10 – To the Academy
“Finally, new students, realize that you are a member of the Imperial Royal Academy…”
The principal’s speech continues endlessly.
Thanks to that, I yawned profusely.
“You look around.”
Hestia, sitting next to her, poked her side with her elbow. She’s already half an hour into her principal’s two-much talking, and her posture isn’t disturbed at all. Her back is upright and her eyes are twinkling, making her a model student.
Of course, I also tried to listen with that attitude at first. However, when the principal repeated her last request three times, her motivation to do so vanished. It seems that many of the headmasters’ words are valid not only on Earth, but also in another world.
“Hestia. Are you the only one here seriously listening to those words?”
“The principal is a university student who has left behind numerous studies. It’s not often that I even get a chance to listen to him.”
Hestia looked at her headmaster with all her respect. I didn’t know that talkative man who looked like Dumbledore could be such a great person. But that’s it, and boring is boring. This place is not a place to announce his research results, but he is just talking about his life story.
And it seems I’m not the only one who thinks so. All the students around me nodded like sick chickens.
“I think there will be a lot of things to listen to from the principal in the future. And Hestia. Look around. Everyone but us is dozing off.”
“I’m sorry. But just because others misbehave is not a reason for us to do the same.”
Hestia said as if she was truly sorry. I listened to her and looked around her.
“Uh, over there, Lady Deneb is also sleeping.”
You can see her red hair color so much that it hurts her eyes. Cordelia is in her sleep, with her arms crossed and her head bowed. It’s an attitude that doesn’t care about the gaze of the surroundings.
“Yes? Where?”
“Over there. Red hair behind. See?”
“Yes… Ha, Miss Cordelia really is.”
Hestia heard me and looked around. When I pointed out the exact location, Hestia, who saw Cordelia’s sound sleep with her own eyes, let out a deep sigh.
I asked Hestia what I had been curious about before.
“Are you close with Lady Deneb?”
“Yes. Some of the estates are close, and they are related to my family’s business, so I’ve seen them often since I was little. Then we became friends.”
The Countess of Gracia is a wealthy family that successfully runs various businesses. There is nothing strange about being acquainted with a great aristocrat like the Duke of Deneb.
“A childhood friend?”
“Yes, they are childhood friends.”
Seeing her smiling brightly thinking of Lady Deneb makes me feel heartache. To think that she knows the side of Hestia that I don’t know is something, something.
“Ah, I want to be Hestia’s childhood friend too.”
“For reference, the first time I met Lady Deneb was after I got engaged to you.”
“……Sorry.”
I didn’t know this. In Hestia’s situation, a man who has been completely uninterested in her for a long time suddenly changes and says nonsense about wanting to be a childhood friend. Even if I was offended because I wanted to be teased, I have nothing to say.
“No. Are you okay.”
“Really?”
“Instead, I have a question. I didn’t ask because I was nervous, but now I need to know.”
Hestia turns her head and stares into her eyes.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
This is too abstract to be a question. However, both she and I are well aware of the intention of this question. Why are you being so friendly all of a sudden?
Why did a person who didn’t answer well when asked, a person who had an attitude that was worse than that of a servant in the mansion suddenly came forward?
I was speechless. What answer should I give? Love at first sight? Have you suddenly changed your mind? I would believe it if I told you that my fiancé, who had been in a cold war for years, fell in love at first sight. The answer that he suddenly changed his mind is equally unbelievable. What would you answer if I asked why you changed without any reason?
Any answer would mean lying to Hestia. And she won’t be convinced by my answer either.
What will Hestia think of me in the first place? What if she just didn’t express her, and I don’t really like it coming this way?
I met her gaze with Hestia, who was looking at me without being able to do this or that. Seeing me unable to do this or that, the moment Hestia opened her mouth to say something, applause erupted from the surroundings.
I looked up in amazement and saw that the principal was going down after his speech. The principal’s lengthy speech seems to have just ended.
“We will talk about this later.”
Hestia stood up. Since her entrance ceremony is over, she has to go to her class.
I couldn’t respond to her words.
–
It’s the worst in many ways.
I quickly became awkward with Hestia. No, rather than that, I feel uncomfortable with myself. Thinking about how I would look in her situation and what she actually thought of me made it harder to tease her lightly than before.
I think her heart would be broken if she was thinking, “What the hell is this bastard doing?”
Thanks to that, I couldn’t say a word from the entrance ceremony to the classroom. I just walked quietly behind her.
Unfortunately or fortunately, Hestia and I were in the same class.
Hestia opened the door to the classroom marked Class A. She led her into her classroom and I followed her a little later.
Classrooms were structured more like university lecture halls than high school classrooms. Hestia looked around the classroom and said hello to see if she made eye contact with anyone, and she headed towards it.
“Hestia!”
“Miss Cordelia!”
Cordelia had been sleeping soundly until recently. She still thought she might be sleeping there, but she was quick to act.
Hestia greeted Cordelia and sat down next to her. I noticed too, then sat down next to Hestia.
She looked in my direction for a moment and then started talking to Cordelia. It’s more of a nag about sleeping at her entrance ceremony earlier than a conversation.
While talking to Cordelia, Hestia glanced sideways at me to see if I was bothered. It’s not like he’s ignoring me, but he doesn’t seem to have any intention of talking to me first.
“Did you two fight?”
“Yes?”
Perhaps she read the awkward atmosphere between the two of us, Cordelia asked Hestia if they had a fight.
But you ask this question in a place where both parties are listening. She has an overly naive side. She’s not a baby left on the water’s edge, and if someone doesn’t take care of her, she doesn’t know when and how she’ll be buried by Lily.
“No. I never fought.”
“Yes. Miss Deneb. I have never fought with Hestia.”
“I see. I thought it was a fight because neither of them said anything.”
Cordelia smiled at us. I think I’ll laugh because I’m dumbfounded too. What a flower garden this lady has on her head. She seems to believe that if we really fought, she fought, and she would give an honest answer.
“Why do we fight?”
“Yes, fiancés should get along well with each other. I’m not going to say anything.”
At Cordelia’s self-deprecating words, Hestia’s smiling eyes twitch. Her advice from a broken-off person had just as much power. Her expression management collapsed.
“Oh really! Miss Cordelia, do you know?”
“What?”
“You don’t have to know! You follow me for a second hurry.”
Hestia jumped up and grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me into the hallway. I couldn’t keep up with her sudden change of circumstances and followed her blankly.
“Are you really, really not going to tell me?”
As soon as I came out into the hallway, Hestia asked me a question. At the sight of her staring straight at me, my mouth finally opened.
“Sorry. Someday, someday, I’ll tell you for sure. I’m a bit scared right now But as much as I like Hestia right now, it’s real. I can say this with certainty.”
I can’t tell her the whole truth about her here. Worst case scenario is an insane asylum ending when she confesses that the truth is that she is from another world and that when she opens her eyes she has been in this body.
I just spit out whatever I wanted to spit out. It’s true that I can’t say it now, it’s true that I’ll tell you someday, and it’s true that I like Hestia right now. It’s a messed up answer that contains only my position, but this is the best for now.
“Ah…”
Hestia is startled and only her mouth opens. Was my answer unsatisfactory? A loveless marriage flashes through my mind. How to hold on
“Jo, Joe… I like you?”
“Yes. I like you.”
“Why…?”
“You have a pretty face. It’s cute how you treat everything with a serious attitude. It’s cool that you know how to bow your head for a friend. I like the way you get embarrassed when you make fun of me.”
“Stop! Stop! Stop it!”
Hestia screamed. She has her face red. If you poke it, it looks like it will explode.
“Really, do you really like me?”
“…Did you not know?”
“Because I never said that!”
Come to think of it, she has said that she is pretty to her and that she does not know other women, but she has never directly said that she likes her. You mean you really didn’t know?
“I like you.”
“Whoop!”
Hestia made a strange noise.
“Sorry, come to think of it, she never told me directly. Shall I tell you every day from now on?”
“Please stop! It’s embarrassing. It looks like class will start now, so let’s go into the classroom.”
“Does Hestia like me too?”
“Stop it!”
She turned around and headed for her classroom, her face red. I also caught up with her. She was much closer than when she came up to the classroom earlier.
“Mikhail.”
“Why, Hestia?”
“Are you really going to tell me someday?”
“I promise.”
“Okay then.”
Hestia looked back with a bright smile.
“Once again, thank you very much. Mikhail”
–
Hestia was uneasy.
Whenever she met Mikhail, his fiancé, whom she had changed so much recently, she always felt uneasy inside. Of course, she never showed it off, but it didn’t make her anxiety go away.
At the same time, I was dumbfounded at how happy I was when I met Mikhail. Have you already forgotten how that man treated you for such a long time?
Hestia has surprisingly quickly adapted to the way he jokes at her in a friendly tone and sometimes makes fun of her. After he moved into the dormitory, he adjusted to his new look in just three days.
During those three days, the two talked often. Hestia had very few people she could call friends except for Cordelia, and Mikhail had no friends other than Hestia. Naturally, the two met frequently in their free time.
Hestia trembled with anxiety while having a conversation with Mikhail. Even as she talked to him, she was afraid that at some point she would suddenly look at herself with those emotionless eyes. She was terrified that she might be forced to look the way she is now because of some ulterior motive.
Nevertheless, Hestia thoroughly hid those feelings. What if she gets caught by Mikhail and he returns to his original self?
When Hestia offered him her first course in Marital Understanding, she wanted to build a new relationship with Mikhail. But what is this She feels as if she only craves his affection. Hestia recalled his smirking face.
If you think about it, he poured out all sorts of mouthfuls to himself, but he never directly said that he liked him.
She jumped up from her seat. She and she made up her mind. I will definitely ask him today.
It is best to slit the pus quickly. If you are afraid of pain and neglect it, you have to face greater pain.
And the entrance ceremony. He sighed at her as usual. Then, suddenly, he uttered words that made her heart sink.
“Ah, I want to be Hestia’s childhood friend too.”
She got engaged to Mikhail more than 10 years ago. What is this man Are you kidding me? She felt her anger and sorrow welling up in her chest.
She asked him with an unknown feeling.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
He made no reply.