I Broke Off My Engagement and Got a Job at the Academy

65 – Promise of Meeting

As the conversation was coming to an end, I stood up from my seat. Vanessa suddenly grabbed my hand.

“… W-what’s the matter?”

I sat back down and looked at Vanessa, asking. Vanessa spoke to me with a flushed face.

“… Can you come here again tomorrow?”

I made a surprised sound in response to the sudden request and looked at Vanessa.

“Why? Well… I’m not really busy.”

Starting from tomorrow, I would probably have the normal schedule for classes, but other than that, I didn’t have much planned. Making artifacts can be done slowly.

Vanessa hesitated for a moment and then confidently said to me with a determined voice.

“I want to see you again. Here.”

I raised an eyebrow in response to her words.

“Why? Why here?”

Vanessa shouted in response to my question.

“Because I feel like I’ll lose you again! I’ve been losing you for over a month even while you were here!”

Well, it’s not like I was losing her or anything, it’s just that my schedule itself consisted of classes, research, and tutoring Jezebel until a few weeks ago. It was just that much.

But I could understand why she might think she was losing me from Vanessa’s perspective.

“Why am I losing you!? I’m not dispensable!?”

I gave a hearty, cheeky laugh.

Vanessa immediately changed into a gloomy expression.

“…Or, do you… hate me?”

I smacked my forehead.

“No, no. How could I hate you-“

“Then why did you avoid me? If we hadn’t met today, you wouldn’t have had any intention of meeting.”

“Well… that’s true,”

Honestly speaking, that was true. To be precise, due to the overwhelming amount of things that happened all at once, Vanessa was pushed down in terms of priority.

…To tell a girl that she wasn’t a priority, it’s honestly a little, no, very cruel. Saying such things itself is quite a trashy thing to do, isn’t it?

I couldn’t give an answer and remained silent. Vanessa hmphed.

“…You knew that I entered the academy too.”

From Noble mtl dot com

I sighed once.

“Ha… I’m sorry. To be honest, I was busy… Please think of it in the same context as not revealing my name.”

“…Because you were embarrassed?”

I remained silent once again. Vanessa pressed her lips together. After a while of silence passing, I finally spoke.

“…I’m sorry. Instead, if there’s anything I can do-“

Vanessa crossed her arms.

“It’s okay. I won’t believe those grand promises. Instead, tell me if you can come tomorrow or not.”

I smiled awkwardly and said.

“…Alright, I got it. Since I didn’t have any plans for tomorrow anyways.”

Saying that, I unfolded my crossed legs and smiled. Vanessa spoke to me.

“Don’t eat before coming. …I’ll have something prepared.”

“Eat here?”

“Why, don’t you want to? …The scenery here is beautiful, that’s why I suggested it.”

I smirked at her words.

“…Alright. Let’s do that then. I’ve never eaten anything here before, now that I think about it. Why was that? The scenery is beautiful too.”

Vanessa replied to my words.

“…Maybe I saved my first experience of eating together for me and you.”

After saying that, Vanessa’s face suddenly became bright and she stood up, walking away briskly.

“I, I’ll go ahead!”

I stared blankly at their retreating figures. What was that I just heard?

Then, a soft laughter erupted.

“Well, goodbye! It’s getting late, so make sure to get a good night’s sleep if you don’t want to be tired tomorrow!”

As they were already somewhat distant, Vanessa’s voice reached me.

“Do I seem like a little kid!?”

Amused. In the delightful feeling of teasing Vanessa, I couldn’t help but smile.

…

As usual, the Swordsmanship Department was immersed in training. While the Magic Department was in an uproar due to a professor achieving insane feats, the Swordsmanship Department was different.

What innovation could there be in swordsmanship? Any changes? The progress of swordsmanship had always been intertwined with the civilization of humanity. Even if the swordsmen were excellent, change wouldn’t come easily.

However, unmistakably, the new students in the Swordsmanship Department felt that something had changed. No, to be precise… someone had changed.

Vanessa Delphius. The illegitimate daughter of the guardian of the Great Northern Empire. Something about her had indeed changed.

Thud! A male student dropped the wooden sword he was holding, and the sword pointed at his throat. The student gracefully admitted defeat.

“You’ve lost.”

The girl on the other side – Vanessa Delphius, politely inclined her head and said.

“Good effort.”

Had her etiquette changed? No. Not a single movement or tone of her voice showed any change in grace.

Had her skill changed? No. Her swordsmanship was excellent even in non-magical duels, and she won with exceptional smoothness and elegance. As usual.

But what had changed then? All the students in the Swordsmanship Department focused on her. Trying to find even the slightest difference.

And finally, they could see what had changed in Vanessa Delphius.

The atmosphere had changed.

Normally, Vanessa Delphius’s atmosphere was as cold as perpetual snow. Of course, she might not think so herself, but at least to others, it seemed that way.

But the atmosphere around her now, for some reason, felt a bit warmer. Maybe even rounder.

But they couldn’t figure out why. No gesture, etiquette, or voice. Nothing had changed, so why?

Some observant ones noticed the slight lift at the corner of Vanessa Delphius’s mouth.

Why on earth. Why had her perennially cold atmosphere suddenly become milder? Despite these perplexing questions, Vanessa’s popularity soared even higher.

“Normally, it was so cold that it was awkward, but now that the atmosphere has changed, she seems even prettier.”

“And usually, the atmosphere was too cold, making it uncomfortable, but now that the atmosphere has changed, she looks even more charming.”

And on that day, Vanessa had to endure another wave of love letters that had gradually quieted down. Of course, they all ended up in the incinerator.

At that moment, Vanessa felt deeply satisfied. Somehow, she had ended up making an appointment with Professor Edan Kainus!

This marked a significant improvement in her human relationships… It might not be a monumental leap, but at least she herself was satisfied.

During classes and training, she quietly reveled in this fact. Of course, she knew she should concentrate, but who cared about that when there was something to be happy about?

After class, she went straight to the shopping district to prepare ingredients for her appointment with Eden Kainus.

“I suggested having a meal together, so I better prepare properly.”

However, her efforts quickly met with failure.

The food she prepared was sandwiches—no special cooking skills involved, just handling and assembling ingredients.

Yet, she realized she was far less skilled than she thought.

“Why…?”

She looked at the mess that had become of the ingredients with a dismayed expression. Her hands had betrayed her.

While normally adept at handling black and monstrous flesh and bones much larger than her own body, dealing with small cooking ingredients proved challenging.

At this rate, Vanessa was about to earn the title of “heir to the noble house who can’t even handle cooking ingredients properly.”

She closed her eyes tightly and recalled how she used to cook on the battlefield.

…Chop up vegetables and whatever, throw in some meat, and make a stew. It didn’t taste terrible, by the way.

No, that wouldn’t work. This memory was not something she could rely on. Vanessa broke into a cold sweat.

What should she do? How could she handle these ingredients that turned into a mess as soon as she cut them?

As Vanessa pondered, she looked at the kitchen knife in her hand and had a sacrilegious thought.

…Since it’s also a blade, in a broad sense, isn’t it like a sword?

She shook her head in denial, trying to dismiss the thought.

No, that’s not possible. How could a honorable warrior of the North use a blade on a mere kitchen knife?

Despite her efforts to deny it, her gaze returned to the shabby ingredients.

One more time, ingredients; one more time, the kitchen knife. Shredded trash once, kitchen knife once.

“…”

A humming sound echoed. The kitchen knife now emitted a blue light.