Neighboring Seats, Nothing More
"Hmm. So those are the eldest and second sons of House Walterheim?"
In the VIP seats of the arena where the Academy graduation examinations were underway, Louisilla sat watching the matches and shook her head.
"Haa."
"Your Highness, is something the matter?"
At her maid's question, Louisilla pointed to the two clashing swords below—the Walterheim brothers who had stepped forward as the graduate representative and the current student representative.
"How disappointing. They don't even reach the toes of the Proud Grand Duke I saw during my northern inspection."
"...Even so, both of them did take the top ranks at the Academy..."
"Haa."
Louisilla shook her head at the maid who knew nothing of the truth. Those two were nothing more than puppies dancing obediently to the perfect show the Imperial Family had prepared.
If those two return to the North still blinded like that, the North will collapse before long. And the one who seizes it completely...
Would become the successor who sat in Father's highest seat.
"I should begin preparing soon. More importantly."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"What about information on the third son?"
"He is the discarded child staying with the branch Boliven Baron family, doing nothing but hunting. Rumors that he is the Grand Ducal family's defective product are rampant."
"No need to pay him much attention, then?"
"Yes, it seems so."
"Very well. Then we will leave that side for later. What matters are those receiving cheers over there..."
Those puppies, Louisilla muttered under her breath.
I was crazy... I was completely out of my mind!
Louisilla was regretting her past ignorance while stealing sidelong glances at Victor seated beside her. His actions on the very first day had gone beyond bold—they had been terrifying. He had antagonized the Crown Prince and clashed with the Magic Tower Sage's disciple, yet wore a face that showed not the slightest emotion, as if none of it mattered.
I should have considered that information about the North might be under control!!
The two boys young Louisilla had once seen were dogs castrated of their wild lives. This one was unmistakably a wolf who had survived alone in the wilderness.
The previous Grand Duke hid him. To protect the son who resembled him most, he used the eldest and second as shields...!!
Survival of the fittest, the strong devouring the weak—that was the northern way of life. The price for failing to calculate it had now fallen upon her. Louisilla bit her nails, wanting nothing more than to flee at once.
"Hm?"
"Hieek!"
Seeing Victor turn his head to look at her, Louisilla let out a short scream.
"Your Highness? Are you all right?"
"Do..."
"Do?"
"Don't bite me..."
"..."
"Hic."
At the princess's words, every gaze in the classroom swung toward me.
"Bi...te?"
"The princess?"
"Eh?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Didn't Grand Duke Walterheim clearly already have a fiancée?"
"Good heavens—the princess?"
"It's only been a few days since he arrived!"
"Ah, come to think of it, yesterday there was talk about biting and such—could it be..."
No. It is not that, you Academy students whose brains have been pickled in romance novels.
"Haa. Your Highness."
"Y...yes?"
"As long as Your Highness does not touch me, I will not bare my teeth at Your Highness."
"R...really?"
"...The previous matter has been formally protested, so it is finished. What matters now is what sort of relationship we form going forward, is it not?"
"Yes... I understand."
Having said my piece, I sat down and opened a book. The surrounding stares began to fade once they heard my words.
"What, so it wasn't like that..."
"Haa. I heard they don't get along..."
"But isn't that even more heated?"
"A forbidden relationship..."
No, you lunatics with romance brains installed.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Professor Overan, who will be in charge of Class B from today. Please treat me well."
The students' murmuring fell quiet the moment the homeroom professor entered. Professor Overan began distributing the papers he had brought.
"Then I will explain the changes starting this year. From now on, instead of following a schedule set by the Academy, students will create their own schedules and attend lectures accordingly..."
Hmm... This is a setting he crammed in because he got pissed off at comments asking why the registered mate has so little contact with this character.
I could picture my registered mate's face turning purple at the sight of me stuffing in convenient settings just to move the plot along.
I should have left a 5,700-character comment before I died. Regretful...
"Um... umm?"
"Yes?"
I lightly bowed my head toward Louisilla, who was trembling beside me as she held out the paper.
"Thank you."
"Hic."
Watching Louisilla have a fit at my every action, I found myself feeling a touch of pity—hostile force or not—wondering just how strict Imperial family education must have been to make her this timid.
"Princess."
"Yes?"
"By any chance, is your maternal house, the Candler family, giving you a hard time?"
"..."
"If it becomes difficult, please tell me anytime. I will help."
With that, I began writing down the classes I would take on the paper lying on my desk.
First, swordsmanship is a definite pass.
Ah... he knew. This man knows about the request Grandfather made of me!!
Watching Victor issue that warning and then casually fill out his Academy course selections, Louisilla swallowed dryly.
...I really... I really got entangled with a dangerous person... me.
Academy lunchtime. As Cecilia walked with light steps toward the cafeteria, the conversations of young ladies passing by reached her ears. They spoke loudly enough that she was clearly meant to hear—stories about the broken engagement between Cecilia and the Crown Prince. Just as Chloe, walking at her side, frowned and moved to stop those young ladies—
"Chloe."
"Ceci?"
"It's fine."
Cecilia stopped her with a gentle smile.
"Hey, you're not even angry hearing that? Whenever I hear stories like that I go find them and—"
"It's fine, Chloe. It's already a past story anyway."
No tale related to the Crown Prince could shake Cecilia's heart any longer.
Now he is a stranger with no connection to me, and at the same time...
To Cecilia, Baron was the man who had insulted her and turned the Roeyental Duke family into an enemy.
Rather, right now I just want to see Sir Victor soon.
Imagining lunch together with Victor as she walked, the voices of female students drifted in from beside her.
"Really?"
"I mean it! Princess Louisilla said to Grand Duke Walterheim..."
"Kyaa! The Grand Duke has a beastly side underneath that cold appearance!"
Thud.
Something seemed to snap. Cecilia stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ceci? What's wrong?"
Chloe, puzzled that her friend had halted, examined Cecilia's face—and found it pure white.
"Ce...Ceci? Are you okay?"
"Ah...ah...ah..."
Her heart pounded. What had that conversation just now been? Why was there talk like that between the Grand Duke and the princess? Why? Why?
"Miss Cecilia?"
Through the haze of jumbled thoughts, the figure of Victor walking toward them from afar entered Cecilia's vision.
"...Grand Duke."
"What is the matter? Did something happen in class, by any chance?"
When Victor looked to Chloe, she shook her head vigorously, denying any such thing.
"Then what on earth... Could it be the illness again?"
"No."
"Miss Cecilia?"
"Grand Duke."
"Yes."
"There's a story I just heard."
"Yes."
"What is your relationship with the princess?"
"...Yes?"
Victor's blank expression met Cecilia's trembling violet eyes.
"Haa."
When Victor sighed, Cecilia flinched and lowered her head.
Ah... what am I doing. Victor and I are ultimately bound only by a contract. I have no right to say something like this.
"Same class, neighboring seats—nothing more and nothing less."
"Is that true?"
"Do I look like a shameless fellow who would touch other women when I already have an official fiancée?"
"No."
"That is how it is."
"...That's a relief..."
"Hmm?"
Chloe, who had been watching the two of them from the side, suddenly pressed a hand to her forehead and began to stagger.
"Aaa... my head suddenly hurts, so I need to stop by the infirmary for a bit~"
"Huh? Chloe, are you okay?"
"Yeah. Ceci, I'm fine, so you should enjoy a pleasant lunch with the Grand Duke, okay?"
"Th...that's not—!"
"Then bye~"
Watching Chloe grow distant, Cecilia flushed red.
I...it's not like that!!
"Miss Cecilia."
"Y..yeshet!"
"Let's go. And."
Thud.
Cecilia turned her gaze to the rough sensation in her hand. There was Victor's hand, firmly holding hers.
"G...Grand Duke?"
"It seems I need to properly show it, or my fiancée will feel anxious."
"..."
"I should properly show the Academy the relationship between you and me."
"..."
"Let's go."
On the way to the cafeteria, looking at Cecilia firmly holding my hand, I let out an inward sigh of relief.
These damn romance-novel brains pulled a stunt like that right next to Cecilia!!
Especially in front of a girl who had only recently broken off an engagement over a woman problem, going around blabbing that her new fiancé had gotten tangled up with the former fiancé's younger sister.
Do these Academy young ladies have no consideration at all... No. They probably never had an environment in which to learn such manners.
I resolved that when I had children of my own later, I would raise them with proper household education. Embracing the white-haired boy and girl running ahead of me, and the two children with red eyes who resembled me...
[Victor...]
"Keuk!!!"
"G...Grand Duke? Are you all right?"
At the image of Grand Duchess Version Cecilia—possessed of devastating destructive power—I let out a short scream.
"I'm sorry, Miss Cecilia."
"Yes? For what..."
This was all because of those romance-obsessed young ladies and their schemes. I had been planning to slip away once I saw her getting along well with Chloe, yet it had turned out like this. What on earth had yesterday's resolve even been for?
What is the proper distance that treats her coldly while at the same time keeping Cecilia's emotional agitation to a minimum?
"Grand Duke?"
"Yes."
"Is the meal not to your liking?"
"No."
I forced the food into my mouth. Perhaps because Cecilia was sitting across from me, I could not taste a single thing.
"As expected..."
"Hm? Why is that?"
"The food I ate at the Walterheim mansion is tastier."
"Ah, is that so."
"Yes. I want to go back soon."
Cecilia was eating with her cheeks puffed out like a hamster. In the novel there had been descriptions of her locking herself alone in the laboratory and growing thin from skipping meals, yet now her body overflowed with vitality. It was thanks to Hans properly teaching her the joy of eating.
I should send word to give Hans a reward.
"It looks good."
"Yes?"
"You look healthier than when you first arrived at the Walterheim mansion."
"...Is that so. Noble gentlemen prefer thin women, so from childhood I never ate properly."
"Hmm."
"Um, Grand Duke..."
"I."
I continued while looking straight at Cecilia.
"I like well-fed, healthy women. Like the Miss Cecilia of right now."
"..."
"Uh."
"Ah...aaa..."
Ah. I have a feeling I just made some kind of mistake. I lifted my head to look at Cecilia's face. With her flushed face covered by both hands, she rose from her seat.
"I...I'll go first!!!"
"..."
Really... I am... such a foolish man.