# Chapter 35. Preparations for Enrollment (2)
My daily routine is simple.
I wake up early in the morning for physical training.
Once the training is over, I have breakfast with my family.
After breakfast, it’s combat training.
After lunch, I have magic training until evening.
Then I study etiquette and culture befitting a noble before sleeping.
Judging by the schedule, it’s not unlike the rigorous cycle of a top university entrance exam candidate.
“Our disciple looks like a hero ready to save the world, doesn’t he~?”
Even my sharp teacher’s remark made me flinch in surprise.
After all, in such peaceful times, it’s rare to find someone like me who’s going crazy trying to grow stronger.
Even though his power has weakened since being sent to the lower realms, an Evil God is still a God.
With his inherent strength already immense, if he keeps accumulating power through offerings from his followers, it’s hard to imagine just how much influence he could wield.
To reach the level of Cecilia from the original story and save the world, all I have is training—training is the only way forward.
“Master, are you doing this again today? You should take it easy.”
“Yeah, yeah~”
While I was jogging in the same training yard, one of the knights addressed me.
When I first expressed my desire to join the knights’ physical training, they thought ‘He’ll probably give up in a few days’ and paid little attention. After I kept showing up for several weeks, their attitudes towards me softened considerably.
Now, they even approach me and start conversations. In the past, many knights avoided me.
Against the backdrop of soldiers’ shouts, I began jogging at my own pace.
One lap… Two laps… Three laps…
How much time had passed?
The sun was just starting to rise when I began, but now my vision was tinged yellow.
Lost in deep concentration, I hadn’t realized how much time had flown.
“—!!!!”
For some reason, the knights’ practice seemed louder than usual.
One knight was running toward me from afar.
Wait? Why is the knight hovering in midair? Lying down too…
And looking around, it seemed everything, not just me, was lying down… some…
—
…This is a familiar ceiling.
No, it’s just the ceiling of my room that I see every day.
Feeling the stiffness in my body, I slightly turned my head, finding one of the maids dozing off beside me.
“Excuse me…”
“Snore…”
“Excuse me.”
“Huh!? I-I wasn’t sleeping! …Eh? Master?”
“I want some water…”
“Master has awakened!!!”
I wanted to ask the maid for water because my throat was dry, but upon seeing me awake, she exclaimed in disbelief, loudly shouting the news before rushing out of the room.
“But, the water…”
Fortunately, the maid quickly returned with a doctor, and I could finally quench my parched throat with some cool water.
“Ah… So, I passed out then?”
“Yes, Master. From exhaustion.”
“Exhaustion…”
I hadn’t expected to collapse from overwork.
But for the past few weeks, I’ve pushed myself hard, sparing no sleep to strengthen my body, practice magic, and cram noble etiquette into my head. Perhaps it was inevitable.
Not to mention, I’ve been under a lot of stress with so much on my mind.
“Training yourself is good, but harming your body in the process is foolish.”
Smack!
“That’s what you tell a kid who just collapsed!? Son! Are you in pain anywhere? Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous…?”
“I’m just a bit tired. I apologize for causing you worry.”
My mother slapped my father’s arm for being overly harsh and then anxiously checked on me.
It’s amazing how different the two of them are. I reassured her that I was fine.
Strangely, I felt even more energetic than before, probably because collapsing gave me the rest my body needed.
Hmm? Come to think of it…
“Where is the Young Lady?”
She would have been surprised to hear that I collapsed, yet she hasn’t appeared, even now that I’ve woken up. That gave me pause.
“That’s…”
For some reason, my mother hesitated to answer.
Sensing something off, I furrowed my brow, prompting my father to speak instead.
“The young miss also collapsed. She was shocked by the news of your collapse.”
“…What?”
Collapses? Cecilia?
With a swift movement, I tried to get up, but the doctor and my parents rushed to stop me.
“Master! Where are you going?”
“I need to check on her. My fiancée collapsed.”
“Your fiancée is well taken care of by us. You need to recover first so she doesn’t worry about you!”
“I’ll just be a moment. Since I feel better after resting overnight, you don’t have to worry—”
Clap, clap, clap! Bang!
At that moment, a maid rushed into the room, her breathing heavy, her pale complexion indicating some sort of emergency. I wondered if something had happened to Ria and sprang out of bed, but—
“The Young Lady is… coming here!”
Ria is coming here? She must’ve woken up, then.
That’s good news, isn’t it? But why is the maid trembling so much?
Before I could ask her what was wrong—
BANG!!
The door slammed open as Cecilia appeared.
“Ahh! R…Ria…?”
I was about to greet her warmly, but her unfamiliar, hostile aura silenced me immediately.
Her eyes were puffy from crying during my absence, her hair was disheveled, and she seemed almost like a ghost as she darted directly into my room the moment she heard I’d woken up.
Through the tangled strands of her hair, she was giving me a chilling, fixed glare.
“…Excuse me. Could everyone leave for a moment? There’s something I need to say to the Young Master…”
Everyone—doctor, parents, maid—quickly exited the room, as if responding to an unseen force.
My father’s eyes met mine as he left, and his expression seemed to say, “You’ve messed up; get on your knees and beg for mercy.”
The click of the door closing resounded.
With everyone gone, Ria approached me in a few short strides, appearing like a Grim Reaper come to claim my soul. Despite the situation, I tried to ease her disposition.
“I’m fine, Ria. Look! I’m alright.”
I swung my arms around to show she had nothing to worry about.
“…”
But her rigid posture suggested I was giving the wrong answer.
Determined to reassure her, I doubled down.
“You know I’m tough, right? I recover quickly.”
“…”
“Are you injured?” I asked. “Are you feeling dizzy after rushing here?”
“…”
“Look, I… I’m sorry…”
Unable to resist the unrelenting pressure of her silence, I finally hung my head and apologized.
My father’s expression was indeed correct.
“…What did you do wrong?”
The number one question every man fears: a woman’s interrogation.
If someone had told me I’d find myself answering this question someday, I’d never have believed it.
“Er… Pushing my body recklessly without a second thought?”
“Someone who knows better—!!!!!!!”
Ria’s roar echoed throughout the mansion.
The windows rattled, the lights flickered, and so did my body.
“Would someone who knows better do such a thing?! You succeeded in stopping my heart cold! When I heard the Young Master had collapsed, my heart stopped for a few seconds! How can someone be so reckless?! Are you stupid?! Why don’t you take care of yourself?! You always think of others! Despite looking like a cold and heartless man, you’re actually clumsy, scared of everything while treating yourself with an alarming amount of disdain! You’re supposed to say you’re struggling! That you need help! Why do you keep… trying to shoulder everything yourself…?!”
Fueled by righteous anger, Ria shouted at first, but her voice gradually softened, finally trembling with tears.
“How could I… how could I have been so frightened…? To me, there’s only the Young Master left… What if something had really happened to you…?”
With that, she sobbed, clutching her chest.
I don’t know why, exactly.
I hadn’t consciously planned it.
But when I came to my senses, I had pulled Ria into a tight embrace.
“I’m sorry.”
I’m sorry.
“It’s my fault.”
It’s my fault.
“I promise never to make you worry like this again.”
I promise never to make you worry again.
An honest apology.
Perhaps this was the first time I had truly revealed all of my feelings to her.
Even though I had decided to keep my distance from her, seeing her cry made my chest ache, and I instinctively pulled her in to soothe my own pain.
“Please… don’t make me worry again…”
Instead of responding, Ria tightly embraced me back, as if understanding my true feelings.
Feeling each other’s warmth,
We stayed in that embrace for quite some time.
As the flowers in the garden fell and turned into soil,
The warmth they held melted the snow,
And new life began to sprout in the warming earth—Spring.
Before long, the date of the Academy enrollment ceremony quickly approached.
