The Princess from England (1)

After I'd finished soothing Yeongeun, the mood had sunk, and the hour was late enough that a hot night no longer seemed possible. I looked at her, only just calmed, and asked in passing whether something sad had happened long ago.

"Mm. I was just being foolish, at my age."

She mumbled past it. Something in the air made it hard to press, so I hesitated, then spoke.

"If you ever feel like talking about it, tell me. I want to hear it."

"I will."

The mood had gone quiet. I wanted to ask about Yoo Chae-rin, and about the English princess who was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but the words wouldn't come. That night I held my lovers close in the wide bed and let the hours pass in silence.

Yeongeun was up early. She put on the necklace I'd given her, smiled brightly, and left for work. She didn't skip the kiss.

"Good thing none of last night seems to have stuck."

"It hasn't. They say everyone carries some pain in their heart. Even someone like Yeongeun, it seems, has a wound she keeps."

"Well... at her age, it's not as if she's never dated."

Of course I believed her when she said I was her first. Plenty of women dated while holding to chastity before marriage. Franc gave a small nod and turned to Yoo Hwayeon.

"Do you not know, Hwayeon?"

"Madam does not care to recall the past at all. She brought up old matters only when blame had to be weighed, or when some unresolved incident or accident needed airing. She has always been someone who looks to the future and walks forward."

"Hmm. I wanted to ask about Yoo Chae-rin. Maybe I should call later."

"Yoo Chae-rin — the recovery ability user? I heard she was summoned to the Blue House at Madam's call. Sophia said it was no different from a kidnapping."

"...A kidnapping?"

"A kidnapping."

They hauled her off without even asking what she wanted?!

It was a little absurd, but if Yeongeun had done it, I trusted she had a proper reason. Even so, I never wanted to see someone die or get hurt again trying to help me. I ought to text Yeongeun and tell her to treat the woman well.

I was halfway through breakfast — toast, a soft-boiled egg, bacon, and a vegetable salad — when my sister came into the mansion.

Ah. I like mine hard-boiled.

"So Hyeryeong, whose ability was recognized at Hwarang and who served as General Affairs Director at Time River, has been chosen as General Affairs Director of the new raid team."

"Whoa. That's impressive."

The admiration slipped out of me. Just how capable was Director Lee Hyeryeong, to be recommended for the General Affairs post from both sides without stirring up so much as a ripple of friction? On the way to school my sister filled me in on this and that from the company, and listening to her, I realized how little attention I'd been paying to the way the world turned. Most of my interest and curiosity stayed fixed on my lovers and the Phase World. Maybe I ought to pay a bit more attention to what was happening around me.

Hmm. I've got plenty of geniuses and overachievers around me. They'll handle it.

"Auntie and Hwayeon did recommend her, but underneath that is Hyeryeong's own ability, so it's only natural. More importantly — are you all right?"

"Me? About what?"

"Several countries are moving to make contact with you. Has anyone actually approached you? There are four I'm certain have already sent people."

The English princess flashed through my mind. If I told my sister — brother-complex that she is — she'd raise hell insisting the girl had obviously been sent to seduce me, so I kept my mouth shut. Franc seemed to be thinking the same thing. She only smiled a little.

"Even if they show up, it's a waste of time. I'm not emigrating."

"This kid. Not everyone who approaches you is going to demand something as extreme as emigration. They might, of course. But even if they don't, some of them will use building a cooperative relationship as a pretext, sweet-talk you, catch a weakness, and try to lock you into something unfair. You need to be careful."

Huh? Oh. Right. That could happen.

"You're Grand Bleu's boss-in-waiting now, which means your words are going to carry real weight. If you go around casually promising things or offering to help, someone will seize on it and you'll end up in a bind. Don't make promises lightly. Understood?"

"Yeah. But Grand Bleu? That's the raid team's new name?"

"A working title."

After that she went on about how much attention I was drawing, from our country and from others. None of it interested me, so I let it in one ear and out the other.

"Anyway, we're right in front of the school. Why is it this jammed?"

She was right. The four-lane road toward school was strangely congested. Rush hour always slowed it a little, but today the backup was absurd. I swept the road ahead with Spatial Perception and saw that the traffic hadn't merely slowed. It had stopped dead.

"The road in front of the school is even worse than this. I'll get out here. You U-turn and head back."

"All right~. Study hard. And Franc, please keep a close eye on whether he actually studies or not."

"Hehe. I shall."

"Ugh."

I got out and headed for school. The four-lane road in front of the gate really was packed solid; the cars couldn't budge an inch. Had there been an accident?

"I have never seen the road blocked like this."

"Second time I've seen it this bad since I started school."

"There was a first?"

"Yeah. A seven-car pileup nearby shut down the whole six-lane road."

Franc, dressed in our school's summer uniform, let out a small sigh at the mention of the pileup. She lifted the brim of the newsboy cap that hid her face completely and glanced around.

Then, at the very edge of my Spatial Perception, I sensed Phase Power on the roof of an ordinary four-story building. Phase Power with a pattern to it.

"Ability user."

"An ability user?"

Franc pulled the cap back down and turned to me.

"Yeah. Standing on a rooftop near our school. Huh? There's one at the main gate, too... Three D-ClassPhysical Reinforcement types, and one more. What is this? The amorphous Phase Power looks like an elemental type, but it's pure white, so I can barely make out the shape. Peculiar."

Scanning the area around the gate, I found the cause of the jam. Several pitch-black foreign cars had stopped across the road, and broadcast vans were crowded all around them, so nothing could get through. On the sidewalk, reporters from every station and foreigners in black suits were blocking students who tried to pass and frisking them.

Not a scrap of manners. Blocking the road at an hour that was already a mess — what the hell did they think they were doing?

Curious, I focused on the area. About twenty-five hulking foreigners in black suits had built a wall of bodies across most of the path to school, and behind them three ability users and seven bodyguards stood in a ring, as if shielding the peculiar foreign ability user I'd sensed. The one with the white Phase Power was a girl. The other three were girls of about the same age.

And every last bastard with Phase Power was a foreigner.

The foreign girl didn't seem to care that she was blocking the road. She answered the reporters standing at a set distance, offering a small smile now and then.

"What are they doing in front of the school gate, with no manners at all?"

As we drew closer, Franc frowned at the scene before the gate.

"To stand blocking the way, in a place narrow enough already... And to bar the students from entering, even to search their persons. It is truly unbecoming."

Kids who recognized me stepped aside to the left and right. Following the path they opened, I soon came face to face with the black-suited men blocking the way. I stopped in front of them. The foreigners, each well over six and a half feet, glanced down at me and lifted their eyes again.

"Please move. The students can't get in."

Whether they couldn't speak Korean or simply wouldn't, they didn't so much as turn their heads. They stayed planted across the path, and the kids around us started to murmur.

"You not hearing me? I said move. Move over there."

I jabbed a finger to the side. Still nothing. Irritation surged. Before I became an ability user I'd been decent at keeping my temper. Since then, it felt like I'd evolved into a rage disorder.

I snorted a laugh, reached out with both hands, and seized the collars of the two black-suited foreigners in the middle.

"What?!"

Hauled forward by a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strength they hadn't expected, one bodyguard panicked and reached for my wrist. Just before he could grab it, I shoved him hard into the man beside him.

"What the—!"

Didn't even get to the fuck. The three of them tangled and went rolling across the pavement. The road was blocked anyway, so no cars were coming. Fine by me.

Watching the school kids startle and scramble backward, I grabbed the remaining bodyguards — confusion plain on their faces — by the collar, shoved them, and flung them into the shrubs along the tree-lined walk, clearing a path so the students could get to class. I kicked the hollering Yankee bodyguards and sent them tumbling, then put real strength into the ones half-rising and drove them into the bushes at the foot of the wall.

"Aack!"

They went down in a heap. I dusted off my hands and walked on. The kids who'd been watching from behind only blinked, unsure whether they should pick their way through.

Any later and I'd be late.

Then the bodyguards around the foreign girl — apparently deciding I was an attacker — drew telescoping batons as one and launched themselves at me.

"What? You're pulling weapons and charging a student?"

Foreigners drawing weapons on a Korean student in front of a Korean school. These bastards would start brawls in their own country too. And watching a high schooler sweep aside men a full head taller, had it not occurred to them that he might be an ability user?

A little offended, and irritated besides, I switched on Mana Mode - Acceleration.

The black suits were closing in. I went to meet them.

I snatched the baton from the lead bodyguard as he brought it down at my head, snapped it, seized his collar, and flung him against the school wall like laundry on a line. Batons swinging for my shoulder and ribs I struck aside with knife-hands and broke, then grabbed a slicked-back Yankee by his blond hair, caught collar and shoulder, and drove him into the gutter.

Trying not to actually injure them — just shove them, or roll them — was a massive pain. Still, between all the sparring with Franc and Hwayeon and having thought-acceleration on, they weren't hard to handle. A relief.

In the meantime the bodyguards I'd shoved first pulled batons from their jackets, so I kicked every one of them out of their hands, stomped down, and shattered them. The black-suited hulks, faces twisted as if their palms had split, watched me throw three kicks in less than a second and bat the batons away. Their mouths fell open.

Figured out I'm an ability user now, have you?

Pop, pop, pop! Click, click, click!

Tsk. Reporters or gutter hacks, they were snapping away like mad, and it grated. Ignoring the bursting flashes, I grabbed the bodyguard bastards who'd become obstacles on the school path by the collar, one after another, and hurled them at the gate. Screams of gack and aagh seemed to be the same in every country.

Arms flailing, they flew several meters and landed with a thud, and the remaining sixteen followed in a line, stacking on the first man like a sandwich. The one who'd landed first tried to spring up, tangled limbs with the man beside him, and went down again — then got buried, sandwich-style, under the bodyguards still falling.

Once I'd finished clearing them, I looked at the four girls who'd been watching the whole time. Two of the three who looked like twins — all but the pale one — dropped into charging stances, already running Phase Power techniques. Those three were Physical Reinforcement ability users, D-Class. If it came to it, I meant to push Mana Mode up to B-Class level, and I accelerated my Phase Power through the Mana Sieve.

I might be clumsy, but I hadn't spent a month just getting beaten by Hwayeon for nothing. With Acceleration on, and Franc ready to strike from behind, two D-Class were nothing.

The instant I decided that if they attacked first I'd counter and smash them, the girl with the white Phase Power shouted.

"Enough!"

The two girls about to kick off the ground faltered at the pale-blonde foreigner's cry and took two steps back. The reporters, as if they'd just landed a scoop, set their flashes off in a storm.

Ah, for— Seriously. That's blinding! Stop taking pictures!!

I glared at them, irritation plain, and one by one they sheepishly lowered their cameras. While I was threatening them with a look, the girl with the white Phase Power started toward me, and the three who looked like twins followed, wary.

I don't like this.

I glared at the girls. The three flinched and set their stances, but when the girl with the white Phase Power shook her head, they dropped out of their fighting postures. Having held them back, the girl my age kept the smile on her face and looked at me.

What. You want me to speak first? I don't have a damn thing to say to an ill-mannered girl like you.

I turned my eyes to the black-suited men still blocking the path and to the hulks I'd shoved and thrown, pointed, shot one glare at the girl who'd come up close, and walked on into the school.

"Ah, Blue Genius!"

At that, she called my title from behind. Hearing the nickname in a native accent, the tongue curling around it, it didn't sound as bad as I'd expected. I was about to ignore her. Then a thought struck, and I turned back.

"Speak Korean. Why are you speaking English in Korea? And what's with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blocking the whole road, no manners at all? If you want to pull some press-conference stunt, rent a venue. Don't get in the way of the other kids getting to school."

She hadn't expected casual speech and a scolding to come out of my mouth. Her face went blank, and the triplets standing behind her bristled and started to surge forward.

Getting worked up — and then what? You coming at me?

I focused the Mana Sieve into my skin, flared a blue aura, and growled with Phase Power laced into my voice. The triplets flinched and froze. I left the four of them standing there blank-faced and turned my back.

No need to guess. That girl was the princess from England. I hadn't had any particular grudge against the place — honestly, I'd been warming to it because of Franc — but after what she'd pulled, I could feel myself starting to dislike it again.

The clock said 8:15. Morning assembly would start any minute. I picked up my pace, and Franc followed with a smile, as if she'd liked the sight of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me snapping at the girl and turning away.

On the way in I'd seen kids plastered against the school windows, and when I reached the classroom a few of them were still stuck to the glass, staring toward the gate.

"Welcome back. That was pretty cool just now."

Kang Ju-chan had been at the window too. He grinned and spoke as I came in.

"Cool, my ass. What were they thinking, blocking the gate and pulling that crap? And what are the teachers and staff doing, not stopping it?"

"I heard they asked the school for permission in advance. Guess even the teachers didn't expect them to block the gate on that scale."

"They saw it happening. They should've gone out and dealt with it. What are they doing? Screw it, maybe I'll just tattletale to Madam."

"Ahaha."

Come to think of it, when I'd been throwing the foreign hulks, I thought I'd seen the head of student guidance and a few discipline teachers. Had they gone out to try to stop it?

"Ha. A hopeless bunch of public nuisances."

Maybe because I'd made a scene, students came pouring into the school. While the reporters packed their gear and started to leave, the blonde said something to the men in black suits, sent them all away, and walked toward the school with only the three Physical Reinforcement girls. Then her eyes met mine. Seeing me, she smiled faintly and waved. Kang Ju-chan let out an ooh and turned to me with an envious look.

"The princess is waving at you."

"I saw."

I glared at her with cold eyes, went back to my seat, and sat. Kang Ju-chan followed, grinning, dropped into Kim Chang-hyun's desk, and spoke.

"Guess you really are the one she's after."

"..."

Looking at Franc's back as she gazed out the window, I checked the princess's Phase Power once more. An amorphous pattern, six lines like a wooden hoop, but the color was white and the hoop-like lines were faint, so I couldn't tell what the ability was. White — a light elemental, maybe?

"Me, the target? Sending even their precious princess, and I still can't tell what they're scheming. A honey trap?"

"Maybe."

I was chatting with Kang Ju-chan about this and that when Han Go-eun and her crowd came bustling in.

"Ugh~! I am so pissed!! Just because she's a princess, anything goes?! Why block the front of the school!"

"How long has it been like that?"

"I waited almost an hour!"

"I waited thirty minutes too... If it weren't for Seoha, I would've been late."

Han Go-eun fumed with her temper up, and even Su Yu-ri, who always went around beaming, was pouting, lips pushed out. They were thoroughly annoyed.

Kim Chang-hyun came into the classroom, found me, and asked with a look of pure disbelief — what kind of guy even does this?

"Hey hey hey hey! Jung Seoha! How can you be that cold to a princess! Huh?!"

What is this bastard on about, first thing in the morning.

He grabbed my shoulder and shook me. I hit him in the gut and spoke.

"That girl's a princess of England, not Korea. What's she got to do with me?"

"Guh!"

He yelped, clutched his stomach, and rubbed it frantically, then slammed a hand down on my desk and shouted, jealousy and envy mixed in his eyes.

"A princess?! A princess of England?! Khh~! From that platinum hair that looks so soft, to the quiet dignity, all the way to those elegant movements — a work of art made by God himself... Mmph!"

I sighed and shoved his face away with my palm. Han Go-eun came running, kicked him in the rear with a solid thump, and turned to me.

"Seoha. Good job! A stuck-up princess like that needs one sharp word, so she learns how the world actually works!"

"She's a princess. Does she need to know how the world works?"

Kim Chang-hyun grumbled after the kick, and Han Go-eun started swinging at him again.

"Anything's forgiven if they're pretty, is that it?! You looks-obsessed freak!"

Cho Min-ho came up beside me and looked at me with a slightly worried face.

"B-but. She's a princess. If they turn this into a diplomatic incident..."

Kang So-ra, as if his mumbling was unbearable, smacked him on the back with her palm.

"That princess~. Think about who she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came to see~."

"Urk. Y-you think so?"

"Why has everyone already decided she came to see me? She might actually have come to study."

Hearing that, Kang So-ra snorted — a face that said yeah, right — and sat down at her desk.

I'd said it myself, but I didn't believe it either. If that were true, she would've studied quietly and left. She wouldn't have called the press. And had it never even occurred to her that blocking the road like that would leave me with a bad impression?

Cho Min-ho's talk of a diplomatic problem snagged at me for a moment, but I decided to let it go. They'd started it. As my sister said, I just needed to watch my words and watch what I did.

Even after morning assembly, Kim Chang-hyun kept panting about how pretty the princess was. To my eyes she didn't have half of Franc's face. What was so pretty about her?

"Where exactly is the princess pretty? Our Franc is a million times prettier."

Kim Chang-hyun and Han Go-eun, and the kids listening nearby, all looked at Franc floating quietly beside me and nodded. Kim Chang-hyun didn't seem to agree. He shrugged and grinned.

"Hey, hey. Miss Flandre's a spirit, isn't she? The princess is royalty! Rich, pretty, talented — kah~! Guh!"

"Hmph! If you like the princess that much, go lick her shoes!"

Han Go-eun, looking genuinely angry for some reason, kicked him in the shin and stalked off to her seat.

"Honestly... Chang-hyun, you idiot."

Su Yu-ri, rarely one to criticize him, scolded Kim Chang-hyun and followed Han Go-eun. Kang Ju-chan and Kang So-ra shook their heads and went back to their seats.

"...Did I say something worth getting mad about?"

He asked with a face that said he truly didn't get it, so I answered honestly.

"All you did was spew trash. Money, family, and a pretty face."

"Tsk. Guess I had it coming."

"If you get it, apologize to the girls. Get on their bad side and you'll suffer."

"Yeah, yeah."