Chapter 183: A Sudden Engagement [3]

"I still need to finish some paperwork and show my face to both the Headmaster and the Department Head, so would you spare some time for me this evening, Ilya?"

The lecture had just ended, and students were slowly beginning to leave the classroom, although quite a few were taking suspiciously long to pack their belongings.

After everything that had happened earlier, Ilya didn’t need to guess why, especially when several of them kept glancing toward him and Liselotte whenever they thought he wasn’t looking.

"I have to meet up with my sister, but—"

"Then this is a perfect opportunity to introduce myself to Lady Anastasiya. I’ve heard quite a lot about the Silver Fang of the North."

"Silver what?"

"Hehe, right. You wouldn’t know about that."

Liselotte brought a hand to her mouth, looking rather pleased with herself.

"You see, my sisters and I have a habit of giving little titles to exemplary individuals who have caught our attention. Lady Anastasiya happens to be one of them."

"What about me?"

"Uhm... you haven’t come up in our discussions, but as my fiancé, I took the liberty of giving you one myself."

"And that is?"

"My Little Snowflake."

"...."

Ilya wanted to retort that there was nothing about him that could reasonably be described as little. However, Liselotte seemed rather proud of the name she had come up with, so he decided it wasn’t worth ruining her mood over something so trivial.

"In any case, I’ll see you later, Ilya. It would be nice if the three of us could have dinner together as well. I would very much like to speak with Lady Anastasiya properly."

"I’ll ask her."

"Hehe. Be sure to tell her that her future sister-in-law would very much like to meet her."

"Do I have to phrase it exactly like that?"

"Yes."

"Can I just tell her the Imperial Princess wants to have dinner with us?"

"No. Future sister-in-law."

Ilya sighed. "Fine."

"Good." Satisfied, Liselotte clasped her hands behind her back before taking a few steps toward the classroom door. "Then I should get going before someone comes looking for me. I imagine keeping the Headmaster waiting on my first day would leave a rather poor impression."

"I think announcing your engagement in the middle of class already took care of making an impression."

"That was a good impression."

"That depends entirely on who you ask."

Liselotte giggled, apparently having no regrets whatsoever about the chaos she had caused. She gave him one last wave before turning toward the door, leaving Ilya to wonder how exactly he was supposed to explain all of this to Anastasiya later.

"And Ilya?"

He looked back at her. "What?"

Liselotte smiled. "Don’t forget. Future sister-in-law."

"...."

"Hehe. See you later, my little snowflake."

"...."

Ilya immediately regretted letting that nickname survive.

As Ilya was about to turn the other way, however, he found his path blocked by several familiar faces.

Garen, Solveig, Ma?lle, Wolfram, and Lisbet were already standing in front of him, and judging from the way they had positioned themselves across the hallway, none of them had any intention of letting him walk away.

"I have to go—"

"Not a chance. You’re explaining everything first."

Garen stepped forward as he spoke, looking as though he had been holding those words in for the entire lecture.

In truth, all five of them had been behaving strangely ever since Liselotte announced their engagement, but with Professor Eklund continuing the lecture and the Imperial Princess herself sitting at their table, none of them had been brave enough to start interrogating Ilya in the middle of class.

Now that Liselotte was gone, however, there was nothing stopping them.

Ilya looked from one face to another. "Explaining what?"

"You know exactly what." Garen pointed down the hallway where Liselotte had disappeared only moments earlier. "How long have you been engaged to Her Highness?! How did that even happen?! Why have you never mentioned it?! We’ve been working together for more than a month, and somehow the fact that you’re engaged to the youngest princess of the Empire never came up once!"

Several heads nodded behind him.

"Right... I thought he had something going on with Lady Elise," Wolfram added, looking genuinely confused by the sudden revelation.

"Eh, really?" Solveig countered, turning toward him. "I thought he had something going on with that Vernet girl. They’re together all the time, aren’t they?"

"....?"

Ilya suddenly found himself developing a headache.

What the hell were they all talking about?

He could understand their surprise about Liselotte, considering he had never once mentioned being engaged, but somehow the conversation had already moved on to discussing women he supposedly had relationships with that even he wasn’t aware of.

"There is nothing going on with either of them."

"That only makes this more confusing," Garen replied. "You spend half your time around Lady Beaumont, you’re constantly disappearing somewhere with Solenne Vernet, and now we find out you’ve had an Imperial Princess waiting in the background this entire time. Do you have anyone else we should know about before another noblewoman walks through that door?"

"No."

"Wait, there’s also Miss Adelheid—"

"...."

Of all the names they could have dragged into this increasingly ridiculous conversation, Vera was the one who made the least sense to him.

She was his mentor, his benefactor, and the source of whatever new problem happened to be occupying his time.

"Why is Vera in the equation all of a sudden...?"

* * *

"Anastasiya, clear your schedule for the evening."

"Who do you think you are to order me around?"

Anastasiya didn’t even bother looking up from the papers in front of her as she answered.

Ilya had found her in one of the Knight Department’s smaller study rooms, occupying an entire table by herself with several books and documents spread around her, and judging by the amount of work still sitting untouched beside her, she apparently had every intention of remaining there for quite some time.

"Your adorable little younger brother—"

"Blerghh...!"

"...Why do you have a trash bin already prepared?"

Wiping her lips, Anastasiya raised her head and glared at him.

The two of them were standing just outside the Knight Department building, where Ilya had managed to catch her shortly after her afternoon classes ended.

"You’re disgusting. Never say that again."

Anastasiya straightened herself and adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulder.

Several Knight Department students passed through the entrance behind them, and although a few slowed down after recognizing the Belozersky siblings, none seemed particularly eager to involve themselves in whatever argument was currently taking place between the two.

"So?" Ilya asked. "Are you free tonight?"

"I haven’t agreed to anything yet. You walked all the way over here just to order me to clear my schedule without even telling me why, so unless you have an actual explanation, I’m going back."

"It’s only dinner."

"If it were only dinner, you wouldn’t be acting like this." Anastasiya narrowed her eyes, clearly unconvinced. "Who else is coming?"

Ilya hesitated for a moment. "...Someone."

"Who?"

"Someone you know."

"That tells me absolutely nothing."

"You’ll know when you see her."

Anastasiya stared at him before letting out an irritated sigh.

She had known Ilya long enough to recognize when he was deliberately withholding something, and the slight amusement on his face only made it more obvious that he was enjoying her confusion.

"If this is another one of your stupid jokes, I’m leaving."

"It isn’t."

"Then tell me who it is."

"No."

"Then I’m leaving."

Anastasiya turned. Ilya grabbed the back of her uniform before she could take more than a step.

"Let go of me."

"Just give me five minutes."

"You have three seconds. I’m only nice enough to give three since you’re wearing gloves."

"...?"

She really didn’t want close contact with him.

"That’s not five minutes."

"Two."

"Why are you counting?"

"One."

"Ilya?"

Both of them stopped.

The voice had come from several meters away, and Ilya released Anastasiya’s uniform before turning toward it.

A familiar girl with light-blue hair was walking toward them from farther down the academy path, one hand holding her bag as she approached with the same composed expression she had worn for most of the day.

Liselotte had apparently finished her remaining business earlier than expected.

"Oh, you’re already here."

"I finished sooner than I thought I would." Liselotte’s attention shifted toward the girl standing beside him, and her expression immediately brightened with recognition. "And this must be Lady Anastasiya."

Anastasiya looked at Liselotte. Then she looked at Ilya. Then back at Liselotte.

"...Your Highness?"

"It’s a pleasure to finally meet you."

Liselotte stopped in front of them and gave Anastasiya a polite greeting, carrying herself noticeably more formally than she ever bothered to around Ilya.

Anastasiya’s earlier irritation disappeared almost immediately, replaced by surprise as she straightened her posture and returned the greeting.

"I wasn’t aware Your Highness was visiting the academy."

"Ah, I’m not visiting. I’ll be attending Holy Trinity from now on."

Anastasiya blinked.

"You enrolled?"

"Just today. There were quite a few formalities I needed to finish, which is why I couldn’t come with Ilya earlier." Liselotte smiled before glancing toward him. "Although it seems he kept his promise and found you for me."

Anastasiya slowly turned her head.

Ilya smiled. "...Surprise?"

"...."

Anastasiya looked as though she wanted to hit him, but with Liselotte standing directly in front of them, she restrained herself.

"I asked Ilya if the three of us could have dinner together this evening," Liselotte continued. "I’ve wanted to properly introduce myself to you for quite some time, Lady Anastasiya. After all, I’ve heard so much about the Silver Fang of the North."

Anastasiya’s expression went blank.

Ilya closed his eyes.

He had forgotten about that.

"...The what?"

Liselotte smiled innocently.

"The Silver Fang of the North!"

Anastasiya slowly looked toward Ilya. He immediately raised both hands.

"Don’t look at me. I learned about it today, too."