“Do I have to put it straight into your mouth for you to eat?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
At last, anger burst out of Ravi.
“Do I look like a joke to you? Because I can’t cast as well as that bastard and wasn’t any help, now I’m a joke to you! I don’t even look like your brother any—damn it!”
At the words he himself had spit out, something like misery rose up in him, and he muttered a small curse.
Watching him, Camilla shook her head inwardly.
Men who know they’re brilliant always dig themselves a hole like this once in a while.
Even though there are countless people less capable than Ravi, the moment—just the slightest moment—he spots someone a hair better than him, he loses all composure.
So now it’s Arsian, after Ludville?
She had guessed he’d be feeling self-loathing over what happened at the Hunting Tournament, but seeing it in person was... really something.
Camilla clicked her tongue in her head again and again.
“Brother.”
Ravi snapped his head away like a sulking child and didn’t answer.
But only for a moment.
“I almost died last time.”
“...What are you talking about?”
His eyes flew wide and straight at her.
“Professor J.B. I really almost died to that man.”
“Hey! You didn’t say that back then!”
Ravi shot to his feet.
“You said it wasn’t dangerous at all!”
“Yeah, not dangerous at all.”
“You—! Are you messing with—”
“Thanks to this.”
Camilla showed the bracelet on her wrist. The Magic Bracelet (Binding) Ravi had made for her.
“That man was a lot stronger than I expected. When he was strangling me, I couldn’t counter properly.”
“You...!”
“But in front of this, even he couldn’t do a thing.”
Ravi’s mouth worked soundlessly for a beat before he flopped back into his seat.
“If I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t even have thought of doing any of it. I did something that crazy because I trusted the bracelet you made.”
It wasn’t a lie.
She had trusted Rube, Chief of Black Shadow, even more than the bracelet, but it was true the bracelet had been a huge help.
“I told you before. Without you, I’m an orphan.”
“......”
“In other words, because I have you, I run around trusting that one thing.”
Ravi didn’t say anything for a while. But Camilla could tell. His mood had lightened.
He was trying to hide it, forcing himself to keep the heaviness, but to a master of performance like Camilla it was obvious.
The corner of his mouth was twitching ever so slightly. His face had even flushed a touch.
“Are you going to eat or not? Do I seriously have to shove it into your mouth?”
“...Why do you seem to get rougher by the day?”
“I’m taking after you.”
“If only you couldn’t talk.”
“Wow, you prefer a mute little sister? Want me to keep my mouth shut for life?”
“...Fine, I’ll eat. I’ll eat.”
With the air of I’m only eating because of you, Ravi picked up the spoon and nibbled at the food.
But a short while later, every bite on the plate was gone without a trace.
He hadn’t put proper food in his mouth for a week. Of course he would be starving.
And still, he had the nerve to act like he wasn’t hungry. Very Ravi.
Sheesh.
Camilla let out a short sigh inside.
Even babying him is exhausting.
Still, what could she do? If she didn’t keep his head in one piece, life ahead would be anything but peaceful.
Let him “live free,” and who knew what nonsense he’d pull next.
Ugh, my lot in life.
Chapter. Student Council President
“What on earth is all this?”
Back at the Academy after a long while, Camilla tilted her head at the mountain of gift boxes piled high on her desk.
“Is it my birthday today?”
No, even if it were her birthday, there’s no way she’d be getting gifts like this at the Academy.
What kind of prank is this?
Camilla’s brow knit a little. What if there was trash inside the boxes?
“E-Excuse me, Miss Camilla!”
At the girlish voice that rang out, Camilla lifted her head. A girl she’d never seen before stood in front of her.
“This!”
Face slightly flushed, the girl thrust something out. A small gift box.
What is this?
When Camilla didn’t readily take it, the girl’s face reddened further.
“T-Thank you so much for saving my older brother.”
“What?”
What did I do? Camilla’s face filled with deeper puzzlement.
“I heard my older brother received great help at the Hunting Tournament. If not for you, Miss Camilla, he really might have died...”
“Ah.”
When Camilla nodded, having grasped the situation, the girl pushed the gift toward her again.
Wearing a curious expression, Camilla took it, and the girl thanked her once more and scurried out of the classroom.
Must have been when Zeno possessed my body.
Since she didn’t remember it, it had to be that. Apparently Zeno’s exploits were even greater than she’d thought.
“Hm, then all of these are...”
Her eyes went to the desk buried under gift boxes.
[Right, right. They’re from participants that day or their families, sent to you.]
Zeno, who had already gone snooping around the Academy to take stock, chattered eagerly into her ear.
This is a bit much.
The temperature around her had swung.
Even if not outright hostility, the eyes once full of dismissal and contempt were now, to a fair degree, full of favor.
Of course there were still looks that found her distasteful, but the proportion had clearly dropped.
The sudden shift left Camilla more than a little at a loss.
[You know it’s all thanks to me, right?]
Beaming, Zeno grinned in triumph.
[Use me a lot from now on.]
What is he even saying?
With a sparkle like a shopping host pitching himself, Zeno made his case, and Camilla slowly shook her head.
****
[You’re really going to quit?]
“Yes.”
What happened at the Hunting Tournament hadn’t only affected the students.
On her way back with a light face after a meeting with the Sword Instructor, Zeno kept grumbling beside her.
[Why! Why! Why!]
“Ugh, you’re noisy.”
The Sword Instructor, who had maintained thorough indifference, suddenly asked to see her for a moment, so she’d pretty much guessed.
Sure enough, he suggested she receive systematic sword lessons from him going forward.
He’d dressed it with a speck of courtesy and didn’t sneer to her face, but inside she scoffed.
Now he wants to play master?
It was laughable.
Now that people were talking about her swordsmanship, he wanted to stick a spoon in and ride the fame. It ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) was obvious.
After listening in silence for a while to the Sword Instructor’s ridiculous fantasies, Camilla informed him—right as he drank tea to wet his throat—that she would be quitting the Sword Club.
His mouth fell open in a stupor, but she ignored it.
[You’ve got talent! Your physical specs are excellent!]
“Yes, yes.”
[Why in the world quit the Sword Club? Isn’t it a waste of your talent?]
If she said not at all, he’d keep squawking...
After a beat of thought, Camilla chose to gild his face instead.
“I have Zeno.”
[Huh?]
“With Zeno here, why would I need another sword instructor? Don’t you think?”
At that, he fell silent at once. A smile spread across his face as if he’d never been angry.
[True! You’ve got me!]
Yes, yes.
Now, which club should I join?
Since she’d left the Sword Club, she had to find a new one. Anything to do with acting was out, obviously... She’d have to think—
Thud.
“I—I’m sorry!”
Lost in thought as she walked, someone bumped into Camilla.
Everything the boy had been carrying spilled and scattered across the floor.
Seeing what had fallen, Camilla could fully understand why he hadn’t seen her and had run into her.
From thick books to piles of snacks—just looking at it, it was far too much for one person to carry.
“I’m sor—ah!”
When Camilla bent to help pick things up, the boy flinched and looked at her in surprise.
“Th-Thank you.”
“Want me to carry some?”
“No!”
He panicked and shook his head frantically. Then he stacked everything back up and hurried off.
Hauling a stack so high he could barely see—he couldn’t have looked more unsteady.
But Camilla couldn’t offer a helping hand any further.
There was a reason he had flinched and hastily refused when she’d offered help a moment ago.
[What’s with that guy? Why’s he carrying all that alone?]
“Because there’s no one to help him.”
[Why?]
“Because everyone openly ostracizes and bullies him.”
[What?]
Kevin Brian.
Someone Camilla knew well. Not because he had a good house or good looks, but the opposite.
Baron Brian’s house was a house in name only. No money, no power—nobles in nothing but title, not a hair better than commoners.
A different flavor of outcast than me.
At least no one openly bullied her.
At worst, they gossiped behind her back or ignored her, but Kevin Brian’s case was much worse.
Getting beaten was routine, and from the moment he stepped into the Academy he never got a break, running every errand imaginable.
Of course there’s a ringleader.
And she knew exactly who.
Step, step.
“Oh my, Miss Camilla, it’s been a while.”
Just then a girl their age appeared, smiling sweetly as she greeted Camilla.
“I hear you were quite spectacular this time.”
Merise Gabuel, daughter of Marquess Gabuel.
Rich, pretty, and with excellent grades—the Academy’s Student Council President.
The one adored by everyone from the headmaster down to every professor, and at the same time...
The bullying ringleader.
Seeing the bright smile aimed at her, Camilla returned a smile of her own.
****
[Hold on—are you saying the entire student body gangs up to bully one student? Are they insane?]
“Strictly speaking, not the entire student body. Some don’t join in.”
Someone like Petro wouldn’t ever take part in that. He didn’t even know such things were happening at the Academy.
Same goes for Arsian.
Whether someone else is being bullied or not—he has no interest from the start.
“They don’t involve anyone who might get in the way of what they’re doing.”
[And the Student Council President can get away with that?]
“Doesn’t it occur to you she can do it because she’s the Student Council President?”
It’s the perfect position to blind the professors.
[And everyone just lets it happen?]
“Because it’s not happening to them.”
[What?]
“Because they aren’t the target.”
So they just leave it be. Like a light amusement of youth. Most lightly side with it or look away.
[No one helps? How does that make sense?]
There are definitely those who feel uneasy about it. And yet the reason they only watch is a single thing.
“If they step in, they might be the next target. Who’s going to stick their neck out?”
