Everyone Has a Plan (1)
I woke that morning with my head in a fog.
A single night had passed, and somehow the events of the day before stood out even more vividly than before.
The guilt of having seen my lady naked squeezed tight around my chest.
This has to stay an absolute secret.
No matter how kind my lady was, there was no telling what expression she would make if she ever learned I had seen her bare. If she looked at me with contempt, I would lose every reason to keep living. That could never be allowed to happen.
Before heading to the Academy, I went to her room at least to pay my morning respects. I cleared my throat and knocked.
“My lady. It’s Frey.”
For some reason there was no answer.
My lady spent long hours in bed, yet she was never one to sleep in late. That was a fact I had confirmed over ten years of service as her butler.
“My lady?”
I knocked again. Still nothing. My heart plummeted. Had her illness taken a turn for the worse in the night?
“My lady! Forgive me, but I’m coming in!”
“W-wait a moment!”
Only when I called out urgently did her voice finally answer. I exhaled in relief. So she wasn’t in pain. But her next words only deepened my worry.
“Frey. I’m sorry, but could you just go on to the Academy today?”
“Is something the matter?”
“It’s just… my hair is strangely messy this morning.”
“My lady is beautiful no matter how she looks.”
“Th-thank you. But I’d like to be alone today.”
Her voice was trembling for some reason. I wanted to throw the door open that instant and check on her condition. Yet defying one’s master was not a butler’s duty. In the end I had no choice but to turn away.
“Understood. Then I’ll be off, my lady.”
“Yes. Take care.”
And so I arrived at the Academy.
Having been unable to pay my respects, I reached the classroom earlier than expected. Yet someone was already there ahead of me.
“Ah, Young Master Katram.”
“Karl, is it. I told you to call me Frey.”
“Even if you are from a collateral line, how could I address someone of the Katram family so casually?”
“This is the Academy, so it’s fine.”
Karl Laupen. One of the three who had been attacked by Airen on the first day of the Academy. Grateful that I had saved him that day, he struck up conversation with me now and then. Or perhaps he simply wanted to expand his connections.
If it was the latter, it was a pity. I was nothing more than a butler disguised as a member of the Katram family.
“I heard about the library incident yesterday. You pulled off something remarkable again.”
“Remarkable? It was nothing but embarrassing.”
“Still, you were lucky. If the princess hadn’t been there, they would certainly have recorded the whole thing.”
“…What?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? The library peeping crowd makes a habit of capturing the behavior of people lost in magic books with recording crystals. Yesterday, with the princess present, they clearly couldn’t pull that stunt.”
“They’re insane.”
I would never set foot in that library again. Even if I was careful, I had no desire to return to a place crawling with such sneaky bastards.
“So what’s your business?”
“Business? I simply came for a friendly chat.”
“Doesn’t look that way.”
“My, as expected of Young Master Katram. In truth, I do have one small purpose.”
“And that is?”
“Young Lady Irina has taken an interest in Young Master Katram. She asked me—since I at least converse with you—to act as a bridge.”
“Young Lady Irina…”
I rifled through the database in my head. Ah—the daughter of Marquis Varian.
The eldest daughter of Marquis Varian, who served as the empire’s Minister of Finance, was none other than Irina Varian.
“I believe she’s a student in the knight division.”
“As expected of Young Master Katram! You have most of the student information memorized, don’t you? That’s correct. But rumors of you constantly rewriting the records have spread throughout the entire Academy. Young Lady Irina heard them and has watched you from a distance several times.”
“And so she developed feelings for me?”
“Exactly so. You are quite handsome, after all.”
“But Karl. You know I already have someone I like.”
I had said as much openly right in front of Princess Airen. Karl, who currently ranked near the top of the class, could not possibly have forgotten.
“Of course. Yet Young Master, shouldn’t a person meet many others before choosing a lifelong partner?”
“That’s true enough. But I have circumstances you can’t know.”
“At least meet her once.”
“Haa. Look, I— No. Wait.”
A brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
“Fine. I’ll meet her.”
“Truly? Phew, thank you. You’ve saved my face.”
“But there’s a condition.”
“Anything you say.”
“The meeting is today, right after classes, at the café inside the Academy. Before that, spread the rumor through the class.”
“About the meeting with Young Lady Irina?”
“Yes. You can manage that much, can’t you?”
“Of course!”
Karl thumped his chest. I smiled at the sight and asked,
“You’re something else, though. Knowing the princess has her sights on me, you still introduce another young lady.”
“Well, it’s a petty grudge. My neck still stings, you see.”
“Excellent. I have a feeling we’ll maintain a fine relationship going forward.”
“I’m honored. Hehe.”
Apparently Karl still nursed a grudge over having his life held hostage by ice spikes on the first day. What a small-minded man. Still, the opportunity he had just handed me was more than welcome.
With today’s meeting, I’ll make the princess lose all interest in me! That was the reason I had agreed to see Irina.
Think about it. The princess had publicly declared she had marked me. I had refused her on the pretext of already having someone I liked. Princess Airen even knew who that someone was. And now, in the middle of all that, I suddenly arranged a meeting with another woman?
A man who had rejected her out of pure devotion was now seeing someone else entirely. Was that not the perfect way to kill her feelings?
I felt a little sorry for Irina, who wanted a good relationship with me, but for the moment she would have to serve as bait to drop the princess.
I was chuckling to myself when someone tapped my shoulder with a sharp tak.
“Ack!”
“Whoa. I barely touched you. That’s quite the reaction.”
“P-Princess?”
“Good morning, Frey. Something good happen?”
“N-no. Nothing in particular.”
“Really? Hmm.”
Airen studied me carefully, then clicked her tongue.
“I don’t like it.”
“Pardon?”
“I was certain you’d be completely crushed by now.”
A chill ran down my spine. Without Karl’s proposal, I would indeed have been crushed by the shock of not seeing my lady. Of course Airen couldn’t have known that. On what grounds was she saying this?
“Crushed about what? Don’t pick fights first thing in the morning.”
“Picking fights? What a lovely way to speak to a princess. Right?”
“My apologies. So you dislike people with poor manners?”
“No. I think I’m starting to like it.”
“Tch.”
The Academy’s daily schedule began again. Things flowed peacefully until lunch. But the moment lunch arrived, an inexplicable, ominous current filled the classroom.
Ding-dong-ding-dong.
The bell announcing lunch rang.
Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak.
Airen was tapping the desk with her index finger. It was only a fingertip—and the fingerprint side at that, not the nail—yet somehow the sound echoed through the entire room.
Everyone should have stood to go eat lunch, yet no one could rise.
Except me.
“Wonder what’s on the cafeteria menu today.”
“Frey. Let’s talk.”
Airen caught me as I tried to leave the classroom.
“What is it, Princess? Don’t tell me you want to eat together again today?”
“That’s a given. I heard an interesting rumor this morning.”
“What rumor?”
“That you arranged to meet Young Lady Varian after school.”
As expected of Karl. Of course, sitting right beside Airen, I had already heard the other students whispering about my planned meeting with Irina.
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“Correct?”
“She said she was interested in me. Is there a problem?”
Airen’s eyes narrowed. That chilling gaze looked ready to freeze everything in front of it solid.
“A problem? The problem seems to be in the head of the person saying it so boldly.”
“You’re speaking nonsense. Well, that’s how it turned out.”
“I was the one who showed interest first.”
“Regrettably, I have no interest in the princess.”
“You like someone else.”
“That person is a distant flower. I’ve simply found someone who suits me. Is that not allowed?”
“Is that so……?”
Airen was smiling. Yet everyone in the classroom felt it.
That was no smile. If it were a smile, the icicles that had begun forming and dripping from the ceiling would make no sense at all.
Incredible. Mana flowing out from a mere shift in emotion and transforming into another substance… Princess Airen’s magical talent is far greater than I imagined.
“Then I’m hungry, so I’ll be going.”
“Fine. Enjoy your meal. And choke on it while you’re at it.”
“I’ll chew every bite thoroughly.”
What followed was utterly savage.
The classroom stayed freezing cold all afternoon; even the professors clutched their collars and stammered through their lectures.
At last classes ended. I headed for the campus café where I had arranged to meet Irina.
The Academy’s facilities were excellent. Students from distant territories lived in the dormitories, and with nobles residing there the interior amenities naturally had to be top-tier.
This café in particular offered quality that crushed most high-end establishments at bargain prices, making it a favorite among students.
I was using it for the first time only because I needed to hurry back and see my lady.
I arrived, but Irina was nowhere in sight. The knight division involved a great deal of physical activity; she probably couldn’t come straight to the café the moment lectures ended.
I settled in to wait at my leisure. Thirty minutes passed.
“Are you Young Master Katram?”
“Ah, yes. Young Lady Varian asked for me—”
I answered the voice and turned around.
A shadow fell across my face. Had the sky suddenly gone dark?
No. A massive frame had simply blocked out the sun.
I saw her.
A woman of enormous build looking down at me from a full two heads higher.
She looked as though she could thrash a bear bare-handed, and she grinned… no, beamed at me.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Irina Varian.”
In a sweet voice that did not match her giant frame at all.