Wrapping Up the First Semester (3)

It was a day in late June when the assessment pairings that would close out the first semester were posted.

The moment I spotted my name on the Magic Department bracket displayed outside the academy's main building, an absurd, disbelieving feeling surged up inside me.

"Luke Cruella…?"

The Engineering Department's second-ranked student had suddenly named me as her opponent, and Luke's behavior nearly caused me to blurt out that crazy bitch right in front of Ethan. …Fortunately, I managed to keep it behind my teeth.

"Lilith…?"

"…Yes, Young Master Ethan."

"Luke Cruella of the Engineering Department—that's the person I know, right?"

"…Yes. The very same Miss Luke who serves as Princess Seraphin's escort."

"Why would she suddenly name you as her duel opponent? Did the two of you discuss this beforehand?"

"…No, I have no idea either."

That was the honest truth—I genuinely had no clue. In the game, there had never been a single instance of Luke participating in an assessment duel against a top-ranked student from another department.

After all, Luke had never been one to seek attention, true to her alias of 'Shadow'.

That was precisely why, despite being fully qualified to serve as Seraphin's exclusive maid, she had requested the comparatively less conspicuous position of escort instead.

And rather than joining the Combat Department or any other martial division alongside Seraphin, she had deliberately chosen the Engineering Department.

For a woman like that to abandon her own aversion to the spotlight and single me out as her opponent—honestly, I couldn't understand it at all.

So that's why I felt uneasy back when the professor said my opponent had already been decided.

Students ranked in the top five of a combat department were granted the authority to directly designate their assessment opponents for the final evaluations.

Of course, having the right to pick an opponent didn't mean anyone actually chose to fight the very bottom of the rankings. The high-performing students at Luminor Academy were, almost without exception, proud creatures.

And so the unspoken rule was to select the strongest opponent you could still beat with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠certainty—just as Agnes, without a single peer among the Magic Department's freshmen, had so openly taken aim at Isabel, the department's second.

By my original plan, I would have held that same authority myself and faced some student hovering around tenth place in my assessment duel. Never in my wildest imagination had I expected Seraphin's escort, Luke, to name me first.

Never thought I'd get hit with the very move I used to pull as a player in my past life…

When playing the protagonist, the biggest bottleneck in the Engineering and Pharmacology departments was always fame and experience grinding—so cornering one top-ranked student from another department per final evaluation like this had been mandatory coursework.

Now that I was on the receiving end of it from Luke, it was truly beyond ridiculous.

Seriously, why does this stuff only happen to me?

At least I should count myself lucky it isn't Agnes.

The silver lining was that my opponent wasn't Agnes, the living hellfire who made a hobby of hunting down 'strong opponents' the moment she set her mind to it. In fact, she'd been the very first name I'd guessed when I heard my opponent had been decided.

That said, avoiding an assessment duel with Agnes hardly meant Luke was a pushover.

She had already claimed the position of Seraphin's escort, so her skill was beyond guarantee—and as I'd mentioned before, she was one of the heroines of Luminor Academy.

Since heroine status in Luminor Academy meant someone fit to be recruited as a companion in the Demon King subjugation, dismissing her on the basis of her membership in a non-combat department like the 'Engineering Department' would have been a fatal mistake.

…Though I still had absolutely no idea why Luke had requested a duel against me.

Frankly, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had never once done anything that would earn me a personal grudge from her.

Take the drawing room meeting at the Blackwood estate, where Seraphin dismissed Luke while keeping me, a fellow servant, behind.

Or how I received the rank of sub-baronet's daughter in place of Luke, who had served loyally at Seraphin's side for years.

Or how my refusal of Seraphin's exclusive maid offer ended up making Luke her exclusive maid instead.

Aside from her maid uniform suspiciously resembling mine—of all things—there really wasn't any reason for her to hold a grudge against me.

…Seriously, I have no clue why.

"Could it be some kind of protest from Princess Seraphin? Perhaps she's feeling a little slighted over my recent refusal of her exclusive maid offer."

"I don't remember Princess Seraphin being the type to… wait, Lilith. Was what you just said true?"

"I'm sorry, what are you referring to?"

"You just said it yourself. That you received an offer to become Princess Seraphin's exclusive maid."

"Ah, yes. It came up once before. Naturally, I declined, since I already hold the position of your exclusive maid, Young Master."

"…Wh-what?! Wh-what did you just…?"

"Anyway, this is a problem. If Princess Seraphin is furious with me over declining a single offer, that's not something I ever anticipated. I'll have to seek her out directly and apologize again as soon as possible…"

"…There's been a misunderstanding, so there's no need to trouble yourself with an apology, Miss Lilith."

The princess's voice—a sound I hadn't heard in quite some time—slipped into the conversation between Ethan and me, which had taken on a slightly grave tone.

Naturally, both Ethan's head and mine turned toward the direction her voice came from.

"It's been a while, Prince Ethan. And Miss Lilith."

As if she'd been waiting for her cue, Seraphin appeared behind us—Luke at her side.

The other academy students, catching wind of the Third Princess's arrival, began to stir a beat later.

The students, who until moments ago had cared only about who their own duel opponents would be, now found their gazes drawn to us—centered, inevitably, on Princess Seraphin.

"I-it's been a while, Princess Seraphin."

"I trust you've been well, Your Highness."

"Yes, I've been quite well, thanks to all of you."

Having effortlessly drawn the attention of everyone around her, Seraphin exchanged greetings with Ethan and me wearing the composed expression of someone long accustomed to crowds like this.

And Luke, standing behind her, had been glaring at me since moments ago with strangely prickly eyes.

"By the way, Miss Lilith."

"…Yes, Princess Seraphin."

"I believe I just overheard something about how I supposedly flew into a rage over being refused by you…?"

"N-no, of course not…! Please just dismiss that as the nonsense of a foolish sub-baronet's daughter…"

"It's quite all right, Miss Lilith. You needn't apologize. It's only natural you might misunderstand my intentions, and the very reason I've come all this way is to clear up whatever misunderstanding you may be harboring."

"…Y-yes, my lady."

…A misunderstanding, you say?

"First of all, the notion that I'm angry with you is an absurd misunderstanding. Why on earth would I dislike someone as capable as you? Isn't that right?"

"W-well… I'm hardly someone qualified to receive such an assessment of competence from Your Highness…"

"During the palace attack incident, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was thanks to your help that many lives were saved. And you are now a mage capable of maintaining the fourth rank in the academy's Magic Department."

"…I simply received an inflated evaluation by circumstance. I don't consider it my actual ability."

"You know that excessive modesty ceases to be a virtue, don't you? Even if you truly believe that about yourself, my assessment of you remains unchanged."

"…Yes. My apologies."

"In any case, that is why I regret that my plan to keep you at my side as my exclusive maid came to nothing—but I assure you, I bear no anger over it. I still wish to maintain a good relationship with you, Miss Lilith."

"I-I'm sorry, Princess Seraphin. I failed to recognize the nobility of your character…"

"I told you not to apologize, Miss Lilith."

…I know, believe me. But what am I supposed to do when my mouth starts spewing apologies on its own?

Even knowing full well that Seraphin was far too magnanimous to hold a grudge over something like this, my body moved instinctively under the crushing pressure of the status gap between us.

Unless you'd spent as long at someone's side as Ethan had, it was simply an unavoidable reflex.

And even if it wasn't the case today, I—as a core player of Luminor Academy in my past life—knew better than anyone that Seraphin had a habit of turning high-handed when the greater cause demanded it.

With a woman like that, it was best not to create anything that might draw her scrutiny or put you in her debt in the first place.

"In any case, I came to tell you that Luke's duel this time is an assessment match born entirely of her own will, not mine—so that, should you enter the duel harboring a misunderstanding about me, your performance won't suffer for it."

"…I see."

"Yes. My assessment duel against you, Miss Lilith, was chosen solely of my own volition—I would be grateful if you regarded it as a personal deviation on my part, unrelated to Her Highness."

"…Understood. Since Princess Seraphin and Miss Luke—no, Miss Luke—have come all this way to tell me so, I will believe it."

Not that an option to disbelieve existed from the start. Or rather, even if I had wanted to, showing disbelief in front of Seraphin was never possible to begin with.

Besides, the fact that Seraphin had come in person to tell me to give it my all in the match meant that she, too, wished for me to face it in that spirit.

Then all that remained was for me to meet the contest with everything I had.

Of course, even in the worst-case scenario—Seraphin truly furious and dispatching Luke at me—my approach wouldn't have changed one bit.

I had no intention of letting this explosive experience event slip through my fingers to begin with.

"Is that all you wished to convey, Princess Seraphin?"

"Yes, it is, Prince Ethan. Then, as I'm pressed for time, I'll be on my…"

"…Before you leave, there is one thing I must say to you, Princess Seraphin."

"Hm? And what would that be, Prince Ethan?"

Ethan called Seraphin to a stop just as she was about to vanish with Luke, having apparently delivered her message.

Wondering what on earth he meant to say, I leaned in to listen—but for some reason, his words carried an oddly cold edge.

"I heard that you recently offered to take Lilith on as your exclusive maid, Princess Seraphin."

"……"

"…Is that truly the case, Princess Seraphin?"

I couldn't say why, but Ethan was leveling a hostile gaze at Seraphin, the air around him turning distinctly ominous.

Seraphin, perhaps sensing his ill-tempered stare, forced her expression into order and gave a cautious nod.

"Yes, it is, Prince Ethan. Miss Lilith is unquestionably an exceptional person by my standards, and I am the sort who keeps exceptional people as close as possible."

"…Lilith is my exclusive maid, Princess Seraphin. Even if it was through Your Highness's assistance that she received her rank."

"…I see, Prince Ethan."

"Kindly do not forget that fact."

"I shall bear it in mind."

"…Thank you, Princess Seraphin."

With a single nod at Ethan's parting words, Princess Seraphin withdrew into the distance.

Why did the atmosphere suddenly turn so grave when all that was said was the obvious fact that I was Ethan's exclusive maid?

Conversations between royalty and the children of high nobility were more than my brain could keep up with.

And even amid all that, the day of my assessment duel with Luke was fast approaching before I knew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.