The Heartbeat Is Hard to Hear
The messenger held out a token set with the golden turtle that was the emblem of the Goldrein family and spoke.
“He said to have Lady Karen confirm it first.”
“Understood.”
Yosef stepped aside with those words, and Alice did the same. Her lips parted as if she had something to say, but she never gave it voice.
“Lady Karen, the head of the house has asked you to confirm whether the time has truly come.”
Karen had been turning the question over in her mind since the moment she woke that morning.
Did I really read Young Master Yosef’s condition correctly?
The events of the previous day had been far too shocking. One more step and Yosef could have taken her. She had been the one to make the offer; there would have been no way to take it back. Yet Yosef had refused her proposal and asked instead that she come to him of her own free will later.
Hoping for any greater change than this would mean wanting Young Master Yosef to become an entirely different person.
His reputation had been so thoroughly rotten that Karen’s expectations had never been high. If her judgment proved wrong, the worst outcome would be abandonment—yet she did not reverse her choice.
Even when he carefully massaged my legs yesterday, there was nothing suspicious in his reaction…
The memory made her chest tighten and her heart race, but she kept her expression carefully composed.
“Yes. I believe the time has come.”
“…….”
As a member of the Goldrein household, the messenger knew Yosef well. He watched the young master standing there with quiet composure for a long moment before drawing a box from his robes. Whatever the messenger himself thought of Yosef, final responsibility rested on Karen’s decision.
“Here is Gaia’s Armor. I will take my leave now.”
With that, the messenger departed at once. The haste of his exit looked so much like a man fleeing a bomb that Karen allowed herself a bitter little smile.
He wants to wash his hands of the responsibility, doesn’t he? If my judgment is wrong, even he could be punished for failing to notice.
In truth the chance of punishment was extremely high. Gaia’s Armor was an extraordinarily precious gem, and the matter concerned the family’s heir. Even people with no connection at all could be dragged into political reprisals. How could the man who had personally delivered the jewel possibly escape unscathed?
But this time my judgment is right.
Karen carefully carried the box forward and set it before Yosef.
“Young Master Yosef, this is Gaia’s Armor.”
“I see.”
Yosef opened the box with care. Alice, curiosity getting the better of her, pressed close behind him to look. What lay revealed was an enormous piece of amber, and inside it a giant stag beetle.
“Why is there a bug in it?!”
Alice stared in astonishment at the insect trapped in the amber. It looked like a magnificent jewel, yet it contained a beetle—no wonder she found it strange.
“This insect was originally a messenger of the gods. During the war of the gods it became trapped in tree resin and ended up like this.”
Karen offered a brief explanation of the gem’s origin.
“How do you use it?”
“Young Master Yosef will show you.”
Yosef lifted the gem. It was large enough to fill his entire palm, yet he held it lightly, and then—
The moment I equipped the jewel, Alice cried out in shock.
“Wh-what?! It’s being sucked in! Shouldn’t we stop it?!”
In the early days of the academy Alice had made a fuss over every scrap of magic she saw. That habit had eventually drawn the attention of someone destined to become a great mage… but that was a story for another time.
“This is the unique magic of the Goldrein family.”
“Unique magic?”
“The bare minimum that separates true nobility from the newly risen houses. Fail to use it and the other nobles will never treat you as a proper aristocrat. It is that important.”
A noble’s powerful bloodline reveals itself through mana. That mana serves as proof of status, yet mana is also the resource consumed when casting spells. Naturally, magic that draws on this unique bloodline mana differs from ordinary magic. No matter how vast a commoner’s mana might be, the nature of the mana itself is different, so they cannot use it. It becomes a family secret shared only among members of the noble house.
At last Gaia’s Armor pierced my skin and sank into my body. I felt as though an entirely new organ had been born inside me.
“In our family’s case, it’s the magic of throwing money around. We never had a long noble bloodline to begin with, so when we forced a unique magic into existence, a lot of strange quirks came with it.”
The Goldrein family had started as merchants. They had never received any exalted bloodline, and their natural mana was never strong. The moment our ancestors became nobles, however, they threw themselves into creating a unique magic with frantic energy.
Even after they made one, the other nobles still refused to acknowledge it. Apparently unique magics have ranks of their own. As if simply being powerful weren’t enough—they invent every excuse under the sun to protect their vested interests.
In any case, what they poured a fortune into creating was Jewel Magic. Because the family’s bloodline mana was so weak, they instead embedded gems capable of channeling mana into their bodies and used them like artificial mana hearts.
“Woooow…….”
Alice’s open-mouthed wonder showed just how unusual my magic looked.
To other nobles it probably looks like a rag, but as long as Alice likes it, that’s enough for me.
“Could I use it someday too?”
“Alice?!!”
Karen was utterly scandalized by the girl’s complete lack of common sense.
If this had been any other noble—or the original Yosef—he would have slapped her across the face. He might even have demanded a duel on the spot.
“Alice, unique magic is a noble house’s pride and its most closely guarded secret. To receive it you would have to become a member of that house!”
“Ah—uh—I’m sorry…….”
Under Karen’s earnest scolding Alice bowed her head deeply in apology. Rather than accept it, I found myself lost in thought.
She was never this tactless before, was she?
Asking what Jewel Magic was had been fine. The original Yosef, overflowing with pride, would have monologued every detail to his enemies like a classic villain. But asking whether she herself could use the family’s unique magic was something else entirely.
I just told her this magic belongs only to the family and no one else can use it. Why would she say something like that?
There were only two possibilities. Either Alice was so sleep-deprived she wasn’t thinking straight, or she had already accepted me as someone close enough that she felt no need for caution.
Alice was the sort of person who not only opened her heart completely to those she cared about, but would risk her life to save them if they were in danger. Whether that person was a demon or a villain, once they had repented she would try to save them.
“Hmm…….”
“I’m sorry…….”
When I simply kept looking at her, Alice bowed even lower.
Is there any way for me to check how close we actually are?
“I’ll accept your apology for now.”
“Yes, thank you…….”
I stopped her apologies and rose to my feet. The longer I stared, the more uneasy her expression became—exactly the face of a child who has already been scolded once and is about to receive a second lecture.
“Alice.”
“Y-yes?!”
Even her usual energetic replies had been loud, but this one was different: sharp, tense, and even louder.
Come to think of it, does she even have anyone else to build closeness with right now?
Originally she was supposed to make commoner friends at the entrance ceremony banquet. Those commoner friends had all fallen for Alice’s cheerful personality and pretty face. But right now she had been stuck to my side the whole time and never had a chance to make any friends. That meant the two people she had built the highest affinity with were me and Karen.
I glanced at Karen; she immediately stepped in front of Alice, ready to scold her again.
“No, that isn’t what I meant.”
“I-it isn’t……?”
Alice was so terrified of another scolding that tears actually welled in her eyes.
So right now she’s in the position of having wronged the two people she’s closest to. That must hurt a lot.
I sighed and walked over to her. Then I simply pulled her into a hug.
“Heh……?!”
“Eek?!”
Alice was startled, and so was Karen standing behind her.
After Yosef grew up he never even hugged his own family. Is this the first time?
“Y-Yosef…… Young Master?”
Alice stiffened, completely at a loss. She kept twitching in my arms as if she couldn’t decide whether to move or stay still.
“Don’t do that again.”
“……Yes.”
According to the setting she was in her early twenties. To me that age still felt close to childhood—too young to have weathered society and shouldered everything alone as a full adult.
That’s probably why she still dreams so brightly and lives so energetically… but right now it must be hard for her.
As someone who had crossed over from the modern world with her and was enduring similar pain, I decided to comfort Alice in earnest. Her mistake might well have come from trying too hard, too aggressively, to grow closer.
The fact that she has no friends right now is my fault too, so I shouldn’t make her too miserable. And in the end I do need Alice’s favor, after all.
It felt a little strange, as if I had become the black hand manipulating the protagonist. Yosef had originally been a villain, but controlling someone’s mind still left a heavy weight of guilt.
Once Alice was wrapped in Yosef’s arms, she could not escape. She was so small that when he lifted her while hugging her, her feet left the ground entirely.
No, that isn’t the reason. I just… like it like this.
Alice had been lonely. She had not realized it until now, but this mistake made it clear. She was lonely. That was why she had wanted to grow closer to her only friends, to close the distance between them. In the process she had touched a sore spot and made a mistake.
And she had been forgiven.
It was an extremely warm forgiveness.
Alice’s heart pounded so hard she half-wished Yosef would put her down so he wouldn’t hear it—and half-wished he would hold her even tighter. The two desires lived side by side inside her.
So she simply kicked her dangling legs back and forth in the air. If she didn’t express the feeling somehow, either her chest or her face was going to burst.