The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 49
“What do you mean it seems to have been used?”
Hartbisa touched her necklace.
-Exactly what I said. The moment we connected just now, it responded immediately to the power.
As Yan said, it did seem like the necklace resonated at the same time as the contract, but it was just for a moment. However, it was strange that it activated without receiving any attacks or curses.
Hartbisa grumbled quietly, wondering if it was broken. After touching the necklace a few more times, she gave up and looked at Yan.
“Now that we’ve made the contract, tell me about my mother. Why did she make a contract with you?”
-Ah.
Yan opened his mouth slightly, then immediately seemed to deflate, curling his body into a ball as he answered.
-Maybe because I’m hungry. I feel like I might remember, or maybe I won’t.
“What?”
-Well, what would a little one know? It only looks easy to make contracts with someone of my caliber, normally you’d sleep for days.
Yan cried about being hungry, and Hartbisa picked him up, complaining this was a fraudulent contract. Yan didn’t mind and just stretched out like liquid in Hartbisa’s hands.
“Yan, I said tell me!”
But at that moment, the door opened and Tar appeared at the library entrance.
“Tar.”
“Ah, I heard young miss was skipping meals and staying in the library, so I was worried… Is something wrong?”
Tar’s eyes widened in surprise at the unfamiliar cat. As Hartbisa was moving her lips, wondering how to explain a talking cat, Yan spoke.
-Perfect timing. Young miss, get me food too. This little one seems terrible as a butler, even skipping her own meals.
Hartbisa sharply turned her head toward Yan and whispered reproachfully.
“Are you crazy? How can you just talk!”
But at that moment, Tar’s eyes lit up as he said.
“How adorable, young miss! What’s its name?”
“Huh?”
“Meow, meow. I’ve never seen such a talkative cat before.”
“Meow, meow? What are you talking about?”
Tar and Hartbisa looked at each other with confused expressions.
***
In the early dawn, with Chelsea’s dark sky at her back, Hartbisa wrapped herself in a robe and headed toward the carriage. Salam followed behind.
“Leaving without staying another day. The Duke will be disappointed if he finds out.”
“I’ll stay longer next time. I have a lot to do when I get back.”
After spending all her time in the library since arriving at the mansion, she was leaving before sunrise, making Salam look regretful.
While it was true she had many things to do after returning, it was better to leave before that troublesome cat woke up.
As it turned out, Hartbisa was the only one who could understand Yan’s speech. To others’ ears, it just sounded like normal meowing.
After eating the fish Tar had prepared, Yan had fallen fast asleep. Despite being a familiar or whatever, his behavior was entirely cat-like.
Before getting into the carriage, Hartbisa said to Salam.
“Salam, please take care of Tar. She’s probably upset that I left without saying goodbye again. Ah, and there will probably be a black cat near Tar, it’s one I brought, so don’t scold Tar and please take good care of it.”
“Of course. Your wishes are my wishes.”
“Thank you, Salam.”
Hartbisa hugged Salam briefly before getting into the carriage. The carriage traveled along Chelsea’s bumpy roads.
Perhaps already used to the well-paved roads of the academy, sleep didn’t come easily.
Hartbisa thought she should research the devil’s language on her own until she could understand it, then write to Father. She eventually fell asleep, and when she opened her eyes, they had arrived in Radanun territory under the bright sky.
Hartbisa climbed up to the dormitory carrying her luggage that somehow seemed heavier. Tar and Salam had packed various things, worried that she looked weaker since they last saw her and wondering if the academy food didn’t agree with her.
“The dorm supervisor will confiscate all this if they find it.”
Hartbisa hurriedly entered her room.
“Hasa, you’re back?”
Heize, who had just woken up, greeted Hartbisa in her frilly pajamas. She placed several luggage bags with a thud in front of Heize, who was rubbing her eyes. Heize was surprised at how much there was, and Hartbisa stretched as she spoke.
“The butler packed all sorts of things. Oh right. Heize, you said you’ve never tried dried fruits from the North? I think they’re in one of the bags. Try some.”
“Hasa, you thought of me during your short time away?”
Heize opened the bag with eyes brimming with emotion, saying she’d enjoy it. As Hartbisa was letting down her hair, thinking about taking a bath, there was a dull sound followed by a short scream from behind.
“Eek!”
Surprised, she turned around to find something large and black like dust in Heize’s arms. What is that, Hartbisa tilted her head wondering, when pointed ears twitched and rose up, and a pink tongue licked Heize.
“Hasa, is this yours?”
It was Yan.
“Meow.”
Hartbisa’s mouth fell open.
‘When did you hide in the luggage!’
Heize whispered worriedly.
“Hasa, pets are forbidden in our dormitory!”
“……Yeah, it’s not like I don’t know that.”
As Hartbisa replied in a deflated voice, Heize, already seemingly smitten with Yan, asked.
“But it really is pretty. What’s its name?”
“……Yan.”
“Yan, you’re quite the beauty like your owner. Usually, I’m strict about rules, but since you’re Hasa’s friend, you’re my friend too. I’ll treat you well.”
While Hartbisa was wondering what to do about this situation, Yan spoke to her.
-Little butler, don’t you know too little about familiars? You and I are connected. Your emotions, location, and such – I can see them just by closing my eyes.
You should have told me that before the contract. Hartbisa felt like she had signed a contract without reading the terms and conditions.
While Yan was proudly lecturing about how a familiar could never be separated from their master and that she needed to learn the fundamentals, he suddenly leaped out of Heize’s arms with a “Meow!”
“Where are you going? Come here! Yan!”
-Hasa, get that human off me. She keeps rubbing her face against my body. It’s disgusting!
Yan ran around the room making a racket, while Heize watched even that with adoring eyes.
Really, nothing was going smoothly.
***
Through negotiation, she got a promise from Yan to stay quietly in the dormitory while Hartbisa was away. But since it was just a verbal promise, Hartbisa was anxious.
However, she couldn’t dwell on just that as the reality before her was far from simple.
Hartbisa was sitting in the classroom for Imperial History. The history professor particularly seemed to take pleasure in seeing Hartbisa fail to answer questions.
Thanks to that, her participation score in Imperial History was already close to zero. Wonder how much she’ll torment her today.
“Haah.”
As she sighed, the professor entered.
“Today we’ll continue our discussion about the Empire’s war heroes from our previous lesson.”
As vast as the Empire was, there were countless wars, and new war heroes were born in each one. Just counting the major wars, the records of heroes filled twenty thick volumes.
Naturally, no one could memorize all of that.
Hartbisa’s eyes met with the professor’s. As she quietly clicked her tongue internally, the professor pushed up her glasses and smiled.
“Then before we begin our main lesson, our perfect scorer Hartbisa.”
“……Yes.”
“Would you like to tell us? Who was the war hero who completely annihilated the northern barbarians who launched a surprise attack along the frozen Koren tributary at dawn? Your family register is close to the north, isn’t it? Surely you wouldn’t not know this?”
Even students who initially enjoyed this kind of harassment were now wearing expressions that seemed to say ‘here we go again.’
Hartbisa obviously didn’t know, but she pretended to think and made a contemplative “Hmm” sound.
But at that moment, the professor’s voice continued.
-Pretending to think! Of course, you don’t know. Even I just looked it up and memorized it before class. What kind of war hero name is Monteo va Demetriadis anyway?
Hartbisa doubted her ears. It was clearly the professor’s voice, but the professor’s sarcastically upturned lips remained tightly closed.
‘Have I finally gone mad?’
However, deciding to take a chance, she spoke.
“Monteo va Demetriadis…?”
“……!”
At Hartbisa’s plausible answer, the students whispered quietly.
“Who’s Monteo?”
“Don’t know, maybe she just said some random name that sounds like an ancestor’s name.”
And then the professor, who had turned pale, pushed up her glasses and answered.
“Correct……”
