“Of course, but… this is a far more grave situation than I envisioned…”

The red-haired girl muttered with concern, biting her lips.

“…still, with all that, I am a lot more confused why would the royal family decide to call for a bunch of young inexperienced nobles, o matter how strong they might be. It would make much more sense to command other noble families to do the same thing that the Espines are doing – gather and train forces and… wait, hold on… that timing…”

Kierul grumbled feeling that she was missing something and then when she said a certain word her eyes widened in realization.

“Prince Surou… have… all absent students been summoned for the participation of the King’s Guard training…?!”

She gasped in shock, staring at the second prince as if demanding him to deny her words.

“Unfortunately, that is exactly what is going on.”

The blue-haired boy nodded his head with a serious expression.

“Exceptional individuals like them should not be treated as normal magic soldiers so they will go through special training. As you know, the main problem with our kingdom’s army is that we rely completely on the magicians – so nobility – to fight in the major conflicts in order to protect the main force behind the food production, the commoners. We are strong because of our elemental magic, but we are few in numbers.”

Surou nodded and breathed out nervously – this time not because of bashfulness but rather because of the gravity of the situation he was speaking of.

“I would not be surprised for this year’s magic examination for the first-year students to happen much, much earlier than normal, and then the best-performing mages to also suddenly stop showing up to normal lectures. This would of course just be the early preemptive move – if the actual conflict will become unavoidable, the Aspakeony Academy will return to its roots as a military facility and the lectures will turn into training for the battlefield.”

The blue-haired boy added, reaching out his hand and tapping the stack of notes he wrote himself.

“I hope none of the scenarios I envisioned will come true, but you know, I try to prepare in advance… although that’s stupid, I know. I don’t have any actual experience in the field besides reading and hearing reports of the battles passed…”

He suddenly blushed again and looked away embarrassed.

“Doing your best in the field you are best at is not embarrassing at all.”

“…huh…?”

Kierul declared in a serious voice while standing up suddenly, startling the second prince a little.

“Thank you for your time, my prince. If you would not mind I would like us to spend more time together, join me at tomorrow’s lunch.”

The red-haired girl walked around the desk about to leave but turned around and smiled softly at the blue-haired boy.

“I… well.. it would be an honor…”

“No, the pleasure’s all mine, my prince ~”

The second prince agreed humbly which seemed to please the red-haired girl greatly as she stepped through the open door.

“Fuck!”

But the soft smile and fluffy aura dispersed in a flash once her attendant closed the door behind her and both of them started walking down the hallway.

“…what did the headmistress tell you…?”

Kierul scoffed in annoyance, ending Zoemi with a furious look.

“Basically the same thing that the second prince told you… only that there was a whole lot -when- instead of -if-.”

“FUCK!”

The black-haired boy answered with a grim expression which only increased his master’s anger.

“Things were supposed to get easier! Now I will have to ace the magic examination whenever it will happen just to be able to meet with young lord Victureo!”

Kierul cursed, kicking the speck of dust in her way with a furious expression.

It seemed like a little thing like war could not be compared to having her plans ruined.

“You know, I think that you would have a way easier time if you switched your interest towards the second prince. He looked positively smitten by you AND isn’t engaged as far as I know.”

Zoemi closed his mouth in surprise before smirking and pointing out.

“…** off… he… gies…”

Kierul glared at him with actual bloodthirst but instead of verbally assaulting him, she merely started grumbling under her breath making things hard to hear even for Zoemi.

“Huh? Why not? I thought that you…”

“In his strategies, he clearly wrote that to assure his position without getting chained down to any big noble house he should aim for the healer magician Burushi, okay? I have my own plans and he has his. My preference has nothing to do with it!”𝒩𝗈𝗏𝑙xt.𝓒𝑶𝔪

Zoemi titled his head and wondered which seemed to annoy Kierul to no end as she started complaining, irked off.

“…umm… I was going to say that I thought that you clearly had him back in the classroom… I wasn’t teasing you about having a type…”

“…”

The black-haired boy’s eyes widened and he gasped quietly while covering his mouth and leaning forward to look at his suddenly silent master’s increasingly blushing face.

“…ghhh… don’t you have a dinner to make or something?! Go do your duties!”

Under the incredibly amused gaze of her attendant, the red-haired girl gritted her teeth and commanded, reaching out her hand towards the direction of the kitchen.

“Yes, yes. I will make something nice~”

Zoemi wasn’t bothered at all and snickered, walking faster to actually go to his duties while leaving a silent serious-faced copy behind by his master’s side.

“Oh, and Aspakeony mentioned that although no one is quite sure who is behind the attacks on the Helterose family, no one in power minds them getting wrecked because, apparently, your family had a little too close connection with the Atreterve nation and was suspected of selling off the secret information about the Bellcephora kingdom. The second prince probably didn’t mention it because he didn’t want to upset you.”

“…!”

After the original was already gone, the copy that kept himself behind Kierul suddenly spoke causing the red-haired girl to flinch and straighten her back at attention.

“Funny. It looks like we weren’t purging just some scummy filth but actually punishing treason~! Isn’t that nice? Not having to worry about the potential pursuit?”

“Hah…! True. I like that kind of surprise~”

Zoemi’s copy giggled, making Kierul snicker and nod in agreement.