That “girl” was clearly an “oddity” in the eyes of the students who had received aristocratic education.
Her fluffy, reddish-dark blonde hair, combined with her restless behavior, gave the impression of a chick. Her features were better described as lovely rather than beautiful. Her large, slightly drooping eyes looked drowsy, and perhaps because her Mana Capacity wasn’t high, she had a petite physique appropriate for her age. Even the knee-length skirt, which would have been frowned upon as slovenly for a noble lady, seemed permissible on her, creating a strange atmosphere.
“Theo-kun, look! I’m going to attend such a splendid academy! How wonderful!”
“Milady, please calm down. And please release my arm…”
The Cruz boy, who was her butler, muttered in distress as she clung to his arm. The girl hugged the boy’s arm even tighter, and in a tone that made her sound like an older sister to Theo, who was a year younger, she cautioned him.
“No, Theo-kun. I told you to call me by my name, didn’t I? We’re practically family now, so being formal is no good.”
“…I apologize.”
As the awkward atmosphere, filled with a sense of being out of place, began to attract the attention of the surrounding students, a black carriage arrived. A black-haired lady in a navy dress and crimson robe stepped out of the carriage. Even without knowing “her,” the students were overwhelmed by her bizarre aura and sickly appearance, making way for her. She elegantly opened her mouth in front of Theo and the girl.
“邪魔よ” (Out of my way.)
“っ!?”
Theo, realizing that the voice was filled with immense Mana and “murderous intent,” immediately stepped forward to shield the girl. However, the lady, unconcerned by Theo’s vigilance, gave him and the girl a thin, icy smile.
“Step aside. If you block the path in such a place, you might accidentally get burned.”
“I-I apologize!”
Theo honestly lowered his head to the lady who said such dangerous things, not because he realized she was a high-ranking noble lady, but because his survival instinct made him do so in the face of a strong presence. However, there was someone who didn’t sense it.
“This is a big plaza! There are plenty of paths to take, aren’t there?”
Instead of arguing, the girl, with a full smile, stated what seemed obvious. Theo’s tanned face turned pale, and the lady’s face, with dark circles under her eyes, twisted into a warped smile as if she had found a “toy.”
“What’s all this commotion?”
At that moment, a male student accompanied by several other students appeared from the direction of the entrance ceremony hall, interrupting as if to mediate. The boy, dressed in a knight-like uniform and crimson robe, looked surprised and widened his eyes slightly when he saw the lady confronting the girl and her butler.
“Carla? What are you doing in a place like this?”
“Greetings, El-sama. Since my fiancé didn’t come to pick me up, I arrived alone.”
“That’s… I’m sorry. I had to prepare to give a speech as the representative of the current students…”
Elvan, averting his gaze as if making excuses, made Carla’s smile deepen even more gleefully.
“It’s alright. You’ll make it up to me later, though… You two, how long do you intend to remain in El-sama’s and my sight?”
“We apologize, Milady, this way…”
“Eh, yes. Ah.”
As Theo urged the girl along, she had been staring intently at Elvan’s face. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell.
“危ないっ!” (Look out!)
Elvan, noticing it quickly, caught the girl on the spur of the moment.
“Are you injured?”
“Y-Yes!”
Seeing the girl not only replying but also leaning further into Elvan’s arms, Carla, as if losing interest in a bored manner, passed by them. Elvan, seeing this, couldn’t help but call out to her.
“Carla, you are my fiancée, so you shouldn’t use words that threaten ordinary students so much.”
Carla stopped at those words, turning only her gaze towards him over her shoulder.
“Oh, why is that, El-sama?”
“As one of the future Crown Princesses, you should act with common sense…”
At Elvan’s words, Carla giggled, hiding her mouth with a fan.
“I think I’m much more sensible than someone who is holding another woman in his arms in front of his fiancée, don’t you?”
“…………”
“Well then, farewell, El-sama. I’ll see you later. Fufu.”
Elvan, seeing Carla heading towards the venue in a strangely cheerful mood with a slightly pained expression, lent a hand to the girl and helped her up.
“Please don’t think badly of her. She might just be in a bad mood…”
“Yes, it’s alright! I’m used to it!”
Elvan, entrusting the girl, who said something strange, to her butler as if to peel her off, finally looked at her face from the front.
“I apologize for various things. Are you a new student?”
“Yes! I’m entering the academy this year!”
The girl took a slight distance from him, and while showing off her short knee-length skirt even more by pinching it with her fingers as if doing a curtsy, she wore a flower-like smile.
“I’m Alicia Melsys! Please teach me various things, and I look forward to working with you, Senpai!”
It seems like there was some trouble, but the Crown Prince came and settled the situation. That girl is Theo’s protection target, huh… She certainly seems like a very unusual lady.
Carla, who had left them earlier, noticed us when our eyes met along the way, nodded to Elena, and waved to me in a casual manner.
“Carla doesn’t waver, does she?”
“…That’s right. That’s both her flaw and her virtue. She’s a problematic person, but I want to sympathize with her this time only.”
Elvan, finally noticing Elena’s cold gaze, which seemed to be fed up with her brother being spoken to by the girl, forcibly ended his conversation with the girl and approached us with his two attendants. Both of the Crown Prince’s companions seemed to be high-ranking nobles, but I recognized one of them. It seemed like they recognized me too, as they widened their eyes slightly when they saw me standing behind Elena.
“Elena.”
“Greetings, Brother. Are you alright with your preparations, despite being so busy?”
“No, …I’m sorry I couldn’t come to pick you up.”
Perhaps Carla’s sarcastic remarks from earlier were still effective, as he lowered his head to Elena in an awkward manner. Her expression turned stern for a moment.
“Brother. As the Crown Prince, you shouldn’t lower your head so easily, even to your sister. I don’t mind it.”
“…Is that so?”
In the political “setting,” Elena admired her brother and was so attached to him that she was jealous of other women, but now that the reason to do so had faded, she didn’t visit the Crown Prince’s place very often. However, Elvan, who believed in that setting, had a slightly puzzled expression on his face at his sister, who had changed her demeanor.
“Until a few years ago, we were always together, so I feel a little lonely. Did something happen?”
“No, Brother. I’ve just grown up a little.”
“I see… By the way, has “she” become Elena’s attendant?”
At his gaze, which slightly glanced at me from the corner of his eye, I bowed silently.
“Something like that. Please don’t take her away from me. You have Clara and Carla, don’t you, Brother?”
“That’s… right.”
Elvan nodded slightly with a complicated expression at Elena’s words.
The last “Divine Protection Holder,” who was uncertain, was Clara, the Margrave of Dandole’s daughter, who became the Crown Prince’s primary fiancée. Elena had heard that her achievements had greatly influenced her becoming the “primary fiancée.” Carla, who had also obtained the 【Divine Protection (Gift)】 and was unofficially designated as the Second Crown Princess, couldn’t be helped due to her personality, but could the reason why Elvan made the same kind of face towards Clara be due to the 【Divine Protection】 she had obtained?
“Well then, I also have a speech as the new student representative at the entrance ceremony, so I’ll excuse myself. I hope things go well for you too, Brother. Let’s go.”
“Understood, Elena-sama.”
“Ah, yes. Good luck, Elena.”
I also bowed slightly to the Crown Prince and his party, who were slightly bewildered, and followed after Elena, and many gazes were directed at them and me from the surroundings.
There’s no need for “acting” anymore. If it’s the current Elena, she can make good use of the support from the Aristocratic Faction that is trying to push her to the “throne” and create her own foundation.
Still, if it’s too hasty, it could result in increasing enemies. That’s where my job comes in, huh?
As I was thinking about that, Elena, as if reading my thoughts, muttered in a small voice.
“I’ll leave it to you, Aria. I’ll turn a blind eye to a certain extent.”
“Understood.”
The scheduled time arrived, and the entrance ceremony started without any problems.
In this academy, students are divided into classes of about 20. Although the budget allocated to education differs depending on the noble family, in principle, there is no superiority or inferiority in status among the students, and this does not affect class assignments.
However, the academy’s true intention is to prevent conflicts between families from being brought in, so problematic students are kept apart.
Even so, the entrance ceremony is different. The daughters of upper-class noble families with large donations are placed in the front rows with good visibility, while the lower-class nobles, who are numerous, are gathered in the back rows.
Originally, I would have attended the entrance ceremony in the lower-class noble’s seat, but as Princess’s attendant and assigned to the duty of guarding by “royal decree,” I was allowed to be by her side even at the entrance ceremony.
Looking around the venue from the backstage, Carla stands out the most, as expected. Including the royal family, there are only about thirty upper-class noble families, and since there are so few of them, it’s easy to spot Carla because no one approaches her, creating a blank space around her.
If there is another person who stands out, it would be that girl Theo is guarding.
If I remember correctly, her name was “Aria”… That girl, who shares my real name, was flashing a radiant smile at the male students around her with her overly innocent brightness.
…I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before. The fact that I feel a slight sense of déjà vu, especially in the way she seeks protection only from men, might be because I sense a “discomfort” with her.
The ceremony proceeds, and after Crown Prince Elvan’s welcoming address to the new students, Elena finishes her address as the representative of the new students.
There are no suspicious shadows around Elena. The guards probably don’t think anyone would do anything in such a conspicuous place, but Elena and I are wary not only of the Aristocratic Faction, but also of Grave, who declared he would attack her, and is lurking somewhere in this country.
Even Grave isn’t foolish enough to attack Elena while she’s in the heavily guarded castle. Therefore, I believe there is a high probability that he will make his move while she is staying at this academy.
Just as Elena was about to step down from the stage and I was about to return to her side, someone suddenly tried to grab my arm as if to stop me.
“Wait, you are–“
In that instant, I enhanced my body with a single breath, twisted my wrist to deflect the hand, kicked up the arm of the attacker, struck his unguarded jaw with a palm strike, knocked him down, and then pressed a Hidden Weapon taken from my Shadow Storage against the fallen man’s forehead.
As I narrowed my eyes, recognizing the man’s face, the man, whom I had seen behind the Crown Prince this morning, let out a strained voice while enduring the pain.
“Who… are you?”
Aria and the fake Aria are from the same Orphanage, but more than four years have passed, and their impressions of each other have changed too much, so they only feel a sense of discomfort.
Who is the Crown Prince’s aide who called out to Aria?
Next time, the first event.