In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 13

Chapter 13: The Princess’s Conviction, and the Praise That Never Reached Me

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(Lilianna’s POV)

In the salon of the detached palace, I was receiving the morning report from the head maid. Outside the window, the academy grounds were so quiet it felt like the usual bustle was a lie. But my heart was anything but calm. As the head maid reported Alto’s movements since last night, I listened to every single word while hiding behind the perfect mask of a princess.

…Did he eat it, I wonder.

After reuniting with him at that detached palace last night, I had ordered a maid to deliver a warm meal to the front of his room in the old dormitory. When I learned that he was not eating proper meals there, and was instead stuffing himself with nothing but cold portable rations in moldy places like the library’s underground archive, I simply could not sit still.

Ten years ago, when he saved me, he had certainly been small. But there had been a strong light dwelling in his eyes. The Alto I saw during the recent practical training, and through the glass of the library, still carried traces of that time… Yet he was far too thin. It was as if his whole body was wrapped in a dangerously fragile air.

…What if he loses that light he had back then?

That fear was what drove me to act.

“—That is all. Alto-sama returned the heat-retaining container to the back entrance of the old dormitory in the early hours of this morning.”

At the head maid’s matter-of-fact voice, I softly, deeply let out the breath I had been holding.

“…And the contents?”

“Yes. It appears he ate everything. The container was thoroughly washed.”

“…I see. Thank goodness…”

From the bottom of my heart, I felt relieved. I could feel warm blood returning even to my fingertips. It had been a forceful “charity,” imposed under the authority of my position as a princess. Considering my cold attitude toward him last night, it would not have been strange if he had rejected it or even smashed it against the floor.

He doesn’t think of it as being ‘fed,’ does he…? No—. Even if he does, I don’t mind. It is far better than him ruining his health.

He accepted what I offered him. That fact alone was enough to make me happy for now.

“…And then? What about how things went in the lecture hall afterward?”

I shifted my mindset and prompted the next report. The head maid knit her brows slightly.

“Yes. This morning, during the ‘History of Magic’ lecture, there was a bit of a disturbance.”

Hearing that report, a sharp pain ran through my chest. Leonardo had incited the teacher, trying to humiliate Alto in front of everyone. The teacher had demanded that Alto infer the cause of the ‘Great Catastrophe,’ a question with no answer in the textbook. I immediately knew it had been Leonardo’s doing.

That man again… Leonardo. The eldest son of a ducal house, and the leading candidate to be my fiancé. A hollow man whose only merits were his lineage and magic power. I loathed his pettiness… How he could only satisfy his self-esteem by tormenting those more “different” than himself, driven by jealousy. And that man was the strongest candidate to become my husband…

And in the classroom ruled by such a man, Alto was present.

Alto… He must have been in such trouble… I knew he did not want to stand out. I knew he wanted to avoid trouble. I could vividly imagine him answering “I don’t know,” and being showered with laughter by the entire class.

It was my fault for dragging him into this by means of a “recommendation.” Guilt made my chest ache. But the head maid’s next report far exceeded anything I had imagined.

“—In response to the teacher’s persistent interrogation, Alto-sama offered the following ‘conjecture.’”

The head maid recited the words she had memorized, in an emotionless tone.

“‘…It was a purely physical phenomenon.’”

“…What?”

“‘The ancient magical civilization overestimated magic power and deployed large-scale mass weapons in satellite orbit. For some reason… Likely a loss of control… They fell to the surface.’ …That concludes the report.”

Silence. The salon fell completely still.

The head maid added her own opinion.

“…As a statement from a recommendation admission student, it may be an utterly unhinged piece of nonsense. The teacher and the other students could not comprehend it, and regarded him as ‘creepy’…”

I felt my hands trembling with excitement.

Nonsense? No, no…! Satellite orbit? Mass weapons? I did not fully understand the meaning of the words. But that way of thinking was utterly unlike anyone else in this world! Among the forbidden books passed down within the royal family… Those most vital secrets, so strictly restricted that even I, a successor to the throne, faced heavy limitations to access them… There were vague passages suggesting that the ‘Great Catastrophe’ was caused not by divine wrath, nor by a runaway of magic power, but by “something that was not a star” falling from the heavens.

He had independently arrived at an answer extremely close to that…! While Leonardo and the other men could do nothing but parrot textbooks, boast of their lineage, or fawn over women. Right in the middle of that ridicule, he alone spoke of a fragment of this world’s “truth.”

Ah, Alto…! After all, he truly was special. Not just that forbidden “power” with which he saved me. Even his mind was unbound by common sense. Where in the world did that “knowledge” come from…? Was it something he derived from those ancient texts he devoured night after night in the library’s underground archive? All by himself!? Without relying on anyone at this academy?

…I want to know more. I want to talk with him. Why do you know such things? Why won’t you tell me the truth? Ten years ago, when you saved me…What were you thinking then? I want to see you.

Not for another cold “interrogation” at that detached palace. Not as a “princess” and a “fallen nobleman.” I just want to speak with you as equals. In this academy, you are surely the only one who can truly answer my questions and my curiosity.

I gave an order to the head maid.

“…Head maid. Make tonight’s ‘meal’ something special.”

“…If I may ask what you mean?”

“He must have used his head terribly hard in that insidious lecture today. …Prepare something nutritious. Add a meat dish, and a sweet dessert as well.”

“…Understood. However, is that truly acceptable?”

For the first time, the head maid let a hint of concern show.

“‘Charity’ can sometimes make the recipient even more stubborn… Especially someone as proud as Alto-sama.”

“That’s fine.”

I said it firmly. This was the utmost “praise” and “support” I could offer him right now. I wanted to tell him that at least I alone knew of the “victory of knowledge” he had achieved entirely on his own today. Even if he misunderstood this as “humiliation,” or “surveillance,” or a “reward for an amusing performance.” I would never belittle the effort he poured into honing his knowledge alone, in that old dormitory.

Alto…You truly are nothing like the other men.

At that time, without imagining in the slightest how bewildered he might be, or how he might be trembling with anger at the sight of the lavish meal, I simply directed my overflowing feelings and respect for him toward the moon floating in the night sky.

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