Me? The Academy? (2)
"Miss Lilith, have you ever considered enrolling at the Academy as a noble?"
"...I'm sorry, what?"
Seraphin's breezy little bombshell, dropped right in front of my face, threw my brain into instant chaos.
The Academy? Me?
As a noble, no less?
The moment I heard about a route I had never once considered since entering this world, I found myself struck dumb, able to do nothing but respond with a foolish, strangled sound.
And Seraphin, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that, pounced on the answer that had tumbled out of my mouth and began to squeeze it for all it was worth.
"You just said 'yes,' didn't you, Miss Lilith?"
"No, that was just... it slipped out."
"It slipped out, but you did say 'yes,' didn't you?"
"......"
"Then I'll take that as agreement. Yes, Miss Lilith?"
There she was, grinning ear to ear while latching onto my slip of the tongue and refusing to let go. Judging by how aggressively she was pushing this, she seemed utterly serious about getting me enrolled in the Academy.
And from the sound of it, she'd apparently already discussed the matter with Ethan to some degree and was making preparations behind the scenes.
The Academy, huh.
If I really could enroll as a noble, just as Seraphin said, there'd be nothing better. Unlike entering under commoner status, enrolling as a noble would mean I could finally apply to the Magic Department — Lilith's true specialty.
It was a far better offer than joining some other department of the Academy, like we'd discussed before.
But that didn't mean I could simply nod along and accept Seraphin's proposal at face value.
...After all, I still couldn't clearly figure out her intentions — why she wanted to send me to the Academy in the first place.
"Princess Seraphin."
"Yes, Miss Lilith? What is it?"
"If it isn't too impertinent, may I ask you one question about this enrollment?"
"Ask me anything you like, Miss Lilith."
"Could you tell me what it is you want from me, once I've enrolled?"
"......"
Seraphin went quiet for a moment, as though my question had struck somewhere she hadn't anticipated. Judging from that reaction alone, it seemed she'd left her options wide open regarding how she might make use of me after enrollment.
"When I make this kind of offer, most people ask me how it would be possible."
"I'm sorry?"
"But you, Miss Lilith, are asking me what I'll want from you after you've enrolled."
"......"
"Which tells me you already understand that enrolling you in the Academy is something I could manage with ease."
...Well, yes. Because I genuinely do understand that.
This was the woman who had invented an entire fictional viscount family just to send a letter under everyone's nose. For Seraphin, quietly fabricating a mere baronetcy would be only slightly harder than flipping her palm.
Beyond that, she could create a special admissions exam for me to take, or transfer me between departments with her personal authority once I was in. From Seraphin's position, the backdoors for getting me into the Academy were practically endless.
And frankly, as long as I could get into the Academy's Magic Department, I didn't much care what method was used to get me there.
Luminor Academy was, at its core, an academy-based game. Like most academy-genre games, certain skills and spells could only be learned by attending classes — which meant that, ideally, I really did want to enroll in the Magic Department. I'd only shelved that hope for the time being because circumstances were so thoroughly against me.
If enrolling would grant that one long-held wish, then I was more than willing to strike a deal with Princess Seraphin.
Willing enough to bear the price gladly, even if it ran a little steep.
"If that weren't within your power, you wouldn't have offered to enroll me as a noble in the first place."
"......"
"Is it something difficult to put into words, Princess Seraphin?"
"...No. I was simply thinking that I chose my person well."
"I'm sorry?"
Princess Seraphin gave a perfectly composed nod at my question, then answered with a smile full of unspoken meaning.
"What I intend to ask of you, Miss Lilith, once you've enrolled at the Academy as a noble —"
"......"
"— is, for now, nothing at all."
"...Pardon?"
"I merely hope that as many capable new students as possible enroll at Luminor Academy next year. Yourself included, Miss Lilith — and Young Master Ethan as well."
If she had nothing to ask of me, then why did it feel even more ominous? Was I just being paranoid?
Still, watching Seraphin's reaction, it truly didn't look like she wanted any specific something from me. It genuinely seemed to mean that she simply wanted to gather as many talented students as the Academy could hold.
Of course, considering the story that would unfold in Luminor Academy, most of those gathered students would end up scrambling this way and crawling that way, putting themselves through pure hell before it was all over.
"You needn't be so suspicious, Miss Lilith. I have no special request to make of you once you're enrolled — but that doesn't mean I intend to receive nothing from you, either."
"No, it's not that I distrust you, Princess..."
"You, who had never once taken a proper magic lesson, were able to slay a King Serpent. Imagine how much more you could accomplish if you truly studied magic at the Academy. And how many more lives you might save in the future."
"...!"
"That is what I'm considering, and what I'm investing in, Miss Lilith."
...Right. This was just who Seraphin had always been.
A person who, if there was even a slim chance of saving more lives, would run toward that possibility without a moment's hesitation.
Faced with such an absolute paragon of virtue, I felt ashamed of myself for doubting her without cause. Seraphin's actions always carried meaning.
Besides, once she'd laid out her reasoning like that, refusing would have been the ruder choice. Not that refusal would have changed much, given everything she and Ethan were already putting in motion.
"I understand, Princess Seraphin. You've said you'll grant me noble status and help me enroll at the Academy — so in turn, I'll gladly accept your proposal."
"No taking it back later."
"I'm not so foolish as to lie to your face, Your Highness."
"I'll send you the details by letter — the noble status you'll receive, the date of the entrance examination, and so on."
"To think you'd see this through to the very end. I couldn't be more grateful."
"Don't be. Compared to all the lives you've saved, Miss Lilith, this much is truly nothing."
...She wasn't wrong about that.
Because I knew the future in which Agnes would have to play my role, her words struck home all the more deeply.
"As for what's been settled so far — you'll most likely be granted the status of a baronet's daughter. If I'd had a little more time, I could have managed a full barony, but preparing something this quickly, without drawing attention, that was the best I could manage."
"For a commoner like me to be given the standing of a baronet's daughter, no amount of thanks could possibly be enough."
"Your new house will presumably be a branch of the Blackwood family. I'll send further details by letter in due course."
"Yes, understood."
"I must be going — I have a full schedule. Do be sure to check for the letter addressed to Young Master Ethan from Viscount Peschinar, Miss Lilith."
"I'll be sure to check."
"It was a pleasure speaking with you both. Young Master Ethan, Miss Lilith."
"I-it was a pleasure for me as well!"
"And for me — it was a true honor to speak with Your Highness in person."
"Oh, no need to see me out. I have a carriage to catch as it is."
The moment Ethan and I rose from our seats to escort her, Seraphin waved us off as if it were an absurd notion and pressed us right back down. She only began moving once she'd confirmed we'd taken our seats again, so we were forced to see her off without so much as walking her to the door.
She had come like the wind and vanished like the morning dew, and in the parlor where she'd sat, only Ethan and I remained, suddenly alone.
"Young Master Ethan."
"...Mm. Maid."
"Granting me a baronetcy and sending me to the Academy... was that your idea?"
"It was. Did it... cause you trouble?"
"Of course not. For Young Master Ethan to take such care over a mere maid... frankly, no amount of gratitude would be sufficient."
For once, I bowed my head to Ethan with gratitude that was entirely genuine, and he accepted my thanks before quietly explaining how he'd arranged my enrollment.
"...It seemed a waste of your talent, so I asked that you be registered as the daughter of a Blackwood branch family, and requested Her Highness's help getting you into the Magic Department. A commoner maid can't enroll in the Academy's Magic Department at all, so that part needed her assistance."
"I see."
"Besides, once word got out that a commoner maid could use magic, things would get dangerous for you in all sorts of ways later. I wanted to protect the fact that the Maid was... ah."
"...Is something the matter, Young Master? Was that something you shouldn't have said to me?"
"...No, it's just — I realized I can't call you 'Maid' anymore. Of course, you're still my personal maid for now, but before long I'll be settling your debts and formally bringing you into the Blackwood branch as nobility. And from that point on, you won't be my personal maid anymore."
"Ah."
...He was right. The moment I became the daughter of a baronet's house, I'd effectively have to give up my duties as Ethan's maid.
However low-ranked the branch family might be, a noble daughter serving as a young nobleman's personal maid was a arrangement riddled with problems.
To be fair, lesser noble houses occasionally did send their children to serve as retainers in the main house or in the homes of higher nobility — to prove bonds of loyalty between houses, or devotion to the main family line.
But even among such servants, there was an unwritten rule that they were never placed in sensitive positions like a man's personal maid.
After all, a personal maid inevitably observed a great deal of a man's private life — the way he slept, the way he dressed, even how he looked before and after grooming.
However minor the rank, a noble was still a noble, and for daughters especially, such service could jeopardize their marriage prospects. So it was standard practice for noblewomen to avoid a man's personal maid duties altogether.
What's more, sending a branch family's daughter to serve as the main house heir's personal maid could, from a certain angle, look like the branch coveting the main family's power.
...No, wait a moment.
Now that I thought about it — wasn't this a little dangerous?
Suppose I quit being Ethan's personal maid and enrolled at the Academy as the daughter of some baronetcy that didn't really exist.
Then what came next?
A minor noble daughter with no power, no connections, nothing but a hollow title — and no personal network whatsoever, since I'd never once shown my face in society.
If I walked into the Academy alone in that state, then without a doubt...
'I'd be fucked.'
Only after thinking it through that far did I finally, belatedly grasp the reality of my situation.
That simply receiving 'noble status' from Ethan and Seraphin wouldn't be enough to survive the Academy.
And that to survive, I couldn't afford to let things stand as they were.
"...It's a bit of a shame, honestly. The Maid won't be the Maid anymore. Of course, you'll keep living under my roof either way, so—"
"...Young Master Ethan. This may be impertinent of me, but might I make one small request?"
"A small request? ...Go on."
"Couldn't my duties as your personal maid continue — just until you and I graduate from the Academy?"
"...Huh?"
Ethan's eyes went round at my sudden proposal, but no one in the world could have been more earnest than I was as I made it.
Because to survive the Academy on nothing but the flimsy standing of a baronet's daughter, I suspected I would still need Ethan's help — quite a lot of it.