Olga’s Secret

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 In the bustling cafeteria, trouble began between Olga and Freya.
 
 “My, I was wondering who this incompetent kid could be hanging out with, but if it isn’t Lady Olga of Helqvist.”
 
 Hearing this, Olga gave Freya and her followers one glare.
 
 “……”
 
 Olga remained silent.
 
 “Hey, I gave my greetings, so isn’t it polite to give a greeting in return? Or is it that the North doesn’t have that kind of manners?”
 
 Freya was getting irritated.
 
 Frowning as usual, Olga replied coldly.
 
 “I wonder how what you just said was a greeting. It certainly sounded like a 『greeting』 though.”
 
 The sounds of someone stifling their laughter that threatened to spill out could be heard.
 
 Freya’s face turned red when she heard this.
 
 “—… well, whatever. Come to think of it, that rumor about you is true, right?”
 
 “……”
 
 Olga’s eyes narrowed.
 
 “It seems you collapsed during the practical session yesterday ——— from magic depletion.”
 
 Sporting a sarcastic smile, Freya Astrid brought her face closer to Olga.
 
 Olga’s expression became visibly stern.
 
 “『The youngest daughter of Maruis Helqvist is magicless』. When I heard such rumours, I thought 『no way』, but… hearing that the daughter of 『Freezing』, who is on par with our 『Inferno』y, ran out of magic power after casting just three spells, I was surprised!”
 
 Freya exaggeratedly said this with amusement.
 
 This was likely intentional.
 Just so that everyone could hear.
 In order to shame Olga in front of everyone.
 
 Unable to bear the sight, I opened my mouth to speak.
 
 “Hey, you—”
 
 However, Olga, who was sitting next to me, gripped my arm tightly.
 
 “Olga?”
 
 While continuing to glare at Freya, she never stopped gripping my arm.
 
 “I get it. I’ll keep quiet.”
 
 When I said that, she quickly let go.
 
 
 
 What Freya said, is in fact true.
 
 We had a practical sorcery class yesterday.
 
 With the task being 『to invoke sorcery five times in a row』, Olga fired three ice bullets in succession, hitting the target accurately, and then she collapsed.
 
 We rushed over in a panic.
 
 Having judged from the situation that it was likely magic sickness^[1], so I touched her directly to confirm the state of the magic power inside her.
 
 What I learnt as a result was that she did not collapse due to magic sickness, but due to a lack of magic power.
 
 From what I saw, the magic power Olga has is probably as much as the townsfolk.
 Normally, it would be difficult to even use magic or sorcery.
 
 It’s no wonder she was reluctant to mention her weaknesses in her self-introduction.
 
 Later, when Olga opened her eyes in the sickbay, she told us who were taking care of her, “I plan to ask the professor to remove me from the group”.
 
 If she was there, she’d just hold them back, she said.
 
 We all calmed her down and discussed our issues, including why Sharieq and I couldn’t use sorcery at all and why Renee’s magic control was still immature, and so we gathered here.
 
 
 
 And now the story returns to 『now』.
 
 Olga chose to respond to Freya’s provocation with silence.
 
 But the other young ladies took it positively and escalated their provocation even further.
 
 “As expected, suitable people gather around an incompetent child. Foreigners and bad children with sticky fingers^[2], and to top it off, a young noblewoman with no magic power. I wonder if they’re planning on starting a street performance troupe.”
 
 Saying this, Freya Astrid and her entourage laughed mockingly as they said this.
 
 And then she insulted something Olga held dear.
 
 “I’ve recently heard the Northern borderlands were turbulent, but hearing about you, it makes sense. What a mess has become of the 『Guardian of the North』, which was once a rival to us Astrids.”
 
 It happened in an instant.
 
 A plosive 『Bang!!』 echoed all around.
 
 “Take back what you just said!!”
 
 Olga stood up, glaring at Freya and shouted this.
 
 
 
 “Wh-, wh-, what are you doing?!”
 
 Right after Freya held her cheek and yelled back, causing a commotion all around —
 
 “What’s going on?!”
 
 — A black-haired boy who seemed like a senior student arrived with two others, a boy and a girl.
 
 The surrounding female students became excited.
 
 “Look, it’s His Highness the First Prince Eric.”
 
 “Huh, the student council president?”
 
 “He’s wonderful, isn’t he?”
 
 ——— That reminds me.
 
 I think I heard some girls in my class gossiping about it the other day.
 
 This country’s prince is enrolled in the second-year 『Draag (Dragon)』 class, and is serving as this term’s student council president.
 
 So that means, he’s here for that.
 
 When said prince came over to us, he frowned when he saw the faces of the two who were arguing.
 
 “I am Eric Nordahl from the student council… Astrid and Helqvist. Exactly what are the daughters of two families who are the pillars of our country arguing about?”
 
 The prince looked at Freya and Olga’s faces and immediately guessed at their family background.
 
 He seems to be quite a talented person.
 
 “……”
 “……”
 
 The two ladies were silent.
 
 Just then, the blonde-haired female student standing behind Prince Eric made a suggestion.
 
 “President. Seeing as this isn’t the right place for this, how about we move to the student council room?”
 
 ……… Huh?
 
 “Right. Sorry everyone, but I’d like all of you to accompany me to the student council room.”
 
 Prince Eric gave this command with undeniable pressure.
 
 However, rather than looking at the prince, my eyes were fixed to the female student beside him.
 
 A gorgeous 『blonde-haired』 beauty.
 
 This girl, with a soft smile upon her face, followed after the student council president with her back turned to us.
 
 (Why……)
 
 “Letia-san, are you okay?”
 
 While everyone stood up, I remained firmly seated without moving, and so Renee called out to me.
 
 However, I could only remain frozen as I stared at 『her』.
 
 “Letia-san?”
 
 Renee’s voice called out to me again.
 
 “……”
 
 Both of my clenched fists trembled.
 
 A flashback of an old memory played in the back of my mind.
 
 A lonely school life.
 A female student who claims I harassed her.
 My fiance who criticized me in front of everyone.
 
 And then, as I am brought in front of the guillotine, a blonde-haired man and woman look down at me.
 
 
 
 I was screaming on the inside.
 
 
 
 ——— Why is that girl here?!?!