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Chapter 33
Edmund’s furious shout echoed thunderously through the library.
“Have you lost your mind, Willes Valtin?! Where do you think you’re daring to—?!”
Bang!
The hand that slammed down on the table was filled with force.
“……”
“……”
The two people who had been sitting there stared up blankly at the fuming Edmund.
Willes, the very person who had spoken, was dumbfounded, while Cassia tried to stop Edmund.
“Why are you suddenly getting so angry?”
“Because Willes is spouting complete nonsense!”
“Come on. Why are you taking a joke so seriously?”
At that, Willes cheerfully added,
“It’s not a joke, though? Little Madam?”
“…Huh?”
“See?! I knew it!!!”
Cassia was flustered.
Edmund was beside himself with rage.
And Willes’s eyes sparkled.
“Of course it’s only natural. Letting a talent like Little Madam slip away would be a tremendous loss for the Academy and the Mage Kingdom!”
“How dare you say something like that about another man’s wife—!”
Edmund and Willes, who had spoken almost simultaneously, looked at each other.
A ‘?’ seemed to float over the heads of Willes and Cassia.
Only then did Edmund realize he had rushed in too recklessly, and his face turned bright red in embarrassment.
“No, I mean! That is—! What I’m saying is… even so, on paper, it’s clearly—!”
Willes hid his urge to click his tongue and smoothly changed the subject.
“So, in other words, Little Madam. Why don’t you think about it seriously?”
“Hm?”
Fortunately, hidden beneath Willes’s long-winded sales pitch, it seemed Cassia hadn’t properly heard Edmund’s words.
You could tell from how easily her attention shifted to Willes.
“Once everything is settled, I’m saying you should make full use of that brilliant talent of yours. You withdrew from the Academy, didn’t you?”
“Well… that’s true.”
‘Though it was the original Cassia, not me.’
Unlike Cassia, who wore an ambiguous expression, Willes only pressed harder with his pitch.
“With your abilities, Little Madam, you could easily graduate from the Academy with top marks and even go to the Mage Kingdom. I can personally secure the three required letters of recommendation!”
“Oh, come on. There’s no way I’m that good.”
Willes shook his head so vigorously it practically made a buzzing sound.
“No, that’s not true! If you were to publish just this one notebook you taught the young duke, the entire academic world would be shaken!”
Willes was utterly convinced.
Cassia, meanwhile, felt embarrassed.
‘No, I mean, it’s not like I researched or developed any of this—it’s just that Earth’s academic standards are high.’
If she were to seriously step into the world of scholarship, her limitations would be exposed in no time.
And besides—
‘This look is exactly like when professors at university try to recruit undergrads into grad school…’
If graduate school is where college students go as punishment for their sins, then in this world, the Academy or the Mage Kingdom must be where transmigrators are dragged for the crime of selling Earth’s knowledge.
‘Absolutely not!’
Cassia smiled brightly and grabbed Edmund’s sleeve.
“I can’t. I’m busy.”
“Pardon? Busy with what?”
Even Edmund looked puzzled at that.
Cassia replied with a meaningful smile.
“Well, right now I have the very important job of being the wife of the Cohen young duke!”
Edmund’s face flushed red.
It was a slightly different color from when he’d been furious at Willes’s outrageous remark earlier.
A face reddened by sudden anger and one tinged pink by joy and shyness were bound to look different.
Forgetting how angry he’d been at Willes just moments ago, Edmund tried to act composed.
“Ahem! That’s true. You’re not wrong.”
Watching the two youths, Willes thought to himself.
About Edmund:
‘To think his emotions would show on his face that clearly.’
And about Cassia:
‘And to think that isn’t intentional or calculated—she’s just genuinely dense… Truly impressive in many ways.’
Even so, he hadn’t given up on his ambition to drag Cassia to the Academy.
‘Letting a talent like Little Madam slip away would be a tremendous loss to the entire continent’s academic world!’
He didn’t even notice that, in his own mind, the way he addressed Cassia had already changed to “Little Madam.”
Fortunately, after successfully getting through the assassination attempt, things were fairly peaceful.
The bruises on my back healed quickly, too.
After that incident, Willes began to show a noticeable level of trust in me.
‘Edmund, too.’
Still, watching such a kid let his guard down so easily made me a little worried.
‘He’s quietly got a very naive, young-master side to him.’
It was worrying enough to make me wonder how he’d survive such a harsh, grim fantasy world.
‘And there won’t be many days left that I can stay by his side… I should teach him properly while I can.’
“…Ah!”
It was then. Hearing a sound belatedly, I turned my head and saw Edmund with a slightly urgent expression.
“Cassia!”
It seemed I’d been lost in thought and hadn’t properly heard him calling me.
“Ah, sorry. I was thinking about something and didn’t hear you well. What is it?”
At that, Edmund’s expression darkened rapidly.
While I had a question mark floating over my head, he alone looked serious.
And then, something unexpected happened.
Edmund’s hand touched my forehead.
A warm sensation wrapped around it. The rough texture of his skin—rougher than expected—was probably a remnant of the abuse that still hadn’t fully healed.
I reacted a beat late.
“Hik! W-why all of a sudden?”
“No, I thought you might be about to collapse again. …Are you okay?”
Worry was written all over Edmund’s face.
‘Ah, right. I did collapse twice in front of him already. Of course he’d be worried.’
I was about to smile and tell him it was nothing.
But unexpectedly, Edmund pressed in once more.
Just as he removed his hand from my forehead, he tapped his own forehead lightly against mine.
“…!”
And only a moment later did I realize—
‘When did… he get this tall?’
When we first met, even though our ages weren’t that far apart, Edmund had been shorter than me.
But now he’d grown to the point where our gazes almost met evenly.
Edmund’s unusually low voice washed over my ears.
“No fever… right?”
Unlike his rough palm, the boy’s forehead was soft and smooth.
Perhaps because he was a little tense, there was a faint trace of moisture.
And the forehead pressed against mine was actually warmer than mine.
It wasn’t a fever—just clearly a higher body temperature than mine.
And then, and then…
‘He’s too close.’
Crimson eyes, shining more vividly than any noble lady’s ruby, filled my entire field of vision.
The light was so intense it felt like it was stabbing my eyes.
I was so startled that for a moment I forgot to breathe, even forgot my heart was beating.
My ears rang, my vision spun.
My mind went completely blank—I couldn’t think of anything at all.
“Cassia?”
Edmund tilted his head.
But Cassia remained frozen, like a block of ice.
After briefly waving his fingers in front of her eyes, Edmund lightly tapped her cheek.
“Cassia?”
Then Cassia, who had been frozen as if she’d forgotten how to breathe, made a strange sound and jumped back.
“Hiiyaaak!!!”
“Uwah!”
Edmund was startled as well.
“What’s wrong? Are you really not feeling well?”
“No no no no!”
Cassia shook her head wildly.
Then, as if chanting a spell, she rattled off words at lightning speed.
“Completelycleanandperfectlyfine! Nothing’s wrong at all!”
Edmund, clearly displeased that Cassia had retreated backward, stepped forward and asked,
“You’re really not hurting?”
“I told you I’m fine! Really!!”
But Edmund found it hard to take Cassia’s words at face value.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her—rather, anything she said regarding her own well-being was hard to believe.
‘Cassia never looks after herself. She looks after me instead.’
If that was the case, shouldn’t he at least look after her?
Just as the boy, thinking that, was about to step closer—
He sensed a group of servants approaching.
“Little Madam? Is something the matter?”
“…!”
We can’t let them see us standing so close together right now!
