Exploding Potential

(‘Your Highness is truly thoughtful,’)

The side effects of the ability were two-way. Snow could know the thoughts of those who were good to him, and he cared about the people he cared about.

He could also know their thoughts.

Or rather, Reen, who had always been inept at gentle words, was longing for those he cared about not to misunderstand what he was thinking, and longing for them to understand him.

So Flora easily understood Snow’s thoughts.

It’s just that—

“Your Highness, I am a citizen of the Empire first, and then something else… Therefore, please don’t worry.

As long as you have any needs, I can definitely serve you.”

Flora didn’t play dumb and pretend she didn’t know what Snow meant, but she still didn’t directly respond to the invitation… in other words, she refused.

As for her words, they weren’t because she overheard Snow and Olivia, but because she had always believed that way, and she had taught Snow the same after parting the lake waters before.

That is to say, she didn’t plan to change the current situation.

“Why?”

Snow couldn’t accept it, and didn’t want it to be like this anymore,

“I really don’t want to see you looking like that anymore. Why do you have to be so deeply mired in it?”

Flora shook her head.

“If I get sick, will Your Highness abandon me?”

Snow was momentarily speechless.

This was, of course, just a metaphor.

It was also a kind of honesty from Flora.

For her, the Blue Lion family was her home.

When family members were in trouble, when the family was ill… even if it was a very heartbreaking thing.

She didn’t plan to abandon it either. Not to mention Fate, the old butler, Moric, and Niddy, even if ordinary maids and guards were sick or injured, Snow wouldn’t abandon them because of trouble.

“Thank you for Your Highness Snow’s concern, but I won’t give up on this matter…

Of course, this won’t affect me staying here.”

Flora silently concealed the truth of her words, so that Snow’s ability couldn’t sense it.

But some things, even without the ability, Reen could understand.

He really wanted to persuade Flora to stop,

But when the words reached his lips, they just wouldn’t come out no matter what.

If it were Flora who encountered difficulties… he would probably be just as stubborn and never give up.

So he acknowledged Flora’s choice.

What he was really dissatisfied with was that Flora only treated him staying by her side as a job.

Still dispensable, something that could be abandoned at any time.

Therefore—

“I understand… forget what I just said.”

He calmly ended the conversation.

Flora was a bit surprised. The moment before, she was still thinking about how to eliminate Reen’s dissatisfaction and worries, but unexpectedly, Reen’s state of mind had calmed down on its own.

And it wasn’t a state of utter disappointment, thus choosing to give up,

But a kind of attitude that was akin to understanding, acceptance, and tolerance.

How nice.

And also, how not nice.

Flora was both happy and apologetic.

Happy that the goal could continue to be carried out,

And also, apologetic that the result she wanted was like this.

She quickly hid this emotion, bowed deeply, and left the study.

After letting the secret guards leave as well, Reen couldn’t help but sigh:

“It seems that if I want to move her… I still have a long way to go.”

He didn’t give up on keeping Flora.

Disappointment was also there.

But he remembered Flora’s teachings, knowing that it wasn’t realistic to achieve a big goal in one go.

Although he did want to solve the problem in one go… but it wasn’t unacceptable to only achieve a small goal.

Especially facing his attempts to keep her, Flora’s first reaction was joy… it was just that, perhaps because she felt guilty or self-blame, this joy was quickly suppressed.

This shows… it was just that, perhaps because she felt guilty or self-blame, this joy was quickly suppressed.

This shows that Flora wasn’t without…

But considering that she couldn’t betray the Blue Lion family, or perhaps other concerns, she couldn’t honestly accept this feeling.

“What is the reason, after all?”

Intuition told Reen that Flora’s purpose was very closely related to the Blue Lion family.

But from the performances of these days, it wasn’t difficult to see that Flora didn’t want the Blue Lion family to do anything superfluous, and yet hoped that both the Blue Lion family and Reen’s side could do better…

What was even more bizarre was that, with Olivia clearly recognizing Flora, the Blue Lion heiress still acted as if she didn’t know Flora’s origins even now, even if she was a nobody orphan in the family, but wasn’t this a little abnormal?

Reen couldn’t help but feel that there were too many things he couldn’t figure out. Among them, only the Blue Lion heiress’ intentions were becoming clearer and clearer, more and more in line with his guesses, but the moment he thought of his own thorn, it was sure to deeply pierce.

Reen hesitated, but he ultimately decided to continue digging deeper.

Better a short pain than a long one.

Even if it wasn’t good news, it was better than always being kept in the dark.

Even if he would be resented by Flora because of this… Reen covered his chest, which was aching slightly, but his gaze became increasingly firm.

The next morning, after breakfast, they returned to the Royal Academy. On the main road of the school, they encountered a conflict.

What was interesting was that it wasn’t directed at Reen… at least not directly.

“Beat down that guy from the Blue Lion family!”

“Go, give it your all!”

A neutral faction student was competing with a Blue Lion family student.

They didn’t see the process of the conflict, but it should have just been the usual insults from outsiders towards the Blue Lion family.

If it were before, the Blue Lion family people might have just endured it, but the Blue Lion family had now changed their direction, ready to strive for excellence, and naturally had to show their momentum, so that outsiders wouldn’t dare to provoke them in person again.

It’s just that the fighting,

So the aftermath of both sides would be so easily ignited.

However, based on the information provided by Flora, this was actually a one-sided competition.

The student from the Blue Lion family was a sixth-year student, a high-level knight, and also knew a lot of magic.

Though he hadn’t reached the level of a magic knight, he was very close to the upper level of an intermediate knight.

The neutral faction student was a fourth-year student whose magic level couldn’t be used for combat. There was a significant gap in their strength.

The students watching from the side only gossiped a bit; no one thought that the neutral faction student could really win—

“What, so amazing?”

“Well done, as expected, the people from the Blue Lion family are a bunch of trash!”

However, the situation after the fight started was beyond everyone’s expectations.

That fourth-year student suppressed the sixth-year student from the Blue Lion family throughout the entire process.

[Your Highness, something’s not right.]

[Hmm.]

Reen saw it too.

Although the skill level displayed by that fourth-year student was indeed much higher, his own state was really strange.

Before the start of the battle, he was still emotional and full of words.

After the teacher arrived to set up a simple competition barrier, and after making both sides get into position,

This fourth-year student was like he had suddenly changed into a different person, with the whole person changing from an excited state to being incredibly calm… or perhaps a bit indifferent.

His eyes had also suddenly lost their highlights, becoming incredibly hollow and deep.

His fighting style was also as precise as a machine, with basically no mistakes, which caused the still angry Blue Lion family student to lose the initiative after being careless, and was thus always suppressed…

Yet, even after immediately gaining victory, the fourth-year student’s face didn’t show any joy, and always maintained that cold expression.

As if his emotions had been stolen,

As if he had become a puppet.