chapter 13
13 – Espresso
“Stella…?”
“…? Someone you know?”
I heard senior Tinia ask how she knew that person from the side, but unfortunately I didn’t have the energy to answer that question.
Stella, who should be spending the day as usual at the count’s residence, is standing in front of me, and she is also a student like me.
How can I not panic?
In addition, the family of the Marquis of Dragnis.
It is a surprising fact that Stella is a marquess family higher than mine, but it is not just a marquess family, it is the ‘Dragness’ family.
Perhaps this is the reason why Tinia sunbaenim looked at Stella curiously when I pretended to know Stella.
The family of the Marquis of Dragness.
It is a family that is said to have been given the title of marquess for making great contributions to the imperial family in the past, but this family has not interacted with the outside world at all for the last 200 years or so.
A family that did not participate in the important aristocratic meetings that set the direction of the academy or empire, let alone social circles.
With no external activities like this, there were various objections among other families, asking whether the marquess should be deprived. Changed
As if he was afraid to tell the story of the Dragnis family.
I couldn’t understand why the imperial family, which had nothing to fear, was afraid of a marquess family, but those who attended the meeting at the time said that it seemed that way.
In this way, the family of the Marquis of Dragnis did not engage in any external activities, but they continued to maintain their title.
Like a dragon standing tall with no one around.
“Wow… Pretty.”
“It’s a little hard to say this, but… You’re almost as pretty as the Princess of Listonia, aren’t you?”
However, the Dragnis family itself hadn’t been active, so many aristocrats didn’t even know that such a family existed.
Maybe that’s why, unlike me who was surprised to hear Stella’s family name, the other students seemed surprised to see Stella’s appearance.
Saying that even though Adele, her target of comparison, is right next to her, must mean Stella’s appearance is outstanding.
Actually, I think Stella’s looks are not lacking in comparison to Adele’s.
I’ve seen both Adele and Stella since they were kids, but both of them had looks that would be nothing to say even if they were called the best looks in the empire.
Although Tinia-senpai has a look that would never bow down to others, I wonder if it was because of the two of them that I didn’t think that Tinia-senpai was pretty.
It was only natural that I grew up seeing two people who can be described as having transcendental looks that are so different from normal people.
“Go over to the empty seat over there and sit down.”
“Yes, Professor.”
Jeobeok- Jeobeok-
Stella, receiving the attention of all the students, heads to the seat she was guided to.
I heard her small voice when I was passing by.
“Next time, next time I’ll tell you everything, Master Ryan.”
She heard the voice and reflexively turned her head, but Stella had already gone and sat down in her seat.
I wonder if Stella’s expression at that time looked like she was smiling a little because of her mood.
I couldn’t figure it out.
Deng— Deng—
After the 4th period, only the bell rang signaling that lunchtime had begun.
***
Lunch time.
The meal time at Selenium Academy was quite flexible.
Although lunches are provided separately at the academy’s cafeteria, those who do not like meals can go out to get their meals.
Since the academy is located in Selenium, the capital city, it was possible to solve almost anything if you went out.
Of course, I was planning to use the academy’s cafeteria, which is free of charge, because my financial situation is not so comfortable.
“Follow me, I have a lot to ask.”
“Yes.”
Senior Tinia, who seemed to have strong horns, didn’t seem to want to let me go easily.
After leaving the main gate of the academy, we arrived at a cafe that looked secluded.
Because it was lunch time, or because it was a cafe with few people, there were few customers even though it was located in the capital city.
“Please give me one of these and green tea cake.”
As if Tinia was used to this kind of seclusion, she naturally started ordering.
“What would you like to drink, junior?”
“Me?”
“Then who would it be?”
She was a senior who didn’t tell me what to drink and looked at me saying nonsense and made an expression that she didn’t know, but she had a reason for me to be like this.
‘I don’t know what’s there, how can I order it? Senior.’
It was the first time I entered a space called a cafe.
When I was young, I never went to a cafe because it wasn’t good for my young body, and after I got to a certain age, my behavior patterns were all about having accidents or shutting myself in my room.
I’ve been to bars and pubs along with other youngsiks, but I’ve never been to a cafe.
So she couldn’t answer the senior’s question about what to drink.
Instead, she whispered the truth.
“It’s the first time I’ve been to a cafe… I don’t know what to order.”
“······This is your first time visiting a cafe?”
As expected, the senior’s reaction was that he heard what he couldn’t hear.
What did you do for a living until now that you didn’t even go to a cafe? Same reaction.
“Yes.”
But what can I do? It is true that I have never been to a cafe.
It is true that the life I have lived so far is not normal and has been wrong.
“I’ve heard that I’ve been to the academy for the first time, but it’s the first time I’ve heard that it’s the first time I’ve been to a cafe.”
“Ha ha…”
So, despite Tinia-senpai’s words, which seemed a little sarcastic, she couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.
“Haa… Do you know any coffee?”
“No. I don’t have one.”
“Then we can start with the most basic ones.”
After saying that, Tinia sunbaenim ordered an extra cup of ‘espresso’.
After a difficult (?) Order, the two of us sat down at a table.
“Here is the coffee and green tea cake you ordered.”
“Thank you.”
Perhaps it was because there were no people around, the coffee and cake I ordered came out earlier than expected.
“Hmm~ As expected, this place has the best green tea cake.”
I don’t know if it’s because of the same hair color, but Green Tea Cake and Tinia sunbaenim were a pretty good combination.
Should I say it’s like a match?
“What are you thinking?”
“Do you think that green tea cake goes well with you?”
“······Is that a compliment?”
Okay. I don’t know either.
“······Do you know the reason why I brought you here, right?”
“Isn’t it because you have a lot to ask me?”
As if my answer was correct, Tinia-senpai nodded her head.
“Yes. From suddenly passing out during the entrance exam and being taken to the health room, to knowing the substitute student who came today, was her name… Stella?”
“It would take a while to explain…”
“It’s okay, we have a long lunch break of 1 hour and 30 minutes, don’t we?”
“······Then let’s begin.”
As it is, I explained to my senior what I had experienced after coming to the academy.
From the fainting after finishing the entrance exam to the relationship between me and Stella.
Of course, not all of them told the truth, and the reason why they fainted was because they had used magic with a high circle for the first time in a long time.
Although we’ll see each other for about a month, I can’t tell you about my unique magical power that I didn’t tell anyone about and the unknown disease I absorbed from Adele.
As for the disease, I wasn’t embarrassed or anything like being sick.
It’s just that I don’t like it when people find out about my current illness and worry about my condition.
I didn’t like that people who should shine in the future were wasting their time worrying about me.
This was in line with the reason I didn’t tell Adele that I had absorbed her disease.
Because they are too bright people to worry about me.
Because they are shining characters in this world, different from me, who will be fine even if I die.
Unlike me, who will soon disappear into a handful of dust, they will live happily ever after.
That’s why I didn’t say it, and I won’t say it again.
It was right to handle a bomb like me alone.
That’s the only way to atone for my actions in the past, and it’ll be my only useful thing left.
To die quietly after the academy life is over.
“······Bae? Junior?”
“·······Yes?”
“Suddenly, while explaining, he made a serious expression… What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
I guess I fell into a world of my own while thinking about it again.
When I came to my senses, Senior Tinia summarized what she had heard.
“So… You fainted because you used high-level magic after a long time, and the relationship between the new student of the Dragnis family was originally between a maid and a master?”
“For now… That’s right.”
After hearing my answer, the senior shook her head as if she didn’t understand.
“The fact that the daughter of a marquis family is a maid, saying that she has never been to a cafe, is an improbable story.”
I really think so… But it actually happened.
“Since you said it so seriously, I don’t think it’s a lie again… I don’t know.”
“Ha ha…”
“······The coffee is going to cool down. We’ve heard everything, so let’s drink it and go back to the academy.”
“Yes.”
It seemed to have cooled down a bit since the staff had already brought it, but I drank it through a straw with some anticipation for my first cup of coffee.
Then, senior Tinia was startled.
“You just drink it with nothing in it?”
“······What should we put in and drink?”
“Of course! What a bitter coffee that is.”
“You don’t write much?”
“·······Yes?”
“I don’t use this much.”
That can’t be. She looked at me with a bewildered look on her face, but she didn’t really write what I felt.
Looking at Tinia sunbaenim’s reaction, she seemed to be drinking ‘Espresso’, which was so bitter that she couldn’t drink it without adding sugar, but to me… It was just drinkable.
Without thinking about why it didn’t taste bitter, I just drank the espresso that everyone else felt was bitter.