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nZoemi leaned back flabbergasted at the confession, hurriedly glancing over at the confused Benevirau and trying to make a meaningful expression so that the girl would be the only one to understand him, just in case.

n”Eh? Ah! No, no – no one knows about that, the case is buried together with that trash.”

nAt first, Burushi was slightly confused, but she catch on almost immediately and waved her hand dismissively.

n”No – you know that I worked my magic – literally – and helped Patishi, right? Well, around a month before the vacation period, I got a letter and was approached about helping out another person in the same situation. I should have been more careful, but instead, I agreed to see the person. … do you want to even hear about that? I got expelled and almost exiled – if not for uncle Benevirau I would have to straight-up flee the country.”

nBurushi slouched and started explaining but then she suddenly flinched and shook her head, shrugged her shoulders, and motioned at the dark-blue-haired butler with her chin.

n”Well, since no one seems to be in immediate danger and I am still feeling as if I am going to get split in half any second, I wouldn’t mind learning more – like – was the thing that happened to you an extension of the plan to ruin Horeo’s opinion or something else?”

nThe black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders and moved back to his previous position, doing his best to control his face from twisting into a pained grimace – the pain didn’t flare up because of his movement since his injury wasn’t actually physical but simply as he shifted his position, he stopped talking for a moment and became more aware of its constant – albeit slowly diminishing – presence.

n”I guess I was close enough with Miriette to be counted as a part of the first prince faction – but, don’t get me wrong, if anything, I would be counted as a part of the second prince faction. I was being plenty clear about wanting to help to get second prince Surou out of the monastery.”

nBurushi crossed her arms and groaned, looking to the side with an annoyed expression.

n”…you mean… you could fix him…?”

n”Sh-shut up! It’s not like that at all! He was never truly cruel or even mean to anyone!”

nZoemi raised his brow and asked, heavily hinting at a trope that Burushi recognized immediately and got red from the suggestion.

n”Umm… Didn’t you heal some of my wounds that directly contradict that sentence?”

nThe black-haired boy pointed out, but that only made Burushi double down on her stance.

n”NO! And you know it too! It’s all that mysterious supporter’s fault – and just so you know, when I talked about him with Miriette before I got expelled, she said that someone did try to use some weird spell against her, but she chased him off! So there you have it! It wasn’t his fault, my Surou wouldn’t be like that!”

nShe declared, puffing out her chest proudly and glaring down at the worn-out boy.

n”…didn’t you know him for less than two months though? I mean, except his character in the game of course…”

n”Girls just know those stuff, alright?! And who are you to talk you anime protagonist-level dense dork!”

nZoemi muttered but got instantly scolded so hard that he had to cower and lean to the side – albeit he did so to appease the rampaging heroine, since, well, he really did not have much right to speak about those things since he was indeed quite dense.

n”…a-anime protagonist…? What does that mean? Is that an insult…? But a protagonist is the main positive character, isn’t it? Or did that word change its meaning? Did I lose my grasp on the modern language…?”

nAs the two quarreled for a bit, Benevirau was standing by the other side of the bed, hunched over and muttering to himself with concern, questioning his linguistic prowess because of the new word that he was exposed to.

n”How about we get him out of the monastery first and let the two of you actually get to know each other first before you settle with him for life?”

n”And how about I will…!”

nMeanwhile, Zoemi raised jokingly raised his hands, imitating giving up, and asked to which Burushi responded in full-on battle mode – until she realized what the black-haired boy said and froze in place.

n”…you will help me get him out…?”

nThe blond-haired girl plopped back down on her seat and asked in a shocked voice.

n”Yes – but we will discuss that after you will tell me how was helping someone transition in the world where magic is real and people do far more shocking things got you in so much trouble. Okay?”

nZoemi nodded, completely serious, and said, making Burushi close her mouth and fidget awkwardly.

n”It was a setup… a really cruel one at that…”

nShe finally revealed herself and took a deep breath – neither Zoemi nor Benevirau tried to hasten or interrupt her.

n”The letter was supposedly from some home-schooled noble who refused to attend the Academy. She explained her situation and assured me that she heard about Patishi and that I was the one who helped her. The letter made it sound like she was desperate, an actual extreme case, to the point of terrifying her family with literally mutilating herself…”

nBurushi sighed making a vague gesture towards the general area that she was talking about.

n”I am not going to lie, I had my suspicions but I couldn’t just ignore a plea for help like that, so I went. I don’t want to get into details, but I ended up agreeing to help miss Metavicero Hontreu. I wanted to take things slowly just how it was with Patishi, to help her adjust to the changes, but I also had a better understanding of the process and ended up… speeding the process because of the promise of support – you know, helping me get Surou out of the monastery or at least allow me to meet with him – I ended up putting my new knowledge to good use and be ready before the vacation period started. That was also partly due to the fact that miss Metavicero hoped to be able to attend the Aspakeony Academy as her real self.”

nThe blond heroine stopped to take another deep breath and continued getting more and more depressed as she spoke.

n”She really was happy… she really was… but then a single day before the end of the school year, the headmaster called for me and showed me another letter, this one written by the head of the Hontreu family, informing me about miss Metavicero going missing… but they suggested that something more severe has happened.”

n”…did… did they actually force a boy to act like a girl just so they could later claim that you…”

nBurushi sniffled, giving Zoemi time to start asking a worrying question.

n”No! That’s the thing! That bastard in the letter said that I charmed Metavicero and talked her into an irreversible change that pushed her to her limit! But that’s the thing! My spells are reversible! This is a god damn magic! If Metavicera really had a change of heart – which she definitely didn’t – I told her that it would be okay because her comfort is the most important! Don’t you get it?! Her family wanted her to change back, so she lied to them and said that it’s irreversible after which they gave her so much ** that she…! And after that those despicable people ended up blaming me!”

nBurushi blew up, clenching her fist and tearing up.

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