The Right Thing

“It’s nothing. I just did the right thing.”

Upon hearing this, Teresa cupped her hands as if in prayer.

“What a beautiful and pure soul… May the Goddess of Light bless you. I am Teresa Donix, and this is my maid, Calu. May I ask your name?”

The Young Miss responded with a standard curtsey, lifting her skirt.

“…Pleased to meet you. I am Katerina Anister.”

“You are Duke Anister? As valiant as the rumors say.”

“So you are the master of Miss Eileen! No wonder you’re so amazing!”

Calu was, as always, slow to react in every way… Even though I was standing right beside the Young Miss.

Setting aside Teresa, anyone other than Calu would have seen the relationship between the Young Miss and me at a glance, right?

But the Young Miss was quite pleased with Calu’s praise.

She puffed out her chest, a delighted expression on her face.

“That’s right, Eileen is mine.”

So that was what pleased her…

From the start, the Young Miss has been obsessed with asserting ownership.

…Not that I mind, but please use better words to describe it!

Like ‘lover’ or something… Just kidding.

*Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring—*

My little internal complaint was interrupted by the bell before class.

I glanced at my watch… It was already time for class!

Right, we had woken up late, eaten breakfast on the way, and then dealt with that commotion—we had wasted a lot of time.

“Run!”

“Ah… Yes!”

Following the Young Miss’s orders, we both prepared to sprint.

But Calu was completely unpredictable. She scooped up Teresa in a princess carry, took several swift strides, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

She was faster than me!?

Her speed even startled the Young Miss.

“Eileen, we can’t lose to her!”

The Young Miss turned to me and extended her arms.

Was she implying…

“…Young Miss, do you want to princess-carry me too?”

I asked tentatively.

With an expression that said ‘obviously,’ she replied, “What else?”

I knew it!

“Young Miss! Feasibility aside, there are lots of people in the classroom! It would be awkward if someone saw!”

But the Young Miss tilted her head.

“Hmm? What’s so awkward about it?”

“Everything! Please consider my dignity!”

“Hmph… Failed…”

Did I hear that wrong? Did the Young Miss just click her tongue?

Forget it… Whatever.

Anyway, we had to get to the classroom as fast as possible!

Luckily, the teacher for the first period was old and slow, so he always arrived late… Maybe we could rush in before he came!

*Ding-dong-dong-dong*

“Is class over? …Alright, we’ll stop here for today.”

The elderly teacher packed up his textbooks and left the classroom.

“Haa…”

The Young Miss let out a sigh of relief.

“Good thing we weren’t caught being late… Otherwise, our evaluations might have suffered.”

“It was really a close call this morning, Miss Anister.”

As soon as class ended, Teresa, assisted by Calu, came over to us.

She was right—we had barely burst into the classroom when the old teacher walked in…

If we had been even a second later, we would have been caught.

“You two are rarely late… Did something happen this morning?”

Margaret immediately saw through the truth, and the Young Miss and I were so flustered we couldn’t even meet her eyes.

Just as we stood there awkwardly, Teresa stepped in to defend us.

“Miss Margaret… It’s not like that. They were late because they helped me this morning!”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Margaret looked at us with a teasing smile… We both nodded frantically.

Even so… I was sure she saw right through our little secret.

Luckily, Margaret wasn’t the type to press further… She smoothly changed the subject.

“By the way, so you two have already met this morning? No wonder you’re so familiar.”

Hearing this, Teresa showed an elegant and beautiful smile.

“Yes, Miss Anis was very gallant this morning, like an angel descending from heaven.”

“Did you hear that? She called you an angel.”

Little Black Seaweed grinned mischievously, poking the Young Miss’s side with her elbow.

“…Don’t tease me, Margaret.”

“Aww… Such a cold reaction~ No fun~”

Margaret slumped back onto her desk, looking bored.

“Oh, by the way, Olivia came to me this morning and asked me to tell you to go to the student council after school.”

“Sister-in-law Olivia?”

“Yeah. It seems the student council is shorthanded lately, and with the big incident, they’ve accumulated a lot of work.”

“I feel bad for them… I’ll head over right after school.”

*Knock knock.*

“We’re coming in.”

Entering, we saw several student council members buried in mountains of paperwork…

Even Lord Claude, who wasn’t a member, was helping.

Prince Edwin lifted his head only briefly to confirm who it was before immediately bending back over his desk.

“Katerina… Long time no see.”

“Ah, long time no see.”

It really had been a while since I’d seen Prince Edwin… Even when accepting commissions, they were usually issued by Olivia, the secretary.

“Do you need help with these documents?”

Prince Edwin shook his head.

“It would be better for you to clear the backlog of subjugation commissions than to handle paperwork. Among us, you two are the most efficient at dealing with monsters… So, can we count on you?”

“Of course.”

The Young Miss gave a thumbs up… Her promise was reassuring.

“Sorry… Just as you’ve recovered, we’re sending you off to do this.”

“It’s fine. If anything, I feel bad for not contributing at all lately. You all must have worked hard.”

After taking a huge stack of subjugation commissions from Olivia, we set off.

“Then, we’re off.”

…

It seemed that with my magical replenishment, the Young Miss’s combat ability had further increased, and she was completing commissions at lightning speed.

But while we were out of school, on an expedition…

“So you’re the one who slandered that kid today?”

In the dead of night, a male student seemed to be getting picked on.

“Huh? Who are— mmmph!?”

Despite being the larger one, he was lifted easily into the air by his captor, who held him by the mouth.

“Let me show you what happens, okay?”

In the darkness, a pair of eerie red eyes gleamed with a sinister light.

“Mmph mmph mmph… mmph—!”

The male student’s cries were swallowed by the night, unnoticed by anyone.