I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 54: Second semester begins (9)

It’s semester 2 of year 3 at Leavrov Academy.

The semester has come and gone, and before I know it, we’re more than halfway through.

Next year, both Alex and I will be in the top grade, and after a few more events, there will be nothing left but graduation.

The witch of Walpurgis, the demon king and finally, the cure for Alex’s heart condition.

I already have a rough idea of how I’m going to resolve all of these events.

All that remains is to wait for the events to happen.

And finally, to make sure I have the right things in place to make things happen.

Alex’s heart condition was a bit of a mystery at first, but now there’s a glimmer of hope.

That is, once Miss Sophia’s potion is perfected.

The current reagent isn’t quite as good as it could be, but it’s still a bit incomplete to say the least.

…Besides, the current reagent has some nasty side effects.

Granted, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal, but I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of anyone again.

I had an important appointment with Miss Sophia at the beginning of the semester regarding the Alchemy Club and the magic amplifier.

If she could perfect the prototype magic amplifier by the end of the semester, I would let her off the hook for embezzling the club’s funds for three years.

As someone who wants to keep Miss Sophia around whenever possible, I’m rooting for her to succeed.

Her alchemy is quite useful, and her future is promising.

To be fair, her talent is more pharmacy than alchemy, but if that’s what she wants to call herself, I’ll let her be.

That’s why I’ve scheduled a visit to the alchemy club today.

I wanted to see how alchemy was progressing before the semester ended, and I also had something I needed to deliver to Miss Sophia.

After two knocks on the door of the former tea ceremony room, I heard Miss Sophia’s voice from inside the door.

“Come in~.”

I pushed open the sideways door and entered the room, where I saw all sorts of experimental tools for making potions.

The colorful liquids in glass vials were the stuff of science labs, a rare sight to behold.

And then there was Sophia, working at one of the lab tables.

As soon as I took a step to talk to her, I felt something catch on my toe.

I looked down to see what had touched my foot, and saw an empty medication bottle rolling across the floor.

“…….”

The bottle wasn’t the only thing on the floor.

There were all kinds of bottles, lab tools, and trash.

“Sorry, Ariana. It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?”

“It’s more than a little.”

“…Well, I’ll clean it up as soon as I finish my research, because I’m really almost done now….”

I think I heard that “almost done” phrase a month or so ago.

Well, it’s not that I don’t understand.

When you’re in the process of researching and perfecting something, the end is often not clear until you’re faced with it.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been frustrated when I’ve created a new piece of dark magic, only to realize it wasn’t finished.

I’m sure Sophia feels the same way, so I don’t think rushing the process will speed things up.

The only thing I can do for her is to remove any distractions from her work.

I grabbed an empty trash sack from the janitorial toolbox and started picking up the glass bottles on the floor, one by one.

“Oh, Miss Ariana?”

Miss Sophia looked puzzled by my behavior, but I let her continue with her research.

“Don’t mind me, just continue with your research.”

“Uh, how can I not care? Her Royal Highness Ariana, the Duchess, is cleaning up the mess I made!

Oh, okay, I’ll clean it all up, just give me the trash sack!”

Miss Sophia hurried over to me and tried to snatch the garbage sack from my hand, but I clearly stated my refusal and insisted on focusing on the development of the magic amplifier.

“I’ll clean it up myself, so why don’t you hurry back to your research table.”

“You’re……?”

“Miss Sophia, the best way for you to help me is to finish the magic amplifier you’re developing as soon as possible.

You’re the only one who understands how the magic amplifier works and can complete it, so I’m just doing what I can, and you can focus on what only you can do.”

“Yes, yes….”

At my firm demeanor, Miss Sophia immediately turned back to the table with the medications on it, and I continued without a word to clean up the mess on the floor.

It took me a good two hours to completely organize the messy room.

* * *

I bagged up the trash on the floor, swept the floor, and swept up things like dust and broken glass.

By the time the floor was swept clean with a final mop, the Alchemy Club room was a sight to behold.

“Thank you for your hard work, Ariana….”

Miss Sophia, who had been working on a magical amplifier until I finished cleaning up, greeted me with hot tea as soon as I was done.

As I took a sip of her Darjeeling tea, a slightly astringent flavor began to creep into my mouth.

This tea must have been a remnant from the days of the tea ceremony, and the aftermath of improper storage.

“……!!!”

Miss Sophia, who was second to taste the tea after me, was furious and reached for the cup I was holding.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Ariana, for serving you tea with such lousy content…! I’ll be right back!”

“It’s okay, just sit back down.”

“Ha, but it’s so astringent I can barely drink it….”

“I’m not here to meet Miss Sophia, the head of the Tea Ceremony Club, I’m here to meet Miss Sophia, the head of the Alchemy Club.

What’s important right now is not whether or not the Darjeeling tea tastes good or bad, but the progress of Miss Sophia’s research on the magic amplifier, don’t you think?”

“That’s right, Miss Ariana….”

I took a sip of my tea, put it back on the table, and proceeded straight to the real purpose of my visit to the Alchemy Club today.

“First of all, I have to ask, how far along are you in the development of the magic amplifier?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s….I don’t think I can tell you exactly.”

“If you can’t say exactly, did something go wrong along the way?”

“Well, I’m very close to completion, but the solution isn’t stabilizing, and if I fix that, I’m pretty much done.

So I’m trying different catalysts and to stabilize it, but I’m not seeing any tangible results.

Maybe it’ll be done tomorrow, maybe it’ll take a few more months, so I can’t say for sure….”

A few months.

Well, that’s not too far off in terms of timing.

It only needs to be finished before me and Alex graduate anyway.

If I were to ask her why she can’t do it sooner, all the work we’ve done so far would go down the drain.

If I blow this one tangible possibility that I’m just now starting to see, it’s going to be hard to find another way to do it in time for Alex’s death.

However, my promise to Miss Sophia is due this semester, so somehow I have to get her to produce something this semester….

I’m going to have to cheat a little bit.

“When you say the longest deadline, how many months do you think it will take?”

“Oh, I’m thinking maybe six months at the longest.”

“And if you were to receive this amount of funding, how much could you shorten the time frame?”

I opened the leather pouch I had brought in front of her and showed her the contents, which were filled with gold coins.

“…What is this, Miss Ariana?”

“It’s my personal allowance from the Anastasia family.”

“Ah, even though it’s the Duke of Anastasia’s family, this is hardly pocket money….”

Of course it is.

It’s money I’ve been saving for my future for two years, since the time Alex was handed over to Miss Sierra, without spending a dime of it.

A settlement, to be exact, for me to disappear into the town of Colona after my ruin.

It was supposed to be enough for me to open a shop and start a business, so it shouldn’t be too much to support Miss Sophia’s research.

“I will invest all of this gold in Miss Sofia’s future.”

“You’re investing in my future, Ariana?”

“I think Miss Sofia will be of great help to me in the future, so I’m buying your approval with this money.”

“…….”

“So, what’s the answer to my question?”

Miss Sophia seemed to be calculating something in her head, and then she carefully held up three fingers.

“With this much money I think I could get it done in, like, two, three months.”

“That’s more than enough, and since it’s the end of October, you mean you can get it done before the next semester starts?”

“Yes, that’s right, I’m sure.”

By the time I get back from the winter break, after fighting the Witch of Walpurgis in the Eloreal Empire, I’ll probably have Miss Sophia’s magic amplifier finished.

And after defeating the Demon King in an event just before graduation, and finally curing Alex’s heart disease, everything will be perfect.

“I’ll be praying that you live up to your expectations, Miss Sophia.”

“Thank you, Miss Ariana!”

I’m only a few steps away from my future with a happy ending.

It turns out my future isn’t a game’s story after all, it’s my own.