Cure-All (Physical)
Cure-All (Physical)
Around four hours into Monday.
The prince arrived at the academy earlier than usual. Outside was still pitch-black, and arc lamps glowed here and there.
Clion had slipped out of the Imperial Palace alone at that early hour, without a single attendant. The capital maintained good public order anyway, so the idea that wandering about like this would invite assassination was hardly likely.
There was one reason the prince had come to the academy alone at such a time.
If I wait here, she'll show up.
Irka Eliyev had a habit of waking early in the morning to exercise. Somehow, Clion knew that information.
Every day before dawn, if he waited around here, he would be able to see Eliyev jogging without anyone else getting in the way.
Clion sat down on a bench in the open Central Plaza and yawned repeatedly. That was because he had bedded a handmaid the night before. Though his body hadn't recovered from the fatigue, that didn't break the prince's tenacity.
Clion wasn't a patient person by nature. He rose from his seat to stretch his legs. The ground was damp, as if spring rain was about to fall.
Clion stepped on the ground a few times, lightly rolling his ankles—
Thunk!
"Guh!"
Something jabbed into his lower abdomen, and he looked down.
Where his appendix was. A small, sharp needle was lodged near that spot. The metal needle was as thick as a thumb.
"What... is this......."
His head clouded over, then cleared, then clouded again. His consciousness flickered. The surrounding arc lamps looked hazy, as though his eyes had been struck by a Light Arrow.
The metal needle in the wound dispersed into mana particles. Because of that, the wound tore open even wider, and fresh blood streamed out through the gap.
This was wrong.
It had gone in quite deep. His bowels were compressed, making it hard to breathe.
Within his fading consciousness, Clion saw what looked like a straight-line fissure that had broken through the ground.
This is....
His thoughts cut off there.
**
A dogshit Monday had begun.
Honestly, I didn't have a case of the Mondays. I'd lived a routine of Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri-Fri-Fri up to now, so that wasn't an issue. The issue was having to see Professor Haspelt's face and the Second Prince's face at the same time. Just thinking about it made bile rise in my throat.
Rote and I left the dormitory and headed to the classroom. Nothing much happened until homeroom period.
"Hey! Good morning again today!"
Frey came in.
After that, our classmates rushed in, including Vermel and that fierce-looking girl with navy-blue hair. When I made eye contact with Vermel, he twitched like he'd bounced up and down for a second, which was secretly amusing.
[Homeroom's in one minute. Why isn't the Second Prince here?]
Right. Tardy in less than a week. The guy had no backbone.
Rattle, BANG!!
"Good to see you, comrades!!!!! All of you, a strong and sturdy morning—!!!!!!!"
"Why is Teacher Noelheim coming in now...?"
"Hmm, I'm afraid I must talk about that!!"
At his sudden entrance, the expressions on the faces of Rote, me, and the rest of the class went blank. While Teacher Alex walked up to the lectern with crisp bearing, we could do nothing but stare at him vacantly.
Teacher Alex looked around, then cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
"As you'll have heard, Prince Clion is nowhere to be seen!"
"Um, did something happen to His Highness the Prince?"
"Hmph, I'll say this once, so listen well! His Highness the Prince collapsed in Central Plaza this morning."
"What?"
Our expressions went twice as vacant.
Well, except for mine. My face right now wasn't what you'd expect from a noble, composed girl from the Gold-Eye Tribe.
[Manage your expression. What are you doing with that face?]
"They say a blade mark was left on his lower abdomen. Who did it has just entered investigation!"
In plain terms, he took a knife to the gut and got justice served. No matter how you looked at it, it was an obvious assassination attempt.
Did this world have ninjas too...?
"Thus, your homeroom teacher, Professor Haspelt, and your vice-homeroom teacher, Professor Herlein, have gone to the Imperial Palace. The Chairman is also away. So I've taken charge of today's homeroom!"
"Oh."
What a windfall. My stomach felt as comfortable as if I'd swallowed a digestive pill. Right now, the corners of my mouth were practically hooked over my ears.
Lest I failed at reading the room and messed up my expression alone, I looked around while thinking the saddest thoughts I could. My classmates were either responding with blank faces or grinning.
So they were just like me. Wow, was this what they called building rapport? I was feeling great!
"There's nothing special for homeroom. More importantly, first period is 'Understanding of Magic Beasts.' Very well, comrades! Let us enter the lesson immediately!!"
"Ah."
I was feeling terrible.
**
The fact that the prince had been attacked at the academy was truly an unprecedented event.
The matter was serious enough that not only his homeroom teacher Kleis, but also her vice-homeroom teacher Meri, and even the academy's chairman Robespierre had to be mobilized.
The most renowned court physicians in the palace tended to the prince. The Emperor himself entered the Second Prince's bedchamber and watched over him. Naturally, Kleis, Meri, and the Tillet faculty members including the Chairman were there as well.
"He has entered a stable phase, but we do not know when he will wake."
"A single puncture wound to the abdomen, and he's unconscious? Does that make any sense to you?"
"Upon diagnosis, we confirmed a reflux of mana within his body. It appears his mana control collapsed from the shock when the wound was inflicted."
The Emperor was at a loss, but Kleis was even more at a loss.
After all, hadn't the prince engaged in a war of nerves with her not long ago? If the prince tried to make her take responsibility for his injury in order to force Aether to withdraw, she couldn't easily figure out how to respond.
Of course, there was no evidence. Kleis hadn't done it. But even being falsely accused of such a thing would tarnish the honor of House Haspelt. It wasn't for nothing that Kleis disliked getting caught up in scandals.
That was why she had come here. To prove that she really wasn't the one who had knifed the prince.
"Ugh."
"Your Highness!"
Perhaps the shock hadn't been that great, because Clion opened his eyes quickly. The court physicians blocked the Emperor, who had been about to slap his worthless son on the back the moment he woke.
"F-Father?"
"You wretch! What happened that a hole got punched in your gut!"
"What do you mean?"
Clion stared blankly at the Emperor and the people around him.
"Duke Haspelt and even Count Herlein.... What brings you all here like this?"
"What's wrong with this one? Haven't you come to your senses yet?"
Clion looked around and let out a groan as he glanced downward. His lower abdomen, patched with bandages, came into view.
"What is this.... Guh!"
"Son, are your memories hazy?"
"Did I get stabbed or something?"
Clion, of all people, ought to know that best. He was Prince Clion, after all. But the Second Prince only tilted his head as if he remembered nothing.
"Yes, you idiot! They say you went to school at dawn and were lying sprawled in the plaza! Who should be held accountable for this!!"
Since no one had uncovered whose fault it was, there was nowhere to pin the blame. If they had to shift responsibility somewhere, it would be onto the academy faculty. They had neglected student safety. Considering the commotion at the entrance ceremony not long ago, the security should have been tighter.
That was why the Chairman had come. Robespierre bowed his head alternately to the Emperor and the prince.
"It is due to my inept management. I keenly feel the responsibility."
"No, one cannot say it is solely your fault. This is because my son was out at school at dawn without an escort. Think about it. Which imperial family member in the world would pull such a stunt?"
Suddenly, Kleis sensed a dissonance in the attitudes of the prince and the Emperor. A feeling that something was different from before, a sensation of things not fitting together.
'Ten years ago, both of them were like this.'
It was a memory now grown distant. The image of the Crown Prince and the Emperor she had met when she was the heir of a ducal house, just before enrolling at the academy, contrasted in her mind.
The Emperor of that time had been naive, but not so lacking as to lose his decisiveness. And the Second Prince Clion had been just as much of a womanizer, but he had been an intelligent crown prince who knew how to keep the minimum bounds of decency.
"In any case, I must express my gratitude to the academy faculty who brought me here......."
That was when it happened. The bedchamber door clicked open and someone entered.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, are you all right?"
It was Duke Blanton. The man leading the Second Prince's faction in the political struggle over the next emperor. He was someone with little connection to House Haspelt, which had declared complete neutrality in court politics.
Today was probably the first time Kleis had properly faced Duke Blanton. Seeing Prince Clion's condition, Duke Blanton wiped the sweat from his forehead with a sigh of relief.
"I am relieved you are safe, Your Highness the Crown Prince. More importantly, I have discovered who was behind this incident!"
"Behind it...?"
"Yes. Surely you haven't lost your memory?"
"What is that supposed to.... Guh...!"
At Clion's behavior, Duke Blanton's expression grew complex.
"The person who stabbed you is very likely the viscount's daughter of House Eliyev."
"Eliyev? You mean Irka Eliyev?"
"Yes, think back. The daughter of House Eliyev has had the habit of waking at dawn to exercise since long ago. That habit continued even after she came to the academy. If not Eliyev, who else would stab you at dawn?"
At those words, the prince clutched his head and struggled to recall something. In barely a minute, the look in his eyes reverted to what it had been before he was stabbed.
"Yes, now that I think about it, that's right. Eliyev, that bitch...."
"Duke Blanton, is that true? That the viscount's daughter stabbed the prince?"
"Worry not, Your Imperial Majesty. I shall commission the Inspector General regarding this matter. You need only trust me."
"Hm, if you say so."
For a moment, Kleis once again sensed that something did not fit together.
First, because the prince's reaction had abruptly changed again. Second, because his father the Emperor likewise showed a passive attitude of entrusting the decision to Duke Blanton. Every part of it was strange.
But there was something else that was strangest of all.
'Then why had the prince come to the academy at the crack of dawn?'
However, that doubt dissolved right away. She decided it wasn't really any of her business.
'Well, he probably went out to seduce some woman.'
She had a feeling things didn't quite add up, but she glossed over it. To her, the Flare research was more important anyway, so there was no need to dwell on it.
At least for Kleis, finding the author of the paper she had read yesterday was the most urgent priority.