Chapter 3
Emily actually tried to stay away from Kira. It was because she didn’t want to be associated with her, who became involved not only with Astina, but also with the Second Prince.
How surprised Emily was to learn that she was assigned to the same dorm room as Kira on the day of the entrance ceremony. She had rushed to the teachers’ office to change rooms that day.
If she hadn’t accidentally overheard Astina and the group in the hallway leading to the teachers’ office, she would have changed rooms.
“…Why don’t we have Miss Emily on our side instead?”
“At this rate, Miss Astina will become the laughing stock of society.”
“…I must make sure that the commoner gets out of the academy on her own feet!”
The distance kept her from hearing the details, but Emily bit her lip at the conversation she could hear at a glance.
If Emily stayed away from Kira at this time, Astina would have drawn Emily to their side.
In addition, if she joined Astina, she would become Kira’s bully and be used as a puppet.
‘What if the second prince, who is in favor of Kira, gets rid of me without anyone noticing?’
Emily’s mind was all over the place. She did not hate Kira enough to harass her for being a commoner, nor was she kind enough to be close to her.
Emily, who just wanted to have a peaceful life at the Academy, bit her fingernails.
‘…What am I supposed to do?’
In fact, Emily wanted to be a little less ordinary wizard.
Instead of getting married at the early age of 16 and raising children in a quiet countryside, she wanted to live the rare life of a wizard. How could she give up on this chance that came by chance?
Emily closed her eyes tightly and opened them.
She didn’t want to come forward and harass anyone, nor was she willing to engage in a love triangle or a political fight.
After struggling amongst many options, Emily eventually chose to hold out quietly for a year at the academy.
“We’re in the same room, right? Nice to meet you, Miss Emily.”
As Emily returned to her room with a troubled mind, Kira, who was unpacking, smiled brightly at her.
Looking at her smile, Emily seemed to feel frustrated, but soon she answered with a clumsy smile.
“…Yes, nice to meet you, Miss Kira.”
* * *
Emily shared the same dorm room as Kira, neither staying away from her nor staying close to her.
She tried to keep a proper distance from her, but since they live in the same place, they naturally spent more time together.
In addition, Emily often fell into Astina’s trap instead of Kira, which surprised the people who set up the trap.
– Splash!
“Gasp!”
“Miss Emily!”
Just like now.
Emily and Kira were on their way to class on Monday.
A tingling sensation suddenly ran through Emily’s fingertips as she grabbed the doorknob to open the classroom door. Soon after, a huge amount of water poured over her head. Emily, who suddenly became a drowned mouse, gasped.
“Miss Emily! Are you okay?”
“Kyaa!”
Kira, who followed right behind her, urgently called her as Emily froze without letting out a scream at the sudden water bomb baptism.
In the classroom, students screamed, surprised by the sudden splash of water.
“W, What is this…!”
Surprised by the strong shock, Emily looked up straight ahead. And at that moment, she made eye contact with the person who triggered the water magic.
The blue-haired girl turned pale as she stood with her hands covering her mouth.
It was Sophia Ponce with Astina. Sophia, who looked like she was about to faint, glanced at Emily in front of the door, making Emily laugh in exasperation.
Looking at the perpetrator standing as if she was the victim, Emily swept up her dripping hair with one hand.
“…Miss Sophia.”
“I, I’m sorry, Miss Emily, the… the thing is… I couldn’t control my strength while practicing magic… and Miss Emily happened to be struck by it…”
Sophia, who was pale with guilt, made excuses, feeling helpless. Kira, noticing that the doorknob already had magic enchanted to it, stepped forward in tears and tried to protest, but Emily quickly grabbed Kira by the shoulder and stopped her.
“Yes, those things are bound to happen.”
Emily squeezed her still drenched sleeves.
Then, she sat in the back seat of the classroom and glanced at Astina, who was already looking at her way.
Miss Sophia is a Baron’s Young Lady.
After all, she moved under the orders of Astina, a Count’s Young Lady. If she had been on Astina’s side, she would probably have played the same role as Miss Sophia.
The role of taking the lead and bullying Kira.
“Kira, I think I need to change my school uniform. Would you please tell the teacher in my stead?”
“Miss Emily!”
“I’m fine. I’ll be right back, Miss Kira.”
After stopping Kira, who was about to run to the teacher with a look of injustice, Emily walked back to the dormitory.
Nobility tormenting commoners was a common occurrence in the Academy.
Emily, who had been next to Kira for the past two months and visited the teacher’s office several times after being caught up in such incidents, no longer wanted to be noticed by her teachers.
It was because behavior was also credited in the grades, and even if she talked to the teachers, this problem could not be solved.
– Squish, squish.
Emily walked in her drenched shoes, leaving water stains in the hallway like a fish just ashore.
Fortunately, there were no students in the hallway, probably because class had already started. Emily sighed, thinking it was fortunate that she didn’t have to be seen by others.
Emily, who was about to return to the dormitory immediately, decided to stop by the infirmary to get some medicine because she felt a headache from the sudden water baptism.
– Knock, knock.
“Excuse me.”
Emily, who came down to the first floor, knocked on the door of the infirmary and opened it right away, and the doctor’s seat in front of her was empty.
“…doctor?”
“Miss Emily…?”
She hesitated to enter the infirmary, calling the teacher as she approached the empty seat, when she suddenly heard a familiar voice next to her.
As Emily turned to her right, she saw a bewildered Valenti standing up in his chair.
When he met his gray eyes that opened wide in surprise, Emily became flustered and called out his name in a small voice.
“Sir Valenti…”
“No, why on earth are you… Are you okay? What happened?”
Valenti, who was waiting for the doctor, literally stood up in surprise when Emily, who was drenched, suddenly appeared.
“N,no. It’s not a big deal. A magic spell went wrong in the classroom… It’s okay. It’s just a little wet…”
As Valenti strode up and looked at her, handing her a handkerchief, Emily, panicking, stepped back in embarrassment and waved her hand saying it was okay instead of receiving the handkerchief.
“Do you know where the doctor is?”
“Oh, yes. Lucas had a stomach ache, so the doctor went to get some herbs. I think he ran out of the needed herbs…. He said he’d be right back, so I’ve been guarding the infirmary for a while.”
“Oh… I see.”
At his words, she momentarily thought, ‘Who is Sir Lucas?’, and immediately remembered that it was the name of the second prince.
The second prince’s name was unfamiliar to her because she could not dare speak his name carelessly.
“Yes, are you feeling uncomfortable? Please take this handkerchief.”
“Oh… thank you. I have a slight headache, so I’m just going to get some medicine.”
Despite being rejected once, Valenti held out a handkerchief to her again with a worried look on his face, and Emily, who could no longer refuse, accepted it with hesitation.
Valenti then took a step back.
Looking at Emily, standing with a rather troubled look with his handkerchief in her hands, Valenti recalled that she had been looking for a headache pill.
“Do you mean headache pills? I think the medicine was mostly on this shelf, but…”
As he approached the shelf next to the doctor’s desk and opened the middle drawer to find the medicine, Emily hurried over and reached for the drawer at the top of the shelf.
“Oh, I know where the medicine is. Could you just tell the doctor? I took the medicine…”
As she approached his side, the tip of Emily’s wet hair brushed past the back of Valenti’s hand as she opened the shelf with her head down.
– Flinch
For a moment, Valenti’s hand flinched at the cold and damp touch. His gaze reached the wet brown hair that passed through his fingertips.
As Emily walked past him and approached the top left shelf, her hair no longer brushed his hand, but the dripping water was still wetting the back of his hand.
Instead of removing his hand from the drawer handle, Valenti looked at the dripping water from her waist-length hair.
As soon as he looked at Emily, who was still in her wet school uniform, tiptoeing to take out the medicine, the water on her eyelashes fell into her eyes, making Emily blink. Transparent droplets from damp green eyes crossed her pale cheeks, forming at the tip of her chin, and flowing down her neckline.
“Sir Valenti?”
“Yes?”
At that moment, Emily called him and Valenti looked at her in surprise.
Valenti’s shoulder stiffened as if he was caught peeking at something he shouldn’t see.
Emily spoke again, glancing at him when he didn’t answer while still looking for medicine.
“I was wondering if you could deliver a message for me when the doctor comes.”
She had already been drenched for some time, and her body was getting chilly.
Emily, who couldn’t wait for the teacher and wanted to quickly return to the dormitory with her medicine, asked him once again, and Valenti nodded as if he understood.
“Oh, yes. I understand.”
“Thank you very much, Sir Valenti.”
Emily thanked him and turned her gaze back to the drawer and took out the medicine.
Water was dripping over Valenti’s hands as she took out a bunch of pills, taking only two of them before returning the rest in the drawer. But he didn’t remove his hand.
Soon after, the drops of water that were falling one by one merged and flowed down, creating a waterway on the back of his hand. Valenti stood still in that position, and when Emily took out the medicine and turned around, he closed the drawer he was holding and straightened his bent back.
Then he put his wet hands behind his back and hid them from her sight.
“Thank you, Sir Valenti. Then, I’ll excuse myself first.”
As Emily looked up at him and opened her mouth, Valenti looked at her bluish lips.
He wanted to take off his coat and give it to her, but unfortunately, the only thing he was wearing was the black training suit because he just came right from the training ground.
He was thinking about tearing the curtains down around the bed in the infirmary and wrapping them around that small shoulder, but Emily suddenly bowed and left the infirmary immediately.
“Ah…”
Emily said thank you repeatedly, but after looking at Valenti, who was strangely slow in responding, she couldn’t hold out any longer, so she decided to leave.
‘Is he a little out of his mind since the second prince is sick?’
Valenti belatedly came to his senses at the sight of Emily bowing before turning around, but she had already left the door.
Staring at the water marks left behind by her, Valenti stood there until the doctor returned.
Drops of water dripped down from his fingertips.
