Chapter 401: Sophie Dimitri [2]

Hm?

Yennifer wasn’t really lying about it, I guess.

Looking ahead, I could see Sophie waiting for someone at the entrance of the girls’ dormitory.

Though she could have been standing there just by herself, I had a gut feeling that she was indeed waiting for Yennifer.

"There she is."

Despite knowing that I had already spotted Sophie, Yennifer raised her voice a little, as if to make a declaration to all the students who were currently near us... and with most of them being girls, I felt like an uninvited guest.

"Kael?"

Yennifer’s voice seemed to have attracted Sophie’s attention as she raised her head to meet my gaze.

"Hey."

Slightly waving my hand, I closed the distance with Sophie.

My greeting... for some reason, it was far more awkward than I would have ever expected it to be.

"Uh... hello."

Maybe my greeting wasn’t that bad, as Sophie gave an awkward smile of her own, while trying to raise her hand for a wave, but slowly withdrew it... finding the action a little out of place, as both I and Yennifer had already arrived by her side.

"I thought you guys knew each other."

Yennifer commented as she alternated her gaze between me and Sophie.

"Did you ask her to tag along for visiting the market?"

Ignoring Yennifer entirely, I directed the question towards Sophie, who—

Hm?

What was she nervous about?

"She had suggested doing so—"

I didn’t register the remaining words, as my gaze shifted towards Yennifer, who looked back at me with the same confidence in her eyes.

"If you are done, then... you may leave."

This time I remained polite in my words, but—

"I don’t want to."

Yennifer didn’t seem inclined to accept my kind gesture.

"I have some things to talk with her, and... you are intruding upon our privacy."

"..."

"..."

My words might have hinted at several unwanted interpretations, but I wasn’t one to care about it.

I really needed to have a proper discussion with Sophie, and know what all details the headmaster had asked her—

"Are you her boyfriend or some fiancé?"

"I—"

"He isn’t."

Sophie beat me to the answer, as she replied with a firm determination in her voice.

For some reason... her answer dejected me, if only by a bit.

It wasn’t because Sophie denied Yennifer’s claim, but because she interrupted me with an authority that gave me the impression that... she was in control and not me.

It didn’t feel good to be overruled by someone else... and the daughter of the man who served me no less.

"Are you done?"

I was trying to be polite with Yennifer given her status and potential use for me, but the girl was increasingly getting on my nerves, making me want to—

Sigh.

Yennifer looked into my eyes for a second longer before she gave Sophie a look that should have conveyed some hidden message between them, and... left the two of us to talk by ourselves.

"Did you meet the headmaster?"

The moment I felt that Yennifer was far enough to not be able to hear our discussion, I asked the question while taking a step towards Sophie.

"I did—"

"What did he ask?"

"..."

Sophie didn’t respond as she just stared at me with plain eyes.

"Can you please move back a bit."

Hm?

Without realising it, I had subconsciously moved closer to Sophie, as the distance between us had been reduced to less than a foot.

Taking a shallow breath, I took a step back, before taking another, and increasing the distance between us to a reasonable extent.

"The headmaster had just asked me to contact him if I ever needed any sort of assistance while getting used to the academy."

Sophie slightly adjusted her hair which had fallen over her face due to the strong wind that had begun to blow at the moment.

Her words still echoed in my mind, as I tried to process them, but no matter how hard I thought... the headmaster’s behaviour felt a lot more different than his usual self.

"Anything else?"

As Sophie hadn’t elaborated further, I thought asking her—

"There’s nothing, and if you are done with the questions... my friend’s waiting for me."

Sophie pointed towards Yennifer, who was now seated on a bench by the side of the footpath some distance away.

Sensing our gaze, she raised her head to look at us, before shifting her focus to the students walking before her.

Hm?

Did she just ignore—

"May I leave now—"

"No."

My voice was firm, leaving no room for negotiations.

Sophie, for the first time, had her eyes narrowed as she observed me with scrutiny.

I knew I was being unreasonable, but I didn’t like the idea of Arthur’s daughter ignoring me, and that too for tagging along with a mere princess of some backwater empire.

Alistairian Empire was a mighty force amongst the human nations, but still... for me it was just a backwater—

"I thought I had the right to decide for myself, or will you be ordering me around like you do with my father?"

Sophie’s voice now had an edge to it, making me give a sigh in return.

"No one’s ordering you, and yes... you have the right to decide for yourself."

I couldn’t help but find the contrast between the father and daughter quite intriguing.

Arthur had never really questioned my decisions, aside from giving me advice from time to time.

But his daughter—

"Father had been coming home less frequently in the recent days, and I know it must have been due to the orders given by you or your boss... whoever it is."

Sophie uttered the words while staring into my eyes, as if she wanted me to hear each word with crystal clarity.

Though the orders must have been given by Julien and weren’t specifically from me... it wasn’t like I could refute her statement either, as it was true to some extent.

"I don’t care what you want to do or are trying to achieve with that organization of yours, but... just to be clear... I am no subordinate of yours."

She wasn’t even worth being my subordinate, so why was the girl being so feisty?

I had the urge to give a perfect reply to put the girl in her rightful place, but I held back.

After his pledge of allegiance, Arthur would always follow me irrespective of his personal feelings, so there was no need for me to worry about it, yet despite that... I knew antagonizing him for no reason wasn’t going to be helpful in our relation.

A dog that barked for food, and the one that barked as well as attacked my enemies out of loyalty... were an entirely different breed.

And I wanted Arthur to remain in the second category.

"I must apologise if my words were rude, but please keep everything in mind before... ordering me again—"

"Miss Sophie Dimitri... even if I wanted to, there is nothing that you can actually do for me. Leaving aside your identity... you don’t have any other capability worth enough for me to order you around."

"..."

Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth because Sophie indeed had quite the talent, but... there was no need for me to acknowledge it at the moment.