70 – Viscount Ash
[Master?]
Quickly assessing the situation, I turned off the sound of the communication device I received from Johanna first.
Because I couldn’t receive the contact from that communication device while talking to Erika right now.
I felt sorry for Johanna, but I told Erika as if nothing had happened that I would contact her after finishing the call with Erika.
“Yes? Did you not hear anything, or did Erika misunderstand?”
Even I thought it was a strange excuse.
Of course, not all communication devices make the same sound, but both the one I received from Erika and the one I received from Johanna were high-end, so the sounds were similar.
[Really? If that’s what you say, Master, I must have misunderstood.]
Despite the strange excuse, Erika didn’t doubt and moved on.
After that, Erika didn’t bring up the sound anymore.
[By the way, I heard there are many great restaurants near the academy. Have you ever been to a restaurant near the academy, Master?]
“Yes, I went once today. I must know all the good restaurants near the academy.”
[Then, you should take me there sometime, Master?]
“Of course. If the opportunity arises, I will take you to the best place.”
[Can I look forward to it?]
“Yes, you can. I’ll take Erika to a very special restaurant where she can try something she’s never had before.”
“If I get into the academy next year, you really have to treat me.”
Next year…
By then, I’ll surely have defeated all the necromancers and be able to enjoy a peaceful academy life.
“But Erika? I don’t recall promising to treat you.”
“Oh, come on~ I can treat a cute junior to a meal, can’t I?”
It’s not difficult to treat Erika to a meal as she says.
Honestly, I wanted to treat her.
“If I buy you a meal, what will you do for me in return?”
“If the clown treats me to a meal once, then the next time we eat together, I’ll treat you.”
“Are you saying you’ll go to the restaurant with me twice?”
I said it, expecting Erika’s surprised reaction, but…
“Is that so?”
Erika responded nonchalantly.
After that, Erika and I talked a lot about her entering the academy next year and what will happen afterward.
“Will you have lunch with me?”
“Wouldn’t it be better for Erika to have lunch with her friends?”
“I don’t want to. It’s more fun and better to have lunch with the clown.”
“Ah, that’s right! Please also teach me how to use the training ground next year.”
“I don’t know the details, but I should find out in advance to teach Erica.”
“hehehe, then I’ll look forward to it?”
“We’ll even go to school together in the morning!”
“Isn’t Erica going to commute from the dormitory to the palace, instead of going to school from the palace?”
“During the commute. I just need to wait under the clown’s dormitory.”
“It would be a big problem if you oversleep.”
“I’ll wake you up in the morning so you don’t oversleep.”
Like a calm lake.
That’s why my heart feels at ease.
We had such a conversation.
“Then I’ll contact you tomorrow, Your Highness.”
“Have a good dream.”
“After talking to Your Highness, I always seem to have good dreams.”
After hearing Erica’s words, I was momentarily speechless.
“……. I always seem to have good dreams after talking to Erica too.”
After ending the call with Erica, I put the communication device in the designated space and took out another one.
And I was surprised.
The person who called was Ascal, not Johanna.
“Oh, right. Ascal took my communication device earlier and connected the call.”
I never thought we would talk this soon.
Considering it’s a bit late, I debated whether to just call tomorrow. However, curious about the reason for the call, I decided to dial anyway.
From Noble mtl dot com
[Why didn’t you pick up earlier?]
“I was busy for a moment and couldn’t answer. By the way, Lady Ascal, what’s the reason for your call?”
[Originally, I was going to tell you, but calling me Lady again? It’s annoying, so I won’t say it.]
“Huh? I’m curious, can’t you tell me?”
I wondered what she had to say since she went as far as calling. However, Ascal refused to disclose it until the end.
[If you need help later, tell me. I’ll listen to everything except what I didn’t say today.]
Ascal said so and hung up.
I was curious about what Ascal originally wanted to say.
But now, my thoughts were focused on why I hadn’t had a nightmare earlier.
Since the day the children died, I kept having the same nightmare.
Meeting Duke Adellian and using the medicine he gave me, I could avoid the nightmares. However, after coming to the academy, I couldn’t get the medicine.
‘Talking to Yerika then was really lucky, thinking about it now.’
Fortunately, I could avoid the nightmares by talking to Yerika, but the days I didn’t talk to her, I had nightmares immediately.
However, why didn’t I have a nightmare earlier? There was only one thing that happened in between.
I killed Mordor, the cause of the nightmares, with my own hands.
Honestly, the most certain way to confirm is to sleep tomorrow night without talking to Yerika.
Even if I don’t have nightmares, I had no intention of stopping talking to Yerika.
Initially, it was to avoid nightmares, but now it’s different.
“We decided to take it slow with the experiment.”
* * *
As Ascal returned to the academy with Loki and Johanna, they heard the story from their parents.
The secret of the Freyja family.
At first, they couldn’t believe it.
The family’s secret was an obsession with a lover.
It was hard to believe.
If it had been their mother, they would have thought it was a joke, but it was their father who brought up the story.
When there were siblings, the characteristic only appeared in one of them……
“I don’t think it’s me, but Johanna inherited that characteristic, right?”
If they hadn’t seen Johanna today, they would never have thought that she had inherited it.
Johanna, who usually didn’t express emotions well and always practiced with blank eyes, showed such clear emotions today that they couldn’t believe it was the same Johanna they had seen before.
And the emotions Johanna expressed were all jealousy and obsession.
“The object of obsession is clearly Loki…”
Their father bowed his head and muttered Loki’s name as if to kill it, but since their father didn’t behave like this every day, they didn’t pay much attention.
“But they’re not in a relationship yet, are they?”
Due to the mask Loki was wearing, they couldn’t tell how Loki was looking at Johanna, but it seemed certain that they were not yet in a relationship.
“More precisely, it’s someone they want to take as a lover. Or someone they consider a lover.”
So, when I just placed my hand on Loki’s shoulder earlier, was that the kind of reaction he showed?
“Does that mean you’ll continue obsessing over him like earlier? What if Loki struggles and distances himself because of it?”
“He probably can control it on a regular basis. The problem arises when he can’t control it due to some trigger…”
A trigger…
Asuka recalled when Johanna became fixated on Loki.
‘A mask!’
Johanna’s sensitivity emerged whenever Loki attempted to reveal his face by removing the mask.
*****
Special class students gathered in the classroom.
Professor Elysia, who would usually say to charge in, uttered different words.
“You must at least know that the special class has a mission, right?”
Students looked at Professor Elysia with eyes that said, “Could it be?”
“Yeah. The first mission has come.”
Students looked at Professor Elysia with eyes filled with excitement and concern.
“Anyone who knows about Viscount Ashlow, raise your hand.”
Most of the hands raised were from imperial citizens.
Inspectors from the East, like me, and Kuran, didn’t raise our hands, as we didn’t know.
“I thought a noble from the borderlands would be unknown, but you all know?”
Sitting next to me, Sepia looked at me with surprised eyes and said, “I visited there once. The scenery was truly beautiful.”
The night view was especially beautiful as I snuck away from the Viscount’s and avoided the soldiers after stealing drugs from him.
“Raise your hand if you know about the Cardinal Thief.”
This time, every student raised their hand.
Naturally, I raised my hand too.
Because it was me.
They probably didn’t know about the Cardinal Thief before, but they might have found out about it again this time.
“The first place where the Cardinal Thief appeared in decades is Viscount Asher’s.”
The students seemed to finally realize what the request was about, their eyes widening.
“The client is Viscount Asher. The request is to find the genealogy that the Cardinal Thief stole from the family.”
“I wonder if it wasn’t mentioned in the newspaper to avoid revealing that the genealogy was stolen.”
Sepia muttered to herself beside me.
Wow, so the genealogy at Viscount Asher’s was drugs.
Then I must have stolen the genealogy.
But I really didn’t understand why they would make such a request.
I couldn’t comprehend what they were thinking. What if the Special Class students found out about the drugs?
Maybe one of the Special Class students was the target.
But I wasn’t worried.
Because I had faith.
“Are you coming with us, Professor?”
I raised my hand and asked Professor Elysia a question.
“Of course, I’m going too.”