Chapter 51
Chapter 51
So I didn't treat Leopold with any particular warmth. I treated him the same as everyone else.
In other words, I kept a polite distance and treated him coolly.
"What's our assignment, Brisa?"
"We have to practice the philosopher Orphita's art of handling people. Personally, I agree with Orphita's approach. With people you have no particular desire to be close to, you just tell them their opinion is right and leave it at that."
"I think Orphita's art of handling people is the worst. When there's an expression like 'interesting,' why go so far as to agree?"
"Your opinion is right."
Then his cousin Sylvia saw that and said to me:
"To look at that face and still treat him the same as everyone else, fairly—as expected of the Ice Princess of Sears. Your optic nerves must be frozen solid."
I wasn't the only one who didn't give Leopold special treatment.
Leopold was the same.
He didn't treat me specially either. He treated everyone that way; he made neither friends nor enemies.
But I knew he disliked the engagement itself.
"Hey, Leopold. About the graduation ball partner..."
"Ah."
For every graduation, the school held a graduation ball.
Usually, men and women who liked each other partnered up.
But since Leopold and I were engaged, things were awkward. We were the only engaged couple at the academy.
It was our first year.
I received a partner request from a graduating second-year senior. So I carefully asked Leopold first.
"Um, I got a partner request from Harrison. I wanted to ask you first."
Honestly, I had hoped Leopold would smile leisurely and say, "Ah, I naturally assumed I'd be going with my fiancée."
But Leopold made an awkward expression and said:
"I already have a partner, Brisa."
That was a declaration of "I don't consider this a normal engagement with you."
He even shrugged his shoulders as if to say good luck.
"I didn't know Harrison's taste ran to younger girls. His 'older sisters' waiting in the south will all be wailing."
His first ball partner was Sylvia.
He seemed considerably close with his cousin. Thinking of my relationship with Dalia, it was unimaginable...
He couldn't attend our graduation ball. He had returned to his territory well before graduation because of a Monster Wave in the west.
'Well, I never received a partner request for the graduation ball before that either.'
Anyway, even before the first ball, I had vaguely noticed.
Whenever I was talking with Harrison, he quietly made himself scarce, as if telling us not to mind him if we wanted things to work out.
At the academy, whenever there was an opportunity for a man and woman to do something together, he never did it with me.
"Ah, my partner is Sylvia, so."
He said that before anyone even asked. Then Sylvia would sigh deeply with a face that said the world was unbearably annoying.
"If there's anyone here with time to spare in life, could you please pass a law banning blood relatives from being partners?"
In other words, even though Sylvia hated it, he never partnered with me.
So although we were engaged, an atmosphere of "we're still far from adulthood, and at this rate won't they break off the engagement?" pervaded the academy.
That could be seen as entirely Leopold's intention.
He seemed to think it would be better if I liked someone else, so that even if I was jilted, I wouldn't be hurt.
So while I was at the academy, I reached a conclusion.
'After seeing my mother's madness, he must have given up on marrying me.'
He just wasn't breaking off the engagement right now because he pitied me.
Because Leopold was a kind person.
No, he wasn't kind.
It was just that, lacking nothing, he had the leisure to be considerate within the bounds of what was possible.
So when I received the notice ending the engagement, I wasn't surprised.
Even the anonymous flowers were predictable.
'He didn't send them to comfort me.'
That boy was annoyingly smart.
'He sent them to prevent a situation where I'd have to comfort the maids.'
If it hadn't been for those flowers, the maids would have wailed loudly.
Then, before I could even dwell on the bitterness of the broken engagement, I would have had to comfort them instead. It would have been the worst possible situation.
Leopold wasn't simply "an avoidant person who broke off the engagement and sent flowers anonymously out of guilt." He knew my circumstances well, and made the best choice for me at that time.
"Alpheus, we're still young."
So I said one thing to Alpheus, who was engulfed in shock.
"We're at an age where you can play together and squabble, then make up, then giggle together and fight again, get engaged and break off engagements—that sort of thing can happen."
"Huh? Uh, uh. B-but. Um. Uh. How could this be?"
Alpheus had broken down.
Meanwhile, we arrived at a warp near the duke's residence.
At the warp, Baron Forman and the western knights were gathered.
"Leo!"
Baron Forman came running.
"What happened, hm? Did you really sense a strange energy at the duke's residence?"
"Yes. It seemed quite serious."
Leopold spoke leisurely.
"And it's no longer any business of ours."
"How can that be! We should go and find out more about what on earth—"
"It seems a monster appeared."
"Is that so? Then it's right to keep our noses out of other people's affairs."
Baron Forman, an informant who had taken an interest in other people's affairs his whole life, nodded briskly.
After confirming me, Alpheus, and the maid and Wendy who had followed behind, the old man spoke hurriedly.
"Then let's depart."
Even as a former informant, he clearly had no intention of getting swept up in a disaster.
"G-go just like this? Is it really all right?"
Only Alpheus kept sticking his nose in.
"They might need our help! If it means facing a monster, I might have to step in. Brisa, you may not know this, but I'm really strong. I've never once turned my back on people weaker than me!"
I nodded and praised him.
"Shock therapy really was effective. You spoke at such length without making an 'um' sound even once. Let's hold a celebration party soon."
Alpheus looked at Baron Forman and Leopold with an earnest face.
Baron Forman cleared his throat, then said:
"Marquess, the east is not weak. They have enough strength to defend themselves. Moreover, the young duke is the Crown Prince's closest aide, so in an emergency they can receive ample help from the imperial family."
"Ah... is that so?"
"Yes. However, there is something I must ask your understanding for."
Baron Forman skillfully changed the subject.
"Before going to the baronial residence, would it be all right to stay one night at the Nozen Grand Duke's Residence?"
The person who answered that was not one of us.
"Wait a moment."
It was Leopold.
"The Nozen Grand Duke's Residence, all of a sudden? Didn't you clearly say earlier that you were inviting us to the Forman Baronial Residence?"
Then Baron Forman answered seriously.
"Because I must report what happened in the east. While we're in the middle of gathering information on black mages, men who buried mana stones and fled—shouldn't I report that immediately?"
"I will report it."
"You should naturally do your part."
Baron Forman made the distinction clear, as if they were separate matters.
"I must report what I observed."
The veteran informant made it clear that a fourteen-year-old boy was not on his level.
"B-but... didn't you prepare a dinner at the Forman Baronial Residence? The Nozen Grand Duke's Residence would have received no contact at all."
"I already sent my people to the warp earlier. They'll be preparing."
Leopold seemed to be desperately holding back the words, "So we're suddenly going to the grand duke's residence?" Instead, he said:
"Ah... I'm just not sure if it might be inconvenient. Because of the time, you'll have to stay the night, and I'm not confident the preparations to receive guests will be in order. It hasn't been long since the warp was activated."
In other words, he didn't want to go.
Then Alpheus waved his hand and answered.
"Oh, it's fine! We were on our way to the Forman Baronial Residence as soon as we were invited anyway! So we decided to travel as lightly as possible."
That was true. Our party was just me, Alpheus, one maid, and Wendy.
Alpheus alone could do the work of an ordinary knight order.
"If food is the issue, we'll eat just a little!"
"Ah, no, that's not it..."
"Brisa, eat my share too. I've lived on peeled tree bark and such before. I can skip meals for about a day."
In the end, Leopold lost.
"No. The west's food stores are always abundant, so you needn't worry about that."
In the end, the oblivious one always won.
However, Leopold spoke in a sour voice:
"Instead, I will be absent for ten days starting tomorrow due to personal business. I had no idea guests would be coming..."
"Aha, that can happen! But we'll get along fine on our own!"
Alpheus answered cheerfully.
I also shrugged and said:
"We didn't come to see you, Leopold. There's no need to demonstrate your inflated ego in such a creative way."
And so we stood at the warp heading for the Nozen Grand Duchy.
This time, the warp activated normally.
When I opened my eyes, we had arrived at a cave in the Nozen Grand Duchy.