Kierul was still asleep – or rather she was very convincingly acting as if she was still asleep. The dark circles under her eyes revealed that she didn’t actually get any rest – most likely bothered by the one-sided love…

…but she would never admit that something so trivially illogical would bother her…

Now, what kind of attendant would leave their master to their troubles without even trying to help?

“Good morning, Kierul~”

Zoemi’s copy dissipated into silver mist and the original one left the tray with food on the desk while calling out to his master softly.

“…”

The red-haired girl didn’t react whatsoever and her chest was raising and falling to the rhythm of her calm breaths.

“I know that you don’t want to bother getting up because the fire attribute first-years will be tested second to last so there’s plenty of time to snooze…”

Zoemi said in a playful tone while entering the girl’s bathroom and turning on the water to fill the bathtub.

“…but I want to try something. I have a little plan in mind and I think it’s quite good~”

He added while observing the water level rising and testing the temperature with one hand.

“…what kind of plan…?”

Kierul didn’t get up, she didn’t bother to roll to the side of the bed to peek at the preparations her black-haired attendant was doing – instead, she just mumbled under her nose acting half-asleep knowing that Zoemi will pick on her words anyway.

Now was the crucial moment – if the black-haired boy would just say something like ‘checking if the second prince Surou had feelings for you or not’ the red-haired girl would immediately refuse the cooperation.

All in all, Kierul should figure out what was the hidden agenda of the plan, but she would accept it if the side objectives were beneficial enough.

“Our prince feels a bit too comfortable with you around, maybe even using you as a method to keep other nobles away… but that’s not exactly good, is it~?”

“…mhmm…”

The scarred attendant hummed while sprinkling a few drops of perfume into the water before pulling out and setting up a fresh set of towels… and smirking at the awkward mumble.

Satisfied with the preparation, Zoemi returned to the room standing over Kierul’s bed.

The blanket was covering only one of the girl’s legs so it wasn’t a problem to excavate her – the black-haired attendant leaned down and gently picked up his master into a princess carry.

“…haaaa… Zoemi… I don’t feel like playing your games. Put me back down and tell me more details.”

The red-haired girl was stubborn – she decided to sleep so she wouldn’t even open her eyes in the arms of her attendant.

She did sound a little bit annoyed though, although that might have been because she was cranky because of the lack of sleep…

“While his older brother is absent, our prince will try to make himself seem more approachable and open-hearted so he will definitely spectate everyone’s examination before and after his own turn, starting from the shadow magicians…”

Zoemi said ignoring the first order and instead carrying his master to the bathroom.

“Make’s sense… but you know about it because…?”

“Because he inquired a teacher whether it is okay security-wise. That teacher asked the headmistress and she complained about it while getting pampered by my copy~”

The red-haired girl muttered and asked as her eyelids remained shut to which the black-haired boy responded with a proud hum,

“…okay… what do you want me to do with that information…? Don’t tell me you just want me to show up there bright and early and join him? Now that would just be…”

“~!”

*SPLASH*

Kierul sighed in a tired voice and furrowed her brows, slowly opening her eyes just so she could glare at her attendant – who grinned at her maliciously and unceremoniously dropped her into the bathtub.

“GABFHH-GBLGAH…! OH YOU… PTFHGH…! OH YOU, FUCKER, YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT!”

Kierul splashed around raging in fury, she inhaled some water and almost coughed her lungs out but she still roared at the audacious attendant.

“No. There’s no need for you to accompany our prince. My plan requires you to show up in the very middle of the wind magicians’ time slot.”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU THROWING ME OUT OF BED SO EARLY?!”

Zoemi calmly turned his head from left to right and informed his enraged master that stood up in the knee-deep bathwater while soaking wet with her pajama sticking closely to her body.

“Because we need to make you look stunning and beauty takes time and effort. Bathe, relax a bit, and I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

The outburst of anger didn’t affect the black-haired boy at all and he merely bowed toward the red-haired girl and left her in the bathroom.

“YOU ARE MESSED UP IN THE HEAD, YOU KNOW THAT?! YOU FUCKER, YOU WILL HAVE TO CLEAN THIS ALL UP!”

*SQUELCH*

Kierul roared after her attendant when he left her alone – then she removed her wet pajamas and threw them at the door with a wet noise.

“Duh~”

“!!!”

But the red-haired girl’s rage was ridiculed by a confident scoff coming from her bedroom, causing her to freeze up – the ridiculous dismissiveness of the black-haired boy threw her off so much that the anger evaporated from her body in an instant.

She wanted to be angry, but she could no longer be.

“Hmph.”

Kierul ended up scoffing and removed her underwear before submerging herself in the bath.

“Hmm…? tsk… he is way too good at his job…”

…she frowned when she realized that despite her splashing around like crazy after being dropped into it, the level of the water in the bathtub was just perfect…

Kierul finished bathing and let the bathroom wrapped into a towel… and then proceeded to throw said towel to the side while taking and putting on the underwear that Zoemi prepared for him in the meantime.

*rustle*

“…?!”

She was reaching for her school uniform but then got captured in a white sheet all of a sudden.

“The clothes can wait. Let’s get started.”

The person who entrapped her in white fabric was none other than her attendant- when her head to face him she was greeted by a devilish smirk, moved, and then sat on the chair by the desk.

“I will do your hair first so go ahead and eat.”

Zoemi allowed her benevolently while pulling up his sleeves and dual-wielded a comb and a hairbrush.

When the black-haired boy said that preparations will take time, he was not joking, Kierul didn’t remember spending so much time in a chair getting her face covered in various beauty products even for her birthday parties back in the day.

She once again wanted to be angry and annoyed, but her attendant was skillful with his hands and him massaging in some ointments and tonicks into her face was quite relaxing- regrettably so.

Kierul lost her sense of time and felt so at ease and relaxed that she was about to doze off in bliss…

“…”

Of course, that wasn’t the case for Zoemi, the scarred attendant’s hand stopped mid-air as he was about to put some finishing touches with the lip gloss and he turned his head towards the bedroom’s window.

“They are going t it faster than I expected. Time to raise and shine like a star~”

“Mhmm… Eh…?”

The black-haired boy nodded to himself and finished applying the cosmetic, winking at the red-haired girl who jolted herself awake.

“We should consider altering your uniform, replacing black with red would work out insanely good for you.”

Zoemi commented while handing Kierul her school uniform piece by piece.

“Alright. Ready. Tell me more about that plan of yours.”

Kierul made sure that every piece of her attire is perfect and motioned benevolently at her attendant with her chin.

“It’s simple. We will go watch the magic examination, and greet the second prince making sure that he sees you at your best, then, we will sit at an appropriate distance away from him, close enough to be considered an ally but far enough for others to realize there is a distance between you two..”

“Sounds simple… and ineffective.”

The attendant revealed and the master immediately expressed her discontent.

𝒪𝗏𝒍𝒩𝐞xt.𝓬𝑜𝓶

“…and then you will cheer for a random wind magician, making it look like your looks and early arrival was there for him – oh, it needs to be male to push the message through. We, guys, are dumb like that, after all.”

“…”

The black-haired boy wasn’t finished though, and his next words made Kierul frown.

“…thank you for caring about me so much, but give it a rest, he will not react the way you hope…”

The red-haired girl lowered her head and looked away, letting out a short tired sigh.

“…”

Zoemi wanted to say a lot of things, but instead closed his mouth and waited – just like him before, Kierul wasn’t finished talking.

“…but… if I pick someone from a family that’s in the first prince fraction, then it would be effective for a different reason. I approve of your plan.”

“Thank you for your open-mindedness, my lady~”

Kierul turned around catching the glimpse of her own reflection and straightening her back with quite a vicious smile to which her attendant responded with a polite bow and an evil grin.

“Just in case – in an outcome when you are correct about the second prince’s reaction… I ask for you to lift the ban on teasing him.”

As the two of them were readying to go out, Zoemi suddenly asked.

“…depends… what kind of teasing you are talking about…?”

Kierul hesitated and put a strand of her curled hair behind her ear.

“Nothing that would impair his academic endeavors. Just breaking his legs.”

“No!”

The scarred attendant shrugged his shoulders and smiled innocently causing his master to tense up and refuse him on the spot.