Chapter 93. Falling (3)
Chapter 93. Falling (3)
5
Romance Fantasy Rule 3
『Do you wish to nurture the love between two people? First, make them hate each other.』
『Hatred is lightning. Affection is thunder. When blinded by the lightning of hatred, the thunder of affection begins to resound.』
6
"Are you well?"
The road to Sormwyn Academy.
"Yes, I slept soundly. Were you also well last night, my fellow student?"
"Thanks to you. Perhaps because I had a good dream, I feel refreshed. This morning I intend to eat two slices of toast."
"Oh my. I simply must hear what kind of dream it was. How about we dine together?"
"Oh my goodness, what a splendid suggestion!"
"Heh heh."
Students smiled and exchanged greetings in an old-fashioned manner. Upon the white road to school where magnolias bloomed, "oh my goodness" and "heh heh" flowed in chattering streams.
Peace. Tranquility.
Even baby birds gathered in a row singing in chorus could not be more peaceful than this, and even a tulip field in full bloom could not be more tranquil than this. The very sight purified the heart. A moment sparkling like a diamond existed here.
"Ah, Lady Golden Thread Plum. Are you well?"
And a diamond was merely coal with a prettier sheen.
Set it on fire and it burned like hell.
"No! I am not the least bit well!"
"Eh."
The Heretic Questioner beamed at the young lady who had greeted him.
"How could I possibly be tranquil! Last night I was attacked by assassin bastards and nearly died. I couldn't sleep all night, and as if that weren't unfair enough, you ask if I'm tranquil! Do you have a brain?"
"Pardon?"
"No, of course you don't have a brain. If you had a brain, you would never greet someone who might have died last night with 'Are you well?' Ahahaha. It isn't me who needs to be well—it's your head! Is your head well? Is your skull safe? Is your brain in good health?"
"Y-yes... eh? Pardon?"
"Ah! Oh dear, it seems your mouth has gone crooked from your head resting too much. It's fine. I understand! A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body. If your head is broken, how could your mental state be sound? Please go to the infirmary at once. In other words, get the hell out of my sight!"
"...Ah, ahh......?"
Stagger.
The young lady swayed and fainted. It was fortunate her servant caught her body—otherwise she would have tumbled across the school road. The students who had been amiably exchanging morning greetings like any ordinary day screamed.
"Lady of Viscount Baek Nan-hwa! Are you all right!"
"Good heavens! Her complexion is so pale......."
"Everyone, call for the school nurse at once!"
"Breathe! Can you hear my voice?! You must breathe!"
"Lady Golden Thread Plum! Wh-what did you just say......!"
Murmur murmur.
The baby birds singing of peace all flew away, and a bomb fell upon the tulip field enjoying tranquility. The diamond had blazed up. The noble young ladies, even as they competently tended to their fainted classmate, could not hide their shock.
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"Why the commotion? I merely asked, in return, whether your head was well, to the tactless person who asked if I was at peace!"
A nearby young lady gaped.
"Y-your head... is well......?"
"Ah. Your hair is red. What splendid red hair! Could it be that your skull has cracked and a bit of brain has leaked out? Ahah. There is a risk your already regrettable intelligence will drop further. Hurry and scoop it back in!"
"Hah......."
Stagger.
"My lady!"
"Kyaa! Lady of Count Maehwacho!"
"Has the school nurse not arrived yet!"
"That wage thief!"
"Someone fetch some water!"
"Guards! Guards!"
Chaos descended. Truly a scene of apocalypse. The Apocalypse had not yet been destroyed, but at the very least, the road to Sormwyn Academy was being gleefully scorched to the ground.
"Ahahah."
The Heretic Questioner, who had single-handedly turned a 20-meter radius into a wasteland, grinned from ear to ear with a face utterly devoid of malice. Dark circles had formed under his eyes from the overnight crash course.
"Death King, you are the best! My immersion isn't rising in the slightest!"
You're the best too, you know.
The effect of the Flame Emperor's one-on-one tutoring was tremendous.
"I shall place my full trust in you from now on! As expected, Death King's schemes are reliable!"
I bowed at a butler-appropriate angle.
"Thank you for your praise, my lady."
"Not at all! But is stepping on my foot right now also a method to keep the Immersion Rate down? My big toe hurts a little."
"To act the part of a delinquent butler, it can't be helped. Endure it."
"I shall understand!"
That morning, a total of 14 young ladies were admitted to the academy infirmary.
The incident on the road in front of the girls' dormitory spread through the entire school in an instant.
It was the so-called [Your Head Well] Incident.
7
The dining hall, the main building, the garden.
Wherever they went, students whispered about the affair.
『Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter, has lost her mind.』
『She changed after being attacked yesterday.』
『A demon has possessed her.』
『Two young ladies and one young lord who bravely departed to doubt the rumors and uncover the truth have still not returned.』
『Isn't she even more alluring now?』
『So who commissioned the assassination of Lady Golden Thread Plum?』
『The unofficial Sormwyn club "All Big Sisters' Little Siblings Club (ABSL)" welcomes the current change. We urge our fellow Sormwyn students to shift their perceptions.』
『The lady's butler was witnessed mixing salt into her black tea and serving it. There are many witnesses.』
『Dangerous.』
『Assassination.』
『They say His Highness the Crown Prince is handling it.』
『She's lost her mind.』
『This is insane.』
『Moderate salt intake is good for health... Salt in black tea for wellness?』
『Big Sis Golden Thread Plum.』
The rumors swelled like an avalanche and transformed into ghost stories.
"Lady Golden Thread Plum! You have insulted my master's honor!"
However, even if the rumors had turned into ghost stories, it was a fact that 14 young ladies had fainted. Naturally, the servants of those young ladies had no choice but to be furious.
Even if they couldn't dare attack a noble young lady, they could challenge me, a fellow servant, to a duel as much as they pleased. When lunchtime arrived, the enraged servants rushed at me in a line.
"For the honor of my master and the name of her house, I cannot stand idly by. Permit me to duel the lady's servant!"
"Oh ho."
The Heretic Questioner nodded.
"Understood! Please resolve this amicably among yourselves......."
"Wait a moment."
I secretly stepped on the Heretic Questioner's foot. The Heretic Questioner yelped.
"What is it?"
"If you've resolved to act, you must remain a delinquent young lady to the end. Don't just accept what others say at face value. That's not delinquent at all."
"Ah, indeed. I see. Then what would suit delinquency?"
"Just do as I tell you."
Whispered words passed softly between the two of us. The servants who had requested the duel merely stared at us with bewildered faces. A moment later, the Heretic Questioner spoke with the expression of one who had grasped the truth.
"Very well! You may duel my servant as you wish."
"Ah, thank you for permitting it. Then right here, at once......."
"However! If you wish to duel, pay me money!"
The servants blinked.
"...Pardon?"
"I am saying, if you wish to obtain what you want from me, pay up."
The Heretic Questioner sat on a garden bench and crossed his legs. His beaming face was brimming with presence. If children saw the Heretic Questioner right now, "Big sis!" would probably burst from their mouths automatically.
"My butler belongs to my household. Since I am the only person from the main house at this academy, he is also mine. What if my property is injured during the duel? Will you take responsibility?"
"Uh, uhh......."
The noble servants were flustered. Pay money for a sacred duel? Wasn't that a bit too thuggish a statement?
"H-how much should we pay?"
"I shall consider five gold coins acceptable!"
"......."
"Ahah."
The Heretic Questioner delivered the final line exactly as I had taught him.
"Everyone. Surely your loyalty to your young mistresses is not worth less than a mere five gold coins?"
"......."
The servants reluctantly fished out gold coins. Watching them, I felt a little sorry for them. Some of the servants wore tearful expressions.
Faces worrying whether buying a duel for their lady with money was truly an honorable act. Expressions that said, "Is this really right?"
But the die was cast. Once one or two began paying gold coins, the other servants joined the tide.
"H-here you are, my lady."
"Yes!"
"Here is mine as well......."
"Yes. I have received it well!"
"Um, my apologies. I only have silver coins at the moment. Would you accept change......?"
"I accept everything!"
The Heretic Questioner diligently fleeced the servants. The dignity of a young lady who had received an epithet from the Emperor was buried without a trace beneath the jingling sound of coin.
A servant takes after their master.
"Hm."
I cracked my neck left and right like a thug.
More than ten servants were staring at me awkwardly.
"Just asking out of curiosity."
"Wh-what is it."
I lifted the holy sword, sheath and all.
"Has anyone here gone hungry for more than a week?"
The exhilarating sound of a beating rang out across the garden. I felled the servants one by one, feeling like a single performer hammering away at a drum. I beat them until the dust flew.
"Ack!"
"Huk, kuhk!"
The servants screamed as countless students looked on. Looking around, students stared at me with horrified faces. Behind me, the Heretic Questioner rolled coins in his hand and hummed a tune.
Screams, shock, the sound of money.
Three melodies formed a perfect trinity.
"Syl—"
Then. Someone came running urgently through the crowd of onlookers.
"Sylvia! What in the world is this commotion!"
The man who could be called the instant ramen noodles of this Apocalypse world. The Crown Prince.
The golden-haired ramen was greatly flustered. Seeing his face, like bloated, burst noodle strands, filled my chest with satisfaction. Last night, the embarrassment that man had made us feel—today we returned it in full reverse.
"I heard the rumors that you had suddenly turned strange, but I dismissed them as the usual malicious gossip. Now, against your fellow students, what in the world....... You!"
The prince muttered in dismay and glared at me. Hm. For ramen broth that had been eaten with rice, his gaze was quite murderous.
"What are you doing! If your master is weary, the servant must do everything in his power to stop her! To grip a sword hilt and act recklessly—as a butler you are third-rate, and as a servant you are disqualified! Disqualified!"
"My apologies, Your Highness."
I sheathed the holy sword at my waist and bowed my head.
"This humble one receives no evaluation from anyone other than my lady. If my lady evaluates me as third-rate, then I am a third-rate butler, and if my lady says I am disqualified, then I shall withdraw. But unless she does, I shall remain a faithful butler."
"You... after stirring up such turmoil, so shamelessly......."
The Crown Prince's lips twitched, then closed. And he shook his head. Perhaps he judged that exchanging words with a servant like me was pointless.
"Sylvia, have I not told you time and again? You must not keep a man like that as your butler. The imperial palace has several eunuch candidates raised with great care. If I ask His Majesty, I can bring one capable among them. It's all right! Do not worry. Father already holds you dear."
Whoa.
The watching students let out low exclamations. Young ladies with dreamy expressions could be seen here and there. The Crown Prince had just expressed his affection far too openly.
The young ladies sighed, haa, and whispered longingly.
"What to do? His Highness the Crown Prince's fiancée is Lady Silver Lily......."
"But the two of them were only bound by a promise before they were even born, weren't they? That's such an old story. The rumor that His Majesty favors Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter, has been circulating for ages, so perhaps......."
"Ahh, what to do!"
Even as they lamented what to do, the young ladies' eyes sparkled.
There is no scandal hotter than royal romance.
If the diamond of one's own house caught fire, one would be devastated, but the sight of someone else's—even the most splendid diamond in the empire—blazing up was worth paying a fortune to watch.
"Sylvia, what say you?"
The Crown Prince approached and took the Heretic Questioner's wrist.
"Will you grant my earnest request?"
"......."
The Heretic Questioner looked at the Crown Prince.
Even I was tense at this moment.
Would the love of Lady Golden Thread Plum, the [female lead], be more intense? Or would the ego of the Heretic Questioner, acting as the [delinquent young lady], be stronger? I had done my utmost to lend strength to the latter, but ultimately, the one waging the battle of the heart was the Heretic Questioner.
We could lose this contest.
"...Your Highness the Crown Prince."
The Heretic Questioner spoke slowly.
"What perfume did you apply today?"
"What?"
"I am sorry to say, but the scent is a little unfamiliar to me."
A radiant smile spread across the Heretic Questioner's face.
Swish.
The Heretic Questioner naturally slipped his wrist from the Crown Prince's hand, then drew out a fan and opened it. Above the fan, a half-lidded eye-smile bloomed.
"Has the mastermind behind the assassins who attacked me yesterday been uncovered?"
"N-no... not yet. The investigation is still ongoing."
"If my butler had not been by my side last night, I would likely have been harmed! If Your Highness thinks of me, then I sincerely ask that you respect my butler just as much. Did my butler not protect my life in the small sense, and the academy's honor in the large sense?"
"......."
"Your Highness, I trust my butler above all else!"
It was the moment ramen began to boil over on the Crown Prince's face.
And the Heretic Questioner laughed with his fan spread wide open.
"Oh- hohohoho!"
It was the most romantic laugh in this world.