CH 48

“Ah, whatever. I’m tired. I’m not going. It’s five in the morning. I wanna sleep. I’m gonna sleep!”

“Hmm. No can do.”

“Ugh, seriously! I’m gonna sleep. Take me off the list.”

“I got permission from the Imperial Family for this.”

“I came to this place for the same reason, but did you forget that you also gave me free time as soon as we came here? Do you think you’ll fool me again?”

“I’m telling the truth though.”

With a nasal, trying-to-be-cutesy voice, he pouted his lips and puffed up his cheeks. Then, he waved one finger as if he had a sudden eureka moment.

But actually, wait— Was that a document suddenly popping out of thin air?

‘What the. So you can do subspace magic…?’

Subspace magic was a rare type of ability that could be successfully used by only 0.001% of magical geniuses. Reina heard that there’s no one in this generation who could wield it outside the imperial family—who were dragon descendants—and Ethan…

“You… Since when could you do subspace magic?”

“Ahh, since a little while back.”

As if it was no big deal, he casually made a gesture towards the shocked Reina.

Then, a piece of paper with the imperial seal was spread out in front of her.

“See. It’s the truth, hm?”

「 Permit – Reconnaissance at the Rapids of the Cressen Forest

Date and Time : 0000 00 00

Participants : Paul Bohr, Reina Chantra and 7 others.

Detail : This year, the annual reconnaissance of the Rapids of the Cressen Forest shall be delegated to the above individuals.

Approved by : Grand Duke Benedict Emmanuel 」

She didn’t want to believe it, but Paul really was telling the truth.

“So then, you’re kinda required to go?”

“…Why didn’t you tell me about this yesterday.”

“If I told you, then you would have avoided it.”

Sighing as she brought her feet to the ground, Reina swept her hair up.

“It’s five in the morning… The sun hasn’t even come up yet…”

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Not even breakfast…”

“The colder it is, the more you’ll have to move!”

She got irritated more and more by the second, but what could she do about this?

“Haa… Fine.”

At last, when Reina reluctantly agreed, Paul cheered excitedly.

“Ya-hoo!”

…Seriously. Should she hit him just once?

* * *

Meanwhile, at the capital that Reina had left behind—

“Cressen isn’t that far away.”

Ethan murmured to himself, but the man sitting across him heard this. As he was surprised, he asked curiously.

“Your Excellency?”

Hearing the question, Ethan was focused on the present once more, and he put on the same expression that he’d show to other people. Then, he replied.

“It’s nothing. It’s been a while, Young Lord Lehman.”

“How have you been?”

How has Ethan been? He wasn’t even sure. He ate as he usually did, he exercised as he usually did, and he worked just as he usually did.

But could he say that he’s been doing well?

At that moment, Reina’s face flashed before his eyes yet again.

As Ethan was once again pulled into a daze, Lehman called his attention one more time.

To be more precise, it was the echo of his thoughts that reached Ethan.

‘What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? You’re acting differently than usual.’

Barely enough to pull him out of his reverie once more, Ethan put on a business-like smile as he heard Lehman’s echoes. But then, he heard one more thing.

‘Besides that, why aren’t you reacting yet, I wonder.’

Right. That’s how it’s supposed to work. But why couldn’t he hear Reina’s echoes? And why did all other echoes stop whenever he was around her?

Ethan pressed his lips together heavily, feeling the familiar ringing sound in his mind.

‘We’re definitely closer than we were at first, but… that’s all.’

Still, perhaps it’s because of Lehman’s apparent cluelessness, but Ethan felt a little bit of a peach of mind.

With his lips pulled up into a neat smile, Ethan handed a document towards Lehman.

“I hope that there won’t be another discrepancy within House Karr.”

“Thank you for your concern. I will be going down to our fief today, so if I find anything wrong there, I’ll write to you immediately.”

“Alright.”

They ended the conversation both with well-schooled features, but Lehman’s echo started sounding more impatient.

‘It’s already hard enough to get close to the other household members because of Paul… and I’m pretty sure that Reina told him to do that. Still, Reina started off on the wrong foot with Ethan, but I have to make sure.’

Pause—

Reina?

“……”

Now that he thought about it, Lehman was also attending the academy with Reina.

As Ethan reached this thought, for the first time in his life, he began to listen intently to Lehman’s echoes.

‘I mean, of course, Ethan doesn’t look interested in Reina anyway, but.. Ugh, as expected, Reina is getting on my nerves…’

Why exactly was Reina getting on his nerves though?

‘I heard that she suddenly got close to Letis over there. …Ugh, so annoying. If that punk Paul hadn’t kept bothering me…’

At that, Ethan’s expression cracked a little.

Letis? Letis Stymist from the Stymist household?

Though he didn’t know how to identify it, a sudden sense of displeasure surged within Ethan. He gritted his teeth.

He did not like it.

He didn’t know what exactly he didn’t like, but he felt displeased anyway.

Lehman instantly noticed Ethan’s change of mood. Putting on a warm smile, Lehman asked.

“Is something the matter, Your Excellency?”

“It’s nothing.”

Expressionless now, Ethan stood up. There was a restrained sense of tension about him. If he were to stay here any longer, he would become confused again by thoughts about Reina.

He moved without any hesitation. But then, as if they had been waiting, all kinds of echoes burst out from everywhere.

‘After all that… There’s no progress today either.’

‘His Excellency Gerard… He’s so handsome.’

‘Who is that man? He looks like he’s even prettier than me.’

And along with those obnoxiously loud echoes, eventually, he couldn’t help but smirk derisively.

There was a certain calmness in his eyes because of this, and he began to block those ringing echoes. Soon after, silence enveloped him again.

Right. His world had always been like this.

Chaos or silence.

Without a single exception, his life always just went back and forth between two extremes—that is, until one peculiarity appeared.

Reina Chantra.

Because of her, his humdrum life began to change constantly.

Ethan looked around him. However, as his gaze seemed to be searching for one particular person, it soon stopped.

“…Of course. Not here.”

As he was unconsciously looking for a hint of her shadow, he was soon on the move again.

“Cressen, huh.”

It might not be bad to go to that place for the first time in a long while, he thought.

“I have this terrible disease that will bring me to my demise—if I don’t see your face more than twice a week, Ethan.”

He knew that it was a blatant lie. Even so, he was curious.

While she was at that faraway place, was she truly thinking about him? Had she truly fallen ill because she couldn’t see his face?

A smile graced his lips.

Impossible. There’s no such disease in the world where a person would die just because they couldn’t see someone’s face.

But why in the world did she say such a thing before she left? Ethan was curious about that.

“Why did you say that.”

His thoughts gravitated towards Reina as naturally as breathing. Ethan no longer tried to push away such thoughts about her.

Right now, he was just striving hard to try and figure out what was going on in her mind.

Yes, exactly that. He really was ‘striving hard’ to do something.

In a world where everything was easy, she was the first ever person who was giving him a challenge.