Things Approaching (1)
Places filled with people had begun to feel awkward, yet strangely alluring. Perhaps it was because he was finally adapting to city life. Marei had picked up the magic book Ilien had given him, thinking he might study, but concentration eluded him no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he forced himself outside. Staring blankly at the passing crowds, he mulled over the long holiday once more. He could hardly believe his current situation, and an indescribable feeling filled him as he passed the time slowly.
“Ph-Philia? Ah, no—Princess…!”
“What were you thinking so deeply about, young master of the ducal house?”
Philia covered her mouth and burst into laughter. The way she twirled the parasol in one hand made her look genuinely pleased.
“Call me Philia. Princess, or Your Highness… I don’t particularly want to be called those by you. You don’t like being called the young master of the ducal house either, do you?”
A pair of crimson eyes, dark enough to resemble shadows, curved in a languid, cat-like smile.
“Ah, hello, Philia.”
“Rather than ‘It’s been a while,’ I think ‘I’m glad to see you’ suits us better, don’t you?”
Philia rested her chin on her hand atop the table, one eye closed, and spoke as if seeking permission. Under the bright sunlight, her violet hair shimmered like silver, leaving a fleeting impression of beauty.
“I thought we’d meet tomorrow, but here we are, running into each other like this.”
Brushing a strand of silver hair behind her ear, Philia straightened her back and folded her hands neatly on her lap. Despite her casual words and demeanor, she truly looked like a proper young lady, so Marei unconsciously straightened his own posture as well. Between her faintly smiling lips, sharp fangs peeked out over neatly aligned white teeth.
Unable to think of what to say, Marei pressed his lips together. Philia simply watched him in silence, either waiting for him to speak or perhaps feeling the same way.
“You don’t look particularly surprised. If anything, your calm reaction is what surprises me.”
When Marei noticed Philia’s shoulders droop as though hurt, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind in a panic.
“N-No, I was surprised! I knew you attended Valter Academy, but I never expected to run into you like this… I just didn’t know what to say. It’s not that I dislike seeing you, it’s just… I…”
“If you react like that, it makes me feel like I did something wrong.”
“No, that’s not it!”
Marei shot to his feet and shouted, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. With his ears flushed red, he sank back into his chair and stared at the ground. Philia let out a soft laugh, a peculiar smile playing on her lips.
“You can’t even get angry… Honestly…”
A long sigh escaped between her deeply crimson lips. Marei lifted his head and saw Philia tilting hers slightly.
“I had so many things prepared to say, but now that we’ve actually met, nothing comes to mind.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
Only confusion filled Philia’s eyes.
“Well… during the festival… I… to you…”
“It wasn’t something I was forced into. If anything, it was mutual consent, wasn’t it? Unless my memory is wrong?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right.”
Philia answered as if it were nothing. That night had felt like two drunken lovers swept away by the atmosphere and drawn to the bed. It had been completely different from when he tormented and tamed Idrien under Ilien’s or Labella’s orders.
“Of course, it was my first time being bitten as well, so I got carried away. You were swept up in the mood too, I suppose. I understand.”
At Philia’s excessively calm response, Marei felt his mind grow cold. Just because two people had been swept up in the moment and mingled their bodies once didn’t mean a special relationship had formed. For some reason, the thought left a bitter taste in his chest. He felt disappointed, yet he also wondered if that disappointment itself was normal. Marei wanted to let out a long sigh from the frustration building inside him. But the strongest feeling was the disappointment he felt toward Philia, who had so clearly drawn a line between them.
Right. Even if he had done something like that with the princess…
“You said you’re a first-year?”
“Ah, yes. This time…”
Philia gave a brief nod. Only now, with tension thick in the air, did Marei notice the pleasant floral scent coming from her hair. For some reason, he felt an inexplicable pull toward a girl his own age.
“Two years apart… or is it three?”
Philia muttered to herself casually. Then her gaze traveled from Marei’s face down to his neck, his body, and lower still. As if something had occurred to her, she quickly looked away and let out a small sigh. Frustrated, she roughly ran her fingers through her own hair before exhaling a deep breath from the depths of her lungs. Staring out at the bustling square, she spoke more calmly than ever.
“I know this might sound strange, but… well. I think I like you.”
Philia wasn’t even looking at Marei. Unable to tell whether she was serious or joking, he simply stared at her blankly. With eyes tinged with melancholy, Philia watched the people passing through the square for a while. Just as Marei began to wonder if he had misheard, her crimson eyes turned back to him.
“But it’s not love.”
“Ah… I see.”
So he hadn’t misheard after all. At Philia’s words that she didn’t love him, Marei could only nod. Logically speaking, it was Labella and Erden who were strange. Faced with Philia, who seemed within reach yet remained just out of grasp, Marei felt an inexplicable thirst burning in his throat. If he removed the eyepatch covering his eye, could he make this girl his? Realizing he had unconsciously reached for the edge of the eyepatch, Marei quickly lowered his hand.
Philia remained silent, as if waiting for something, as if hoping something would happen.
“I never thought I’d be the one saying this.”
Philia suddenly spoke, then bit down hard on her lip. She tried to say something, only to clamp her mouth shut again, raking her fingers through her hair and sighing repeatedly. Startled by her sudden change, Marei stayed quiet and simply waited for her to speak.
“So, I mean… that is…”
Philia pressed her lips together once more. Then she suddenly stood up and glared at Marei. Her crimson eyes looked as though they might burst into tears at any moment. She stared at him like that.
“Ugh… Make me… Make me fall in love with you.”
“What?”
At Marei’s bewildered question, Philia squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Her long ears had turned pink. She was barely holding back the sigh threatening to escape. She glared at him again, looked away, then glared once more. Gathering her courage once more, she repeated the words that clearly embarrassed her to death.
“I’m asking you to make me fall in love with you.”
Philia covered her face with one hand and lowered her head deeply, clearly ashamed. Marei noticed her sharp, race-specific nails. So it hadn’t been nothing to her after all. A pleasant languor spread through Marei’s body, and he found himself smiling without realizing it.
Philia looked up at the sky, then leaned back in her chair. She pulled a large brown envelope from her bag and held it out to Marei.
“If we’re going to do that… we should get to know each other first.”
“What is this…?”
“Open it.”
At Philia’s light reply, Marei carefully untied the string and button on the envelope and examined the contents. A report on Marei de Pawen. The title was exceedingly simple. Marei immediately looked up at Philia.
“I didn’t read any of it. I wanted to like you more. I thought that instead of reading a report like this, I should learn about you by seeing, feeling, and touching you myself.”
Philia took the envelope from Marei’s hands and tossed it lightly to the ground. The unbound papers scattered wildly through the air. When Marei tried to catch them, Philia grabbed his wrist and flicked her fingers. The fluttering papers burst into flames and vanished without a trace.
“I don’t like showing my hand like this, but I still wanted you to see. My life has never had much to do with romance. So I didn’t know how or what to show the other person. That’s why I’m showing you like this, even if it’s clumsy. This is my sincerity, Marei de Pawen.”
Philia looked straight at Marei. Her earlier embarrassment seemed like a lie. Perhaps she had been putting on an act. Just as Philia had done, Marei tried to look at her objectively. When he did, he noticed her blood-red eyes trembling ever so slightly and her cheeks flushed crimson.
“Philia…?”
Philia casually turned her head to meet his gaze. She’s embarrassed, he thought. The realization filled Marei with an irresistible affection for her. She might have been angry, but to him, she simply looked embarrassed—embarrassed enough to want to brush the whole matter aside with cold words, both toward herself and toward him.
“You called me and then said nothing… Why did you call me?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Haah… I already told you there’s no need to apologize.”
Philia’s delicate brow furrowed deeply.
“I just wanted to say this. What should I do? Is there any way I can make you like me, Philia?”
At Marei’s proactive question, Philia smiled faintly. She closed her crimson eyes for a moment before opening them again and continuing.
“Well… Now that it’s come to this… No. Even I don’t know this time.”
Philia twirled a strand of silver-violet hair that had fallen onto her shoulder and turned her gaze back to the square. Yet she still seemed to be smiling. Marei and Philia sat in the café, earnestly asking each other what they thought about love, before eventually standing up as if nothing had happened. Just as Marei was about to cross the street, Philia grabbed him by the collar and gave him a short French kiss—an awkward meeting of lips that could more accurately be called a headbutt.
“Cheer up, my prince.”
Philia’s voice, barely audible, brushed past his ear. She turned and hurried away. Whether her ears had turned bright red from embarrassment or from the crimson glow of the setting sun, Marei couldn’t tell, but she never looked back as she quickly disappeared.
After hearing Philia’s story to the end, Labella covered her mouth and chuckled as if it were the most amusing thing in the world. Then she added one remark.
“How cheeky for a little kid.”
“…So, even though I’m younger than all of you, I hope you’ll remember that we’re classmates.”
Julia’s blue eyes swept carefully across the classroom. Whenever her gaze landed on a student, they would shrink back. The silence that filled the room carried a tension like walking on a blade’s edge. Watching the students sitting upright with perfect posture, Marei wondered whether this was really Valter Academy or the Imperial Military Academy he had only heard about. Julia, seemingly unaware of anything strange, smiled faintly as she looked at Marei.
“I’m sure you all have many questions. Shall we take a moment for questions?”
The soldiers—no, the students—all stared at Julia. Normally, such gazes wouldn’t have bothered her, but with Marei’s overflowing semen still filling her insides, she worried that even the slightest relaxation might cause clumps of it to overflow beyond what her panties could contain. Her expression was stiffer than usual as she looked at the students. Of course, faced with her seemingly angry demeanor, the students—who were already desperate to keep their mouths shut in front of Julia—were understandably tense.
“I said I’d give you time for questions.”
The moment Julia finished speaking, every student raised their hand at once. Watching this bizarre scene, Marei felt an inexplicable pressure. Something told him he shouldn’t leave everything to Julia, so he quickly called on the male student sitting in the very front row.
The named student shot to his feet, glanced at Julia, then shrank back.
“D-Do you have a favorite sport?”
“I don’t particularly dislike any.”
Julia nodded in satisfaction. The student let out a silent sigh of relief and sat back down. The look he gave Marei seemed to say, “Thank you for calling on me first.”
“Next.”
“Sir! What classes is Marei de Pawen taking?”
“Next.”
“What’s your relationship with Audit Bureau Director Labella de Pawen?”
“Next.”
“About your future career path…”
“Next.”
“At fifteen years old…”
Every time Julia said “next,” the students continued asking their questions in turn. Marei answered without understanding the bizarre situation, while Julia simply kept the process moving.
“Next.”
“J-Julia, ma’am.”
“What is it?”
When Marei carefully called her name, a sharp intake of breath echoed through the room. Her blue eyes, filled with affection as she looked at him, went unnoticed by the person in question. The sight of this fearless new student challenging the authority of the Witch of the Northern Front left everyone visibly tense, wondering just how far this situation would go.