Apparently, Her Highness Princess wants to keep her relationship with me a secret (what does she even mean by 'her relationship with me'?) - 4-3

4-3

The Masked Lady

“Princess Emma, Jina sama. Please, make sure you both don’t leave my side under any circumstances.”

The carriage rattled as it traveled.

We were being jostled inside a single carriage, leaving the capital of Roman. Sitting in front of me were two individuals whose presence would cause Harold to faint from shock if he heard about it. Among the second-year students of Westminster Academy, they were the two most influential figures sitting right there. One of them raised her hand.

“Yeees! Understoo~d, Itose-kun! But, since I, Jina, am too weak to be useful in martial prowess, don’t expect anything at all, okay~!”

Her name was Jina Yusei.

No one embodied the phrase “carefree” more than she did.

Jina, who never flaunted her noble birth, was already popular even among the now-expelled baron families. The only issue was her lack of motivation. How she managed to enroll in Westminster Academy was a mystery that everyone pondered but remained unsolved.

“I’m counting on you too, Itose-kun. I might not be of much help either as well…”

While the other girl was Princess Emma.

A princess blessed with heavenly beauty, yet lacking any magical quirk of her own—however, that is a secret still hidden from the rest of the world.

“Emma-chan, you’re way too serious~!”

Jina sama calls out to Princess Emma sitting beside her.

“We’ll be together the whole time during this extracurricular activity, so just relax, relax~! If you’re tense right from the start, you’ll just get tired~!”

“Yes, you’re right… just as you said, Jina-chan.”

Maybe Jina misunderstood this as just another picnic.

Although the upcoming martial prowess wasn’t going to be so easy though… Well, that’s just what Jina sama is. Will told me that the reason he put Jina sama and me on the same team was because, it seems Jina had taken a liking to me.(He told me in secret, making sure nobody heard)

“But still, Itose-kun! Aren’t you amazing that even Will picked you as the leader? And moreover, you’re on the same team as me and Emma-chan! You will be so popular now~!”

“…I’m honored, Jina sama.”

“Awa. You don’t look like you’re being honored at all~ You look more like someone who’s been saddled with a burden instead.”

“N-No way… Ahaha.”

Will’s team arrangements were indeed well thought out. His goal was to minimize the number of dropouts from our class (excluding me). To that end, he even joined a team with Earls he normally wouldn’t associate with. The very team of Earls and Counts, he would ridicule instead. Come to think of it, the Earls had their face turned pale when they learned they were grouped with him a duke family, huh.

“But, I heard the rumors you know~. When we become second-years, we will be forced to play along with the headmaster’s little games. From now on, we’ll be tested to see if we’re really fit to graduate from Westminster, right~?”

Yet Jina showed not a single hint of concern.

“Jina… As you think, do you really think those rumors, about students getting expelled, are they true?”

“About students getting expelled~? Totally true~. But we’ll be fine, after all Emma-chan! You’ve got that special royal magic quirk, right~?”

“Y-Yes… that’s true…”

The extracurricular Martial Prowess devised by Dan Westminster divided the class into even smaller teams and dispatched them to various unknown locations across the nation of Roman. Upon arrival, we would be dropped off and forced to survive on our own for the next two or three days. While what awaited us would only be revealed once we safely reached our destination and starting point from there on out.

I wondered how the noble parents could allow their precious daughters and son be sent to dangerous places like these… but then again, this was what The Westminster Academy is all about.

“Jina sama, Princess Emma. May I ask you both something?”

“What is it~? What’s with the formal tone all of a sudden, Itose-kun?”

“Could you please tell me about your abilities—again?”

I needed to survive two or even three days with these two. And according to the rumors circulating among the second-years, the actual numbers of the third-years were greatly reduced in number due to being forced through the headmaster’s sudden trials. This was no mere game.

Without knowing their abilities, we couldn’t even begin.

“Well of course. I’ll go first, though Jina sama is already well aware…”

—More importantly, the destination our team was heading to was the real problem.

“My magical quirk is enhanced vision. If I concentrate well, I can even track down the movements of even the fastest of  insects.”

The place our carriage was headed towards, was the Eighth Estate.

A forbidden territory, where even entry is restricted.

Once the villa of a great noble who tried to overturn the Royal Family of The Roman kingdom—
And also the place where I had lost everything.