The Imperial Princess immediately drooped upon my scolding.
Of course, I didn’t want to belittle her effort. The princess even tried to adopt a cute pose as if to mimic a puppy.
It was not easy for a woman of noble birth to endure such humiliation.
It was as if royalty was mimicking a puppy in front of a lower noble of the Empire. Despite the clear difference in status, the princess was performing for me like a court jester.
After all, a puppy inherently craved human affection.
Fortunately, there were no passersby on the road. If it had been before the vacation started at the Academy, the princess’s honor would have been dragged through the mud once again.
The fact that she was mimicking a puppy carried significant weight.
To be honest, I found it difficult to understand why the princess was acting this way. However, seeing a pretty girl doing something cute did make her appear objectively adorable.
That is, if it weren’t for the incident from this morning.
I was already dealing with a headache from Elsi’s declaration of her pet. And now the princess was poking at that memory, so it was unlikely that I would respond positively.
When my reaction wasn’t favorable, the princess immediately lowered her head.
“I-I’m sorry… According to rumors, Sir Ian enjoys treating women like puppies…”
“Absolutely not!”
I unintentionally raised my voice at such an absurd misunderstanding.
The princess looked a little surprised, her eyes widening as she stared at me.
“That’s all just nonsense. So, there was a misunderstanding…”
“…Ah, ah!”
The princess, who had been observing me intently with her slate-colored eyes, nodded as if she realized something.
“It was a secret! That makes sense. So, the puppy mimicry should be done only when it’s just the two of us…”
“Your Highness.”
The princess tilted her head in confusion. By now, my voice had turned cold.
“Don’t you often hear that you’re a bit oblivious?”
The girl ended up slumping her shoulders again.
“I-I’m sorry. Sir Ian… you looked so depressed today, so I wanted to lift your spirits.”
“That consideration resulted in mimicking a puppy? Truly surprising.”
“If Sir Ian wants, I can do it as much as you like!”
With a proud air, the princess straightened her back.
Her expression made it clear she was pleased with herself for saying that.
What exactly she was proud of was unclear, though.
“I-I’ll do anything you say! So, if you really need a puppy, instead of Elsi…”
“No, I’m telling you.”
“…Yes, yes.”
However, the princess’s confident expression quickly faded. It was because an irritated voice had escaped my mouth.
The princess shrank back, cautiously assessing my mood.
Still, it was hard to get even angrier since she didn’t approach with bad intentions. In the end, a deep sigh escaped my lips.
To shift the atmosphere, I posed an essential question to the princess.
“Is that all you wanted? Did you really come to deliberately lift my spirits…?”
“W-Well, I didn’t think I could actually lift Sir Ian’s spirits with such things…”
It was a dejected excuse.
There was a hint of regret passing through the princess’s slightly gloomy expression. From the beginning, the first meeting hadn’t gone well, so ever since then, the princess had been bowing low whenever we met.
Though I had already lost any feelings about the mistake the princess had made.
To be honest, I had been angry when I first heard the news of my sister’s company going bankrupt.
However, the letter given to me by my sister helped soothe my anger. Although my sister had deemed it confidential and hadn’t disclosed it yet, she was still alive.
Even if I was frustrated that her company went bankrupt, at least I hadn’t suffered a fatal blow.
My sister had always been like that.
She was so good at handling things that she always responded swiftly to crises. While she might not have been able to completely weather the storm, she wasn’t the type to calmly face a looming death.
The details would have to wait until I returned to the territory.
Recalling the warning written in the letter, “Just wait and see,” a bitter smile formed on my lips.
I felt ashamed to have such a useless older brother.
But the princess, who had no way of knowing the content of the letter I received, was still fumbling.
“Um… Sir Ian, do you know where Airen has gone?”
I was momentarily taken aback by the sudden question.
“Airen?” No one came to mind no matter how much I searched my memory. I thought there might have been some misunderstanding, so I asked the princess in return.
“…‘Airen’?”
“Ah! I mean, the Lady Knight who was always by my side.”
The princess looked a bit flustered by my puzzled expression but quickly added clarifying information. Thanks to that, a figure flashed in my mind.
A beautiful knight with blue hair.
At first glance, she seemed to be the princess’s closest aide, so it was all the more puzzling that she was asking me about her whereabouts. I swallowed hard and asked.
“Why are you asking me about her whereabouts…?”
The princess had a dumbfounded look on her face for a moment, then hurriedly began to divulge what she knew.
“U-Um? Airen clearly said she was going to see Sir Ian…”
It seemed that the “Airen” she referred to had come to see me. I didn’t know why, but the only thing I could infer at the moment was one thing.
The Lady Knight had come to find me. And I had no recollection of that at all.
Then the answer was obvious.
I pressed my throbbing head and asked the princess once more.
“Do you know when that was?”
The princess looked anxious, wondering if she had upset my mood. She was glancing at me cautiously before finally speaking in a timid voice.
“It was, um, two days ago…”
I knew it.
Sighing again, I touched my head.
Two days ago meant that I was still not fully aware of my surroundings.
In other words, Lady Airen had met “me” from the future, not me.
In truth, even if Lady Airen had gone missing, there was nothing I could do.
After all, my memories had vanished, and there were no witnesses to when “I” and Lady Airen had encountered each other. Any events that took place back then would inevitably remain shrouded in mystery.
So, I decided to put that matter aside for the time being.
However, after meeting “me,” Lady Airen had left a note stating her intention to depart as a knight, so all I could do was await the day we would reunite.
When I finally met Lady Airen, only then would I learn the truth of that day.
Tomorrow, it would be time to return to my hometown.
Time had crept up to dusk, and I was searching for the last person I needed to say goodbye to.
That person was none other than Emma from the Alchemy Department.
I had achieved victory during the last attack thanks to Emma’s potions. Additionally, over the past few months, Emma and I had grown significantly closer, so it was only right to see her and exchange farewells before I left.
However, a slight sense of unease remained within me.
The reason I hadn’t sought out Emma until now stemmed from a sense of anxiety lodged in my heart like a thorn.
Lady Lupeisia had advised me to visit Emma.
On the day I was discharged, Emma had not shown her face.
She was kind and very caring. It was hard to believe that she wouldn’t know about her close friend’s discharge. Naturally, I believed that I would be able to exchange greetings with Emma that day.
Yet, Emma had chosen not to face me.
I already knew there must have been a reason for that.
After all, it was Emma’s choice.
Still, I couldn’t help but worry about her to some extent. She was a woman who was as kind to others as she was strict with herself.
I was sure she would reproach herself for even the slightest misunderstanding.
With somewhat hurried steps, I began to inquire about Emma’s whereabouts. First, I discovered that she wasn’t in the dormitory.
If that was the case, there was only one place Emma could be.
My path led to Emma’s workshop.
Even though it was vacation, there were signs of life in the alchemy department. If she didn’t have the necessary research facilities after heading back to her hometown, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.
In that case, it was better to stay at the academy and continue her research.
Most of the remaining students here were likely commoners in similar circumstances.
Fortunately, it seemed Emma was among them.
A faint scent of potion wafted from Emma’s workshop. That meant she had been conducting research there until fairly recently.
However, I didn’t sense any signs of life inside.
Still, based on various eyewitness accounts, it seemed clear Emma must be inside her workshop.
I sighed in relief and knocked on the door.
“Emma, it’s me.”
With a knock that echoed, my voice spilled out. However, after waiting for a while, there was no reply.
Could it be that she didn’t want to see me?
Anxiety tinged my movements, and my heart raced a little faster. It didn’t take long for me to knock again.
“Emma, are you okay? I thought I needed to say goodbye…”
Yet, despite knocking multiple times and calling her name, Emma showed no response.
At that moment, I began to question the eyewitness testimonies I had heard.
Could it be that Emma had left the workshop again?
My magic surged through me, heightening my senses. The tensed nerve endings were scanning the scene beyond the door.
It was quiet beyond the door. A faint scent of potion lingered, and I could hear liquid bubbling away.
Aside from that, I couldn’t discern much more.
If I hadn’t reached the Expert level…
My enhanced senses soon picked up the sought-after signs.
I heard faint breathing.
The sound was so subtle that I could believe there was no one inside the workshop. It wasn’t the breath of a healthy person.
My head went blank.
“…Emma? Are you really okay?”
There was no change in the breathing coming from inside the workshop.
If she didn’t want to see me, there should have been some change upon hearing my voice. But I detected no reaction from Emma.
It was as if she couldn’t hear my voice at all.
My head went white with that conclusion.
“Emma!”
I immediately kicked the door with magic infused into my foot. A loud crash echoed as the door splintered into pieces.
Rushing in, the scene inside the workshop flashed before my eyes.
Countless research materials and alchemical ingredients spilled out, and the bubbling potion confirmed that Emma’s research was still ongoing.
And in between, there lay a woman with crimson hair, collapsed with a pale complexion.
Emma had fainted.
