Louis scattered the ruby’s fragments on the desk, then turned a smile on her, which belied his display of brute strength. “You’re beginning to get the picture, aren’t you?”

Monica shook her head no with all her might. Her straw-like braids swished from side to side.

Louis outright ignored her. “I’d like you to infiltrate the academy and protect the prince in my stead.”

The way he said it was so very casual, like he was asking to borrow a handkerchief for a second, but what he was asking was no easy feat.

“I—I can’t! Wh-why would you want me…?”

“I’m too famous. Look at how beautiful I am. I can’t cover all this up with a disguise, can I? You, on the other hand, seldom appear in social circles, and you keep your hood down over your eyes even during ceremonies. Nobody knows what you look like. And most importantly…” Louis paused, gave a smile gorgeous enough to enrapture anyone…

“Nobody would ever guess such a plain girl was one of the Seven Sages.”

…and insulted her.

From up on the shelf, Nero looked at her as if to say, Get angry! Tell him off! But all the weak-hearted Monica could manage was to say “I can’t” through sobs and sniffles. “I-I’ve never, um, guarded anyone before…”

“And that’s why you’re such a good fit.”

“…Huh?” The words surprised Monica enough to make her stop crying.

Louis wearily lowered his gaze and shook his head. “His Royal Highness is an extremely sharp-witted boy… I sent a member of the Magic Corps to guard him, and he saw through it immediately. He’s been surrounded by bodyguards for almost as long as he’s been alive, so he’s good at spotting them. And that’s why I’m turning to you.”

He then fixed his gaze on Monica and declared, “Even he would never suspect a clear amateur, and a little girl at that, was secretly a bodyguard.”

“…”

“Above all, you can cast spells silently, without attracting attention. Perfect for a secret bodyguard, wouldn’t you say? There is nobody more suited to this mission than you.”

Louis’s logic seemed impeccable, but Monica couldn’t help thinking he was just trying to get back at the prince for breaking his magical item.

Seeing that Monica was maintaining her silence, Louis took a deep, exaggerated breath. “It’s been about two years since you and I were appointed to the Seven Sages… And the only work you’ve done has been holing up and staring at papers.”

“B-but I went to slay that, um, that dragon, you know, three months ago…”

“I’ve slain ten dragons in the three months since then. What’s your point?”

There was no clear hierarchy among the Seven Sages, but Monica and Louis—by virtue of their newness—tended to get assigned a lot of busywork. Over these past two years, Louis had mainly been given dragon-slaying missions and Monica more clerical duties. Most of the documents in her house were related to mathematical work she’d accepted from the other Sages.

“These jobs you’re doing are for mathematicians. For bookkeepers. You do realize you’re one of the seven greatest mages in the Kingdom of Ridill, yes? Doesn’t it stand to reason there would be some tasks only you could perform? You do, right? I’m sure you do. If you don’t, please understand that, okay? …I demand it.”

An order. How ruthless.

“B-but I only got to join the Seven Sages because I was on the waiting list…”

“His Majesty has left personnel choices for the second prince’s guard completely in my hands. In other words…you don’t have the right to refuse, my fellow Sage.”

Louis grabbed her shoulders and leveled a direct, razor-like glare at her—and out of reflex, Monica nodded. By accident.

He retracted his dangerous smile and let go of her shoulders. “I’m glad we understand each other. In addition, these orders come directly from the king himself…so please consider execution a possibility should you fail, and pay attention.”

A shudder ran through Monica at the word execution. She didn’t want to take on a scary mission like that. Unfortunately, once she had given Louis a nod of agreement, there was no escape. All she could do now was hide her identity at all costs for an entire year, until the second prince graduated, and carry out her mission as a bodyguard.

As she begrudgingly resolved herself, Louis continued smoothly:

“Now let me explain what this mission will actually entail. Several years ago, there was a poor, miserable girl with no relatives living at a certain religious house in Count Kerbeck’s domain, in the east of Ridill.”

“…Uh-huh.”

“But then the previous count Kerbeck’s wife, seeing her late husband in the girl, adopted her. The girl was given a happy life, doted on by the previous countess Kerbeck.”

“That’s a…nice story.”

Monica’s unsophisticated appraisal prompted Louis to theatrically shake his head. When he continued, his voice was thick with sorrow. “But one day, the countess—an old woman—collapsed from illness and eventually passed on from this world of the living.”

“Oh no…”

“Having lost her guardian, the girl was shunned by the others in the count’s family and given minor errands as a servant of the count’s noble daughter. When that daughter enrolled in Serendia Academy, the poor girl was enrolled as well, as her caretaker.”

“I…I feel so bad for her…”

“Indeed. And you will play the part of that poor girl.”

Monica was silent for a good ten seconds before opening her mouth to say, “What?”

“That’s the story you’ll be using to infiltrate Serendia. Make sure you have it good and memorized before your admission.”

Monica broke out in a cold sweat. Louis had just assigned her an outrageous backstory, and with complete seriousness.

“Um…,” she mumbled. “I-it’s so much, I can’t even…”

“As long as you have a troubled past, nobody will pry very much. Incidentally, I based your story on a character from this book.”

Ryn, the high-ranking spirit wearing a maid outfit and waiting behind Louis, smoothly produced a book. The author’s name was Dustin Gunther—a recent favorite novelist of Nero’s. With cultivated motions, Ryn held the book out to Monica and spoke.

“It is a romantic novel where the heroine, bullied by the count’s daughter, catches the eye of a prince. Eventually, the two fall into a forbidden love. The dismal and knavish methods by which the noble daughter bullies her are written very intricately. It is, in my opinion, a fascinating work.”

Nero listened to Ryn’s description from atop the shelf, a look of keen interest on his face, his tail swaying to and fro. This house contained several books by Dustin Gunther, but they were all older ones. The book Ryn had was the author’s newest work. It was only natural that Nero would be interested.

With Monica flustered, Ryn gently placed the book into her hands. “I will lend this to you. I hope it serves you well as a reference.”

How is this supposed to be a reference? And for what? thought Monica, pretending to flip through the pages. She’d spent many hours reading magecraft-related books, but she wasn’t too familiar with novels meant for entertainment, and the contents didn’t stick well in her mind.

“U-um… The story you thought of, Louis—it means I’ll enroll along with Count Kerbeck’s daughter, but…”

“Yes, of course! I’ve already told Count Kerbeck about it and asked Lady Isabelle, his only daughter, to provide assistance.”

Monica’s eyes widened. “W-with a story like that?! W-won’t that, um, cause trouble for the, um, House of Kerbeck?” After all, if they followed Louis’s story, that would make Count Kerbeck and his daughter, Isabelle, out to be the bad guys. She paled. She couldn’t possibly make them do such a thing.

Louis, however, was calm and relaxed. “What do you know about Count Kerbeck?”

“Huh? Um…”

Monica was good with numbers, but not so much with remembering the names of people and places. Still, the name Count Kerbeck did tug at her memories a bit. She recalled hearing it relatively recently.

“Oh… The dragons…”

“Exactly. When you slew the Black Dragon of Worgan three months ago, that was in Count Kerbeck’s lands. He is deeply grateful to you for it—in fact, he said he would assist the Silent Witch with anything.”

Count Kerbeck had prepared a feast of gratitude for Monica, who had slain the Black Dragon of Worgan. However, Monica had declined and fled back to her cabin, so she’d never met the count or his daughter.

Monica had been worried that her refusal would have soured the count’s opinion of her, but apparently, he’d been impressed—he’d taken it as a show of the Silent Witch’s profound modesty.

“I’ve already given the cover story to Count Kerbeck and his noble daughter. The count was more than happy to oblige. ‘Well now! That sounds just like a ballad, doesn’t it?’ he said.”

“M-more than happy…?”

“And Lady Isabelle’s eyes were glittering. ‘Villainesses are all the rage lately!’ she said.”

“A-are they…?”

Apparently, the novel Louis had drawn from was hugely popular in the capital. As it turned out, Lady Isabelle was a big fan, and she’d make special trips for each new book.

“Lady Isabelle is hard at work developing her character into the perfect villainess to bully you.”

“…”

“Essentially, it comes down to this. You will infiltrate the academy, Lady Isabelle will bully you, and you will protect the second prince. What? You’re great at playing the bullied child, aren’t you?”

“…” Monica couldn’t even answer that one…

…because she was nearly unconscious.

If he had already arranged Count Kerbeck’s assistance in the matter, Louis had never intended to let Monica out of this.

* * *

Even after Louis and Ryn left her cabin, Monica remained in a dazed state on the floor. Louis had said he would come by at the same time the next day and that she should have her things ready to go by then. But she honestly didn’t even know where to start.

“Hey, Monica. Are you alive? Heeey!”

Nero used his front paw to prod Monica’s foot. Normally, the soft, squishy pad was a soothing sensation for her, but she couldn’t enjoy it right now.

“What do I do…? I—I can’t guard someone… I was only on the waiting list for the Seven Sages…”

“You said that before, didn’t you? What do you mean by ‘waiting list’?”

Nero was confused—he didn’t know much about human affairs. Sniffling loudly, Monica recalled the Seven Sage examinations two years ago.

“T-two years ago,” she began, “they were selecting new Sages…”

“Right.”

“…And I… During the interview, I was so nervous that I began hyperventilating.”

“Right.”

“…I don’t remember much, but they said my eyes rolled back, and I fainted. I was foaming at the mouth…”

Nero, eyes narrowed, wagged his tail. “…And how on earth did that get you into the Seven Sages?”

“I-it just so happened that one of the Sages at the time fell ill and had to quit…so a second spot opened up. And then they chose me out of pity…”

Nobody had told her this, but Monica was sure that Louis had been the only person who had actually passed the examination. He was a talented mage. Former leader of the Magic Corps, he backed up his accomplishments with his incredible abilities. Monica, on the other hand, was a little girl who was only good at calculations, who stayed holed up in a laboratory year-round. There was no comparison.

“I can’t believe he’d choose someone from a waiting list as a bodyguard for a prince… I—I can’t do it! I can’t, I can’t!”

As Monica hung her head and buried her face in her hands, Nero patted Monica’s foot soothingly. “If you really don’t want to do it, why not just run away?”

“I—I can’t. Because if I run away…Louis will chase me to the ends of the earth…”

Louis Miller, the Barrier Mage, was a beautiful man with the manners of a noble—but he was also one of the most powerful martial mages in the kingdom. Monica knew that underneath those gloves were hands heavily calloused from fighting.

“Is that guy even human? He seems more like a keeper of the underworld than one of the Seven Sages.”

“He’s about as scary as one!”

Monica knew that she couldn’t run, but she was still scared. As she sniffled again, Nero, tail swaying, made a proposal.

“In that case, let’s be positive about it, eh? You’re going to be guarding a prince. You know, a prince! They’re really cool, right? They practically sparkle. Human females all love princes, don’t they?”

“…I don’t know.”

“The Seven Sages have to do ceremonies and such, yeah? Have you ever seen a prince’s face before?”

Monica shook her head. With her social anxiety, Monica hated crowds. During ceremonies, she always had her robe’s hood pulled deep over her eyes and kept to herself until it was over with. She’d never even gotten a good look at the king’s face up on his throne.

“Hey, Monica. I just had a thought.”

“…Hmm?”

“If you don’t know what the person you’re guarding looks like…isn’t that bad?”

“…What should I do…?”

She couldn’t possibly be honest with Louis and tell him she didn’t know what the second prince looked like. Not to mention the punishment for failing this mission was…

The word execution flew around in her mind, causing her to fall face-first on the floor and break down in tears. Nero patted her knee with his front paw to try and offer some degree of consolation.