21 – Insult
Dick dropped his gaze at the unexpected laughter.
‘I didn’t even realise you were there…’
He was so smitten with her to the point of not noticing me, his companion.
That man, he was too big and clunky for a man. To put it bluntly, an unattractive man.
Why on earth was a woman like her with this type of man?
And then he noticed that man’s hair, it was jet black.
‘Aha’
The Andersons of the Sorcerer family. The tightly sealed secretive family had recently presented one son to the public.
He was destined to be Tyler’s son-in-law.
As Dick thought of Princess Beatrice, he lets out a sly grin.
‘Such a matching pair, huh…’
Well then, now the problem. Why was his lady, his very own princess, with this pretentious boy?
To get covered by the halo of the Sorcerer Family?
‘No.’
Dick shook his head.
A woman overflowing with a sense of justice, enough to wonderfully save herself.
She was obviously a righteous person, far from any injustice.
She definitely had a weak point or, even if not, there was no doubt that she was suffering some sort of wrongdoing.
‘I need to rescue her’
A person who extended a hand of salvation to him for the first time.
Dick had always been concealed in the shadows of his siblings, neglected of their parents’ attention.
He was a child left to grow unattended and knew nothing about love. He had never felt that someone cared for him.
Therefore,
It was his first time experiencing love, and also his first time feeling jealousy.
That’s why he could not even consider his overwhelmingly intense feeling as jealousy but only thought it as righteous anger against the black-haired villain in front of his eyes.
His judgement dwindled immensely, and the overture of foolish acts had begun.
——————
“May I have the honor of knowing your noble name?”
Dick asked, adopting a graceful posture.
Betty was in a dilemma.
Dick Taylor, the aristocrat, was a classmate who knew her true self.
She had no idea what could happen if she revealed her real name to him.
In the worst case, Thomas might find out her real persona.
Three pairs of eyes were focused on her.
No, she felt the gaze of every customer in the cafe.
Unable to withstand the pressure, Betty blurted out,
“I, I go by Tris!”
She had impulsively lied, using a pseudonym derived from her real name.
“Tris! That’s a wonderful name! I’m Dick Taylor, of Earl Taylor’s family. Nice to meet you.”
Taylor, once again, demonstrates his aristocratic manners.
His demeanor resembled the courting actions of a bird.
Next to them, his friend stared at Dick as though looking at a strange creature.
However, regardless of their reactions, Betty’s attention was entirely centered on Thomas.
‘He would certainly think it’s strange…!’
Stealing a glance at Thomas, he paused for a few seconds as if understanding something, a faint smile on his face.
“I’m Tom, a friend of Tris. Pleased to meet you.”
He gave a wink as if to indicate there was a reason for him concealing his real name.
Unaware that the actual reason was himself.
Despite this, a sweet warmth filled Betty’s chest at his consideration.
“I’ve heard your reputation quite a bit, so I am aware. It’s Tom, wasn’t it? Tom Anderson, it’s nice to meet you.”
Dick accepted Thomas’s greeting with a tone that oozed cold composure.
“Ahh…”
Thomas was startled, having not anticipated Dick recognizing him and struggled to continue.
‘It’s my turn to help out now’
Betty resumed the conversation instead of Thomas.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor. If this is about what happened at the square, don’t worry. It’s my fault for barging with no reason.”
Noticing that she needed to help Thomas added fuel to her fading timidity.
She was internally surprised at her newfound composure while dealing with her classmates.
“No. Not repaying the debt to a noble family is a disgrace. Please make sure it’s returned.”
Dick didn’t budge.
Betty didn’t understand why Taylor was persisting so much.
He had always treated her as a nobody at the academy.
She never thought that he might have feelings for her.
“Let me know your family name, I will visit in person later to return your favour.”
Finally, the question had arrived.
Even if she introduced herself with an alias, she couldn’t hide her family name.
It was an act unbecoming of a prestigious member of the Taylor family.
As Betty didn’t know what to do, salvation came once again from Thomas.
“How about noting Anderson on the record, if you insist?”
Upon hearing this, Dick’s face turned noticeably cold.
“Are you not just her simple friend? What authority do you have to receive the honour of the Andersons?”
After a moment’s thought, Thomas spoke up.
“The truth is, Tris is originally of internal lineage in our house. We are quite distant relatives. I thought it would be okay for the Andersons to take the honour on her behalf.”
The thought that sprang to mind after a few seconds seemed ingenious.
As Betty looked at Thomas with an expression of admiration, Dick’s expression hardened even more.
“I wish to formally meet Miss Tris’ parents and convey my gratitude. You surely don’t have the right to take that away with your pathetic background?”
Dick’s words are becoming progressively harsher.
Betty is starting to feel upset.
A friend beside her whispers, trying to stop him.
“Hey, quit it. She’s a sorcerer, are you nuts?”
Whether the whisper was too loud or Betty’s senses were sharpened by her sour mood, she heard everything.
“Humph, there’s no way that the amazing secret family would drive away an awakener. They’re probably just acting like this because they’ve been declared non-awakeners.”
“If you continue to insult him, I will not sit idly by.”
Her voice was so cold and dispassionate, it didn’t feel like her own.
But Betty didn’t even have time to be surprised by it.
She had always endured numerous insults and contempt about herself until now.
Her heart hurt, but she didn’t feel anger.
She felt so little self-worth she simply thought it was inevitable.
Yet strangely, seeing that man being insulted made her as angry as when her entire family was slandered.
Of course, no one had ever provoked this kind of anger in her before, so this was a new feeling for Betty.
“Oh, poor Tris. What is making you act this way! What on earth is this ugly giant doing to you…”
Half-crazed with jealousy and discoursing like a stage actor, Dick Taylor abruptly shut his mouth at the sudden chill he detected.
—————–
It felt like déjà vu.
‘Didn’t something like this happen recently?’
Memories of that day when she lost control of her magic and rampaged.
Now, her sister is doing the same.
The only difference is that now, it’s eerily calm, like the calm before the storm.
But I could feel it.
This really was the calm before the storm.
The guy who had been badmouthing me from behind also seemed to feel it, as he abruptly shut up and started backing away.
“Betty.”
I called her by her familiar nickname.
I cautiously approached her and laid my hand on her shoulder.
“It’s incredible…”
I could sense the latent magic within her.
“It might be too powerful to control.”
Her power, a tremendous force that went unnoticed during her moments of tranquility, began to squirm.
Its enormity was akin to nature itself, making one wonder if it could be harnessed by a human being.
She appeared to be exerting all her might to suppress it, the sensation being just as overwhelming as the monstrous entity dwelled in the Anderson house.
“Damn!”
Her form began to shimmer as if it were an overheated video screen.
“It seems the illusion is breaking.”
I learned from magic theory class.
“Continuous magic like illusions require consistent concentration from the castor. Only a genius beyond common sense can maintain more than one.”
She, struggling to contain the tumultuous power, could not maintain the illusion.
I glanced back worriedly.
The reason she had chosen to hide under the shabby pseudonym of Triss.
The guy, behaving just as his name suggested.
“He really is a dick.”
I half-concealed the partially revealed true form of her from Dick’s view.
“Little sister?”
From the partially exposed form, I noticed her little sister that I had seen not long ago.
Their faces were exactly the same.
“Were they twins?”
Fortunately turning all that magic power down, she lifted her head to look at me.
“Betty…”
Even though her magic power had calmed, her illusion had inevitably dissipated.
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She now looked the exact same as her younger sister whom I had seen at the cloth store.
I wasn’t particularly surprised as I had suspected to some extent.
She glanced down at her body that remained within my sight, she began to tremble.
“N…no… don’t look…”
The barely calmed power began to stir again.
Its speed was immeasurably faster than before.
And its color changed from anger to sadness and despair.
Betty started backing away from me slowly.
Dick then shouted from behind.
“Princess Beatrice!?”
“Sigh…”
I let out a deep sigh.
The situation was only becoming more complex.
“You…you…! You bastards have been playing me! How dare you…”
“Shut up and just disappear.”
I mimicked the will I saw in the clothing store and cracked open a bit of the power from my bracelet, only enough to scare him.
“eeek…”
He, who was already half out of his senses, collapsed where he stood.
“You…You were really a sorcerer! A Dragon Peer! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
His friend, who had been apologizing next to him, then picked up Dick and fled.
“Whew…”
I took another deep breath and went off to take care of another semi-conscious person.