Published: August 25, 2025
And today’s lunch break meant a long-awaited trip to the library. I was taking the first-year students there to register as users. I glanced over the line of first-years waiting in the multipurpose hall and smiled warmly.
“At the noble academy’s library, the registration fee is one small gold coin per person. For those who don’t have the money and are thinking of giving up registration, I will lend you the coin, so please do your best to make transcriptions.”
On the bookshelves in the multipurpose hall lay copies of Ehrenfest’s catalog and records of books transcribed by upperclassmen last year. After explaining that I wanted them to transcribe without overlapping with others based on that, the first-years nodded enthusiastically with fresh, innocent faces.
I hurriedly finished lunch and prepared to leave. I had to get ready so I could go straight to practical training in the afternoon after the library visit.
“Lady Rosemine, are you going to the library as well?”
“It would be strange if I stayed behind at the dorm while Ehrenfest students go to register at the library, wouldn’t it?”
Brother Cornelius looked down at me, fully prepared, with a face that said he understood but didn’t want to go.
“Think about it carefully. This time it’s just the first-years registering. Lady Rosemine is already a registered second-year, so it’s not necessary for you at all. Lady Charlotte, a lord candidate, will be there too. Wouldn’t it be more disruptive to go flocking to Solange-sensei’s office with your close aides?”
“But we have to supply mana to Schwarz and Weiss, and we also need to get back the mana stones lent to Solange-sensei.”
I pouted, and Brother Cornelius lightly shrugged.
“There’s been no word from Solange-sensei about a shortage of mana.”
His argument was probably right. Since the mana stones had been charged and handed over, maybe I didn’t need to go to the library today. But it would be a precious opportunity to get there before lectures ended, so I didn’t want to miss it.
“Cornelius, you know how much I want to go to the library—why are you being so mean? …I bet you were rejected by the one you like.”
I glared at him in frustration, and Brother Cornelius widened his eyes and quickly denied, “No, that’s not true!”
“Then have you decided who you’ll escort at the graduation ceremony? Both you and Hartmut are top students, after all.”
I looked back and forth between my two close aides, thinking, He can’t be unpopular with girls, right? Cornelius and Hartmut exchanged glances and their eyes sparkled. It seemed like they shared a secret as they grasped each other’s hands firmly.
Hartmut smiled brightly and looked down at me.
“I won’t tell Lady Rosemine.”
“Why not!?”
Surprised by Hartmut’s refusal, I widened my eyes, and Cornelius looked toward the bookshelf.
“Because it would get back to Mother and become material for a book.”
On the bookshelf was a romance novel about the noble academy written by Mother and her friends. Cornelius’s prediction that he’d become the next target for Mother’s second or third installment was spot on.
After all, Mother had joyfully written about the love story between Brother Lamprecht and Aurelia. Though the characters’ names were different and there were poems praising the gods inserted in the middle, it was clear to those who understood who they really were. Cornelius would undoubtedly become material too.
Incidentally, Brother Lamprecht’s romance was about how they loved each other but were separated by social circumstances, yet ultimately reunited through prayers to the gods. More than half was fiction. Mother’s imagination was truly incredible.
“I understand wishing to avoid being used as material. But whoever you escort, you’ll have to greet their parents, won’t you?”
Especially if the person is from another territory, you’d have to speak with your parents before the territory competition anyway. It would just shift the timing of being Mother’s next project a little.