“Are you jealous?”
Joshua’s brows drew together faintly, as though displeased.
As he said, it was jealousy.
Even knowing it was already over, regret welled up within Alicia. She could not yet cast aside her first love.
“Then… how about the two of us dining alone, without Mariabelle?” she suggested.
“How narrow-minded,” Joshua replied, sounding exasperated.
Those words wounded Alicia once more, her feelings cooling as they were rejected again.
Her thoughts and words would never reach him.
“I see. Very well.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“That I will not dine alone with Your Highness.”
Joshua tilted his head.
“Do not be emotional. That is not what I am saying. Whether Mariabelle is present or not is irrelevant. This is a matter between the two of us.”
“If it is a matter between the two of us, then I believe we ought to dine together, just the two of us.”
It was the first time Alicia had spoken to Joshua so frankly, yet she did not believe she was mistaken.
“Do you intend to exclude your sister and even my classmates?”
“No, that is not what I mean. Then may I ask—who told Your Highness about these rumors?”
“Sam.”
“Sam…? Who might that be?”
“Hm? Have I not introduced him? Samuel, one of my classmates.”
Samuel. The name felt familiar, yet she could not immediately place it.
Joshua had never introduced any of his friends to her.
Perhaps because of her queenly education, Alicia was adept at remembering faces, names, and social standing. She knew every heir by heart.
If she did not know Samuel, then he must be a second or third son.
“I’m afraid I don’t know him. I’ve never been introduced.”
“But Mariabelle knows him.”
Joshua answered impatiently.
(Even now, I’m still clinging to him. How pitiful.)
“By all appearances, Your Highness seems quite fond of Mariabelle. I have not even been introduced to your friends.”
Joshua fell silent for a moment.
“Very well. Tomorrow at lunch, I will introduce you to my friends. Make sure you come to the cafeteria.”
The following day, when Alicia arrived at the cafeteria, Mariabelle was there as well, as though it were only natural. It was Mariabelle who introduced Joshua’s friends—about five of them—to Alicia.
Under normal circumstances, seeing Mariabelle at Joshua’s side would have filled Alicia with sadness or frustration.
But she scarcely noticed.
Samuel was standing right before her.
At the sight of the blond-haired young man, a chill ran through Alicia.
(Samuel… it’s him. Why didn’t I realize it yesterday? I wanted to believe it was only a dream…)
Samuel was the man who, standing beside Joshua, had read aloud Alicia’s charges when she was imprisoned.
According to Mariabelle’s introduction, Samuel was the second son of Duke Rosner’s house and was expected to become one of Joshua’s close aides in the future.
Her knees nearly gave way, yet Alicia maintained her smile and responded politely.
Was the magic mirror truly showing the future?
The conversation revolved around Mariabelle. All of the students seemed to favor her over Alicia, treating her with greater care.
Yet having seen Samuel, Alicia no longer had the capacity to care.
She mechanically lifted spoonfuls of soup to her lips.
(What is happening? Was what Lady Fran said true? If my engagement continues, will I truly be executed? I only want to live peacefully…)
She wanted to dismiss it as nothing more than a ghost story, yet it was steadily taking on the weight of reality.
Alicia resolved to avoid dining in the cafeteria from now on.
That night, Alicia began to think seriously about her future.
Continuing to receive lady’s education in the general course would likely be of no use to her in the long run, nor would it bring her any reward.
Joshua did not return her feelings, and she was unwanted in her own home. That left only self-reliance—but she had no means to achieve it.
(What should I do? What strengths do I have?)
She questioned herself again and again.
The lady’s education at the academy was little more than a simplified version of the queenly training she had already undergone. She had mastered it all.
Then perhaps, even now, she could transfer to the magic department.
After much deliberation, Alicia decided to contact her estranged grandparents, Edward and Barbara.
She recalled hearing that both had graduated from the magic academy and had been classmates of the former king and the academy’s headmaster.
They currently lived in the County of Volt, an outlying territory belonging to the Wellston family.
Although Thomas had inherited the marquisate from Edward, that particular land had never been relinquished.
Her grandfather now bore the title of Count of Volt.
Fortunately, the territory lay close to the capital, and Alicia quickly wrote a letter to her grandfather.
But the world was not so kind.
No matter how long she waited, there was no reply.
It was only to be expected. By the time Alicia could remember, her grandparents had already been living apart from her family, with scarcely any contact between them.
She had anticipated it, yet having clung to that slender hope, Alicia was deeply disappointed.
She passed her days in anxious uncertainty, unable to see a way forward.
Time, however, showed no mercy and continued on.
With impatience and profound loneliness weighing on her heart, Alicia gazed up at the night sky from the window of her dormitory room.
“What should I do next…?”
She had no allies.
She would have to find a way forward on her own.
