Lisa felt more than a little sullen about his answer, but the only emotion she let show was sadness.
I suppose it can’t be helped…but I want to act like the prince’s official fiancée as soon as possible.
“Of course, I want to get engaged soon, too, Lisa.”
“Oh, Your Highness…”
Cheered up by his words, she snuggled closer to him. He smiled, his arms around her waist, and Lisa savored the moment.
How divine… To think I’ll be married to such a wonderful prince…
As she basked in this little sliver of paradise, Lisa didn’t notice.
The look on his face when she’d mentioned their engagement wasn’t a lovestruck daze—it was the empty stare of someone who didn’t have a clue what he was being asked.
“…Now, Brigitte, why weren’t you able to try harder?”
Little Brigitte was shivering. She couldn’t stop, even in her mother’s arms.
Although her mother’s tone was kind, the words themselves held no mercy. Tears poured from Brigitte’s eyes, but her mother did not relent. She sighed with pity, stared intently at Brigitte’s bandaged hand, and repeated the same thing yet again.
“Your father is an illustrious man, contracted with an ifrit. Your uncle, too. The same has always been true for the House of Meidell…except for you. Why are you the only one who couldn’t do it? Did…I do something wrong? Is this my fault?”
“I’m sorry, Mommy, I’m sorry.”
Brigitte apologized desperately. Her voice was nearly a whisper. Her head was so full of fear and anxiety and guilt toward her mother, she could hardly speak, while her mother watched her with hollow eyes.
“He’s been saying unbelievable things—that you’re someone else’s child, or else a changeling. I have to agree that this scraggly red hair can’t come from him. I never even wanted to marry into such a violent, fiery family…”
I’m sorry, Mommy, but I…
“Hey. Are you all right?”
For a moment after waking up, Brigitte couldn’t answer. She had goose bumps all over her body and cold sweat on her cheeks. Trying to cover it up, she licked her dry lips. “…Yes, I’m fine.”
She could hardly hear her own cracked voice. She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep, but here Yuri Aurealis was, standing in front of her with his well-shaped eyebrows knit together.
“You don’t look fine.”
When Brigitte had arrived at the library, there was a handful of other people there, but now the two of them appeared to be the only ones in the study area. She glanced out the window. The sky was already dim, so she must have been asleep for an hour or more. Yuri would have been studying in the quiet library, too. He had probably been annoyed by the sight of her sleeping and had come over to scold her.
“…I’m sorry. I can’t believe I fell asleep here.”
“Looks more like you passed out.”
Brigitte didn’t know what to say. Her fingers tightened around her pen. Her rivalry with Yuri was the reason she was losing sleep to study in the first place.
They were competing for the top score in the exams three weeks from now—and whoever lost would have to do one thing the other person told them to, whatever it was. It wasn’t that she had some specific request in mind, since she hardly even knew Yuri, but she wanted revenge for all the times he’d called her stupid.
She didn’t mind studying. She spent her days off reading schoolbooks and other things anyway. She had bad grades, but that was only because she’d been trying to please Joseph.
Of course, I don’t get much help from the spirits, so I really am awful at practical subjects…
For the past few days, she’d even been studying in class during breaks, with her texts and notebooks spread all over her desk. Whenever she had a question, she asked the teacher. She heard the other students laughing at her and calling her crazy, and one day she spotted Lisa smirking at her from the hallway…but she couldn’t care less. She was burning to beat Yuri, and all the rest was noise.
And I have a dream.
She’d had it since she was young, but it had been a long time since she’d said it out loud. All her studying was for the achievement of that dream. That was why she never took the easy road.
…But whenever she thought about it, she wondered if the dream itself was a betrayal of her mother.
Because she wasn’t contracted with a first-class spirit, Brigitte could not inherit her father’s title. She was certain that in the future, she would not be allowed to keep her name on the family register. Working hard now so she’d be able to support herself in the future was a sensible thing to do.
Still.
Even now, she felt her mother’s cold embrace around her, trapping her. As a shiver ran down her back, she heard Yuri’s flat voice above her head.
“So, do you want to surrender while you still can?”
Brigitte looked up. What was that supposed to mean?
He brushed a stray hair out of his eye. “You know you’re going to lose,” he continued listlessly. “You’ll save yourself a lot of pain if you quit now instead of running yourself ragged trying to beat me.”
Wh-what did he just say…?
The muscles in her face twitched as he stared blankly down at her. Whether he noticed, he continued his verbal attack. “I hate to say this, but studying for a couple of weeks isn’t going to do it. You know that, don’t you?”
“…!”
His tone aside, she had to admit the point. But she still didn’t want to nod meekly and agree. Otherwise…she would be rejecting the whole being of the shivering little girl in her dream.
I don’t want to lose!
That was her sole emotion.
Brigitte jumped to her feet and pointed at Yuri’s chest.
“Neither of us knows how this will end. You’re so full of yourself now, but that means you will be even more embarrassed when I beat you!” she shouted, her shrill voice echoing through the library.
Yuri’s eyes widened very slightly in surprise. But a second later, the expression was gone.
“…That so?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Your attitude’s impressive, if nothing else.”
“My test scores will be far more impressive than my attitude, so you’d better be ready!”
“Um, excuse me, but would you mind keeping your voices down…?”
Once again, they were being scolded by the librarian in glasses, whose head was poking timidly through the door.
“…I’m sorry,” Brigitte said, blushing as she covered her mouth.
I lost my temper again…
This was a library. Silence was sacred. No one was in the study area, but the stacks were another story. Maybe a student had complained to the librarian. Maybe she would even be banned from the library for being too loud. That would be a problem. There were so many books she still wanted to read.
I’d better be more careful…
As she stood there turning various colors, Yuri sighed.
“Well, I’m leaving. My ears are ringing, probably because of that squawking bird I just heard.”
“…I’m so sorry to hear that. Please take care of yourself,” Brigitte said, pretending not to catch his sarcasm.
But Yuri must have sensed her glaring at his retreating form because he turned back after opening the door.
“…What?” she said.
“…You too.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you’re not feeling well, you should see a doctor.”
With that, he strode off. She stood staring at the door for a while, then mulled over his words.
Was he implying her voice was so grating, she should see a doctor?
Or maybe…
…Is he genuinely worried about me?
Was he saying she should get some rest because she seemed unwell?
…As soon as the thought struck her, she shook her head.
Ridiculous.
She couldn’t let the enemy see any more of her weaknesses. She began packing up her open notebooks—maybe she wouldn’t push herself quite so hard.