Chapter 2
A gentle breeze blew, lightly tousling Emily’s brown hair.
“I can’t believe they actually turned the wooden signpost…”
Emily sighed, ruffling her hair. It was a mistake not to pay attention to the old wooden sign, distracted as she was by the magic devices placed along the path.
It had seemed suspicious when Astina’s group, who had returned early, glanced this way while giggling.
“No wonder the path seemed to get rougher the further I went.”
As the forest grew denser, she tried to retrace her steps, but the path was already gone. By the time she realized she had lost her way and ventured deeper into the forest, thick branches were blocking her path in all directions.
As you may have already guessed, Emily had taken a wrong turn during her magic test and was now lost in a secluded forest.
“Haah…”
For the past two months, since the incident at the entrance ceremony, people had been whispering about Astina and Kira.
Some said the Second Prince had fallen for commoner Kira’s beauty and abandoned Astina, while others speculated he was approaching Kira for political reasons.
Honestly, whatever the reason, Emily wasn’t interested.
Her sole focus was on obtaining her Academy completion certificate.
Emily, who could only afford one year’s tuition, had given up on getting a graduation diploma from the start.
Recently, even just a completion certificate was enough to find employment as a mage, so unless she wanted to return home and get married, she had to obtain that certificate no matter what.
Rustle
As she trudged along with a sigh, suddenly the bushes in front of her rustled slightly.
Emily stopped in surprise, and a round ball of fluff popped out from between the bushes.
“Huh?”
When Emily exclaimed in surprise, the white ball of fluff turned around at the sound, blinking its large eyes. It was a Renchit, an animal related to rabbits.
Seeing this, Emily hurriedly reached out and started calculating a formula. Unlike ordinary rabbits, Renchits were carnivorous, but because they were individually weak, they moved in groups. If they attacked en masse, biting and tearing, one could be seriously injured.
Squeak
However, before Emily could finish her calculations, bushes rustled all around and Renchits began popping out everywhere.
“Uh, uwaaah!”
In the end, she gave up on casting magic and turned to run frantically. The Renchits hopped after Emily, opening their small mouths to try and bite her.
“Wind, Wind-!”
At that moment, she tried to repel the Renchits with an incomplete wind magic, but the spell was too weak. Seeing the Renchits bouncing back after only flying a short distance, she gave up and just ran forward as hard as she could.
Then, spotting a broken stone monument ahead, she quickly used her remaining magic power to propel herself upward. A gust of wind blew under her feet, boosting her onto the top of the monument.
Squeak, squeak!
The monument was quite tall. Looking down, she saw the Renchits swarming around the base, hopping about, but unable to reach her.
“Haa, haah. That was close.”
Emily slumped down, the tension draining from her body. The sudden use of magic without proper formula calculation had drained a large amount of her magic power at once, making her feel dizzy.
As Emily sat down, her hair, which had come loose during the frantic chase, spilled over her shoulders.
Rustle
Before she could catch her breath, the bushes rustled loudly again. Emily looked up nervously, wondering if something else was about to jump out, but nothing emerged even after a while.
Relieved, Emily rubbed her face, trying to shake off her fatigue.
“Um… Are you perhaps a first-year student from the Magic Department?”
Just then, a low voice cautiously called out from below Emily’s feet.
Emily raised her head, startled by the sudden voice.
There, looking up at her, was a black-haired male student, driving away the swarming Renchits with his scabbard.
Their eyes met.
Taut shoulder lines wrapped in black training clothes, a serious-looking mouth, clear gray eyes, and jet-black hair. Captivated by his handsome features, Emily stared down blankly before suddenly coming to her senses.
It seemed the same for him; after a moment of silently looking up, he regained his composure and made a subtle expression.
The next instant, the thought that crossed both their minds was, ‘Why are you here…?’
“Ah…”
“Ah, it’s Miss Emily.”
He was Eden Valenti, who was always seen accompanying the Second Prince.
Encountering him, a third-year student from the Swordsmanship Department, so unexpectedly in the forest left Emily momentarily dazed before his words snapped her back to reality.
“Oh, yes… Hello, Lord Valenti.”
“Yes, hello. Um… I didn’t recognize you at first because your hairstyle is a bit different from usual.”
“Pardon? Oh… yes. I see.”
Emily responded reflexively, not immediately understanding Valenti’s words, then remembered that she usually wore her long hair tied up or braided.
Finally comprehending his comment about not recognizing her due to the different hairstyle, she nodded belatedly.
With that exchange, a moment of silence fell between them.
From Emily’s perspective, Eden Valenti, one of the young noblemen following the Second Prince, was an incredibly intimidating figure.
He was the second son of a marquis family, formally trained to be a knight since childhood, and an elite among elites, destined to assist the Second Prince upon graduating from the Academy.
Moreover, he was very famous for his beautiful appearance and outstanding swordsmanship skills. To Emily, he was like a mirage she had only heard about from afar.
Although she often encountered him moving alongside the Second Prince, he always stood silently behind the prince with an expressionless face.
Furthermore, due to the prince’s presence, Emily had always been too nervous to raise her head, hiding behind Kira. This was the first time the two of them had faced each other directly.
“I received a request to search for first-year students who had deviated from the course during class time and was looking around the area… Might you be one of those students who strayed from the path, Miss Emily?”
As Valenti looked up at the hesitating Emily to confirm, her face flushed bright red with embarrassment.
“Ah… y-yes. That’s me.”
“Ah, ahem. I see.”
Seeing Emily’s reddened face, he turned his head and cleared his throat, pretending not to notice.
Then he looked quizzically at Emily, who was still perched atop the monument.
“Miss Emily, are you unable to come down from there?”
“Ah… yes.”
In truth, because she had hastily cast magic before completing the formula while fleeing earlier, she had used far more magic power than necessary and needed time to gather it again.
When Emily nodded with an embarrassed expression, Lord Valenti nodded in understanding.
“I see. Then, I’ll catch you from below. I won’t let you fall, so can you jump down lightly?”
Unable to refuse at this point, Emily forced a smile on her trembling lips and agreed.
Though she wanted to disappear from this spot immediately due to embarrassment, Emily decided to try thinking positively.
“Th-then, I’ll be in your care, Lord Valenti.”
Emily stood up, stretching her shaky legs. Watching her, Valenti slightly spread his legs, took a firm stance, and stretched out both hands to catch her.
“Yes, leave it to me.”
As she prepared to jump, her heart pounded with nervousness.
She closed her eyes tightly, ready to leap down, but realizing that made it even scarier, Emily opened her eyes wide, gritted her teeth, took one step forward, and lightly threw herself into the air.
Thud
Before she could scream at the chilling sensation of her feet giving way and her whole body falling at a frightening speed, Valenti’s large hands firmly grasped Emily’s waist and back, lifting her onto his shoulders.
As Emily’s body perfectly aligned with his shoulders, and she instinctively reached out to grab his nape in her desire to live, their faces suddenly drew close, and they looked at each other.
Emily’s bright green eyes met Lord Valenti’s pale gray ones.
Emily’s long brown hair, which had been floating in the air, came fluttering down, enveloping both Emily and Valenti’s cheeks.
The next moment, Valenti’s scent wafted strongly into Emily’s nostrils. Before she could even register the firm shoulder beneath her palm, the thick nape, and the slick feel and smell of sweat-dampened skin, she felt her face burning fiercely.
Facing Emily like this, Valenti too felt his face growing hot, and flustered, he quickly tried to set her down, relaxing his grip.
“Ah, wait! Sk-skirt, my skirt!”
“What? Oh, yes!”
But perhaps due to his haste, as he lowered Emily from his shoulders, their clothes rubbed against each other, causing her uniform skirt to ride up. Emily cried out in panic.
Startled by Emily’s scream, Valenti looked at her, then noticing her skirt had ridden up around his midsection, he jerked his head up in shock.
Emily, almost falling as she was lowered, stumbled and hurriedly smoothed down her uniform skirt.
After fixing her clothes, she looked up at Lord Valenti to find him still tilting his head upwards at nearly a right angle, his Adam’s apple prominent.
Seeing his reddened nape with short black hair sticking to it, damp with sweat, Emily could no longer bear it and turned her head to the side.
The tips of her trembling fingers still held the sensation of the moist skin she had just touched.
“Th-thank you, Lord Valenti. I’m fine now.”
“Ah, yes. Miss Emily.”
She bit her tongue while expressing her gratitude, stumbling over her words, but Valenti didn’t notice. He rubbed his nape as he lowered his head, which had been tilted sharply upward, to look down at her.
The two looked at each other hesitantly, at a loss due to the awkwardness.
“…The path is this way. Will you follow me?”
“Yes, I understand.”
A moment later, having shaken off his embarrassment, Lord Valenti spoke again to guide the way.
Emily, her face still red, nodded as if nothing had happened.
Following Lord Valenti as he pushed through the dense undergrowth and branches, the two soon reached the place where the Magic Department teacher and students were gathered.
“Miss Emily!”
Seeing Kira running towards her from afar, her blonde hair flying, Emily looked in that direction. Lord Valenti bowed to Emily and turned to walk towards the Magic Department teacher.
Besides Lord Valenti, other Swordsmanship Department students in black training uniforms were visible. They approached the teacher, bowed briefly, and left together.
Emily glanced at Valenti’s retreating back before nodding as Kira came up beside her, taking her hand and asking if she was alright. Kira explained the situation:
After taking the test following Emily, Kira noticed that the path the signpost pointed to showed almost no signs of people passing through. Finding this strange, she reported it to the teacher. Only then did they realize that three students had gone missing, and the teacher immediately requested help from the Swordsmanship Department students who were training nearby.
It seems Lord Valenti was among those Swordsmanship Department students.
“You must be very tired, right? It’s better if you go back early and rest today, Miss Emily.”
Emily nodded with a sigh at Kira’s words. It had indeed been a long day.
“Yes, I really should.”
As Emily walked down the path with the group of gathered Magic Department students, she suddenly recalled Lord Valenti’s pale gray eyes.
Remembering his jet-black hair, made even darker by sweat, and the scent of his skin when she was in his arms, Emily squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously to clear her mind.
“Miss Emily, come on.”
As Emily lagged slightly behind, Kira, who was walking ahead, turned back and called out to her.
“Yes, I’m coming.”
Emily replied to Kira and hurried to catch up. Her long brown hair fluttered behind her back.
