Chapter 60: Love(2)
Chapter 60: Love(2)
I’m usually told I’m a blunt person. I half-agree with that assessment. While various incidents have cropped up recently, I generally have a fairly stoic personality, perhaps due to the influence of my past life.
Lately, however, my days have been filled with so much happiness that I find myself beaming more often. The corners of my mouth twitch upward, and occasionally, I catch myself giggling like a madman.
Especially when I was with Mari, my smile refused to fade. Just looking at her face made it impossible to keep my lips from quivering with joy.
"Hehehe."
"Why are you laughing?"
"Then why are you laughing, Isaac?"
"I don't know, it just comes out."
"Me too. Me too."
Mari didn't hide her feelings either, her face bright with smiles. I stared blankly at her face for a moment before answering with a wide grin of my own. On the first day of our relationship, we had been cautious and refrained from outward displays of affection, but as time passed, those reservations vanished.
It didn't matter if people whispered. It didn't matter if Cecile and Lina watched us with suspicious eyes. It didn't matter if others looked on with mixed emotions or warm approval.
The two of us were too busy savoring the sweetness of our first romance to pay attention to anything else. Because of that, we occasionally failed to focus during lectures and received scoldings from the professors, but we brushed those off as minor mishaps.
Anyway, some time had passed since Mari and I confessed our feelings to each other. With all exams and assignments finished, we had more free time, and the frequency of our outings together increased.
Perhaps because of this, the suspicious glances from others turned into certainty. No matter how oblivious someone might be, they would eventually look at us and think, 'Ah, those two are definitely dating.'
The confirmation of that came not elsewhere, but at the training hall I visited over the weekend. Mari and I had agreed to spend our weekends separately to have some personal time.
"Hey. Are you seeing someone lately?"
"Pardon?"
Adelia, who had returned to the spectator area to take a break from sparring, suddenly threw the question at me. I looked at her with a look of utter bewilderment.
Perhaps feeling stifled, Adelia pulled her top off over her head. She was wearing a sleeveless undershirt, so it was fine, but if I hadn't been careful, my eyes might have wandered somewhere inappropriate.
"Phew. It’s hot, so hot. So, when are you going to give me an answer?"
Adelia spoke in her characteristic husky voice while fanning herself with her sleeveless shirt. Her beauty, drenched in sweat, caught my eye.
I quickly snapped back to my senses and spoke. I tried my best to suppress any stray thoughts by picturing Mari’s face in my mind.
"...How did you know?"
"I happened to see you hugging some white-haired girl. You were practically advertising to the world that you're in a relationship."
She chuckled mischievously and poked my cheek with her index finger. I gently pushed her hand away with my palm.
"So? Is that all?"
"What do you mean, 'is that all'? Who wouldn't be curious when their close friend's younger brother is dating? Who confessed first? No, wait. What's her name? Since her hair is white, I think I have a rough idea of who she is."
She certainly had a lot of questions. I stared blankly at Adelia, whose sky-blue eyes were sparkling as she fired off one question after another.
If it had been anyone else, I would have told them it was none of their business, but Adelia was fine. She was just mischievous and curious in a different way than Cecile; her fundamental nature was good.
If she weren't a good person, Nicole wouldn't have looked after her. Besides, Adelia's teasing felt like she was craving attention, making it impossible to truly dislike her.
"Um... my sister probably knows who she is. Her name is Mari, and she's from the Rekilis family."
"Whoa~ our cutie’s got moves, doesn't he? Not just anyone, but the Rekilis family. So, who confessed first?"
"Mari did something similar to a confession first, but it was more like we both liked each other, so we just started dating."
"Ooh~"
After that, Adelia excitedly asked all sorts of questions. I didn't know why she was so interested in someone else's love life, but seeing her eyes shine so brightly, I couldn't bring myself not to answer.
"Ah, youth. Truly, nothing can beat the freshness of the teens. Are you thinking as far as marriage?"
"...I think you're getting ahead of yourself."
In this world, one is considered an adult at seventeen, and marriage is possible from that age. However, while seventeen is the legal age, most people tend to marry around twenty-two because of the Academy.
Even so, due to the influence of my past life, that age still felt incredibly early to me. Since I couldn't apply the common sense of my previous life here, I had to give a vague answer.
Adelia seemed a bit embarrassed by her own question and scratched her head.
"...I guess that was a bit much, huh? Sorry. I've just seen a lot of kids get into 'accidents' while dating."
"By 'accidents,' you mean having a child? Not just having a relationship?"
"You catch on quick."
"What happens if there's an accident?"
It’s impossible to say nothing will ever happen between a man and a woman. That applied to Mari and me as well.
Of course, both Mari and I would be careful, but no one can predict the future. A series of coincidences could lead to us being left alone in a room together.
If such a situation arose, I wondered if I could restrain myself. Given that I couldn't even resist Cecile's seduction, the probability of me enduring such a situation converged toward zero.
Or Mari might be the one to provoke me first.
"Hmm~ well?"
Adelia stared intently at my face after hearing the question, then curled her lips into a smirk. It was a smile dripping with playfulness.
"I wonder what would happen? I'm not from the Minerva Empire, so I'm not really sure."
"Then I'll ask my sister."
"You're no fun. If it's between nobles, it's not a problem. Even if there's a rank difference, they'll force a marriage. The problem is between a noble and a commoner. If the man is the noble, he can take the woman as a concubine or kick her out, but if it's the other way around, the story changes. Not only would she be expelled from the family, but what comes after is the real problem."
"What comes after is the real problem?"
"Yeah. Do you think those young ladies, raised like flowers in a greenhouse, could live as commoners after living as nobles their whole lives?"
I couldn't help but nod at her explanation. As I’ve always said, a massive gap exists between nobles and commoners, whether in terms of power or wealth.
It might seem a bit cold-hearted, but this was reality.
"Of course, there are exceptions. It's the kind of story you'd see in a novel, where the man works himself to the bone. In those cases, he takes the woman to her parents and begs for their permission. Well, reality isn't usually that kind."
"You know surprisingly a lot about this."
"I have to. I've seen it happen many times. So, if you really want to make your girlfriend happy, be careful."
"Isn't that obvious?"
Even if an accident were to happen, I was confident I could take responsibility for Mari. Her parents might not look at me kindly, but the moment I revealed my identity, the story would change.
It’s embarrassing to say it myself, but my status far exceeded that of a mere cultural phenomenon. Mari might not care about such things, but her parents certainly would.
"By the way, Adelia, do you have a boyfriend?"
Since we were talking about romance, the topic naturally shifted. Adelia had been focusing entirely on my love life without mentioning anything about her own.
As soon as she heard my question, Adelia’s expression went beyond flustered to utter bewilderment. It was an unexpected reaction.
"Uh... do I look like the type who's been in a relationship?"
"Yes. Objectively speaking, you're quite pretty. And you're one of the most skilled in Martial Studies."
Adelia had a bit of a unique personality, but she was very charming. It felt a bit awkward to say this as someone with a girlfriend, but it was the truth.
A sharp nose, sky-blue eyes reminiscent of a clear day, and long eyelashes. Finally, her short brown hair.
Overall, she had a 'handsome' image, but her red lips gave her a feminine charm as well.
Honestly, Adelia's beauty was so striking that it was hard to believe she was a commoner. I sometimes wondered if she was someone hiding their identity or perhaps an illegitimate child.
While I was lost in thought, Adelia awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. Then, she chuckled and muttered with a bitter smile.
"Someone like me... You'd be better off asking your sister. You might not know, but Nicole was so popular that..."
"What are you two talking about?"
Just as she was about to subtly shift the topic to Nicole's love life, a familiar voice reached my ears. Turning my head, I saw Nicole approaching, wiping her sweat-drenched face with a towel.
It seemed she had just finished sparring. As soon as Nicole appeared, Adelia jumped up in surprise, not forgetting to grab the top she had discarded earlier.
"W-well, I'll be going now! Keep up the hard work!"
Is this what they mean by 'a guilty conscience needs no accuser'? Adelia dashed back toward the sparring mats before Nicole could even ask a question.
As I watched her go, Nicole approached me and asked in a puzzled voice.
"What's with her? Did she say something to you?"
"Uh... no? Nothing much."
"Hmm... really?"
She looked skeptical. Given how much trouble Adelia usually caused, it was a natural reaction.
"Phew. It's hot."
Nicole then pulled off her top to cool down, just as Adelia had done. She was also wearing a sleeveless undershirt, but since she was my sister, my eyes didn't linger the way they had with Adelia.
Instead, my gaze was drawn to the lean muscles visible here and there. I’d heard that women naturally find it harder to build muscle, but looking at Nicole, I wondered if that was wrong.
"Oh, right. Isaac. You said you're dating that girl, right? The white-haired one I saw last time. Was her name Mari?"
Nicole asked while fanning herself to cool the sweat. I had explained the whole situation to her last week.
So, Nicole knew that Mari knew my secret. I hadn't felt the need to hide it from her.
However, I couldn't avoid her worrying. Even if Mari was a good person, from Nicole's perspective, everyone was a potential risk.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Just wondering how things are going. No problems?"
"We're doing great."
"That's good, then. Hup."
Nicole sat down beside me.
"You don't regret it? Telling her."
"Regret? Not at all. Well, maybe I regret not telling her sooner?"
"You've really got it bad. Well, I suppose it's that age."
Nicole chuckled at my answer, her expression saying I was hopeless. Then, as if remembering something, she spoke with a hint of anticipation in her voice.
"By the way, how's the writing going?"
"Good. It'll probably be done in about fifteen days."
"That's fast. Well, I guess you have more free time now that exams are over. You said Volume 10 features the story of the Elf Queen and Xenon's Master?"
"Yeah."
"Oh~ I'm looking forward to that. A romance between an elf and a human—won't that be another hit? The elves might have something to say about it, too."
Nicole teased me with a giggle. Watching her, I couldn't help but let out an internal laugh.
Yes. On the surface, it might look like a poignant love story between an elf and a human. But as the story progresses, people will start to feel that something is wrong.
Because the Elf Queen and Xenon's Master will never be together. It’s not some soap opera plot where one of them falls for someone else.
Both are certain of their feelings for each other, but the Elf Queen hesitates to step forward because of the difference in their lifespans.
‘It has to end in tragedy to be truly engraved in their minds.’
Later, Xenon's Master dies. And he dies at the hands of his former disciple, 'Envy.'
The Elf Queen will wail and shed floods of tears upon learning of his death. Originally, this scene was a device to trigger Xenon's awakening, but thinking about it now, I planned to write it in great detail because it seemed like it would be quite 'interesting.'
I glanced at Nicole, who was looking expectant and knew nothing of my plans, then looked forward again and spoke.
"Yeah. It's going to be very interesting."
Only to me.