When someone falls ill, many come to visit.
Just five minutes after Rose Bly had left, Josephine arrived, almost as if they were taking turns.
Though I had no religion, I offered a prayer to the heavens—
A prayer of thanks that the two hadn’t run into each other.
“Winter!”
Seeing beads of sweat on Josephine’s forehead, it was clear she’d rushed over the moment she heard I’d woken up.
As soon as she spotted me sitting up in bed, her face crumpled like she might burst into tears at any moment, and she ran over to me, embracing me tightly.
“What on earth happened? I just… I can’t believe this.”
“You seem more shocked than I am.”
“Of course I am! Do you know how scared I was? Are you okay? Really okay now?”
“Almost fully recovered.”
“It felt like I was trapped in a nightmare every single day. I thought you’d never wake up again.”
“Let’s talk after you let go.”
“Oh, sorry. It’s a habit from dealing with my little brother…”
Finally freed from Josephine’s warm grip, I felt a small sense of relief.
I had tried to act like I was fine, but in truth, I was still so weak that a gust of wind might’ve knocked me over.
Even so, I stretched my hand toward the chair next to me and gave it a light pat, as if dusting it off.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh… just thought it looked a bit dusty. Go ahead and sit.”
“Ah…”
Josephine looked touched and her expression softened.
I quietly hid the strand of Rose Bly’s hair that had fallen onto the chair invisible beneath my pillow.
The death flag from Josephine’s first day still lingered.
The day I possessed this body when she stormed in with a knife ready to confront her cheating fiancé.
[Notice]
[A death flag has been raised by this character.]
The dopamine and adrenaline that come with two-timing were far too dangerous for a heart patient.
Even though I wasn’t the one doing it.
“By the way, shouldn’t you be on duty right now?”
Josephine was dressed in a deep blue jacket and crisp white trousers. It was the full-dress uniform of the Laurencia Royal Guard.
“I dropped everything and came. I was so worried about you.”
“I must’ve done something terrible to you.”
Josephine let out a small, affectionate sigh.
“Something like that? A single incident report will cover it. Compared to you collapsing, it’s nothing. What in the world happened?”
I couldn’t possibly tell her the truth….that I’d been caught in a suicide blast while trying to stop a bombing in advance.
Anything involving Nice Goodman had to stay a secret.
The heart condition too I decided to keep to myself. Even I didn’t fully understand it yet. Mentioning it would only make Josephine worry unnecessarily.
Instead, I came up with a small, unfortunate accident.
I told her a poisonous toad I’d been keeping for magical research had escaped and accidentally afflicted me with a sleeping curse.
Josephine clasped her hands over her chest, looking at me with a face full of concern.
“I don’t know much about what you do… but is magic always that dangerous?”
“As I said, it was an accident. It’s not something that normally happens.”
“Still, I hope you’ll be more careful next time. If a future husband can get hurt like this, how do you think his future wife would feel?”
“…Alright, I’ll be more careful.”
Josephine was acting oddly distant today.
A moment later, it seemed even she realized it. Her face flushed bright red.
“Um… Did I just say something really embarrassing?”
I nodded honestly.
And after that, neither of us spoke.
A silence that stretched for about three minutes.
Josephine couldn’t bring herself to look me in the eye. She just kept swallowing nervously.
There are men in the world who’d cheat on a fiancée like this?
You deserve nothing but death.
But the light, ticklish warmth in my chest… this fleeting peace couldn’t last.
After a little while, Josephine finally spoke again, her voice subdued.
“Um, Winter…”
“What is it?”
“There’s something I need to apologize to you for.”
“An apology?”
The mood turned heavy all of a sudden.
I tried to think. What could Josephine possibly have done that she felt sorry for?
After seeing her all flustered earlier, I felt like I could even forgive her for something absurd, like guaranteeing someone else’s debt or gambling away money.
Not that someone like Josephine would ever actually do that.
“I won’t be able to come see you for the next few days.”
“Because of work?”
Josephine nodded.
“I’m being sent on a diplomatic mission for the Royal Guard abroad. Princess Estelle has been appointed honorary consul and will be dispatched to Libron. I’ve been assigned to escort her.”
“A prestigious duty.”
“It is, but… it breaks my heart that I won’t be by your side while you’re sick and struggling like this.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
What concerned me more was the fact that Estelle was going to Libron.
Wasn’t the term for an honorary consul five years?
The main stage of Candela of Judgment was, of course, the royal capital of Lambart.
And Estelle played a significant role in the original game.
But now the princess who was supposed to shine in the capital was leaving the country?
That never happened in the version of the story I knew.
It hadn’t been that long since I possessed this body, but had the future already changed?
The so-called butterfly effect hadn’t quite hit me until now, but…
I asked her, “When do you leave?”
“First thing tomorrow morning.”
“That soon, huh?”
“I was going to tell you earlier, but… well, I couldn’t exactly do that with you unconscious.”
Right, because I had collapsed.
“And will you be staying in Libron for long?”
“Probably not. I’m only responsible for Her Highness’s safety until she arrives at the embassy. Of course, I’ll have to make sure her accommodations and the local security arrangements are reliable, but even so, it shouldn’t take more than two weeks.”
“I see. Then don’t worry about me. Just go and do your duty.”
“I’m really sorry…”
Josephine lowered her head, looking unsure, so I gently patted the top of it.
“If you really feel sorry, why not just bring back a souvenir or something?”
“Would that even be enough?”
“I like how seriously you take your work. So go with confidence.”
With that, I gave her my support for her trip to Libron.
It’s absolutely not because Rose Bly is coming to my house starting tomorrow.
Really.
***
Friday morning.
Jacqueline let out a shriek when she passed the central bulletin board of the Magic Department and saw a newly posted notice.
“What! Professor Winslet’s class is canceled next week?”
“Oh, that.”
“Rita, you knew about this?”
“Sort of. There’s a rumor going around that it might not just be a cancellation. The class could be shut down completely.”
“Shut down?! What about the credits? I’ve worked so hard in that class!”
Jacqueline recalled all the effort she had poured into Professor Winslet’s lectures from the very first week until now.
Passing out during the skills test, dozing off during lectures, tearing her notebook while doodling, secretly hiding candy in her mouth and letting it melt quietly and so on.
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t that much of a loss after all.
So Jacqueline decided to take the news of the canceled class with a slightly more generous mindset.
“But why is the class canceled?”
“Apparently for health reasons.”
“Did he catch a cold or something?”
Jacqueline imagined the iron-blooded Professor Winslet coughing weakly from a cold.
For some reason, it made her feel a little smug.
“Hahaha! I mean, should we go visit him or what?”
“Let’s do it.”
A prompt reply came from beside them.
It was Shannon’s voice.
Up until now, she’d been silently staring at the notice, but now her expression had turned serious.
Shannon spoke.
“When should we go? Today?”
“Uh, wh-what?”
“To visit him, I mean.”
Jacqueline was caught off guard.
She hadn’t actually meant for them to really go visit. It had just been something she said.
After all, imagination is most fun when it stays as imagination.
Before things could spiral any further, Jacqueline decided to come clean.
“I didn’t actually mean it. I mean, going to see him in person is a bit… I don’t know; wouldn’t he think we’re being rude?”
“Why? We’re his students, aren’t we?”
“Students? Hmm…”
At Shannon’s words, Jacqueline pursed her lips and mulled it over.
Would that insufferable man even consider her his student?
Well, if he decides to think that on his own, I won’t stop him or anything!
In the end, Jacqueline passed the decision on to Rita.
“Then if Rita goes, I’ll go too.”
“Me?”
“mHMM.”
In truth, she only said that because she knew Rita had plans to go to the library afterward.
But Rita looked hesitant.
“I don’t know… should we?”
“What do you mean ‘should we’? You always go to the library after class. Weren’t you planning to review what we learned today?”
“Well, that’s true, but visiting him while he’s sick doesn’t sound like a bad idea either. You know Professor Winslet lives in one of the academy’s five top-grade residences, right? I’ve always wanted to see what those places are like.”
“Ugh.”
Out of the three, it seemed Jacqueline was the only one who found Professor Winslet uncomfortable to deal with.
Just as she was about to launch into some nonsense about “the tyranny of the majority” to avoid accepting defeat, a third party entered the conversation.
“You’re thinking of visiting Professor Winslet?”
When they turned around, a male student in horn-rimmed glasses was standing behind them, reading the class cancellation notice along with them.
Jacqueline immediately recognized who he was.
One of the upperclassmen who also took Professor Winslet’s class.
It was Luke Rousseau.
“Oh, hi! Nice to see you!”
“Yes, we were thinking of going. Just to check on him since we’re a bit worried.”
Luke Rousseau’s kind eyes curved gently as he smiled.
“You all must really like Professor Winslet.”
The three girls reacted differently to that comment.
Jacqueline flared up immediately.
“Huh? Me? Why would I? He’s totally insufferable, you know?”
Rita responded in her usual calm tone.
“I simply respect him as someone I’m learning from.”
Shannon quietly lowered her gaze.
“……”
Seeing this, Luke Rousseau gave a gentle smile, then spoke in a kind, considerate tone.
“As your senior, let me give you one piece of advice. It’s best not to get too close to Professor Winslet.”
“Huh?”
“He’s a very dangerous man.”
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