It was after we returned to the academy.
Evening. My sister walked into my room like she owned the place. She dropped onto my bed like a landlord settling in and crossed her arms.
"Matyos. Do you know what punishment the imperial law prescribes for theft?"
She fixed me with a long, steady look, then tossed the words out.
Here it comes.
As if I'd know imperial law.
I made a rough guess.
"…One year?"
"Three years minimum. Maximum — amputation of the hand."
They cut off your hand for theft?
I swallowed hard and instinctively rubbed my wrist.
"You're my family, so it won't come to that. Nor should it."
"Is that so…?"
"But I do want to make one thing clear."
She crossed her legs. Leaned forward slightly and rested her chin in her hand.
And looked at me.
"Did you really go there to rescue that girl Emily?"
"…And if I did?"
"Is that really true?"
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction.
"Hm?"
"You didn't have some other motive? Like wanting to do something with the women there."
Why is this going in that direction?
Does she think I'm some kind of lecher?
I'm not exactly indifferent to women — I'm no saint — but paying for it is something I've always found distasteful. Never done it, either.
"You didn't?"
That smile, so full of certainty. It irritated me for reasons I couldn't quite name.
"I think you're misreading this, Sister. I'm telling you, no."
I said it plainly, but she looked entirely unconvinced.
"Why not?"
She tilted her head just slightly. Her silver hair slid softly off her shoulder.
"Men are all beasts, after all."
The corner of her mouth curved up slowly.
"Truly? Not even a single selfish thought?"
"I said no."
"Is that right?"
Her hand moved in a flash.
My collar was seized.
My body was pulled forward.
And suddenly her face was right there, directly in front of mine.
Too close.
The tips of our noses were nearly touching.
Skin white and smooth as snow filled my vision. A faint flush lived just beneath the surface, subtle and alive. And below that, pale rose lips curved in a soft arc, barely parted.
As though deliberately meant to draw someone in.
"Shall I test that?"
She whispered.
And pulled my collar once more.
The distance between us had all but vanished.
There was barely a sheet of paper's width between our noses. If I leaned forward even the smallest amount, her lips — soft and faintly moist — would be right there.
Her breath reached my face. Warm, barely there. Each time she exhaled, a faint fragrance drifted past.
A thin, quiet breath sounded close to my ear.
Luminous eyes, transparent as glass, were looking straight at me from inches away.
She didn't look away. Didn't hide anything.
Just looked — directly, deeply.
Words left me.
The room went still.
Only the air between us moved, slowly.
Our gazes were tangled together.
Gulp.
I swallowed without meaning to.
The corner of Ofilienne's mouth lifted just a little.
Silver hair. Silver eyes.
Like a goddess of the moon.
"Your face has gone red. Are you embarrassed?"
"…Anyone would, with someone's face this close to theirs."
When I said that, she made a small sound in her throat.
"Hmm."
It was the sound of someone finding this quietly, inexplicably enjoyable.
"You're red too, Sister."
"Me?"
"Yes."
I placed my hand against her cheek.
"You're this warm."
At my words, she released my collar.
Her eyes went wide — startled — and she pressed the back of her own hand to her cheek. A faint blush had spread across her pale skin.
"It's just my complexion."
She said.
"You're seeing things."
"Your ears are red too."
They really were.
The tips of her ears had taken on a delicate flush.
Ofilienne's lips trembled, just barely.
"…That's your fault."
"Mine?"
"I used a great deal of magic saving you. I'm simply tired."
"That has nothing to do with your face turning—"
"It does."
"Fine, the face — but why the ears—"
"It does, I said."
She snapped up from the bed and walked briskly to the door.
She fixed me with one long, pointed look — then left the room.
* *
A few days later, the scandal broke: Magistrate Nikollas's corruption and crimes.
Every major newspaper descended on him at once, tearing into him without mercy.
Exactly as Ofilienne had said.
Caught off guard by the sudden assault, Nikollas fought back with everything he had.
He even staged a tearful performance in the public square, managing to weather the immediate crisis.
But his political influence took a severe blow, and he could no longer continue extracting money from Ofilienne.
He had threatened Ofilienne with exposing her visit to the auction house if she didn't pay him—but that sword cut both ways.
In the current situation, Nikollas stood to lose far more.
Ofilienne was a student at the empire's academy. A disciplinary hearing, a dent to her reputation — that was the extent of it.
Nikollas had no such luxury.
Unlike Ofilienne, his base of power was Porca itself. Already endangered by the newspaper exposés, if human trafficking and slave auctions were added to the pile, he stood to lose every position he held.
And so, with tears he couldn't afford to shed, he had to let the money go.
In contrast to that brutal world of politics, Porca Academy was peaceful.
"Say 'ahh.'"
"Ahh~"
Taibeon opened his mouth wide, mimicking Emily.
Emily, fork in hand with a plump meatball speared on it, placed it into Taibeon's mouth.
"How is it? I made it myself."
"Mmm! It's delicious. Best meatball I've ever had!"
Taibeon and Emily had grown remarkably close in the days since the auction house incident.
Emily had kept her distance from Taibeon all this time, wary of drawing him into her entanglement with Chechilron.
She had feelings for him — but circumstances hadn't allowed for anything more.
Now, at last, there was nothing standing between them.
Emily watched Taibeon chew the meatball she'd just fed him off her fork, a warm smile on her face. He'd stuffed it in whole, and his cheek was puffed out round with it.
A quiet smile spread across her lips as she watched.
He was, somehow, terribly endearing.
Taibeon chewed diligently, then looked up.
Their eyes met.
A brief silence — and then both of them burst out laughing at the same moment.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I don't know… just."
The answer was vague.
Neither of them really knew why.
They simply looked at each other and laughed. It was funny for no reason, joyful for no reason.
As though something light and buoyant had lifted inside them.
Even after the laughter faded, the moment their eyes met again, more laughter slipped out.
It was a feeling that defied explanation.
But one thing was certain: this moment, right now, was very, very good.
They were happy.
Beside them, a fork scraped lightly against a plate.
"…You two are really that happy?"
Watching her brother and Emily being so sickeningly sweet, Tiana poked at her food without much appetite.
Taibeon answered.
"Yeah."
"I'm jealous… Is dating really that wonderful?"
Her voice dragged out long.
Emily flinched.
"D-dating? Sister. What do you think I have with this idiot—!"
"Don't try to fool me now, Emily. I'm hurt."
"That… yes."
"Anyway. Please take good care of my brother. He eats well, sleeps well, and he's not the sharpest — but he's not a bad person."
"Did you have to put it that way?"
"It's the truth, isn't it?"
"I feel sorry for whatever poor man ends up with you someday. Who's the unlucky soul going to be?"
Emily took Tiana's side.
"No, no. Tiana is really popular. My guy friends keep asking me to introduce them to her."
"Me…?"
Tiana was, objectively speaking, quite popular among the male students.
Her pure, delicate beauty was one thing — but her overwhelming… blessing (?) was what truly captured the hearts of red-blooded young men.
"But I am a child of God."
She stroked the red Sacred Stigmata etched into the back of her hand.
"Does believing in God mean you can't date?"
"It's not exactly that…"
"Then what? So it doesn't matter."
At Taibeon's words, Tiana fell quiet.
In scripture, and otherwise, there was no passage that forbade a woman from being in a relationship.
"I… suppose not…?"
Hearing it put that way, it did make sense.
"Right… that's true. God did say to love one another. Yes, yes."
When she thought about it, it was a simple matter.
"Hey."
Matyos arrived beside them, tray in hand.
"You all started without me?"
"Oh — h-hi! Welcome. The food is amazing today! Come sit next to me."
Tiana stumbled over her words.
With Matyos right in front of her, her heart had seized up completely.
"Yeah? It does look good. You sit here too."
"Hm…?"
Matyos stepped aside.
And there, revealed behind him — a small girl with silver hair.
"Yuri?"
Tiana tilted her head.
Yuri gave a small nod.
She quietly took a seat beside Tiana.
"I brought her from the library. I've been teaching her to read lately."
"Teaching her to read? Yuri can't read?"
The revelation seemed genuinely shocking — Tiana asked again to be sure.
"Right, she can't."
Yuri answered, sipping her chocolate milk through a straw.
"Your parents never taught you?"
Taibeon asked this time.
An innocent question.
"I couldn't read until I was fourteen either — but my father brought books back from the city, so I was able to study."
"I don't have any."
"Hm? Don't have any what?"
"A mom and dad."
Yuri answered with an expression that suggested it was nothing remarkable.
"I don't have a mom or dad."
Her eyes held no sadness.
"They died when I was born, apparently."