Chapter 125

Ten years ago, after becoming King, Grace opened magical education—which had previously been permitted only to nobles—to commoners as well.

Beginning with simple lessons conducted at the royal castle for a year, she confirmed the potential of educating talented students and went on to establish a full-fledged academy.

Its name was the Frozen Magic Academy.

For the past nine years, led by mages personally selected by Grace, the Academy had accepted any child with potential as a student, regardless of social status.

Nine years had passed since then.

Aisha Kreutz had attended from the very beginning.

Here, she was famous both as the symbol of the noble students and as the most talented student in the Academy.

Naturally, she enjoyed not only King Grace’s favor, but immense popularity among nobles and commoners alike.

She had even developed a voice-storage device capable of recording surrounding sounds and playing them back after only nine years of learning magic.

In short, she was a genius.

“I hope I end up in the same class as Lady Aisha.”

“If anyone does, it should be me. I’m in the same year as Lady Aisha, and I haven’t been in the same class as her even once in ten years.”

On the noticeboard for the new term, students’ names were listed beneath images representing each faculty member’s class.

The area in front of it was packed with children trying to find their assigned classes.

Quite a few of them were checking to see whether their own names appeared on the same line as Aisha’s.

“...Oh my goodness.”

Then it happened.

“I’m in the same class as Princess Aisha!”

A girl shrieked, and envious cries and grumbling erupted around her at the same time.

That was how overwhelming Aisha’s influence was.

She could turn an ordinary girl into the center of attention simply by being assigned to the same class.

Her popularity continued on the first day of lessons.

The students who had deliberately arrived early kept staring at the back door.

They were waiting for Princess Aisha.

“Hey.”

“What?”

At that moment, one noble boy who was waiting for Aisha just like the others called to the friend sitting beside him.

“I just thought of something. My parents said they’re going to send a marriage proposal to House Kreutz. How do I stop them?”

“What?! Did they send it already?”

“No. You know Duke Kreutz too. He said he wouldn’t accept any engagement proposals or anything of the sort until Princess Aisha had her coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Right. Then they’d be better off never sending it.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ll be rejected anyway.”

The boy had nothing to say to that.

As the son of a marquis, he had every intention of formally sending Princess Aisha a marriage proposal once she became an adult.

But he could not.

Frustratingly enough, even he lacked confidence.

Would I ever even get to hold Princess Aisha’s hand once? No. I probably wouldn’t even have the courage to ask her to dance at a banquet.

Fifteen.

For the sons and daughters of noble families, it would not have been strange to already have a fiancé or even a politically arranged marriage decided at that age.

But House Kreutz was different from other noble families.

Perhaps they were too busy pouring all the affection they had been unable to give her during the five years she had been missing.

Duke Calypse cherished Aisha so fiercely that he had made it clear he would not allow any marriage, engagement, or strategic relationship formed purely for the benefit of the family.

“Lady Aisha!”

“Princess Aisha, hello!”

At that moment, the students who had been sitting in their seats surged toward the back door.

Princess Aisha had appeared as the door opened.

Golden hair cascading in waves down to her waist.

Ruby-like eyes glittered against skin as white as the snow of the north.

Up to that point, she might have been called the very image of a noble young lady, but there was something different about Princess Aisha.

The faintly mischievous smile on her face, as though she were always plotting something, gave dimension to a beauty that might otherwise have seemed merely pretty.

The boys watching her became nervous without even realizing it.

Would someone like me even be allowed to approach someone like her?

By the time she reached her seat, Aisha had naturally drawn a crowd of girls along with her.

Should I try talking to her?

Like that would work.

The boys could only stare blankly at Aisha, surrounded by female students.

The two boys who had been talking about marriage proposals were no different.

Princess Aisha was exactly like her father.

An impenetrable wall.

Whenever the conversation was about magic, she could not have been kinder.

But the moment a young lord invited her to his estate or asked her to join him for tea, she would close her mouth and merely lift the corners of her lips.

And then—

“Um... do you have a lot of free time?”

“...Pardon? Yes. I-I have plenty of free time, Princess Aisha!”

“Then you should use it wisely.”

Apparently, she had said that while patting the young lord on the shoulder.

Anyway, Princess Aisha was impossible.

A date was impossible too.

And a marriage proposal?

What a ridiculous idea.

My parents say they’re sending one anyway. Just how disappointed are they planning to be?

The boy let out a deep sigh as he imagined his parents getting ahead of themselves.

Even so, just like the other boys, he pretended not to care while secretly listening to everything Princess Aisha said.

“Princess Aisha, by the way, is there really no young lord you like?”

“That’s right. They say that if you’re a noble, you’ll have to get engaged or married soon anyway.”

Why do they keep asking her every time they see her when they’re just going to get the same answer?

The boy grumbled inwardly and predicted the Princess’s response.

She’ll obviously say it’s still too early.

That was what he thought.

“I’m going to.”

What?!

The startled boy’s jaw dropped.

In the distance, Aisha was smiling like sunshine amid the crowd of students.

“But no young lords ever approach me.”

What was that supposed to mean?!

“What? What are you talking about?!”

“But you’re incredibly popular, Princess!”

Even the girls asked again in shock.

Aisha answered with a puzzled expression.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because Father declared that he wouldn’t accept any marriage proposals? My coming-of-age ceremony is only six months away now, so perhaps it’s time I started accepting them.”

Oh my goodness.

“I don’t mean I’m going to get married immediately. But there’s nothing wrong with having tea with someone and getting to know each other, is there?”

The girls giggled and enthusiastically agreed.

And then—

I’m sending one.

I’m absolutely sending a marriage proposal.

I’m sending it tonight.

Fire blazed in the eyes of the sons of marquises and counts.

The enormous wall around Aisha, which had seemed as impenetrable as the northern ice wall, had finally crumbled.

And right now, before word of what she had said spread throughout high society, this was nothing short of an enormous opportunity for the noble boys.

And this situation was exactly what Aisha had intended.

***

“Y-Your Grace!”

Several days later, the Kreutz ducal castle was in chaos.

At the castle’s flagpole, where carrier birds from outside the territory arrived, nearly a hundred birds had descended all at once.

“What happened?”

Calypse, who had rushed over after hearing his assistant’s scream, opened his mouth in shock when he saw the swarm of birds.

Birds carrying letters here, letters there, and still more were continuing to arrive.

Has a war broken out in another region?

He walked into the flock of carrier birds and tore open one of the envelopes by hand.

But the more °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° seriously Calypse read, the more confused his expression became.

It was a marriage proposal.

So was the next letter.

And the next.

Every single one was a marriage proposal.

“...For now, sort every marriage proposal here and put them in the storage room.”

Caught off guard, he had fallen silent for a moment before finally giving the order and returning to his office.

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

The servants, obeying the head of the family, frantically began gathering the proposals.

That was why no one noticed.

No, no one cared.

“Squeak!”

Who would pay attention to a single mouse suddenly appearing in the middle of all this?

“Sniff, sniff, sniff...”

Squeaky entered the storage room, following the scent of Kyle’s message that Aisha had given them.

And then—

“Coo, coo?”

A huge carrier bird suddenly appeared, bobbing its neck as it blocked Squeaky’s path.

But—

“SKREEEEAK!”

“......!”

Squeaky was no ordinary mouse.

They were a messenger mouse from a family of spies.

Ten years ago, Squeaky had even survived an encounter with a monster cat.

Despite their tiny size, Squeaky unleashed a mighty roar and instantly subdued the carrier bird.

“...Coo... coo...”

Once even the insolent bird had retreated, Squeaky put on a prim expression, snatched the letter from one of the carrier birds in their mouth, and scampered away.

***

A little while later.

“Perfect. Ab-so-lutely perfect.”

I gave the mouse who had completed the mission an enthusiastic round of applause.

This had all been my plan.

From deliberately letting it slip during class at the Academy that I was willing to accept marriage proposals, to the boys rushing home and actually sending an enormous number of them.

Obviously they’d want to send theirs before the rumor spread. That’s why I calculated they’d all arrive around today.

My eyes gleamed with grim determination.

Today, exactly one week after that incident, was the day Kyle and Knox’s messages were due to arrive.

If all those marriage proposals arrived at once, then I could use the confusion to steal Kyle’s—

That had been my plan.

Though, frankly, I could never have pulled it off without Squeaky.

Clap, clap, clap—

“Squeak?”

For a moment, Squeaky looked puzzled by the applause.

Then they grew shy and twisted their little front paws together.

Cute and smart.

You can’t reward elite personnel like this with praise alone. A proper reward has to be something they can hold in their paws!

“Bring me the finest cheese!”