"......"
When Milia uttered the na of the Imperial Family, Luca purposely knitted his brows.
He glanced at Ottbo.
Ottbo, eting his eyes, gave him a puzzled look.
"?"
Tap, tap.
When Luca tapped his ear, Ottbo, who had been wearing a blank expression, hastily cast a soundproofing spell around them.
They were in the very center of the square. Already, they stood out so much that onlookers were starting to gather one by one.
Seeing Ottbo use the soundproofing spell, Luca glared at Milia with even greater intensity.
"To so carelessly invoke the Imperial Family in this crowded square... And in front of a blood relative of the Traverse House, the Fangs of Hernan."
"... Look at this."
Milia showed the necklace she had kept hidden with her scarf.
It was a necklace adorned with the crest of the Hernan Imperial Family.
But Luca's face only twisted further.
"Are you trying to fool with such a shoddy fake?"
"F-Fake? How could a forgery possibly bear the Hernan Imperial Family's insignia so intricately...?"
"If what you say is true, then you would have believe that the kind of girl who flirts with n just to watch a band performance is a noble scion of the Hernan Empire, and that the kind of clueless, foolish brat who can't even grasp the situation and causes trouble for her mistress is a noble knight who guards an imperial bloodline?"
A mont of silence fell.
At Luca's sharp—almost caustic—words, Milia kept her mouth shut like a dumb mute.
Isella, too, opened her mouth as if to say sothing, only to close it again.
She thought anything she said would only worsen the situation.
"Even insulting the Imperial Family has its limits. What you've done is so outrageous that if I hadn't told Ottbo to cast a silence spell, you'd have been executed on the spot with no excuses. Are you aware of that?"
"Um... Lu-Luca..."
Ottbo, watching warily, approached Luca and whispered,
"I checked with magic, and I think the insignia is real. You can tell instantly because the Imperial crest is enchanted with a special spell."
"......"
Luca stared at Ottbo with a blank face, then turned to Milia.
Milia stood there, cheeks burning red, her head bowed.
After a brief silence, Luca sighed and withdrew his sword.
"... The mood is ruined. Let's just pretend none of this ever happened."
"Wh-What?!"
Erasing all of Isella's blunders and the insults from Luca would be the best of all possible outcos.
Whether or not Luca had made the wise choice, Milia let out a quiet sigh of relief and ordered Isella to lower her weapon.
"B-But Lady Milia, that man is..."
"Isella, I know all you've ever done is train your whole life, but there are tis you need to step back. And are you saying you won't obey my orders?"
"No, ma'am!"
Looks like they're having a rough ti on that side too.
'This should have left a pretty deep impression. All that's left is to get friendly at the academy under the pretense of coincidence.'
Luca grinned to himself, ready to turn around.
But then he noticed Ottbo still looking over at Milia.
"What's wrong?"
"......"
Ottbo had the face of a puppy desperate for the bathroom.
With a curious frown, Luca followed Ottbo's gaze.
He saw Milia and Isella walking away.
"... You can't possibly, at a ti like this?"
"But... Ugh..."
Ottbo wore an expression like he was about to burst into tears, then groaned and hung his head.
Luca sighed, scratched his head, and held out his hand.
"Ticket."
"?"
"Ticket!"
Ottbo, looking dazed, handed him his ticket unconsciously.
Luca hesitated just for a mont, then let out another deep sigh before running off after the retreating Milia and Isella.
As he approached, Milia wore a sour expression, and Isella glared fiercely.
eting Milia's eyes, Luca forced his reluctant lips to open.
"Uh, l-Ladies..."
"?"
"You again! What new insult—"
Milia quickly sized up the situation.
Ottbo's naïve face, Luca's dissatisfied one, and the ticket in his hand.
The first thing she did was clamp her hand over Isella's mouth.
"Mm-mph!"
"What is it, passing knight?"
She answered him with a composed smile, as if nothing had just happened at all.
Wearing an awkward smile, Luca scratched his cheek and spoke.
"Would you do us the honor of joining my friend and for the performance of the Rain Sound Orchestra?"
"Oh my, the tickets for the band that's so popular these days! I've heard they're hard to co by—are you sure you're fine attending with us?"
"To be able to escort such beautiful ladies as yourselves is the greatest honor for a knight."
Isella, listening to this, looked as if she might throw up.
Of course, Luca felt the sa way, but the mories of "Luca Traverse" insisted this was how a noble should speak.
And it seed he wasn't wrong; Milia answered him in the sa 'noble fashion'.
With a graceful nod, Milia extended her hand.
Luca kissed the back of her hand, then gave a subtle nod toward Ottbo.
"...!"
Only then did Ottbo realize what was happening, and rushed over with a bright face.
"Are—are you really coming to the performance with us, your hig—"
Thunk!
"Guh! Ugh... N-No, l-Lady..."
Just as he was about to say 'highness', Luca's elbow lodged itself into Ottbo's solar plexus.
Even with his face contorted by pain, Ottbo managed a happy smile.
Milia, watching them, covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled.
"Of course. I feel so at ease getting to go with such dependable knights."
"......"
"Isella. Introduce yourself."
As the atmosphere grew cordial, Isella stood rigid with a sullen face, until Milia jabbed her in the side and whispered nacingly.
With a face on the verge of tears, Isella forced herself to speak.
"Th-Thank you... S-Sirs..."
"We are honored to accompany you, my lady."
"......"
Luca emphasized the word "lady" with mockery, causing Isella to bite her lip—but she could say nothing in response.
He smirked as he watched Ottbo, brimming with excitent, chat with Milia.
'Well, since things are going well thanks to you, I'll go along with it, kid. And besides...'
Though he didn't show it outwardly, Luca was grinning from ear to ear inside.
'I've always wanted to try this "picking up girls" thing.'
A privilege only possible for a possessor.
Trying out things he never could in his previous life was rather thrilling.
* * *
"Wow! Today was pretty fun—don't you think?"
"I apologize for not butchering those blasphemous fools, Your Highness! If I'd just struck off that repulsive man's hand in one blow..."
"You're still talking about that? You had fun too, so why act like this?"
"F-Fun? What do you an—"
Riding in the silent, unmanned carriage, only Milia and Isella sat talking with each other.
"It's fine for now because we're not at the academy yet, but when we get there, nothing like that must ever happen again. Got it?"
"I was careless, Your Highness... I just..."
"I know. You've been trained to eliminate any threat to . But now you've seen for yourself—out here, not everything is a threat, and this country is more peaceful than we thought. So there's no need to be on such high alert. If anything, it only makes things uncomfortable for ."
"I understand..."
Isella wore the face of an abandoned puppy.
All her short life she'd been trained solely for the princess's protection.
Expecting her to adapt quickly was still a tall order.
Milia smiled softly.
"Still, it wasn't so bad. Thanks to today, I got to see what kind of person the brute who dumped my little sister is—and it turned out to be quite entertaining."
"If I was helpful, I'm glad."
Though she didn't really understand, hearing it turned out well prompted Isella to respond with a look of subdued happiness.
Milia gazed at the moon through the carriage window.
"So, how much fun will they show now?"
Her eyes curved like the crescent moon in the sky.
"I'm looking forward to it—the Academy."
The hidden princess, Brid Hernan.
She was the greatest villain of the mid-story, who drove the original protagonist to the brink of death.
* * *
"Ah~ Today was the best day of my life."
Perhaps still caught up in the afterglow of their four-person concert 'date', Ottbo wore a blissful expression.
By contrast, Luca looked unimpressed.
"It wasn't bad."
"Luca, even though she's hiding her status, getting to go on a date with the princess is an enormous honor! And for us, the second sons of count families, no less!"
"You think so?"
Of course, Luca was actually pleased on the inside. It was the first ti since elentary school that he'd hung out with girls.
'Still, as expected, the Rain Sound Orchestra was nothing special.'
As soon as he realized that the present tiline was one year before the protagonist's transmigration, he'd figured "he" wouldn't have joined the Rain Sound Orchestra yet.
He checked just in case, but as expected, he wasn't there.
'If he had, they wouldn't be doing small performances here anyway.'
With that thought, Luca's expression turned sullen.
"But there's one thing I'm curious about."
"What?"
"Why are you in my room?"
This was Luca's room in the Traverse House accommodations.
But as it happened, the room prepared for Ottbo by the Gress House was right next door.
"We're next to each other anyway. What's the problem?"
"I don't appreciate my personal space being invaded. Today I sacrificed enough for you—do you want to make dinner difficult too?"
"Ah... r-right."
At Luca's cold words, Ottbo put on a dejected face.
Luca pouted and turned away.
"It's late, so eat dinner and then leave. No more than that."
"Really? Thanks! By then, my servants should have found my personal maid!"
"Personal maid?"
At Ottbo's offbeat comnt, Luca frowned in confusion. Ottbo answered with a sheepish look.
"She has the accommodation permit, but she suddenly disappeared while I was talking with the princess earlier."
"Oh, if you an her, she's in your room. I moved her."
"... Huh?"
Then, unexpectedly, Bella spoke up.
Both Luca and Ottbo wore astonished faces.
Luca recovered his composure first.
"Why?"
"If an ordinary maid learned a secret about the princess, that would be trouble. So I took care of it."
"... I see. Well done."
He hadn't thought of it, but was glad it was handled well.
Ottbo, on the other hand, seed a bit flustered.
"Lu-Luca, what's with your maid?"
"She's just a competent maid."
"No, even so—for a maid to knock soone out and hide them without anyone knowing...?"
Disapproving, he shook his head as if it made no sense, but Luca just added,
"Our family has its secrets. I'm sure yours does, too."
"... I suppose so."
As with most noble houses, even the two count families had things they couldn't show the world.
"More importantly, didn't you say your servants are still searching all over the city for that maid? Shouldn't you recall them?"
"Oh, right! I'll go do that! Goodnight!"
At Luca's remark, Ottbo seed to rember and hurried out—then paused and turned his head.
"Want to go check out the class assignnt results together tomorrow?"
"What are you talking about? The results don't co out for a month."
"Master, it's true the results are announced in a month, but nobles of count rank and above can learn them early,"
Bella explained.
Stretching out on the bed, Luca replied,
"It's just going to be S-Class for —do I really need to go?"
"Still!"
"Fine, just go already."
Ottbo grinned and called, "See you tomorrow!" before leaving the room.
Bella giggled.
"He's an amusing person."
"What? He's nothing but noisy."
But Luca's lips, speaking curtly, were curved like the crescent moon outside his window.
And the next day, the two of them went to the exam office.
"Ottbo Gress, S-Class."
"Wow!"
Ottbo cheered, and Luca, awaiting his turn, wore a subtle look of excitent.
The staff mber checking the results found Luca's na and said,
"And Luca Traverse: A-Class."
Everyone present was shocked by the results.
"...?"
"Huh? Excuse , could you check again, please?"
Bella, flustered, asked the official to double-check, while Ottbo quickly checked his friend's expression.
At that mont, Luca, the one involved, was thinking seriously.
'So that's why this guy didn't show up in the story.'
He'd completed the entrance exam almost perfectly.
Even the examiner's assessnt showed it.
Even if it was his first exam, it was clear enough.
But the fact that these were the results made Luca instantly realize what kind of fate Luca Traverse had.
'He must have been born just to get the short end of the stick.'
A truly ill-fated character—that's who Luca Traverse was.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn...
Oh, well.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】
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