The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 162: Beware Of The Red-head (4)

Nobles took promises seriously.

Of course they would, as it was one of the factors directly related to the family honor.

Those who couldn’t honor promises were considered unbecoming of a noble. At least, that was the perception amongst the higher class in the Philut Empire.

This was also the case for the Count Saliere family.

Lotte’s family had adopted ‘goodness’ as their motto since she was young, and it included keeping promises made to others.

Thus, Lotte was ruthless towards those who made promises that they couldn’t keep.

“Aether.”

Lotte called her friend’s name. It was a frosty tone that she had never used before.

Although she had grumbled a few times after they’d grown close, those had mostly been admonishments out of concern for Aether. Put your clothes on properly, dry your hair properly, come back to the dorm earlier, etc.

Just simple nagging. When Aether heard such nagging, she’d mostly think it annoying yet still did as Lotte said.

However.

It was different this time.

“What do you mean that you and Lady Blanton are going to live together later?”

Brows furrowing, Lotte put down her fork and looked at Aether dubiously.

“Ah, right. This was a secret between just the two of us.”

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It was Rosemary who answered the question instead.  She brought her right pointer to her lips and giggled.

“Sis will be staying at my place this winter break. I will be introducing her to the rest of the household as well.”

It was a mischievous tone. No, perhaps it was a voice closer to elevation and hopefulness rather than mischief.

Either way, Rosemary didn’t seem to know anything. Making that assessment, Lotte turned her eyes to Aether.

“Ah, just for the winter break.”

Before Lotte even said anything, Aether beat her to it, catching the hint.

“Lady Blanton here said she wanted to give me something, so I decided to briefly stay with her during winter break.”

“Then what about our estate...?”

“Uh.... I don’t think I’ll be able to go.”

“You can’t come?”

In that instant, two emotions ran through Lotte’s mind: disappointment, and the other relief.

If there wasn’t anything going on, she had intended to let Lotte stay at their estate since it wasn’t easy to pay rent in the capital.

Because of inflation, even the cost of staying a night was unbelievable nowadays. It was better to let her stay with her at the Saliere mansion than be burdened with that. Why, they’d also be able to research together.

But to think that she was going to stay at Duke Blanton’s residence this time.

It was disappointing; she’d had a few things in mind.

She had been planning little by little to do the things that they hadn’t been able to during summer vacation. Among those were a few non-research things as well, such as pajama or tea parties.

“So you really can’t this winter vacation?”

“Sorry.”

“Then it should be fine next summer break and later after we graduate, right?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lotte let out an ‘Ah’.

Thank goodness, she hadn’t completely lost her.

It was when she had been thinking that.

“What are you talking about, sis? Once you graduate and finish your research, you should live happily at our place.”

Aether and Lotte’s gazes turned to Rosemary, who made an unimpressed face.

Then soon after, she directed a smile at Lotte, eyes curving. The way her eyes arched was almost obnoxious.

But what was more important that her expression was what came out of her mouth. Frowning, Lotte asked about what Rosemary just said.

“What was that, Lady Blanton?”

“I said that she’ll be living at our house once she graduates, at least.”

Rosemary’s expression was innocent as anything as she said that. On the contrary, Lotte bit down on her bottom lip lightly while watching Rosemary.

It was then that a dark cloud started forming on Aether’s face.

There was something weird in the air. The big data she had accumulated from seeing many different types of people invoked a strange sensation in her mind.

That thing was a kind of warning bell, a signal that the situation was turning against her.

There was only one thing she could do in times like this.

Just watch for now. She hadn’t figured out the whole situation yet, so she had to wait and see.

“Um, Lady Blanton, for how long have you and Aether known each other?”

“Quite a while. Why? Is something the matter?”

“No, I mean. It’s odd, isn’t it? You’re of that status, and Aether comes from a commoner background. You said that you aren’t even half-sisters, and you’re both of different races so I was wondering how the two of you could be this close.”

“Aha....”

Rosemary’s hand stretched towards the single-use tumbler. Sipping on soda through a straw, Rosemary soon smirked.

Aether instantly read Rosemary’s state of mind from her expression. Something like ‘A mere human dares to try and pry into our relationship?’ would have come up in the head of this obstinate young thing who considered Golden-Eyeds as the most superior race.

“It was just one of those things.”

Words tossed carelessly. Lotte’s brows twitched for a sec.

On the surface, it was something said politely, but underneath was political rhetoric. Lotte, who’d encountered all sorts of periphrases as the daughter of a noble, didn’t accept Rosemary’s words at face value.

‘What is it to you?’ would have been the implication behind what she just said..

“Ah, I see. Then I won’t ask about it separately.”

Lotte settled her breath and responded. Her words contained thinly-veiled barbs.

‘I can just ask Aether later, so why are you bothering with the bravado?’

That was probably what she was wanting to say.

Rosemary also knew all about periphrases. She’d learned it long before she became a Beast.

So that was how she was able to hit back using the same kind of speech.

“I’m more intrigued that you seem to be interested in my sister. How did the two of you become close?”

Rosemary changed her eyes at this point. She switched on the common feature of Cataclysms: Intimidate.

‘Intimidate’ was a useful way to subdue an opponent who was mentally weaker than you. Its substance came from the charisma of the Golden-Eyed. So if Lotte was even a little scared of Rosemary, that fear would manifest maximized.

Thinking ‘She’s going to fess up now while trembling, right?’, Rosemary’s lips stretched into a grin.

If she learned how sis became close with Lady Saliere, then the opposite was possible. She was going to break the two up naturally, and bring her runaway sis back ‘home’ from the Academy.

That alone would count as more than destroying a whole nation. Rosemary’s lips automatically twisted.

“Uh.... a moment, Lady Saliere. Hasn’t it gotten cold all of a sudden?”

“No, I’m not getting any chills because it’s warm inside.”

Huh, that was strange. Rosemary unconsciously quirked her head.

She’d definitely cast Intimidate, yet Lotte’s expression hadn’t changed even a little. There should at least be signs of her shrinking back.

Just a moment ago, Lotte had been slightly scared of Rosemary. This was due to her innate sense of roughly distinguishing Beasts. Intimidate would have worked if she’d used it then.

“Ah, my apologies,. What was the question?”

“How did the two of you become close....”

“It wasn’t really anything, right, Aether? Stop eating pasta and saying something, too.”

“Uh, huh? Right....”

Having finished the pasta already, Aether was sitting there licking the fork. She looked at the plate with a wistful expression, then pulled herself together and decided that she needed to mediate the situation.

She wasn’t sure exactly why, but the two were fighting over her. If she didn’t stop them, then who knows what could happen later.

But, where was she supposed to begin?

Although she was in a girl’s body now, she had originally been a man. There was a clear limit to her understanding of the woman’s psyche.

Aether mumbled her lips and watched Lotte. Her expression was freezing like frost that had penetrated through the air gap. She’d hardly seen such a face since they’d become friends..

For whatever reason, Lotte was furious.

“Aether and I have known each other for a brief but long time, My Lady. It’s a normal friendship that can be found anywhere, if you think about it. The kind of friends where you eat together and study together.”

“Ah, I see.......”

“After spending a few months with each other, I thought it would be fine to stay together. Right?”

Aether nodded wordlessly, as the way Lotte was looking at her was like a well-sharpened knife.

‘I feel like I’ll get burned if I don’t nod’–Aether genuinely thought that.

Aether was the one girl who hadn’t really felt ‘scared’ even when she’d been slaving away under Professor Hasfeldt. That was because she had known the professor’s patterns well.

Lotte was the opposite of that. All this time she had thought she knew her patterns, so she could only be flustered if a side like was revealed to her all of a sudden.

“This may be embarrassing to say, but Aether is a friend I wish I can stay together with always. So we even talked about it, Lady Blanton, that we should live together on the same estate after we rid the world of every Beast.”

“Ah, is that so.”

In the next moment, Rosemary’s lips twisted strangely. It was a slight change that wasn’t easy to notice, but Lotte caught that moment.

“She promised to live together at our home as well.... Then, sis?”

The gazes of the two people turned towards the Golden-Eyed girl. One looked displeased, and the other was shooting a cold look as if she was going to end their friendship immediately if she didn’t explain.

It was then that Aether could piece together the situation.

In that moment, a single sentence popped into her mind.

I’m fucked.