༺ A Quack ༻

– Diing dong ding dong

“Ugh.”

Irina, who had been fiddling with the beads as she laid on top of Frey, jumped to her feet in surprise when the school bell rang.

“…When did the time run out?”

A blood oath was a ritual that demanded all of a mage’s magical ability and concentration, causing Irina to lose track of time after performing it.

As a result of that, a case where Irina was late for class occurred for the first time in her life.

“Frey, wait for a while.”

Consequently, Irina hastily got up from her seat. She carefully settled Frey into his bed and whispered.

“I will return when class ends…”

Saying so, she gently lifted the bucket on Frey’s side to set it down in front of him.

– Shaaaaa…

Then, Irina, who had set the magic bucket in front of Frey.

“Heum.”

Soon squinted her eyes and checked her surroundings.

“Then, take care.”

Right after she whispered so, Irina had a blush on her face as she started leaning her head towards Frey’s face.

“Euuu…”

But, in the middle of doing it, Irina’s movement suddenly stopped and she let out silly noises.

Be it in the previous timeline or even in this life, she absorbed herself in magic research and warfare.

The act of kissing someone from the opposite sex took more courage than she had imagined.

“…Heup.”

Irina, who fought with herself for quite some time,

– Chu.

Finally succeeded in carefully kissing Frey on the lips.

“Eeuh…”

Even though it wasn’t a deep kiss, or one that lasted for longer than a fleeting moment.

It was the first act of love in her life that the girl did of her own accord. It had its own significance for her.

“I-I’m late for class.”

Irina blushed red all the way up to her ears. Then she hurriedly escaped the room while clearing her throat.

“…Hehe.”

She silently rolled the slightly murky beads in her hand. Its color was a mix between red and blue.

– Click

The door was automatically secured by the auto-lock magic. While Irina looked at her surroundings, a canary quickly flew to a nearby tree and sat on it.

“…Chirp.”

It once again took flight, landing on the window sill before examining the room.

When it was sure no one was around, it carefully flew inside.

“Chirp Chirp♪”

It sat on Frey’s shoulder and began chirping by his ear.

“…?”

After the canary had persistently chirped for a while, it turned its head to gaze at the window in a flash.

“Kuuuuuuu!”

“Gugugugu!!”

“……!”

It discovered a night owl and a pigeon fiercely fighting each other as they approached the window. The canary urgently flew to the nearby pillow and hid its figure there.

-Shruuuk

Even when they entered the room, the night owl and the pigeon fought for a while, before dropping a letter on Frey’s desk at the same time and leaving collectively.

“Kuuuuuuu!”

“Gugugugu!”

They violently pecked each other to the end.

“…Chirp.”

Leaving feathers flying in all directions, the two birds disappeared. The canary watched over that scene thoughtfully before carefully flying over to Frey’s desk.

“…?”

Then, four letters came into the canary’s view.

‘The night owl and the pigeon obviously only threw two letters, right…?’

And in that moment when Clana, who had her vision linked with the canary, fell into deep thought.

– Thud!

The canary cautiously plucked at the letter with its beak.

‘Just in case it contains assassination magic… I have no choice but to open it in advance.’

As she thought so, Clana opened one of the letters on the desk. She frowned when she discovered the name written on the envelope.

Rosewyn Solar Sunset

‘…Ha?’

Clana gritted her teeth as her gaze fell on the name she recently hated the most.

Greetings, Lord Frey. I heard the news that you are currently sick. I was so worried I couldn’t sleep…

“Tch.”

After she checked the contents of the letter, she used the bird’s foot to shove it with a cold expression, sending it into the trash can beside the desk.

‘…This?’

Clana opened the next letter with an eased look. She then tilted her head.

Frey, why haven’t you contacted me? Didn’t I say that I will obediently comply with your threat? Shouldn’t we meet to decide the negotiation…

Or, is this your way of dealing with people? As expected, when there is smoke there is fire.

If you are going to be like this, then I also have something in mind.

Please be prepared.

Aishi

“….???”

Clana, who had tilted her head in confusion at the content of the letter, stopped thinking about it and returned the envelope to its original state when she confirmed that there was no assassination magic inside.

‘That, is that the letter sent by Serena?’

Clana finished checking all the letters and returned them to their original spot. She then caught sight of Serena’s letter and wavered.

– Swit…

The beak plucked on it silently.

– Pajijijijijik!!!

“…Zaap!!”

At that moment, the enchantment on the letter was triggered. It electrocuted the canary controlled by Clana.

‘Aiya…’

Fortunately, because Clana’s body was made up of solar mana, she didn’t receive a large backlash from where she was standing.

However, she had still shed tears from the severe shock. In the end, she gave up trying to peek into Serena’s letter and stepped back from it.

‘…Huh?’

Then, a letter sent by Ferloche caught her eye.

‘Why is the envelope glued on the letter?’

Clana was caught off guard by Ferloche’s eccentricity, having attached the envelope on the letter. Clana then began cautiously reading its contents.

Ferloche Astellade

Stop doing evil deeds! You broke your promise! You don’t even know grace? You promised the last time!

Long story short! Come find me tonight!

‘…What is it?’

Clana felt mysteriously left out as she looked at the paper torn from the diary she had gifted Ferloche. She then grimaced and muttered,

‘Now that I think about it, it seems like Ferloche still doesn’t know that Frey collapsed.’

Before she discovered the truth about Frey, Ferloche was her only friend. She felt depressed for a moment by the fact that she couldn’t reveal the truth to her.

‘…There’s no choice. Frey can’t get hurt again.’

With that thought in mind, she once again took flight.

“Chirp!”

Clana slowly flew back to Frey’s side.

‘The blood oath I should have sworn to the Sun and the Empire when I was crowned… I swore to you instead.’

She muttered as the canary slowly squeezed itself inside Frey’s shirt.

‘…As expected, I’m not fit to be an Empress.’

If her past self that walked the path of the sovereign had heard it, it would have only been a thought. But Clana, who inwardly muttered so,

‘Still…’

Still, she smiled faintly in her sorrow.

‘I’m satisfied with this.’

Clana ended her murmuring. She then laid down on her room’s bed and covered herself with a blanket, before silently closing her eyes.

“Eum…”

As a result, Clana, who was completely linked to the canary, closed her eyes inside Frey’s chest and fell asleep.

It was obviously dark in there, but Clana smiled more happily than ever before.

.

.

.

.

.

“Hm Hm Hm~ ♪”

In the evening of that day.

“Then, let’s see… what things should be done today!”

Ferloche Astellade was humming and busily playing with her pen.

“First… morning prayer! I have done this! And attend class! Of course I have also done this!”

She excitedly checked her checklist for a while, then she suddenly frowned and started to mutter.

“Monitoring Frey…? I can’t do this…”

As her excitement faded and she frowned at a checkbox she couldn’t check, Ferloche got up from her seat and said,

“Right! I didn’t see Frey all day today! I even sent him a letter and he didn’t come to find me!”

Ferloche was panting as she said so. She got up from her seat and headed outside the room.

“Brace yourself, Frey! I have warned you!”

She left the room and started walking down the hallway while huffing.

“Saintess, where are you going?”

“Is there something that made you angry?”

“I’m going to catch Frey now, I’m busy!”

“Yes?”

To all the people who asked her with a suspicious look on their face, Ferloche replied with an ambitious appearance. She then arrived at the dorm with a composed look.

“…Hm?”

But then she tilted her head.

“Excuse me, where is the noble’s dormitory?”

“It is there.”

“Ah! Right! Thank you!”

In the end, Ferloche asked a maid for directions to the noble’s dormitory. She said her thanks and hurriedly went there.

“…Saintess, what are you going to do in the noble’s dormitory?”

“I must catch Frey! Please cooperate with me!”

She proudly declared to the maid who was guarding the entrance when she arrived at the noble’s dormitory.

“Ah… is that so. Then you can come in.”

“Thank you!”

Of course, all the maids had no choice but to let her in.

As per academy regulations, she was officially a commoner. But she held a position equal to that of a Duke and the Imperial Family.

“…Huh?”

But Ferloche only thought that the maids were being considerate. She smiled cheerily but started tilting her head in confusion when she watched two people talking in the hallway.

“Why are they here?”

The people who entered her sight were Kania and Serena.

“You said Ferloche is up to something?”

“Yes, that’s why I bothered talking to you even though I don’t trust you in the slightest…”

“Hello!!”

Ferloche, who intensely stared at them for a moment, cut into the conversation while smiling cheerfully.

““………!””

“What were you two talking about?”

“Ah, that. We were only talking about that.”

Kania stammered at Ferloche’s unexpected intrusion, while Serena answered with a calm look.

“We were fighting.”

“Fighting?”

“Yes, one of us needs to nurse Frey.”

At those words, Ferloche’s expression turned puzzled. Then, Serena blocked her own lips with her fan and started talking.

“Frey collapsed yesterday. The ones that were chosen to nurse him are his butler Kania and his fiancée, me.”

“Frey was injured!”

“Yes, but don’t we all hate Frey? So we were passing the responsibility to each other.”

Finishing her words with that, Serena smiled with her eyes and said to Kania.

“Well, if you hate it that much then we can’t help it. As his fiancée I’m the only one left to nurse him.”

“Wh-What?”

Hearing those words, Kania couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

Because now was her turn on the rotation.

“What is wrong with you? Didn’t you strongly refuse to nurse Frey earlier?”

“Th-That…”

“Then, you can rest for a while. Until dawn I…”

“Then, I will do it!”

“Excuse me?”

While Serena was heading to Frey’s room as she smiled at Kania.

“Everyone wait…”

Ferloche butted in just before Serena could open the door.

“Wait.”

Serena said while she hurriedly grabbed Ferloche’s hand.

“The thing that I said the last time. No matter how much I think about it, you should know about it…”

“Ah, right!”

Ferloche shook Serena off and enunciated every word while puffing her cheeks.

“I don’t know anything like DLC!”

“…What?”

“Then, everyone, you can rest for a while!”

After she finished with her words, Ferloche entered Frey’s room.

“It-It was my turn…”

Kania extended her hand with a puzzled look.

“What?”

Serena muttered with a cold expression.

“Did she say DLC just now?”

The sun had unknowingly descended, as the moon gradually rose up in the night sky.

“Indeed…”

At this time, Serena smiled in contentment and said,

“…Just what I expected.”

“It-it wasn’t a fake illness, he really is sick!”

“…?”

She was cut off before she could utter another remark.

“The massage I gave him the last time, he seems to want it again!”

“Ha?”

Serena’s expression turned slightly twisted.

“So unfortunate!”

It was a contrast to Ferloche, who was scribbling something inside the room with a frosty expression on her face.