After leaving Rizy's shop, with her dubious fortune readings still on my mind, Ethan and I resumed wandering around the academy festival, enjoying the festivities.
It seemed that the astrology demonstration had been the main reason Ethan wanted to take the lead earlier. After that, he told me I could decide where to go next, allowing me to freely explore magic scroll crafting demonstrations and magical circle workshops for enchanted tools, which personally satisfied my curiosity.
‘Who knows, if I end up out on my own one day, I might be able to make a living doing something like this. Learning a bit now could come in handy later.’
There was no way I was going to base my future plans on some unbelievable fortune about wealth being right in front of me. If I learned how to use scrolls for magic, it would help conceal my true identity, and if I pretended to use scrolls while secretly casting spells, I could avoid being discovered as a magician while working as an adventurer.
As I spent the afternoon visiting the places I was personally interested in and occasionally wandering into places that caught my eye, I suddenly remembered one of the main events of the academy festival.
‘Now that I think about it, what’s going on with the play?’
In the original route, the play was just as important as the maid café. Even though the protagonist wasn’t involved, the scheduled performances always went ahead, with other academy students taking the stage in place of the protagonist and heroine.
‘We’ve already seen most of what we wanted to today, so maybe we should just wrap up by watching the play together.’
"Ethan, would you be interested in watching the Leon and Julia play that starts at five?"
“......”
—Tug.
Just as I was about to suggest the play as our final destination, I felt someone gently tugging at my hand from behind.
"......?"
"......."
“...Princess Rainey?”
"......."
—Nod, nod.
Looking down at me was a woman with short, sky-blue hair. I recognized her right away, having seen her face for two days in a row. It was none other than Princess Rainey, and her name naturally slipped from my mouth.
“What brings you here, Princess?”
"......."
...Ah, right. I needed to ask her questions that could be answered with a yes or no.
I also noticed that her maid, Lydia, wasn’t around. It wasn’t like Lydia to abandon her duties, so something must have gone wrong.
“Are you alone, Princess Rainey?”
"......."
—Nod, nod.
“Did you lose Miss Lydia?”
"......."
—Nod, nod.
It seemed like she got separated from her personal maid in the festival crowd.
As we exchanged these few words, fragments of my past life’s memories resurfaced. This was one of the events for capturing Princess Rainey in Luminor Academy.
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‘If I remember correctly, the proper way to proceed is to wander around the festival stalls with her, and eventually, Lydia will show up to retrieve her.’
Of course, Ethan and I had planned to watch the festival play soon, so we didn’t exactly have time to follow that route. But then again, this event might actually be beneficial for Ethan since Rainey was his future wife. Raising her affection now wouldn’t hurt.
The problem was whether Ethan would agree to take Princess Rainey along with us...
“What do you think, Ethan?”
“What would you like to do, Lilith?”
“Considering Princess Rainey’s condition, she probably needs help. I believe we’re the only ones in a position to assist her right now.”
“...That seems to be the case. Sigh, I figured you’d say that, Lilith.”
"......?"
What’s with that exaggerated sigh? Does he not want to be around Princess Rainey?
Rainey is one of the main heroines of Luminor Academy, with stunning beauty, and she’s going to be his future wife. Getting in her good graces shouldn’t be a bad thing.
Looking at his dissatisfied expression, with a potential girlfriend on one side and his fiancée on the other, I wondered if perhaps I had misunderstood something about Ethan’s engagement.
‘Wait, could it be...?’
What if Ethan and Rainey didn’t actually think of each other as fiancés? What if their engagement was an arrangement made by the adults, and they weren’t even aware of it themselves?
‘That would make sense. Otherwise, Ethan’s reaction doesn’t add up.’
I briefly considered the possibility that neither of them was engaged, but quickly dismissed it. There’s no way Harold would quietly watch me intercept Ethan’s love letters if Ethan didn’t have a fiancée.
If I pushed Princess Rainey away too harshly, it might cause problems in their future marriage, so I had to be careful and support them now.
“Ethan, I understand if you feel like our time together is being interrupted, but I really think it’s best if we help Princess Rainey.”
“......”
“And don’t forget, Princess Rainey once forgave us for a mistake. Though I know that was mostly due to her condition...”
“...I know. There’s no other choice.”
Resigned, Ethan nodded, likely remembering the mishap we had with Princess Rainey in the past. Even if he seemed annoyed now, I’m sure today’s events would help his relationship with her in the long run.
It was a bit painful to play the role of cupid for their budding relationship, but at least they weren’t overtly expressing their love for each other in front of me yet, so I could manage for now.
“So, how do we find Miss Lydia? Do you have any ideas?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, young master Ethan. I have just the thing for situations like this.”
With that, I pulled out the Whispering Leaf from my pocket and held it up in front of the two of them, concentrating on the image of the tall maid I had encountered over the past two days.
I felt a small surge of magic flow from my fingertips, and the leaf bent sharply, pointing in one direction.
—Whish!
"......!"
“It seems we should head this way, young master Ethan, Princess Rainey.”
“...What a fascinating artifact. How does it work?”
“You simply hold the tip of the leaf and focus on the face of the person you want to find. The leaf will point in their direction. However, it only works if you know the person’s face and name.”
“With this, I could track you down even if you sneak out at night again, Lilith.”
“...Yes, I suppose you could use it that way.”
That was more than two years ago, and he still hasn’t let it go.
Postponing our plans to watch the play, the three of us headed in the direction indicated by the Whispering Leaf, in search of Princess Rainey’s missing maid.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
In the end, finding Lydia didn’t interfere with our plans.
The Whispering Leaf led us straight to the auditorium, where Ethan and I had originally planned to watch the play.
‘So that’s why I could never find Lydia in the original game.’
In Luminor Academy, if you tried to search the auditorium, a trigger would stop you, saying, “This doesn’t seem like the right time to be watching a play.” It was a bit anticlimactic to find out that Lydia had been in the auditorium all along.
Fortunately, there were no triggers preventing us from entering this time. We followed the Whispering Leaf into the auditorium, where we finally found Lydia, Princess Rainey’s maid.
“Have you seen her?! She has short blue hair and is the most beautiful princess in the world...!”
“She’s not here! We’re busy setting up for the play, didn’t we tell you?!”
“But I swear, right before we got separated, the princess said she was coming here...”
Lydia was pacing nervously through the busy students who were preparing the stage. Her anxious expression looked like someone who had lost the key to their bike.
Her eyes soon landed on Princess Rainey at the entrance of the auditorium.
“P-Princess...!!!”
As soon as Lydia spotted the princess, she rushed over to us, practically flying across the room, and squeezed between me and Ethan to embrace Princess Rainey.
“Princess! Where on earth have you been?!”
"......."
“Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Were you hurt while I was away?! You’re always exposed to danger, so you have to be more careful than others...!”
"......."
Even in Lydia’s arms, Princess Rainey didn’t say a word, maintaining her usual impassive expression. The actors preparing for the play looked visibly relieved now that the troublesome person had finally left.
“Now that you’ve found her, could you please leave? We’re busy preparing for the set...”
“P-Penelope!! Be careful over there!!”
“Huh? Kyaaaa...!!”
Just as one actor called out to his colleague, a large stage backdrop began to tip over above them.