Chapter 50: Leia’s Growing Interest and Ahrin’s Quiet Sadness

Leia Katarina.

The third daughter of the Katarina Count family. A girl who, despite her family’s offer to protect her from the dangers of magical beasts, enrolled in the academy simply because she was “interested.”

And the object of Leia’s intense interest was Sayoreinne Meirel of the Meirel Marquisate. There was no special reason for Leia’s fascination. She simply found Sayoreinne beautiful and pleasing to the eye, which sparked her interest.

“Hmm hmm~” Leia hummed cheerfully, skipping towards Sayo.

“Huh?” From a distance, Leia hadn’t noticed, but up close, she saw that Sayoreinne and her maid, walking slightly behind, were holding hands. While not particularly unusual for girls, the fact that they were in a lady-maid relationship, and the way they held hands discreetly, partially hidden from view, felt… different.

Not that Leia cared about such things. She quickly dismissed the thought and rushed to hug Sayo from behind.

“Ah!”

“Ahrin, what are you—?”

Ahrin, startled by the sudden embrace, and Sayo, assuming it was Ahrin, turned around only to find themselves face-to-face with a beaming Leia.

“Ah, Leia…”

“Hi! Sayo is as cute and pretty as ever~!”

Leia enjoyed seeing Sayo’s flustered reaction, the way her ears turned red as she subtly tried to pull away. She clung to Sayo even tighter, wanting to see more of that reaction.

Leia’s interests, typically directed towards hobbies like embroidery or sports, were usually fleeting. This was the first time she’d been so captivated by a person. A fleeting thought crossed her mind: ‘Like everything else, my interest in Sayoreinne will eventually fade.’ But the thought quickly vanished. Thinking about it was boring. Thus, Leia remained oblivious to her deepening feelings for Sayo.

“…It’s difficult to walk when you’re clinging to me like this. Please let go.”

“I don’t mind~!”

Sayo, flustered, Leia, amused, and Ahrin, trailing behind with a dejected expression, slowly made their way to the academy.

‘Haa…’ Sayo felt drained after a morning of being subjected to Leia’s affections. As always, she didn’t dislike the physical closeness or the clinging, but… perhaps that’s why it was so tiring. It was emotionally draining.

But escaping Leia wasn’t the end of it. Nell and Euru, her classmates, were also physically affectionate. Thankfully, they weren’t as… enthusiastic as Leia, and Sayo had grown accustomed to their touch, so her heart didn’t race, and she didn’t blush as much anymore.

Nell fidgeted with Sayo’s hand, while Euru leaned against her, their shoulders touching. Sayo had grown used to it. As she sat there, lost in thought, her mind drifted back to Ahrin.

Ahrin’s closed eyes, her acceptance of Sayo’s kiss… The softness of her lips, the mingling of their tongues and saliva, the scent of soap and Ahrin’s unique fragrance, the feeling of their chests pressed together, even through their clothes…

‘No, what am I thinking?!’ Lost in such thoughts, Sayo felt her body flush. Perhaps the heating was too high as well. ‘It was so hard to face Ahrin this morning.’ Ahrin had avoided Sayo’s gaze too. ‘And we still managed to hold hands on the way to school.’

Sayo suddenly realized that Nell had progressed from holding her hand to hugging her arm, and Euru’s hand was resting on Sayo’s waist. ‘They seem more… forward today…’

Perhaps it was because of her earlier thoughts, or perhaps because her body was still slightly flushed, but their touch suddenly felt overwhelming. Sayo wasn’t used to this level of intimacy yet. She tried to pull away from Euru and disentangle her arm from Nell’s embrace.

Or rather, she tried to.

‘Huh?’ Nell’s grip was surprisingly strong, and Euru’s hand on her waist held her firmly in place. Sayo couldn’t pull away.

Flustered, she looked at them and found their gazes… cold?

“Stay still.”

“Wait a minute…”

“You seemed perfectly fine clinging to that Leia girl.”

“And this morning too.”

“Did you see that…? It’s not like I wanted that! Leia was forcing herself on me!”

“Really? You didn’t seem to be resisting.”

“Then why are you rejecting us?”

‘That’s not it at all!’ Sayo had simply given up on reasoning with Leia, while Nell and Euru were reasonable people, so Sayo treated them differently. ‘This is so unfair!’ But it was also true, so Sayo couldn’t argue.

After some explaining, Sayo managed to calm them down. They didn’t seem entirely convinced, but… ‘This has been a mentally exhausting morning.’

‘When will these two become friends with Emelly?’ They were already second-year students, yet there was no sign of any connection with Emelly, the protagonist. Nell, in particular, had relied heavily on Emelly, another commoner, in the original story, but now they seemed distant.

‘It’s probably my fault.’ With Nell and Euru always clinging to Sayo, they didn’t have opportunities to interact with Emelly. ‘It’s probably best to follow the original story as much as possible, but technically, all they need to do is fight together, so maybe it doesn’t matter that much?’ Sayo wasn’t sure. Things had already changed so much; perhaps it was too late. ‘I’ll just have to go with the flow.’

“I have some business to attend to today, so you all can go ahead without me.”

“It’s not related to her, is it?”

“If you mean Leia, then no, it’s not related to her. It has nothing to do with Leia.”

“Then, Sayo, do you want to walk back together later?”

“I’m not sure when I’ll be finished… Sorry.”

After seeing Nell off to the library and the others back to the dormitory, Sayo headed off to her own appointment. She’d arranged to meet someone near the training grounds earlier that day. ‘I hope the conversation goes well…’

Sayo had planned to meet them after class, but she’d been delayed saying goodbye to her friends. Hurrying to the meeting place, she saw two people already waiting for her.

“It’s rather rude for the one who requested the meeting to be late.”

The girl with the black ponytail, Ryu Sowol, glared at Sayo.

“Don’t be so harsh. We just got here ourselves.”

The girl with the voluminous blonde twintails, Emelly Stield, gave Sayo a curious look.

Sayo had something to discuss with these two today.

“It’s okay. I am late. I’m sorry.”

Sayo had initially planned to talk to them earlier, needing to ask them for a favor, but she’d been hesitant, putting it off until today. They disliked her, after all.

Sowol still looked displeased. Sayo had probably said some hurtful things to her in the past, and Emelly’s strong dislike of Sayo must have influenced Sowol as well. ‘It’s been over a year without any conflict, and she still harbors this much animosity? It hurts.’ Sayo had always liked Sowol; she was the only East Asian heroine, and her ponytail was cute.

Emelly, on the other hand, looked intrigued. The original ‘Sayoreinne’ and Emelly had a terrible relationship. That had been the case when Sayo first possessed this body during the second semester of their first year. Emelly had been openly hostile towards Sayo. But after Sayo started behaving herself and avoiding Emelly, the hostility had faded. Emelly had even approached Sayo first that one time, and now, she was calming Sowol down. ‘Perhaps, with her kind heart, Emelly has forgiven me for my past behavior, seeing that I’ve changed and am trying to be better.’

‘No, focus.’ Sayo had a purpose for this meeting.

“I have a favor to ask of you, Miss Emelly and Miss Sowol.”

“Who would do you a favor…?”

“Wait, Sowol. Let’s hear her out.”

“Actually, the favor is for Miss Sowol.”

“Would you spend some time with me after school? It’s a very important request.”

Sayo looked Sowol directly in the eyes. This favor was crucial, for Sayo’s sake and for everyone else’s.