Vol 3. Chapter 67: King vs. King

“Alright, alright, there’s nothing here for you anymore. Hurry up and go. A good nutball doesn’t block the road; I’m afraid Classmate Isatia will get the wrong idea.”

Hearing that, looking at the black-haired beauty who had already walked up to his side, Aesphyra, rare for her, fell into silence.

[Virtue +50]

[Current Virtue: 4634]

“Classmate Isatia, there were a lot of points in today’s lecture I didn’t understand. You know, right, I was out on medical leave before, I didn’t keep up with the pace. Can you teach me?” Vinny asked.

“No problem.” Isatia answered as she spoke, circling around from Aesphyra’s side. She did not so much as glance at Aesphyra, and simply sat down next to Vinny. “We already agreed on this before. You don’t need to say it again.”

What Isatia was referring to, naturally, was the tutoring arrangement the two of them had already agreed upon back in the Library: Vinny would act as a shield for Isatia, and Isatia would tutor Vinny in his studies, helping him patch up the gaps.

All Aesphyra felt was a refined, orchid-like fragrance brush past the tip of her nose, and then the black-haired beauty went around her and sat down in the middle, between her and Vinny, facing Vinny.

Aesphyra fell into a deep silence.

And it was not just her who went silent, but all the boys in the class and all of the Imperial-faction students as well.

What?!

Heading straight in his direction the moment class ends, giving him tutoring, this proactive, this blatant??

Could you at least act a little, put on a bit of a show and fool everyone, huh? Is it really okay for you two to be this openly close??

The Imperial-faction male students could not help roaring in their hearts.

Even though the two of them had behaved similarly back in the Library, the level of intimacy back then was far inferior to this. Those previous times, it had only been that Isatia happened to be in the Library, ran into Vinny there, and wanted to find a quiet place where they would not be disturbed. This time, however, Isatia had truly taken the initiative to go straight to Vinny, as if she knew he’d have things he didn’t understand and was specially walking over to teach him.

That was their own princess of the empire, after all. By rights, they—the ones who should have been “closest to the water, first to the moon”—had made no progress at all, yet that notorious, fraud of a foreign delinquent young master was the one who had gotten somewhere with her??

This was something all the Imperial-faction young noblemen absolutely could not accept.

But not being able to accept it was one thing. This was their princess’s own choice. They couldn’t very well step forward now and volunteer to tutor Vinny themselves and tell Isatia not to help Vinny with his remedial lessons, could they??

Even someone with rock-bottom emotional intelligence, someone completely blind to the mood, would know that kind of thing was impossible to do, right??

Well, you say that, but there really was someone who did exactly that.

“Your Highness! I can handle trivial matters like this; there’s no need for you to come in person. My grades are pretty good—if you really want to help a classmate, I can be the one to tutor him!” One Imperial-faction male student, worked up, proactively stood up with his hand raised, and spoke out. As he spoke, he even started to walk over, intending to replace Isatia and be the one to tutor Vinny.

“Classmate Lorin, I seem to have said many times already that while we are at school, do not address me as princess.” Isatia did not so much as lift her eyes to look at this male student named Lorin. Her gaze remained on her textbook, and she did not even turn her head.

“Yes, Classmate Isatia, but...” Lorin assumed that what he was doing was giving Isatia an out, while also keeping Isatia from having contact with Vinny. It could be said to be killing two birds with one stone. However, Isatia did not seem pleased at all with what he was doing. Lorin instantly panicked and wanted to say something more, but before he could finish, Isatia cut him off.

“Classmate Lorin, you should understand the principle that every second counts. Your time and mine are both very precious and cannot be measured in money. So don’t spend it on meaningless things.”

The moment Isatia said this, she directly blocked off every avenue for anything Lorin might have wanted to say next.

The surrounding Imperial-faction students could not help but wipe cold sweat from their palms.

It was their first time hearing Isatia’s wording sound this severe. In the past, even when Isatia was disturbed, she would still have the requisite amount of patience. She would never be like she was this time, where the subtext was basically, “Stop wasting her time; this is something utterly meaningless to her.”

Anybody with even half a brain could understand the implication behind Isatia’s words.

Lorin shrank back instantly. His face turned deathly pale, and he was drenched in cold sweat, because he understood that if Isatia came to dislike him, that would not just be as simple as being hated by a classmate with a special status.

He was a noble of the Tyrel Empire, the eldest son of his house, the future head of the family, while Isatia was the future Empress of the Tyrel Empire, his direct superior as a lesser noble in vassalage to the royal family. If the Empress took a dislike to him, then in the future, both he and his family would have a very hard time of it.

“I—I understand. I’m truly sorry to have bothered Your... no, Classmate Isatia. My apologies.” Lorin said, trembling, and naturally did not dare continue playing the jumping clown. He backed down.

Now, no one else dared step forward to stir up trouble. There was already one cautionary example. If anyone was to blame, it could only be Lorin for not being able to read the room and having such low emotional intelligence.

“Where should I start?” Throughout, Isatia had not paid attention to anyone else. Her gaze had stayed on the textbook, and she did not speak to anyone else. When she turned to speak to Vinny, however, the warmth in her tone instantly climbed by several degrees.

“Can I say, ‘start from the beginning’? I don’t understand anything from start to finish.” Vinny flipped the page back to the very first page.

“Alright, then I’ll start from the first section’s annotations and technical terms.” Isatia spoke in meticulous detail, her tone brimming with patience.

Aesphyra said nothing. Propping her fragrant cheek in one hand, she watched Isatia, who was in front of her explaining problems to Vinny, with a beaming smile.

Beside them, Shicodale looked utterly crestfallen. He knew he absolutely could not teach people at all; that was why Vinny had been forced to choose Isatia to teach him.

“Hey, why are you still sitting there? I already told you there’s nothing here for you anymore. Hurry up and go.” Seeing that Aesphyra not only wasn’t leaving, but was still watching him with that meaningful smile, Vinny couldn’t help snapping.

“Eh, I can’t sit here?” Aesphyra tilted her head. “I don’t see Vinny’s name written on this seat, do I? Whether I sit here or not is my freedom, right?”

“Sure, whatever you like then. Just sit there.” Vinny withdrew his gaze and let it fall back onto the textbook.

Isatia stopped explaining for a moment and glanced at Aesphyra, who was propping her chin and looking this way. She said nothing and shifted her attention back to explaining the problems to Vinny.

“Vinny really is cunning~”

“Okay, no. We’re trying to study here. Can a certain white-haired nutball stop muttering at the side and distracting us already??” Vinny couldn’t help but look up. “And how am I ‘cunning,’ exactly??”

“Mm-hm~ Just an observation, that’s all. The other day when I went to visit you in the sanatorium, you said there was nothing special between you and Classmate Isatia, that your relationship wasn’t that good. But looking at things now... tsk, tsk. Honestly, why bother going out of your way to hide it?” Aesphyra said with a light laugh, chin in hand.

This woman.

Vinny’s brows knitted. For a moment, he had no idea what exactly Aesphyra was trying to convey by deliberately emphasizing what he had said that day.

However, Isatia, who had been earnestly explaining and teaching Vinny at his side, suddenly seemed to have some sort of reaction. She silently shifted her gaze and looked toward Aesphyra.

“Long time no see~ Classmate Isatia. I trust you’ve been well?” When she noticed Isatia staring straight at her, Aesphyra also turned her gaze over and met Isatia’s eyes with a bright smile.

Two pairs of extremely similar violet beautiful eyes collided in midair, as if everything was being said without words.

Both of them were the type with very strong personalities; it was just that the direction of that strength was a little different. As a result, when their gazes collided, neither had any intention of backing down.

“Mm. Long time no see.” Isatia inclined her head in a small nod, but the gesture was clearly heavy on politeness, and merely a response to what Aesphyra had said earlier.

“In the Deeply Buried Secret Realm, you really shone, Classmate Isatia. As expected of the First Princess of the Tyrel Empire,” Aesphyra praised.

“I don’t dare accept that. Classmate Vinny helped me a great deal. Without him, there’s no way I could have made it out of Marsmo’s Deeply Buried Secret Realm alone.” What Isatia said was the simple truth, but to many of the people listening, it sounded like nothing more than modesty.

This was all Isatia could say. She absolutely could not spell things out too clearly. If she were too explicit, Vinny’s secret would inevitably be exposed.

What a joke. Between Isatia and Vinny, who was clinging to whose thigh, exactly??

Just by age ranking alone, Vinny was nowhere near being a match for Isatia, alright??

“Besides that, later on I heard from Classmate Vinny that before he was sent into the Deeply Buried Secret Realm, Classmate Aesphyra gave him a lot of help. Those alchemy potions and magic scrolls played a crucial role afterward. I’m truly grateful to you.”

“Not at all, it was nothing but a small effort.” Aesphyra’s smile bloomed like a flower.

“Mm. If anything, that’s where I was at fault.” Isatia stared straight at Aesphyra, her expression unchanged. “If not for the existence of a contract between us, Classmate Vinny wouldn’t have had to take such risks with me.”

“...” Aesphyra kept her smile, but rare for her, fell silent. After a short pause, she spoke again in a low voice.

“That’s true. You really could call it fate playing tricks on people. Who would have thought that a ‘scrap of paper’ of a dissolved engagement would end up being the fuse that started everything?”

“Fate playing tricks?” Isatia replied. “Out of respect for precision, I think I might need to correct you on a few points. The current status of that engagement does not count as entirely dissolved, strictly speaking. Moreover, whether this is fate playing tricks, or a predestined bond and arrangement, is something no one can say for certain. We’ll just have to let the future speak.”

“Oh, oh, I see. Thank you for the correction, Classmate Isatia. Though, I think what I said is just the publicly accepted fact, isn’t it?” Aesphyra’s smile only deepened. “After all, everyone has seen for themselves what the Tyrel Emperor and the Lanteville Family’s stance is on the matter~”

“...” Listening to the two of them talk, Vinny opened his mouth, but ultimately chose, under the powerful control of his survival instincts, to keep his wise neutrality and not get between the two of them.

Even he could tell that the mood of Aesphyra and Isatia’s conversation was starting to go a bit sideways, to the point that he completely abandoned his initial thought of cutting in with a, “Have you two forgotten about my issues here?”

Aesphyra and Isatia were the twin campus belles and first and second place of the first years. Their interactions naturally drew the entire class’s attention. However, the two of them were speaking in very low voices in uncanny unison, so the only ones who actually heard them were Vinny and Shicodale, who were right next to them.

“Uh, uh, huh?” Vinny sensed something was off, and Shicodale did as well. After all, elves were extremely sensitive to emotions.

For instance, right now, Shicodale simply could not understand why, from the mood alone, these two girls with black and silver hair clearly seemed to be having some kind of dispute, yet neither of them was showing it. One was calm and unruffled, the other was all smiles, as if the two of them had hit it off immediately and were chatting happily.

For Shicodale, this kind of thing was much too hard to understand. Elves, after all, were emotional creatures. Unless they were comparatively older elves, any unpleasant feelings would show on their faces. It was very hard for them to hide such things.

“So, strictly speaking, it hasn’t been annulled.”

“Strictly speaking? Then just how strict is this ‘strictly speaking,’ hm~?” Aesphyra teased, unconcerned.

Okay, why were these two women getting hung up on this issue? If they wanted something to argue heatedly about, couldn’t they pick something else? Wasn’t the urgent matter right now supposed to be how far behind he was in his coursework??

Vinny pressed his lips together.

“Standards are always relative. Naturally, I’m speaking from the perspective of legal principles. Also, why is it that the moment I bring this up, Classmate Aesphyra becomes so persistent about it?” Isatia raised her gaze slightly, lifting her chin and using her height advantage to look down at Aesphyra just a little.

“It’s just a sheet of paper for an engagement. I will not be bound by it, nor will I use it to bind someone else. It was that way before; now, and in the future, it will be the same.” As Isatia spoke, there was a full measure of proud steel in her tone.

“I’m merely stating the objective fact of its existence. Only the weak care too much about the meaning of that sheet of paper. Those who truly have the leisure of the strong ought to have full confidence in themselves—whether it’s in their strength or their charm.”

“Only people who have neither strength nor charm would think a sheet of paper is the key that decides victory or defeat. If it’s something you can’t even be the one to decide for yourself, then what use is that kind of promise?” This whole speech of Isatia’s was serenely delivered, yet brimming with absolute confidence.

“Well said, Classmate Isatia~” Aesphyra remained unfazed. She smiled and gently brought her hands together in a light applause. “Relying on yourself in all things—only the weak have no confidence in themselves and, lacking any sense of security, cling to a scrap of waste paper. I think so too, you know.”

Isatia silently watched Aesphyra, and Aesphyra likewise smiled cheerfully as she watched Isatia. Reflected in each other’s eyes were the outlines of the other girl, along with those noble, violet beautiful eyes.