“Ah… ”
I lost my temper and lashed out before I could hold it in.
About 3 seconds later, Erwin realized what he had done.
He had slapped the cheek of the man who held his life and death authority.
“I’m s-sorry… I’m sorry… No, I’m really sorry…”
“Erwin.”
“Hik?! Yes?”
“Go back to the exam hall. Professor Sergey is probably having a tough time right now.”
“Y-yes…”
I couldn’t help but be surprised by Schlus’s calm reaction.
But Erwin pretended to be unfazed and trudged towards the exam hall.
There were too many eyes around.
He probably thought that they couldn’t punish him right here and now.
“…”
However, a long time passed without any voice of threat coming through the communication magic.
Was there really no retaliation for the slap?
Perhaps Schlus felt he deserved to be hit as well.
‘No way. That can’t be it.’
I shook my head vigorously and stroked my lips.
The rough sensation of that kiss earlier rose to my mind.
That kiss saved me.
It protected me from the believers of the order who were doubting my relationship with Schlus.
Schlus acted rationally to protect the infiltrator he had placed in the order.
But who could dare to make the judgment to kiss a commoner graduate student in front of everyone in that brief moment?
In such a situation, even knowing what the right answer was, it was human instinct to hesitate thinking about the tarnished honor and ruined relationships.
But Schlus didn’t hesitate at all.
Erwin even felt fear from that unwavering decisiveness.
His gaze was like looking at something he considered a mere object, as if anything other than achieving his goal was of no consequence.
The slap was nothing but that fear.
A fear that he could be thrown away once he became useless, as if treated like an object.
‘Even so, a kiss is too much…’
The more I mulled over that sensation, the more my face turned red.
To think that he would make such a bold move right before stepping into noble society.
If this were to continue, marrying a noblewoman would effectively be out of the question.
From Schlus, I felt a strange madness and fear, yet—
‘Does that mean I’m that important to you?’
I began to doubt how Schlus perceived me.
Assigning such value to something he could throw away once used?
Maybe Schlus wasn’t really that rational after all.
Perhaps he couldn’t bear to let go of anything that had come into his possession.
While pondering various thoughts, I eventually reached the exam hall.
“What the…?”
A massive hole had appeared in the wall.
Looking up at it, Erwin froze in place.
*
The day after the disastrous Combat Magic Studies final exam.
I was summoned to Professor Sergey’s office.
“Schlus Hainkel. Come in and take a seat.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“I know you have many complaints about the final exam.”
“Yes? What do you mean…?”
I couldn’t hide my confusion.
I had fought with all my might against Sergey and lost.
I wondered what there was to complain about.
“Did the Chairwoman not disturb you at the end? If not for that, you wouldn’t have scored a zero.”
“Even without the Chairwoman, you could have avoided it.”
“I could have. But I didn’t plan to.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If a teacher goes all out against a student, there’s naturally a chance they won’t get hit at all. So to assess their skills, a little leniency was needed.”
“So are you saying you would give me a chance for a retest?”
“No. That’s not necessary. You’ve already secured the top spot in the first semester of Combat Magic Studies.”
“…?!”
That was nonsense.
You can’t arbitrarily assign a score when the measuring device shows zero.
That goes against fairness.
“Khahaha! You look like you’re asking how you could possibly be the top!”
“You’re exactly right…”
“The reason is simple. After you, all the other students didn’t even come close and received zero marks.”
“What? Why did they do that—”
“Because it would be unfair otherwise. If I went all out against you, then the other students have to do the same to be fair.”
“…”
I was left speechless.
If everyone was going to get zeros, then why even have a final exam in the first place?
It turned out that only Trie, who bravely took the challenge and managed to score even a little, gained something.
“Congratulations on being the top entrant and for securing the top spot in the first semester. You may leave now.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
I greeted Sergey and left his office.
As I was going out, I couldn’t ignore the strange look Erwin gave me as he held the door open.
He seemed very upset about the kiss I took from him last time.
But considering that Erwin was in a position he couldn’t escape from me, it didn’t matter too much.
The problem was the gazes around us, but even that wasn’t too big of an issue.
In fact, this incident allowed me to be perceived as a reckless rogue in noble society, helping me dodge the marriage competition altogether.
It meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with families fighting to make me their son-in-law boiling over.
‘First, I’ve secured one top spot.’
I had been anxiously assuming I completely botched the exam, so it was great to hear good news.
One thing was now certain.
Sergey should never create an exam by himself…
Every exam that Sergey had prepared with ambition had flowed contrary to his intentions, leading me to think there was a problem with his exam creation skills.
This time, all but one student ended up with the same score, so there it was.
“Welcome back, Hainkel.”
“Why the sudden formality?”
“Just because. Surprised?”
“A bit… Brew me some black tea.”
As soon as I returned to the mansion, I hurriedly loosened my tie and headed for the training room.
The exam wasn’t over yet.
Ludwig’s Elemental Magic exam was still left.
There was no guarantee that this final exam would be the same as in the original story, so I had to prepare as thoroughly as possible.
And even if it was the same as the original story, that would be a problem.
If it followed the original format, the difficulty of this exam would be at a despairing level.
“Hey, brother. I brewed the tea.”
“Uh-huh, just leave it there.”
“Would it be a bother if I spoke now?”
“No, go ahead and say it now.”
I flipped the book over and turned to Emilia.
Since I was going to concentrate, I might forget what Emilia said once I got focused, so I decided to listen now.
I picked up the hot teacup and savored the black tea.
“Brother, do you like Erwin, the teaching assistant?”
“Phuh?! What?”
I ended up spitting out the tea.
Calmly, Emilia pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped my mouth.
Yet, her face was still eerily expressionless, making it all the more chilling.
It felt more like I was being looked at by an animal than a human.
“I heard a rumor. They say you kissed the assistant in the plaza. Then, you got slapped… Did you confess and get rejected?”
“That’s about the gist of it.”
“…”
Confessing and then getting rejected, huh.
It was a pretty good scenario.
I decided to adopt that version as the “official history.”
“So what’s the relationship between you two now?”
“What do you mean? We’re just a department student and a grad student.”
“That’s a lie. You two are really close, huh? You’ve been often going into town together without me. What’s the real deal? Be honest with me.”
“…”
As Emilia slowly approached me, I instinctively leaned back.
Before I knew it, I had fallen backward, and Emilia perched above me, still staring coldly.
It was a clear crisis.
Depending on my answer, it could determine whether I fell into Emilia’s charms or not.
If I openly confessed I liked Erwin, the Intelligence Agency might think he was a hindrance to their surveillance plan and make an assassination attempt.
I had to respond wisely.
“I have no feelings for the assistant.”
“No feelings?”
“Yeah. We sometimes just get intimate with no feelings attached.”
“…”
Good.
I thought that was a perfect answer.
This way, it would be hard for her to suspect me further.
“It’s true. Trust me.”
“Hmmm…”
Emilia brushed her hair back behind her ear and stepped back.
Did I pass?
But her expression was still as cold as ever, making her feelings hard to read.
“I see. Your type, huh… You like short hair.”
“What?”
The moment Emilia turned, my crisis detection sensors went off.
I couldn’t just let her leave like that.
It felt like she would reappear with a short haircut next time.
“You’re not planning to cut your hair, are you?”
“I haven’t said anything!”
“I mean, you aren’t thinking of cutting your hair, right?”
“Why do you care? Why are you worried about my hair?”
“Because I prefer it long.”
“…”
Emilia’s steps abruptly halted.
With her head down, she slowly approached me.
Thud.
Emilia’s head bumped against my chest.
My hand instinctively moved to caress her hair, but she violently swatted it away.
Not being able to speak, we stayed in that state for about five seconds.
Emilia took a deep breath, exhaled, and then grabbed my collar, lifting my gaze.
“Brother, I’ll say this once, so listen carefully. It would be so embarrassing to say it twice, so don’t be a dense idiot and ask me to repeat it.”
“Uh… okay…”
“I like you, Brother. It doesn’t mean I respect you as a maid. I love you as a woman. You don’t need to answer right away. I understand your situation. I know you can’t make me your first wife. But if you like me, whether it’s second or third, that’s fine. Just answer me then. I’ll always be by your side.”
“…”
I was taken aback.
I didn’t expect to be ambushed by a confession like this.
Did they think enough buildup had been laid until now?
It seemed the Intelligence Agency chose the perfect timing for this attack.
Most importantly, the way she casually dismissed any burden by saying second or third was undeniably genius.
Who could dare refuse a cute girl who confesses like that?
“Emilia, I…”
“…”
I leaned closer to Emilia’s ear.
It was certainly an option to accept her confession here too.
Breaking my long-standing rule of ignoring minors altogether.
But I didn’t want that.
I didn’t want to gloss over the most important part of my relationship with Emilia, which had been riddled with lies from start to finish.
At least I wanted to believe that one of the feelings Emilia held for me was real.
I didn’t want to regard her as something trivial like a combination of words.
I wanted to treat her as an individual with whom I could communicate.
Thus, I decided on the answer I would give Emilia.
Gathering courage, I slowly parted my lips.
“I know everything. About you being an intelligence agent.”
Now, I was ready to put an end to this fictitious relationship.
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