Chapter 44

The 183rd Student Council President.

That was my position at this academy.

“…What a pain.”

I looked up at the mountain of documents piled before me and let out a deep sigh. Nobody had told me about this. Nobody had told me that the Student Council President, supposedly the king of this academy, was nothing more than a glorified errand boy for paperwork.

“At this rate, this is no different from being an assistant trainee at the royal palace…”

“President!”

Bang!

The door flew open with enough force to make it look like it might break. I quickly smoothed out the deep furrow between my brows and plastered a smile onto my face.

“Thank you for your hard work. Um, I brought this for you as a little gift…”

“Oh, I did too! If you don’t mind, I…”

The ladies came rushing in like a flood, and I could practically hear the mask on my face cracking.

Most of the things they brought under the pretense of being gifts were handmade. Cooking, sewing, and things like that. They weren’t particularly delicious or well-made. And, to top it off, I wasn’t kind enough to carry around things like that just to spare their feelings.

In other words, they were a pain.

More than the paperwork, these women were the biggest nuisance of all. Did they even realize that I already had a fiancée?

“I’m sorry. I can’t accept things like that. I have a fiancée, too…”

Ah, how wonderful it would be if I could say that my fiancée might get jealous if I accepted them. Unfortunately, the more gently I refused, the more aggressive they became.

“However, I’ve still never seen His Highness’s fiancée at any public event.”

“I’ve heard that she confines herself to her estate and is rather sickly.”

“At this rate, wouldn’t it be difficult for her to produce an heir?”

“His Highness Dylan’s remarkable abilities are something that should be passed down.”

They were indirectly telling me that Bertia wasn’t fit to be my fiancée.

Stop it.

I’d seriously get angry.

And as for the one who took it upon themselves to call me by my name… I had never given them permission. Unfortunately for them, it had been decided six years ago that only Bell was allowed to call me by my name. Schwarz was an exception, of course.

I let out a small sigh before opening my mouth.

“Please do not insult my fiancée.”

The atmosphere immediately became tense, and the ladies fell silent.

Apparently, my approval rating was exceptionally high compared to those of previous Student Council Presidents. Naturally, I thought so. I was well aware of how people saw me, and I took particular care to make sure there were no cracks in my voice or gestures that might expose my true feelings. I was confident that I handled myself better than anyone.

Then came a sound like someone clapping their hands, and everyone’s attention turned in that direction.

Schwarz stood there, pushing up his glasses with an annoyed expression.

“Everyone, we’re busy, so please leave for today.”

With irritation coloring the reddish-black eyes behind his glasses, Schwarz said those words, and the ladies awkwardly took their leave.

They should have done that from the beginning.

“I’ve returned.”

“Good work.”

I leaned back hard in my chair, which creaked under my weight.

“I want to quit. I want to quit being Student Council President.”

“Tomorrow, Lady Bertia will be here. You can spend all your time flirting under the same roof. That’s why I’m in the Student Council, too.”

“Well, that’s true. Tomorrow, Bell will finally descend upon this place.”

“His Highness Dylan’s mind really has been warped.”

Schwarz looked at me with a regretful expression without changing his complexion in the slightest.

None of his business.

There was no longer anything standing in front of me that could challenge my absolute authority within this academy. The academy had been designed so that even parents and the kingdom itself had as little involvement as possible.

I didn’t know how such an abnormal academy had come to exist, but to me, it was the greatest empire imaginable.

“For now, let’s fill the vacancies left by the departing Student Council members with new students.”

“By ‘new students,’ do you mean Lady Bertia?”

“Obviously. If Bell weren’t here, I’d quit this place immediately.”

The third-years had made up a considerable portion of the Student Council, so their departure had left a large gap. How was I supposed to fill it?

Bell was an absolute necessity, but I needed to find other members as well. Preferably people who could actually do their jobs.

As I sat there groaning to myself while planning out the coming year, I heard the sound of a bell.

Chirin.

I reacted immediately and straightened up from the back of my chair. Schwarz’s expression also stiffened slightly.

Chirin, chirin.

The sound of the bell grew louder before stopping right outside the Student Council room.

Then came a light, rhythmic knock.

“Come in.”

The heavy-looking door creaked open.

In practical terms, I was the king of this academy.

However, there was one faction I couldn’t afford to overlook.

I smiled and stared directly at the woman standing before me.

I had to protect Bell from her as well.

“What brings you here, Sister-in-law?”

---

After the entrance ceremony ended, I ran around the academy looking for Bell.

She shouldn’t have gone home yet. The number of days I got to see Bell had decreased considerably, and I wanted to see her again after so long.

The conversation I’d had with that woman in the Student Council room yesterday had also been mentally exhausting, so I desperately needed some healing.

I searched around the school building, panting for breath, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.

Had she already gone back to the dormitory?

I was about to give up for today and slowed down as I turned a corner.

Then I heard Bell’s voice.

I was so happy that I was about to call out to her, but then I heard another man’s voice.

I stopped in my tracks.

“We’re friends, right? I’d be happy to become your friend. Please call me Az.”

“R-Really!? Then you can call me Bell, too! And you don’t have to speak so formally!”

“Hehe, yeah. You don’t have to speak formally to me either, Bell.”

Bell’s excited voice.

A man’s somewhat low voice.

The anger I’d felt a year ago threatened to flare up again.

It should have been a distant memory by now, but for some reason, I remembered that incident painfully well. I had been so jealous that I felt as though my brain would burn up and I might die from it.

Of course, all that emotion had been converted into magic, which was why I’d ended up destroying my room.

My arm began crackling with light, and I restrained it with my other hand.

I laughed bitterly to myself.

“I really can’t control myself when it comes to Bell.”

I cautiously peeked around the corner at the man and cursed my own carelessness.

I’d never seen him in the Royal Capital before.

He was probably a noble from the provinces. I hadn’t extended my influence that far.

I couldn’t believe someone from outside the capital had slipped through.

I’d been careless.

I’d already memorized his face. Perhaps I should make him disappear later.

With that thought in mind, I looked at Bell again.

This time, she was talking to a woman.

“What are you doing there?”

I interrupted the woman’s conversation without thinking and called out to them.

The woman looked surprised, but then she lowered her head awkwardly, as if she’d expected this.

Bell spun around so quickly that she froze in shock.

“Ah, Prince…”

I smiled as I spoke, trying not to let her sense my anger.

However, it seemed that my anger had naturally transformed into magic and only intensified the aura of my presence.

Bell was trembling.

Probably from fear.

Ah, she was so cute when she trembled like that.

“Bell, congratulations on entering the academy. Are you Bell’s friend?”

The woman I’d addressed widened her eyes slightly, then quickly bowed and introduced herself.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Highness. My name is Aria Plata.”

“Ah, so you’re from the Plata family…”

If I remembered correctly, the Plata family had adopted a commoner’s daughter.

Apparently, she was a beautiful girl with a talent for music.

So this was that girl.

Her unfamiliar pink hair and large golden eyes were moist with tears, and she really was strikingly adorable.

With looks like hers, I was certain most men in the world would fall for her immediately.

Not that I cared.

As I stared at the woman who called herself Aria, she suddenly looked away from me as though she’d realized she’d made a mistake.

Apparently, she’d reflected on her actions.

The Plata family had been properly informed, and she had surely been warned repeatedly by the head of the family.

“Well then, you know, right?”

What would happen if she approached Bell.

What would happen if she got in my way.

“Make sure you tell him properly, too, okay?”

“As you command.”

Although she answered as if she were frightened, she wasn’t trembling.

She had quite a strong core.

I was curious why a commoner girl like her had become friends with Bell, but I could understand it.

Seeing that strength of character, it wasn’t surprising that she was Bell’s friend.

“Then I’ll be going. Your Highness, Lady Bertia, please excuse me.”

Aria gave us an elegant greeting before swiftly walking away.

I thought she might have glared at me, but that didn’t matter.

“Now then, Bell. What were you doing here?”

“Huh?”

Bell turned toward me anxiously, and her face froze.

I was probably not smiling at all.

No matter how many years passed, Bell was the only person who could still make me lose my composure.

In both good ways and bad.

“Bell, I’m angry.”

Yes.

I was angry.

I desperately wanted to interrogate her about what they’d been talking about.

I wanted to know if that guy was the person Bell liked.

I was barely holding myself back with the last scraps of my reason.

Bell’s complexion grew even paler.

She was trembling far more violently than before.

I tried to smile in an attempt to ease Bell’s fear, even a little.

But it seemed to have the opposite effect.

She let out a short, frightened gasp.

She hadn’t made that face in front of that man.

She’d smiled so happily.

Was I not good enough?

We’d been together for six years, hadn’t we?

I knew Bell better than he did.

So why?

“Is he the person you like?”

Bell looked flustered.

“No, that’s not it. He’s my friend.”

Liar.

At the very least, it seemed like she cared about him more than she cared about me.

More than her own fiancé.

“You call your friend by his nickname, but you’ve never once called me by my name, have you?”

Only I was allowed to call her Bell.

And she was the only one allowed to call me Dylan.

“It’s always ‘Prince, Prince.’ So I’m below a friend in your eyes, aren’t I?”

“N-No, that’s not what I meant…”

She hadn’t meant it that way?

I wouldn’t let her say that.

After enthusiastically trying to win him over like that, she couldn’t just pretend nothing had happened.

“And ‘friend.’ Don’t you think that’s a nostalgic word?”

━━It was the same thing Bell had said to me first.

I trusted you.

I knew that was your kindness.

I understood.

Maybe saying something like this was cruel.

But right now, I was so irritated that I wanted to tear apart the weakest part of you.

As I delivered those words like a final blow, I let a hint of contempt enter my cold gaze.

Bell’s face crumpled as though I’d hurt her.

Seeing that expression caused the storm inside me to recede a little.

And someone whispered inside me:

I’m the worst.

No.

That’s not it.

I didn’t want to hurt her.

I just wanted her to realize how I felt.

I just wanted her to look at me more.

Acting on impulse, I kissed her ice-gray hair.

Bell’s eyes widened in surprise.

Of course they did.

I’d never done something like that before.

If Bell wouldn’t look at me, then fine.

I’d change my approach.

“…I thought Bell had accepted me. But I guess I was mistaken.”

“No!”

Bell shouted back sharply, and I secretly smiled in satisfaction.

That’s right.

Bell was weak when someone appealed to her emotions.

“Bell is mine, right?”

I kept showering her with words, slowly swallowing her up.

Slowly.

As though I were taking her into myself.

You were kind.

You were the purest and most beautiful person I’d ever met.

You didn’t know how much simply caring about another person could save them.

What did my kind Bell think of me now?

Bell wouldn’t abandon me.

No.

She couldn’t abandon me.

The poor child who had grown up without receiving parental love.

Pity was the emotion I hated most, but even that was fine.

What mattered was that Bell chose me of her own free will.

How we got there wasn’t particularly important.

Bell, accept me.

You’re mine.

Mine alone.

I would never let you go.

I wouldn’t give you to anyone.

I wanted you to desire me.

To feel me.

To love me.

I felt Bell squirm slightly in my arms.

When I stared down at her, our eyes met.

Her eyes were pleading.

“That’s not true. Prince, you’re not alone. You have me. You have Schwarz. Will looks up to you, too.”

Ah.

You really didn’t move the way I wanted you to.

You wouldn’t give me the words I wanted.

I immediately grabbed Bell’s wrist and pressed her against the wall.

“Then make me your proper fiancé.”

I’d already realized that Bell wasn’t someone I could handle with a simple approach.

Considering how much she’d been making me fret over this, I suppose it was only natural.

When I reproached her for having so little awareness of what it meant to be my fiancée, Bell looked troubled and flustered.

I hugged her and gently stroked her head as though comforting her.

I’d said I wasn’t angry anymore, but I hoped she’d forgive me for still feeling disappointed.

Maybe I’d been rushing things a little too much.

I could spend at least the next two years with Bell at this academy.

As long as the empire I’d spent a year building existed, there was no need to rush.

I’d slowly, slowly make her fall for me.

So surely she could forgive me for something this small.

“At least, I’d like you to call me by my name.”

It was a small request from me.

Bell looked at me as though she’d made up her mind, then exhaled my name in a whisper.

The tension left my shoulders.

My heart trembled with relief and joy.

Even if this engagement was something Bell hadn’t wanted, I wanted to love Bell as her true lover.

And I wanted to be loved by her.

Then I couldn’t allow any other man to have a place beside Bell.

“Making friends is a good thing. It’s fine for you to get along with him, too.”

Bell had told me to cherish my school life since I had the chance.

Bell was everything I needed in my world, but her world wasn’t as small as mine.

Friends and classmates were probably things she needed, too.

I wouldn’t blame her for that.

All she had to do was choose to stay by my side.

But…

“I want you to remember just one thing.”

I whispered it into Bell’s ear.

“If you get too close to him, I don’t know what I might do.”

Bell probably thought I was a pitiful person.

A pitiful prince who had grown up without receiving his parents’ love.

But I wasn’t as weak as she thought I was.

I’d never thought of myself as unhappy, nor was I so cold that I could simply accept this as the world’s unfairness.

I hadn’t changed because of love or romance.

I’d changed because of Bell.

Because you were here, I was able to keep living in this rotten world.

I wasn’t unhappy just because I’d grown up without receiving love.

Because the moment you chose me, Bell,

I would obtain eternal happiness.