༺ Request for a Date ༻
“Did you enjoy the tour today?”
“Well, I did manage to find a few collections to add to my basement.”
“I see, then have a good day.”
“Thanks.”
As I left the slave market, accompanied by a female guide, I gazed at the sky and let out a deep sigh.
“The sun has already set.”
Before I knew it, the sun was setting and darkness had begun to set in.
It had already been quite late even before the start of the slave market, so it was logical that the sun would be setting now.
“Take it off now.”
“Ah!”
As I quietly watched the Sun that I hated set and the Moon that I loved rose, I ripped off the robe that was covering Ferloche.
“Frey!”
“What?”
“I said I have a cramp!”
And as I walked down the street with her, Ferloche kept screaming from behind me.
“You’re walking just fine. What do you mean you have a cramp?”
“Ahhhhhh! It hurts!”
Although I continued to walk forward ignoring Ferloche, I eventually turned my head, frowning at her whining.
“What do you want me to do about it?”
“Please give me a massage!”
“…I just need to massage your arm, right?”
I think I’ll have to do as she says to keep her mouth shut.
It’s a quiet alley with few people, so it’ll probably be okay.
“Mhhm…hmm…”
As I massaged her arm with that thought in mind, Ferloche began to smile, forming dimples with her cheeks.
This caused me to have an urge to poke my finger into her cheek without realizing it, but I decided to hold it in.
“You’re alright now, right? Then let’s…”
“Please massage me in other places too!”
“What?”
“You didn’t massage me on time earlier, so the cramp has already spread all over my body!”
“Sigh…”
With a scowl on my face, I tightly grasped Ferloche’s arm, which I had been previously massaging, and started walking forward.
“Ow, it hurts! Let go!”
“Follow me, I have something to tell you.”
“Something to tell me?”
Ferloche tilted her head at my cold voice. I would normally ignore her silly antics, but even that was awkward now.
“I, I get it. Don’t pull my hand! I’ll come on my own! Please!”
“…Hmm.”
As I was walking forward with that thought in mind, I stared at Ferloche, who was being dragged by me, her face contorted in tears.
Strength: 1
Holy Power: 8.3
Intelligence: 2.3
Mental Strength: 8
Passive Status: Blessing of the Sun God
Disposition: Saintess
Goodness Stat: 100
“…It’s strange.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I pulled up her system window just in case, but nothing had changed.
Her feelings were true. Nothing had changed about Ferloche as far as the system was concerned.
Then, why on earth was she acting so abnormally, with her condition growing worse?
“Frey! Where are you going now?”
“Dormitory.”
“Perfect! I was about to go to the dorm too! Let’s go together!”
I tried to think about it deeper, but I couldn’t find a clear answer, so I sighed and moved my feet along.
“Please give me a massage when we arrive!”
“…Phew.”
At this rate, my life, which already had a time limit, might end even sooner.
“You’ll do it, right?”
“…Yes.”
However, it couldn’t be helped.
In order to maintain the fraudulent buff that caused all my stats to rise by 0.2, it was necessary to maintain a good relationship with her.
If the partnership was broken, not only would it be impossible to fix it, the ‘Partner’s Blessing’ buff would also disappear. So, it would be a total disaster if Ferloche became upset and put an end to it for some reason.
But there was a way.
I wondered whether I should do the thing she hated the most in the world while giving her a massage.
I had to crush all of her hopes in me, even though she was someone who had been worried about me till the end despite my actions in my past life.
There was nothing quite like making a woman hate me…
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.
.
.
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Yawn
As Clana Solar Sunrise continued to burn the midnight oil in her dormitory, a gentle yawn escaped her lips.
“I’m sleepy…”
Nobody was listening, but she still talked to herself.
Having grown accustomed to solitude since her childhood and continuing all the way up to her position as the next in line for the throne, Clana had developed a habit of talking to herself that persisted even now.
“But I still have to work harder. Time is ticking.”
Clana, who had finished talking to herself, started working again.
It was not related to the academy, but about her plans for the future.
As for the exams, all of the heroines who had returned except Ferloche could easily get a perfect score.
‘Let’s eliminate him… this guy… he’s tricky. We can’t afford to bring him into the army, but we can’t afford to make him our enemy either.’
Clana, who had been taking notes while looking at pictures of imperial nobles, inadvertently turned the page and hardened her expression.
“…Ah.”
The page had a picture of Frey smiling.
There was also a long note that had been scribbled in great anger on the first day of her return.
“Phew…”
Clana had tried to not open this page ever since she regained memories of the previous timeline.
Because every time she looked at his face, a subtle emotion arose within her.
“Frey Raon Starlight… What should I do with you?”
Clana, who had been looking at his picture for a while, asked a question.
Naturally, the Frey in the picture did not reply.
“…Haaaa.”
Clana, who continued looking at the picture as if she was waiting for a reply, sighed and leaned back on her chair.
“I have no choice. Who would take responsibility for that lunatic except me?”
Clana simultaneously grinned and muttered to herself.
Who, if not her, could rehabilitate Frey?
Only she, who made a pact with Frey as a child, would be the right person for the job.
‘…Come to think of it, a partner system will be created at the start of the second semester.’
Clana frowned and rolled her pen in her hand while muttering to herself.
“I don’t think Frey will find a partner to team up with.”
The partner system would not be affected by Frey’s coercion.
Because it was being monitored by Professor ‘Isolet’.
As a result, it was highly likely that Frey would be left without a partner, and no one would want to team up with him.
“Really, how troublesome.”
Feeling flustered, she opened her drawers with frustration.
“…I have to be his partner.”
Reading a letter that Frey had sent to her a few days ago, Clana got up.
However, she never noticed the smile on her face.
“Princess Clana, where are you going?”
“I’ll take a walk for a while.”
“…I will accompany you.”
The maid, who was watching Clana quietly, followed her figure with worried eyes.
The servants, who were concerned about her rumored unstable mental state, feared that she might break again.
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back soon, so don’t follow me.”
“But…”
“That’s an order.”
“…I understand.”
However, when Clana raised her voice with a slight temper, the maid had no choice but to obey.
“Oh, right.”
As Clana was about to leave the room, she glanced at the maid and grabbed a bookmark from the desk.
“I almost forgot that.”
The bookmark had become a talisman lately, and it was something that Clana always brought along with her when she went out.
For some reason though, it had a small canary petal inserted in it.
“Hmm…hmmm.”
Fully prepared, Clana left the room and began walking down the hallway, humming to herself in a low voice.
“…Hmm?”
After a few minutes of diligent walking, Clana arrived in the hallway where Frey’s dormitory was located but soon began to tilt her head in confusion.
“Ms. Kania? Why are you making that face?”
“…It’s nothing.”
It was because Kania was grinding her teeth with a grim expression in front of Frey’s room.
“By any chance, were you bullied by Frey? If that’s the case…”
“…it’s nothing. I have a little business to attend to, so I’ll be on my way.”
Dodging Clana’s question, Kania slowly walked away.
“Frey, I have something to say…”
Clana, who had been looking at Kania with a puzzled expression, walked to the door of Frey’s dorm and opened her mouth.
“Frey, I have something to tell…”
“Moan…”
But when Clana heard a moan from behind the door, she froze.
“Have I been studying too hard lately?”
Clana paused in disbelief, momentarily frozen as she doubted her own ears. She reached out to the doorknob, thinking she had imagined the noise because she had been overworking.
“Eugngh.”
“…..!”
Once again, she froze when a familiar voice came from behind the door.
“…Th-That’s Ferloche’s voice.”
The moans of one of her few friends in this life, Ferloche, were echoing from Frey’s room.
‘…No.’
As soon as she recognized it, Clana pounded on Frey’s door and shouted.
“Frey! Come out! I have something to say!”
It was obvious that Ferloche, who was pure and gullible, had been deceived by Frey’s tricks and was currently being exploited.
As her friend, I had to save her.
“Frey! Open the door!”
With that in mind, Clana kept knocking on the door, and a few minutes later the door slowly opened.
“What the hell do you think…”
“Hello, Princess Clana!”
“…Huh?”
Clana quickly tried to yell at Frey, but it was Ferloche, rather than Frey, who had appeared in front of her.
– Slam!
“Ferloche, tell me what happened… no, tell me everything that happened today.”
Clana, who stared blankly at Ferloche for a second, quickly closed the door and began to question her.
“Well… I’ve been following Frey all day today!”
“Frey?”
“Yes! I studied with him and then we went to a cafe!”
Ferloche began to talk with a bright look on her face.
“We went to the bathroom together, and then we went inside a cabinet with each other, and tickled each other…”
“What?”
When Clana opened her mouth in shock at Ferloche’s words, she added additional details with a smile.
“And I just got a massage from Frey! As expected, there still seems to be hope for Frey, because when I asked him to massage my whole body, he really did it!”
“Ho-How did you feel during the massage?”
After hearing that, Clana began to ask questions urgently.
“If by any chance, you felt offended or humiliated by Frey’s touch, I’ll make sure to…!”
“I felt really good.”
“Huh?”
“It was to the extent where I want to get another massage… I felt really happy.”
Seeing Ferloche blush as she spoke, Clana had a blank expression on her face.
“By the way, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, that’s… I have to talk to Frey about something…”
“I see, then I’ll be on my way!”
As soon as she responded to Clana’s question, Ferloche hurriedly bid her farewell and vanished down the hallway. Clana could only stare blankly, feeling perplexed, before eventually making her way into Frey’s room.
“…What’s going on?”
Frey, who looked quite embarrassed, quickly donned a cold expression when he saw Clana entering.
“I-It’s about the letter you sent me last time.”
Clana began to speak to Frey in a trembling voice.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it…”
“Are you talking about partnering up?”
“Ye-Yes. I accept your offer…”
“You’re too late.”
Clana’s face turned pale when Frey said she was too late.
“Ferloche and I already agreed to be partners.”
“Wh-What!? What are you talking about?!”
And after hearing Frey’s words, Clana began to speak in a trembling voice.
“But you wrote me a letter…”
“You didn’t reply. I assumed you refused because I didn’t get a reply.”
“……Ah.”
Upon hearing that, Clana quietly lowered her head.
“C-Clana?”
“Frey.”
Clana, who had been bowing her head, soon opened her mouth quietly.
“Can you spare some time tonight?”
“What?”
When Frey responded with an embarrassed look on his face, Clana looked at him nonchalantly and spoke.
“Let’s take a night walk together, shall we?
It was the first date request Clana had made in her life.
