If the tournament was well under way and there were a couple of particularly close fights with both sides getting wounded and taken there before the result of the duel was decided, her actions could be explained as benevolence.

She could be visiting the representatives and congratulating them on the battle well fought.

But, the only person that had the right to be in the sickbay was the unconscious fire magician young woman – which meant that Ehmi’s purpose was to have a word with the winner of the opening fight, Zoemi Benevi Banemor.

…which in turn only ended up looking as if she had a bias…

That alone should not be all that surprising, as the black-haired boy was representing the Victureo family, but in the opinion of some, the young lady should not show that she is so unwilling to actually marry that she is showing favoritism to a contestant.

Well…

…those people would probably start frothing from their mouths if they would actually stand up from their seats and checked on what was going on inside the sickbay…

——–

”Mhmhmhm~! Zoe, you got so strong! That fireball that you made felt really powerful! How did you manage to keep it murky black? It should turn a brighter color as the normal fire does!”

Ehmi was clinging onto Zoemi from one side while tilting her head so that she could peek at the boy’s face while making an innocent expression.

”I did not increase its temperature – it wasn’t even a proper fireball. I used fireball frame but used water mana – that’s why this one here did not get burnt at all.”

”EEEEHHHH?! That wasn’t fire?!”

The black-haired boy explained with an indifferent expression, causing the crimson-haired girl to gasp in disbelief.

”No, wait, that must have been an actual fireball! I have an inborn affinity with fire and it felt like I could absorb it!”

She declared, pulling away just the tiniest bit – meaning she just leaned her head back while still clinging to Zoemi with the rest of her body.

”Because it was a fire? Just made with water mana instead.”

”…and how is that supposed to make sense…?”

Still, Zoemi only had basically the same answer for her, making it even more confusing.

Ehmi even glanced over at Burushi, but the blond heroine merely shook her head every bit as confused as the crimson-haired fire sage.

”You see…”

”ZOEMI?!”

It seemed like the black-haired by was about to go into details about the nuances of mana and spellcasting, but once again, the scene was interrupted by someone – someone very familiar at the sound and sight of Burushi ended up stepping away from the black-haired boy making sure that there is an appropriate amount of distance between them.

”My lady?! Wh-what are you doing…?!”

*thump*

”…here…?”

Zoemi asked, utterly shocked, seeing a certain petite dark-haired girl at the door, and was just as shocked – if not more – when that short-haired girl ended up clinging to him on the opposite side and immediately started glaring at Ehmi from behind Zoemi’s shoulder.

…in his entire life, Zoemi has NEVER seen Miriette acting so timid in front of another person, so there had to be some other reason for such behavior…

Because the petite dark-haired girl could be no one else than Miriette Lisea Espine after all.

Of course, at first Zoemi as an attendant wanted to pull away – but that would not work out well.

If he would step in the opposite way of the dark-haired girl, he would end up pushing himself against Ehmi.

And if he tried to step back or forward, that would end up exposing the obviously hiding Miriette to Ehmi.

Zoemi had no idea why the dark-haired girl seemed to be worried about the rather friendly and high-spirited crimson-haired girl, but he wasn’t going to force them to face each other.

”Miri~! See? I told you I will steal him for myslef~!”

Still, none of what Zoemi was thinking and planning on had any influence over Ehmi, who leaned to the side without letting go of the boy and peeked over at Miriette.

”Sh-shut up! He is mine!”

As Zoemi was rolling his eyes over the outrageous statement that held no water, he felt Miriette tightening her grip on his arm as she retaliated in a voice that barely hid her bottled-up anger…

|…ah… she isn’t afraid… she is trying to not look at her because she knows she will fly off the handle if she would…! My lady is doing her best to control herself~!|

…which has finally cleared out things for the black-haired boy…

…if that is true then this Miss is kind of unhinged, don’t you think…?

|Oh, shush! She is putting in an effort to not make a scene!|

Ludier’s shadow ended up commenting in a worried voice but got silenced by the defensive Zoemi.

”My lady, what brings you here?”

Zoemi ended up asking, deciding to ignore the whole stealing him part, and asked, looking down at the shorter girl.

It might have been because of the time they’ve spent apart, but Zoemi for the first time realized how short she was – Miriette could barely measure up to Zoemi’s chest – well, it might have been connected with some sort of an unnoticed growth spur on the boy’s part, but still.

”What brings me…? You…! I wanted to see y…! Khh…! I came here to bring back this lecherous woman! The fights are going on and if she will not return, people might start making up some crazy rumors about the two of you!”

Miriette gasped and scoffed in response, ending up biting her tongue after almost saying something that was not appropriate for the time and place they were in as too many people might have been keeping an eye on them.

”Ehmi, you are going to get MY ZOEMI in trouble! Let go of him and let’s return to our seats!”

The dark-haired girl ended up clinging to Zoemi even tighter and declared while nuzzling her way under his arm and glaring at the crimson-haired girl who was too tall to mirror her move without looking silly.

”Today we host only the preliminary duels and if everything will be according to the schedule, there will be a second round of it too. Is there really a need to all of that if OUR ZOEMI will end up winning it all anyway?”

But even if she couldn’t cuddle up to Zoemi nearly as cutely as Miriete, she had some assets that Miriette could only dream about – and she used it fully by sandwiching the boy’s arm between them as she declared with a proud expression.

”I WILL NOT SHARE HIM WITH A HEATHEN LIKE YOU!”

Miriette took a deep breath just to shout at the top of her lungs while her hair bristled like a forest of needles– thankfully, Zoemi was prepared for that and hurriedly cast a bubble of muffle that encompassed all four of the – yes, Burushi was also being included despite doing her best to not be a part of the small-scale drama.

”Aww, you are so cute when you are angry~!”

Instead of getting angry, Ehmi merely snickered – but did end up letting go of Zoemi and stepping away.

”Alright, teasing you was fun but I really should return… Zoe, I will be cheering you on during your second fight – alright, let’s go!”

”…oh come on…”

She cheered out clearly intending for all three of them to leave the sickbay, but that only caused Miriette to breathe out and shake her head in disbelief – her hair returned back to normal and she sighed, unwillingly moving away from Zoemi, clearly looking as if she would prefer to stay like that for long.

”No, Ehmi – the two of us will leave first, and Zoemi will leave whenever he pleases because otherwise, it will only look suspicious for all of us!”

Miriette complained angrily, grabbing Ehmi’s hand and pulling her outside.

——

”Didn’t you want to wish him good luck?”

Ehmi asked as she and Mireitte were returning to their seats, making most of the people turn away from the rather boring fight between two wind magicians, and stare at them wondering whether Espine and Victureo’s families were being at odds with each other wasn’t a gross exaggeration.

”Tsk. Don’t be stupid. My Zoemi doesn’t need any luck to win.”

The dark-haired girl scoffed in response, proudly raising her head and puffing out her modest chest.