Chapter 9: Capture Target Ghislan

The boy with silver-rimmed glasses standing beside Dimitria-sensei while looking unhappy for some reason……Ghislan Risent was another target of the attack.

His appearance was still very young, just as it was from his appearance when he was 18 years old in the game.

However, although I had heard about Ghislan from Dimitria-sensei for some time, I had no intention of meeting him at this point in time.

So I never thought that I would meet him at this time.

W-why did you come here!? I mean, you’re the one who came to see me, right? Then why are you in such a bad mood!?

I was puzzled by Ghislan, who was staring at me with a sour look on his face, but then I realized with a huff and hurriedly plucked at the hem of my skirt and bailed lightly.

“I apologize for the delay in greeting you. I am Cecilia de Heinz.”

I noticed that Ghislan hadn’t greeted me by saying his name yet, even though he had said his name.

But even though he didn’t move a single eyebrow at me, Ghislan turned his head towards Dimitria.

“Father, are you sure this woman is as great as you say? It doesn’t look like that to me by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Ghislan! I’ve told you many times that you can’t talk about Lady Cecilia like that!”

“But to me, she looks like just a dumb aristocratic woman who’s just good looking. Perhaps father is mistaken?”

Seeing Ghislan saying that to Dimitria-sensei while wrinkling his brow, I was twitching my cheeks with a smile plastered on my face.

Oooh, after all, he’s a character who’s been talking to people he’s never met before in a thorny way since his age~. Maybe he’s looking down on me just because of the state of this room and the fact that I’m a nobleman’s daughter, but……as expected, it sticks in my mind. Well, even in the game, he had a cold attitude towards the heroine whom he hadn’t met before, with a thorny way of talking to her~

As I remembered that, Ghislan returned his gaze to me again, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows grew even deeper.

“After all, there’s no way a woman with a stupid face like that could be brilliant enough to stand alongside me. It was a waste of time. To be honest, it wasn’t even worth it to come all the way to see it, even if you had to cut down on your study time.”

“Ghislan!”

“Father, I’m sorry to ask you to do this, but I’m afraid I must…”

“…I don’t think it’s fair to call someone an idiot just because of their appearance without checking it out thoroughly, do you? Are you really the one who is so great that you are called a child prodigy?”

“…what?”

I got angry at the way he said it, and with a vein on my forehead, I smiled at him and said that.

Then Ghislan listened to my words and glared at me with a stern look.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors and the rumors about you,” he said.

“I’ve heard rumors about you and stories from Mr. Dimitria for some time now, but meeting you in person…you don’t look at all like the kind of person who can be called so great?”

“I will not allow a noblewoman like you, who is only interested in dressing up, to make fun of me!”

“Well, what’s wrong with mocking you for judging people based on their appearance?”

I said, putting my hand over my mouth and giving Ghislan a mocking look.

“You!”

“I am not ‘you.’ My name is Cecilia. I gave you my name earlier, but have you forgotten it? Are you that stupid?”

As I said that, Ghislan glared at me more, making me grind my teeth.

However, as expected of me, I thought that I might have said too much when I saw that, but now that it had come to this point, I couldn’t back down.

…Huh? Now that I think about it, didn’t Ghislan almost say he was going to return earlier? Oh…Shit! We’ve missed our chance to get him home! But I couldn’t stand it, as expected of me, if he made fun of me like that!

And so, while the invisible sparks were flying between us, Mr. Dimitria interceded with a troubled look on her face.

“Oh well, both of you, calm down. Ghislan, if you doubt Cecilia-sama’s abilities so much, why don’t you two take a test together?”

“A test? I don’t mind if your father says so, but I don’t think this stupid woman can solve the test you give her.”

“…That’s fine with me, too. But Ghislan…you don’t mind if I call you that, do you? Please call me by name and apologize if I can prove that I can win against you!”

“All right. In all likelihood, you won’t. But if you can’t prove it, then you will stop asking father for tutoring services at all.”

“What?”

“My father is so busy that he doesn’t even have time to watch me study because he’s tutoring you!”

“…Oh…you’re just jealous because you don’t want me to take your father.”

“What!? Wrong!”

Ghislan’s face reddened at my words and denied it, but I was convinced that it was still true after all, seeing the way he looked at me.

Come to think of it, Ghislan is aiming for the same Ministry of Academic Research as Mr. Dimitria, isn’t he? I see, I thought he was just aiming for it because he loves academics, but apparently he wants to work at the same job as his father, whom he admires.

When I realized that, I couldn’t help but smile at that adorable reason and looked at Ghislan.

“…Stop it with those eyes.”

Ghislan turned away from me, looking uncomfortable under my gaze.

We were each seated at a new desk that had been prepared for us, and we were to take the test that Dimitria-sensei had hastily prepared for us.

“Don’t look at my answers”

“…I can’t see anything with the desks this far apart.”

As I was replying in a dumbfounded voice, Mr. Dimitria’s wry smile signaled the start of the test.

A few minutes later, when it was time to finish, we each handed our answer sheets to Mr. Dimitria and waited for him to grade them.

After grading, Dimitria stood in front of us with a happy smile on his face.

“You two are doing very well. You have done very well. But Ghislan…I think I’ve told you before, you made a mistake in the history part of the kingdom here.”

“What?”

“I told you that you remembered year wrong and I told you to remember it properly, didn’t I?”

With that, Mr. Dimitria showed the answer sheet to Ghislan and pointed to the part that was wrong.

Ghislan stared at that part and immediately realized with a gasp and looked very frustrated.

“Oops…”

“Well, be more careful next time.”

“I…Yes.”

“But other than that, it was perfect.”

“…Next time I’ll make sure everything is perfect! Well, still, this grade doesn’t prove you’re better than me. Phew, that’s a shame.”

Ghislan then turned his victorious face to me, but I ignored him and stared at Mr. Dimitria.

“…Ghislan, you’re the one who should be disappointed.”

“What?”

“Dear Cecilia, it’s wonderful! Perfect answers and you got all the questions right!”

“Thank you.”

“What?”

Dimitria held up my answer sheet for us to see, and all the answers were marked with a circle.

“Oh, that’s ridiculous…”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Ghislan.”

“Huh!”

Ghislan looked very frustrated when I said that with a grin, and quickly took my answer sheet from Dimitria-sensei and stared at it.

…To begin with, the content of the test wasn’t such a difficult problem with Japanese, Kanji, and even math that I had learned as a student in my previous life~. It’s true that there were some questions dedicated to this world, such as the history of the kingdoms, but that’s because of Dimitria-sensei’s easy-to-understand lessons and the fact that I read the official story book that came out at the same time as the game “Eternal Time With You” in my past life many times. However, that book was released at the same time as the game, so it didn’t contain any strategy information, but it was interesting to read the various settings of the game in detail.

As I was remembering this, Ghislan turned his gaze from the answer sheet to me with a shocked expression.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m inferior to the one I thought was an idiot woman…”

“There are a lot of people like that out there.”

“…”

“You just don’t know it because you’re holed up alone and don’t look out for the outside world, but there are many people who are better than Ghislan thinks, and those people will associate with many different people to increase their knowledge, so no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to catch up with them as you are now.”

“The way I am now…”

“So from now on, you’d better learn to socialize more than just your studies! The first thing to do is to…”

“What?”

“Yes! I proved it, so please apologize!”

“Ugh…I’m sorry I called you a stupid woman.”

“What’s my name?”

“Ceci…Miss Cecilia”

“Oh, Cecilia is fine.”

“…Cecilia.”

“Yes, well done!”

“Huh!”

I smiled and praised Ghislan.

Then, for some reason, Ghislan froze in my face, and in no time at all, his face turned bright red.

“…What’s wrong with you, Ghislan?”

“No, no, nothing!”

“Really? But your face looks red…”

“It’s all in your head! More importantly…can I come back and study with you?”

“What?”

“Cecilia told me to go socialize with more people.”

“Well, like I said…that’s another thing…”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to get along with anyone else anytime soon yet, so…I need Cecilia to be with me.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I think you need to take responsibility for what you said, don’t you?”

“Uh…Okay.”

“So, father, will you allow me to study with Cecilia?”

“…Well, that’s fine. But that Ghislan is actively trying to associate with people…I’m really glad I brought him here today. Thank you, Cecilia-sama.”

“No, no…”

I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to be brought along, but I couldn’t say such a thing with such a happy Ghislan in front of me, so I laughed with my cheeks twitching.

That’s how Ghislan left that day with Dimitria-sensei, but the next day Ghislan came by himself even though Dimitria-sensei didn’t have any classes.

“…You really came.”

“That’s what I said. Let’s get to work. Oh, here are some of my other books.”

Ghislan said that and put some books on the desk.

I took one of the books on the table and flipped through it, looking at it with dismay.

“…This is quite interesting.”

“Isn’t that right? I figured you’d like it.”

The book that Ghislan brought to me contained even more details about this world that were not mentioned in the game, which intrigued me greatly, as I was a big fan of ‘Eternal Time With You.’

While I was sitting on the couch reading the book, Ghislan was sitting next to me and reading a book as well.

…Why would he sit next to me when there’s a chair across from me too? Sure, we as kids can afford to sit down… but I think it’s more spacious and easier to sit alone, don’t you think?

I wondered that, but decided not to worry about it, saying that it wasn’t worth the trouble.

Ghislan and I were quietly enjoying our reading time when suddenly the door opened with a loud bang and someone walked in, making a loud shoe noise.

I stood up from my chair and turned around to find Prince Kaiser standing there with a very grim expression on his face.

“What is wrong Prince Kaiser?”

However, Prince Kaiser didn’t answer my question, but walked towards me, turning his sharp gaze towards Ghislan, who was standing beside me.

“…You are Ghislan Risent, I believe. Why are you here? Why were you sitting next to Cecilia when you basically never try to get involved with anyone and are often alone?”

“…I was studying here with her. But more importantly, Prince Kaiser, what are you doing here?”

“You study with Cecilia?…I’m Cecilia’s fiancé. What’s so funny about coming to see my fiancée?”

“I…Shit, I’d forgotten about that.”

“For now…would you mind stepping away from Cecilia?”

That’s what Prince Kaiser said as he hugged me from behind, forcing me away from Ghislan, who was confused by this situation.

“Wait, Prince Kaiser, please let go of me!”

“No. It’s your fault, too, to begin with. You have a fiancé, me, and yet you’re alone with another man…”

“Just the two of us…I was just studying with Ghislan, you know?”

“…‘Ghislan?’”

“Prince Kaiser, Cecilia doesn’t like that!”

“…’Cecilia?’…Why do you two call each other by your names?

“What? If you ask me why…all I can say is that it just happened naturally…”

When I was confused, not knowing why Prince Kaiser would care about such a thing, the strength of the arms holding me in a hug became stronger.

“Pr—Prince Kaiser! It’s a bit distressing!”

“Cecilia…you can call me by my name too.”

“Huh? No, I am calling you by name, right?”

“I don’t need the ‘prince’ part.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Cecilia.”

“……Kaiser.”

When I reluctantly called his name, Kaiser smiled very happily.

Why is he so happy just to be called by his name?

As I wondered that, suddenly my arm was pulled by Ghislan and I broke free of Kaiser’s restraints, which were loose.

Then I was moved so that I was hidden behind Ghislan’s back.

“Ghislan?”

“…Prince Kaiser, I do not approve of your engagement to Cecilia.”

“…I don’t need Ghislan’s approval at all. But this is a decision that you can’t overrule by yourself. Instead, give me Cecilia back.”

Kaiser looked very unhappy and grabbed my arm behind Ghislan and pulled him back, but Ghislan grabbed the other arm and held me back.

In the end, I ended up with both arms being held by each of them for some reason.

Wha—what is this situation?!

And so, in my dismay at this unfamiliar situation, for some reason, Kaiser and Ghislan were glaring at each other and sparks were flying above my head.

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