MSS 08

Chapter : 08

“Why are you coming out of there at this hour?”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I was taking a walk…”

“A walk thirty minutes away from your house?”

“This path is pretty.”

I pointed to the riverbank where a small boat was tied up.

“It’s even prettier if you climb up here, see? Do you want to come up too?” I offered kindly, but he ignored it.

Who was it?

Who else but Arden?

Arden, who was glaring at me as if I were the strangest person on earth, suddenly frowned.

“But, Senior.”

“Hm?”

“Did you climb the fence with your shoes on?”

“Climbing barefoot would be even more… sorry.”

I immediately backed down under his icy stare.

“Come down.”

“Okay.”

I jumped down immediately.

Arden, who had reached out his arms to catch me, stared blankly at me, landing perfectly without his help.

“…”

“I just have very good balance.”

“It looks like it.”

“Catch me next time I jump from an even higher place.”

“Are you planning to climb up again?”

“You never know what life holds, do you?”

Do you have to do your best to catch me even if I jump from that clock tower over there? I joked, pointing to the clock tower in the distance.

“You won’t just push me off or something, right?”

He didn’t even reply.

“If you can’t sleep, go to a hospital. Don’t wander around like this.”

“Is there a hospital you can go to when you can’t sleep? Ah, I heard a new one just opened.”

A hospital for people dealing with issues of the mind, not the body, had been established.

They say His Royal Highness the Crown Prince personally invited doctors from abroad.

A good person, indeed.

“I bet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must have a thoughtful and kind nature.”

“…”

“Like strengthening patrols so people can return home safely at night. And the hospital matter.”

He must be a kind and sensitive person. I even clapped my hands together as I praised him.

“I heard his coronation will be held soon. How old is he? About three years older than me?”

“I don’t know.”

“Honestly.”

How prim.

I grumbled internally and looked Arden over.

Even in a pitch-black Imperial Knights uniform with a black coat, his face is so bright that he doesn’t look dull at all. His blonde hair is literally an accessory.

He wore purple cufflinks on his shirt sleeves, which peeked out from under his coat, and they matched his hair color perfectly.

‘Those cufflinks look like jewels. Everything he wears subtly looks expensive.’

He buys 50 handkerchiefs every day, buys cufflinks… He must live at our boarding house because he spends all his money on dressing up.

Tsk tsk.

“Arden.”

“Wha?”

“The Imperial Knights get a pension, but sometimes accidents happen that a pension alone can’t cover.”

As you get older, unexpected expenses that you couldn’t anticipate when you were young arise.

“You must save a fixed amount of your salary in case of such things. You know that, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“How long do you think you can stay this young and healthy? Prepare for old age. Think of the money you earn now as being shared with the elderly you will be 60 years from now.”

“…”

“You have parents, right?”

“Someone who hears you would think you’re nonchalantly saying words that would get you executed…”

“What did you say?”

“I don’t know.”

“Honestly.”

In any case, Arden seemed to have no intention of leaving first, even though he ignored everything I said.

Naturally, the two of us started walking along the riverbank together.

“But why were you here at this hour? Were you working late?”

“I saw members of the Capital Guards running while I was on my way home.”

“Oh.”

“They said a report came in from the Demarci Street area.”

“Oh.”

Let’s pretend I don’t know.

“Is that so? What was the matter?”

“They said it was nothing much. Just a magician who appeared.”

“A magician…”

“They said it quieted down and was resolved quickly.”

Arden, who spoke calmly, showed no sign of connecting the incident on Demarci Street with me, who was out for a walk in the middle of the night.

“Phew.”

Arden stared at me as I sighed in relief.

“Why?”

“You have something on your head.”

“Really?”

Where? I tilted my head and brushed my hair with my palm.

Pat, pat, pat.

“Is it gone now?”

“No.”

Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat.

“How about now?”

“Not yet.”

“I’ll just leave it on.”

Then Arden hesitated and reached out his hand.

He was wearing gloves—I didn’t know where he got them so quickly—and his hand gently touched the ends of my hair. He touched it with minimal contact and then pulled away.

What was on his fingertip was.

“Ah.”

It was a petal.

One of the petals that scattered when I transformed earlier.

Feeling guilty, I made up an excuse.

“I ran an errand to a mansion with a greenhouse earlier.”

“There was a flowering tree in the center of the mansion, and I guess it got caught when I walked under it. I’m jealous. Seeing flowers this season.”

“What is there to be jealous of? It will be spring soon.”

“That’s true.”

It will be spring soon.

I raised my head to the sky.

Right now, it’s the season where my breath clouds every time I speak, but it will get warm soon.

“Arden.”

“…Yes.”

“Do you think the world is currently in winter?”

Is the world so cold and chaotic? Enough for a divine prophecy to select a Magic Saintess after 950 years?

“In terms of chaos, the era of war was worse, wasn’t it?”

That was about 500 years ago, and why the Magic Saintess now, when there was none even then? I swallowed the complaints I couldn’t express aloud.

I didn’t expect a reply as I spoke, but surprisingly, a serious answer came back from Arden.

“Because the average has gone up, but the gap has widened.”

“Hm?”

“Back then, everyone lived a life of -100. But now.”

“Some are living a life of +100, but most are living a life of -50.”

“Ah.”

“To some people, that gap might be the biggest source of chaos.”

“That’s true…”

I hadn’t thought of that. I nodded. Arden glanced at me and added.

“So, I will try to change it. So that a fair spring comes to everyone.”

“You?”

“Why? Do you think I can’t do it?”

That’s not it, but.

You’re not the Emperor, so how can you be so certain…

“Senior, you can change it too.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Isn’t that why you studied?”

To make the world a better place, Arden added.

“…”

No. I studied for my own advancement.

But I didn’t want to lose face in front of a junior who talked about changing the world.

“That’s right. You’re right. I studied to change the world.”

“Yes. I thought about it, and I think Senior can do it.”

“Right. Let’s work hard. I’ll make sure to succeed and buy you dinner.”

“Buy me dinner twice.”

“Sure thing.”

Just like that, I became someone who will change the world.

“Hey, you can change the world too.”

“What are you muttering to yourself?”

Arden, who had arrived at the boarding house and opened the door, looked at me as if to ask why I wasn’t entering.

I called out to Arden, who was about to go up while I checked the mailbox.

“By the way, Arden.”

“Yes.”

“’ You thought about it and concluded it’—does that mean you think about me when I’m not around?”

“No?!”

“Oh.”

Is asking if he thought about me something to get that angry about? Enough for his voice to suddenly rise?

“I’m not the type of person to think about anyone else. I don’t care about others.”

“Ah.”

“I live only thinking about myself.”

“I s-see.”

Sir Arden (21, Imperial Knight), who will change the world but doesn’t care about others.

“I received a chocolate at the Knight Order’s cafeteria earlier, and it was the kind of chocolate sold at the Academy. So it just came to mind. You used to eat that chocolate often. I didn’t think about you; it just came to mind.”

Isn’t that the same thing?

“Got it.”

I nodded, trying to suppress a smile.

Then Arden, closing his mouth with displeasure, went upstairs first.

“Good night…?”

My greeting, shouted toward his handsome back, scattered futilely.

And a short while later, morning came.

“Ugh… I don’t want to go to work…”

When I forced myself up after barely getting 30 minutes of sleep.

“Eeing.”

A strand of green yarn was dangling and swaying outside my window.

It was a string lowered from upstairs, from Arden’s room.