CH 84

“I can go outside as long as I have an appropriate reason to do so.”

“Could you go to Lorenzo-sama’s place then?”

“Yes… err, did you need something?”

Luca hesitated to reply for a moment.

“Lorenzo-sama asked me some questions the other day, but I couldn’t immediately give him an answer back then. I prepared the document containing the answers to the questions back then, so I wonder if Luca could send it to him.”

“If it is about that, I can deliver it immediately.”

As Sophie told Luca her request, he immediately replied with a smile.

“It is really helpful for Luca to be the younger brother of Lorenzo-sama. Perhaps Lorenzo-sama asked you to take care of me?”

“Err… that’s…”

Luca couldn’t immediately deny Sophie’s words and his words got stuck in his throat. Seeing him hesitate, Sophie presumed she’d guessed correctly.

As she thought about how Lorenzo had to request his own younger brother to apply as her escort, Sophie felt bad for Luca.

“This must be troublesome for Luca. I’m sorry.”

During his escort day, not only could he not participate in the lecture, but he could have spent all day with Sophie without eating and drinking were it not for Sophie inviting him to earlier. Although that might be included in the job’s scope as an escort, considering Luca was still a student, it wasn’t like he got paid for it so it should be nothing but trouble for Luca. It was doubtful he would apply to be her escort if it was not for his elder brother asking him to. When Sophie apologized, Luca hurriedly raised his voice saying, “Not at all.”

“Originally, a copper star wouldn’t have a high enough status to escort a purple star. It’s an honor for me! …Besides, my elder brother was praising Sophie-sama. My elder brother would only say such a thing to a person he acknowledged, so I’ve always wondered what kind of person Sophie-sama is. Moreover, I heard the person was an aristocratic young lady, so I thought I was lacking to serve as an escort…”

Luca’s voice gradually became quieter as his confidence faded.

According to Luca, since he enrolled in “The King’s Sword” at ten, he has had zero interactions with women in general, let alone aristocratic young ladies.

Luca’s words and deeds were closer to those of a commoner than an aristocrat, so despite having the surname of a marquis family, he identified himself more as a commoner. It seemed that he even held a fear for aristocratic women.

“I can understand. You couldn’t help but feel so toward the people of the opposite sex. I also felt the same during my previous life.”

“Eh?”

“Ah, nothing…”

Sophie couldn’t help but sympathize with Luca from Tasuku’s perspective.

Sophie was trying to cover up her fumble as a rant, but at that moment, she could hear mockery over their shoulder.

⁠—she merely seduced His Highness, and she became a purple star? they said.

Luca erased his cute expression from earlier and his face became painted with killing intent.

They turned around, but there wasn’t anyone there anymore. It seemed that the person who said that had already fled.

Although Sophie received curious gazes all this time, it was the first time such malicious words were directed at her in this academy.

“I’m terribly sorry! Unlike Gerald-sama, I couldn’t be as much of a deterrent as he is and so such a person appeared… I will definitely find who it is and make him apologize!”

Luca put on an expression of an escort while biting his lips in regret. His lip was trembling, probably out of anger.

Sophie thought he was just a cute boy, but as expected of a person who had two copper stars, one could feel the valor he emitted. As Sophie admired Luca, she smiled at him.

“Oh, I don’t care about that. Besides, I was still looked at with strange eyes even when I was together with Gerald-sama, so it’s not Luca’s fault.”

“But!”

“Regardless of the reason, a woman came to ‘The King’s Sword’ after all. I think being seen as a foreign object is unavoidable. That’s why I personally have an easier time with Luca, who does not give off so much pressure, so much so that I want Luca to be my escort all the time.”

“Sophie-sama…”

Sophie stood up from the bench and looked straight at Luca.

“Luca, I actually hadn’t felt motivated at all when I first came to ‘The King’s Sword.’ That’s why I couldn’t remember most of you during the introductions.”

As Sophie told him the truth, Luca was dumbfounded, leaving him stiffened with his mouth hanging open.

“The sewage plan is certainly my dream, and I thought I would be prepared to carry it out under any circumstances. But I never thought I had to do it at ‘The King’s Sword’…”

Luca closed his opened mouth, then opened it again as if wanted to say something, but words wouldn’t come out of it.

Not only was he at a loss what to say, but his troubled expression with lowered eyebrows looked so unreliable that it was hard to believe he was the same boy who exuded valor earlier.

“There are only men here, right? There is no beautiful or cute thing here. There is only hostility and curious eyes. It is natural for me to lose my motivation.”

Because Luca totally understood her point, he had a guilty expression and apologized on behalf of the others.

“It’s not something for Luca to apologize for. Men, even non-nobles, don’t really like women to take the front stage. Moreover, one such woman is granted a purple star. However, I have to lead those men and accomplish the great task no matter what.”

Sophie spoke plainly, but the burden she felt was considerably heavy, making Luca feel pain in his chest. Such burdens were too heavy and bore too much importance to be carried by a girl of the same age as him. Even as he understood that, there was nothing that he could do as a copper star to carry such a burden together.

“Yes…”

At the very least, he hoped to be strong enough to protect her from such malicious words, but then Sophie replied with a smile.

And it was a very—a very strong smile.

“That’s why you should overlook some actions. Also, it’s not like I’ll just accept their words obediently, so don’t misunderstand that!”

“Ye…yes?”

“Please don’t report my behavior that would lower my dignity as an aristocratic young lady to Lorenzo-sama.”

“Ye…yes…”

Luca was completely panicked inside.

Ah, Sophie-sama totally knows about it…

It wasn’t like Lorenzo merely sent his younger brother to be Sophie’s escort just out of consideration for her. What Lorenzo wanted was all the information about the girl named Sophie Linier. Be it what the girl that the genius of the generation acknowledged would think, the actions she would take, and the source of her knowledge.

The man named Lorenzo was someone who tried to uncover everything about what he was curious about.

He asked his younger brother Luca to apply as Sophie’s escort as a means to get such information faster than anyone and as accurately as possible.

Brother, I can’t act like a spy after all. To think I got caught on the first day…

He sighed miserably.

“Oh, what’s wrong, Luca?”

“Nothing…”

Toward the girl who asked while definitely aware of the reason for his sigh, Luca felt something unfathomable about her, which made him a bit scared.

“Is that so? Then let’s go. Since we’re already here, we might as well visit the dining room on the way back. I doubt I’ll have many chances to use it, but I want to see it at least once. I don’t think there’ll be a lot of people there right now anyway.”

Her eyes were so lively, which made Luca think that her complaints and real thoughts she said earlier were actually a calculated move.

Luca was taken to the dining room as if he was dragged there, all while unable to understand what kind of person the girl in front of him was.