Crushed by an Uninvited Calamity - 2
As much as I pitied Eri for protesting as though she had been truly wronged, her tantrum in front of me wouldn't change a thing. I hadn't known the Magic Lord was heading to the Academy either. No—how had she even found out before me? Had she been keeping in touch with the Magic Lord?
"Big Sis bragged about it earlier! She said the dispatch proposal finally passed and she's going to the Academy!"
So they really were in contact. Just how social was she?
Anyway, Eri's protest was justified, but she had the wrong target. If she felt so aggrieved and resentful, it would have been far more efficient to throw a fit at the Magic Lord and beg to be taken along rather than at me.
Not that it would be good if she actually did throw a tantrum in front of the Magic Lord.
"There's nothing I can do about this. You don't have any justification for going to the Academy."
I opened my mouth to soothe Eri, who was still in a frenzy. If someone walked in on us like this, it would be embarrassing for both me and whoever entered.
But Eri, who had already flopped down and started throwing her tantrum, had eyes for nothing else. As if she wouldn't get up until she heard the answer she wanted, she glared up at me with eyes brimming with tears.
"If Big Sis goes to the Academy too, it'll go from half-and-half to four-to-two!"
There was even desperation in Eri's cry. It was as if she believed the sky would fall if the balance between the Academy's resident and non-resident members was broken—a cry that naturally stirred pity in anyone who heard it.
At the same time, I could understand her feelings a little. If it were split evenly half-and-half, she might feel regretful but could more or less accept it. But if the group she belonged to became the minority, she couldn't help but feel anxious. Yes, I understood. I understood perfectly well.
"I've already been pushed back to fifth place just because I'm in the capital—what if you forget about me entirely if this keeps up, Director?!"
And hearing that, I couldn't bring myself to say anything more.
Eri had met me even before Luise and Irina, and before Margeta. Yet because of the sin of being in the capital, the sin of not being able to stay with me at the Academy, her confession had been pushed back and back until she became the fifth. On the surface she acted as if she didn't care, but it was more than enough to leave a lingering regret and anxiety in Eri's heart.
In that situation, only the fifth and sixth would be left alone in the capital. She must have been afraid that she was falling behind not just in the order of confessions, but in affection as well.
"I don't want that! I don't want to be forgotten! I don't want to end up as 'oh right, there was that one too' around the ending!"
Damn, what kind of analogy was that? Had she seen the future or something?
Still, realizing that Eri's anxiety had reached its peak, I couldn't tell her to tone it down. No matter how anxious she was, she couldn't vent it to anyone else, and the Fourth Division Chief, her only comrade, wasn't the type to be sensitive about such things, so she must have been stewing alone. Perhaps her acting like this in front of me wasn't even seeking a solution, but just blowing off steam because she was so frustrated and resentful.
Moreover, since Eri had already shown me her rock bottom before, she was now thrashing about while bawling her eyes out in earnest. Maybe because she'd already hit rock bottom, crying a little wasn't embarrassing anymore. Brave, but her direction was weird.
"I'll contact you every day even from the Academy—"
"You can't hold hands or hug through a communication crystal!"
Well, that was true.
"Then I'll ask the Magic Lord to teleport me every weekend—"
"Then you'd just end up on a three-person date with Big Sis!"
That was also true.
What am I supposed to do?
This was driving me crazy. Truly a situation with no answer.
So should I take Eri to the Academy? No matter how I thought about it, there was no justification, and if Eri became a resident at the Academy too, only the Fourth Division Chief would be left alone. That would be too cruel to the Fourth Division Chief.
Or should I ask the Magic Lord to give up the Academy dispatch? Then I'd probably have to watch the Magic Lord cry instead of Eri. Besides, from what Eri said, the dispatch was solely to look after her only disciple Luise, so I had no grounds to step in and stop it. The Emperor had already given final approval, so it was a bit much for a mere department head to interfere.
"I'll spend as much time as possible with you until the new term starts..."
"Okay."
?
"It's really too bad, but if you stay with me just during the vacation, I'll endure it."
Eri, who had been thrashing about as if determined to wipe up all the dust on the floor with her clothes, stood up from her spot as if nothing had happened. Then, as if her pitiful crying had been a lie, she naturally came over and sat on my lap.
"I'm being separated from my cute lover, so you have to dote on me right now!"
"...Alright."
Only after seeing that did I realize. She had been acting with this in mind all along.
No, the tantrum full of resentment had seemed closer to genuine than acting. It was just that since overturning the situation itself was impossible, she had stimulated my guilt to at least get what she wanted.
I need to graduate as soon as possible.
Holding back a sigh that felt ready to burst, I stroked Eri's head. Eri's scheme could only be so effective if I felt guilty. I wasn't exactly happy with this situation either.
If I were living apart from all my lovers, that would be one thing, but living with some and apart from others looked like discrimination, didn't it? If Eri and the Fourth Division Chief were civilians, I could somehow manage, but they happened to be civil servants, so there was no way.
So what could I do? I had no choice but to endure for two years while listening to the resentment and complaints of those left in the capital.
I should meet the Fourth Division Chief too.
And I should meet the Fourth Division Chief as soon as possible. Unlike Eri, who was always in the capital, the Fourth Division Chief might leave on a dispatch at any time.
After giving Eri a sincere head-pat and barely receiving a pass, I went to find the Magic Lord who had dropped the bombshell. An indiscriminate bombing that didn't distinguish friend from foe was too much.
"What happened? I didn't know about this."
"Darling, that's—"
"Do I have to hear news about Beatrix from someone else? That hurts, you know."
So the moment I burst into the tower master's office, I launched an emotional attack, and the Magic Lord didn't know what to do and couldn't open her mouth.
She had probably prepared rebuttals in case I confronted her. For the sake of Luise whom she had neglected, for the development of the Empire's magic world, because the Magic Tower was short-staffed, and so on. There were plenty of excuses she could make.
But she hadn't prepared for words that appealed to emotion rather than reason. And she especially hadn't expected the words she had once said to me to come right back at her.
"Do you understand how much it hurt me when I had to hear news about my darling from the Intelligence Director?"
Last year, back when I didn't even know the Magic Lord had feelings for me. The Magic Lord's words, which had simply been an expression of disappointment, had sounded like the heaviest of warnings from my perspective. That was why they had settled deep in my mind and remained in my memory to this day, but I hadn't known I would use them like this.
"If you were coming to where I am, you could have at least given me a heads-up. Did you think I would oppose it?"
That was the correct answer. If the Magic Lord had consulted me, I would have opposed it somehow.
But opposition was already water under the bridge, and the Magic Lord coming to the Academy couldn't be undone. In that case, I had to express as much disappointment as possible to prevent the Magic Lord's sudden actions. Even if past events were the past, there shouldn't be cases where things blew up without my knowledge in the future, right?
It somehow made me look like a bastard who played with people's hearts, but when the other party was the Magic Lord, it couldn't be helped. Even a lion stretching made the nearby rabbits jump out of their skins, so the movements of the Magic Lord who had reigned for a hundred years were bound to bring chaos and shock to the small fries nearby. As her prospective husband, it was my duty to at least prevent that.
"I'm sorry. I should have consulted with you first, darling."
Fortunately, my sincerity seemed to have gotten through, as the Magic Lord apologized obediently with a slightly dejected look.
I didn't know whether she had nothing to say because she really thought I would oppose it, or whether she was simply apologizing because she had prepared a surprise, but if it ended like this, it was a decent conclusion. An apology and prevention of recurrence should be enough, right?
"From now on, let's not hide things from each other. If anything comes up, I'll consult with you right away too."
So I spoke with a gentle face, but I saw the Magic Lord flinch. It was only for a brief moment, but she was definitely shaken.
Wait, what? Had she done something else without my knowledge?
"...Beatrix?"
"I-I did hide it, but it's something you'll be happy about too, darling."
And the words that followed really were something to be happy about.
She had been wondering what would be a good birthday present for me and had received the advice of "vacation" from Erich. It had sounded right, so she had formally petitioned the imperial family. If she specified the Audit Department, her intentions would be too obvious, so she had set the scope to all imperial bureaucrats. And since it was a surprise gift, she had kept her mouth shut.
...It was actually free?
Amazing. I had called it a free vacation with my mouth, but of course I had thought it was a poisoned chalice—yet it had been a chalice filled with wine, not poison. To think the Magic Lord had been making such efforts behind the scenes.
"Was it... a waste of effort?"
"No."
I firmly shook my head at the Magic Lord who carefully asked. A waste of effort? Absolutely not.
"Thank you. It's the best gift."
Unable to hold back my emotion, I pulled the Magic Lord into a hug. The Magic Lord's sudden actions? It would be troublesome if she came to the Academy out of the blue? Nonsense. Where the Magic Lord was, that place became the Magic Tower, so she was simply reporting to her legitimate workplace.
And I didn't even know.
At the same time, self-loathing rose in me. How dare I, without knowing of this great grace, spout such nonsense about being disappointed or whatever to the Magic Lord. I will reflect...
"I'm glad you're satisfied."
The Magic Lord, who had been briefly surprised by the sudden hug, soon hugged me back and spoke softly.
Self-loathing rose again.
Taking a small breath, I opened the door. Fretting over the inevitable was meaningless.
"Ainter."
And the moment I opened the door, His Highness the Crown Prince, seated in the seat of honor, quietly opened his mouth. A calm voice that conveyed no joy, anger, welcome, hatred, or any other emotion.
Rather, the completely ordinary voice brought a sense of relief. Moreover, it wasn't just His Highness the Crown Prince present—Her Highness the Crown Princess was there as well. If this were a place to dispose of me, Her Highness wouldn't be present.
"I pay my respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince."
At my greeting, His Highness nodded and gestured. As if to sit down already now that I had come.
"It's the first time I've seen you since the New Year's Audience."
"Yes, Your Highness. That is so."
As soon as I sat down, the question flew at me naturally, and I hastily bowed my head. Indeed, I hadn't had occasion to see His Highness since the New Year's Audience. His Highness was busy with work, and I was thoroughly avoiding external activities.
That made me tremble all the more. The reason the Highness I never met had summoned me a full month after the New Year's Audience. Just what was—
"It's a pity we have so few opportunities for family conversations."
What...?
Family?
My body froze at the unexpected remark.