But he swallowed his words right away. At some point, Kirian, who had started to stare at me instead of the jacket, sighed shallowly.

“Take it.”

I almost opened my mouth in surprise but barely held back. Esmeralda’s blush deepened.

“Isn’t this too presumptuous …….”

“No. You are my sister’s best friend, so a jacket is nothing.”

Kirian nonchalantly brushed off Esmeralda’s words and turned his eyes back to me.

“I have time today.”

Kirian, who glanced at the bright sky outside the window, smiled at me again.

“Shall we eat today?”

But I couldn’t take my eyes off the jacket.

“No, that’s okay. I have an appointment today.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Today I was going to visit the village that His was in charge of for the first time.

His, who said it was absolutely impossible, finally agreed to my desire to see a lightning rod at least once.

Today was a good opportunity to go sightseeing, as the weather was nice, probably because the rainy season was about to end.

“Ah, is that so……? What kind of appointment?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a secret.”

“I see …….”

Kirian smiled somewhere awkwardly.

Esmeralda took the opportunity to ask innocently.

“Then, will you have dinner with me?”

“No[—].”

“It’s my wish!”

Staring at Esmeralda, who was speaking with sparkling eyes, Kirian finally nodded.

“If it’s your wish, I can’t help it.”

It seemed like he would grant anything if it were Esmeralda’s wish.

I firmly closed my lips before blurting out anything unnecessary, like when did they start granting wishes to each other, or that they looked closer than they appeared.

I stood there foolishly, rubbing my neck, feeling like I might really end up interfering between the two of them and getting beheaded, just like the princess in the original.

“Thank you.”

When Esmeralda smiled beautifully, I also managed a dry smile.

(This is a time separator.)

I spent the whole class pretending to think hard, flipping through the magic book, but in reality, all my senses were focused on Kirian and Esmeralda sitting next to me.

Usually, Esmeralda and Kirian would sit on either side of me, but today Esmeralda had moved to sit next to Kirian.

“They seem to have become very close very quickly.”

I muttered to myself and scribbled the answer to an extreme question in the magic book.

It seemed that the relationship between the two had developed since the day I introduced them at the training ground. Perhaps it was thanks to their common interest in swordsmanship.

The spell I was working on happened to be one that silenced noises. Exactly the kind of spell that Kirian would be interested in.

“Maybe I should try swordsmanship …….”
Realizing that I was pondering quite seriously, I buried my head in the spellbook. It seemed time to stop the foolish thinking.

I tightly closed my eyes, fearing the clanging voice of Countess Lamira, but then I heard:

“Teacher! It seems that Princess Reina is sleeping during class.”

“Ohoho, you know they say beauty sleeps, don’t you?”

With the teacher’s joking words, a throbbing headache overtook my mind as if it were on strike, and I actually fell asleep.

When I woke up, the class was already over, and the students were leaving the classroom one by one. Kirian and Esmeralda had left early and were nowhere to be seen.

Startled, I got up, and something fell from my shoulder.

It was Kirian’s jacket.

As I picked up the jacket again, a faint mint fragrance tickled my nose. I simply swatted the jacket into my bag.

“The jacket is left, very well.”

(This is a time separator.)

After making quick preparations in the dormitory, I was heading towards the main gate where Hiss was waiting, but I stopped in my tracks at the sound of voices coming from the backyard of the dormitory.

“How will you take responsibility?”

It was Gerald and Kirian.

Gerald was furiously waving his hands in the air, while Kirian was quietly listening. But at a glance, his face, seemingly devoid of emotion and cold, displayed a contempt that only I could read.

“Responsibility? I don’t understand what you mean.”

Kirian’s voice was calm but fragile, like thin ice.

“Because of you, I lost all my dignity!”

“Why is it my fault….”

The slight twist in his lips gave me chills, but whether Gerald was insensitive or courageous, he continued to argue.

“Fix this, somehow! Or I won’t stand still either.”

“Oh, fix….”

Kirian lazily lifted one shoulder, then dropped it. As he lowered his voice, I was drawn a step closer.

“What to do about this. I’m already insisting[Dash].”

Crack.

Of all times, a twig broke beneath my foot.

Kirian froze.

“Excuses and blah blah blah[Dash]!”

As Gerald started yelling again, Kirian quickly shut him up.

“Quiet. Someone’s here.”

Gerald scowled.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

I was bound to be discovered soon. I considered fleeing for a moment but realized how foolish that thought was. I stomped on the cursed twig a few times and appeared before them.

“Sister? How did you…?”

The previously cold Kirian widened his eyes in surprise at my appearance. It was a subtle difference, but I noticed it right away.

Moreover, Gerald’s face turned pale, perhaps because Kirian had momentarily put too much force into muffling his mouth.

“Prince Gerald, you’re going to suffocate.”

At my comment, Kirian quickly removed his hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I lost control for a moment.”

It was an incredibly dry apology. His surprised expression when I appeared seemed more genuine.

“I didn’t know you two were close.”

From the sight of them in the empty classroom before, I thought Gerald would never go near Kirian again, but he was not avoiding Kirian but appeared all the more confident.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”

Grabbing Gerald’s collar and shaking it a few times, Kirian smiled slightly.

“We’re roommates. Not close, though.”

Their unexpected relationship, combined with the conversation I had just overheard, confused me, but I slowly nodded.

Still, there were more than a few suspicious points.

“So, what needs to be fixed?”