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… - 8

Chapter 8: A Royal Summons and the Fear of Becoming a Test Subject

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(Alto’s Pov)

I stared back at the maid’s face, my thoughts having completely ground to a halt. The covered corridor at dusk was already dim, hidden in the shadow of the main building. The cold stone walls stood in absolute, deathly silence. A place that was deserted to begin with had, thanks to the appearance of this maid, become enveloped in a stillness like that of a tomb.

…Huh? Why me?

A royal maid. She was the person who, just yesterday, had stood like a shadow at the side of Princess Lilianna, whom I had seen through the window in the library. A servant to the very peak of this academy’s—no, this country’s—hierarchy.

Why would someone like that… Why would she know the name of someone like me, an “old dorm resident” and a “fallen noble”? And why was she “waiting” for me in a dusty back corridor like this? Our statuses were far too different. We were as far apart as an ant and the clouds in the heavens. There was no way we should have had any point of contact.

When I couldn’t bring myself to speak, the elderly maid tilted her head slightly, never once breaking her Noh-mask-like expression. Even that small gesture carried a refined, oppressive presence utterly unlike that of a low-ranking noble like me.

“…You are Alto von Kirschwasser-sama, correct?”

At her repeated question, I was finally released from my paralysis. Like a spell being broken, my stiff throat trembled.

“…That’s right. What of it?”

My voice came out lower and more guarded than I had expected. My instincts were sounding the loudest alarm I’d felt since enrolling at this academy. The maid before me served the royal family. What business could someone like her possibly have with trash like me? Ignoring the aura of rejection radiating from my entire body as if it meant nothing, the maid continued calmly.

“Did last night’s baked goods suit your taste?”

“…!”

The words were so unexpected that I sucked in a sharp breath. In my mind, the wooden box containing the baked sweets and tea leaves flashed back vividly.

Those tea leaves and sweets… She was the one who left them? A chill ran down my spine, as if ice water had been poured over it. Why? Why would someone from the royal family do something like that for me? Her intentions were becoming even harder to read. If this was harassment, it was far too elaborate and far too expensive.

No way, don’t tell me…

The worst possible thought crossed my mind. That “malfunction” incident. Despite being a man, the magic-measuring device had flared violently for an instant. The instructor had dismissed it as “equipment deterioration,” but what if someone from the royal family hadn’t overlooked that phenomenon?

A male with actual magic power. It was an irregularity that could overturn the common sense of this world. Had I become a “subject under observation”?

“…No. I didn’t receive anything.”

The voice I forced out was so hoarse it was pathetic, even to my own ears.

“I see. That is unfortunate.”

She spoke as if she truly found it regrettable. Her lack of expression only heightened my fear.

“…What do you want?”

I took a step back.

“I’m not someone who should be involved with noble people like you. You’ve got the wrong person. I live in the old dorm—”

“I am well aware. Alto-sama of the Kirschwasser family. You were admitted through a recommendation slot and are currently residing in the old dormitory.”

“…!”

She knew everything. Thinking back, dismissing the gaze I’d felt in the corner of the library as “my imagination” now seemed incredibly foolish. I had been completely locked on.

“…Please, just let it go. I only want to study quietly.”

Saying that, I tried to slip past the maid and flee the scene with all my strength. But—

“Please wait.”

A cold voice pierced into my back. My legs refused to move, as if sewn in place.

“I will be frank. There is a place to which you must come.”

“…Huh?”

This time, I truly stopped in my tracks.

“…Must come? Who is making me?”

As I stood there in confusion, the maid offered no answers to my questions and continued quietly, yet in a tone that allowed no refusal.

“I have been ordered ‘to escort you.’”

Hearing that, I looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling of the cold corridor seemed strangely high and distant. Who? Who wanted me? …No, whoever it was, it was someone from the royal family.

In my head, worst-case scenarios swirled like a storm. The practical training incident… There was no doubt about it. That was it. The instructors might have been fooled, but the royal family’s eyes had not been.

“A male with actual magic power.”

A forbidden power that would shake the very foundations of this world’s order and female supremacy. They’d found out that I had it.

No way… Am I going to be made into an experiment?

“Escort you,” she said? There was no way it would be something that gentle. I was being “secured” by the royal family. I’d be taken somewhere without anyone knowing, strapped down to a laboratory table.

As a rare “man who can use magic,” I’d be dissected, observed, and have my abilities researched down to the last scrap. My fingertips grew rapidly cold with fear.

“I told you, you’ve got the wrong person!”

I shouted, half out of desperation.

“I’m just a fallen noble! A guy who lives with dust in the old dormitory!”

“I am well aware.”

“Then why?!”

“You will understand once you come.”

“I refuse! Someone like me going to see the royal family… Don’t joke with me!”

I resisted with everything I had. Being made into an experiment was no joke. A quiet life on our territory with Father… That was everything to me. Just like when Mother abandoned the family, my small, ordinary life was about to be trampled again by unreasonable power. The maid stared at my desperate resistance with cold eyes, without moving a muscle.

Then she slowly opened her mouth.

“…Alto-sama. This is not a ‘request.’”

The air froze in an instant. The sound of the wind blowing through the corridor sounded unnaturally loud.

“This is a ‘royal summons.’”

It was an “order” with no right of refusal. Just as commoners couldn’t defy royalty, a low-ranking noble was not permitted to refuse a summons from the royal family. The maid took another step forward, still staring at my shaken face. That single step seemed to symbolize the decisive difference in our social standing.

“…Or would you prefer that it be loudly announced here that you ‘disregarded a royal summons’?”

“…Tch! Is that a threat?”

“I am merely stating the facts. If you were to make a scene here, you would become known to the entire student body as ‘a disrespectful man who refused a royal summons’… Is that acceptable to you?”

I clenched my teeth.

This is the worst.

I was being threatened. If I refused and caused a commotion here, I’d lose my place not just in this academy, but in this country, branded as a man who had defied the royal family. No matter what I did, I was guaranteed to stand out. And no matter what I did, I would be taken to the royal family. But one thing was certain: making a scene here was the worst possible choice.

Damn it. I’m completely trapped.

This maid had every intention of taking me with her, no matter what I did. I gave up and let out a long breath. The strength drained from my entire body.

“…Fine. I’ll go.”

For the first time, the maid’s lips softened ever so slightly.

“A wise decision. …This way, please.”

Without a word, I followed behind the maid. My steps were heavy, like a condemned criminal being led to the execution grounds.

The place I was taken to wasn’t the royals-only reading room I’d seen in the library yesterday, but something even farther in. It was an annex within the academy grounds that ordinary students likely didn’t even know existed.

We passed through a meticulously maintained garden and walked along polished marble corridors. My dust-covered uniform looked painfully out of place.

Father, I’m sorry. It looks like I’ve gotten caught up in something truly awful.

My plan for a peaceful, uneventful  mob character life completely and decisively collapsed today. The thought of who would do what to me in the room I was about to be taken to made it impossible for me to feel alive.

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