Who would have thought I’d spend my sixteenth birthday in Laval?
In my past life, I’d be in my first year of high school. A teen girl in full bloom.
After coming to Laval and spending my days just scraping by, before I realized it, I had begun to feel at home.
A whole year has passed since I left that hut…
My time here simultaneously feels so long and so short—what a surreal feeling.
I think birthdays really don’t need to be celebrated every single year… Maybe every two years. If I said that in front of Liz, though, she’d probably start lecturing me.
I head for the training grounds. Today may be my birthday, but it’s still just an ordinary day…well, an ordinary, rainy day.
Tiny droplets of rain hit my head in an uneven rhythm. Even on rainy days, we train, of course. An army can’t afford to follow the whims of the weather.
“This feels nice.”
I look up at the sky. I don’t mind the rain. I love the smell and the sound.
“Hey, Bitsy! Get in line!” Captain Marius yells at me from a distance.
Lose your temper this early in the morning, and you’ll lose your hair next…, I think as I run over to him.
I’m not actually late. If anything, I’m earlier than usual. Why is he raring to go today?
I catch a glimpse of lustrous golden locks, dewy from the rain, just behind Captain Marius.
“Victor?”
What’s the prince doing out here in this weather?
I go ahead and get in my usual place in line. All the other soldiers are bigger than me, so I can’t see the front very well. There’s no use complaining, though. I’m in the back because I joined later than them.
The rain has gotten rather heavy. As it rumbles, we can only rely on our ears to tell us what’s going on.
The prince is going to catch a cold in a downpour like this…
“Today, Prince Victor has something to say to you!” Captain Marius barks. We straighten in one quick shot and strain our ears to listen.
“Today, I’m going to select a team of bodyguards to go on an expedition with me. Since this expedition will be quite dangerous, I’m taking a small team! The five of you whose names I call are to prepare for departure! First, Marius.”
“Aye!”
“Neal.”
“Aye!”
Well, they’re the captain and lieutenant. Of course he’s calling them. I’m still a rookie. There’s no way he’ll call on me, so I get to chill.
“Jurd! Ceres!”
““Aye!””
Oooh, won’t this be the perfect opportunity to explore that tower? I can see if I can find any information about my grandfather, too.
“Lia!”
“Hi?”
“What kind of pathetic answer is that?” Victor eyes me dubiously.
“Aye!”
Oh, travesty… I’ve been chosen for the team. Ordinarily, I’d be pleased that my talents are being acknowledged…so why do I feel so disappointed?
Victor has already seen through a lot of my facade. I want to avoid being near him, if possible, but if I go on an expedition with him, he will be unavoidable. The whole mission is to protect the prince, after all.
The best-laid plans often go awry, I suppose… I’ll just think of this as a part of my mission and get through it.
Being chosen for the expedition is nice and all, but aren’t we taking things a bit too fast by leaving tomorrow? Something this important requires much more careful planning. Telling us we’re leaving twenty-four hours after you assign us to the mission is madness! Madness, I say! …Then again, I’m foolish to expect anything but madness from Victor.
After our training session, I ponder tomorrow’s departure and grumble to myself.
I have no idea what to pack. I just realized this is my first expedition! You know what else is weird? You’d figure everyone would be jealous of a rookie being chosen out of nowhere, but everyone sent me off with a cheerful grin.
They either recognize my talent, or going on this expedition is nothing to envy. Fingers crossed it’s the former.
“Hey, brat.” Victor’s voice calls out from behind me as I head toward my hut.
“……Yes, Your Highness?” I answer, turning to glare at Victor. I don’t even have the heart to tell him off for calling me “brat” again.
“There’s somebody I’d like you to meet.”
“To what do I owe the sudden introduction? Is she your fiancée?”
“Dumbass. If I had a fiancée, I sure as hell wouldn’t let you meet her.”
“Wait, do you have a fiancée?”
“You never know when to shut up, brat.”
“Well, we’re leaving on an expedition tomorrow. I can hardly see why I should meet somebody…”
Victor snarls, “Just shut up and come with me.”
He takes off, and rather quickly. I have to jog just to keep up. We come to a room in a completely deserted part of the palace.
Victor opens the door without knocking. The audacity! Either that, or the occupant has an open-door policy.
I follow him inside, and I’m crushed by an indescribable pressure. It’s a mysterious aura, the likes of which I have never felt before. My very cells are screaming at me: Someone powerful is here.
Noticing my balking, Victor raises an eyebrow and snorts. “I present to you, the brains of Laval.”
……My grandfather.
I still haven’t gotten a good look at him, but I can tell that this man—whom I remember encountering as if it were yesterday—is my grandfather. Bookending him are two men around his age. Their hair is a familiar ash gray and red. Both heads are salted with white, but I immediately know who they are.
They look just like Gale and Eric… They must be their grandfathers.
Each of them is seated on his own circular sofa surrounding a round table, on top of which is a chessboard. I can’t tell who is playing whom, but they are all gazing at the chessboard somberly, paying no mind to the prince.
“Greet them,” Victor orders.
God, why do I have to take orders from your ass?—is what I want to say, but I swallow my anger, bow slightly to the esteemed older gentlemen before me, and say, “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Lia.”
Speaking in a boy’s voice after a full day of training is exhausting.
Their hands stop moving, and they turn their heads in response to my voice. The sharpness of their gaze fills me with terror.
“I’m Albert Williams.”
I knew it was coming, and still my eyes pop wide open. I hope my blindfold hides my reaction, though.
He said his name is Williams, clear as day… That really is Grandfather.
“And my name is Mark Hudson.”
Hudson…so he’s Eric’s grandfather.
The gray-haired man smirks and says, “I’m Cate Evans. Nice to meet you, my lady.”
Cate… He just called me “my lady.” That’s where my mind went.
It’s him.
He’s the one who sent a wolf to the Academy of Magic and left the royal card. The four of spades, the nobility cater.
“How did you know I’m a woman?”
“……I think the better question is, how could anyone not know? Your bone structure and size are a dead giveaway. Bind your chest all you want, it’s futile.”
Cate sounds annoyed. The other gentlemen nod in agreement.
“But nobody in the platoon noticed,” I murmur meekly.
Mark says, “Well, they think with their muscles, not their brains.”
“Oooh, I’d love to see the looks on their faces when they find out a girl beat them,” Victor says gleefully. Then he turns to the elders, points at me with his thumb, and says, “You three probably already know this, but she’s quite talented. I’ve never seen a brat like this before.”
“Excuse me, Your Highness, could you please stop calling me a brat? As of today, I am a grown woman of sixteen years, thank you very much.”
“Ooh. Today’s your birthday? That calls for a drink.”
“Er—that’s illegal.”
It was hammered into my head that I can’t drink or smoke until I turn twenty. Can anyone blame me for having a few hang-ups from my past life in Japan?
Anyway, they know it’s my birthday now. The least they can do is offer a half-hearted birthday wish like any normal person.
……No, Alicia, you should never expect anything normal from Victor.
“It’s legal in Laval,” Victor retorts.
“Little girl, are you by any chance not from this nation? How amusing.”
Cate’s interjection makes his interest in me obvious. His eyes are filled with a similar curiosity to that of a botanist who’s just discovered a new species of flower.
“These three gentlemen are going to see to your education and growth,” Victor says.
……Excuse me?
My jaw drops.
“Where is this coming from? Also, Your Highness, you seem to be under the misunderstanding that I’ll be of use to you. I can assure you—I won’t be.”
“Well, whether they can teach you is up to your latent potential.”
In other words, if they don’t think I’m worthy, they won’t teach me a thing. Only those with prospects are taught. It’s all up to them, not me.