Vacation (4)
After our audience with Petra, we were escorted to her private villa.
“It's huge.”
“Yeah, it really is.”
That was Marin's entire review, delivered flat as ever, and I was in complete agreement.
Even the dormitory we'd been assigned at Purity Academy—though "dormitory" was a generous word for what was essentially a mansion in its own right—looked humble by comparison.
The corridors alone were lined with pieces that would fetch prices in the tens of millions. Passing through them, we stepped into a living room spacious enough to host a party for dozens of people with room to spare.
Every inch of the space bore the mark of professional interior design, while servants on permanent standby attended to the safety and comfort of anyone staying here.
“This is the Head of House's personal villa. She has granted her permission, so please make yourselves at home and use it freely.”
“Wow.”
The words were barely out of the guard's mouth before Marin planted herself on the nearest sofa, melting into it like jelly left out in the sun. Apparently, she liked the place.
“We will take our leave now. Should you need anything, simply press the call bell on the wall.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
The guards withdrew, and the moment they were gone, I spread my mana through every corner of the villa, searching it thoroughly.
No surveillance cameras, at least. The guards below hadn't shown any suspicious movements either.
“Guess we can talk freely here without anyone eavesdropping, right?”
“Ugh.”
At my question, Chloe, who'd been listening beside me, let out a sigh heavy with exhaustion, as if finally spitting out emotions she'd been swallowing all day. She looked drained.
Well, if she's low on energy, I suppose I could recite her a little revitalizing magic spell.
“Honey~ can't you hear me?”
“Who are you calling honey, you bastard!”
BAM!
Chloe's fist slammed into the innocent wall beside her. It was someone else's building, so she held back her strength, but the impact that reached me still carried her full fury.
“Why so angry? You're the one who introduced me to Lady Eva as your lover.”
“Th-that couldn't be helped! There's such a thing as force majeure, you know.”
She clutched at her chest, clearly frustrated by the situation herself. That had been her last card to play, the one she would never have wanted to spend even for untold riches. But back then, Chloe had no other choice. If she hadn't told that lie, Petra would have pushed straight ahead with marrying me to Eva.
“I want to turn back time. Back to when the Head of House sent that message.”
“It was always going to come to this eventually. Even if I'd refused this time, she would've just manufactured some excuse to meet me later and made the exact same proposal.”
The current head of the Amethyst family was famous for nothing if not decisiveness—bold to the point of being called reckless. While everyone else hesitated at the table of uncertainty, she was the kind of woman who called "all in" without a flicker of doubt. Not that she gambled blindly, mind you—her wagers always rested on solid groundwork.
That boldness was what kept the Amethyst family's standing intact, and within the household, support for her was fierce. It was also precisely because of that active backing that Eva, a shut-in who did nothing but hammer away at a keyboard, wallowing in games, remained the leading candidate for the next Head of House.
“You might call political marriage an outdated concept, but nothing forges bonds between families quite like it.”
In a world riddled with hereditary class, where inherited talent could do more than sustain a family—it could elevate its very standing—alliances like this were utterly commonplace. Petra had done the same herself, marrying a man known as the Grand Archmage and catapulting her once-shaky position within the family to new heights overnight. And while the two of them were devoted to each other now, disgustingly so, their beginning was a far cry from any romantic tale of love at first sight or destined meeting.
“I know, I know. It's just that Father also…”
“Father? Don't tell me even the Sword Saint has said the same thing as the Amethyst Head of House?”
“…Everyone, everywhere, is obsessed with protecting their own rice bowl.”
Judging by that reaction, it seemed the Opal family had been hoping to arrange a meeting with me as well.
“And here I thought my popularity was common knowledge. Who knew that man would take an interest in me?”
“I'm telling you now—don't count your chickens. I flat-out refused, so drop it.”
“I suppose. There's no way the man who declared he was dating Eva right in front of all of us would turn around and say he's seeing someone else.”
“Ugh!”
She'd had no choice but to make that public confession to me, exactly as her father wanted. That sheer audacity—boldly declaring in front of the Amethyst family that if they were going to snatch someone away, the Opals would do it first. What a devoted daughter. There's never been one like her.
“I had no choice! If I hadn't said that, they'd have been setting up the wedding any day now.”
“I know. Given how famous she is in society, you did exactly what you had to.”
For Chloe, who couldn't bear to lose Eva, it had been the best possible move. A clean cut, leaving no loose ends behind.
Petra did covet a mana-wielding man, but unwilling to make an enemy of the Opals, she'd settled for inviting me to the villa and watching how things played out.
“…Thank you.”
“Hm? For what?”
“For lying in front of the Head of House that day.”
—Is that true, what you just said?
When Chloe had shocked everyone by confessing she was dating me, Petra had turned to me with that pointed question. A single spark from setting off an explosion. One wrong word from me, and the relationship between the two families could have spiraled into outright catastrophe.
We are quite intimate, yes—closer than either of us has ever been.
I had caught the cue quickly and played along, and we weathered the storm. The disaster she'd been dreading never came to pass.
“Because you backed me up, the Head of House let the matter drop.”
“Don't mention it. I'm just a helpful sort of person.”
Not that this side of the deal was any loss to me, either. I flashed a lecherous grin and made a grabbing motion with my hand, and Chloe's face turned as red as an apple.
“Grope the daughter of the Opal family to your heart's content. Lucky you, huh?”
“…You absolute trash.”
“You're the one who dragged me into playing lovers. If you're going to rope me into this kind of hassle, you should be prepared to pay a little toll.”
Obviously, I refused any arrangement where only one party benefited, so when we declared ourselves a couple, I'd played the mischievous little prank of seizing her chest in front of everyone. Smaller than Ter, but by no means small—like a plump, ripe pear, if I had to compare it to fruit. That softness that was neither squishy nor firm, that texture where the word just right was practically invented—my hand still remembered it.
“Besides, you managed to fool the Head of the Amethyst family herself with that clever little brain of yours at the moment you nearly got caught. Call it a bargain, if anything.”
“Hmph!”
Chloe huffed and bristled, but she didn't argue further. Just as I'd said—her confession had been the brake on Petra, who'd been flooring the accelerator toward total rampage. A partial truth, sure, but nothing I said was wrong. And she'd accepted exactly that much sacrifice when she chose to say it.
“Anyway, it's time to sleep. Get some rest and clear your head. Things get rough starting tomorrow.”
We'd talked our way through it for now with a quick patch job, but I didn't believe for a second that Petra would simply send me on my way. She knew—just as Kaya did—that Chloe hated men, loved women, and adored Eva. She'd be looking to drag that truth into the light.
“How long are we staying here?”
“A week. She offered to let us stay the whole vacation, but I declined—I said I'd find it inconvenient.”
“A week, huh…”
Chloe clenched her fist, as if steeling her resolve. I could see her iron determination to change Petra's mind within that time.
It won't be as easy as she thinks, though.
And for the Head of House, it wouldn't be, either. Just what plan would she come up with and bring tomorrow? Truly, I couldn't help but look forward to it.
“Good morning, everyone! Did you all sleep well?”
The next day, Kaya arrived with Eva in tow, kicking the door open as she entered the villa. True to a personality that was her sister's exact opposite, it was a greeting bursting with energy and vigor.
“Morning, Kaya. Full of life first thing in the morning, huh.”
“I went to bed early, so I'm fully charged! Energy at one hundred percent!”
Just look at that glowing skin. As befitting an aristocrat's daughter pampered twenty-four hours a day, not a speck of dust marred her appearance. Those puffy little cheeks—I kind of wanted to give them a pull.
“Hnnng…”
“And why does your face look half-dead again?”
“Because there's a thing like this going onnn…”
In contrast, Eva radiated fatigue and gloom like it was coming off her in waves. Had she pulled another all-nighter gaming? But no—Eva wouldn't look like this from just one night of staying up.
“Everyone's up already, I see.”
“Well, it wasn't a bad bed.”
“Yeah. Sofa was good.”
“I'm glad you enjoyed it.”
Clap!
Once Kaya confirmed that both Chloe and Marin were awake, she drew every eye in the room with a single clap, like a stage director who'd just finished rehearsal.
“Then, as soon as everyone's ready, we depart at once.”
“Depart? To where, exactly?”
“Oh, there's a place. Kheheh.”
A wicked smile curled at the corner of Kaya's mouth. Chloe and I both flinched instinctively.
Look at this one. She's clearly prepared something thorough.
Making people anxious on purpose like that.