Chapter 38

What should one do when meeting someone of high rank?
Bow one’s head.
Lower one’s posture.
Be careful with one’s words and actions.
It was an instinct born from learning.
The Academy students, and even the professors, were careful with their words and actions around Lia de Evgenia.

By rule, outside positions did not apply within the Academy.
Only students and professors.
The Academy’s rule was that hierarchy was determined by strict meritocracy.

Everyone knew that rule.
But influence from outside the Academy had quietly persisted.
Nobles with nobles. Commoners with commoners.
Moving around in groups was one example.
And above all of them reigned Lia de Evgenia.

The emperor’s daughter.
That one descriptor alone was enough to make her an object of everyone’s admiration.

Some did it for profit.
Some did it because they feared harm.
That was why most people treated Lia with pretense.

“Ah……. I’m Serpens.”

Serpens answered the greeting with an awkward expression.
The emperor’s daughter.
If he had not misunderstood, she had clearly said that.

‘Is she a princess?’

A simple handshake.
Serpens found Lia’s hand, without a single callus, strange.
Had she not trained properly?
The soft touch, contrasting with his own hand covered in wounds and calluses, only felt awkward.

Lia smiled.
She looked used to smiling.
A benevolent smile, like one an adult would show a child.
Serpens felt a sense of strangeness from it.

“It was a truly impressive sparring match. Despite your young age, you have excellent skill.”
“Um……. Well.”
“If it is all right with you, may we speak for a moment?”
“We are speaking right now, though.”
“Not here. Somewhere without listening ears.”

Serpens sniffed.
Something felt off.
At that moment, someone’s advice came to mind.

‘Did he say to be careful of the imperial family?’

Was it Freak?
It was what that bomb-haired guy had said.
He didn’t want to follow that guy’s words.
But for some reason, he strongly felt that he should heed that warning.

“Do not worry too much. I only want to give you an opportunity.”

The ones who reacted to Lia’s words were the people gathered around them.
People began whispering.
Serpens quietly observed their reactions.

They all seemed surprised.
Some gazes of admiration also seemed to have turned into jealousy.

‘It doesn’t look bad…….’

When people gathered in crowds, they tended to become worse at hiding their emotions.
Seeing how their shining eyes had sharpened with envy, it was likely to be a good opportunity.

“I’m sorry, but I have a prior engagement.”
“A prior engagement……?”

Serpens jerked his head toward the door he had come out of.
Lucas had said they would finish quickly and move.
There was nothing good about getting involved with others for no reason.
Looking back on the past, had incidents not always happened when he was separated from Lucas?

Lia’s fingers tapped quickly.
She was still smiling, but the corners of her mouth had lowered somewhat.

“How dare you refuse the opportunity Lady Lia gave you!”

The boy standing behind Lia said.
Serpens blinked and looked up at him, who felt twice as large.
His indistinct features looked as if they had parked wherever they pleased on his face.
His especially large nose was almost overwhelming.
He wondered why a princess would walk around with a person like that.

‘Did she hire a mercenary or something and bring him around?’

That was Serpens’s own judgment.
He was wearing the Academy uniform, but judging by his build, Serpens would believe it even if someone said he was a middle-aged man.
In fact, looking at that face, calling him a student felt more like a lie.

“Kid. You must not know how the world works yet. The opportunity Her Highness gave you is a chance to change your entire life.”

Why was he getting so worked up?
Serpens couldn’t understand.
The one who had been refused wasn’t that man.
The girl in front of him was calm, so why was someone else making a fuss?

“I’m sorry, but if I cause more trouble, I might not get to eat dinner. I have been starving since morning, so I absolutely have to eat dinner.”

It was the truth.
Delayed hunger was beginning to rush in.
Since he had won the sparring matches, he had been thinking of boasting to Lucas and getting him to buy him meat or something.
But if he caused trouble……

‘Forget food, it’ll be an evening of rolling around like a dog.’

He hated it just imagining it.
Lia offered a luxurious dinner, but Serpens refused once again.
The person he had to continue traveling with was not the girl in front of him.
Displeasing the person he had to keep seeing for a long time for momentary pleasure was a foolish act.

“Refusing…… twice is not proper manners.”

It was that man again.
His already ugly face flushed with anger, so Serpens ended up avoiding his gaze for no reason.

‘No matter how I look at it…… walking around with him seems like it would lower her reputation.’

Was it because his skill was guaranteed?
Even so, if she was the emperor’s daughter, should she not care about appearances too?

‘In a different sense, it would improve her appearance.’

Because it was true that walking around with a man like that would make her appearance stand out twice as much.
But that was only a simple trick of the eye.
Anyone fairly old-fashioned, or anyone who had seen that sort of trick many times, would know.
A true beauty shone on her own, not by comparison with those around her.

Perhaps he misunderstood the reason Serpens had avoided his gaze, because the man gave a satisfied smile.
Brows raised as if showing off and lips full of self-importance.
Serpens sighed both inwardly and aloud.

“My friend did speak a little harshly, but he isn’t wrong.”

Lia said after calming the man with a simple hand gesture.

“The opportunity I offer can become a major turning point in your life.”

Calm eyes.
Inside them was confidence that she could persuade her opponent.

Serpens looked from Lia, to the man behind her, then to the crowd in turn.
Everyone was waiting for his answer.
Some even showed an attitude as if they already knew the answer.

Of course, the answer they thought of was wrong.

“Of course, I’m sure it would. But as I said, I have a prior engagement.”

A princess’s offer.
It would be a lie to say it was not tempting.
It was probably true that it would be a major turning point in his life.
Refusing might have been something he could decide after following her and hearing what the offer was.

‘Somehow, this feels wrong.’

It wasn’t because of the bomb-haired guy’s advice.
If he followed this person now, he would never be able to refuse the offer.
It was not simply because he would be tempted by a good offer.

A princess. The emperor’s daughter.
Serpens only knew that nobles had various ranks, and did not know the details of their hierarchy.
Ranks like marquis and count were all things he had happened to hear about.
That meant he could not distinguish which of the two was higher.
But he could tell that the position of princess was higher than theirs.
Her father was the emperor.
Who could possibly treat her as beneath them?

If he went to the situation and place that she wanted.
Serpens might have to accept the offer regardless of his own will.
Even if he knew how to handle a sword a little, the boy was still nothing more than an orphan.
If, by any chance, they created a coercive atmosphere, even the small choice he had now would disappear.

“I appreciate the offer, but I refuse.”
“…….”

Lia’s eyebrow twitched.
Awkwardness appeared in what had been a natural smile.

People began murmuring.
Serpens wondered whether he should go back inside the training ground even now.
The gazes of others were always burdensome.
More than anything, this situation was burdensome.
He found himself strange for having enjoyed the attention so much.

“Ugh……”

For now, that ugly guy was the biggest problem.
His flushed, angry face.
The veins standing out on his neck were unpleasant.

Was this something to get that angry about?
Serpens had not refused his request.
And there was no reason for him to grant that request either.
That was why Serpens wanted to escape this situation even more.

Step.

The man’s foot came one step closer.

Step.

The distance closed once more.

Serpens’s hand instinctively sought his sword.

Just before the boy drew his sword.
Lia stopped the man.
At the words calling him, the man looked at Serpens with eyes that seemed about to pop out, then turned away.

“Seriously, what the hell is with that guy?”

Perhaps the warning to be careful of the imperial family had been because of that guy.
If that was the case, Serpens decided he would thank the bomb-haired guy later when he met him.

“Are you sure? If you refuse my offer now, you may regret it for the rest of your life.”

Serpens took his hand off his sword and blinked.
Regret.
Would a day ever come when he regretted today?

“It’s fine.”

The boy spoke firmly.

It was true that throwing away an opportunity that had come to him was foolish.
So how could he displease Lucas?

“……If you insist, then it cannot be helped. You will certainly regret it later.”
“That’s my business, so you don’t need to concern yourself with it.”

The final smile Lia showed contained a faint warning.
What did the many students who only watched her back think of her?
Serpens merely shrugged.

How others thought of her was not important.
The relationship between others and her was their own.
The world was too tiring to live while caring about even things like that.

With Lia’s gaze sweeping over Serpens one last time.
The boy’s incident was once again brought to a close.

“Come on, now. Everyone, please go do whatever you need to do. You’ve seen everything there is to see from a person like me.”

Serpens waved his hand through the air.
The students hesitated while gauging one another’s reactions.
Before long, people slowly turned away.

The front of the training ground was nearly empty.
Only then did Serpens let out a sigh of relief.

Rumble.

His stomach growled at just the right time.
Serpens smacked his lips and looked at the door to the training ground.
When would Lucas come out?
How important of a conversation were they having?
When would he be able to eat?

“Hmmm…….”

The deeper he sank into thought, the more his stomach rumbled.
Thinking about it, the amount of water he had drunk was also small compared to how much he had sweated all day.
He wanted to eat something right away, but that did not mean he could move first.

“I’ll just hold out a little longer.”

Serpens plopped down where he stood.
A fact he had learned from what had just happened.
He depended on Lucas more than he had thought.

There were two reasons he had been able to avoid feeling intimidated even in front of a princess.
One was his ignorance of nobles.
Since he knew nothing about them except that they were high-ranking people full of themselves, they weren’t frightening.
The other was his trust in Lucas.
The intuition that there would be more he could learn by following him than from the princess’s offer.
And the belief that if the princess tried to retaliate right away, Lucas would stop her.

‘……Or not?’

But the more he thought about it, the more that belief began to waver.
Would Lucas really protect him if the princess tried to retaliate?
It didn’t seem as if he would fear the emperor, but it also didn’t seem as if he would resolve an incident Serpens had caused on his own……

‘That’s not right either.’

Serpens pressed his temple with his fingertips.
During the matter with the Quantums Merchant House, he had helped him.
Strictly speaking, there had not been any conversation related to him, nor had that problem been resolved.
But had he not gone to the merchant house because of the problem Serpens had caused?
That concern alone was enough.

‘Just when I think I understand him, I don’t.’

He was blunt, yet took care of everything that needed to be taken care of.
He did not listen to whining, but he tended to listen to things said within a reasonable line.

While he rested for a moment with those thoughts.

Clatter-.

Lucas opened the door to the training ground and came out.

“You’re here?”

Serpens stood up.
His stomach spoke for him instead of his mouth.
At the rumbling sound, Lucas silently looked down at the boy.

“……I suppose you would be hungry.”

Serpens nodded enthusiastically.

“Let us eat first and then move.”
“Oh yeah! Let’s eat something expensive, something expensive!”

As always, Serpens began following Lucas.
No matter how much he fell, got hit, or was cut.
The boy had no regret in his choice.