The Hated Villainess
After that incident, Elysia never opened her dormitory door again. Not that I sat on my hands. Every chance I got, I went to her room and tried everything I could think of to draw her out — and it never came to anything. From the other side of the door, there was not even the faintest stir of life.
And in the meantime, Elysia's reputation — already in poor shape — was being driven straight into the dirt.
"Did you hear? The witch hasn't been coming to class lately. She's holed up in the dorms."
"Really? Haha! Serves her right! How'd Her Highness the noble Lady Cadeliz manage to swallow that pride of hers? She always treated us like we were gutter rats — I'd love to see the look on her face now, I really would."
"Exactly. Villainess, witch — she brought it all on herself. Who told her to treat Chloe like that? She dug her own grave."
The incident in which Elysia had tried to slap Chloe — uncomfortable enough on its own, though it had stopped at an attempt — twisted into a rumor that she had actually struck Chloe across the face. From there it mutated further still, into a groundless smear that she was tormenting Chloe, throwing her weight around as the legitimate daughter and shutting out a bastard child.
A thoroughly insufferable villainess of a noble young lady, and a bastard who'd rolled in from nowhere only to be persecuted.
...Well. From an outsider's point of view, I supposed it was a setup you could swallow without thinking twice.
Walking the Academy halls, you didn't even have to strain your ears to catch this kind of talk about Elysia.
"She's actual trash. How can a young lady of House Cadeliz behave with so little breeding? His Grace must have his hands full."
"What's she even doing locked up in that room by herself? Researching some kind of wicked black magic, I bet."
"Well, those hideous Witch's Red Eyes are the problem. One look at those crimson eyes and your whole day's ruined!"
"The late Duchess never had the Witch's Red Eyes, but I heard she was a mage well-versed in the dark arts."
"Blood will tell, won't it? That's why His Grace went looking elsewhere and..."
"Shh! You can't just say things like that! If the witch hears you, she'll burn you to a crisp!"
Whispers upon whispers...
"E-everyone, please don't speak so unkindly of Her Ladyship~"
And at the center of it all, Chloe was always mixed in.
No coincidence, I was sure.
Her role was to sit quietly through the worst of the gossip and then pipe up with something hopelessly naive and sweet — I'm sure Lady Elysia doesn't actually want that! — as if she were looking out for her half-sister. She might have looked the part. The problem was that she wasn't.
Even when Elysia's shoe locker and desk were defaced with graffiti and old juice stains, Chloe would only make a show of stopping it — a deft little performance — and in truth she was the one quietly feeding the atmosphere.
"I'm grateful that you're all thinking of me, I really am, but I wish you wouldn't be so unkind! It's only natural that Her Ladyship wouldn't think much of a bastard like me... hic! It's all right. I can endure this much. I've weathered far worse than this!"
Why the hell was she crying?
But farming sympathy like that worked remarkably well on gently raised, sensitive adolescent nobles — the boys, especially. Everything Chloe said and did was calculated to trigger the instinct to protect her. One boy — the eldest son of a storied knight family, uncommonly tall for his age, and counted among the Academy's finest talents — was among her pitiful victims.
"Chloe. Don't put yourself down like that. I've been watching for a while now, and it seems to me Lady Elysia has been far too cruel to you."
"That's... well..."
"This is the Academy. Judging anyone by the height of their birth is something that should never happen here. Just hold on a little longer. I'll speak to the professors about this myself, properly."
"Hhk... hic! I'm grateful, even just for the thought...! I've been all alone this whole time...!"
"Don't cry. I'll help you. We all will."
Were they putting on a play in the middle of the classroom?
I couldn't stand to listen any longer. I was about to step in and say something myself. On paper, I was employed by House Cadeliz to guard both Elysia and Chloe. I couldn't have cared less if my employer the Duke was getting slandered — but even so, I did feel a little sorry for Elysia, who wasn't even here to defend herself. A little clumsiness here and there was no reason she had to sit through this kind of talk.
But just as I left my seat and started toward them, Chloe flicked a glance my way, caught sight of me, and suddenly composed her face into something misty and fragile.
"Sniff...! But I'm all right. I have someone strong by my side now — someone who'll look after me."
She'd known I was about to step in, and she'd gotten there first. The moment Chloe pointed me out, the lecture hall erupted. The boys, in particular, turned looks on me that could have stripped paint.
"...That man. Gray, wasn't it, Chloe?"
"That's right. That's Gray."
"...I heard he came from some church or other. A priest? A paladin? He's been so quiet this whole time I figured he was just the young lady's escort."
"Gray doesn't only guard Lady Elysia. He looks after me as well. He says he holds an important position in the church of Astasia — the Goddess of Wisdom and the Night Sky."
"What...? Astasia's church? B-but he looks about our age..."
"Isn't he amazing?"
"..."
"A-and... this is a little embarrassing, but Papa... I-I mean, His Grace said it would be good if I stayed close to Gray going forward. He's someone even the Duke acknowledges, so..."
Chloe let the end of the sentence trail off, just so.
I couldn't have cared less about the reaction around us. What I couldn't manage, right then, was my own face. The position I had demanded of the Duke with the church at my back had been one thing and one thing only: Elysia's guard. Guarding Chloe had been a leftover I'd been saddled with in the course of the negotiations — something that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Covenants.
I was already raw enough over the Covenants as it was. I was in no mood to look kindly on a Duke angling for a church connection with cheap little tricks, or on a Chloe happily swallowing the bait.
Irritation surged up so fast I was a hair's breadth from doing something I couldn't take back.
Click. Click.
At the familiar sound of heels I turned, and there it was — a sweep of silver hair I knew well, and the rich scent of her shampoo carried on the air. Her clear, ringing voice bristled like a spray of cold, sharp thorns.
"Having an interesting conversation? Mind if I join in?"
Click. Click. Click. Each step carried its own peculiar rhythm. It was a gait forged through long practice and painstaking care, and it carried a dignity no one could find fault with.
The lecture hall fell silent the instant Elysia appeared.
"Chloe. In that imagination of yours, you've already gotten that far? How amusing. Did Father tell you to do that?"
Because of the cursed Witch's Red Eyes, her sight was terribly poor. She could barely make out the shapes of things, and she didn't seem to have noticed I was standing close by. Without so much as a change of expression, Elysia walked straight up to Chloe.
Chloe was the first to speak, beaming.
"My lady! You're finally out!"
"Yes. I came out. Thanks to you. What you said to me yesterday really... struck a chord. So I came out."
"Yesterday, was it...? Ah! I was only worried about you. I just wanted to offer a few words of encouragement."
...Yesterday?
Yesterday was when I'd overheard that nonsense about an engagement outside Elysia's door and walked away without a word. I'd had the sense, afterward, that Chloe had been lingering near that door — so there must have been more conversation I hadn't heard.
...What exactly had she said to get Elysia to come out of that room?
Judging by Elysia's face, it hadn't been a pleasant talk.
"...You know, you're a lot more entertaining than I expected."
"Am I? Hehe... I just wanted to get along with you! We're family now, after all!"
"Family? You and me? Ha...!"
Elysia looked down at Chloe with a cold little laugh.
"Not bad for a whore's brat. You've really come up in the world, haven't you? Having fun? You wrap the whole family around your finger in a single stroke, and now you think the world is yours?"
"...Excuse me? I... I'm sorry?"
"What do you even get out of fawning over everyone, playing the saint, sniffling for sympathy? Do you just enjoy it? Well. I suppose that's your nature. Blood will tell, won't it?"
"My lady... what are you..."
"Father really has made a mess of things. If he was going to go and do something like that outside the house, he should have had the sense to bury it — or deal with it. What was he thinking, bringing a mother and daughter of such thoroughly base stock into the family?"
"M-my lady...? Did I do something wrong? A-and you shouldn't speak about His Grace that way! He's our father! Hhk... He'd be so sad if he heard you!"
"My. You won't even drop the mask in a situation like this? How impressive. What is it you want? Money? Power? If you want it, I'll give it to you — whatever I can reach. Just say the word."
Elysia's face was utterly exhausted. She let out a breath and went on.
"So please... please... I'm asking you. Won't you just get out of my sight? My head feels like it's going to split open even without you here..."
That was as far as she got before the students around them rose up.
"My lady! There's a limit — even listening to you, that was too far!"
"She's right! What did Chloe even do to deserve that?"
"This is the Academy — the Academy! Don't you dare think you can get away with anything you want just because of your family name, the way you would outside these walls!"
"A witch really is a witch! To make someone as gentle and kind as Chloe cry... I didn't want to say it, but that's just vile!"
"If you keep this up, we're not going to sit still either!"
Elysia's sight had deteriorated so badly she could barely tell which students were around her, or how many. Anyone would startle when sharp voices came flying in from every direction at once. Between her tightly drawn brows, the crimson of the Witch's Red Eyes went hazy. I saw it — a flicker of agitation catching in those pupils.
"How about you all knock it off?"
At the single line I tossed out, the students turned to look at me, wariness written across their faces. Elysia flinched at the sound of my voice as well — then immediately snapped back, every word bristling.
"Gray? Who asked you to stick your nose in?"
"Elysia. Let's go back and talk for a—"
"Shut up. Get your hand off me."
She bit down on her lip and went on.
"...I thought you, at least, were different..."
The Witch's Red Eyes alter the very nature of their owner's mana. That immense power, I'd been told, is somewhat difficult to hold in check with ordinary human reason. One example: when Elysia's emotions ran high, small flames would sometimes lick up around her.
This time was no different.
"F-fire! I saw it! I definitely saw it!"
"Witch! That's the witch's power! Get back! Someone get the professors, now!"
"Kyaa! My lady! Please don't do that to Gray!"
Chloe stepped in front of me with a rather theatrical flourish. She had Elysia's measure well enough, in her own way. However much Elysia treated people as if she were made of thorns, she had never once shown genuine killing intent. Chloe put herself in front of me knowing that.
And sure enough, Elysia realized her mistake a beat too late and plunged into a panic.
"...N-no... no... I didn't... I didn't mean to..."
"I-if you want to hurt someone, then hurt me instead!"
"...Shut up...! I...!"
"Please come to your senses! You know those eyes hurt people!"
She squeezed the words out as if they cost her courage, and it looked for all the world as if she were rallying the students around her. But I saw it.
"If you keep hurting everyone around you for the rest of your life, there won't be anyone left by your side!"
Over her shoulder, through the fall of her hair — Chloe gazing at Elysia, forcibly suppressing the smile that was climbing the corners of her mouth.
"Hey."
"Gray, are you hu—"
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm sorryyy... my body just moved on its own to protect you..."
"Move."
Nothing kind was going to come out of my mouth after that. I shoved Chloe aside in a hurry, but Elysia was already gone — fleeing far from the students' stares.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
"...This just became a real headache."
...At this rate, the Covenants and everything else are going to go up in smoke.
Why the hell do I have to get dragged into this kind of mess?
Goddess's Covenants, villainesses, witches — I wanted to throw the whole lot of it out the window.