Vacation (2)
The Amethyst family — a prestigious noble house of the Zerta Kingdom.
A powerhouse known across the entire world, the true power behind the throne.
They even said the king himself walked on eggshells whenever the Amethyst family was involved in anything.
Both the novel and its supplementary lore described their standing in such exhaustive detail that you couldn't help but feel it viscerally.
*Pwoo~!*
The ship's horn blared.
In the distance, cargo ships as long as high-rise buildings were moored at the docks. A familiar sight — this was where my true adventure had begun.
"We're almost there."
"Yeah, arriving soon."
Marin parroted my words back at me like a bird. Clinging to my waist as if she'd never let go for even a second, she enjoyed the sea breeze on deck.
"It reminds me of the day I enrolled at the Academy."
"Yeah, me too. We took a ship here."
"Nostalgic, huh? Real nostalgia."
Back then, I couldn't even imagine dating the main heroines of the Academy. I figured that since it was a yuri story, a man like me wouldn't get so much as a glance.
Unexpectedly, though, most of them weren't really into women — they were just craving affection as people, plain and simple.
Except Eva and Chloe.
Which is exactly how those two ended up together at the ending.
"The wind's cold."
"Cold? Want to go inside?"
"Not that. Hold me."
Oh, *that's* what she meant.
As she asked, I stood behind Marin and wrapped my arms around her. Warmth passed from skin to cloth, from cloth back to skin again. The cool wind sweeping over the sea might as well not have existed.
"So warm."
"It sure is. Honestly, I'd love to throw you down on a bed right about now."
"Want to?"
"Unfortunately, next time. We're about to dock and there's no time — rain check."
In the spirit of a pheasant standing in for a chicken, I buried my face in the crown of her head. *Sniff*, ahh. The fragrant scent of herbs mixed with a woman's natural allure — the kind that ensnares men — shot down my spine and pulled it ramrod straight.
Like people hugging animals to heal, my energy came surging back.
"Get a room, you two."
Chloe finally couldn't stand watching our sticky lovey-dovey display anymore and chewed us out.
My, my. What a vicious glare. She's looking at me like I killed her dog — did I do something wrong?
"What's the matter, Chloe? What's with that sour look?"
"Sour? That's *my* line!"
Flying into a fury, she jabbed her finger back and forth between Marin and me as she went on.
"Solis, you're *dating* Instructor Yupi."
"So?"
"Not 'so'! Why are you carrying on with another woman when you already have a lover!"
Ah, *that's* what this is about. Now that I think about it, Chloe was close with Yupi. She must think I'm cheating.
"Marin and I have been together a lot lately, sure, but now that we're off the island, she's rubbing all over me in broad daylight."
"So what? We even had sex."
"Wh-wh-wh-WHAT!"
At my honest confession, Chloe just stood there gaping. Blushing furiously, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Her speech had gone slurred too — she must be really shocked.
This much, of course, I'd expected.
Classic Chloe.
What surprised me, actually, was the other side.
"Khek, Chloe, don't come down so hard on him. If their feelings are mutual, there's nothing wrong with dating a few people, is there?"
"Eva, even *you*?!"
*Grrrowl!*
Chloe foamed at the mouth like a beer bottle thrashing in water.
I didn't show it, but even I was pretty surprised that Eva was defending me. Is this just the polygamy-adjacent culture of nobility? Or some other change in her wiring?
It never happened in the web novel either, so I honestly couldn't say.
"Solis, Chloe is strange. Broken."
"That's because she's a virgin who's never had sex. What would a greenhorn know, the kind who thinks a relationship is holding hands and going for walks?"
"Chloe, so you've never had sex."
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"
Yeesh, scary. Push her any further and she might actually explode.
"Go easy on her. What era do you think this is? A man can be allowed a few bedmates, you know."
"Do you honestly think that's a proper excuse? And what does Instructor Yupi have to say about it?"
"I'll explain it to her later, so don't worry your pretty head about it."
"You— you can't just talk your way out of this…!"
*Pwang!*
"We've docked! Everyone, hurry off the ship."
Arguing further would only fan the flames, so I left her shouting behind and led Marin off the boat.
The pier was quiet. Considering this place was built solely for Purity Academy under Pallad's support, that was hardly strange. Those ships lined up in a row, too, were loaded to the brim with supplies and provisions bound for Dilmun, and at most, the only people around were acquaintances or family members of Academy students checking faces as their passengers disembarked.
What is this uneasy feeling?
An inexplicable sense of wrongness. It was slightly different from the pier I remembered, and as that dissonance slid down over my shoulders, it finally clicked.
Right then, I understood what the strangeness was.
*Fwee!*
A sharp blade-tip thrust in with startling speed, slicing through the air toward my throat.
My thoughts accelerated, and my body responded. Judgment made, I moved — fast.
*Whoosh!*
"Marin, stand down."
I grabbed the arm Marin had been about to punch with.
*BOOM!*
Her strike kicked up a shockwave like a sonic boom. Pretty vicious, when you consider that blow could have caved in someone's skull.
"Solis, you okay?"
"Perfectly fine, as you can see."
I showed her the needle-thin blade tip that had grazed my neck. Since the attack hadn't been fueled by mana, it couldn't leave so much as a scratch on a body circulating mana from head to toe. Besides, I'd noticed it wasn't meant to harm me — it was a test thrust — so I'd let it land.
"Excellent reaction speed, superb judgment. Impressive, really?"
The person who'd ambushed me studied me closely and delivered her assessment — just like an instructor grading a student after watching them perform.
"I'd heard rumors of a man with mana, so I had hopes. You've exceeded them. My mother didn't send me out here to greet you for nothing."
I hadn't sensed a single trace of her presence, and yet this woman emerged as naturally as if she'd been standing beside me the whole time. Rapier in hand, she evoked the image of a graceful white swan. No wasted movement, and an unmistakable, unhideable air of nobility in every line of her.
But what stood out even more than all that was her appearance.
The same face as Eva — snow-white hair like it had been cut fresh from a snowfield and pure eyes like amethysts. So identical you'd believe they were twins. If I had to name a difference: unlike Eva's neglected mess of hair, hers was tied neatly to one side. Her height and chest were modest by comparison — but then again, everything is modest next to Eva. Against any other ordinary woman she'd hold her own without breaking a sweat.
A proper lady through and through, that much hadn't changed.
This woman — could it be?
"Kaya Amethyst."
Eva's younger sister, the second daughter of the family head. History would one day record her as the woman who, alongside her sister, led House Amethyst.
"Correct! You even know my identity — did you know I'd be coming?"
"Nope. I just thought you looked like Eva and took a guess."
"How strange. For a guess, you sounded awfully certain."
Well, I *have* seen her in the novel's illustrations.
"You two are so alike it'd be stranger if I *didn't* notice."
"Of course, we're family. She takes after Father, and so do I."
"A master magician, are you?"
The reason I'd failed to sense her until she was practically in my face was that she'd inherited Kairos's mana sensitivity. Fusion — the art of melting into the world itself and erasing one's presence. According to the lorebook, her specialty was slipping behind an opponent and driving her blade into a vital point in a single strike, ending the fight instantly.
"K-Kaya! What is the meaning of this!"
"Big sister!"
Eva came rushing over, and Kaya spread her arms wide at the sight of her in welcome. The two reunited in an embrace full of emotion.
"It's been a while. First time since the entrance exam, right?"
"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too— that's not the point! Pointing a blade at a person, have you no shame!"
"Come on, sis. A man with mana couldn't get hurt by something like this anyway."
"That's not the point!"
"Those two get along well, huh."
"It's been a while, so of course they'd react like that."
The older sister was aloof and hard to warm up to, the younger one outgoing and friendly — polar opposites in personality, but so close that the word 'unbreakable' barely covered it. Family who'd leaned on each other through every hard time.
"Frankly, such a rude method isn't to my taste either, but what can I do? Mother ordered it."
"Your— your mother?"
"Mm-hm. 'Verify whether she truly has the talent to enter Purity Academy. If the rumors are true, drag her here by any means necessary.' Those were her exact words."
"Well, I was planning to come along regardless. You didn't need to be so heavy-handed about it."
"Such magnanimity, letting it slide even with a blade at your throat. I find myself liking you more and more."
*Clap clap!*
Kaya applauded so hard her hands flushed with heat, then snapped her fingers.
*Rumble rumble rumble!*
In response to that signal, a shadow spread across the sky. A helicopter came roaring in with an ear-splitting din, slowed its rotors, and touched down behind her.
"Well then, shall we all be going? To the Amethyst estate."