Chapter 58

Chapter : 58

“Do you remember what we talked about that day? When we decided to enter the fencing tournament.”

“Of course I remember. I was so nervous that you might say you could not do it.”

“No, not that. We talked about desserts.”

“Did we?”

“Yes.”

Navier tapped the table and widened her eyes as she spoke.

“You said that nothing-special cake was delicious back then. So I told you there was a truly good shop in our territory.”

That nothing-special cake had been quite good, though. Was that not good enough?

It seemed Navier had her own pride in this “good shop.”

Pressed by her gaze to remember quickly, I answered at once.

“Ah. Right. That did happen. I remember. What about it?”

“Back then, Lord Raphael, you said you would visit our territory sometime, but there was no word from you at all. I thought that if I let it go, it would just fade away, so I came to see you. Now that I see you, my prediction was exactly right. You had forgotten, had you not?”

“I was too busy. I had a lot of things going on here and there.”

I had meant to lounge around and rest during vacation, but instead I had gone from place to place, swinging swords and casting magic.

It had been a long ordeal.

Perhaps the traces of all that hardship showed on my face, because Navier watched my expression, then nodded as though she understood.

“If you put it that way, then there is nothing I can do. Here, it is a gift.”

Navier held out a pile of confectionery boxes. Most of them were confections with long shelf lives, but they also included breads like madeleines that could be eaten right away.

The quantity was so great that if I picked at just one at a time instead of eating meals, I could probably last for several days.

It looked like she had walked into a shop and ordered, Please wrap up everything in here.

I looked up at the tower of confections, then asked Navier,

“Is this a bribe?”

Navier assigned meaning to each and every small action of her own, and calculated how the other person would receive it.

There was no way she would simply give me this for no reason.

And since she had come in person instead of sending someone to deliver the gift, it was excessive goodwill.

There had to be some scheme hidden inside. At my reaction, Navier sighed and said,

“It is nothing like that. I simply wanted to repay you for helping me. In truth, even if things go well between me and the Crown Prince, you do not gain anything, do you? I was curious too. About why you were supporting me so much.”

“What do you mean, I gain nothing? I do. I gain something.”

“Lady Bishot? Oh, please. You barely even meet her. How about thinking of a different excuse?”

Even if I told her, it did not seem as though she would believe me, so I kept my mouth firmly shut and simply took the confections.

Judging by the amount and variety, my mouth would not be bored for a while. It was a satisfying gift.

“Thank you. I will accept them gladly.”

“Yes, they are very delicious. I will bring some when I go to the Academy later too, so try them and contact me if there is anything you like. I will pack more of only those.”

“Did anything happen during vacation?”

“Unfortunately, no. I spent it without incident. I was previewing the second-semester subjects. I have already finished studying, so I think I will have some leisure in the second semester.”

“What about the Crown Prince? Was there no contact or anything? Really?”

“It seems His Highness the Crown Prince is extremely busy. From what I have heard, he will likely succeed the throne after graduating from the Academy. Because of that, he is dealing only with matters of the Imperial Court. Even after the Academy opens, he will likely be absent from classes for a while.”

“That is fine. It means he will return to the Academy eventually. You can do well then.”

Kartea would decide who would occupy the empress’s seat before ascending the imperial throne. Things were flowing in the direction I had hoped. From now on, I did not need to plan things forcefully; I only had to ride this current.

“What should I do once the semester begins?”

“To win over the Crown Prince?”

“Yes.”

“The important thing is naturalness, so let us not try too hard to create incidents. We should move according to the academic schedule.”

“There is not that much time.”

Kartea would choose his partner before graduating from the Academy.

Before that happened, Navier had to enter Kartea’s eyes more strongly.

The Puremoon Family was certainly a renowned great house, but compared to the Imperial Family, it fell short. Her family was lacking for her to be chosen as imperial consort.

Unless Kartea truly desired Navier deeply, there was also the possibility of a political marriage.

Navier seemed uneasy about that.

“Do not worry. It will go well.”

At my consolation, Navier’s eyes grew round.

“I thought you could not say things you did not mean.”

“That is right. I am not good at saying things like that. I am saying this because I really think it will go well.”

“Thank you. I feel a little more motivated now.”

It seemed Navier really had come to give me a gift and greet me. She soon said she had business to attend to and left.

---

After seeing Navier off, I lived the life I had wanted so badly.

I lay down in bed before the sun set and only got up after the sun was high in the sky.

I skipped meals and chewed on the confections Navier had given me as gifts. This one was jelly covered with nuts, and its defining traits were a texture like tteok and an outrageously sweet flavor.

The sweetness was so intense that the moment it touched my tongue, a dry cough burst from me.

The aftertaste was bitter, and that made it addictive enough that my hand kept reaching for more.

There was not a single thing I had to do, and I lounged around all day. It was the life I had dreamed of.

“This is boring.”

I went out to the training ground and gripped a sword. Training was hard and painful. If I did not have to do it, I wanted to live forever without ever gripping a sword again.

But there was one thing that felt lacking. My half-baked skill. I was halfway into Sword Expert. If I did only a little more, it felt as though I could cross the wall, so stopping here felt wasteful.

For my body, for my mental health, and for falling into deep sleep, moving my body was necessary work.

I made reasons to train one by one and trained little by little, only when I had time to spare. Aside from that, I spent my time searching for things to enjoy.

After spending the past few days doing nothing but sleeping, I realized something.

Too much of anything made you sick of it. No matter how much you liked something, rather than obsessing over it, enjoying it little by little and often was the right answer.

So in order to live happily and pleasantly, I had to find and create many things I liked.

The culture here was different from the modern world, so I tried various things in order to develop myself to suit this place.

First, I tried touching an instrument.

Everyone had probably heard the saying that a person needed at least one sport to enjoy and one instrument to play in life.

I thought I might take this chance to learn an instrument. The first instrument that came to mind was the piano. It was probably because of Agares.

I tried striking the keys in the manor.

Surprisingly, I had some talent for it. Perhaps learning mana made one proficient at anything involving the body, because I made few wrong touches and picked up various techniques easily.

I was even good at memorizing sheet music, so if I held on to this for a few years, I felt as though I could make a living with it.

Of course, that was only a figure of speech; I had no intention of making money with it. Was my original goal not to be liberated from labor?

“Pfft.”

A laugh slipped out at the reality that while dreaming of not working, I had come up with the thought that I might earn money by enjoying a hobby. I scolded myself that I had to cast off this worker’s mindset. Seeking only pleasure, I pressed the keys.

“This is fun.”

I memorized scores easily, my hands were large, and my fingertips were precise.

It was the perfect talent for staying at the level of enjoyment. I progressed extremely easily, and by playing various pieces, I widened the spectrum of music I could attempt and built up a repertoire well. It was suitable for showing off somewhere.

The stamina I had built up for swordplay helped here too, so as I struck the keys for five or six hours a day, my skill built up at a strangely fast pace.

I was absorbed in this until the Academy’s opening day was right in front of me. Then I tried to obtain a certain score.

Rachmaninoff. The thing Agares had liked. For now, it was difficult for me, but I memorized it little by little.

---

And so I greeted the Academy’s second semester. I wrote to Navier that the nut-covered jelly suited my taste.

“I will not speak at length. I trust you now. Whatever you do, I think you will do well. But if something difficult happens, please rely on me. I will be waiting.”

“I always rely on you, Koromang. Thank you for being here.”

Koromang furrowed the space between her brows and sniffled.

“I am even more grateful.”

“I will write once I arrive at the Academy.”

“Yes. Then I will see you during the next vacation.”

Through this vacation, my standing within the family had changed anew. To begin with, even the once-stern Koromang now trusted me unconditionally. That trust was so firm that even when I slept fourteen hours a day, she simply let it pass, thinking I must have some plan in mind.

It was something I could not have imagined when I first left for the Academy, and for no reason, my shoulders rose with pride.

I climbed into the carriage bound for the Academy. The scenery of the manor swept past.

---

In the Academy’s second semester, faces that had left returned once more. Jefrin and Ian were among them.

They attended classes in the Swordsmanship Department and Magic Department, respectively. Jefrin continued his department life as before, but Ian was different.

He revealed the fact he had been hiding all this time, that he was the Master of the Magic Tower. Because of that, the professors of the Magic Department grew tense.

According to rumors, Ian, who had only quietly listened to lectures until now, had started asking questions.

Even if I were a professor in the Magic Department, a chill would run down my spine. If they made even one mistake, would they not be humiliated on the spot?

“He is absent again today.”

“I know.”

“I wonder if something happened.”

Leo, sitting beside me, looked around the lecture hall and spoke.

He was talking about Agares. Agares was absent, claiming he was handling matters in his territory. Since he had not taken a leave of absence altogether, it seemed he would return when the time came.

Leo and I listened half-heartedly to a class on beast hunting, then moved to the next lecture hall.

It was a Swordsmanship Department class. All the department students had gathered.

Jefrin was among them. Leo walked over to Jefrin and placed a hand on his shoulder. When Jefrin turned his head and jerked his chin, Leo said,

“Are you free after this? If you are, let us have a match.”

It was about sparring. Jefrin gave a faint laugh and nodded.