Distance
Elice Axstra.
One of the heroines who appeared in the web novel Academy's Sword.
The way I was introducing her felt uncomfortably similar to how I'd introduced Rian, but that hardly mattered right now.
What mattered was the woman sitting in the seat ahead of me, staring back with open displeasure.
"Don't you have anything to say?"
"…What am I supposed to say."
"Something like 'thanks for the ride,' or 'my legs were killing me, so I really appreciate it.'"
"…Do you need that?"
"No. Looking at your face, I can tell I don't. I have no interest in receiving empty gratitude."
With that, Elice snapped her head forward again.
Right.
If that was how she was going to act, why bring it up at all?
She could have just kept quiet.
The already awkward atmosphere had only grown more uncomfortable.
It was obvious she had picked the fight for no good reason—but the fact remained that my legs had been starting to ache, and she had given me a ride.
"Thanks for the ride."
"…That sentence doesn't contain even a shred of sincerity. Forget it. I was headed this way anyway."
Elice answered in a dissatisfied tone that made it clear she wanted no such apology.
"By the way, why were you trudging along like that out there? You looked like the sky itself had fallen on you."
"…Are you actually curious, or are you just saying whatever comes to mind because you have nothing else to talk about?"
"This time I really am curious. Class is in session right now."
"You're skipping class too."
"I left with a proper early dismissal. Unlike someone who only got lunch-hour leave and is now playing hooky."
"…"
What the hell.
She already knew everything.
The embarrassment of having my "you're no different" logic collapse was nothing compared to the chill that ran through me at the realization that Elice had already known it all.
"…How do you even know that?"
"Who knows. Would you believe me if I said it was a woman's secret?"
"Would I? How many times have I hired you?"
"Fair point. I really should have disposed of the client once he learned the truth."
"…Don't even joke about that. It gives me the creeps."
That was the true face of Elice Axstra.
Outwardly, her family was the picture of respectability. In reality, the Axstra Marquisate sat on the throne of the underworld, and she was its sole daughter. She was still too young to have graduated from the academy, so she rarely took direct action—yet the fact that she knew every scrap of information on every academy student made her someone you never, ever wanted as an enemy.
As if she had read those thoughts, Elice smiled faintly and began to probe.
"What is it? Are you nervous? Afraid I might erase a certain someone without a single soul noticing?"
"…"
"Don't worry. I have no reason to waste time eliminating someone like you. I'm a very busy woman, you know."
"…Right. Sure."
"So I'd appreciate an answer. Where exactly did you go that was important enough to skip class?"
"You already know. If you know I got leave to go out, don't you also know why?"
Elice's face twisted as if she had just heard pure nonsense.
"Do you really think I'd fall for a lie that thin? Someone who spent yesterday scrubbing every last trace of his past suddenly claims he went out for a hospital visit—and I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Then go dig it up yourself. You said there's no information your network can't find."
"True, there's nothing my information can't find. But I also have no reason to expend that kind of effort just to learn why someone like you stepped outside."
"…"
I had thought this many times before, but she truly had a gift for getting under people's skin.
I couldn't even get angry about it.
She was openly baiting me into losing my temper.
Her goal was so transparent that there was no point taking the hook.
"Don't believe it if you don't want to. I really did go to the hospital."
"Hmm. The fact that you're sticking to that story even after all this makes me think it might actually be true. Why the sudden hospital visit?"
"…Just. My body started feeling off all of a sudden."
"And what did they say at the hospital? Stop faking it?"
"No. Not that."
I stopped speaking for a moment.
I couldn't decide whether I should tell this woman the truth.
It was a real dilemma.
Tell her straight, or brush it off as a simple autumn cold?
…She probably wouldn't believe the truth even if I told her.
I started to wonder whether the wording even mattered.
If I told the truth, she would call it a lie and refuse to believe it. If I lied, a woman this sharp would catch it instantly.
So I simply chose.
"What is it? What could possibly be so important that you're taking this long to—"
"I'm dying. Me."
"…"
"A year at most, they said."
Even after I finished speaking, no voice came from the woman in the front seat.
What?
This wasn't the reaction I had expected.
I had been certain she would come back with something like, Do you honestly think I'd believe that? Even nonsense has its limits.
"Ugh. If you don't want to talk, just say you don't want to talk."
"…"
"How much must you have hated the idea of answering if you're trying to brush me off with a lie so ridiculous even a passing idiot wouldn't buy it?"
"It's not a lie—"
"Forget it. I won't ask again, and I won't look into it either. I wasn't that curious to begin with."
Right.
The woman in front of me was, without question, a lunatic beyond anything I could have imagined.
"I can see you cursing me with your eyes, you know."
"…You can read minds too?"
"Don't admit you were cursing me. That just makes it worse."
"It was a joke."
"You're really no fun. A year ago you were a scoundrel, but at least you weren't this dull."
"…"
"So. When are you going to answer this one? The reason you suddenly changed. The reason that scoundrel Rian Tryce suddenly decided to wipe his past clean."
She had just stabbed straight into a sore spot.
Why was she even asking if she claimed she didn't care?
"…Your information network couldn't dig that up either? The reason I'm cleaning up my past?"
"It wounds my pride, but yes. It started as simple curiosity, and the fact that nothing turned up no matter how hard I looked put me in a foul mood."
"Keep looking hard, then. You said with your own mouth that there's no information you can't find."
"…If you were trying to provoke my competitive streak, congratulations. That tone just now was genuinely unpleasant."
"I'm honored. With my completely ordinary way with words, I managed to piss off the princess of the underworld."
"…I believe I told you that if you called me that nickname one more time, I would erase you from existence."
As if some button had been pressed, Elice's expression hardened into pure ice.
Terrifying.
That one actually seemed sincere.
Of course, for someone who had just received a brand-new terminal diagnosis, it was hardly my concern.
"Then whose fault is it that the identity got exposed? If a mere academy student found out who you and your family really are, isn't that on you?"
"That's one of the great mysteries of my life as well. How exactly you learned my identity and my family's. Our house has never once taken a direct commission from you."
Elice frowned again, looking genuinely aggrieved.
How did I know? How else.
I had read the original work.
But I could hardly tell Elice that, so I answered with casual bluff.
"You must have slipped up somewhere."
"That's exactly what drives me insane—I can't find the slip. I need to know what the mistake was so I never make it again."
"People make mistakes. It's normal."
"No. That's something only people like you are allowed to say. I am someone who does not tolerate my own mistakes."
"…"
"Look at us right now. If I hadn't made that unknown mistake, I wouldn't be stuck having this completely useless conversation with you."
"…That stings a little. This is a useless conversation?"
"Is it a useful one, then?"
"No. It's useless."
I had no intention of denying it.
For someone of Elice Axstra's caliber, the phrase "time is money" fit better than for almost anyone else.
The higher you stood, the more precious time became.
While I was thinking that, a complaint drifted from the front seat.
"How on earth did I end up tangled with a scoundrel like him…"
"…Can we drop the 'scoundrel' title now? I finished clearing everything yesterday."
"Cleaning up past wrongs doesn't mean you stop being the person who committed them. You of all people should know that best."
"…"
"Have you heard the news? The Brilliant family is gathering material to break off the engagement between you and your fiancée."
"…Is that so."
"Yes. They sent a request to one of our trading partners asking to purchase information."
The news Elice delivered was, in essence, that my engagement was about to be dissolved.
"…Good."
"Well, shall I try to stop the information from being sold? Of course, the other party is the Brilliant Duchy, so it probably wouldn't— Wait. What did you just say?"
This was the kind of news that might have actually affected me if it had arrived yesterday.
"I said it's a good thing. Elena is far too good for someone like me."
"…"
"This is probably how it should be."
"…Unbelievable. Hearing those words come out of a scoundrel's mouth leaves me so speechless I don't even know what to say."
After that, until the car reached the academy and the door opened automatically with the invitation to get out, I said nothing more.
The only words I offered were a quiet "thanks for the ride" as I stepped down.
That was the distance between Elice and me.