Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

158 – Found My Person (2)

Isabella von Lhynüel.

A member of A-Class, itself

a gathering of all the academy’s prodigies,

and of the Duke Lhynüel’s line.

Since childhood, she displayed

remarkable magical talent.

And in the Lhynüel family, no less,

a lineage known as a mage’s house.

‘Oh, looks like our daughter

is better than you?’

‘What nonsense are you spouting?’

‘No, with that level of skill

at that age…’

‘It’s only natural, who else would she take after~’

A child destined for magical greatness

emerged from a mage’s bloodline,

so it was only fitting that

the whole house placed their hopes upon her.

Her parents spared no expense

in supporting her.

For her, gifted with a talent for ice magic,

they acquired elixirs and herbs

brimming with yang energy…

They’d inquired after her, high and low,

considering her debut

into society well in advance.

They brought in a tutor, said to be the finest in the Empire,

and gave her tours

of the Mage Towers with which they had connections.

For her magic instructor,

they even sought out the Empire’s Grand Sage and pleaded their case.

And as time passed,

when she was accepted into

the A-class at the Academy, recognized by all,

her father could scarcely

conceal his joy.

Her mother,

the Duchess Lurniel, too,

though she couldn’t express it in words,

seemed inwardly truly delighted.

She, however, thought somewhat differently.

‘With all the support I’ve

received from my parents, this much is to be expected.’

She was clever.

Too clever, perhaps.

And so she matured far too early.

She knew that all the things

she had received thus far

were so precious, others couldn’t even dream of them.

The fatty

meats and fresh vegetables she always ate

would be someone’s entire month’s wages, just to afford one meal,

and the various grimoires she had

read as a mere hobby,

to another person would be

nothing less than a treasure trove,

a very wellspring of magical knowledge.

Having taken all these luxuries

for granted and lived amongst them,

if she didn’t produce

results accordingly, wouldn’t

*that* be the strange thing?

It was a notion unbefitting

the mind of a child, not yet even

grown into womanhood, but

she, at least, thought it so, and

therefore she was not

elated.

Rather, she considered only

the advancements yet to come.

‘M-Miss Isabella!’

‘…What is it?’

‘I’ve heard the rumors!

Class A! Simply astounding—’

‘…I must be going.’

Of course, there were

those who sought to use

her, approaching her with motives, but

as said, she was astute, unlike those of her age,

and so she would not

be played by children,

barely more than adults themselves.

Those friends who believed

themselves the center of

everything were shunned, to a one,

and she kept her distance from those

who sought her only for her family’s name,

and likewise with any young lady

attempting to incorporate her

into their circles.

Thus, having avoided

conversation with others for some time,

a nickname had, before

she knew it, sprung up for her in the Academy.

Frostbloom.

Whether it was a comparison

to her specialty, her ice magic,

or a jab at some perceived

flaw in her character, she couldn’t say,

but she cared little

for either.

She was, after all, already aware of the problematic aspects of her own nature.

I hadn’t exactly planned on

entangling myself too deeply with anyone.

“Young Lady.”

“Yes?”

“Would you perhaps grant me a moment of your time?”

*

Why she had sought me out

remained a mystery,

but for now, we simply

had to relocate.

“Lady Isabella spoke to him…?”

“Who is he that she’d…? Jennison?”

“Come to think of it, weren’t they

once engaged…? Oh… never mind…!”

Regardless of gender,

nearly every student

in our vicinity, without

a single exception,

began to rivet their gazes upon us.

Listening to the murmurs

of the surrounding students,

much of it seemed quite odd,

but I shrugged it off.

That she and I were, at one point,

indeed betrothed was a fact,

and that this relationship

had crumbled was equally true.

Of course, the weaving of

wild fabrications from that truth

was less than agreeable, but I had no intention of condemning

the mere mention of it.

Even so, these stares were

still quite unsettling,

so choosing to move seemed the best course.

Well, Rianna’s expression

wasn’t exactly overjoyed,

but I could soothe her feelings later by any means necessary;

at the moment, my conversation with Isabella

took precedence.

“This place should allow us to talk quietly.”

“Ah… yes.”

“Perhaps…am I making you uncomfortable?”

But how, in heaven’s name,

did things come to this pass?

All I wanted was to speak with her quietly.

Uncomfortable, am I?

Of course, how could it be otherwise?

If one were to ask anyone in this world if they knew

of a quiet place for a conversation,

would they truly extend an invitation

to their dormitory room?

Especially into the academy’s

female dormitory, where male entry is

strictly forbidden.

“W-Wait a moment, My Lady, where are you…?”

“Hm? To my dormitory, of course.”

“No, I mean,

why are we going there?”

“…Didn’t I hear you wished for

a place where we could talk quietly, just the two of us?”

“Surely it needn’t be My Lady’s room?!”

“In my room, no one will be able to bother us.”

“But… the female

dormitory is off-limits to me…!”

“It’s alright, we just have to avoid being caught.”

Truly, this was the

first time in this life I felt such disquiet.

Even if we were once betrothed,

I never imagined she’d treat me

with such easy familiarity.

Sometimes, I wondered

if she was truly the same person

as before.

The difference in temperature

between the past and present was so vast, and

if I recall correctly,

she clearly disliked

others approaching her.

She never revealed

her emotions properly.

It showed on her face,

plain as day.

Who would have ever imagined?

Isabella, of all people,

making the first move.

At least, none of the

lads in that hallway today

would have.

They were all gawking,

jaws practically unhinged.

“….”

“….”

Inside her meticulously

ordered room,

we couldn’t bring ourselves to speak.

Far from the youthful thrill

of being inside a girl’s room,

a dash of awkwardness

and a sprinkle of sheepishness

swirled together

with excruciating precision.

Creak, creak─

Like a water wheel turning, endlessly.

But we couldn’t

linger like this forever.

Luckily, today’s lectures

were practically nonexistent,

so I wanted to use our time

as efficiently as possible.

And to do that,

we needed to resolve this quickly.

“..Um─”

Having finally wrestled free from the awkwardness and parted my lips,

I was swept away by her

honeyed voice.

We had both tried to open

the floodgates of conversation

at the exact same moment.

Anyone who’s experienced this even once knows.

The weight of this situation…

Just what sort of feelings might be brewing within me.

“Ah, you first—”

“Ah… No, please speak first.”

To desperately shatter

that awkward air,

I tried to let her tend to

her business first,

but she instead yielded

the priority back to me.

Almost as if she were trying to be considerate.

“…Then, I won’t refuse.”

“Yes, what is it you wanted to say?”

“Well, it’s…”

*

_Shhhshk—_

Now more than half-destroyed, the mansion had completely collapsed.

The once-grand size of

the mansion was nowhere to be found,

its place taken by

planks of wood and

piles of stone instead.

Along with traces that

seemed to show it had been

deliberately destroyed

by someone.

_Crackcrackcrack—_

Then, from the very

center of the mansion’s ruins, a blue hemispherical barrier rose.

That hemispherical barrier,

on the surface it seemed

like a bead made of water,

but its strength and thickness

were something else entirely;

it was almost comparable to

a piece of steel.

“Haa…”

“Ruenyuiel, have you

improved that much again so soon?”

“What are you going on about,

what’s changed?”

“Hm… For something like that,

the mana is also considerably…”

“You appear to have…grown.”

“Are you honestly worried about *that* right now, of all things?”

Presently, that azure

barrier dissolved, as if melting away.

From within, the murmur of

several voices

began to emerge.

*Fssshhh─*

Sawdust, kicked up from the

surrounding wooden planks, swirled

and crumbled into dust.

Upon them, a single

liquid was spread.

“So, where is he?”

“I don’t know. Surely, he

couldn’t have gotten far.”

“Can’t you do something

with your magic?”

“You think magic is some kind of cure-all?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“…Ha, I should have laid a tracking spell on him, somehow or another.”

“Well, nothing for it.

We didn’t anticipate he’d

do something like this, either.”

“That’s right. Who knew

he’d be willing to sacrifice

his own life to attack.”

*Drip─drip─*

Drops of blood fell,

and those drops, exposed to the hot

sunlight, began to harden,

entombing sawdust within.

“Tch, should have just

countered properly.”

“No. Our goal isn’t to

kill him.”

“Yes. Besides, if you

had, our bodies

wouldn’t have escaped unscathed, either.”

“….”

“And it’s not as if we’ve gained nothing completely, wouldn’t you agree?”

Drip—drip—

Blood, endlessly seeping forth.

That profusion of

bloodstains stemmed from

none other than a man’s arm.

A palm thick

with calluses,

and a scattering of fine scars,

almost matching in number,

an arm one could never call delicate,

the left arm of a man

who’d wielded the sword countless times.