On my way back to the dorm from my mentor’s house.
Since the curfew has already passed, I was mentally prepared for a scolding. Therefore, I wasn’t in a particular hurry and was walking slowly towards the dorm to organize the information I had gathered so far.
Having passed through the West District, I was currently in the Central District. If I walked a little further, I would soon see the slope leading to the North District. Once I climbed that, I would arrive at Arnold Magic Academy.
It was past nine o’clock, and the darkness enveloped the area. Although a few streetlights were lit, the dim atmosphere felt somewhat eerie.
In the midst of this, I caught sight of a girl walking ahead of me.
With her beautiful silver hair styled in a semi-long cut, she was walking cheerfully, almost bouncing along.
I recognized her… or rather, there was no one else it could be.
But she was wearing the uniform of Arnold Magic Academy, so that couldn’t be right.
Just a case of mistaken identity.
I was sure I was just imagining things when the girl in front of me seemed to notice my footsteps and glanced back.
Our eyes met.
And to my surprise, it was indeed the person I had expected.
“Hey! Isn’t that Ray!? What are you doing here!? Did you come after me!? Is this… fate?”
“Uh… what…?”
It was undoubtedly Princess Olivia herself.
With a beaming smile, she approached me and, just like usual, threw herself into my arms. Burying her face in my chest, she suddenly looked up at me.
“W-why are you here at this hour?”
“Because tomorrow is a holiday!”
“Ah… that’s true?”
“So instead of writing a letter, I thought it would be better if I came to hang out!”
“……”
No way… is this really happening?
More importantly, she is a princess. She shouldn’t be out like this without proper protection. I quickly glanced around to see if there were any guards nearby, and indeed, there were a few.
“Did you come here alone?”
“Yep! Hehe! I managed to shake off those guards! I can be resourceful too, you know?”
“……”
Well, she hasn’t completely shaken them off. In fact, they are clearly following her closely.
I could have said that, but one of the female guards caught my eye and bowed her head slightly.
It seems that this time they are allowing the princess to do as she pleases… at least to some extent.
I tried to read the situation and think about what to do next.
“By the way, what are your plans, Princess Olivia?”
“I was thinking of staying in your room!”
“…… I share the room with someone else, you know?”
“Then they’ll have to give up the spot for me!”
With a huff, Princess Olivia puffed out her chest. Should I explain this to Evi? But then I remembered something.
Come to think of it, Amelia should have a single room in the dorm. Plus, her room was of a decent size.
Maybe I should ask her…
“Wouldn’t it be better for you to stay in Amelia’s room? It would be safer that way.”
“Eh? Why? I want to be in the same room as Ray!”
“But…”
“Hey… please… I know I’m asking for something unreasonable, okay? But you keep ignoring my letters… You reply after summer, but it’s still lonely not being able to see you…”
“Ugh…”
Princess Olivia leaned against me, looking up at me with pleading eyes. When she looked at me like that, it reminded me of my younger sister Stella, and I felt compelled to give in to her request.
Damn… I’m weak against requests from younger girls. Did she know that? I can’t read her. Unlike Stella, this girl has a certain cleverness that makes her difficult to understand.
Well, for now, I guess I should head to my room…
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yay!”
I had originally planned to go back directly and report my tardiness, but that no longer seemed possible.
I decided to return to my dorm room through the window. That said, our room is on the third floor. Normally, it would be impossible to come back from there.
“Ray, what are you going to do?”
“Let’s do this.”
I kept lightly tapping a small stone against the window, and after a while, Evi opened the window and peeked out.
I gestured for her to step back, and it seemed she understood my intention. I called out to Princess Olivia, saying “Excuse me,” before scooping her up in a side hold… and then I surged forward, activating the internal code, and jumped.
“Whoa…!”
“Oops. Alright, we made it successfully.”
With a single jump toward the window, we managed to enter the room safely. At the same time, I sensed something being thrown at me from behind. Without turning around, I caught it between my fingers.
“…? What is this?”
It was a folded piece of paper. When I unfolded it, it contained information about Princess Olivia.
“We will come to pick her up around noon tomorrow, so please take care of Princess Olivia. The reward will be sent later.”
That’s what it said.
It seemed like there were various things involved with the guards.
As I was thinking this, Evi, looking surprised, cautiously asked,
“Ray. I thought you were taking a while to come back, what happened? And through the window, no less… and you’re carrying a girl!”
“Actually, I ran into her on the way…”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Olivia!”
“…Olivia, the Second Princess.”
“Huh!? The Second Princess!?”
“Be quiet… this is not something we can let slip.”
“Well, that’s true…”
While I was talking with Evi, Princess Olivia was exploring the room on her own.
“Oh… so this is where Ray lives.”
As she looked around, she seemed somewhat happy, saying it with a sense of nostalgia.
“I see. Ray, this might be a bit trouble. But… no, don’t say anything more. I won’t tell anyone about this. And I’ll be staying in Albert’s room tonight. Of course, I won’t mention it to Amelia and the others either. You’ve got your own issues, right? Yeah, yeah.”
Evi started speaking rapidly about something. What on earth was he talking about…?
“Evi—”
“Well, I’m off! Ray, good luck!”
Misunderstanding something, he vanished in a flash.
“Huh? Where’s Ray’s friend?”
“He probably thought ahead and is staying at another friend’s place.”
“Oh! That’s convenient in a way… hehehe. Just the two of us, huh?”
“Well, yes.”
“What’s with you? Don’t you have any sense of shyness? You should be all flustered by my charm or something…”
“No, not particularly.”
“Sigh… well, fine…”
Princess Olivia let out a sigh and dived onto a nearby sofa.
“So, what’s the real purpose of your visit?”
I asked seriously.
Surely, she didn’t come just to play. I thought there must be some important matter at hand… but it seemed I was overthinking it.
“Eh? Not really. I just wanted to see Ray’s face. Plus, I’m interested in you as a student, you know? Hehe…”
As she scratched her cheek, her face turned slightly red, perhaps from embarrassment.
I see… so she really just came by coincidence today.
Well, that’s fine. I can entertain her until noon tomorrow. Besides, she had been saying in her letters that she wanted to meet for a while now. I couldn’t just ignore that.
“By the way, do you know about Rebecca-senpai’s engagement?”
“Hmm… another girl’s story?”
“I have something I’m curious about. If you don’t mind, do you know about her fiancé, Evan Bernstein?”
“I know both Rebecca and Evan. Well… they seem like a good match, right? But, it does feel a bit early. Nowadays, students don’t usually get engaged, you know? I was a bit curious about that too.”
“I thought so…”
“Are you perhaps unhappy about Rebecca’s engagement? Is it jealousy? Envious?”
“No, I’m genuinely congratulating her…”
“Is there something else?”
“Actually—”
So, I decided to lightly ask Princess Olivia, who seemed knowledgeable about the situation. Of course, I didn’t mention that Senior Rebecca had asked for help on the last day of summer vacation.
I simply expressed my interest in the person named Evan Bernstein.
“Oh, by the way…”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Evan, actually. There’s a bit of a rumor.”
“A rumor?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he’s interested in magic eyes, and his major at university is related to that.”
“I see…”
After that, I continued to talk with Princess Olivia.
She asked, “Why are you asking about that?” but I skillfully dodged the question.
In this way, I gradually began to get closer to the truth.
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