisted and ended up wounding a noble, she would be expelled from the academy.

“I-if you lay a hand on me, I’ll tell the dean.”

“Haha! Listen to this one, she thinks she’s somebody.”

“Do you think that bastard princess will back you up?”

“What a fitting pair. A princess from Kalisa, and a commoner who can use Kalisan black magic!”

“H-how can you insult her like that? Princess Anastasia is royalty!”

“Sure, then go running and tell on us. Then that stupid princess will try to protect you. But do you know what?”

Giselle curled her lips and spoke vilely.

“The moment Princess Anastasia gets tangled up with you, her already nonexistent reputation will be driven through the floor.”

“She’ll be accused of slandering nobles to protect a criminal commoner who uses Kalisan black magic.”

“That’s…”

These people were fully capable of it. Would the dean take my side? The dean was, in the end, just a high-ranking noble entangled with countless other nobles.

Princess Anastasia’s position was precarious even in Freesia’s eyes. She was someone who possessed tremendous abilities and had even set foot in the realm of God through regression, but her footing was so precarious that a single misstep could bring it all crashing down.

And if I were to become an obstacle to the princess…

It was horrifying. It was repaying grace with enmity.

‘Just endure until graduation. Once I become a formal royal mage, things will be better than they are now.’

She had endured three years that way. But lately, she was so exhausted she couldn’t even keep up with her classes. And now the princess had come here as well.

‘What do I do…’

She hugged her knees and swallowed her tears.

◇ ◆ ◇

That night.

“Papa, have you ever been bullied?”

Paeon was quietly sitting at the table drinking the Risus tea Sierra had given him. He seemed intent on staying up late again tonight to watch over me.

“…Bullying?”

“Papa, don’t tell me you don’t know what bullying is?”

He looked genuinely puzzled. Paeon was the kind of person who, even if bullied, would assume the world was bowing to him.

“When Papa first came to Veritas, didn’t the senior knights or the Dinitas knights harass you? Ignoring you, hitting you, making you do menial chores.”

He blinked for a moment as if recalling the past.

“Yes, for the first few years, that was the case.”

As expected. And he wasn’t even a commoner—he was of slave origin, so it was only natural.

“But were you all right? Did you just endure it?”

“…I had no choice but to endure. But why do you ask? Has someone been harassing the princess?”

He straightened his posture and spoke in a sharp voice.

Good grief, how much harassment have I suffered in my past lives! I could recite it all for you.

“No, not me… But Papa, when did things get better for you?”

“Well, it lessened somewhat after I went through a few Ars Confelos…”

Hoo, as expected, they must have developed a fear of him after being beaten. Paeon was overwhelmingly strong.

But the academy doesn’t have anything like the Ars Confelo. And I can’t exactly go around beating up each and every one of them. Is there no good method?

“Did something happen?”

“No, no. Just keep drinking your tea. Ah, the fragrance is really nice.”

I hurriedly waved my hands. He looked at me suspiciously and took a sip of tea. I also quickly picked up my teacup and sipped.

“Princess, you shouldn’t drink too much. It might keep you awake.”

Then I should drink more. I planned not to fall asleep tonight. Though I’ve been failing for a week now.

The fragrant tea scent spread in my mouth. Risus tea had a sweeter aftertaste than regular tea—not a cheap sweetness, but a very luxurious one.

Come to think of it, why does Paeon like this tea? He doesn’t like sweet things, so there’s no reason he’d prefer this tea. Don’t tell me it’s some obvious story about how my mother liked it?

“Did Asha’s mom also wike this tea?”

I asked very lightly, as if just passing by. But…

Crash!

“Gyaa!”

He missed the teacup, and the table was in a mess. The teacup rolled and fell to the floor. He hurriedly bent down to pick it up.

“My notebook! It’s all wet because of Papa!”

As I grumbled and looked at Paeon, his neck was flushed red.

…What? Is this really such a cliché?