First Year Second Semester Q of Hearts (Part 7)

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Camille, Camille?

Knock knock, went my door.

Ohh crap! I just barely made it.

Entering my room from my window, I shrank the quill. I covered the flower basket with a cloth and pushed it into a corner of my room. Alright, evidence destroyed. If he found out that I was outside, hed definitely get mad at me, right?

Im coming, okay~?

When I opened the door with a click, as expected, Achille was standing there.

Achille, whats up?

I should be asking you what youre doing.

Achille looked at me with suspicious eyes. I-, I didnt get found out, right?

N-, Nothing really? Just sleeping, you know?

Hm~mm?

His eyes narrowed. Crap His face tells me hes definitely certain about something. Even now, I was desperately fighting back the urge to throw my body to the ground in a dogeza.

F-, For now want to come in?

When I pulled his hand, he obediently followed me in. I had him sit down on the fluffy clawfoot sofa, and put on tea. I was going to sit opposite him, but he pulled my hand, and in the end I settled down next to him.

Camille

Achille is acting kind of weird.

Youre making such a serious face. What happened?

Achille looked like he was thinking a little, but after that he looked straight at me and spoke.

Camille, I,

Mn?

I And His Highness as well, have decided to withdraw from the academy.

Withdraw?

The extremist commoner faction has been growing stronger than expected To suppress this, His Highness is returning to the castle. Ive decided to follow him as well.

Its kind of suddenly become an incredible topic, you know?

U-, Um,

Camille, what do you want to do?

Does it feel like both Royce-sama and Achille have already made up their minds to quit the school? While I was out plucking flowers, just what happened? The situation seems to be more serious than expected. The Revolution End might really happen. In that case, I only have one answer.

Then Ill quit school as well.

Camille? Is that really okay? To decide so suddenly

To begin with, I only entered this school to protect Royce-sama from danger after all. Now that its come to this, I think that there will probably be things that Ill need to do as well.

For some reason, Achille is making a heartbroken expression.

Achille? Its okay, you dont have to worry. Ill cooperate with you two. It sounds like itll be hard to suppress the extremists, but when it comes to me, Ive mastered magic to an extent, right?

Thats not it Thats not it at all, Camille.

Its not?

From the seat beside me, Achille embraced me.

I dont want you to help us

Eh-, why?

Do I hold these two back that much? Its a little shocking.

Rather why did you get confused about that? Helping us suppress the extremists means that youll have to do dangerous things, you know?

Ahhh, thats what he means

I definitely know that. And even if its dangerous, its fine.

Depending on how things go, youll have to hurt or kill the extremists, you know?

Uu-

Achille knows. That in the past, Ive killed another person. When I was six years old, I took the life of a villain who plotted to murder Royce-sama. And at that time, I was shaken and cried in front of him. Thats why hes worried about it even now.

B-, But Im different from that time.

A bluff. Since then, I havent killed a single person. The only things that Ive ended are monsters. But I know that I cant stay like this. Becoming Royce-samas bodyguard means that Ill surely have to kill people again.

You liar. Even though youre scared.

Achille easilly saw through my lie. For some reason Achille knew I was lying.

I dont want you to be in danger, and I dont want you to get hurt. If possible, Id like you to stay out of the fight this time, and hole up in the marquis estate.

His left hand stroked my back lovingly. Im happy that Achille is worried about me.

But, I

Its fine, I know. Youre going to help His Highness anyway, right?

Achille smiled sadly, so I was bothered that I would be doing something extremely inexcusable to him.

Achille, sorry.

Its because he was worried about me that he didnt want me to get involved with the extremist issue. And despite being aware of his feelings, I have no intention of changing my actions.

There shouldnt be any way that hes not dissatisfied with this, but even so hes prioritising my choice. I dont want him to make sad expressions, but my views wont yield I dont know what I should do.

Before I knew it, I was hugging Achille face-on.

Sorry, Im sorry. But thank you for worrying about me.

Hes my fianc who always, always worries about my safety more than I do myself. Even so, I cant do as he hopes.

Camille

Its one of the rare occasions where hes frozen for a while with his eyes widened.

But, it seems he immediately recovered, and gently hugged me back.

I have no intention of letting you be in danger by yourself, you know.

But honestly speaking, Achilles job isnt combat. Hes The Thinker type. It would be terrible if by some chance the excellent Achille was wounded.

Im more worried about you getting injured, Achille. Ah-, thats right, I have to create a magic tattoo to protect you too.

Tattoo?

Achille looked at me with a dubious expression.

Mn, mn! Expect great things, okay?!

There are a mountain of things that I have to do before I leave the academy. My fighting spirit was fired up. Beside me, certain about something, Achille was lecturing me, all without knowing about the fighting spirit burning secretly in my heart.