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… - 7

Chapter 7: An Uncanny Gift, and the Gaze Directed at Me

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(Alto’s POV)

The incident during that practical training session continued to haunt me in the worst possible way. Thanks to the teacher concluding it was a malfunction due to age, it never became a public issue. However, the students’ distrust could not be erased. People clearly began to distance themselves from me. No. More precisely, they kept their distance and whispered rumors about me.

“Hey, did you see that guy? He’s gotten even gloomier lately, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah. That crystal ball flashed like crazy, right? Must’ve been a trick. Trying to rack up points as a recommended admission student? He overdid it and got scared.”

The boys looked at me with gazes mixed with jealousy and contempt.

“Hey… Is he really a man?”

“Yeah, for a man’s magic power to shine like that… It’s strange.”

And the girls looked at me with curious eyes. This was the worst. On top of being a weirdo living in the old dormitory, I had now acquired the extremely conspicuous and worst possible title: the mysterious man who made the magic measuring device shine.

I clicked my tongue inwardly at Leonardo. That bastard… This was because he had to butt in unnecessarily. Thanks to him, my peaceful mob-life plan was already on the verge of collapsing from the very first step.

At this point, I absolutely could not afford to stand out any further. During lectures, I erased my presence and sat in the back corner of the last row, scribbling formulas into my textbook. And outside of lectures, I started spending even more time deep in the library far in the back, in the dusty archive of ancient magical texts that hardly anyone ever visited. If I stayed here, no one would take an interest in me.

Dad, don’t worry. I will never cause trouble. I’ll absorb all the knowledge this academy has to offer, graduate, and then the two of us will live quietly on our land together…

Yes. I had a daily life that I needed to protect.

Several days passed, and just when it seemed like the rumors had begun to die down, after school one day, I was—as usual—unfolding a difficult magic tome written on parchment in a corner of the library when I suddenly felt a gaze on me.

…What?

It was rare for many people other than me to come into this archive, especially when it wasn’t even exam season. When I raised my head, I saw that near the entrance of the archive—an area not accessible to ordinary students like me—there was a section separated by reinforced glass: the Royalty and High Nobility Exclusive Reading Room.

Beyond the glass door, I could see Princess Lilianna talking about something with several attendants. I immediately returned my gaze to my magic book. I must not get involved. Those people lived in a world far too different from mine.

If this academy was an “auction hall,” then she was both its “centerpiece item” and, at the same time, its most powerful “buyer.” Someone like me—who wasn’t even worth being “put up for auction”—could never possibly intersect with her. And yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me.

When I cautiously raised my eyes again, it felt as though Princess Lilianna was looking straight at me through the glass. Even when an attendant whispered something to her, her gaze did not move. It had to be my imagination. There was no way she had business with a mob from the old dormitory like me. She was probably just looking at the bookshelf behind me. A fallen noble. Living in the old dormitory. And on top of that, a man. What business could a woman at the very pinnacle of this world possibly have with me? None whatsoever.

I reached that conclusion and once again focused my attention on the complicated formulas. Before long, I sensed the princess’s group leaving, and only then did I finally let out a breath. That evening, after staying holed up in the library until just before closing, I hurried along the stone-paved path—now completely dark—toward the old dormitory.

When I reached the door to my room, I stopped.

“Hm…?”

In front of the dusty door that looked like it would creak loudly if opened, a small package wrapped neatly in fine cloth sat there. What was this? Harassment? Had it finally escalated to people throwing stones or animal carcasses at me!? There was no one in this academy who bore me goodwill. Staying on guard and probing for poison or curses, I picked up the package.

When I unwrapped the cloth, what appeared was a small, finely crafted wooden box. Opening it only left me more confused. Inside were extremely high-quality tea leaves and baked sweets, giving off a rich fragrance I had never smelled before.

…Huh? Who? And for what purpose?

There was no letter indicating the sender anywhere. Poison? No, but there was no reason to poison me… The face of that ducal heir, Leonardo, came to mind. Was it him? Some new form of harassment? Was he expecting me to eat this and get sick? But would such a sneering man really go to this much trouble?

I couldn’t read the intent at all, and it made my skin crawl. In the end, I didn’t touch the tea or sweets and instead tucked them away deep on the shelf, next to the box where I kept letters from my father.

And then, the next day.

After finishing my lectures, I once again headed quickly toward the library. I decided to forget about that eerie gift for now. Nothing good ever came from getting involved with anyone from this academy.  As usual, I was about to turn into the deserted back corridor connecting the main building and the annex…

That was when I saw someone standing there.

…!

I stopped short. It was the middle-aged attendant who had been standing beside Princess Lilianna in the library’s reading room yesterday. The attendant looked at me expressionlessly, as though she had known I would pass through here.

…What is this? What business does a royal attendant have with me?

As I hesitated, wondering if I should turn back, the attendant quietly stepped forward.

“Alto von Kirschwasser-sama, correct?”

Her voice was cold and flat. At those words, what I felt first was not fear or caution, but pure shock.

…What? Why does she know me!?

A royal attendant. Someone who served at the very top of this academy’s hierarchy. Why would such a person know the name of me, a man from a fallen noble house living in the old dormitory?

And why was she seemingly waiting for me in a back corridor like this? Our statuses were far too different. There should have been no point of contact between us. Overwhelmed by the sheer incomprehensibility of it all, I could only stare back at the attendant’s face in shock.

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