Chapter 182: A Sudden Engagement [2]

"Why are you looking at me?" Ilya asked.

"You’re the one who found Rask’s paper."

"That doesn’t make me Professor Rask."

The spell formula had changed considerably from the first version they had designed more than a month ago.

What had originally been a relatively straightforward illumination spell was now surrounded by a secondary circulation structure whose sole purpose was to catch mana that would ordinarily disperse from the active spell and redirect as much of it as possible back into the primary formula.

The principle itself was working.

Mana could circulate through a spell after its connection to the original caster had been severed, and their prototype had demonstrated that repeatedly.

The problem was that closed-loop circulation wasn’t truly closed, at least not with anything they had managed to construct, and every completed cycle inevitably lost some amount of mana along the way.

Sometimes the loss was so small that their instruments barely registered it, but after enough repetitions, those tiny losses accumulated.

Worse, the mana didn’t disappear evenly from the structure, meaning one section could weaken faster than another until the resulting imbalance accelerated the spell’s collapse.

It was why simply feeding the prototype more mana before severing the connection hadn’t solved anything.

More mana made it last longer, certainly, but it also made the structure harder for six first-years to stabilize, and at a certain point, they were no longer solving Low-Circle Unanchored Spell Persistence.

They were merely brute-forcing the problem with a larger initial mana reserve, which defeated the entire purpose of their research.

The six of them continued discussing the problem for several more minutes, occasionally returning to the formula whenever someone proposed another possible source of the imbalance.

Garen and Solveig had somehow resumed arguing over the third junction despite everything they had just discovered, while Ma?lle continued comparing their previous results and Wolfram attempted to determine whether the uneven return flow had appeared in experiments even earlier than the ones they had already checked.

Then, all of a sudden, a commotion echoed from somewhere outside.

It was loud enough that all six of them eventually stopped what they were doing, particularly when footsteps began passing through the hallway in greater numbers than usual.

Voices followed shortly afterward, students speaking over one another as though something interesting enough to interrupt the afternoon had suddenly appeared.

"What now?"

Garen was the first to stand, although Solveig followed immediately. Once the two of them made their way toward the door, everyone else inevitably followed, leaving their experiment behind as they stepped into the hallway to see what had attracted so much attention.

There was already a crowd.

Students had gathered along both sides of the corridor, with more continuing to emerge from nearby classrooms to see what was going on.

Ilya initially couldn’t see anything through them, but as the crowd shifted, he finally caught sight of a girl walking down the middle of the hallway.

She had light-blue hair that fell just past her shoulders, with the sides neatly pinned back, and she looked younger than most of the first-years surrounding her.

She occasionally stopped to check the classroom numbers along the hallway, seemingly more concerned with finding where she was supposed to go than with the crowd that had formed around her.

Then Ilya recognized her.

Liselotte Aenne Bismarck.

The youngest princess of the Velenreich Empire.

That explained the commotion.

"Is that...?"

"The youngest princess."

"Why is she here?"

"Wasn’t she supposed to enter next year?"

Most students had probably recognized her before Ilya did, and those who hadn’t only needed to notice the imperial crest on her uniform before figuring it out.

Nobody approached her despite all the staring, leaving Liselotte with an almost comical amount of empty space as she continued searching for her classroom.

Eventually, she stopped only a short distance away from Ilya’s group and checked the small piece of paper in her hand one more time.

Her eyes moved from the writing to the number beside the nearest classroom, and almost immediately, her expression brightened.

"Oh. It must be this one."

"...."

Why was she here?

As though sensing his stare, Liselotte turned her head.

Their eyes met.

"...."

"...."

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Then Liselotte smiled.

It was a small smile, barely noticeable to anyone who wasn’t already looking directly at her, but Ilya knew immediately that she had recognized him.

She didn’t approach him, however, nor did she say anything, instead folding the piece of paper in her hand before walking straight past his group and entering the classroom.

Ilya slowly turned his head and watched her disappear through the doorway.

That smile bothered him. For some reason, he suddenly had a very bad feeling.

The commotion naturally followed her inside. Students hurried back toward their seats once they realized the princess was apparently joining their class, while those who belonged elsewhere reluctantly dispersed after receiving several irritated looks from Professor Eklund at the front.

Ilya and the others returned to the worktable they had abandoned only a few minutes earlier, although nobody appeared particularly interested in their experiment anymore.

Garen had already forgotten whatever he had been arguing about with Solveig, and even Ma?lle had stopped looking through their previous results as everyone waited to find out why the youngest princess of the Empire was suddenly standing at the front of their classroom.

Professor Eklund waited until everyone had settled before clearing his throat.

"As all of you have apparently already noticed, we’ll be welcoming an additional student to the class beginning today."

He gestured toward the girl standing beside him.

"There were some circumstances surrounding the timing of her enrollment, but those details aren’t particularly relevant to any of you. For now, treat her as you would any other member of this class."

That was probably going to be difficult.

The girl standing beside him was an Imperial Princess.

Professor Eklund turned toward her.

"Your Highness, if you would."

Liselotte stepped forward and faced the room.

"Yes."

There was no nervousness in her expression despite the attention of the entire classroom settling upon her.

Liselotte had grown up in the Imperial Family, after all, so introducing herself in front of a classroom full of students was hardly going to be the most intimidating audience she had ever faced.

"My name is Liselotte Aenne Bismarck, youngest daughter of His Imperial Majesty. Due to certain circumstances, I’ll be joining Holy Trinity Academy somewhat earlier than originally planned, and from today onward, it seems I’ll be studying alongside all of you."

She dipped her head slightly.

"I hope we can get along."

For several seconds, the classroom remained unusually quiet before Professor Eklund finally gestured toward the room.

"Thank you, Your Highness. For today, you may take any available seat. We’ll arrange your permanent placement afterward."

"Very well."

Liselotte didn’t even bother looking around.

She already knew where she was going.

"...."

For some reason, Ilya’s bad feeling from earlier returned immediately.

Liselotte smiled.

"I’ll sit with my fiancé."

"...."

"...."

For several seconds, nobody seemed to understand what she had just said.

"Fiancé?!"

The entire classroom erupted.

"What fiancé?!"

"Her Highness is engaged?!"

"To who?!"

"I’ve never heard anything about this!"

Even Professor Eklund appeared momentarily caught off guard, while Ilya remained completely still at the group’s worktable.

Across from him, Garen slowly turned his head. Solveig followed. Then Ma?lle. Wolfram and Lisbet did the same until, one after another, all five members of his group were staring directly at him.

Ilya frowned. "Why are you looking at me?"

Nobody answered.

"...."

...Because Liselotte was already walking toward them.

There happened to be an unused chair at the end of their worktable, but she ignored it. Instead, she stopped beside Ilya, pulled the chair closer to his side, and sat down with barely enough space remaining between them to qualify as two separate seats.

Then she wrapped both arms around his.

Ilya looked down at her.

Liselotte looked up at him with a perfectly satisfied smile.

Only then did she turn toward the rest of the class.

"Ilya Valentinovich Belozersky."

Silence fell.

"Huuuuuuh?!"

The reaction nearly shook the classroom.

Garen shot out of his seat so quickly that his chair scraped against the floor, while Solveig simply stared at Ilya with her mouth hanging open. Even Lisbet, who rarely showed much interest in anything beyond their work, had stopped what she was doing to stare.

Slowly, students who barely knew Ilya were turning around in disbelief, looking between the infamous Belozersky transfer student and the Imperial Princess currently clinging quite happily to his arm.

Ilya closed his eyes.

He had known this day would eventually come. Their engagement wasn’t exactly something that could remain hidden forever, especially now that Liselotte had entered the academy herself, but he had at least expected the news to spread through somewhat more conventional means.

He hadn’t expected Liselotte to announce it herself in front of an entire classroom while hanging from his arm.

Then again, knowing her, perhaps he should have.

"It’s been a while, Ilya."

"...Your Highness."

"F-Fiancee...?"

All of a sudden, a strange thump came from somewhere behind them.

Ilya turned, along with several other students.

Elise Margaux de Beaumont had collapsed face-first onto her desk.

"Lady Beaumont?!"

"Elise?!"

"Someone catch her...!"

"She already fell!"

The classroom descended into chaos.