Chapter 44 - Flower Crowns, Bandages, and Needing a Teacher
Well, up to that point, it was fine. I'd praised Irina and done her a few favors she appreciated. Seeing her like that, it wasn't hard to understand why she'd think along those lines.
But what? "A man like you is the first I've met—"
'...Huh.'
What the hell was that? It felt less like some bold northern recruitment pitch and more like a straight-up confession. To be honest, there wasn't a single reason my heart should have skipped a beat at those words.
Sure, it raced a little, but that wasn't arrhythmia from all the booze—it was just plain shock.
"Professor...?"
Irina had taken my left hand and pulled it up to her chin. Her red eyes gazed up at me, sparkling. Her hands were small, but they gripped mine with surprising strength, proof that the grand duchess's composure was starting to slip just a bit.
I'd sensed it with Sion too. Were all the noble ladies in this world such straight-shooting macho types?
—That thought lasted only a moment.
I stared into her eyes and realized this wasn't some confession at all.
If it were, she'd be shrinking back or at least showing some sign in her expression. But with that smile beaming so purely and unclouded, it clearly wasn't.
'Sigh.'
I got it now. She had no idea how her words sounded coming out of her mouth.
'Yeah, that's just how Irina is.'
I'd never analyzed her deeply out of any real desire to, but the original story had described Irina Pernova at length as someone utterly unfit for high society—her emotional language was that immature.
So this was just her saying she needed me because she genuinely felt I was necessary, and blurting it out since I was the first to make her feel that way.
This ice block of a girl picked up on my exhaustion just fine, but she was hopelessly dense about stuff like this.
But if I shot her down flat here with something like, "No. You're a student, and I'm your professor," she might take it as rejection and close off the heart she'd just barely opened.
On the other hand, pretending to accept it would be a lie—and even crueler. Using a girl's feelings like that? I'd end up with a horn growing out of my ass in my sleep.
So. I decided.
Time to handle this like a professor.
"Class president."
"Yes, Professor? You went quiet for so long, I thought something might have happened."
"Could you rewind and think back on what you just said?"
"...Pardon?"
Irina tilted her head, still clutching my hand—gripping it even tighter, if anything.
"Did I say something strange?"
"Not strange, no. But what if you thought about it objectively for a moment?"
"What do you...?"
"How would it look to a third party, seeing what you just did?"
Irina seemed to picture it in her mind, her gaze drifting off toward the distant hills.
"To help you understand, mind if I walk through what happened step by step?"
"Of course. It'd be an honor—especially since I don't get it at all."
"There was a female student. She took a male professor's hand and pulled it up to her chin."
"......"
"And she said, 'A man like you is the first I've met.'"
".........Uh."
"Then, 'It seems I need a professor.' All with a face full of smiles."
"───!!"
With that, I lifted her hand slightly to show her.
"Put it all together—what do you think people outside would call that?"
Her face was already primed to turn red.
"—Wh-what would they call it?"
"A confession, Class President."
Once her mind caught up with my logical breakdown, a rare sight unfolded.
The proud, bold Irina's ears turned bright red first. The flush spread to her cheeks, then down to her neck—bright as could be for anyone to see.
A thermometer with legs couldn't look more accurate. Though probably not as pretty as Irina.
"─!!!"
The moment that thermometer hit boiling point, her hands sprang away from mine with a snap.
"Th-that, th-that...!"
Words starting with that stutter. She'd cracked the perfect picture in her heart.
"That's not what I meant!!!"
"I know."
"No! I really didn't!!"
Irina kept half-standing and sitting back down, flailing her hands wildly in the air.
Tonkatsu fists. Looked delicious.
"I-I just meant you're the most outstanding person I know, so I was being honest—nothing like that intent, I mean not that but—"
Where was the poised grand duchess who'd met my eyes with such dignity moments ago? Now she was just a scolded student fumbling excuses.
"I get it, okay?"
"Th-then why say it like that if you knew?!"
"Because you didn't. So I explained."
But unlike the other students, seeing unflappable Irina—so much a part of my daily routine—flustered like this... it was oddly cute.
And so, for the first time in ages—truly ages—I let a genuine smile rise from within.
"Anyway, by society's standards, you'll graduate and become some fine man's wife someday. Save those words for him. Keep this up, and you'll get the wrong idea floating around."
But the moment I said that...
"......Oh, um."
Irina couldn't tear her eyes from me for a second before suddenly covering her face with both hands.
Her flushed cheeks peeked through her fingers. Poke 'em—bet I'd get bonus points.
"............I want to die."
"Come on, it's not that bad."
"No. I seriously want to drop dead. There's a hole somewhere, and I want to crawl in."
"Can't have the daughter of the esteemed Pernov Grand Duchy crawling into just any hole."
"I-I know...!!"
She sulked there, hands over her face, oblivious to the spring breeze scattering petals or her handmade flower crown swaying in the wind.
She just wanted to vanish from the world.
It was hilarious. Thinking how I'd reduced a grand duchess to this... yeah, it was fucking funny.
But this rotten teacher of mine went and had some needless sentiment anyway.
Judging purely by the weight of her careless words... was she really just being childish?
Why say it to me, of all people?
Why specify man?
Why grab my hand?
People's bodies often knew things their minds didn't. It happened all the time.
But those thoughts—I consciously shoved them deep into my chest.
'Not the time.'
At least right now, I couldn't let myself get involved with anyone. Especially not a highborn lady from an mismatched family—one of my students, no less. I had to recognize that and shut it down.
"Class President."
".........Yes."
So I spoke plainly to Irina, still hiding her face.
"It's fine. Drop your hands. I won't laugh."
"This Irina Vladimirovna Pernova plans to take the sight of you smiling to her grave."
"Just bear with it once... You did great. You're a grand duchess, after all, right?"
Uw.... Only after that did she finally lower her hands.
She looked ready to die on the spot otherwise, so I'd fished for a hint from her words and teased accordingly. Spot on—she was forcibly restoring her grand duchess poise, dignity intact.
But her ears were still red, her eyes a bit misty, and her lips puffed out like "How do I handle this? Do you hate me?!"
"Professor. Please forget today ever happened."
Her tension was plenty convincing.
Heh heh. Cute little thing.
"What? Was there anything worth remembering?"
She hesitated a moment, then her smile returned.
Irina could always smile, no matter what.
She stood, brushed the grass off her skirt, turned to leave—but paused, picking up the fragile flower crown the wind had nearly scattered and placing it gently on my knee.
"What's this?"
"A flower crown."
"I know that much."
"...I'm giving it to you. You said it was well-made earlier."
She left it at that and walked off without looking back. Her heart wasn't fully mended yet... but her stride was confident enough.
"...Running away?"
Heh. The girl who faced off against Zikrinde without bowing her head once was hightailing it here.
Pfft— I glanced down at the flower crown on my knee.
Got a gift now. Couldn't just toss it.
"Might as well keep it. No clue how to store the damn thing, though..."
I brushed off the dirt and stood, my sluggish body feeling a strange sense of fulfillment bubbling up inside.
The situation was a bit messy, but talking with Irina had honestly lifted my spirits a little.
Alright. Joseph.
...No easy roads ahead, but let's push through.
But "mountains upon mountains" isn't just a saying for nothing.
This sensation—it'd been ages since I'd last felt it. Back when I fought the other professors over student records, got my office assigned, and right after heard Irina and Zikrinde had clashed.
Same thing now.
"...Think the library has a guide for flower crown care? Probably need to check the horticulture section."
After that heartwarming break with Irina, I headed across campus to my office, sniffing—
Sniff sniff—
Suddenly, from somewhere in the school, I felt a slimy, creeping aura rising.
"Huh."
A mistake? Bullshit, no way.
This familiar, shitty sensation was one I'd felt every damn day of my life on the battlefield.
If I'd mistaken this, I'd have died and been resurrected a hundred times over by now.
'Smell of death...'
On the battlefield, you naturally picked up things like the stench of blood soaking the earth or the mixed shit of countless men.
But there was one more thing everyone in this world took for granted.
The sharp, eerie, fishy reek of mana burning hot and wild.
And what I'd just clearly sensed? That exact thing.
"───Fuck."
Mana rampage? Suspicious mage intruder?
Didn't matter which—I bolted.
I had no idea why I was doing this. But the moment I caught that smell, my heart pounded, veins crawling with that nauseating awareness of every vessel in my body.
Before thought could catch up, my legs were moving.
"...No, the kids are around. Don't fuck around──."
I vaguely registered muttering something, but my head was too scrambled to know what.
Huff, huff—
I arrived at... predictably, the stronger the smell got, the more it made me want to puke... somewhere in the campus warehouse.
Clunk—
Looked locked with a padlock or something.
Bam—!
A light kick sent me inside, where in the corner, I spotted someone huddled, writhing.
"No... get in....... It hurts.... Kyaa, kuhak.... Aaaah─!"
"—Tiel."
It was the quietest in our class, the one so withdrawn it was hard to even gauge how she fit in. She—her arm, whether from a slip-up or total loss of control, was going berserk, on the verge of exploding, and she was desperately trying to rewrap the bandages around it.
I stood there, holding the flower crown from Irina, looking down at her.