Clatter, clatter...
The carriage rumbled down the dirt roads of the territory, carrying us away from the count’s estate.
“Every ti I co here, I’m reminded just how unimpressive your family’s lands are.”
“Haha...”
“Other than the fact that it's right next to the capital, there’s not a single thing I like about it.”
As redia scowled at the shaking carriage and voiced her displeasure, I turned my eyes away with an awkward smile.
‘And yet, it’s precisely that one advantage that has people crawling over each other trying to snatch our land.’
Well, I suppose to soone like the Lady of House Embergreen—ruler of the largest and wealthiest territory in the Empire—this place might seem insignificant.
But that was only before Parsha arrived. With just a few years of her managent, Ringaarden could blossom into a territory of imnse value, positioned as a transportation hub and mana-stone center.
Of course, unless she suddenly lost her mind and dumped all our funds into that barely-functional Levertaine Mine... but I trust her.
“By the way, who’s the maid sitting next to you?”
Just as I was reassuring myself with those thoughts, redia quietly turned her gaze toward and asked in a cold tone.
“Hk.”
Sasha, who had been frozen in place beside the whole ti, flinched and began trembling with teary eyes.
“Sasha is my personal maid. She’s an extrely sweet and innocent girl.”
“Y-Yes, I am. Hehe...”
I hadn’t expected to be riding with redia today, which was why Sasha had ended up tagging along—but I figured I didn’t need to worry anymore about redia bullying her.
After all, we were now on the sa team. Lunelle and Parsha might provoke her, but Sasha? No way. She’s just a harmless maid.
“Your knight is a woman. Your butler’s a woman. And now, even your attendant is a woman?”
Oddly enough, redia seed annoyed in a completely different way.
“Uh... is that so?”
“Yes. Your tastes are perfectly clear.”
Hey, now that’s just unfair. I selected my team based on skill alone.
And besides, unlike Lunelle, both Parsha and Sasha are legally untouchable. Even a glance the wrong way would be criminal.
“......”
But then, as redia turned her eyes back to the window with a frosty look, I realized I needed to do sothing to change the mood.
“...What are you doing?”
“I’ve made a mistake, haven’t I? Sitting across from my fiancée like this—how rude of .”
So I quietly stood and slid over to sit beside her. She turned to glare at , clearly unimpressed.
“I never said you could sit next to .”
“Haha. Well, we are engaged, aren’t we? What’s the harm?”
“...Tsk.”
As I joked playfully, redia clicked her tongue and turned away again.
‘Maybe her mood’s lifted a little...?’
Judging ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) by her expression, it seed to have softened—just a bit. That was a relief.
“By the way... our engagent. It’s still intact, right?”
“What are you talking about now?”
“Um... back then, I figured you’d be disgusted by what I said, so I assud...”
I cautiously brought up what had happened the other day, and redia turned her gaze fully toward , tilting her head.
“You said it yourself—how you hated those mindless fools who fell for you based on looks alone.”
“......”
“I honestly thought you’d call off the engagent over it. I was kind of worried.”
Her brow furrowed slightly at my nervous tone, then—
“...That was aid at the idiots blinded by my power or appearance.”
“Oh. Really?”
Fortunately, she followed up with a line vague enough to leave room for interpretation.
“And to be honest, I don’t get your behavior—but for , it’s a welco situation.”
Just as I let out a sigh of relief, redia gave a cold smile and continued.
“I don’t know what you see in —but that’s your problem, not mine.”
“......”
“What matters is, it just got a lot easier to use you.”
Ah, yes. That’s more like the redia I know. Oddly, I felt more reassured now that I had a clear reason she hadn’t tried to kill for being rude.
“So don’t start getting any ideas. The only reason I’m turning a blind eye to your lecherous thoughts is because you’re useful to .”
Still, it stung a bit that my heartfelt confession had no effect whatsoever.
“Are you going to respond or what?”
Should I try another gamble—put my life on the line for a joke?
“You have beautiful eyes, Lady redia.”
“...What?”
“Haha. You did ask what I liked about you, didn’t you?”
As I said it with a grin, she snapped her head away again and stared out the window. I sulked and dropped my gaze.
‘Man... I really do have no experience with romance.’
If I try that again, I’ll end up dead—no matter how many lives I have. Better cool it from now on.
—Slide...
While I slumped my shoulders in awkward silence, suddenly a ribbon-wrapped box appeared in front of .
“Lady redia? What’s this?”
“If you’re that curious, open it.”
She held it out toward casually.
“Ooh?”
I opened the box with curiosity—and when I saw the stack of vibrantly colored papers inside, I let out a gasp of surprise.
“Printing error left with a bunch of useless sheets. I don’t need them. Take them if you want.”
Looking again after hearing that, I realized this wasn’t just any paper.
It was clearly made from expensive materials, and so even had gold foil patterns sewn into them.
“If you don’t want it, forget it.”
“Haha, thank you. I love origami, actually.”
It was too perfect for to turn down. Without sha, I gratefully accepted the box.
“Did you know? There’s a legend that folding a thousand paper cranes grants a wish.”
“......”
“Here, look. I already folded one. Haha...”
I picked out a platinum-colored sheet that matched redia’s hair and demonstrated my skills. As I did, she glanced at sideways and muttered in her usual flat tone.
“I didn’t think you were capable of smiling so purely.”
My smiles have always been pure, thank you very much, Lady redia. But since she gave such a lovely gift, I’ll let that one slide.
“How did you end up with such a childish hobby?”
“Oh, that’s...”
I closed the box carefully and tucked it away, then paused at her question as old mories bubbled up.
“...Back when I was sick as a child, I spent a lot of ti bedridden.”
That is, in my previous life—too young to even play gas back then.
“I heard sowhere that folding a thousand paper cranes would make a wish co true. So, filled with childish wonder, I folded them earnestly.”
To be honest, I don’t rember who told that dumb story.
I didn’t have any friends, and my parents barely acknowledged . Maybe it was the one nurse who was kind to ?
“In the end, I folded more than a thousand—over ten thousand, even—but the wish never ca true.”
“......”
“Still, back then I had nothing else to do, so it just beca a hobby. Haha...”
Well, now I can laugh about it since it’s a hazy mory, but I think I cried for days back then, in my childish little heart.
“...I see.”
But strangely, the expression on the Lady’s face darkened ever so slightly.
‘Right... she spent her childhood bedridden too, didn’t she?’
That’s when I rembered how closely her past mirrored mine, and I started to worry I might’ve made the atmosphere heavier for no reason.
“...Now that I think about it, maybe it’s not such a childish hobby after all.”
Instead of retorting with her usual cold tone, redia simply corrected herself while watching my face in silence.
“I also once...”
She cut herself off and looked back out the window, but I had a feeling I knew what she was about to say.
Though it was only briefly ntioned in the lore books, I, as her most devoted fan, knew she used to talk to dolls when she was young.
Still, if I brought that up now, the mood would probably turn frosty for real—so I decided to start with a simple thank-you.
“Thanks for the gift, Lady redia.”
“...It wasn’t a gift. I just tossed it to you.”
Even if she said that, no one in the world wraps and hands over “trash” that perfectly matches the recipient’s tastes.
‘...If soone saw this, they’d definitely think she was a tsundere.’
Of course, considering I’d never once told her about my hobby, this was probably her way of showing off—saying that she could find out even sothing like this with ease.
But still, I couldn’t help feeling good about it.
“Lady redia, actually I brought a gift too...”
“...?”
“I can’t really give it to you right now, so I’ll give it to you later.”
If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve forced myself to take the ti earlier and bring the gift I’d prepared.
But handing over such a significant present in a shaking carriage didn’t seem like a good idea, so I decided to save her surprised reaction for later.
“Still, since I’ve only received so far, would you like one of my paper cranes?”
“...I don’t need it.”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
That one dynamic expression she made in response to my words earlier was more than enough to keep satisfied for years.
***
“Wow, we’ve already arrived.”
Since the Ringaarden estate was so close to the capital, by the ti my chat with redia ca to an end, the Academy was already visible outside the window.
“Well then, shall we get off?”
As the carriage slowed and ca to a stop, I humd cheerfully and stepped out, clearly in high spirits from the gift I’d received.
“...I don’t know anything about that guy.”
redia could’ve easily frowned at my continued lack of an escort, but instead—
“...I really can’t stand imbalance.”
She sat quietly in her seat, gently fiddling with the platinum paper crane I had given her, and murmured in a low voice.
“Hey. Maid.”
“......”
“What are you doing, still not getting off?”
She turned her gaze toward Sasha, who was still sitting with her head down and hands clamped over her ears, just as I’d taught her.
“Ah, yes! I’m sorry!!”
“If you could hear everything anyway, why were you even covering your ears?”
“Hk!”
Caught by an accidental trap question, Sasha began to tremble uncontrollably. redia sighed quietly and asked her sothing else.
“Stop doing weird things and just answer my question.”
“A-Ask anything!”
“Is it true your master was sick as a child?”
At her question, Sasha glanced nervously at redia and replied in a crawling voice.
“I-I’m just a new maid who started a few months ago...”
“...A new maid, and yet your master’s personal maid?”
“F-Forgive ?”
Clearly baffled by sothing unthinkable for soone from House Embergreen, redia sighed and rephrased her question.
“Let ask sothing else. Has your master done anything suspicious lately?”
“Uh, well...”
Unfortunately, that question was even more beyond Sasha’s ability to answer.
“There’s just too much to know where to start...”
“...What a waste of ti.”
Realizing that, redia gave up on her questioning and began preparing to step down from the carriage.
“...A-Are you sure you don’t have any more questions?”
“Shouldn’t you be worried about your master instead?”
“Ah, yes!!”
Shrinking from redia’s sharp tone, Sasha bolted from her seat like a startled squirrel and scampered outside.
“...Why did he bring along soone that clueless?”
Muttering to herself as she watched Sasha’s retreating figure, redia then quietly gathered up the paper crane in her hand and followed after her out of the carriage.
“...Hm?”
But then, redia’s expression twisted slightly in irritation.
“Greetings, Lord Whitney.”
“Hello?”
“I’m Pierre, an officer of the Academy’s Commoner Council. I was told I was designated as your guide today, so I’ve been waiting...”
The boy greeting Whitney at the Academy gates with a stiff posture was, to her, an imnsely irritating sight.
‘Of all people, he chose that troublemaker to guide him? What is he thinking?’
The Commoner Council was an old autonomous organization within the Academy, founded to uphold the principle that education should be equally available to all.
Though its influence had waned in recent years due to noble interference, the current emperor’s emphasis on rit over status had restored a certain level of authority to the Council.
‘For a commoner to declare a veto on a board vote—utterly absurd.’
In fact, redia had applied to be a judge for the Rookie Selection Tournant from the mont the rematch was announced. The reason she couldn’t get confirmation until this morning... was because the Commoner Council had exercised its veto.
‘Trying to cover up that stain of usurping the throne with childish antics like this...’
And the fact that the man behind empowering the Commoner Council had approved the veto? It was a well-known, open secret.
“May I ask why you specifically requested ?”
“......”
“I’m a very busy man, you see. If you just needed an attendant, you’ve picked the wrong person.”
At that mont, redia’s displeasure was written clearly across her face as she glared at the boy who continued to speak to Whitney with insolence.
“O-Oppa?”
But then, Sasha, who had been rushing over to Whitney, suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stared at the Council officer with wide eyes and called out to him.
“...Sasha?”
And at the sa ti, the boy who had been introducing himself to Whitney also wore a surprised expression and called out her na.
“I-I missed you... sniff...”
Sasha, already haggard from enduring redia’s pressure just monts earlier, now looked utterly pitiful as she burst into tears.
“Ahaha... Our Sasha really is such a crybaby.”
“......”
“By the way, you said your na was Pierre?”
With that, Whitney naturally placed a hand on the shoulder of the boy who stood dumbfounded by the scene and whispered in a quiet voice right by his ear, narrowing his eyes.
“How does it feel, seeing your little sister again after so long?”
Watching that devilish smile—so wicked it sent chills down the spine—spread across Whitney’s face, redia silently shook her head and muttered to herself.
‘...So that’s why he brought her.’
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