Romance Guidebook
Helon Academy, where Veronica had enrolled.
By any public measure, it was more than worthy of its reputation as the finest academy on the continent. For Veronica herself, it was her first real taste of life outside the Magic Tower that had been almost the entirety of her world.
When Sally heard the news of her admission, she had fretted endlessly. Someone like Scarlet might have wondered what could possibly be wrong with her own temperament, but Sally knew perfectly well that mages were, to a one, eccentric. She had fretted seriously over Veronica’s school life and friendships.
Yet there were two things Sally had failed to account for.
First, having never attended Helon Academy herself, she did not know how different it was from other academies. Second, the status of successor to the Red Magic Tower Master carried more weight than even she had imagined.
Veronica, who had learned her standards for human interaction from mages, behaved exactly the same way at the Academy. And yet no problems arose. People already knew that mages as a breed were arrogant and peculiar by nature—and this particular mage was destined to become the next Red Magic Tower Master. No one took issue with anything she said or did.
These were children who, for all their youth, had been shrewdly drilled by their parents on just how vital Academy connections could be. Even when Veronica tossed out dismissive remarks like, “Ha, how can you not know something so simple?” they never got angry or told her to watch her tongue. Instead came reactions like:
“As expected of the Red Magic Tower Master’s disciple.”
“The rumors about her being a genius were true.”
Honestly, Veronica found it dull. Back at the Tower there had been plenty of people who envied her, resented her, and cursed her name. Here at the Academy, the proportion of people who showed her goodwill far outstripped those types. Of course none of it was pure goodwill. Every last bit of it was goodwill with an ulterior motive—something they wanted from her.
Telling the difference was easy for Veronica. She had already endured more than enough of it at the Tower. The only pure goodwill she had ever known came from Sally and her master. That was the entire list.
She had never admitted it to anyone out of sheer embarrassment, but Veronica had come to the Academy hoping to make friends. Everything she found, however, was so thoroughly boring that she could only sigh in disappointment.
It was into that situation that the Academy assigned the cadets into parties. The members of the party she ended up in were impressive by any standard: the heir of House Epsilt and Hero candidate, the Church’s Saintess, the Imperial Sword of House Ansberg, a high-ranking elf from the Great Forest—and herself, successor to the Red Magic Tower Master.
Veronica was reasonably pleased. At the very least, none of them were in a position to fawn over her. Even so, she found no friends here either. The Saintess was forever glued to the Hero candidate. The girl from House Ansberg or whatever it was barely spoke. That unpleasant Leo Epsilt was someone Veronica had no interest in from the start.
Elin Nidia? That elf’s constant habit of muttering “lowly humans” got on Veronica’s nerves so badly that one day she threatened to drop a meteor on the Great Forest so the elf could watch the fireworks from atop the World Tree. After their spectacular fight, they stopped even looking at each other.
Only two people in the party could be said to rank below her: Aine the commoner, and Louis Wallenstein of the traitor Count Wallenstein family.
As for Aine, she was a lively girl for someone of such low birth. A few noble scions had sneered that she was vulgar and whatnot. Veronica herself, of course, threw around similar language she had picked up from the mages—but she never truly disliked Aine. That commoners were vulgar might have been her genuine opinion, yet Aine somehow seemed different.
Then there was Louis Wallenstein. Unlike the other students at the Academy, Veronica held no particular prejudice against him. Raised in the Magic Tower, she barely understood the whole “traitor family” business, and she was not the type to judge people by such things in the first place. Whether her counterpart was a commoner or a duke’s heir, Veronica treated everyone with the same total lack of manners.
Louis Wallenstein was a little different. He never seemed especially offended. When she insulted people of lower status, they might smile to her face, but she could always sense them holding something back. Louis showed none of that.
Naturally, Veronica found herself taking a mild interest in him. She had heard the rumors about him. She had seen how the other cadets reacted to him. So she assumed he, like everyone else, wanted something from her. Yet Louis never fawned the way the others did. For reasons she could not grasp, he showed her genuine goodwill—goodwill that did not look calculated. However it happened, the kindness he offered felt similar to what she received from Sally and her master.
Frustrated by that incomprehensible attitude, Veronica one day asked him outright what he wanted from her. Louis’s bright, smiling answer was a masterpiece.
“Let’s be friends!”
In truth he would say the same thing to Felice a few months later, but the words struck Veronica as special. They felt completely different from the “let’s be friends” other cadets tossed around.
“H-hmph! Me, with the likes of you?”
Her usual rude tone. That was simply how Veronica always spoke. From that day on, the two of them grew considerably closer. Still not fully trusting him, Veronica tested him a few times—asking if he needed money, or if he wanted an introduction to her master. Veronica was not particularly clever about such things, so the tests were clumsy at best. Louis passed every one of them. There had been other cadets who jumped at the chance the moment she mentioned Scarlet and then looked at her with those greed-soaked eyes that only disappointed her further.
Becoming closer to Louis did not mean she suddenly spoke kindly to him. She used the same tone she used with everyone else. Louis never got angry. In fact, among those of lower status, he was the only one who ever dared snap back at her.
“Hey, Firebug.”
“W-what? Firebug?!”
“There’s something I’ve always wondered. They say kids who play with fire wet the bed at night…”
“Die! Just die already! What kind of nonsense is that?! Why would I even—!”
“Ow, that hurts! Wait, your height—sorry!”
“Drop dead, you idiot!”
Strangely, even when he insulted her, it did not feel bad. Bickering with him like this was oddly pleasant. Looking at Louis made her chest tingle, and she found herself wanting to keep chattering with him. It was the first time she had ever felt anything like it. The more time she spent with him, the stranger her condition became.
I’ve never been taught about anything like this…
Normally she would have gone straight to her master with any problem, but this was something she somehow did not want to tell anyone. Veronica headed for the library and, on a half-hopeful whim, pulled out a book.
Does your chest tingle every time you look at him?
Veronica nodded.
Even when you are apart, do thoughts of him come to you? Do you, perhaps, close your eyes only to see his face and lose sleep?
Exactly right. Excited, Veronica raced through the rest.
When you stand before him, does your face grow hot and your heart race?
“Y-yes…”
She answered without meaning to. Then came the next sentence.
If so, then you are in love with that man.
…Huh? What? L-love?
Veronica’s face flushed as red as her hair.
“N-no! That can’t be!”
Forgetting she was in a library, she shouted and hopped in place. By the time she came back to her senses, the book in her hands had already been reduced to ash. Even while the librarian scolded her thoroughly, her head remained packed full of what she had just read.
The next day, on her way to meet Louis, she steeled herself over and over—yet the moment she saw him her face burned and her heart pounded.
“Aah! No!”
“Whoa! What’s wrong, Veronica?”
“Shut up, idiot!”
Even after they parted, Louis’s handsome face kept floating through her mind. Even the female cadets who cursed him as a traitor admitted that much about his looks.
Well, his face is pretty enough, sure.
If only he weren’t a Wallenstein…
Veronica ground her teeth without realizing it.
Ha, what are they even saying? The same people who trash him every other day. And “handsome”? A guy who looks that much like a girl…
In any case, Veronica could not accept that she was in love with Louis. She treated him even more harshly than usual—all to hide her feelings. Louis, for his part, continued treating her exactly as before, and Veronica’s heart only grew larger.
That was when it began: the other girls around Louis started to bother her. Aine had always been close to him, so that was one thing. The real problem was that elf who never stopped talking about lowly humans and who had now begun taking an interest in Louis. Veronica could tell, no matter how much the girl pretended otherwise. And that was not even the end of it.
What bothered Veronica most of all, surprisingly, was Felice. The girl who had always been so curt had lately grown strangely close to Louis. The decisive moment came later.
One night when thoughts of Louis still kept her from sleeping, Veronica was walking the academy grounds when she saw something she could not believe.
What are those two doing, going somewhere at this hour?