They Won't Leave Me Alone
They won't leave me alone... “…?”
What the hell just happened? Why was Zenovia's hand right in front of my face, and why were Rain and Minel staring at me like they'd seen something they shouldn't have? And... why did my cheek hurt so damn much?
And why were the gods reacting like this?
“...What the hell do you think you're doing!!”
Rain bellowed at Zenovia. Zenovia flinched for a moment at Rain's outburst, but soon her golden eyes glared back at Rain without a hint of wavering.
“I merely gave a light punishment to a student who wasn't paying attention in class. This kind of corporal punishment is commonplace during knight training.”
“Do you think that makes any sense!!”
“Then where's the problem? Are you invoking noble status here at Arcade Academy? If so, go right ahead. You'd be the one getting expelled.”
The delayed surge of pain and the increase in the domination mana made me realize what had happened to me.
“Ah...”
I'd just gotten slapped across the cheek. When I came to my senses and touched my cheek, it felt hotter than usual even through the thin glove.
Why the hell did she do that? The question swirled in my head. No matter how low her self-esteem was or how much she liked putting others down to compensate, she wouldn't just lash out like this without reason...
“You okay?”
“Ah.”
I snapped back to reality. What the hell was I even thinking?
“Hahaha...”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips. As if she wouldn't act recklessly? Don't make me laugh. I was the one who'd always stopped her from going off the rails before. And now I was deluding myself that she wouldn't.
I'd been mistaken. I'd thought I'd come to completely hate her, that I could face them without a shred of lingering attachment or rose-tinted glasses. But the deep impressions they'd left in my mind weren't all gone yet.
Prin would be kinder than anyone. Ceres would be gentler than anyone. Zenovia would be nobler than anyone. Lianne would be purer than anyone.
“Fuck...”
Please, forget it already. Kindness, gentleness, nobility, purity. Even though none of those words applied to them anymore, traces still lingered in my head... no, regrets tied to their names.
Was there no way to cut this out? Should I just kill them? Or erase my memories?
“Hey, Lian Primal. You okay?”
Or maybe suicide? Since this life was my last anyway, if I just choked myself right now, it would all end without these regrets...
“Snap out of it! Lian Primal!!”
“Ugh!”
My spiraling negative thoughts finally halted at Minel's sharp words.
.... Goddamn it.
Self-loathing and disgust churned in my gut, endlessly fueling my irritation.
“What is it? What nonsense are you spouting now?”
I never should have fallen in love. I never should have felt sympathy for her as she trembled in fear yet stood against the monster. I never should have comforted her as she tearfully begged me that she was scared.
“...Zenovia.”
“It's Instructor. What does a student have to say to their teacher...”
Whoosh.
The white glove slipped from my hand and landed right in front of her.
“What?”
“I challenge you to a duel. Even if it's inside the academy, you slapped the cheek of someone from a duke's family... You'd have prepared for something like this, right?”
At my words, Zenovia's face drained of color. She looked utterly flustered, like she hadn't seen this coming.
Who in their right mind would pick a fight with a teacher as a mere Arcade Academy student? A first-year freshman at that.
If it were any other instructor, I wouldn't have tried this with my current body—I couldn't win for sure. But...
“Why that look on your face? Weren't you prepared for this?”
My opponent was Zenovia. My chances of winning were high.
But shaking off my lingering feelings for her with just this wouldn't be enough. Their traces had been etched into my mind and body for over a hundred years; it was impossible to cast them off completely in less than a year.
But even if it took ten years—no, a hundred—I would forget them. Not some half-assed spell that erased memories but left emotions to torment me. I'd turn both emotions and memories into mere faded recollections.
“I'll ask Minel, as a third party, to officiate. And the fight will obviously be with real swords.”
I drew the sword from my side and pointed it at Zenovia.
“Any complaints, speak now.”
“A-are you serious!?”
“Of course.”
Real swords didn't really matter to me. If we used wooden ones, I could just shatter her bones and call it a day.
“L-later, then...”
“Later's fine. But if we do, it'll have to be an official match reported to the school, fought publicly in front of the other students... That okay with you?”
Zenovia's hands trembled like an ordinary person who'd spotted a dragon.
“What's wrong? Scared to fight a student?”
“As if!!”
Zenovia drew her sword with shaking hands.
“But not now. In one week.”
One week. That gave her plenty of time to pull strings, but it wasn't a bad option for me either, so I nodded.
“Fine. Real sword duel, publicly, in one week.”
“That instructor... is she really right in the head?”
“Nah, probably not.”
We'd wrapped up swordsmanship class early and headed straight to a nearby restaurant with Minel to grab dinner.
“A marquess's person slapping a duke's family member...”
“Yeah.”
Minel was from a marquess family too, but she knew her boundaries. Even in casual chats like this, she kept things civil—no slaps unless it was a test or spar, no cursing. The gap between duke and marquess might be just one rank, but it was vast.
“Rain's heading back to rest. This won't take long, but we'll eat dinner before going.”
“Understood. I'll eat with Lianne.”
After telling Rain to go ahead, Minel and I entered a nearby restaurant, and I cut straight to the chase without hesitation.
“I want to stop the Reinhardt family's schemes.”
“...Would that be bad for Lady Ceres?”
Starting with that? Without even asking my reasons or circumstances, just worrying about Ceres—it hit me anew how much Minel cared for her.
“It'll probably be good for Ceres too.”
I handed her the letters from my father and mother. Minel took them naturally and skimmed through quickly.
“Hold on. I thought the crown prince was still under ten?”
“Yeah, unlike the first or second imperial princesses, he was born late, so he's only four this year.”
Minel set the letter down on the table and pinched the bridge of her nose.
That reaction wasn't surprising. Even from a marquess family's perspective, what the Reinhardts were plotting was insane.
“So... they're making Ceres the crown prince's fiancée.”
“And using the closeness to assassinate him, aiming to weaken imperial authority.”
The mature princesses, already handling mana at an advanced level, were too risky. But a crown prince who hadn't even awakened his mana properly? They figured they could kill him easily.
And they probably could. Then, as planned, they'd criticize the empire for failing to protect him and position their duke family to profit. They could demand money from the emperor in exchange for "Reinhardt swordsmanship house guards," or funnel taxes to their knight-training-focused house for military buildup.
“I see... With recent battles dying down, I've heard their reputation's been slipping, so this is their play.”
Come to think of it, this was around when the demon king's army was gathering monsters. Yeah, that made it even less suspicious.
“From the Reinhardts' view, as long as they solidify their position, they don't care. But for Ceres, it'd mean blowing two engagements in a row practically overnight. You know how fatal that is, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
Once was an accident. Twice? No one calls it coincidence.
“So how do you plan to stop it?”
Minel speared a piece of steak with her fork and popped it in her mouth.
“Even as a Primal, you're not the family head yet. And from inside the academy, your options are limited.”
“Yeah, I can't do much to the Reinhardts right now.”
Only once I established my hero status could I wipe out or cripple a house. But I had no intention of becoming that 'hero' again.
“But Ceres Reinhardt? We can work with that.”
“What do you plan to do with the lady?”
“Have her 'kidnapped'—pretend.”
Minel frowned but, thankfully, didn't outright refuse. She just pondered quietly.
“It won't involve physical or mental harm. If there's any real danger to her, I'll stop it no matter what.”
And with that, I got the OK.
“Of course.”