Our afternoon gym class began.
After a word of apology to our infamously strict teacher, I was let off with a warning and was now doing some light stretches.
Our sword instructor was known for being a hard-ass, but he probably took my reputation as a good student into account when he let me off with a warning. Compared to the other students, I was given exceptional treatment.
Then again, Albert and Colette putting in a good word for me was also part of it.
“Melissa Tullio du Lulutrois, I have been apprised of the situation—are you feeling better now?”
Ah. Sounds like Melissa just arrived late.
I had told the teacher that Melissa was feeling ill. The teacher’s question flustered her, but she nodded meekly just the same.
“All right. Well, take it easy today. And if you ever feel ill again, be sure to tell me in advance.”
She got off with a warning, too. I guess being a model citizen did have its perks—and not because God is always watching or anything grand like that. If you rack up a good reputation, it’ll help you out of a jam someday.
Melissa took a deep breath in and out, then she resumed her regularly scheduled spying on me. The once annoyingly stagnant distance between us was a bit closer now.
“Miss Mylene,” Albert whispered in my ear, noticing the reduced distance. Before, Melissa wasn’t so close that he needed to whisper not to be heard, but now she was close enough to hear a conversation at a normal volume.
“Is there a problem, Your Highness?”
“Er, no, I was just thinking something must have happened between you and Melissa. She’s clearly closer to you, isn’t she?”
Physically, she was closer. But Albert probably meant psychologically. I sent a small glance at her. She puffed her tiny cheeks and looked away.
“Well, a few things did happen, yes. Though not at all what I was expecting.”
“Ooh, I’m a little intrigued. How did you manage to close the gap between you?”
I’d given him a vague answer because I didn’t want to bother explaining it to him, but Albert was being abnormally assertive.
There wasn’t much to tell, but he had been rather sensitive about Melissa over the past month. I guessed it wouldn’t hurt to tell him.
“When I was changing in the dressing room, Melissa was peeping. And when a teacher was going to scold her for it, I gave her a helping hand.”
That was as much as I could tell him. The word “peeping” did sound quite problematic, but even though from the teacher’s perspective, it looked like somebody was peeping in on the dressing room, Albert and Colette knew without my saying that any “peeping” Melissa had done was solely for the purpose of surveilling me.
“You did what?!”
“Grah?! Um, please don’t scream in my ear?”
I guess I’d misread him. Albert’s sudden yelp revealed to me his true colors.
Shaking hysterically, he shrilly whispered, “Wha—na—she was peeping on you undressing, Miss Mylene…?! What utter insolence…!”
His face was bright red, out of either anger or embarrassment. No, wait, both. Albert was always easy to read.
“Please, Your Highness, calm down. Melissa is a girl just like me. She always stares at me—you know this, don’t you? It just happened in a slightly different location, that’s all.”
“B-but Miss Mylene…! Peeping in on a dressing room is completely different!”
“If she wanted to see my bare skin, she would have had a better time of it changing in the dressing room with me. Melissa didn’t have such motives, and you and I both know it.”
“Nnggg! I…I know it in my head, but in my heart, I—!”
I felt a heavy weight on my brain not unlike a migraine…I didn’t think Albert would get so upset over it. Just when I thought he was finally mellowing out with age, his bad sickness had come back with a vengeance.
But then again…I couldn’t deny I felt a strange sense of embarrassment while she’d been peeping on me.
Then Colette jumped in to assist. “Mylene’s right, Prince Albert. They’re both girls, so there’s nothing naughty to it.”
“W-well, I suppose…you’re right…”
My eyes widened in pleasant surprise. It was unusual of Colette to be the one to consoling Albert.
“Besides, I’ve watched Mylene undress at night many times!”
“Grrr! You insufferable woman!”
Yeah, I guess Colette isn’t the consoling type.
I felt stupid for getting my hopes up. Especially since Colette was the master of satisfying her own desires by unscrupulous means.
“Please, tone it down, you two. Everyone’s watching us. Show some restraint, Princess.”
“Aw, but things were just getting interesting. You’re no fun, Mylene.”
“G-grr! Well, if you insist, Miss Mylene, then I’ll drop it…!”
But it was rather clear that he didn’t want to let it go.
How can I get this dumbass to chill?
Just when our argument was reaching the point of no return, our teacher yelled loudly enough for the scattered students to hear.
“That’s enough warming up, class. I want you to pair up and practice sparring today.”
Perfect timing. Now the raging Albert (and the princess fomenting his rage) would need to behave and do as the teacher said.
We’re in pairs, eh? Guess I know who I’ll be sparring with.
“Mylene, be my partner as per usual.”
“Gladly, Princess.”
It made the most sense for me to partner with Colette, since she was the closest to my level. She was the only person in the class who could put up a decent fight against me. And while Albert cursed his own helplessness, he accepted it.
“Miss Melissa, if you need a partner, would you like to spar with me?”
But today, he was a little different.
With a gleam in his eyes, he approached—rather, he confronted Melissa.
“Who, me? Um…with you, Prince Albert? V-very well…”
Meanwhile, Melissa seemed confused by Albert’s unusual behavior. As he was her prince, she gave him the most basic of respectful answers, but she was clearly bewildered—or less diplomatically put, the look in her eye said, The fuck is this guy on about?
From Albert’s perspective, he wanted to teach Melissa a lesson for peeping on me. Though I was sure there was a mix of taking his anger for Colette out on her, too.
“Things are getting rather interesting, aren’t they?” With a finger on her chin, Colette eagerly leaned forward to watch the pair.
There she goes, mocking him again. I snorted, letting the annoyance show on my face—
But truth be told, I was interested, too.
I wanted to see how much Albert had improved now that he was having a practice fight rather than the mental training we had been doing up until then.
And there was one other thing—
Melissa readied her practice sword. Then she sheathed her body and her weapon in incredibly steady magic.
“Wow…”
Albert’s eyes opened wide. Colette gasped in awe.
So I was right—this was just my surface-level assessment, but Melissa was pretty good.