“Someday, I will make you mine.” Duke’s words repeat in my mind. Each time I recall them, my heart beats more violently, and I can feel my body temperature rise.
I lay on my back in bed, all sorts of thoughts racing through my head.
When did he start to feel this way?
If Duke loves me, I need to take his feelings seriously. Of course, I will also fulfill my role as a villainess on top of that!
If he can’t keep up with me, it ends there.
My next moves are wholly dependent on Liz. There’s the wolf from Laval incident to consider as well, though it still isn’t clear to me if Laval is targeting Liz’s saintly powers.
I need to gather more intelligence and conduct a deeper investigation…
Besides, I have Father’s official blessing to continue being Liz Cather’s monitor. I want to produce results, so I’ve got to put in the work!
I can’t afford to miss my chance. I have to strike while the iron’s hot.
So the best course of action is to go to Laval myself and discover the truth. That nation is still shrouded in mystery. I want to go see, feel, and learn firsthand about Laval. I want to get up close to find out just how it became such a massive nation.
But I’m the daughter of a prominent noble family. I can’t simply waltz into Laval. That wasn’t a story arc in the otome game version of this story, so it’s completely uncharted territory for me.
Nobody knows what I’m planning—I can imagine the outrage I’d receive from anyone whom I tell that I want to go to Laval. Setting aside my brothers Albert and Alan, I’m sure my father and my brother Henri would adamantly oppose it. Gill would resent me, too.
……Old Man Will may understand. Come to think of it, does Laval even have magic? I haven’t read anything that suggests it does.
My grasp on current world affairs is rather insubstantial. I need more up-to-date intel. Rather than studying the past, I would be wiser to study the present, to help me prepare for the future.
With that settled, it’s time to get ready for tomorrow by doing some strength training!
I’m going to spend tomorrow holed up in the library researching Laval, so I need to pump up my stamina. My spirit renewed, I eagerly jump off the bed, drop to the floor, and start a set of push-ups.
Gill’s and my footsteps are the only sounds filling the otherwise quiet hall of the Academy of Magic. Since I was accepted to the school at a young age, in an exception to the rules, none of my classes are particularly official. That’s why it’s often the case that I have a free period while everyone else is in class.
“Hey, Gill, do you think Laval has magic?”
Gill looks at me curiously for a moment before he begins to ponder. After a brief silence, his gaze becomes serious and he says, “I’ve never been to Laval, so I can’t be entirely certain…but I don’t think they have magic.”
“Why?”
Gill tilts his head, perplexed. “Why? Because that’s the kind of nation they are.”
“So you mean not even their aristocrats can use magic?”
“Probably not… I have no proof, but I think Durkis is the exception.”
Laval’s nobility can’t use magic? If that’s so, then…isn’t Durkis brazenly overpowered?
I assumed that Laval, as a powerful nation, would have at least some magic users. Like maybe only members of the royal family were capable of it.
“Hey, Gill, if Durkis is the only nation with magic users, don’t you think we ought to be more powerful? Are the other nations hiding something? Like any confidential intel?”
As I press Gill further, he calmly replies, “Ali—aren’t you the one who said we should always look at things holistically and objectively? Durkis has more magic users than other nations. It’s not the other nations that are abnormal—it’s us. We have far too many magic users.”
“Aha… So magic users are a rarity in other nations.”
“Yes, essentially.”
……If I’m going to put Laval under Durkis’s umbrella, we need to learn much more about their internal affairs. I don’t have time to waste musing aimlessly over this. I need to get to Laval as soon as possible!
As Gill and I continue walking, a familiar princely beauty approaches us from ahead. His lustrous blue hair and gorgeous tanned skin give him away.
“Prince Duke.”
I stop, stand up straighter, and face him head-on.
I’m not sure how to look him in the eye him after what he said to me, but I must keep my wits about me and be a strong woman.
With a gallant and refreshing air about him, Duke makes his way toward me. He is a prince and, therefore, an intelligence broker with his ear to the ground. It would not surprise me if he knows something about Laval.
Wait a minute… This is Prince Duke I’m staring at, but he seems like a different person. Am I overthinking this…?
“Could I pick your brain—?”
That’s as much as I get out before he strides right past me.
……Our eyes don’t meet even for a second.
“Huh?” Gill blurts out in surprise. Meanwhile, my mind is blank from the astonishment.
Did Duke…just…ignore me?
“Prince Duke?”
I turn around and call out to his retreating figure. He stops in his tracks.
Something’s off. He’s never acted like this before.
A strange sense of anxiety fills me. Duke slowly turns to look at me. There’s no trace of the gentleness with which he usually regards me.
Who are you…? The question almost falls out of my mouth.
“What do you want?”
Duke’s expression is deathly cold, and a chill instantly runs down my spine.
Duke has never looked at me like this before. His eyes are filled with animosity. Compared with the first moment we met, it’s like night and day…
““……”” Neither Gill nor I can say a word. His intimidating aura is swallowing us whole.
“Do you have business with me?” Duke asks, his voice deep. He’s so overpowering, I can’t speak.