After leaving the academy gates, El released Cielsa’s small hand, the one covered in a white silk glove.
“Ah, is little El jealous? The moment we meet, you grab onto Sister’s hand and won’t let go.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I just didn’t want you messing with my classmates. After all, I was the one who brought you here, so I’d be the one to take responsibility if anything happened.”
“How awful, just what sort of person am I in your eyes, usually?”
Cielsa shot El a coquettish glance.
“…Definitely not a good person.”
Cielsa chose a café in the Yosse District as their meeting spot. It was quite close to El’s home. The café was one of Cielsa’s own businesses.
The two of them would meet here from time to time.
“All right, little El, what did you want to talk to me about this time?”
The waiter was still preparing their coffee.
In the private room, the temperature-controlling spell was cooling the air, and through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the roses in the garden were clearly visible.
El pulled out a stack of manuscripts. “Your Highness the Princess……”
“Wait, what did you just call me?”
“…Cielsa the Princess?” El’s voice held a note of uncertainty.
“Once you step out that door, you may call me Your Highness the Princess—I won’t quibble. But inside this door, what must you call me?”
“Sister Cielsa…”
Satisfied, the princess nodded, taking the stack of manuscripts from El’s hands and reading through them with care.
Midway through, the waiter brought over their coffee, along with a stack of sugar cubes for the table, but neither of them paid much attention to it.
“This sounds rather unbelievable. But since you’ve come to me, it means there must be some degree of credibility to it, right?”
El carefully observed Cielsa’s reaction to the script. The purpose of this meeting was not only to ask for her help, but also because he suspected that this entire script was a play she herself had orchestrated.
Unfortunately, El was still too inexperienced before such an old fox. In gaming terms, his social and charm stats had failed the check, and he didn’t find any clues at all.
“Yes, according to this script, I found the original Sword Spirit in the Moonlit Forest next to the academy and helped the protagonist make a contract with it.”
El continued, “In fact, I think this script is only of reference value. Many of its details can’t be verified for truth, and there are many discrepancies with reality.”
“That’s quite right, oh dear. But to write my adorable little El as the villain—honestly, it’s… just too funny, hehe……”
She looked completely oblivious… El retorted, “Aren’t you a villain too, Miss Flower of Evil of the Empire? If you ask me, that’s the only thing this script got right.”
In the script, Cielsa was still called the Iris Princess, but due to her many misdeeds, foolishness, and arrogance, she was ostracized by the other nobles.
In private, they gave Cielsa a nickname: “Flower of Evil” of the Empire.
“If anything, that part is the most ridiculous. Ask anyone in the capital, who doesn’t know that Cielsa the Princess is beautiful, gracious, elegant, wise, kind, merciful, clever…”
She rattled off more than ten adjectives in a single breath, many of which overlapped in meaning.
In truth, what Cielsa said was the reality. When El was twelve, Cielsa was made a princess and began to shine.
She only needed an opportunity to soar. Cielsa’s maternal family, the Count of Rosent, were nobles of the Eastern Domain, so she naturally had the support of the Eastern Domain’s nobles.
At sixteen, Cielsa resolved the persistent trade deficit the Northern Domain had with the Western Domain, easing tensions between the Northern Domain and the Empire.
At the same time, she helped the Grand Duke of the West establish a financial system far ahead of its time, earning high praise from the lofty duke.
She established a social security system in the capital, personally supervised anti-epidemic efforts in the lower districts, resolved border disputes… Unwittingly, Cielsa’s power had grown to an unsettling degree.
If anyone dared insult Your Highness the Princess in the capital, the knights would beat him unconscious and toss him in the dungeon, merchants would refuse to do business with him, women would spread rumors about him in the markets, and children would pelt his windows with stones.
“But still, it sounds nice. Look, it even says here we might end up as a couple.”
El remembered that there was, in fact, a world line where the two unlikeable villains simply ended up together.
“We’re both little monsters. Sooner or later, some righteous protagonist will kill us… You don’t really believe that, do you?” She curled her seductive red lips and took a sip of her coffee.
Before drinking his coffee, El had put in a lot of sugar cubes. But the moment the coffee hit his mouth, he realized something was wrong.
It was salty to the point of bitterness, or rather, just pure bitterness, corroding his palate.
He forced himself to swallow, narrowly avoiding spraying it onto the princess, who was laughing so hard she could barely stay upright.
“As expected of the Empire’s Flower of Evil, to disguise Salt Crystal as sugar cubes—such a diabolical plan, I could never have come up with it.”
“Hehe… I didn’t expect you to add so many, either. Still just a child, loving sweets so much?”
Cielsa handed her cup of coffee to El.
“Rinse your mouth.”
Seeing the red lipstick mark on the rim, El hesitated for a moment, but still accepted the cup and gulped it down. He finally felt much better.
Once he’d recovered, El continued, “It says here that I’ll become a demon in the future and be killed by the protagonist.”
“Mm, mm, and? Are you scared? If you’re really that worried, why not quit school? Sister will protect you.”
Cielsa replied absentmindedly, her violet eyes fixed on El’s coffee-soaked collar. Clearly, her mind wasn’t on his words at all.
“It’s not fear. It’s just… right now, I really am in danger. I’ve seen it. There’s a powerful demon within me. I don’t know, once it awakens, if I’ll even be able to control my body anymore.”
“Wait, what did you say……” She sounded flustered.
“And according to what’s written here, there are a group of deranged Cultists lurking in the shadows of the capital, supported by powerful nobles. I don’t even know who the enemy is.”
El finished in one breath, ignoring Cielsa’s attempts to cut in.
“No way, how could this be……Why!”
When he looked across the table, Cielsa was already lost in thought. In his memory, Cielsa had always been composed and unruffled.
He never expected that even Your Highness the Princess would show such an expression.
Panic, regret, like someone about to drown.
Even the deeply scheming Cielsa couldn’t control her emotions—this was truly rare.
“So that’s how it is… Sorry, I lost my composure.” She took a deep breath, regaining her usual calm.
“You must suspend your studies. First, deal with the demon inside your body. Then, go back to the Regis Territory. Wait for me to clear out all the vermin in the capital, and then you can consider returning to your studies.”
Cielsa grew serious, declaring El’s next steps in a tone that brooked no argument.
At that moment, she displayed an overwhelming sense of control over El—perhaps she always had, and he was only now realizing it.
“I refuse.” El answered simply, without giving an inch.