202 – Sometimes I think that.

Today is also a peaceful day for the young lady.

Sitting on the bed and looking out the window, the young lady was rubbing her sleepy eyes as she watched the brightly shining morning.

“Ricardo.”

“Yes.”

“Sleepy.”

“It hasn’t even been 10 minutes since you woke up.”

“That’s why I’m sleepy.”

I let out a chuckle as I watched the young lady yawn.

The young lady who said she was sleepy even though she woke up at 10 in the morning was cute.

“Haaa…”

Is the saying that beauties sleep a lot true? The sight of the young lady who always struggled with sleepiness could even beat a sleeping princess.

As expected, beauty seemed to be proportional to sleep.

I let out a small laugh and began to make tea. There was no drink that woke me up as much as tea, and as the hot water moistened the dry tea leaves, the subtle scent of black tea began to fill the room.

“Hmm…”

The young lady wrinkled her nose as if the scent of the black tea was good, and her sleepy eyes began to clear up. I checked the expression of the young lady who had opened her heavy eyes and said to her with a small smile.

“Does it smell good?”

“No.”

“…”

“It’s bitter and sour, but it feels healthy.” The lady replied resolutely. She made a sullen face and looked at the cup of red tea.

“Isn’t it good to be healthy?”

“It’s not tasty if it’s healthy.”

“But it’s a very expensive tea leaf.”

“Eeeek…”

The lady said with a serious face.

“I don’t like things that don’t taste good.”

It seemed like expensive things in the world aren’t necessarily the right answer. The lady who doesn’t know romance resolutely refused the tea I had brewed with great effort and stared out the window.

The lady who was meditating while looking out the window where the gentle breeze was blowing, took out snacks from her treasure bag and started throwing them out the window.

“You should eat too.”

-Growl!

“Eat this too.”

-Growl!

I burst into laughter and grabbed the teacup, touched by the lady’s kind act of feeding the stray cat. It seemed like I should be the one to drink this tea after all.

‘It’s bitter and sour.’ I thought with a peaceful smile as I felt the bitterness of black tea.

‘I bought this for nothing.’

It seemed like high-end things and Desmond didn’t get along well. Darbab also didn’t like black tea.

An hour passed.

The lady who had eaten breakfast was now lying in bed again, trying to sleep, and I was sitting by her bedside, enjoying my free time.

In the rare moment of tranquility I felt, I turned my head and began reading the newspaper that was on my desk.

“What are you doing?”

The lady, whose eyes had fluttered open at the rustling of the newspaper, asked me. I felt tempted to tap the bed next to me and urge her to ‘grow up’, but I refused with a smile.

“I’m enriching my mind.”

“You don’t need to do that much, Ricardo. It’s not like you’ll get any smarter with that amount of knowledge.”

“…What? That really hurts my feelings.”

“It’s okay, I gave up because I wasn’t getting any smarter.”

I let out a small laugh at the advice of my sunbae who had given up on knowledge and pinched her cheek.

“What do you mean you gave up? You gave up.”

“Oww…! It’s tearing!”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m not!”

As expected, her cheeks were soft.

The imperial newspaper was filled with many articles. It contained gossip that the public enjoyed, such as politics, adventure, and economics.

The lady was sometimes featured as well.

-Breaking News! Second daughter of the Desmount family rises to the top of the magic department…!

-Breaking News…! Olivia, second daughter of the Desmount family, expelled for using dark magic…

-Is this the beginning of the Desmounts’ downfall?

Of course, there weren’t many articles with positive content. In her own way, she was a celebrity who often appeared in the newspaper.

She’s a famous person, I guess.

I inhaled a small breath and began to read today’s article with the young lady.

“There’s no crossword puzzle today.”

“That’s no fun.”

“I agree.”

I continued reading the article with anticipation, wondering what trivial knowledge it would fill my empty head with today.

The front page of the newspaper usually featured the most scandalous gossip burning up the Empire.

Some family had been ruined.

A noble’s child had gotten into an accident, and so on—it always began with stimulating topics that would make the people cheer.

I opened my eyes slightly and began to read the article on the front page.

“Ah, there’s an interesting article today.”

“What is it?”

“It’s an article about the Academy.”

The young lady turned her gaze slightly towards the newspaper at the word ‘Academy’. She pretended not to be interested, but it seemed like the word ‘Academy’ had piqued her interest.

I tilted the newspaper so that the young lady could read it, and began to read the article.

“Special Report: ‘The Academy is No Longer Safe!’”

“Why?”

“You’ll have to read it to find out.”

I checked the young lady’s reaction as she nodded, then began to quickly skim the contents of the article.

There was a photo of the Academy in chaos.

There were students with their faces mosaiced, being treated for injuries.

Judging from the article’s photo alone, featuring an interview with a bruised and battered Princess Sharutia, it was easy to tell that it wouldn’t be a pleasant piece.

I guess I was wrong.

Since I was aware of the novel’s plot, I wasn’t particularly surprised. But the young lady wouldn’t know that.

I thought the academy would’ve kept the press at bay, but it seemed like things had blown up more than I’d thought.

Seeing the unfavorable article plastered across the front page of the newspaper, it looked like they’d been too busy dealing with internal issues.

I hid the newspaper article with a wry smile. Fortunately, the young lady had a questioning look on her face, not having seen the article.

“Why are you hiding it?”

“I need to censor it.”

“Seriously, you’re just trying to enjoy Ricardo by yourself.”

“It’s an article that’s less fun to read than you think.”

“Booo…”

The young lady pouted her lips and grumbled in dissatisfaction at me. I covered the newspaper with an awkward smile as the young lady complained about how I was only looking at Ricardo.

“Instead, I’ll make sure you have chocolate ice cream for your snack today.”

“Ice cream?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“I’ll give you a whole tub.”

“Oooooh…!”

The young lady nodded her head in satisfaction and closed her eyes.

“Then fine.”

I nodded and covered the young lady with a blanket, and sat at the bedside table, slowly reading the contents of the article.

– The raid by Archbishop Schulia, a disguised pagan as an academy professor, occurred yesterday afternoon at 1:00 PM.

– The extent of the damage is still under investigation, but the approximate amount of damage is estimated to be 2 million gold.

– There are over 500 injured, but there are 0 deaths….

– This incident will likely bring about many concerns and positive outcomes at the same time, as an example of successfully subduing pagans through the efforts of systematically trained academy students and, along with them, ‘Heinz’, the owner of the Magic Tower…

‘It’s not as serious as I thought.’

It seemed like the incident had been resolved more successfully than expected. The article wasn’t written in a way that criticized the academy because of the royal family’s influence, and I thought the fact that there were no deaths was enough to create a good outcome. I thought I had resolved things to a certain extent.

‘Honestly, I thought the damage would be greater. It’s good that it’s only this much.’

It was the first time I hadn’t been involved in a battle against pagans. It must have been the first time they felt such unreasonable malice, and it must have been difficult for the students who had never experienced a battle with killing intent to handle it.

Even though it was a battle where they didn’t have to bear much of the burden thanks to the help of the Tower Master, I knew that just enduring it was difficult. They deserved to be praised.

I thought with a satisfied smile that it seemed like I wouldn’t have to interfere anymore. If they continued to do well like this, I thought both the supporting and main characters would be able to grow to meet the upcoming hardships.

At the same time that I felt relieved, I also felt strangely proud that my efforts hadn’t been in vain.

As expected, I shouldn’t have worried for nothing.

I covered the newspaper with a small smile.

The young lady was sound asleep.

She was sleeping peacefully, her hands folded over her stomach and her breathing shallow, like a sleeping princess in a quiet forest.

“Hmm… Meat.”

Just looking at her like this, there was no separate heavenly aristocrat, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the young lady who transformed into a villainess as soon as she opened her mouth.

Sometimes I think about that.

I imagine what it would be like if the young lady wasn’t a villainess.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like if the lady I serve, who carefully savors her tea more than she does chocolate, were my mistress.

“Mr. Ricardo, you’ve worked so hard today.”

“Are you tired? Come sit here and take a break.”

“What? You want me to eat first? No, Mr. Ricardo, you eat first.”

Whenever I have thoughts like that, I laugh to myself. The lady is not a person who would be suited to that kind of thing.

I like the lady as she is now.

I like the lady’s frank and petulant candor. And so I think that’s the reason why I serve the lady as I do, and the reason why I am satisfied with this life.

Whatever the reason, I like the lady.

I smiled a little and gazed fixedly at the lady. As the lady frowned and furrowed her brow at the fly that had landed on her cheek, I thought of the future with a smile on my face.

A future together.

A future of shared laughter.

And a future of walking together along the beach.

I was happy just imagining it.

[Would you like to use the Hand of Recovery?]

That’s why I have no regrets about my choice.