128~ Endure a moment and get angrier by the second
“Focus on the highlights, please. Of all the reasons for selecting Princess Filisia, pick what you think is the most compelling one.” As the captain of this newly forming team—though they haven’t even named it yet—Dillin felt obliged to inquire about the reasoning behind Filisia’s interest in joining. He figured such decisions shouldn’t be taken too lightly.
“Hmm…… Ultimately, it’s for Tillysha,” Filisia replied without much hesitation.
“For Tillysha?”
“That’s right, Dillin. Did you know? My supposed rival, Aistride, was flawlessly defeated by Tillysha.”
“I want to know Tillysha better—her daily habits, how she integrates those little routines with her training, all the ways she managed to conquer Aistride.”
“Ah, sorry, I got a little carried away there. But truly, Tillysha has piqued my interest, and I can’t help but want to understand her better. Oh, and of course, I’d love to learn a bit about that divine Male she seems to admire too.” With that, Filisia cast a sly, smiling glance at Dillin.
“And well… there are some personal matters between Tillysha and me. Those, I’m afraid, I won’t divulge.”
Could she be hinting that Tillysha knows about some of her peculiar… preferences?
“…” Dillin scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
He hadn’t expected Tillysha to attract so much attention—or such high-quality attention at that. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
“Do you think my reason is reasonable, Dillin?”
“Hmm, I understand your intentions. I’ll give it some serious thought.”
“There’s no rush, after all, it’s still nearly a week before school starts.” Filisia operated with brisk efficiency, almost no beating around the bush, laying out her intentions clearly and then preparing to depart.
“Initially, I didn’t quite grasp the intent behind Tillysha’s choice, but now I’m starting to get it,” Filisia said as Dillin stood to see her off.
“Hmm?” Dillin was puzzled.
“Dillin is quite the gentleman,” Filisia chuckled knowingly. “You embody the classic chivalric code well.”
While Dillin was observing Filisia, Filisia was doing the same. Typically, men who sat across from her couldn’t help but let their gazes linger on… inappropriate places. Dillin, however, showed none of this—almost as if the radiant beauty across from him wasn’t female at all.
After seeing off the elegant knight princess, Dillin began pondering the future direction of their team.
He couldn’t rely on anyone else for this—it was his duty as the captain, and the responsibility fell solely on him.
But Dillin’s thoughts were scattered. He decided he needed a change of mindset…
Dillin slipped off his robe, fetched the golden chalice butterfly, placing it at the side of his hair.
In a dazzling swirl of golden threads and butterflies appearing then fading, the radiant and aristocratic Golden-haired Girl appeared in the opulent chamber.
Tillysha was seated on the couch, a dainty hand absently playing with the crown gemstone won from the Crown Team Tournament, contemplating the team recruitment requests.
Frankly, this team could use some fresh bl**d. A Crown Team with only two members was rather too… special. Moreover, official teams typically consisted of four to six people. With only two, they couldn’t qualify. Random recruits—unknown records, unknown talents, uncertain moral compasses—were better avoided. It was far safer to fill the gaps with trustworthy individuals. These were people she could rely on, even if things got out. The alternative could mean them leveraging any secrets into threats against her.
As for Aistride’s character, Tillysha had no doubts. Elves rarely went back on their word.
And Filisia…
While Tillysha didn’t imagine the knight princess would do anything outright immoral, it was because she’d seen Filisia’s so-called “shortcomings.”
Calling it a shortcoming wasn’t entirely appropriate. It was more like Filisia’s hidden secrets.
It was the balance of reciprocal understanding they held over each other’s secrets that put Tillysha at ease.
Humans always needed outlets for expression. The more perfect and flawlessly polished a person seemed on the surface, the warier Tillysha became. Underneath, such individuals might have some peculiar, potentially disturbing quirks.
Tillysha might not trust purely on intuition—though elf intuition, especially that of a golden elf’s, was sharp.
Her sixth sense told her Filisia was indeed upright, trustworthy in character, with some quirky preferences that wouldn’t harm others.
But no one was perfect. It was unreasonable to demand that.
After weighing her thoughts, Tillysha decided she trusted both Aistride and Filisia. But it was best not to overexpose just yet, not only out of risk but due to whether they’d even accept her dual identity as both elf and human.
Such duality would challenge contemporary understanding.
Anomalies tend to be alienated.
This would take time to sort out. Time wasn’t an issue, as both Aistride and Filisia had mentioned, so she wasn’t pressed for a decision.
Still…
She’d deal with these matters later. For now, Tillysha had something more pressing to handle.
“Hmph,” Tillysha smirked, one perfectly formed leg crossed over the other, eyes trained on the unsightly crack forming in her wall. She looked anything but amused.
This pristine estate, immaculately clean and polished, had been marked in barely three days of occupancy. What a delightful way to make one’s mark with such a glaring “celebratory” scar.
Tillysha wanted to avert her gaze, but couldn’t help herself, as if this blemish on her wall were carved not in plaster but in her own psyche.
Something akin to a perfectionist with obsessive tendencies—her tidy villa now bore a glaring scar, and she felt the tension in her fists.
Well, well. A little one who didn’t quite consider consequences—was it all just play?
She was just a reckless youth, nothing more. It wasn’t worth dwelling on.
But, indeed…
Staring at the marred wall, Tillysha’s polite smile wavered. A red hashtag-like emblem seemed to form over her head.
She couldn’t let this slide.
Dressing in her usual school attire in her room—though she had never worn a skirt before, she managed it with surprising fluency, as if the ability was embedded in her DNA—and tidying her appearance for half an hour in front of a full-length mirror, she felt marginally satisfied. She grabbed her belongings and left, casting the Substitute Doll on Dillin’s bed before heading out.
On the way out, she eyed the nameplate on her door, written hastily with uneven strokes in the universal language.
“……What was I thinking when I wrote that?” She frowned, carefully removing the tag, tearing it into pieces, and dropping it into the trash. Reaching for fresh paper, she carefully wrote her name in exquisite elvish script and reattached it. Yet even this seemed slightly off, prompting her to adjust its alignment for nearly ten minutes more.
Satisfied, Tillysha smoothed her hair, descended the stairs, slipped her feet into her shoes, and exited the courtyard.
The dormitories hadn’t been assigned yet, but if not much had changed, Litte’s would still be in the temporary quarters.
Tillysha wasn’t sure exactly which room Litte occupied, but that was fine—she knew exactly where Aistride lived.
Approaching Aistride’s dormitory door, she was about to knock when it swung open, surprising her.
“Wha- what?! Ti, Tillysha… Your Majesty??” The one who opened the door wasn’t Aistride, but the fiery-haired elf she’d met earlier this morning.
Upon seeing it was Tillysha, Litte quickly straightened her slightly disheveled collar, looking sheepish and avoiding Tillysha’s gaze.
“Is my memory correct? Isn’t this Aistride’s room?” Tillysha asked kindly, with a sly glint in her eye.
“Ah… Aistride was out on business, and I was just helping her keep the place safe…” Litte scratched the back of her head nervously.
“I see.”
“Lady Tillysha needed Aistride for something, right? I could take you to her…”
“No need,” Tillysha laid a gentle but firm hand on Litte’s shoulder, stopping her movement.
“Huh?”
“I actually came looking for you, Litte.”
“Gulp.” Litte could feel herself pale at the mischievous smile on Tillysha’s face. She had an overwhelming feeling she was being seen through—her secrets utterly exposed. And a deep pit formed in her stomach. Things were about to go south…
Most concerning of all…
Lady Tillysha addressed her directly without a honorific!
This wasn’t normal at all. Had Her Majesty already caught on…?
“Litte, you seem off today. Is something troubling you?”
“No, no! I’m fine… But if the Lady doesn’t mind, I might…”
“Not feeling well? It’s convenient then—I’m rather skilled in diagnosis. Let me take a quick look?”
“But, how could I burden the Lady with that…” Litte recoiled slightly.
“Please, we don’t have to be so formal.” Before Litte could resist, Tillysha had placed her delicate hand on Litte’s forehead in an act of mock solemnity, pretending to diagnose her.
“Hmm… Ding! My diagnosis is in.”
“Wha, what’s wrong with me?”
“Litte’s ailment is… concerning the brain,” Tillysha tapped at Litte’s temple lightly.
“My brain?! What about my brain?!” Litte clutched her head.
“Yes, but the root isn’t entirely there—it’s more so…”
“Here~” Tillysha grinned broadly, lightly poking Litte’s chest.
“Eek! Ugh…” Litte turned bright red, quickly covering her assets.
“Is something wrong with my chest…?!”
“Dear, where’s your head? I meant your heart,” Tillysha continued, adopting a very serious demeanor.
“And this heart of yours—Litte’s heart—has concealed some rather nasty things.”
“Huh?! Nasty things?!”
“So, I recommend a thoracic surgery. We remove your heart, clean out all the dirty little secrets stored inside, then stitch you back up. Voila, problem solved!”
“Open my chest?! Remove my heart?! Will it… hurt?” Litte stepped back instinctively.
“Not at all. Close your eyes, it’ll be over quickly. When you open your eyes, you might find yourself reborn into a cleaner world!” Tillysha flung off her loafers with a cheerful skip.
“No, please no, Your Majesty!!”
“Litte, stop running. This is for your own good. We’ll excavate all those filthy little secrets you’ve hoarded inside. That’s the only way for you to experience a true rebirth.”
“Alright, time is of the essence. Let’s commence the surgery~”
“C-C-C-Come on! I’ll talk! I’ll spill everything I did this morning! W-W-W-Why did I have to get caught…!!!” Litte cried, pinned down by Tillysha on the couch.
Apparently, Tillysha’s methods proved a little too effective.
What had started as light teasing turned into a full confession. Not just today’s wrongdoing, but Litte’s entire childhood of secrets came flooding out. From bedwetting at a young age to sneaking peek at forbidden comic books behind her parents’ backs. Everything spilled out like an open floodgate—so much, it even made Tillysha feel a pang of guilt.
“And more…”
“That’s enough, Litte, you can stop now.”
“No, let me finish, please… Wahhh…”
Tillysha realized Litte was carrying a heavy weight on her conscience, and now saw her as a vessel for confession, treating her as some kind of confessional Buddha statue.
“As an elf, I am so sorry!”
“It’s alright, Litte. I understand. Everyone has their own little secrets. Don’t hold yourself to an impossible standard.”
“But… about this morning…”
“…Was that person who told you on this?” Litte pouted, tears still pooling in her eyes. “Tsk, snitched, didn’t they?”
“It wasn’t Mister Dillin.”
“But how did you know?”
“What do you think? I came home from my run and noticed a glaring crack on the wall where a sword must have struck. What should I have thought?”
“Uh… y-you’re right. I messed up. Please, Your Majesty, don’t hate me.”
“Then you must reflect properly, correct?”
“Noted. I’ve already apologized…”
“Is an apology enough, Litte? Why don’t we show some sincere remorse?”
