The Worries of Those Who Held the Fort

~The Frustrations of Mary Hunt~

Having finally finished organizing the stacks of paperwork, I slammed the pile down on my table with a flourish and sighed deeply. This was work that I could have very easily finished in the blink of an eye under normal circumstances. I was unable to set my mind to it, however, and so it took quite a while.

With this, my work was finally finished, and I returned to my quarters at the academy’s dormitories. Work, life, it was all the same. I just couldn’t focus.

It had been like this for the past few days. I knew the reason full well, of course. It was simple, really — Katarina and her group had left in search of Keith... and I was not permitted to join them on their trip.

Katarina Claes was a very special person to me. She was very important in my life. When I had closed myself off from the outside world as a child in response to my stepsisters’ cruel bullying, it was she who had saved me.

I did not have a shred of self-confidence then — it was Katarina who inspired me, and allowed me to live with my head held high. Whenever I faltered, it was she who extended her hand toward me. To not love someone like that was all but impossible.

Before I knew it, Katarina had become the most important person to me, deep in my heart. That was why I wanted to be by her side. In order to be with her, always, I worked hard in various ways.

However, Katarina was simply overflowing with charm. There were many others in her life. The tip of the spear, if I could describe it as such, was Katarina’s current fiancé, crown prince Jeord Stuart. The prince was a genius — he was capable of anything, and had eventually become fond of Katarina. He employed any means necessary to ensure that she fell into his hands.

Although Jeord looked like any other dashing youth, I knew that he was quite the villain on the inside. Using his standing as Katarina’s fiancé, Jeord had planned to immediately take her hand in marriage after her graduation from the Academy of Magic. As much as I hated the idea, I could predict that this was what the prince would do. After all, we had similar ways of thinking.

However... Katarina was, how do I put this — extremely dense. She did not notice any of Prince Jeord’s advances, of course. If anything, my efforts over the years had paid off. I told Katarina at every opportunity that “becoming a royal was most tiresome.” As a result, she was hardly eager about the entire marriage affair.

With the assistance of my allies, who were all also rather fond of Katarina, we planned to have her somehow cancel her engagement with the prince. To this end, we were deliberating a possible solution when...

After a complicated incident that caused much ado a short while ago, there was an unexpected development: Katarina, who was quite possibly the most dense person in the entire Kingdom of Sorcié, suddenly became aware of Prince Jeord’s feelings toward her.

Riding on that success, Jeord began aggressively escalating his advances at a pace I had never seen before. While the rest of the council attempted to shield Katarina from his attempts, Jeord was quick to pile extra work on us. So despite our best efforts at interrupting his plans, Jeord managed to give us the slip time and time again.

And amidst all this, Katarina and Jeord left together on a trip, of all things! The reason was that Katarina’s adopted brother, Keith Claes, had seemingly run away from home. He had returned to Claes Manor during a holiday period when he had suddenly gone missing. Shortly after a letter arrived addressed to the Claes family, claiming that Keith had left home of his own volition.

This was unnatural on numerous counts. Why would Keith, who loved Katarina so, suddenly choose to leave her side...? Many others thought the exact same, I’m sure, but there was little a young girl like me could do.

It was not like Katarina, however, to think that way. Before I knew it, she had declared that she would go on a journey to find her brother. In the most straightforward way, too! “Keith surely ran away from home because I caused him too much trouble!” she’d said.

In that case, I would accompany her too...! Or so I thought. Unfortunately, there were more complex circumstances at play, and I was unable to join Katarina on her journey. This was a tragedy in and of itself, but there was an even bigger problem: Jeord would be accompanying her!

Given that his approaches toward Katarina had been rapidly intensifying over the past few days, and he would be together with her the entire time, who knows what would happen. I was incredibly worried, to put it lightly.

Yet Katarina had become transfixed with the issue of Keith’s disappearance, and had apparently all but forgotten about Jeord’s advances, for now, at least. Try as he might, Katarina was no longer receptive to Jeord’s efforts. A good thing indeed, but...

Just in case, I entered a formal request via the Ministry for another member of her journeying party to keep an eye on Jeord, so as to ensure that he would not unduly approach Katarina. Even so, this was the prince we were dealing with. I could never quite read his hand.

Ahh... if only I, too, could follow her on this journey! I was worried. Terribly worried, and also greatly displeased that I had been left behind.

Ever since Katarina had left, these feelings inside me had been swirling uncontrollably. In fact, they were getting in the way of my work at the council, and even preventing me from living well!

Ugh...! Just how long will it be until Katarina returns? Is she safe? I wondered, pacing meaninglessly in my quarters. My usual image of the infallible noble lady of high society had crumbled. I did not look anything like that now.

As I continued to pace around my room in pointless circles, I heard a knock on the door — a guest had arrived for me, according to my servant.

The one who had showed up was my current fiancé, crown prince Alan Stuart. He might have been Jeord’s twin, but the two were nothing alike in terms of personality. The most striking difference was that Alan was... honest. A less flattering word to use might be “simple,” or perhaps even a little childish at times. He was also among the many who were fond of Katarina.

Alan had actually only noticed his feelings for her just a year prior. He was dense too, though nothing near Katarina’s level. Although everyone around him knew that he had feelings for her ever since he was a child, it would seem that he himself hadn’t noticed the entire time.

I suppose it was I who was responsible for that. I had done everything in my power to ensure that Alan would not notice how he felt about her. Why would I do such a thing? Well, it was to reduce the number of rivals competing with me for Katarina’s hand, of course. It was nothing as sappy as, “Oh, because Alan is my fiancé.” Do not misunderstand, I am somewhat fond of Alan. But Katarina will always come first.

When he finally noticed his feelings for Katarina, Alan turned to me, so trusting, and said, “There’s someone else I like. Maybe my feelings will never reach her, but I can’t lie to you. That’s dishonest. We should cancel our engagement.”

Truly, I was stunned at how honest Alan could be. In fact, I could not help but be worried about his future, given that noble society was swirling with snakes and other dark elements. Alan claimed that he could not tell me who this mystery person was. All I could do was think to myself, But everyone already knows!

However, my answer at the time was a firm “no.” After all, if my engagement with Alan was called off, I would almost certainly be immediately engaged to someone else. And if that happened, it was likely that I could be married off on the spot. Perhaps it would come across as me tooting my own horn, but as a result of my countless years of hard work, I had quite the reputation as a refined lady in noble society. I was most popular indeed.

Honestly speaking, I would greatly abhor being married off to some man I did not know. I didn’t think I could endure being apart from her. A compromise I could make was to be by Katarina’s side, even if it would only be for a while.

My life goal was to spend the rest of my life with Katarina. This was no time for I, Mary Hunt, to go off getting married to men I didn’t even know! That was why I also told Alan that there was someone else I loved, and that this person may never answer my feelings either.

“But... I will not give up! The possibility of it is low, yes, but I would like to at least try. So... I would greatly prefer it if you stayed, Prince Alan. After all, you are in a similar situation — you would be much more preferable to a new fiancé I did not know. So please, let us keep the engagement intact for now,” I said, with tears in my eyes.

Alan, being the dense prince he was — and one of my rivals, no less — was quick to agree, without even a single hint of suspicion. “I get it. Until you and that person end up together... I’ll continue being your fiancé.”

I did feel bad for him, but at least now we shared a common goal! I pulled Alan into our little alliance, and plotted to nullify all of Jeord’s aggressive approaches. But this time, he undoubtedly had the upper hand. Now that Katarina was out of my reach... would Jeord do something to her? I could not get that thought out of my mind.

Despite my obvious frustration and my markedly different behavior as of late, Alan still managed to hand me a letter — although he did seem somewhat cowed by my fury.

“A letter’s arrived addressed to the council. Thought I’d bring it to you,” he said, offering the letter to me.

“A letter, you say? From whom, exactly?” But upon taking a peek at it, I noticed a word that I loved dearly written there.

“Yeah. From Katarina, about her journ— hey!”

Before Alan could finish his sentence, I snatched the letter out of his hands and immediately set about reading its contents. Written in the letter was nothing to be alarmed about. It was simply Katarina happily describing the highlights of her trip in a relaxed manner.

The letter put me at ease. I sighed deeply once again, in spite of myself — this time in relief.

“H-Hey. Mary... I can read it too, right?” For some reason, Alan seemed terrified.

“But of course!” I replied, handing the letter over to the prince with a ladylike smile.

~The Worries of Alan Stuart~

My fiancée, Mary, had been weird lately. Guess you could say she’s distracted — like her mind is on someone else. She keeps getting a grave expression on her face. The reason is probably— or well, definitely, the fact that Katarina had left on a trip.

Katarina Claes was my twin brother Jeord’s fiancée, and me and Mary’s close friend. The only daughter of Duke Claes was kind of a weirdo in many ways. But I liked how straightforward she was.

Mary was really attached to Katarina, ever since they were kids, and they were still good friends. That’s why she was lonely now, because she got left behind.

Well, I didn’t feel great about having to stay either. After all, I thought about Katarina as much as Mary did. But then, I guess my feelings for Katarina weren’t quite the same. Mary just admired Katarina, and that was that. But for me, I loved her as a woman, even though she was my brother’s fiancée.

But I’m dense. Even I know that. I only noticed these feelings last year, when Katarina was almost killed. I was surprised when I found out, but when I did, everything suddenly made sense.

But I couldn’t just go and snatch away my brother’s fiancée just because of my feelings. Everyone knew it was a political marriage, so maybe I’d be able to do it if they didn’t get along. But look at Jeord — parading around pampering Katarina whenever he could.

I decided to lock my feelings away deep in my heart. But having thoughts about another girl like that wasn’t fair to my fiancée, Mary. It was dishonorable. I couldn’t just tell her who I liked, obviously, but I told her about my feelings.

I figured that Mary would be happy to call off the engagement, but then she said something totally out of the blue. She said that she liked someone else too, and that she couldn’t talk to them either. She was in the same boat as me, with some kind of forbidden love.

Come to think of it, the place I saw Mary the most was at Katarina’s manor. There was always a distance between us, and it seemed like Mary didn’t really like me that much. But I was surprised that she had feelings for someone else this entire time.

If she canceled the engagement with me, she’d just be married off to someone else immediately, she said. So we decided to keep the engagement intact. It had been a year since then, and I still had no idea who the mystery person that Mary liked was.

Mary seemed to be working hard. With my position, there wasn’t much I could do about my secret love. But seeing Mary give it her all made me hope that she and the person she liked would find happiness. Now that we’d both told each other about our feelings, I felt fonder of Mary, who’d just been my fiancée in name.

With that lovely face of hers, she’d declared, “I do not want for my dear friend, Katarina, to be monopolized by Jeord!” and asked me to tell her about what Jeord was up to. Well, I didn’t want Jeord to do that either. Though the way Mary went about it felt like she was trying to get between the two of them.

Maybe because of what we were trying to do, Jeord and Katarina’s relationship didn’t really go anywhere. Jeord was always approaching her, but she was too much of a blockhead to notice his feelings.

But then, not long after she was rescued after being kidnapped, Katarina finally realized what was going on. Like this was some kind of trigger, Jeord’s advances got way more intense. And then after that, this trip happened. Katarina’s brother, Keith, apparently ran away from home. She went off to look for him, and Jeord went with her... which made me worried.

Mary wasn’t just feeling sad because she was lonely. She was probably worried about Katarina being taken away from her forever, and that’s why she was acting so weird. Honestly I was feeling the same way. I said I’d hide my feelings, but the more I thought about it, the more I was upset when I thought about Katarina marrying Jeord and becoming his... well, I didn’t want to think about it. Guess I’m selfish in some ways after all.

I really hope nothing happens between them while they’re gone, I thought as I finished up the rest of the work in the council chambers. With Jeord gone, our workload was a lot heavier. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the traveling group, wondering where they were and what they were doing. I couldn’t keep my mind on my work, so I ended up staying here late recently.

The sun was setting. Time to get back to the dorm, I was thinking, when a letter arrived. “To everyone at the student council,” it said.

It was definitely written by her. I wanted to read it right then, but if it was something to do with something happening between Katarina and Jeord, I didn’t want to think about it. So I hesitated before opening it. Well, I guess I should let Mary know first anyway.

Making up my mind, I cleaned up the place and headed back to the dorms. When I got to Mary’s room, I saw that she was looking pissed off again.

“A letter’s arrived addressed to the council. Thought I’d bring it to you,” I said, showing Mary the letter.

“A letter, you say? From whom, exactly?”

“Yeah. From Katarina, about her journ— hey!”

Before I could even finish, Mary violently snatched the letter out of my hands. Unlike me, she didn’t hesitate at all. She ripped the letter open and read it all quickly with the same look on her face.

Then her expression softened and she sighed deeply. Seemed like nothing bad was written in it, at least. She looked a lot more relaxed now, but she still had an edge in her expression. It was hard to deal with her when she was like this. But even so...

“H-Hey. Mary... I can read it too, right?”

She replied with one of her ladylike smiles, apparently not upset anymore. “But of course!” she said, handing me the letter.

I read it, and found that it was just Katarina happily describing her journey, and that was that. All’s well that ends well, huh.

Relieved, I handed the letter back to her. The anxiety in my mind seemed to calm a little. Since the letter was addressed to everyone in the council, I guessed Sophia would be the next one to read it. I said this to Mary, who had already gone back to her usual self.

With a small smile, she said, “Indeed. I shall deliver it to her personally.”

~The Melancholy of Sophia Ascart~

“Haaah...” How many times have I sighed like this today? I’ve lost count...

I returned to the dormitories as the sun began to set. I even picked up a book I had been interested in as of late in an attempt to cheer myself up, but I... just couldn’t concentrate.

If I were to even get slightly absorbed in the book’s contents, my mind would wander back to Katarina. Is she all right? I would think. No matter the book before me, even if it was one of my favorites... they simply could not win against the existence that was Katarina.

Katarina Claes... a dear friend of mine ever since childhood. We were friends even now. She was someone most important to me. I had first met her when I was ten, at a tea party held at the royal castle. I was born looking somewhat different than the people around me... and they would always stare at me as if I were some sort of curiosity.

I had locked myself away in my heart... but Katarina smiled at me. And then, she told me that I was beautiful, despite the fact that I hated how I looked, and how I was stared at because of it. I found salvation in Katarina’s words... and was finally able to become someone new. In fact, I was only where I stood now because I had met Katarina, all that time ago.

And now, that very same person, who meant so much to me... had left on a journey. Katarina’s adopted brother, Keith, had run away from home. She had left in search of him.

The disappearance of Duke Claes’s son was not something to be taken lightly. It could not be made public, and only a small number of people could be involved in the search... I knew from the very beginning that this was no normal disappearance.

I was not strong, unlike Jeord or Maria. I wielded no power of any kind... even if I were to follow, I would only get in their way. Even I knew that much. However... understanding it logically was one thing. Coming to terms with my feelings... was another.

I had wanted to go, too... and my heart was filled with swirling emotions because I could not accompany her. And then there was another point of concern... Maria was fine, but to think that Jeord would follow her on this journey...

I mean Jeord Stuart, of course. Third crown prince of the kingdom, and Katarina’s fiancé. When I first met Katarina she was already engaged to him, and he had always stuck close to Katarina back then, too. Although I sometimes felt like he was a little mean or mischievous... I understood that Jeord wasn’t a bad person.

But... to just take Katarina all for himself! I could not agree with that! I could recall the numerous occasions in my childhood when I felt frustrated at Jeord for doing just that. And then... from what I heard, he intended to take Katarina’s hand in marriage immediately after her graduation from the academy! If that really came to pass, Katarina would become fully monopolized by Jeord...

No! I won’t accept that, I just won’t! I have to do something to... interfere! With those thoughts in mind, I formed an alliance with Mary, who felt the same way, and we did everything in our power to foil Jeord’s plans.

Maybe it was because of all our hard work...? Katarina had never noticed Jeord’s feelings toward her all this time... but it would appear that she had recently come to understand. With that, Jeord’s attempts at expressing his feelings greatly increased in intensity and frequency... and it was a most difficult time...

To leave together on a journey now, of all times! If anything happened between Jeord and Katarina on this trip... if Jeord really took her hand in marriage, then I would never be able to see her again! Ugh, that was unacceptable, just unacceptable! I could not find it in myself to give Jeord my blessing!

After all, my heartfelt wish was for Katarina to become my sister-in-law! If that were to happen, I would be able to live with her forever. For that to happen, I’d really like Big Brother to work a little harder... ah. About Big Brother...

My older brother, Nicol, was a most beautiful person! Not only that, he was sensitive, considerate, and gentle. Anyone would be proud to have him as an older brother. Due to his beautiful looks and peculiar aura, Big Brother was very popular with people of any gender. However, I also knew that he always had feelings for Katarina.

And yet...! Big Brother simply would not approach Katarina in any way! After all, if Nicol would really put his mind to it, anyone and everyone would fall prey to his charms! Yes, even Katarina! She would become all but entranced, too! No matter how much I told my brother to work harder, he would only shake his head... and say what he usually did. “It would be most inappropriate. She already has a fiancé.”

Despite my brother’s alluring looks and charms, he was actually a very straight-laced, serious, and somewhat rigid person on the inside. To begin with, what was all that about her “already having a fiancé”? Perhaps that was true for Jeord, but Katarina hardly saw him in that light. To me, this was the perfect opportunity, the best chance!

Katarina was straightforward, gentle and kind to everyone... everyone liked her, of course! She herself, however, did not seem aware of this in the slightest. Even Jeord, who had been ferociously attempting to woo Katarina ever since they were both children, never did get his feelings for her noticed.

“I’m only Prince Jeord’s fiancée in order to fend off other women!” Katarina would always say such things. Any normal person would think this is impossible. Certainly, only Katarina would seriously declare something like that.

Katarina also really loved romance novels. That was how we came to know each other, after all. She would always read many wonderful stories about love and romance, and we would often get into passionate discussions. “The knight in this story is so charming! Ah, that prince, too, I could fall for him in a heartbeat!” Katarina would say.

However, when it came to discussions about our real lives... “Well, I don’t really have much luck with love and all that, you know?” she’d say, much to the surprise of everyone around her.

I once asked her why, only for her to say, “Well, I’m just a villainess at the end of the day, right?” I could not understand what she meant at all.

In any case, it became clear to me that Katarina was, for some inexplicable reason, firmly rooted in the belief that she was not fated to experience matters of love, romance, and the like. Though now things were different, since she had noticed Jeord’s feelings toward her.

However, Katarina’s mind was filled with thoughts of Keith right before they set off. It even seemed like she had all but forgotten about noticing Jeord’s feelings before... but there was the risk of her remembering everything if they traveled together for all that time! If that happened...

Ugh, I could feel those emotions swirling around inside me again. I simply could not stay still, and I soon found myself idling around in my room. After all, Mary did say, “This is Prince Jeord we’re talking about. Swift moves are to be expected.” If... If anything were to happen to Katarina during that trip...!

Perhaps it was because I had read a few too many romance novels up until this point... I could not stop my imagination from running wild. If anything, I could feel it all slowly getting worse.

A scene from a recent novel I had read comes to mind... of one knight of the princess’s royal guard, proposing to the very same princess he served right before their journey reached an end. At night, the princess was unable to fall asleep no matter how hard she tried, and so she wandered outside her room... A drunk accosted the princess, and she was saved by that same knight. The princess would then fall for the knight, and their bond would deepen over the course of their journey.

However... once that journey was over, the two would never be able to meet again. She made up her mind — she would become bonded to the knight before returning to the royal castle, and on a night close to the journey’s end, she made her way to where the knight stood...

“...Nooooooooooo! You mustn’t!!” I screamed, envisioning Katarina as the princess, and Jeord as her knight. As I did so...

“I do not know what it is that one mustn’t do, Sophia. However, the sun has set. Avoid raising your voice in the dormitories.” A somewhat exasperated voice came from behind me — I turned around quickly, only to see my brother Nicol.

“B-Big brother!? Why are you here...?”

For some reason, he had a most exasperated expression on his face. “To deliver something the council has requested of me. Work, of course. I thought to visit you as well, Sophia, and so came to the dormitories. You would not respond no matter how many times I called out to you. You would do well to... address your daydreaming tendencies.”

“A-Ah... my apologies...” Big Brother’s stern warning caused me to inadvertently withdraw into myself. It was as he said, though... I did have a habit of daydreaming. I would get lost in countless fantasy worlds in my mind. I myself hardly noticed, of course... but sometimes I really did become unaware of my surroundings in the process. I... had to be a little more careful.

Big Brother’s expression softened upon seeing my embarrassment. Perhaps he was being considerate. “Tell me, Sophia. Why were you pacing in irregular circles, alone in your room?” he asked.

It would seem that he was worried about me... Big Brother really was a gentle person. I told him about everything — about how lonely I was after Katarina departed on her trip, and how I was worried that she was together with Jeord.

“I understand you being lonely due to Katarina’s journey. However, Katarina is Jeord’s fiancé. Is their bond deepening not a good thing?”

Although my brother responded in such an orthodox fashion, his words did not match up with his expression. Many would say that Big Brother’s expression hardly changed, if at all. I, however, knew better — I was his little sister, after all, and he could not fool my eyes. While what Nicol said was right... he could not hide his expression of sorrow.

“Come now, Big Brother, you’re worried as well, aren’t you? You’re only putting up a brave front... you should really be more honest with yourself!” I said.

“What are you talking about, Sophia?” he replied, all the while with a somewhat difficult look about him.

Just as I was about to start a back-and-forth with my stubborn brother, a visitor showed up at the door. It was Mary — one of my close friends, and another member of the student council. She had brought us a letter from Katarina.

Written in it were Katarina’s observations on her journey, and the sights and sounds she experienced. There was not a single word about Jeord — I suppose nothing had happened between them.

I heaved a deep sigh of relief, before glancing sideways at my brother. As I expected, he, too, seemed relieved by these developments. Sigh... He really wasn’t very honest with himself, sometimes.

~The Troubles of Nicol Ascart~

The reason I decided to assist Jeord in his absence was a simple one. He was my childhood friend, and I had agreed to assist the student council with some of its affairs, because the council’s members were each becoming very unwell.

Unwell they might be, they were by no means ill. They were all simply very depressed, or collectively had something on their minds. As such, they were unable to focus on their work.

I knew of the cause. Katarina, whom I adore, had left on a journey — without them in her company. However, she did not do this for fun. She had only left on a journey due to the sudden disappearance of her brother, Keith. She had departed in search for him.

The sudden disappearance of Duke Claes’s son was a sensitive matter. It could not simply be made public. Even if a smaller party made the search more difficult, a large group could not be dispatched without attracting attention.

In addition, those left behind were all members of the student council. They had tasks of their own, especially now that the graduation ceremony was this close. It would not be acceptable for seniors such as them to suddenly drop all their responsibilities and leave the academy.

This was why Katarina had no choice but to depart with a small group of companions. Those left behind knew this fact as well. Even so, they found it difficult to keep calm in the face of these developments. The existence of Katarina served as their motivation... she was a special person to many. That much I understood well.

Yes. I, Nicol Ascart, thought of Katarina as a special individual, as well. I first met her when I was accompanying my sister on her visit to Claes Manor. Meeting Katarina was a salvation of sorts for Sophia — and for that I am eternally grateful. However... before I knew it, I, too, was a slave to Katarina’s charms.

Although people claim that I have a certain charm that draws people to me, I feel that such a statement would be best reserved for Katarina. After all, I find myself impossibly attracted to the person known as Katarina Claes.

However, she already had an official fiancé during out first meeting. She was engaged to none other than my childhood friend, Jeord Stuart, the third crown prince of the kingdom. I had not seen Jeord for a while. When we crossed paths once more, he had completely changed — he had completely fallen for Katarina.

A noble lady who was officially engaged to my childhood friend. If it were a political marriage, perhaps... but Jeord really loved her. To even think of pulling the two apart — unforgivable. There was nothing I could do. Nothing but suppress the feelings I had for Katarina with all my might.

I had to do this. I had no choice but to do this, I told myself. Sophia, however, had found out about my feelings, and often tried to spur me on. Sophia was fond of Katarina, as I was. She believed that she would be with Katarina forever if the two of us were wed.

While Sophia was a gentle and good girl, she had a tendency to daydream. She often gave in to her over-active imagination. In the past, that was all she used to do — dream. Perhaps it was due to the influence of her friends, but Sophia had recently taken to actually putting her plans into action. It is something I should be glad about. However, her efforts to unite Katarina and myself were most troubling.

One such incident occurred a while ago, at the school festival. Sophia insisted that Katarina and I should play the role of lovers, re-enacting part of a play. I performed quite poorly then. Katarina, who had accepted her role without hesitation, whispered into my ears words of love. I had to deliver similar lines too. Under normal circumstances my logical reasoning would hold me in check, but my emotions got the better of me.

Before I realized it, I was holding Katarina’s body in my arms. I never wanted to let go.

Soon enough, I regained control of my faculties, and quickly released her. However, the burning flame in my heart did not cool for quite a time. In truth, I knew. It was not the fault of my sister, even if she did spur us on. The responsibility lay with me, with my lack of self-restraint...

Upon my graduation from the academy last year, I started seriously preparing to inherit the family name and title. I followed my father around, assisting him in his work. At my current pace, I would have no issues taking over father’s duties. To that end, however, I had to soon find a fiancée of my own.

I was already eighteen. Regardless of my relatively young age, there were calls for me to quickly decide on a fiancée. Perhaps I should have been grateful that there were many noble ladies who were willing to take my hand.

Amongst them, there were quite a few who met all the conditions required by my family. I had even met with some of these women in person. I kept it all a secret from Sophia, of course. She would have many opinions if informed about my activities.

Honestly speaking, however, I would always compare these noble ladies I met... with Katarina. If it were Katarina, she would do this. Or perhaps she would do that — those were the first thoughts that would enter my mind.

No matter the noble lady I met, thoughts of Katarina would surface from the depths of my mind. I could not bring myself to meet with them after that. Thankfully, my parents seemed to have noticed that I had certain complicated feelings toward marriage. While they never rushed me or made any demands of me, I understood that this could not possibly go on.

That was why I made up my mind to finally cut loose these emotions I had harbored for so many years. As such, if Katarina and Jeord left on a journey, and grew closer during it... I would finally be able to bury these emotions for good. Or so I thought.

I had come to the academy to deliver some completed work I had done for the council, but found myself visiting Sophia. She had been very down since Katarina’s sudden departure. In fact, Sophia was pacing around rapidly in odd circles.

“I understand you being lonely due to Katarina’s journey. However, Katarina is Jeord’s fiancé. Is their bond deepening not a good thing?” I said.

“Come now, Big Brother, you’re worried as well, aren’t you? You’re only putting up a brave front... you should really be more honest with yourself!” my sister replied, somewhat rebelliously.

“What are you talking about, Sophia?” I replied, attempting to sound natural. I was shaken within, however, at the fact that my feelings were so easily revealed.

Logically, I would like for Katarina’s relationship with Jeord to deepen — so that I may give up and let go. Emotionally, however, it was not the same. I wanted to shout, from the bottom of my heart, that I did not want them to go any further than they already had.

As my logical conclusions and complicated feelings continued layering themselves in my mind, I attempted to keep up with my sister in conversation — the very same sister who, at some point, had learned to speak her mind. It was then that a member of the council appeared; Mary Hunt, a letter in her hands.

Written within, in Katarina’s characteristic handwriting, were records of her enjoying the sights and sounds of her journey. From the general tone of her descriptions, it did not seem that her relationship with Jeord had deepened in any meaningful way.

I found myself relieved at this development... which only served to further complicate my churning emotions.

~The Exertions of Raphael Wolt~

I tidied up the various documents I’d been checking and placed them on my desk, then sighed. With this, my work was finally all done.

All I had to do was look up, however, and I would be greeted with a mountain of work — work that never seemed to really be done. Ugh... I let another huge sigh escape from my lips, without even realizing it.

This was a room in the Magical Ministry in the department I belonged to. Under normal circumstances, my department always did have more work than others — but the workload I faced now was simply incomparable. This was because my superior, and the most senior individual in this department, was absent.

The reason why our department got so much work in the first place was because this person was terribly impressive. My superior, Larna Smith. From her demeanor and appearance, it would seem that she was a noble — but I did not know much other than that. Her intense curiosity about magecraft and her well-known capabilities saw her propelled to the top echelons of the Ministry, eventually even becoming an executive of sorts. In short, my superior was very good at what she did, but was a little bit of an eccentric.

In fact, she was the first one to suggest that the Ministry take me in, despite the amount of trouble I had caused them. Those around her thought of her as different, maybe even a little bizarre. A while after I had been transferred into her department, I decided to ask Larna why she would have taken in a previous Wielder of Darkness like myself.

At the time, her answer was simple — “Because you seem interesting.” The moment I heard that, I could not help but agree with her colleagues — Larna Smith was indeed strange.

After I had worked under her for some time, my assumptions were proven correct, time and time again. Larna was a woman who was faithful to her own interests, first and foremost. She simply had to do everything with her own hands, or she wouldn’t truly feel at peace. For instance, Larna would often take part in infiltration and investigative missions — excursions that were usually handled by staff below her station. If anyone were to try to stop her, she would set off on her own without a sound either way.

To make things even worse, Larna was an undisputed professional in the art of disguise, to the point where one would wonder how what she did was even possible. Because she would often end up looking like someone else altogether, no one would notice if she decided to act on her own. While she did have set appearances that she used for most of her disguises, even I could not keep track of how she really looked — perhaps she was even disguised on a daily basis.

As a result, Larna basically did whatever she pleased, and was quite a difficult person to work for indeed, especially if she were one’s direct superior. While we did have a fair number of complaints to make about Larna as her subordinates, we all did respect her, and I was no exception.

She was reckless in many ways, and would often disappear if you took your eyes off of her for a second. We did a lot of extra work because of her tendencies, but Larna was sure to protect us if anything went wrong. She would always take responsibility for her actions, never blaming her subordinates.

Her knowledge of magecraft was something else as well — along with her sheer ingenuity when it came to inventing magical tools and the like. While we all did complain about Larna Smith, we all respected her in our own ways.

Even so... in a situation such as this one, we were giving it our all, when—

THUD!

I turned my eyes toward the source of the sound — one of my departmental colleagues had fallen, face first, on his table. He most likely lost consciousness from the sheer amount of work we had to go through.

That was to be expected. Even I had been working non-stop these past few days, without a wink of sleep. My superior, Larna, had taken a few of our new staff members out into the field. To give them a good experience, she said... even during such a busy time in the Ministry. This incident stood out for many reasons, of course, earning us the ire of other departments, who did their best to offload as much work onto us as possible.

If Larna had been present, she would have grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns, telling the Ministry that certain tasks simply could not be done. Either that, or she would sit down and simply finish a good half of it on her own. But now, the unfinished work remained stacked like small hills.

Larna’s real reason for going out into the field was to investigate the sudden disappearance of Keith Claes, son of Duke Claes. Needless to say, work had to be done with regard to that, too. As a result, our departmental office had been hell on earth for the last few days.

I had worked with Keith together in the student council when I was attending the academy, and it was likely that Dark Magic had been involved in his disappearance. I was certainly worried, so I wanted to do what I could to be useful. The enemy, however, was quite clever themselves, and I simply could not get my hands on any kind of useful information.

On top of that... there was this ever-growing pile of work before me. I could feel my heart slowly breaking. But I could not give in now — I would not give up now. As Larna had entrusted everything to me for these past few days, I had no choice but to overcome these obstacles.

To begin with, the fact that Larna had left her work and assignments to some unknown individual who had just been with the Ministry for a little over a year was surprising — not only to me, but to a great number of her colleagues. Perhaps that was why I had to ensure that I executed what I was tasked with to the best of my ability.

I felt deeply for my colleague who had collapsed at his desk, of course... but I would soon have to wake him, by force, if necessary. We could not afford to lose even a single person right now.

All right then... Just as I gritted my teeth and honed my resolve, mentally preparing myself to dive into yet another mountain of work... there was a knock on our department’s door. Who could it be, at this busy time...? I felt myself becoming somewhat annoyed.

“Please, do come in,” I said, and a familiar face appeared. It was ex-student council member and my colleague, Nicol Ascart. Behind him was a female staff member — she had guided him here, perhaps. Her face was entirely red from blushing. I could see that my friend’s alluring aura had not changed in the slightest.

At the very least, this wasn’t a visit from some troublesome higher-up from another department, and that was a good thing.

“I was here on business, and thought I would pay you a visit. I see it has become... quite an incident. Are you all right, Raphael?” Nicol’s expression clouded slightly as he gazed upon the horror that was our departmental office.

“Quite an incident indeed, yes. I can feel my heart breaking, actually! And so... while I do thank you for visiting me all the way here, I don’t really have time for guests. Apologies.”

At my words, Nicol withdrew what appeared to be a letter from his pocket. “It would do you well to read this, then. Perhaps it might even mend your almost-broken heart.”

Saying so, Nicol handed the letter to me — and written on it were the words of someone I knew very well. I reflexively took it and skimmed over its contents. Written within were carefree and happy descriptions of a certain journey.

She still did not know that her brother had been kidnapped. I suppose she would feel horrible if she knew... but for now, she was still enjoying her journey away from Sorcié. From her wording and tone, I could almost picture her enjoyment — and as Nicol said, I felt my fractured psyche slowly start to recover.

“Thank you. I do feel a little better than before.”

“I see,” Nicol said, smiling faintly as he retrieved the letter. I could see the female staff member behind him swooning.

Immediately after, a female staff member in my department, who had up until moments ago been deeply engrossed in her work, happened to see Nicol’s smile. It was as if she had lost all remnants of her free will. Soon, she was like the woman at the door.

This was bad... yet another one of my colleagues had fallen. What a disaster...! Now that it had come to this, I would have him take responsibility for his actions. “Nicol. Do you have any appointments for the rest of the day?”

“Hmm. Not quite, at least until the late afternoon today...”

“Well then, I suppose I’ll have you take responsibility for what you did, yes? Quickly now, help me with these tasks! But make sure you don’t show anyone that alluring smile of yours!”

“Responsibility...? Alluring smile...?” Nicol seemed confused. Even so, he quickly agreed to help me, perhaps spurred on by my desperate expression.

As expected of Nicol — although he only assisted me for a few hours, quite a lot of work was done. Perhaps I should ask him for help again next time... if I did that, though, I might as well write off the female staff members in my department for that entire duration. A conundrum, indeed...

★★★★

“What are you doing, Katarina?” Jeord asked.

I showed what I was holding in my hands to him. “I thought I’d send a letter.”

“A letter, hm?”

“Yes, to tell everyone back at the academy how our trip is going!”

“But Katarina, we are only two days into our journey. In fact, there has not been much in the way of progress, no?” Jeord seemed exasperated.

I felt somewhat embarrassed. He was right, but... “But... but... This is my first trip! I’ve always wanted to write letters back home while on a trip, you know?” I said, sulking slightly as I did so.

Jeord smiled, though he looked somewhat troubled. “Hmm. I suppose they will really be suffering now, yes. Perhaps a letter would do them some good.”

“?”

“Well then, Katarina. I will accompany you — should we have this letter sent?”

“Yes, let’s.”

And so Jeord and I set off to post the letter back to the academy. On the way there we stopped by a sweets shop, where everything looked delicious! I ended up sharing half of a sweet with Jeord. It was incredibly tasty. I thought I would describe this snack in my letter, too, and how we shared it together.

“It would be best for you to exclude anything of the sort, Katarina,” Jeord said, stopping me before I could write down any of it.

I didn’t know what that was all about. Jeord just immediately offered to buy me another treat though, so I soon forgot about it.

After we were done eating, we arrived at the post office, and the letter was soon safely on its way.