“Thank you Aramic. About finding out the uncontrollable factions’s hideout. I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me. It will be easier for me, who is not linked to any groups, an exchange student to move around anyway~
“I owe you this one.”
For two weeks, Karl’s group managed control of all rebellion gangs.
〜The day Alicia set off〜
Time flew by in a flash, in the blink of an eye the day of departure came.
“Alicia, are you really going? Isn’t it dangerous? You know that you will have to sit inside the carriage for a long time until we reach the academy, right? Just thinking about the possibility that you might be attacked on the way..Father is so worried that he cannot sleep!?”
At first we all decided to go together, but a sudden unexpected thing happened and daddy couldn’t make it in the end. Because he can’t go, daddy did his best to prevent me and mommy from going.
“Dear! Please stop your foolish act! To prevent her from getting tired, we have decided to take the carriage only during daylight and to divide the trip into 4 days total without haste! You also picked the escort knights yourself, changing them over and over again! Please relax!”
“Don’t be so hard on me Anne-Marie..”
As Mommy rebuked him with harsh words, Daddy had an expression of regrets.
“It can’t be helped, can it? To ignore the inspector’s demands and reports, can you call yourself a Duke?
“*sighs* I understand. Hey, make sure to take care of yourself too, Anne-Marie. Without you besides me, day and night will all be the same.”
“I know, I know”
The fuss ended, Daddy gave mommy a passionate hug then moved to me, and held my shoulders tightly.
“Alicia, too. Don’t do anything dangerous! You always take actions while forgetting that you are blind. Be careful on the way, won’t you?
Daddy lectured me for a long time, but in the end he took my hand and left a kiss. At that moment, a warm air flowed in my body, like when a defense magic spell is cast.
“Thank you, father”
We finally bid our farewell, got into the carriage and departed.
Today, we will move by carriage, and take a break at the prepared villa. We will repeat it for another 3 days until arrival at the academy, then it will be the day of the open campus. We haven’t had any conversation after the last call, but when I think of finally meeting him, my heart keeps pounding non stop. Whatever you say, it has been a year since the last meeting with Karl, and this will be the first time meeting him since I realized my love for him. I am nervous. Not long after we departed from the Duke’s house, I turned to Mommy and asked.
“Mother, are we not there yet?”
“Come on, Alicia! Haven’t we just departed? There’s no way we are near there yet. We only reached the Imperial capital gateway now.”
I had asked the same question 3 times already, of course she would have reacted like that. I felt ashamed..
“I’m sorry, mother… it’s just going out like this is my first. As I thought, outside the gate will be different, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. It’s dangerous outside, so the carriage will eventually speed up. About the view, a few houses here and there are appearing with a lot of fields on the way. Can you imagine?”
“Yes, maybe..”
I remembered the countryside back in Japan and tilted my head in agreement. Mommy looked at me and smiled.
“I’m glad. We will reach our villa in 3 hours when the carriage starts to speed up. That’s why please hold back a little longer, Alicia”
“O~Kay~”
Even though I can’t see, when they speeded up the carriage I can feel it’s movements clearly. I calmed myself, ‘we will be there in no time’, I thought to myself and stretched out my hand to relax. I cannot enjoy the view, so let’s have fun with the shaking carriage, shall I.
The carriage shaked a lot for a while but then totally stopped. I raised my head because of that sudden movement.
“Oh, are we there already?”- I asked for confirmation.
“We couldn’t have arrived yet. What is going on?”
She raised her hand and began to talk to herself alone. But it sounded like she was talking with the knights outside.
“Oh my, is that so? Thank you”
“Mother?”
I couldn’t keep silent and asked her. At that moment, it started to become noisy outside with people’s voices. In the middle of those, a familiar voice could be recognized.
“Karl? Is that you?”
“Alicia!! You made it to here”
“Is it really you?”
“That’s right! I was worried about you so I decided to come.”
As Karl’s voice approached closer, the door of the carriage opened. I lost my balance and was about to fall, but the familiar warm hands caught me.
“Uh-oh, coming out suddenly like this, your heart must be troubled. Are you okay?”
Hearing his voice vibrating on top of my head, his warmth made me want to cry. 2 weeks had already passed, no call happened between us. Wherever I join a tea party, the ladies would always tell me about the unpleasant rumor. Hearing that Karl is deeply in love with the Count’s daughter was enough to give me anxiety all the time. But meeting you here right now, you are still the kind Prince Karl I know. Just like what you always do, gently embracing me in your arms.
“Your highness?”
Mom was caught in the middle of the passionate hugs of two lovebirds and could no longer remain silent.
“My apologies, Duchess Anne-Marie. I came because I was concerned about Alicia’s safety. Of course I am happy to see you too.”
“I’m glad. But it is unfortunate, my husband couldn’t make it so it is only me and Alicia. Now I will be more relaxed knowing you will protect us.”
“That’s unfortunate. Then please allow us to escort you and Alicia from here on.”
“Us?”- I was surprised.
“Yes, sorry for the late introductions. You may have known him before, my name is Karlise. The eldest son of the Alaclair Duke house.”
As Karl left my side, I could feel someone else’s presence coming closer to us.
“It’s been awhile, Aunty. For lady Alicia, maybe this is the second time, I believe. We first encountered and greeted each other at the engagement ceremony before, do you remember?”
“Lord Karlise. Indeed it has been awhile. It’s good to see you as well.”
Mommy sounded really happy and had a pleasant talk with him. Now that he mentioned it, the Alaclair house is where Daddy’s sister, my aunt, got married. I remembered his voice from the cenemory and he gave off the same feelings as before too.
“Of course I remember. It’s been awhile, lord Kaslise. I didn’t expect to meet you again like this. What I mean is I am really happy!”
“Me too. I’m happy to meet my cousin again!” (＠＾◡＾)
When Karlise’s voice stopped, Karl moved my body to head in another direction.
“This is Erick from Nakahayasu Count house. His sword skill is brilliant so I had him come with me.”
“It is my pleasure to meet you. I’m Erick Nakahayasu.” (`◉-◉)
“My! I’m sure we will be safe if it is the son of Count Nakahayasu. Alicia, he is the Knight captain’s son.”
His voice gave off a rough impression but mommy was really happy with his presence. I wallked up to where his voice was and greeted him.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Alicia Holsten. I hope we can be on good terms from now on, Lord Erick.”
“It’s my pleasure. To think that I have the honor to protect the Duchess and Princess of Holsten, I could never be happier.” – Even when he says that his voice has no emotion, I can hear his feet strongly stepped down making a big sound. (・_・ヾ
“Let’s depart right away. According to my report you are going to spend the night at the guest villa. I will leave the Duchess in your hand, Karlise. Erick, can you check the condition of the road ahead?”
“I understand. Aunty, shall we go? This way, please.”
“Oh, thank you, dear.”
“Hey! Who is the escort captain? I want to confirm something!”
“Hah! It’s me, sir!”
When everything started to move forward, Karl turned over and kindly escorted me.
“I’m happy to see you, Alicia.”
He said and hugged me once more. His embrace seemed to make me becoemore flushed than usual.
“K..Karl, I..I’m glad that you are fine as always.”
“But this is the first time for us to meet outside. Are you nervous?”
“Th..that’s right! I have never stepped outside the Imperial before. My heart seemed like it wanted to jump out of my chest.”
“You are lovely as always, my only princess.”
——
Karl suddenly put his strength in his arm, squeezed me tight and released me from his embrace. After that, he escorted me in a different direction.
“Hey, Karl? I am sure that the carriage is not in this way..”
“As expected, you always have such a keen sense for direction. The Duchess and Karlise will be riding the carriage, but not us.”
As we walked to the opposite side of the carriage, Karl told me to wait a little bit and left my hand. I became a little bit anxious while standing alone but then my lower body abruptly got picked up.
“Kya!”
The seat I was placed on was unbalanced. My hand couldn’t stop shaking and held tight to his sleeves while Karl carefully supported me from the back.
“Don’t scare me like that! Moreover, wh..what is this?”
“Is this your first time, Alicia? How do you feel riding on a horse?”
“….. am I riding on a horse? This?”
Surprised, I blinked my eyes a few times. When everyone mentions horses, I assumed that it would be the same as horses from my previous life. However, isn’t this.. a motorcycle? From the touch, the horse seems as hard as a machine.
“I see, so this is the first time for Alicia to touch a horse.”
“Yes, it’s my first. I always thought the horse was a living animal.”
“Living? You are saying something really interesting, Alicia. There will be big trouble if they are alive.”
“Oh…yeah, you are right.”
Feeling his delighted smile, I could only bring myself to agree with him. Maybe it was my mistake to assume that the appearance of the horse would be like the one I knew before. Maybe it is a motorcycle but it’s called a horse? Now that I think about it , before getting in the carriage and while riding it, there was no smell or sounds of the horse’s breath. How can it move on its own? Maybe with gasoline? But I don’t smell any of it.
“Karl?”
“What’s wrong?”
“How can.. the horse move?”
“What? How you asked.. I see, you can’t see and no one was willing to tell you about it. Because it was obvious, even I didn’t tell you about it.”
He said that regretfully, took my hand and led it to feel the whole body (of the horse). He even let me fiddle with its handle.
“Here, we input magic like this and use it as its fuel. After adjusting the speed, we can reach our destination.”
“M..magic?”
“Yeah. Magic is needed for things that are bigger than your telecommunication device.”
When I heard him mention ‘magic’, I remembered our secret magic training when we were kids. I thought I knew somehow, but the truth is I don’t truly understand the World I’m living in.
“Has anyone told you about the magic device yet?”
“I know about it because you told me before, Karl. Only that…”
“So the Duke is still keeping magic a secret from you. You rode the carriage, you might not be able to see, but don’t you have any doubt about it? Like how can it move?”
“I told you, I thought that the horse was alive.”
“A living creature, what a bold way of thinking. As I thought, it is really fun to talk to you, Alicia.”
Settling down on the motorcycle that doesn’t have any wheels, we headed towards the villa. I didn’t think that it was strange when Karl explained the telecommunication device before, however a device with the size 10 times bigger running by magic… the idea never occurred to me at all. A motorcycle (horse) that runs by magic..
This world…is extraordinary!
As we rode the horse and felt the coldness of the wind on our face, I could feel the terror of things I couldn’t see for the first time after being reborn. Even with Karl tightly embracing and protecting me from behind, my heart was still full of fear and anxiety.
At the Duke residence where magic is the taboo talk, I lived quietly and hoped that one day they would change their mind and tell me, but nothing happened until today.
I might go crazy if things continued like this…
“Karl, can you tell me more about magic and spells, as well as magical tools?”
“Are you sure it is okay? I mean, the Duke keeps magic’s existence a secret for your sake.”
“I understand that very well, but I can’t be kept in the dark forever like this. I want to know!”
“That sounds like you, Alicia. But telling you without permission is not good. I will send a message to the Duke and ask about it.”
“ Thank you, Karl.”
Karl gave me a strong hug from behind and speeded up the horse. When we finally arrived, the servants quickly came out and welcomed us.
“Welcome to the villa, Duchess Holsten and Princess Alicia.”
“My, Thank you!”
Mommy sounded really satisfied and happily replied, this villa must be a really good place. I was about to ask more about magic, however Mommy told me to take a break until dinner. I ended up being escorted to my room by Karl and had to rest.
After I changed myself and went to bed, my mind was swirling with questions from many years combined that kept me from closing my eyes. “Let’s sort everything out first”, I decided.
First, this World is a magical Medieval world. The infrastructure is the same as Japan. The horse is not a living creature, but a motorbike runs by magic. That is all I know until now.
About my own magic power, except for the stamping spell that I developed from the time I secretly trained with Karl, I don’t seem to be able to do any magic. However, things might be different now because I grew up. If Karl agrees to teach me one more time, I can even ride the big motorbike like today..
Having thoughts like this made me feel hopeful again.
The last thing was the name!
The same as the horse, some names referring to different objects and things from my previous life might actually refer to something entirely different in this world. They may even call a dog a cat. Even their appearances are out of the World I know. Just as the horse turned out to be a motorbike, my impression of this World changed rapidly.
…My head hurts but I am wide awake now. I called the servant.
“I’m awake. Someone please come.”
I muttered as always and realized that everything was really strange. This is not the Duke residence so there is no way they have security cameras over here. Will someone come? Will they not?… I nervously waited. I thought that someone would definitely come when I mumbled, it was an obvious thing on the camera. But if it is true then … as expected everything magically occured?
“My lady, you called?”
Like always, Kate’s voice echoed in the room as she came in. I tried to compose my heart.
“Kate? Can you help me change my dress?”
“Right away my lady.”
As she said that, I could hear the sound of her taking out my dresses. I gathered all my courage and questioned Kate.
“Kate? You always come whenever I ask. Does that mean you can hear my voice every time?”
Kate stopped her hand after my question, but giggled and answered me back.
“What are you saying, my lady!? Isn’t it obvious? The Duke residence was designed so your voice can be heard anywhere, anytime by us servants. The villa is the same!”
“You mean… with magic?”
“Of course! There is no other way to do that isn’t it!? My lady knows magic is around you, do you?”
Kate seemed to be really confused by my sudden question. I obviously knew the existence of magic, but the only ones I know are Karl’s attacking one, Daddy’s protection spell and my stamping spell. ‘Why is that? How can you do that?’ are the questions that never came out of my lips. I never expected that the knowledge from my previous life would interfere with my comprehension.
“Hah, I look like a fool..”
“Yes?”
“Yes, you are right. Of course it is magic!”
“Yes…”
As Kate strangely replied back, she continued dressing me up. After we finished, she helped me to go to the waiting room.
“We arrived, mi’ lady.”
“Thank you.”
I thanked her and knocked on the door in front of me.
“It’s me, Alicia.”
As I opened the door and went in, someone kindly took my hand.
“ Are you feeling alright, Alicia? It would have been fine if you slept more.”
“Oh, Karl! Thank you for your concern. But I would never get tired from sitting with you.”
“Is that so..I’m glad to hear it.”
Sensing a different presence inside the room, I turned my face.
“May I ask who you are?”
“As expected, your senses are really good. It’s me, Karlise.”
“I’m Erick.”
Aside from the 2 familiar voices of the 2 people I met early today, another new voice echoed.
“It’s my pleasure to meet you, my beautiful princess. From a far away land, I came here to receive my education. My name is Aramic, I hope you will remember me.”
What a seducing voice, I thought to myself. Karl suddenly held my hand tightly.
“That is enough for introduction, Aramic.”
“Too much imitation? My bad.” ╮(︶▽︶)╭
Next to where Aramic was standing while giggling, another presence appeared.
“My name is Mikhail Tennyson. It is my honor to be able to meet you, Princess Alicia. My family is a merchant family, if you have any trouble regarding business in the future please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
I could feel his earnestness from his voice, he must be a reliable person.
“The pleasure is mine, I’m Alicia. Nice to meet you.”
And then, next to him, a really cute voice was heard.
“I’m Emilia, please take care of me from now on, princess Alicia!”
“Y….es?”
Because I got a throwback because of a sudden girl’s voice, Karl introduced them once more.
These are the people he got close to after enrolling in the academy. I couldn’t ask him about lady Emilia. They came to give Karl reports from school and to officially greet me, when everything is finished they will return. Far off from friends, they seemed more like superior and his subordinates.
“Princess Alicia.”
A voice suddenly approached and called me out. I turned to the side where the voice came from.
“Yes?”
“My name is Emilia Fredcécht. My father was granted the Baron title. We will be in each other’s care while you’re visiting, please be more open to me!”
Emilia’s voice sounded so lovely and gave off a really kind vibe. But she just mentioned the Count house. Isn’t she the one from the rumor that is known to be Karl’s lover?
“E…excuse me..”
As I was having trouble coming up with words, Emilia quickly took my hands and held it tight.
“You really can’t see! How unfortunate!”
Emilia was so different from the rumor that it is hard to believe everyone was saying it’s true. From the way Karl gave off, I am sure there was nothing between these two.
“Princess, please don’t hesitate to ask me when you want to know more about school! I will help you to my limits!”
“T…thank you so much.”
“You are such a lovely person! How dare they lie about you like that!!”
“..lie?”
“I heard they gossip about princess Alicia using your blindness as an excuse and selfishly getting what she wants! They are horrible! How can they say things like that to you!? How rude!”
Emilia repeated, saying ‘how rude!” a couple times.
At that moment, I felt ridiculous when I thought about the rumor that they fell in love. Rumors are just stories with bad intentions! There were no facts to support it in the beginning! If Emilia is truly the one they described, she would never be kind to me like this.
I turned my body to face Emilia.
“You can never believe these ridiculous rumors! Lady Emilia, please take care of me from now on!”
To give her my gratitude, I grabbed a tip of my dress and was about to lower my head, but Emilia stopped me.
“P..Please stop that! You can’t do that easily like this! Aren’t you the princess of the Holsten duke family? Please have no fears and act more proud”
The fretting Emilia was so cute that I couldn’t help but smile.
“You two have become friends already?”
“Your highness Karl! How awful of you, hiding this wonderful lady away and keeping her to yourself!”
“Ha ha ha! My bad. You two are both girls, it’s good to see you ladies getting close to each other.”
Karl hugged my shoulder while giving Emilia a thank you smile.
“Karl!”
“Can you be friends with Emilia too, Alicia?”
“Of course! I think Lady Emelia is a really kindhearted person! It’s my first time to have a friend with the same gender!”
“Oh my! Is that so!? I’m not sure if I deserve the honor to be your friend or not but please take care of me from now on, princess Alicia!”
When I heard Emilia’s cheerfully reply, I sighed and finally felt a sense of relief from the bottom of my heart. (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)
——–
“Thank you Aramic. About finding out the uncontrollable factions’s hideout. I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me. It will be easier for me, who is not linked to any groups, an exchange student to move around anyway~
“I owe you this one.”
For two weeks, Karl’s group managed control of all rebellion gangs.
〜The day Alicia set off〜
Time flew by in a flash, in the blink of an eye the day of departure came.
“Alicia, are you really going? Isn’t it dangerous? You know that you will have to sit inside the carriage for a long time until we reach the academy, right? Just thinking about the possibility that you might be attacked on the way..Father is so worried that he cannot sleep!?”
At first we all decided to go together, but a sudden unexpected thing happened and daddy couldn’t make it in the end. Because he can’t go, daddy did his best to prevent me and mommy from going.
“Dear! Please stop your foolish act! To prevent her from getting tired, we have decided to take the carriage only during daylight and to divide the trip into 4 days total without haste! You also picked the escort knights yourself, changing them over and over again! Please relax!”
“Don’t be so hard on me Anne-Marie..”
As Mommy rebuked him with harsh words, Daddy had an expression of regrets.
“It can’t be helped, can it? To ignore the inspector’s demands and reports, can you call yourself a Duke?
“*sighs* I understand. Hey, make sure to take care of yourself too, Anne-Marie. Without you besides me, day and night will all be the same.”
“I know, I know”
The fuss ended, Daddy gave mommy a passionate hug then moved to me, and held my shoulders tightly.
“Alicia, too. Don’t do anything dangerous! You always take actions while forgetting that you are blind. Be careful on the way, won’t you?
Daddy lectured me for a long time, but in the end he took my hand and left a kiss. At that moment, a warm air flowed in my body, like when a defense magic spell is cast.
“Thank you, father”
We finally bid our farewell, got into the carriage and departed.
Today, we will move by carriage, and take a break at the prepared villa. We will repeat it for another 3 days until arrival at the academy, then it will be the day of the open campus. We haven’t had any conversation after the last call, but when I think of finally meeting him, my heart keeps pounding non stop. Whatever you say, it has been a year since the last meeting with Karl, and this will be the first time meeting him since I realized my love for him. I am nervous. Not long after we departed from the Duke’s house, I turned to Mommy and asked.
“Mother, are we not there yet?”
“Come on, Alicia! Haven’t we just departed? There’s no way we are near there yet. We only reached the Imperial capital gateway now.”
I had asked the same question 3 times already, of course she would have reacted like that. I felt ashamed..
“I’m sorry, mother… it’s just going out like this is my first. As I thought, outside the gate will be different, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. It’s dangerous outside, so the carriage will eventually speed up. About the view, a few houses here and there are appearing with a lot of fields on the way. Can you imagine?”
“Yes, maybe..”
I remembered the countryside back in Japan and tilted my head in agreement. Mommy looked at me and smiled.
“I’m glad. We will reach our villa in 3 hours when the carriage starts to speed up. That’s why please hold back a little longer, Alicia”
“O~Kay~”
Even though I can’t see, when they speeded up the carriage I can feel it’s movements clearly. I calmed myself, ‘we will be there in no time’, I thought to myself and stretched out my hand to relax. I cannot enjoy the view, so let’s have fun with the shaking carriage, shall I.
The carriage shaked a lot for a while but then totally stopped. I raised my head because of that sudden movement.
“Oh, are we there already?”- I asked for confirmation.
“We couldn’t have arrived yet. What is going on?”
She raised her hand and began to talk to herself alone. But it sounded like she was talking with the knights outside.
“Oh my, is that so? Thank you”
“Mother?”
I couldn’t keep silent and asked her. At that moment, it started to become noisy outside with people’s voices. In the middle of those, a familiar voice could be recognized.
“Karl? Is that you?”
“Alicia!! You made it to here”
“Is it really you?”
“That’s right! I was worried about you so I decided to come.”
As Karl’s voice approached closer, the door of the carriage opened. I lost my balance and was about to fall, but the familiar warm hands caught me.
“Uh-oh, coming out suddenly like this, your heart must be troubled. Are you okay?”
Hearing his voice vibrating on top of my head, his warmth made me want to cry. 2 weeks had already passed, no call happened between us. Wherever I join a tea party, the ladies would always tell me about the unpleasant rumor. Hearing that Karl is deeply in love with the Count’s daughter was enough to give me anxiety all the time. But meeting you here right now, you are still the kind Prince Karl I know. Just like what you always do, gently embracing me in your arms.
“Your highness?”
Mom was caught in the middle of the passionate hugs of two lovebirds and could no longer remain silent.
“My apologies, Duchess Anne-Marie. I came because I was concerned about Alicia’s safety. Of course I am happy to see you too.”
“I’m glad. But it is unfortunate, my husband couldn’t make it so it is only me and Alicia. Now I will be more relaxed knowing you will protect us.”
“That’s unfortunate. Then please allow us to escort you and Alicia from here on.”
“Us?”- I was surprised.
“Yes, sorry for the late introductions. You may have known him before, my name is Karlise. The eldest son of the Alaclair Duke house.”
As Karl left my side, I could feel someone else’s presence coming closer to us.
“It’s been awhile, Aunty. For lady Alicia, maybe this is the second time, I believe. We first encountered and greeted each other at the engagement ceremony before, do you remember?”
“Lord Karlise. Indeed it has been awhile. It’s good to see you as well.”
Mommy sounded really happy and had a pleasant talk with him. Now that he mentioned it, the Alaclair house is where Daddy’s sister, my aunt, got married. I remembered his voice from the cenemory and he gave off the same feelings as before too.
“Of course I remember. It’s been awhile, lord Kaslise. I didn’t expect to meet you again like this. What I mean is I am really happy!”
“Me too. I’m happy to meet my cousin again!” (＠＾◡＾)
When Karlise’s voice stopped, Karl moved my body to head in another direction.
“This is Erick from Nakahayasu Count house. His sword skill is brilliant so I had him come with me.”
“It is my pleasure to meet you. I’m Erick Nakahayasu.” (`◉-◉)
“My! I’m sure we will be safe if it is the son of Count Nakahayasu. Alicia, he is the Knight captain’s son.”
His voice gave off a rough impression but mommy was really happy with his presence. I wallked up to where his voice was and greeted him.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Alicia Holsten. I hope we can be on good terms from now on, Lord Erick.”
“It’s my pleasure. To think that I have the honor to protect the Duchess and Princess of Holsten, I could never be happier.” – Even when he says that his voice has no emotion, I can hear his feet strongly stepped down making a big sound. (・_・ヾ
“Let’s depart right away. According to my report you are going to spend the night at the guest villa. I will leave the Duchess in your hand, Karlise. Erick, can you check the condition of the road ahead?”
“I understand. Aunty, shall we go? This way, please.”
“Oh, thank you, dear.”
“Hey! Who is the escort captain? I want to confirm something!”
“Hah! It’s me, sir!”
When everything started to move forward, Karl turned over and kindly escorted me.
“I’m happy to see you, Alicia.”
He said and hugged me once more. His embrace seemed to make me becoemore flushed than usual.
“K..Karl, I..I’m glad that you are fine as always.”
“But this is the first time for us to meet outside. Are you nervous?”
“Th..that’s right! I have never stepped outside the Imperial before. My heart seemed like it wanted to jump out of my chest.”
“You are lovely as always, my only princess.”
——
Karl suddenly put his strength in his arm, squeezed me tight and released me from his embrace. After that, he escorted me in a different direction.
“Hey, Karl? I am sure that the carriage is not in this way..”
“As expected, you always have such a keen sense for direction. The Duchess and Karlise will be riding the carriage, but not us.”
As we walked to the opposite side of the carriage, Karl told me to wait a little bit and left my hand. I became a little bit anxious while standing alone but then my lower body abruptly got picked up.
“Kya!”
The seat I was placed on was unbalanced. My hand couldn’t stop shaking and held tight to his sleeves while Karl carefully supported me from the back.
“Don’t scare me like that! Moreover, wh..what is this?”
“Is this your first time, Alicia? How do you feel riding on a horse?”
“….. am I riding on a horse? This?”
Surprised, I blinked my eyes a few times. When everyone mentions horses, I assumed that it would be the same as horses from my previous life. However, isn’t this.. a motorcycle? From the touch, the horse seems as hard as a machine.
“I see, so this is the first time for Alicia to touch a horse.”
“Yes, it’s my first. I always thought the horse was a living animal.”
“Living? You are saying something really interesting, Alicia. There will be big trouble if they are alive.”
“Oh…yeah, you are right.”
Feeling his delighted smile, I could only bring myself to agree with him. Maybe it was my mistake to assume that the appearance of the horse would be like the one I knew before. Maybe it is a motorcycle but it’s called a horse? Now that I think about it , before getting in the carriage and while riding it, there was no smell or sounds of the horse’s breath. How can it move on its own? Maybe with gasoline? But I don’t smell any of it.
“Karl?”
“What’s wrong?”
“How can.. the horse move?”
“What? How you asked.. I see, you can’t see and no one was willing to tell you about it. Because it was obvious, even I didn’t tell you about it.”
He said that regretfully, took my hand and led it to feel the whole body (of the horse). He even let me fiddle with its handle.
“Here, we input magic like this and use it as its fuel. After adjusting the speed, we can reach our destination.”
“M..magic?”
“Yeah. Magic is needed for things that are bigger than your telecommunication device.”
When I heard him mention ‘magic’, I remembered our secret magic training when we were kids. I thought I knew somehow, but the truth is I don’t truly understand the World I’m living in.
“Has anyone told you about the magic device yet?”
“I know about it because you told me before, Karl. Only that…”
“So the Duke is still keeping magic a secret from you. You rode the carriage, you might not be able to see, but don’t you have any doubt about it? Like how can it move?”
“I told you, I thought that the horse was alive.”
“A living creature, what a bold way of thinking. As I thought, it is really fun to talk to you, Alicia.”
Settling down on the motorcycle that doesn’t have any wheels, we headed towards the villa. I didn’t think that it was strange when Karl explained the telecommunication device before, however a device with the size 10 times bigger running by magic… the idea never occurred to me at all. A motorcycle (horse) that runs by magic..
This world…is extraordinary!
As we rode the horse and felt the coldness of the wind on our face, I could feel the terror of things I couldn’t see for the first time after being reborn. Even with Karl tightly embracing and protecting me from behind, my heart was still full of fear and anxiety.
At the Duke residence where magic is the taboo talk, I lived quietly and hoped that one day they would change their mind and tell me, but nothing happened until today.
I might go crazy if things continued like this…
“Karl, can you tell me more about magic and spells, as well as magical tools?”
“Are you sure it is okay? I mean, the Duke keeps magic’s existence a secret for your sake.”
“I understand that very well, but I can’t be kept in the dark forever like this. I want to know!”
“That sounds like you, Alicia. But telling you without permission is not good. I will send a message to the Duke and ask about it.”
“ Thank you, Karl.”
Karl gave me a strong hug from behind and speeded up the horse. When we finally arrived, the servants quickly came out and welcomed us.
“Welcome to the villa, Duchess Holsten and Princess Alicia.”
“My, Thank you!”
Mommy sounded really satisfied and happily replied, this villa must be a really good place. I was about to ask more about magic, however Mommy told me to take a break until dinner. I ended up being escorted to my room by Karl and had to rest.
After I changed myself and went to bed, my mind was swirling with questions from many years combined that kept me from closing my eyes. “Let’s sort everything out first”, I decided.
First, this World is a magical Medieval world. The infrastructure is the same as Japan. The horse is not a living creature, but a motorbike runs by magic. That is all I know until now.
About my own magic power, except for the stamping spell that I developed from the time I secretly trained with Karl, I don’t seem to be able to do any magic. However, things might be different now because I grew up. If Karl agrees to teach me one more time, I can even ride the big motorbike like today..
Having thoughts like this made me feel hopeful again.
The last thing was the name!
The same as the horse, some names referring to different objects and things from my previous life might actually refer to something entirely different in this world. They may even call a dog a cat. Even their appearances are out of the World I know. Just as the horse turned out to be a motorbike, my impression of this World changed rapidly.
…My head hurts but I am wide awake now. I called the servant.
“I’m awake. Someone please come.”
I muttered as always and realized that everything was really strange. This is not the Duke residence so there is no way they have security cameras over here. Will someone come? Will they not?… I nervously waited. I thought that someone would definitely come when I mumbled, it was an obvious thing on the camera. But if it is true then … as expected everything magically occured?
“My lady, you called?”
Like always, Kate’s voice echoed in the room as she came in. I tried to compose my heart.
“Kate? Can you help me change my dress?”
“Right away my lady.”
As she said that, I could hear the sound of her taking out my dresses. I gathered all my courage and questioned Kate.
“Kate? You always come whenever I ask. Does that mean you can hear my voice every time?”
Kate stopped her hand after my question, but giggled and answered me back.
“What are you saying, my lady!? Isn’t it obvious? The Duke residence was designed so your voice can be heard anywhere, anytime by us servants. The villa is the same!”
“You mean… with magic?”
“Of course! There is no other way to do that isn’t it!? My lady knows magic is around you, do you?”
Kate seemed to be really confused by my sudden question. I obviously knew the existence of magic, but the only ones I know are Karl’s attacking one, Daddy’s protection spell and my stamping spell. ‘Why is that? How can you do that?’ are the questions that never came out of my lips. I never expected that the knowledge from my previous life would interfere with my comprehension.
“Hah, I look like a fool..”
“Yes?”
“Yes, you are right. Of course it is magic!”
“Yes…”
As Kate strangely replied back, she continued dressing me up. After we finished, she helped me to go to the waiting room.
“We arrived, mi’ lady.”
“Thank you.”
I thanked her and knocked on the door in front of me.
“It’s me, Alicia.”
As I opened the door and went in, someone kindly took my hand.
“ Are you feeling alright, Alicia? It would have been fine if you slept more.”
“Oh, Karl! Thank you for your concern. But I would never get tired from sitting with you.”
“Is that so..I’m glad to hear it.”
Sensing a different presence inside the room, I turned my face.
“May I ask who you are?”
“As expected, your senses are really good. It’s me, Karlise.”
“I’m Erick.”
Aside from the 2 familiar voices of the 2 people I met early today, another new voice echoed.
“It’s my pleasure to meet you, my beautiful princess. From a far away land, I came here to receive my education. My name is Aramic, I hope you will remember me.”
What a seducing voice, I thought to myself. Karl suddenly held my hand tightly.
“That is enough for introduction, Aramic.”
“Too much imitation? My bad.” ╮(︶▽︶)╭
Next to where Aramic was standing while giggling, another presence appeared.
“My name is Mikhail Tennyson. It is my honor to be able to meet you, Princess Alicia. My family is a merchant family, if you have any trouble regarding business in the future please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
I could feel his earnestness from his voice, he must be a reliable person.
“The pleasure is mine, I’m Alicia. Nice to meet you.”
And then, next to him, a really cute voice was heard.
“I’m Emilia, please take care of me from now on, princess Alicia!”
“Y….es?”
Because I got a throwback because of a sudden girl’s voice, Karl introduced them once more.
These are the people he got close to after enrolling in the academy. I couldn’t ask him about lady Emilia. They came to give Karl reports from school and to officially greet me, when everything is finished they will return. Far off from friends, they seemed more like superior and his subordinates.
“Princess Alicia.”
A voice suddenly approached and called me out. I turned to the side where the voice came from.
“Yes?”
“My name is Emilia Fredcécht. My father was granted the Baron title. We will be in each other’s care while you’re visiting, please be more open to me!”
Emilia’s voice sounded so lovely and gave off a really kind vibe. But she just mentioned the Count house. Isn’t she the one from the rumor that is known to be Karl’s lover?
“E…excuse me..”
As I was having trouble coming up with words, Emilia quickly took my hands and held it tight.
“You really can’t see! How unfortunate!”
Emilia was so different from the rumor that it is hard to believe everyone was saying it’s true. From the way Karl gave off, I am sure there was nothing between these two.
“Princess, please don’t hesitate to ask me when you want to know more about school! I will help you to my limits!”
“T…thank you so much.”
“You are such a lovely person! How dare they lie about you like that!!”
“..lie?”
“I heard they gossip about princess Alicia using your blindness as an excuse and selfishly getting what she wants! They are horrible! How can they say things like that to you!? How rude!”
Emilia repeated, saying ‘how rude!” a couple times.
At that moment, I felt ridiculous when I thought about the rumor that they fell in love. Rumors are just stories with bad intentions! There were no facts to support it in the beginning! If Emilia is truly the one they described, she would never be kind to me like this.
I turned my body to face Emilia.
“You can never believe these ridiculous rumors! Lady Emilia, please take care of me from now on!”
To give her my gratitude, I grabbed a tip of my dress and was about to lower my head, but Emilia stopped me.
“P..Please stop that! You can’t do that easily like this! Aren’t you the princess of the Holsten duke family? Please have no fears and act more proud”
The fretting Emilia was so cute that I couldn’t help but smile.
“You two have become friends already?”
“Your highness Karl! How awful of you, hiding this wonderful lady away and keeping her to yourself!”
“Ha ha ha! My bad. You two are both girls, it’s good to see you ladies getting close to each other.”
Karl hugged my shoulder while giving Emilia a thank you smile.
“Karl!”
“Can you be friends with Emilia too, Alicia?”
“Of course! I think Lady Emelia is a really kindhearted person! It’s my first time to have a friend with the same gender!”
“Oh my! Is that so!? I’m not sure if I deserve the honor to be your friend or not but please take care of me from now on, princess Alicia!”
When I heard Emilia’s cheerfully reply, I sighed and finally felt a sense of relief from the bottom of my heart. (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)
——–
