After my chat with Keith, I headed to my job at the Magical Ministry, as usual, and passed the day there the same way I always did. When it came to my Dark Magic training, I applied myself to it more seriously than before, thinking that it might come in useful in what could be an imminent crisis. However, I didn’t see any dramatic improvement. The results were the same as always.
In the afternoon, I psyched myself up more than usual as I got to work deciphering my covenant. I also took the opportunity to ask Maria what happened after I parted ways with her and Cezar the previous day.
“I very much enjoyed talking to him about you, Lady Katarina,” she replied. Not the kind of answer I was expecting.
Well, I guess they just used their mutual acquaintance as a jumping-off point for their conversation, I thought. When I asked for more details, I was informed this wasn’t the case: They’d really talked about me more or less the entire time. You’re supposed to talk about each other... If your only topic of conversation is a villainess, your relationship will never develop, that’s for sure.
From the look of things, I was convinced that Maria had not been all that captivated by Cezar.
Nor did I get very far in deciphering my covenant. Despite my attempts to motivate myself, I didn’t make any more progress than usual. Consequently, I had proven that, even if I tried to psych myself up, things wouldn’t change all that much.
When the workday was over, I said goodbye to Maria—who worked in a different department—and returned to my own department’s office to prepare to go home for the day. On my way there, I was surprised to recognize someone whose face I’d seen just the previous day walking in the opposite direction.
“Prince Cezar!” I cried without thinking.
Cezar, looking just as surprised.
“Katarina!”
When I came closer, I saw that Janne was here too. Our eyes met, and he greeted me with a brief smile. For a moment, I wondered what he was doing at the Ministry, then I remembered that he was making a point of visiting every workplace that would admit him as part of his studies.
“Prince Cezar, are you visiting the Magical Ministry for work today?” I inquired.
Cezar nodded.
“Yeah, now that I have permission, I thought I’d come take a look.”
It was just as I’d thought.
“I see, but please, don’t push yourself too hard and wear yourself out.”
“You too? That’s just the kind of thing Janne would say.”
“Well, anyone who heard how many appointments you’ve been packing in would get worried.”
“I don’t think I’ve been doing all that much.”
So the man himself isn’t really aware that he’s overdoing it. Hmm, I guess people who work too hard are aware of it less often than you’d think.
“From what I’ve heard, it is that much. You should listen to Janne and take proper breaks,” I said matter-of-factly.
“I’ll think about it,” replied Cezar.
I guess that’s a forward-thinking answer.
Since we’d finished talking about his workaholism, I asked about something else that had been bothering me.
“By the way, Prince Cezar, did you get along well with Maria yesterday? It was your first time meeting each other, so I was just wondering if it went okay.”
It sounded like Maria had been entirely unmoved by their meeting, but it was possible the other party felt quite differently.
Particularly for Cezar, a romanceable character, it seemed possible that he was actually quite enamored of Maria, even if she didn’t realize it.
“Yeah, though it was our first time meeting, we seemed to know a fair bit about each other, and we had an enjoyable conversation as we both headed home,” Cezar replied smoothly.
Nope, he seems really casual about it too. Looks like there really wasn’t any progress between them.
In the game, this would have been a special encounter event between the protagonist and one of the romanceable characters. Could it really be so uneventful?
Since I’d heard about their carriage ride from Maria, I already knew the answer to my next question, but I inquired anyway.
“What did you two talk about?”
“We talked about you the whole time.”
Cezar gave me exactly the same answer that Maria had. And once again, I was dismayed to hear that they’d only talked about me, their mutual acquaintance.
“Our short time together was enough for me to see just how fond of you that young lady is,” said Cezar with a grin.
Maria, what on earth did you say about me?!
I already knew she was very fond of me, but now I knew she felt so strongly that it was obvious to other people, I couldn’t help but feel a bit bashful.
“She had the most joyful expression as she told me how, from the moment you met at the academy, you’ve always been a great help to her,” Cezar continued.
“No, no,” I immediately responded, “I was the one who always needed help. Ever since we were at the academy together, and even now that we’re working at the Ministry together, I’ve always been the one getting help from Maria.” Maria had helped me with my studies a lot back at the academy, and she had continued to help me a lot since we both entered employment at the Magical Ministry.
I’ve definitely needed more help from her than she has from me—an awful lot more! I couldn’t help but speak passionately about that fact. The next thing I knew, Cezar was staring at me, clearly at a loss for words. Whoops, looks like I got a bit too fired up, I thought, belatedly.
But Cezar just chuckled.
“I can see now that you and Maria Campbell are both very fond of one another. What a wonderful relationship you have.”
“Really? If so, I’m glad,” I replied, feeling bashful again and scratching my head.
When I was eight and I regained my memories of my past life, I had realized that—in the world of this otome game—my role was that of the villainess, who was supposed to get in the protagonist’s way, leading to my own doom. At that time, I thought of Maria as a potential enemy.