A Strange Feeling (4)
I went straight to find my homeroom professor, Violet.
"Professor."
"H-hiiik?! Frey? W-what is it?"
"I'm leaving early."
"L-leaving early? B-but it's only the first period…"
"Is that not allowed?"
"W-well, no, but… first you need a diagnosis from the infirmary."
Even a school for nobles was strict about things like this. No wonder no one called the Empire rotten.
"Then I'll go to the infirmary and come back."
"Y-yes. But… a-are you hurt somewhere?"
"My head doesn't seem to be working right."
"Y-your head? N-no, that won't do. Frey is supposed to become my t-teaching assistant later…"
I fled the ominous muttering of Professor Violet and headed for the infirmary.
"Professor Narey. Are you in?"
"Hgyaaaak?!"
A bizarre shriek was followed by a tremendous crash from inside the infirmary. What now?
I opened the door to find a black liquid spilled across the floor—and Professor Narey clutching ten sugar cubes in her hands.
If there were sugar cubes, then what had spilled must be coffee… right?
Wait.
That didn't smell like coffee.
I dropped to one knee and sniffed.
"Ack! Don't smell it!"
"This is cocoa, isn't it?"
"Aaaagh! A student caught me! I'm finished!"
Professor Narey wailed. I was so dumbfounded I had to ask.
"Why on earth would you put ten sugar cubes into already-sweet cocoa?"
"Because sweet things taste good!"
"There's a limit. Normally people put those in coffee."
"So what?! More importantly—this is top secret! Don't tell the other students!"
"Why not?"
Professor Narey placed a hand over her utterly unimpressive—no, essentially nonexistent—chest and declared with absolute confidence:
"Because my reputation as an elegant professor who is young in years but mature at heart would be ruined!"
"The fact that you think drinking coffee makes you mature already kind of kills the 'elegant' part…"
No matter how I looked at her, she was a little kid. There was no way this was an adult.
"What are you talking about! Drinking coffee is the mark of a grown-up!"
"Then am I an adult too, since I enjoy coffee?"
"Of course! You're of marriageable age!"
"Huh?"
Did it work that way? In the Empire, seventeen was the age when people started getting married.
"Anyway! You absolutely must not tell anyone this secret. If you do, I'll give you a terrible punishment."
"What kind of punishment?"
"There's a 'We Love Professor Narey So Much' fan club at the Academy, you know? I'll tell those students that you did something awful to me. Some of them are third-years! Well? Scared?"
If Professor Narey had been my daughter, I would have found her adorable.
As it was, watching a little kid who insisted she was an adult act like this just made me feel sorry for her.
"Haa… fine."
I hadn't planned on spreading it around in the first place. But if there was an advantage to be had, I was going to take it.
"On one condition, though. Just one favor."
"A favor? What favor?"
"A student came to the infirmary, didn't he? Write me a note saying I need to leave early because of a headache."
"That's easy! You do look pretty rough! Sign!"
At Professor Narey's simple command, the paper and quill on the desk sprang into motion. In an instant the quill had written out a diagnosis for a headache.
"Here you go!"
"Thank you. I won't tell a soul."
"Heh heh. Good. I like kids who listen. You're welcome in the infirmary anytime!"
"That… doesn't sound like a good thing."
She was Professor Colton's assistant professor, yet their personalities were night and day.
Either way, I had the note. I submitted it to Professor Violet at once and left the Academy.
"W-wait, Frey! Where are you going! Hey! Stop!"
Far behind me, Iren seemed to be shouting something, but I paid her no mind. Right now I was critically ill.
The moment I reached the mansion, I went looking for the young lady's room. I needed to see her at once and put my hopelessly scrambled heart back in order.
"Young lady. It's Frey."
I knocked and waited. For some reason, no answer came.
"Young lady?"
There was no chance she was still asleep at this hour. I had given her my morning greetings earlier, after all.
Just in case, I opened the door.
She wasn't in her room.
"Don't tell me."
Had she gone out again? After I had warned her so carefully only yesterday?
She had pushed herself hard enough to cough up blood, and now she was going outside again?! No—maybe she was still somewhere inside the mansion.
I raced through the halls. Every maid and butler I passed, I asked about her whereabouts.
"The young lady? Isn't she in her room?"
"She never said anything about going out today."
"Perhaps she's taking a stroll somewhere?"
No one knew where she was.
Ominous thoughts flooded my mind. It made no sense that the maids and butlers who meticulously inspected every corner of the mansion would have no idea where she had gone.
Wait. His Grace. His Grace would know!
I sprinted to the Duke's study. I was in such a hurry I couldn't even knock—I just threw the door open!
"Your Grace! The young lady—!"
"Huff… huff…"
"Haaa…"
"…?"
"Ah."
The young lady and the Duke both blinked at me.
Both of them were breathing extremely hard for some reason, and the young lady's clothes were thoroughly disheveled.
Puzzle pieces formed in my head and snapped themselves into place.
The young lady's whereabouts, unknown to anyone in the mansion. The two of them alone in the Duke's study—a place no one but me could enter without the Duke's leave. Both of them panting. Her clothes in disarray?
"D-don't tell me."
"F-Frey? This is, well—"
"W-what were the two of you d-doing just now?"
"That's… that is…"
The young lady's eyes were trembling violently.
"That's…"
She hesitated, unable to get the words out.
Could my suspicion actually be right?
A father and daughter… doing that kind of thing…? The Duchess had passed away some time ago, but this was still unthinkable. More than that—my young lady!!!
"The two of you… how could you… such…"
"Hold on, Frey. Calm down. I don't know what you're thinking, but this is—"
"Then why are you here in secret looking like that?!"
"Wait, that phrasing—no, never mind!"
The Duke nearly jumped out of his skin. But I could not simply accept his words at face value.
"Then what is it?! Why is the young lady, who should be resting in her room, here gasping for breath?!"
"Frey. No. What kind of idiotic idea have you gotten into your head!"
"Then explain it to me!"
"That's…"
The Duke closed his mouth and simply blinked. In all my life I had never seen him look like that. Even when someone had something on him, he never reacted this way.
"Young lady… Your Grace… I…"
I had lost all hope of living. Maybe I should just detonate the mana inside my body and end it all—
"Self-defense!"
Just as I was about to commit, the young lady suddenly cried out. What?
"Self-defense?"
"That's right! I-I was testing a self-defense technique I read about in a book on Father! Asking the maids or butlers would have been too embarrassing!"
"Young lady, that excuse is far too crude."
"It's not! Look at this!"
Thud! She grabbed the Duke's arm. His eyes went wide.
"A-Aylin?"
"Hiyah!"
What could a slender, frail young lady possibly do by grabbing the arm of a man as tall as the Duke? He didn't budge an inch—if anything, her arm looked ready to pop out of its socket.
What happened next, however, was nothing like what I expected.
Whoosh!
Thud!
"Guh!"
"See!"
"Whoa…"
Following the path of her arm, the Duke's entire body lifted into the air, spun, and slammed into the floor!
Anyone could see it was a clean shoulder throw. How had a thin, ailing young lady managed that?
"See, Frey? How could I have done that without practice!"
"I… I see."
"Ahem, ahem. Still, it was an easy scene to misunderstand, so I'll let it go. Why don't you go back to your room? Practicing self-defense has left Father's study a mess, so I need to tidy up."
"I'll help."
"No! Looking at how early you came back from the Academy, you must be feeling unwell. Go rest right away!"
She shoved me out of the Duke's study by the back.
Haaa… I wanted to die. Not only had I developed strange feelings for Iren at the Academy—I had also committed an unspeakable rudeness toward the Duke and the young lady!
Thank goodness she was so kind. In any other noble house, doing something like that would have gotten my head cut off on the spot.
As she said, I should rest thoroughly today. Honestly, I had wanted to talk with her and completely purge the feelings Iren stirred in me—but after what I had just said, she was probably angry with me.
"Urgh."
"Um…"
Aylin looked down at Duke Katram with an apologetic expression.
"Are you all right, Father?"
"…I'm fine."
"I'm sorry. That was the only excuse I could think of."
"It's nothing. Keeping this from Frey was more important to Your Highness."
"Ugh, even so. I'm sorry. I never imagined Frey would do something like this."
Aylin truly had not expected it.
Frey, who had worked without rest in the mansion for a full ten years—who would have guessed he would leave the Academy early after only three weeks?
The moment Frey left, she had summoned Duke Katram, but he had been in the middle of an audience with the Emperor and could not be reached at once. He had only just managed to arrive right before Frey reached the study.
"More importantly. Why did you do that?"
"Pardon?"
Still lying on the floor, Duke Katram looked up at Aylin with a meaningful gaze.
"I needed an excuse. But Your Highness did not. Because the one Frey is meant to love is your true self, Iren—not my daughter Aylin."
"That's…"
"If you treated Frey coldly in this form from the start, the plan for your true self would succeed all the more easily."
"…"
Aylin bit her lip hard. The Duke was right. Watching her, he regarded her with concern.
"Your Highness. Could it be that Jin:Polymorph is affecting—"
"No."
Aylin cut him off.
"I am Iren von Valencia. There is nothing wrong with my personality."
"Is that so."
"I just… don't want Frey to hate me, even in this form. I'm sorry for the trouble."
"Not at all. Everything is as Your Highness wills."
"Ahaha. Get up, Father."
Aylin helped Duke Katram to his feet, then tidied the disordered study with a simple spell.
"I'll head back to my room, then. We should also prepare a contingency for if Frey leaves early again."
"I'll give it some thought."
"Thank you."
Aylin left the Duke's study.
On the way back to her room, she thought to herself.
Father is right. But…
Why was this so hard? Aylin and Iren were the same person. Even if Frey came to dislike Aylin, if he fell in love with Iren, that would still be a gain.
Now that Iren had revealed herself to the outside world, Aylin would have to disappear within a few years. Having already established that this body was frail, no one would find it strange if she were declared dead at any time.
In other words, this form was meant to be a discardable piece in the plan. And yet, for some reason—
"I don't want to disappear."
Aylin stopped walking, startled by her own words.
"Haaa… I should rest today too."
It was only because so many shocking things had happened that such a thought had crossed her mind. That was what Aylin told herself as she headed for her room—
quietly crushing underfoot the question blooming in her heart.