CH 17

“Your expression is scary, Sieglinde. Can you blame her for being scared?”

“…I see.”

I remember what Weiss said yesterday.

…I know my face hasn’t got a bit of charm. People where I work keep saying I have a sour face and I’m unsociable, although their jealousy of the way I’ve been rising through the ranks so quickly probably plays a part in that. I’m used to hearing that sort of thing, so it doesn’t bother me at all at this point.

But hearing it from the person I like was much more shocking.

“…Smile…”

I use my fingers to make my face smile in front of the mirror in my room.

“…”

My face is smiling, but my eyes are definitely not. It’s like I’m looking at a creepy circus clown.

“…Why would I even smile if there’s nothing to smile about?”

I shake my head, get dressed, and head to Weiss’ house. He asked me to go there this morning and look after his daughter.

◆

“Ririh’s gonna draw!”

Ririi suddenly starts running around the living room, but it turns out she’s just getting paper and pencils.

She sits at a table, and I go there and take a peek. Her strokes are pretty bold for a child, but I haven’t the faintest idea what she’s drawing. Is that some new species of monster?

“What are you drawing?”

“Miss Sieglinde!”

“…I see.”

Apparently what I thought was a new kind of monster is actually me. But even with that information in mind, I still don’t see it.

Where’s the head? Where’s the body? My hair is red, but I don’t think she’s used the red pencil yet.

It’s really starting to feel like this high elf girl with a unique sense is actually Weiss’ daughter.

It goes without saying that I was very surprised when I received the message that a man named Weiss Frenberg wanted to see me.

The ministry of magic had been looking for the man called Weiss Frenberg for ten years, and the soldiers stationed at the gate should have known that. But I guess his existence has faded away from people’s memories so much that they just forgot.

Maybe I was the only one still trying hard to find him.

Ten years. Long enough that I went from a new hire in the ministry of magic to its assistant chief. I didn’t want to think he was dead, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that he would never come back to the capital.

In that sense, there wasn’t a day in these last ten years that I didn’t think about him. I wasn’t even happy when I was appointed to be the new assistant chief, I just thought ‘this will make it easier to look for Weiss’.

But I never did find him.

I used the financial power of the Lloyd family, my power as assistant chief of the ministry of magic, and even the military power of the private army I put together behind closed doors.

And yet, with all that power combined, I never even heard a whisper about him in these past ten years. There was never even a report that someone saw him. Where was he these past ten years? What was he doing?

I can’t imagine he was only doing good things…

I mean, it’s not like he was a model student back then. I would even go as far as to say he was the opposite. His grades were ahead of mine, and put him on top, but his general behavior wasn’t good in any way.

When I think back to that time, all that comes up are memories of Weiss. I wasn’t a central figure in magic school or anything, and when I think back to my time as a student, almost all that comes to mind are things I did with Weiss.

He was called the number one prodigy in the empire and stuff like that, and that combined with his friendly personality made him pretty popular in school. We were complete opposites. He was always surrounded by people, and I was pretty much always alone.

“You’d look cute without those glasses. They don’t suit you.”

When was it?

I’m pretty sure it was in the great library of the magic school. I used to stay there and read one magic book after the other any time I could.

I loved accumulating knowledge like that. And the fact that my parents kept telling me I had to graduate at the top of my class played a big part too.

Oh right, I really didn’t like Weiss at first. All he did was laugh away like an idiot, and he was still the one person that got better grades than me. His existence was nothing more than a big thorn on my side.

There was some jealousy mixed in there, of course.

“And you’d look nice if you cared more about your hairstyle. That’s a waste.”

One day he showed up in the great library, and said that while trying to take away my glasses. It was probably the first time we talked just the two of us.

“…Shut up. Give me back my glasses.”

“You’re always studying, aren’t you? Don’t you like having fun?”

He asked while fiddling with my glasses.

“Fun? Nonsense. I don’t have time for that.”

“Hm… Sieglinde, people in our class call you magic bookworm.”

“It’s true, so I don’t care. Just give me back my glasses already.”

“Yes yes… I’ll drop by again when I feel like it.”

He handed me my glasses, and left the great library with light steps. I looked at his back and spat emotionally charged words at it.

“…Don’t bother coming.”

But he started coming by relatively frequently, and as we started spending more time together, we would sometimes go home together. And before I knew it, I started liking him.