“Once you’ve finished reading all these books, you’re welcome to come to the hideout whenever you like.”

“What if you want it to be just the two of us?”

“Hm?”

He stopped walking for a moment at Jeanne’s words and asked again. What else would it be? She was making a move.

“I want it to be just the two of us, so I’d like to only go on weekends. Is that alright?”

“……Yes.”

Ruhir slowly nodded. By the time they arrived in front of the dormitory, he stacked the books he had been carrying on top of Jeanne’s. They were quite heavy, and a look of concern crossed his face, but they were manageable to hold for a short while.

“Ruhir. I’ll go put these in my room and be right back, so wait here for just a moment.”

“Sure. I’ll wait.”

Hearing that, Jeanne moved carefully but with practiced ease, making sure not to drop the books. She arrived at her dormitory room, set them on her desk, gave her hair a quick brush, and headed back to the entrance.

The eyes that had been sneaking glances at Ruhir standing in front of the dormitory turned to surprise the moment Jeanne took his hand. She didn’t look back once as she headed toward the secluded area behind the dormitory.

It was a thickly wooded spot that couples used as a meeting place.

“Thank you for taking me to the hideout today.”

“It was nothing. Is there anywhere you’d like to go tomorrow after lectures?”

“Hmm. I’ve never thought about anything besides studying. Anywhere easy to get to would be fine.”

“Got it.”

Jeanne, who had been looking up at him, leaned fully against him. With the difference in their sizes, she could nestle into his arms. Ruhir’s hands trembled slightly before he carefully raised them and wrapped them around her back.

His trembling traveled to her through the hands resting against her back. Even knowing they were only using each other, she kept feeling a wicked urge to carve something deep into Ruhir’s heart.

Yes, it would be nice to remain in him like a curse. Enough that someday Lilian would curse Jeanne for leaving an indelible wound on her twin brother’s heart.

“……”

She closed her eyes and listened, and she could hear Ruhir’s heartbeat. What would he do if she weren’t an ordinary student but something like an assassin, letting her into his arms like this. Thinking that foolish thought, the moment Jeanne pulled away from his embrace, he cupped both her cheeks in his hands.

“Jeanne.”

“Yes.”

“May I kiss you?”

“I kissed you without asking.”

“……Still, I think it’s right to ask permission.”

When Jeanne gave her consent, his hands on her cheeks trembled as he carefully pressed a kiss to her cheek. To tremble this much over a kiss on the cheek. It was a little funny, but the sensation of his lips against her cheek was strange in a way she couldn’t quite name.

She felt like she would never forget this sensation for the rest of her life. Then again, if she was going to become something like a curse to someone, it was only natural she would be left with something like a curse in return.

She wasn’t afraid of that, nor did she dislike it. If anything, even though they had only been together a month, she found herself looking forward to what lay ahead.

“Even in the dark, I can see your face turning red.”

She said it teasingly, and he ducked his head. Was it embarrassing to be kissing someone he had gotten involved with at his twin younger sister’s request?

He released her cheeks and walked Jeanne to the front of the women’s dormitory.

Then he left with a promise to come pick her up again the next morning. Female students returning from outings naturally saw this, and all eyes turned to Jeanne.

Even after a month of being seen together constantly, people still looked at them with disbelief. Jeanne walked slowly, almost as though savoring their reactions.

Of course, once she was inside her room, she washed up quickly, changed into her pajamas, picked up one of the borrowed books, and sat on her bed. She turned on the bedside lamp and began reading, and the breadth of knowledge inside exceeded her expectations and drew out her admiration.

The Mage Tower must deal with this kind of information all the time. When she was very young, she had often thought about wanting to enter the Mage Tower.

But once she learned that the Mage Tower was a place for those with innate talent, she gave up on the idea. If she had had that kind of talent, she would have gone into the Mage Tower instead of the academy and thrown herself into accumulating knowledge.

Would she have been able to set out to find her mother sooner, if that had been the case?

“……I’m really glad I started dating someone.”

If she hadn’t gotten together with Ruhir, would she ever have been able to borrow these books? Would she even have been able to get into the hideout at the bookshop? Knowing the answer was no, she could only think again that she was glad she had started dating.

If it hadn’t been for Princess Lilian, he would never have confessed to her in the first place.

Jeanne, who had been reading the spellbook, closed it before the night grew too late. She couldn’t afford to be late to class because of reading. Despite having napped earlier, sleep came to her with no trouble at all.

Unlike her, Ruhir lay awake long into the night, unable to fall asleep.

He tossed and turned on his wide, soft bed and let out a sigh.

“……”

It was the first time he had worked up the courage to kiss someone first, and it had been good. The feel of her skin against his lips was good, and the image of Jeanne, her face flushed with what seemed like embarrassment, kept coming back to him. He had thought she wouldn’t feel embarrassed, but she did.

Beyond the kiss, the sensation of her leaning fully into his arms came back to him just as vividly.

It’s only been a month. What am I going to do if I’m already like this?

He liked that when she read, she didn’t look up at him. He liked that when they held hands, she seemed slightly tense but held on firmly. He liked that when their eyes met, he could see the blue in her curving eyes.

……I’m making it way too obvious that I’ve never dated anyone. If he had dated even once before, would he not be getting his heart stirred by every little thing like this?

Moments he had shared with Jeanne kept replaying in his mind on a loop. He sat bolt upright and slapped himself hard on the cheek.

“D*mn it.”

It was supposed to be the kind of thing where you dated casually and parted ways, like other students, but guilt kept creeping in and unsettling him.

What if Jeanne cried when he told her it was over in a year? Just imagining it made his chest feel tight, for some reason. He might not have known if he hadn’t seen her cry, but he had seen her cry during the opera performance.

Why did she shed tears so freely and weep with such sorrow. The sight of her face flushed red, ……stirred something in him in a slightly strange way.

What kind of deranged, perverted thoughts are these? He forced himself to close his eyes and try to sleep.

The problem was that Ruhir de Winter did not sleep a single wink until morning. Losing sleep over a fake lover he would part with in a year? By the time morning came, the skin beneath his eyes had gone dark and he looked exhausted.

Even so, Ruhir finished getting ready and headed out to pick up Jeanne. But standing in front of the men’s dormitory was someone familiar. Ruhir stopped in his tracks.

“I came to pick you up today.”

“……When did you get here? What would you have done if we’d missed each other?”

Jeanne had her scarf wrapped snugly around her, yet her face was flushed red. The morning air was still cool, so he took off his coat and put it on her.

“You’ll be cold too, Ruhir.”

“I’m wearing a cardigan, so I’m fine.”

He also tended not to feel the cold as much. On top of that, Jeanne wrapped in his large coat looked endearing. ……What if he gave her clothes around this size as a gift from now on? Her appearance, like she was nestled in his arms, kept drawing his gaze. Having not slept, his head wasn’t quite right.

“Your handkerchief dried, so I’m returning it.”

“Oh. ……Thank you.”

The handkerchief always carried the pleasant scent that came from Jeanne. It was a grapefruit scent, pleasant enough that he wanted to keep smelling it. He hoped the scent wouldn’t fade.

Until they reached the classroom, Ruhir had to work to keep himself from doing anything scatterbrained. But throughout the morning lectures, the professors called him out endlessly.

He was even told he could leave if he was feeling unwell. He could have answered that he hadn’t slept, but the mischievous looks of his friends, who would obviously ask why he hadn’t slept, were all too easy to read.

Fortunately, rather than looking tired, his face had gone pale enough that everyone seemed to think he was actually sick.

He excused himself and made his way to the academy infirmary, then lay down on a bed. Sleep had refused to come in the dormitory, but the moment he lay down, it washed over him.

He needed to make it to the afternoon classes. He lay there worrying about them, and before he knew it, he had drifted off and did not wake for a long while.

“I was worried when you didn’t look well this morning.”

He heard a familiar voice and slowly opened his eyes to find Jeanne sitting in front of him. He glanced at the time and saw that the lunch hour had just begun.

His body still felt heavy, and his eyelids were heavy too.