Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Flashy Taste
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The next day.
It was supposed to be a peaceful day coinciding with the weekend, but here I was, dragged to the Black Lily House by Enoch Clark, my assigned manager from the student council (it felt a bit better to think of him that way).
I let out a sigh as I looked at Makina smirking right in front of me.
My wrists felt terribly uncomfortable.
“I wouldn’t feel restricted at all even if I wore something like this.”
A wide silver bracelet was clasped around my wrist.
It was a restraint bracelet, the kind only cadets with magical aptitude were supposed to wear.
They’d asked if I wanted one on each arm or two on one arm, and I’d quickly said two on my left arm, but looking back now, that was a failed negotiation.
‘I should’ve said just one or formally protested.’
The moment I saw the silver bracelet emblazoned with the black lily, my mind went foggy, and I ended up agreeing to whatever Makina wanted.
I pulled down my sleeve over the two engraved bracelets on the side facing away, trying not to look displeased.
“It’s just for show.”
Makina was usually dressed neatly in the academy uniform, but today she was in a simple outfit of a shirt and riding pants.
Her outer jacket was a tailored one without any decorations, making her look like a slender boy from a distance.
“This just feels like punishment for the sake of punishment.”
“You’ve seen right through it.”
Makina said that as she sat at the reception table, crossing her legs and pressing her temples.
Maybe because it was the weekend, her silver hair accessories were gone, and her hair was just loosely down in a natural style.
“Now, whenever I hear the name Arma Cruise, my heart skips a beat.”
“It’s probably similar to how I felt running into Cadet Enoch Clark right in front of his place.”
“My gratitude toward you doesn’t seem to last even a week, Cadet Arma Cruise.”
“No, I really am grateful. Make some time for me soon.”
Makina let out a small chuckle at my words.
We kept running into each other in such serious situations that it had been ages since I’d seen a genuine smile like this.
I remembered Makina hadn’t been quite so dignified about five years ago.
Seeing that smile after so long softened the irritation I’d been feeling.
“Anyway, doesn’t it look weird if only Cadet Theodor White gets punished? We caused the incident together.”
“Well... sorry about that.”
“Are you catching a late case of spring fever right before graduation or something?”
Makina shook her head as she said it.
Then she gathered the box the engraved bracelets had come in from the tea table, along with the magic-use ink, pen, and disciplinary log, and put them away in the study desk.
“Like you said, Arma Cruise, this is just token punishment for the sake of it. Normally, it’d be decided through a student trial with the chancellor present.”
On the surface, Theodor had used magic and I’d fired a gun because we were attacked by agitated crows.
Theodor and I got along well enough, and the incident itself was just a hapless mishap, so I couldn’t quite understand why it had blown up like this...
But seeing Makina’s noticeably thinner cheeks, I decided not to push back anymore.
“Speaking of which, about that leave of absence request. It hasn’t been processed yet.”
“Oh, that.”
According to what Judith said, my mother was supposed to come pick me up.
I thought it over for a moment before replying.
“I’m just going to stick it out until graduation. I’ll let my mother know that too.”
“...Okay.”
I’d have to graduate from the academy anyway to decide whether to return to the main house or head to the capital.
There was no need to half-heartedly go back home.
Mother would probably understand if I explained it that way.
I gave a silent bow to Makina, lost in thought, and left the Black Lily House.
***
When I got back to the dorm, Judith and Shirley—there before even the room owner—had pulled out the guest table and chairs and were chatting.
Both were dressed in academy training clothes: black silk shirts and white leather pants.
The only difference was that Shirley, who prioritized mobility, had swapped her bottoms for short culottes.
“Sunbae!”
Shirley turned her head toward me.
It was the first time I’d properly seen her face since the incident.
For me, who’d been drifting in and out of comas and awakenings, meeting Shirley didn’t feel that long ago, but it seemed different for her.
“Why not just move your dorm to the Black Lily House? You spend more time there than here anyway.”
“Arma’s sensitive, so she’d have a hard time adjusting.”
“Makina would take care of it.”
Shirley, thoroughly pissed off, was venting her complaints at Makina on my behalf.
I showed her my arm by unbuttoning my sleeve, worried inside about what punishment I’d gotten but trying not to show it.
“Engravings?”
“Is that an engraving?”
Shirley and Judith had almost identical reactions upon seeing the two bracelets on my left arm.
“What, is President Makina’s memory slipping? Sunbae can’t use magic anyway. This just makes her look like someone who loves flashy accessories.”
“And not just one, but two. It almost feels like a statement.”
“...”
Had I shown them for no reason? I gave a wry smile and buttoned my sleeve back up.
“It’s punishment, so I just accepted it.”
“Yeah, since it happened fighting crows, that’s all it is. If it’d been with a person, they’d have stuck it on your forehead.”
“Ugh, just imagining it. Like a crown.”
“...”
Now relaxed, Shirley and Judith, who’d briefly looked serious, glanced at each other and burst into giggles.
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry along with them.
“So, what about the leave of absence?”
With the mood lightened a bit, Judith broached the subject.
This was probably what she really wanted to ask.
Knowing her concern made me feel even more apologetic as I answered.
“Oh, that. Uh. I decided to drop it.”
“Arma.”
“I know what you’re worried about.”
Taking a break from the academy to think up countermeasures in a safe place might be a good option.
But all these incidents felt to me like a series of plots trying to drive me out of the academy.
“Anyway, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve all hung out like this.”
“Eek. After brushing death, you’re getting all sentimental?”
Honestly, yeah.
Part of me wanted to hug them all and dance around.
The mood had loosened up completely now—Judith sat straight-backed, listening to Shirley’s silly jokes, while Shirley leaned on her, clutching her stomach laughing, totally hyped.
-We have decided to accept this death.
Watching that bright, cheerful sight, I overlapped the Shirley from that day with the one in front of me.
The age difference you could sense from her appearance was just two or three years.
What trials would that bright, vibrant soul have to go through to say something like that?
What form would the despair coming our way even take?
If I left the academy, who would benefit?
“Sunbae? You listening?”
Shirley was talking to me before I knew it.
“Oh, sorry. What’d you say?”
“Theodor. Wondering when you two got so close.”
“Oh.”
Even I felt like Theodor and I had grown closer lately.
It was true that my PE-major Wooden Cross Class didn’t usually mix much with the oddballs from the Thorn Crown Class.
“Yeah, fighting crows together and all. Might as well call him a comrade now.”
“...”
It had seemed like a pretty solid excuse at the time, but hearing it now, it didn’t quite hold up.
I’d gained plausibility but lost honor.
“I had some questions for Theodor, so I kept dropping by, and it turned into this.”
I let out a small sigh, thinking of the unresolved homework on my chest—the magic circle (which I couldn’t even guarantee could be solved).
‘Yeah, there’s still way too much I need to figure out.’
I’d spent most of recent times passed out, so what I’d learned was extremely limited.
Even those scraps were too flimsy to convince others.
At best, I’d proven it wasn’t just some wild fantasy by writing down a Bible verse I’d never heard of or learned while hypnotized.
But how do you convince other people with that?
-I saw it in a dream, but this world’s about to end, and we’re all gonna die.
...How many would believe and follow if I said that?
Ironically, in the current situation, the one most likely to believe and go along was Theodor.
Judith and Shirley would of course respect and accommodate my views as much as possible, but that’d come from trust, not conviction.
Theodor was a bit different.
-‘Remember this without fail.’
That was written on the magic circle Theodor had etched on my chest even now.
The magic circle, written in characters only he couldn’t read, remained an unsolved mystery to him.
But if my guess was right—that what I’d seen and touched was a future world that could influence reality, and the impending disaster—then Theodor’s mystery would resolve somewhat.
‘If it’s future Theodor who cast the spell on me, then the riddle solves itself simply.’
It wouldn’t hold up to common sense.
But I was certain Theodor was the type who, if I gathered a few pieces of evidence he could trust, would bring even more arguments to back my hypothesis.
“After the Kail Ace incident, Theodor’s been paying a lot of attention to me.”
“That guy’s not one to be swayed so easily. Weird.”
Judith nodded in agreement with Shirley’s words, chiming in.
I hadn’t known what kind of cadet he was until we talked.
I figured there was a reason Shirley said it like that.
“Well, among us, we’ve settled on it being because Arma’s the pitiful type that awakens protective instincts.”
“Can’t really argue with that.”
Sure enough, Theodor started ‘properly’ listening to me after I got hit by that rock.
After the incident where a rock thrown from outside my dorm window hit me while I was fine inside, his attitude sometimes felt overly courteous.
‘Sorry. I’ll sort it out more solidly and explain properly someday.’
Judith and Shirley were both key figures from my dreams.
So I couldn’t keep excluding them and flailing around alone forever.
Not just for me—we needed evidence that could convince others too.