When a Woman Nurses a Grudge, Frost Falls Even in Midsummer (1)

As always, my feet carried me of their own accord toward Professor Niger's office.

What devastatingly handsome look would he bless my eyes with today? Would he perhaps greet me first for once? Carrying every expectation a heart could hold, I opened the office door.

The hinges creaked.

There he was, seated at his desk, and with a glad little tadum-tadum, I hurried toward him on quick, light steps, every earlier thought forgotten, ready to be the one to say hello first.

"Good morning, Professor Nige—r...?"

"...Yes."

And in that instant, I felt it.

That expression, empty of all feeling—it was the cold face that had looked down on me for the past three years.

My heart sank like a stone.

Even though I had come to him first, even though I had offered my greeting, he only gave a curt, clipped reply, so curt that I couldn't bring myself to ask a single question.

Back in the old days—before I'd known his gentle side—I'd actually nodded along, thinking even that sort of aloofness was a prerequisite for a handsome man. It hadn't bothered me at all, and I'd never once wondered whether he was disappointed in me.

Somehow I shook off the tangle of thoughts and managed to squeeze out a smile.

"P-Professor Niger, you'll be waiting at the library again today, won't you?"

I was hoping, you see, that he'd nod and walk home with me.

But no.

His eyes wavered for a moment as he looked at me—and even that small flicker betrayed me.

"I'm sorry. Today... I have some business. I won't be able to."

That curtly delivered answer, and the sight of his back as he rose and left the office ahead of me, dropped my heart straight through the floor.

How I managed to get through my lecture afterward, I honestly couldn't tell you.

I think I just swung my sword halfheartedly in front of the students and killed time telling them to train freely. My head was so empty that nothing I might teach them would come to mind.

And so quitting time arrived, and I trudged out on leaden feet.

"Right... it's not like anyone can be in a good mood every single day. Besides, Professor Niger was always curt by nature. Honestly, this mood is more like the him I'm used to..."

I kept muttering to myself.

Even I could tell it was a little pathetic, but what could I do?

"It might just be for one day. By tomorrow he'll surely be back to normal.... Yeah..."

No matter how I tried to steady my heart, if I'm being honest, there was no pulling those sagging shoulders back up.

You let me taste the sweet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fruit, and then... you just snatch it away? What am I supposed to do with that?

"Ah, seriouslyyyy.... Professor Niger, you're so mean, seriouslyyyy..."

The thought that he might be reverting to how he used to be made my hand clench into a tight fist without my meaning to. My endless grumbling and sighing drew the stares of everyone around me, but I didn't have the energy to care.

"Why are you suddenly putting the wall back up with me...?"

If you're going to get someone's hopes up, fine, you can't be held responsible for everything—but you don't just cut it off like this, out of nowhere!

Is that what being handsome buys you? Is being handsome all there is to it?

Hm.

Well, okay, being handsome is pretty much everything, but still...

"Haaaah... what a sorrowful life I lead..."

I shuffled along. Dusk was settling over the streets, and the streetlamps had begun to cast their glow across the road.

This was exactly the hour I should have been walking these streets beside Professor Niger.

"What on earth could be so important today...?"

Grunting complaints under my breath, I turned into an alley—and the sight inside the café across the way stopped me dead in my tracks.

"..."

The back of a woman. And across the table from her, the familiar figure of a man.

That brilliantly shining platinum hair. Those sculpted, chiseled features. The immaculately pressed priest's robes and the rosario at his throat. The powerful muscle no robe could ever quite hide.

"Ha...?"

Wait.

This was the "business."

He was meeting another woman?

Strength flooded back into my sagging shoulders. My hand drifted naturally to my hip, and with trembling fingers I gripped the scabbard of my sword.

My emotions, roiling beyond containment, sent my mana rippling and wavering—

It was only when I heard the murmuring of the crowd around me that I finally managed to smooth it back down.

Clutching my shaking hands into fists, I stared hard at Professor Niger, deep in conversation inside the café.

So he brushes me off without a second glance, but he's got time for a café date with some vixen of a woman?

He hasn't met me privately even once, and there he sits, with that gorgeous face, bewitching another woman?

My shoulders, so lifeless moments ago, now heaved with furious emotion. My legs, which had dragged me along without strength, stamped sharply against the pavement as if to vent the injustice of it all.

Before I knew it, my eyes were blazing green with jealousy.

I opened my eyes.

Oh...

Thankfully, it was the familiar ceiling.

All four limbs intact, not a scratch or bruise on me, no sign that anyone had gotten crushed to death. Not that I'd ever found such evidence on the nights I'd actually committed murder, mind you.

I sat up. If it was the Niger I knew, he'd surely have left a concise explanatory note on the desk.

We didn't report to each other every single day, but leaving a note whenever something happened was the unspoken rule between us. Which made sense—no one wants to be caught completely in the dark when a situation comes out of nowhere.

Seriously.

I never would have guessed that was the reason.

Of all people, of all nights, for Bellatrix to catch me—what kind of cruel joke of fate was that? I'd even thrown on a robe to hide my identity, and I got caught in the middle of it.

And on top of that, the way I'd been working so hard had only piled on more suspicion. Absurd didn't even begin to cover it.

Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine.

I had no idea whether things were truly as settled as Niger claimed, but he'd at least told me there was no problem, and honestly, that alone was touching enough to bring a tear to my eye.

Having finished the note, I climbed out of bed and readied myself for work with practiced ease.

Sadly, it was the picture-perfect image of a model employee.

And so, arriving at my office at the Academy, I found myself confronted with a situation I could not, for the life of me, understand.

I'd assumed it would be the same routine as always.

I reached the office right on schedule, and Elia, as always, appeared at my door not long after I clocked in.

But her expression was darker than usual, and the words that came out of her mouth were not the familiar greeting.

"...Professor Niger, do you have nothing to say to me?"

"Ah—good morning to you too, Professor Elia...?"

"Hmph. Good morning, is it? Truly, that is all you have to say to me?"

What.

What is this, why are you scowling at me?

Elia glowered down at me, her face scrunched in a deep frown, like someone offering me one final chance to come clean.

The problem was that, up close like this, arms crossed and seething, her chest was so substantial that I could barely see her face at all. And the glimpses of her angry expression that peeked over it were, frankly, adorable.

"Ah, um... is there something you require me to say, Professor?"

"Ha! So you truly have nothing to say!"

"No... hmm. I'm afraid my shortcomings prevent me from grasping what you wish me to say, Professor Elia. I apologize."

In my defense, Niger's note hadn't contained a single word about Professor Elia. He'd simply said there were no particular problems and that I should go about my day—so what on earth was this?

At my apology, Elia flinched for a moment—but then, as if to broadcast her anger, she began stomping her foot against the floor, thump thump.

"Ugh...! You're making me say this? With my own mouth?"

"I'm sorry..."

"You told me yesterday you had other business and just walked off! Who was it, where did you go, and what did you do!"

Yesterday, after work...?

After work yesterday, the only thing I'd done was meet Bellatrix at the café at six thirty...

Oh. Don't tell me she saw me at the café.

If that were the case, it would explain why it wasn't in Niger's note. Elia had witnessed it alone—so there would have been no way for Niger to know.

"Ah, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had a prior engagement, so I went to a café. And then..."

"Is that woman better than me?"

"Excuse me...?"

No, hold on just a moment.

Professor Elia, what exactly are you misunderstanding right now?

"What was all that kindness you've shown me, then! Was I just imagining it all by myself?"

"No, no. Professor Elia, please, calm yourself for a moment. Won't you join me for a cup of tea? I'll explain everything."

I offered her tea with a warm, gentle smile, but Elia only stuck her lips out in an exaggerated pout and pressed on.

The way she whipped her head away with a hmph was truly adorable. The only problem was that all that emotion was aimed at me.

"You were so cold to me until only yesterday! And now you're sweet again—do you think I'm just going to giggle and swoon? Besides, you already had your tea with that woman yesterday!"

No, that's not why we met!

Suspicion chasing the tail of suspicion—a meeting that had been nothing short of a thriller, with a serial killer and a cat each training their sights on the other.

And besides, the one behind yesterday's cold shoulder wasn't me—it was the murderer. Not that I could ever say so. Honestly.

I smiled again and tried once more.

"Ah, no... Professor Elia, if you would just grant me a moment to explain..."

"Bleh~ forget it! I have a lecture to get to anyway! So you'd better have your excuses ready by quitting time!"

Elia shot me a wounded glance, then stuck her tongue out with a long, childish bleeeh.

So... is that supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be her way of saying she's mad and wants me to make it up to her?

That adorably...?

And with that, Elia kicked out of the office ahead of me, leaving me staring blankly at the wide-open door.

— Ugh, seriously! Being needlessly handsome like that...! I can't even stay properly angry! Grrr...!

Her voice carried back through the office wall, ringing with frustration.

I'm sorry—

Mr. Niger, didn't you say there were no problems at all?

Having taken an undeserved strike from Professor Elia, I did my best to gather myself and stepped out of the office.

My head was a mess, but I could hardly just skip my lecture over it.

Letting out a long sigh, I opened the door to the Sacred Arts lecture hall.

The students gathered for class all swallowed hard at the sight of me, and I spoke with practiced ease.

"...Ahh, welcome. I am Niger Caritas."

The bright, curious expressions they'd worn on the first day of class, and the second, had long since vanished.

If anything, their faces were now filled with outright dread, as if wondering what fresh madness I would demand of them this time.

"In our last lecture, I taught you the basic healing incantation. Hmm. In that case, today I would like you to attempt constructing a protective barrier with your own hands."

The moment the words left my mouth, groans rose one by one from among ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the students. Not a single one of them believed anymore that a mere barrier exercise would be just that.

I swept my gaze across the room—and there, seated alone amid the crowd, was Bellatrix, staring straight at me.

As expected, the matter with Bellatrix did appear to be genuinely settled. The hostility and suspicion that had always simmered in her eyes had faded to almost nothing.

But still. What am I supposed to do about this?

Because of you, I just got torn a new one by Elia, and I am furious at you for it.

"We will practice in pairs. Pair up with the person beside you—and Sister Bellatrix... you will be my partner. Please come forward."

At my words, Bellatrix rose with sharp, measured clicks of her heels, and I raised my divinity as I regarded her.

"Shall we have you construct a barrier first, Sister?"

"...Very well."

Without a trace of doubt, she raised a barrier and stood before me, and I let my divinity surge forth behind a kindly smile.

For the sin of daring to suspect your professor—roll in the dirt and pay with your body.

Vrummm—

My divinity came down on her barrier with crushing weight. Calibrated, of course, so that it wouldn't shatter—just heavy enough to be on the very edge of what she could endure.

"Ugh.... w-wait a moment.... nngh, Professor. For something done to a student, this is a bit much...!"

"Sister, all of this is my affection for my students."

"Look at yourself...! You do hold a grudge against me, don't you, admit it...!"

Affectionate grudge, technically.

I buried that thought deep and simply smiled.

"Not at all, Sister. This is entirely for your growth, so apply yourself with even greater devotion. And Elohim shall shower you with blessings."

"You insane professor...! Nnngh.... s-stop...!"

She glared at me, brimming with indignation, and finally even spat out the words are you out of your mind—

But what could I do?

This time, the grudge was entirely real.

Until the lecture bell rang, I drilled her without mercy—draining her to exhaustion, healing her, then draining her again.

By the end, she muttered "damn you to hell..." and collapsed into my arms—but regardless, the more one uses divinity, the more one's total capacity grows. It would do her good.

Ah. That felt good.