-“Battle situation report. The day we successfully joined the suppression army, we launched an attack on the 4th castle…”
*A letter flew in from the Holy Knights.*
It wasn’t exactly ordered to report every detail, but it surely was helpful.
If I were to hear it through the media, I would inevitably be a beat behind.
Moreover, if the news was unfavorable for the suppression army, there was a good chance it wouldn’t make it to the media at all.
“Propaganda, huh…”
It was news that we had captured the 4th castle on the very first day of the attack.
The rebel army, terrified, abandoned the castle and fled…
Well, it was good news.
Having taken a castle, the chronic supply issue should be somewhat resolved.
If we just let things be from here, victory would come sooner or later…
“Sigh…”
To go or not to go.
I was really in a dilemma.
If I go, there’s a high probability that I could bring about an early end to the civil war.
I could also build Schlus’s reputation.
But the problem was that time was tight.
If I were to go, it would have to be now.
With classes canceled for the next week after the midterms.
The important thing was how much chaos I could create in less than two weeks.
It would surely be certain if I could take Duke Lorraine’s head back with me.
But without the confidence to do so, I hesitated.
‘For now, let’s defer the decision.’
In a tight situation, postponing a decision felt like a foolish choice.
Still, if I was going to act, it was better to act when things were certain.
For instance, if the suppression army suddenly gets annihilated and a savior is needed…
I had no idea when that timing would be.
After all, since I arrived, the original timeline’s concept had been really messed up…
“Not going, huh?”
“…?”
Two arms suddenly wrapped around my neck from behind.
When I turned around, Emilia was snuggling behind me, arms wrapped around.
“Battlefield.”
“I’m not planning to go yet.”
“Not yet…?”
“Yeah. But can you let go of this a bit?”
“Nope.”
“…….”
Uh oh, what the heck.
Something felt off.
The reliable maid who always listened to me had completely changed.
Where did that loyal maid go who used to hang on my every word?
Now she had suddenly turned into a little sister who just crashes at home and does a bit of housework; it was quite unfamiliar.
“I command you as your master. Get off me now…”
“With a monthly salary of only 2000 Tyrion, what kind of master are you? If you want to meddle in my private life, you should be paying me at least 30,000 Tyrion a month.”
“What is this, private life?”
“If I want to hold the person I like, and you won’t let me, that’s an invasion of privacy.”
“…….”
I really didn’t know how to respond.
I couldn’t even tell if this was her being sincere or if she was just joking.
Only her voice made it sound 100% sincere, and I almost fell for it.
I mustn’t forget.
Emilia is an expert in acting.
“Are you mad?”
“Mad? No. Not at all. Why would I be mad?”
“I see. As I thought…”
“Of course I’m not mad. What reason do I have to be angry just because I saw you laying between two women?”
“…….”
It looked like I was quite mad after all.
No, it was a mad concept, really.
It seemed I had to play along with that concept.
“The two of them were taking care of me due to mana exhaustion. Nothing weird.”
“Nothing weird, huh?”
“…….”
“I never said anything. What do you mean by ‘nothing weird’? Huh? Huh?”
Ugh.
This was more exhausting than I thought.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I forced myself to stand up against Emilia’s grip.
“Let’s go out. I also need to send a letter.”
“Letter? What letter?”
“A letter for His Highness the Crown Prince. Apparently, there’s a scandal I wasn’t aware of.”
I learned from Erica and Iris that ever since I visited the imperial palace, many noble people mistook the rings on Aria and my left ring fingers as an engagement.
And some of them believed that my marriage to the Crown Prince was already confirmed…
I had to meet the Crown Prince to set the record straight.
Still, with rumors like this circulating, I thought the imperial family would have noticed and dealt with it by now, but why was there no response yet?
The courtiers of the palace were utterly incompetent.
“A scandal? Ha. What are you talking about?”
“Um…?”
“How could you be this oblivious? That was a confession! You seriously didn’t realize?”
“A confession from His Highness? To me? That’s a laugh.”
“The only laugh here is from you! Oh, I really feel like I’m going to die of frustration. Even if you don’t think so, others already consider it confirmed. So if you go to the palace now, it’ll just be seen as a confirmation of the engagement, regardless of what you say.”
I hadn’t thought that far.
In the midst of the scandal spreading, trying to explain actively would look like an act of deception.
Instead, questions might arise as to why I didn’t clarify it earlier.
There’s no way a plea of ignorance would hold.
“So, what should we do?”
“Easy. Just stop wearing the ring. From now on. Then nobles will just think the misunderstanding is theirs, or they will think the engagement is off. Isn’t that what you want?”
“I suppose so…”
I looked down, rubbing the Ring of Miracles.
The Ring of Miracles was the most valuable possession I had at the moment.
Even if I stuffed it in the safe, it wouldn’t help once I took it out.
So, I made it a point to always keep the Ring of Miracles on my person.
Because that was the safest option.
If I left it somewhere, I would have to place it in a pocket or something…
Then the risk of losing it was higher than just putting it in the safe.
Ultimately, I had no choice but to wear it.
“No. I should wear it for a while longer.”
“But then His Highness will continue to misunderstand. He’ll think you accepted the confession.”
“There’s no way it was a confession. Even if it were, it would be a definite rejection if it was given so indirectly.”
If the ring was to be removed, it had to be done by Aria, not me.
Where in the world did she get a ring identical to the Ring of Miracles…?
Could it be that there were two Ring of Miracles?
No, that didn’t make sense.
I’d need to meet her to figure out what that ring was.
I returned to my room and changed into my school uniform.
Thinking back, it was rather fortunate that I didn’t wear my uniform when going out to save Emilia.
By now, it would’ve been completely torn and stained with blood.
After getting dressed, I found Emilia already waiting for me in casual clothes.
Wow, she changes clothes really fast.
“I hope there’s no need to report to the police station.”
“Oh, a police officer came to the school yesterday and took statements. I probably won’t need to go there directly.”
Being a bit of a public figure now had its perks.
No matter how much it was self-defense, it was true that I killed someone, yet I didn’t get summoned to headquarters.
Instead, the officer came personally to politely ask questions and left according to my schedule.
I had only retaliated after being attacked first, and I had never chased down and killed someone fleeing, so the likelihood of a guilty verdict was approaching zero.
“Uh, did you do well on the midterms?”
“Why the sudden formality?”
“I thought I should act like this outside…”
Inside the house, Emilia often got mad at me, but now her voice had suddenly softened.
Such a cute little thing.
“I did well. I think I’ll be top in both majors.”
“Wow, really? That’s great! Then there’s no need to drop out.”
“Exactly.”
Adding up the scores, it was confirmed I would be first.
In that case, the quest that arose at the beginning of the semester was half complete.
Now all that was left was the final exams.
“That may be true, but… now is the problem.”
So far, I had scrapped through the midterms just fine.
But that wasn’t because I was good at studying.
It was all thanks to my prior knowledge of the source material.
I was lucky that the midterms had all matched the original story; in the second semester, there’s a high chance things would change a lot.
From that time on, dealing with Erica and Trie would become noticeably difficult.
“To the royal palace. Yes.”
After mailing the letter to Aria, we took a quick lap around the market.
Just to check out the stalls we missed yesterday.
Speaking of which, it was my first time going to the market with Emilia.
I usually just let her handle it.
“There’s a good catch over here. We could buy from here…”
“No way! That’s too expensive. If you go further inside, there’s fresher stuff at a lower price.”
“…….”
No matter how many suggestions I made, I soon found myself quiet.
As expected, Emilia was quite the thrifty shopper.
I thought she would waste money since it wasn’t hers, but she didn’t do that at all.
“Today is surprisingly fun. It was just boring when I was out alone.”
“Is that so? I should bring you along occasionally.”
“Hehe. That sounds good.”
“Emilia.”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for always working hard.”
“…….”
On our way out of the market, I gently placed my hand on Emilia’s head.
I felt like I hadn’t said anything nice to her before.
She silently did her tasks and had narrowly escaped death twice already.
I needed to offer her some proper compensation.
“I’m going to buy something.”
“Huh? Something? No need to buy me anything…”
“I’m thinking of buying a scabbard and a belt.”
“…….”
I decided to save that reward for later.
But Emilia’s expression seemed to stiffen slightly; I wondered what was going on with her this time.
