A Debt of Grace (2)
The faculty meeting had ended, and the administrative office stood quiet.
Blithe lingered behind alone, sorting through the meeting's contents.
"Hmm-hmm~"
She had found a professor willing to play the role of a Demonic Being far more easily than expected, and a tune escaped her lips without her even noticing.
Handing such dirty work to Elysion's professors—every bit as dignified as their students—was no simple task, after all.
Recalling Professor Ziya's frost-hardened expression when the topic had first been raised, Blithe gave a theatrical shudder and clucked her tongue in amusement.
"Honestly, she's my junior by decades, but sometimes I swear she feels like my superior."
It was a wonder to behold—even Simon, that pompous, rank-obsessed old codger, turned into a statue the moment he stood before Professor Ziya.
"Anyway, one difficult matter handled."
Picturing Professor Kallen snapping up the bait the moment it dangled before him, Blithe let out a chuckle.
"I never dreamed Lady Talisa's words would land so perfectly. You two really aren't anything to each other, are you?"
Muttering skeptically to no one in particular, she sank deep into her chair.
"Professor Kallen… he really is a strange one, that man…"
Featherlight in speech and conduct, his attitude so careless it seemed he'd tossed his sense of responsibility out a window somewhere.
Whether one meant it kindly or not, Kallen looked nothing like a professor from any angle.
And yet, whenever she faced him, an inexplicable trust welled up from somewhere deep within. It was, truly, a curious thing.
-Knock knock.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
Blithe straightened her posture at once, cleared her throat, and called out.
"Come in."
Through the door appeared an envoy of the Church of Aten, clad in white robes emblazoned with a golden cross.
He stepped forward and bowed at the waist.
"May peace be upon you. In the name of Aten, I bring greetings to Lady Blithe of the Frost Jade."
"It's been a while, Percival. What brings you here?"
Despite the unexpected visit, Blithe greeted the envoy warmly.
She was currently handling Elysion's external affairs in Talisa's stead, the latter being too busy holding back the mana storms that swept in from the Illusion Realm around this time of year.
Contrary to Simon's fretting the other day, relations between Elysion and the Church of Aten weren't entirely hostile.
His excessive distrust of them seemed to stem from some personal experience in his past.
Elysion and the Church of Aten had traded minor grievances for years, yet whenever a great calamity loomed, they always joined hands. Given how long they had stood together against the threats of the Illusion Realm, that much was only natural.
"I bear a message from our Church."
He respectfully handed Blithe a sealed scroll.
Unrolling it, Blithe knit her brow slightly as she read it aloud.
"A request to permit hunters and paladins entry into Caliburn and its surrounding territories?"
"That is correct."
"Hmm… there's no particular reason to refuse… but what's the purpose?"
Though Caliburn exercised a high degree of autonomy, it could hardly withhold permission depending on the stated purpose.
The envoy answered without hesitation.
"The search for heretics."
At the utterly unexpected appearance of the Vitelles heir, Kallen narrowed his eyes into a squint.
Professor Ziya's remarks about summoning parents for a disciplinary conference flashed through his mind.
He could guess Dorian's purpose without much effort.
"I heard while paying my respects to Professor Ziya. It seems our Judith committed a very serious offense against you last time."
He bowed his head to Kallen once more.
"On behalf of House Vitelles, I offer my apologies for her discourtesy."
Dorian's face was brimming with what looked like heartfelt remorse.
An heir to one of the Empire's great ducal houses bowing his head to another person—a rarer sight could hardly be found anywhere.
Not that Kallen couldn't see perfectly well that it was a mask worn one layer thick.
"That you would extend forgiveness even after such an incident, I am truly grateful. As for compensation, anything at all…"
"Ah, that's enough. Compensation, my foot."
Kallen merely waved his hand away with an exasperated look on his face.
Then, a mischievous smile flickering across his lips, he glanced sidelong at Dorian and spoke in a probing tone.
"Well, see that she's educated properly from now on. Otherwise, how could anyone go around calling themselves heirs of an imperial duchy?"
"…Your words are just. All of this is my own failing."
Yet even now, Dorian only twisted his face in apology.
At this rate, the petty one here would inevitably be Kallen himself.
Getting nothing out of it after all, Kallen sighed and waved his hand dismissively.
"…I only said it in passing. I've already forgotten the whole thing, so there's no need to bow so low."
"Ah, thank you…!"
Dorian, seemingly moved, bowed to Kallen again and again.
Then he turned to Judith, who had been cowering behind him the entire time, and spoke in a stern voice.
"What are you doing, dithering instead of offering your apologies? Professor Kallen is showing you such mercy even now."
"Ngh…"
Only then did Judith, who had been nervously watching her brother's face, step forward.
"About what happened before… I truly… apologize…"
Head bowed, lips pressed into a stubborn pout, her face was still brimming with stubborn reluctance.
"Thank you… for forgiving me…"
"Er, yeah, sure."
Kallen waved his hand vaguely, without much sincerity.
Receiving an apology that came from nowhere near the heart wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.
But with all this done, at least she wouldn't go stirring up needless trouble for him again.
Soon he spoke in a curt voice.
"I should be going. I have urgent business."
"Ah, I've taken up far too much of your time. You must be terribly busy as it is…"
Dorian made a show of startled realization and stepped back with a bow.
"Thank you once again for the grace you have shown us."
"It's really nothing."
Kallen, wearing a distinctly uneasy expression, threw out a casual reply.
"Heading straight back, then?"
"Since I've come this far, I intend to attend to a few board of directors matters first. I'd also like to look around the campus where Judith has been living."
"Busy men are all the same, aren't they. Well then, take care."
Kallen, half-accepting and half-ignoring Dorian's farewell, promptly spun on his heel.
Reaching the end of the corridor, he cast a slight glance back over his shoulder.
The two were still standing right where they had been.
"Ahh, this is the life."
Sprawled out on a secluded stairway landing, skiving off his duties, Kallen stretched luxuriously.
He'd stumbled upon this unexpected gem while scurrying all over Elysion in search of Garnet.
"Well, everyone needs a moment like this. The kids are off playing happily with the rabbits, I'm sure… it's not time for me to check on them yet…"
After all, once the practical exam preparations began in earnest, he'd have no time to rest at all.
Right now, rest was an unavoidable choice.
He'd been pushing himself far too hard lately, playing professor—a role never written into his fate.
"Good. Very good…"
So he lay there, lazing to his heart's content—
Until he sensed someone's footsteps approaching from below the stairs, and he grimaced in complaint.
"Ugh, dammit, and I went and found the perfect spot…"
Thankfully, the sound stopped one floor directly below his landing.
And when Kallen poked his head out to peek down, his eyes went round in an instant.
There stood the very siblings he'd run into earlier—Dorian and Judith.
Judith, head hanging low, was hurrying along in small steps after Dorian, who walked ahead.
Of all places… should've just gone home quietly once the meeting was over.
He was about to grumble quietly to himself when—
But why here, of all—
-CRACK!!
A sharp crack of displaced air split the air, leaving his ears ringing.
Kallen's muttered complaints died in his mouth at the sight before him.
"…Ah."
Judith, her back against the wall, clutched her own cheek and swayed slightly where she stood.
Having just slapped her, Dorian didn't so much as reach out to steady her. He merely spoke in a voice cold as frost.
"I buried you here in Elysion and told you to keep your head down."
"And still you couldn't wait even this long before causing trouble."
The gap between this and the courteous, good-natured heir who had faced Kallen moments ago was, quite literally, heaven and earth.
Yeesh. That's… genuinely unsettling.
Only now did Kallen grasp the source of the unease he'd felt earlier.
Judith bit down hard on her lip, then opened her mouth, her voice thick and trembling, as if in protest.
"Brother…! I only did what any member of Vitelles was duty-bound to—"
-CRACK!
Another sharp sound rang out, echoing to the far end of the corridor.
"Utterly incorrigible."
Struck across the other cheek as well, Judith could endure no more and crumpled to the floor where she stood.
"And you dare speak of Vitelles's duty with that mouth of yours."
Dorian simply looked down at her, continuing his blunt condemnation.
There wasn't a single grain of sibling warmth in those frigid eyes.
"Punishing the daughter of a traitor. Driving out an insolent commoner professor. Not one of those things is your affair."
"…"
"I can no longer tolerate you. If I leave you be like this, you'll do nothing but sully the family name."
Then, drawing a short breath, Dorian spoke.
"On my way here, I looked into a match for you. Withdraw from Elysion and devote yourself to your wedding preparations from now on."
"…What?"
The light drained from Judith's eyes.
Dazed, swaying, she crawled toward him and clutched at the hem of his trousers, stammering.
"Th-this is too sudden, Brother… a marriage, out of nowhere…"
All her usual haughtiness vanished; Judith begged in a desperate, breaking voice.
"A-at least let me stay until graduation—"
"SILENCE!! Did I not tell you, time and again, to mind your conduct?!"
Dorian kicked her arm away and roared.
"You will wed Count Hatz. You know who he is, surely? One of our house's principal trading partners—see that you serve him faithfully."
"C-count Hatz…?"
Judith's face drained white in an instant.
For all that House Hatz held trade ties with Vitelles, it was at best a backwater line of pig farmers raising livestock in the frontier provinces.
Worse still, the current Count Hatz was a bloated old man already past sixty.
Setting Judith herself aside, he was far beneath the station appropriate for sending off a daughter of the Ducal House of Vitelles.
"Th-this can't happen, Brother!! No matter what—!"
-CRACK!!
Slapping Judith's cheek yet again, Dorian answered in a glacial voice.
"You would defy the decision of the Duke's regent?"
"Brother…"
"I have invited the Count to a salon in Caliburn three days hence. You will exchange greetings and move directly into marriage preparations. Prepare yourself accordingly."
Dorian's decision had already been made.
"…"
Hearing it, Judith bowed her head in hollow defeat.
And Kallen had watched every moment of it from the landing just above.
Hiding his face slightly, he muttered in horror.
"…What in the hell is this?"