The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

pologize all of a sudden.
They couldn’t see any obvious injuries, so it didn’t seem like I had hit him.

“It’s fine.
Just don’t do it again.”

“Ah, yes…”

Liana seemed to be trying to wrap the whole situation up.
After saying that, she looked at me and Heinrich alternately. 

“By the way, you two didn’t fight, right?”

“…”

“W-well…”

Heinrich seemed a little hesitant, then smiled awkwardly, hunched his back, and scratched his head a bit.

“It wasn’t like that, while we were talking, I just realized… That I made a mistake.”

I didn’t think Heinrich would say something like that, so I, along with everyone else, was a little stunned. 

Heinrich realized that he was no match for me.

I could have beaten him up in front of everyone, but didn’t.
I had only called him to a remote place so that he could confirm the gap between our skill levels. 

Would he still resent me for beating him up, or did he actually realize that I was being pretty considerate?

Well, he didn’t seem to appreciate it too much, because, in the end, I had still hit him suddenly.

However, it didn’t seem that he really hated me.

He seemed to have noticed that I really limited myself a lot and that it wasn’t for my sake but his.

Liana felt the subtle atmosphere around us and smiled.

“Great.
Then should we have a drink for your reconciliation today?”

“…What?”

“Be careful, Heinrich, if you drink too much again like yesterday, I’ll knock you out again.”

That crazy alcoholic.
She wanted to drink again?

Did she reach the level that she was using every little thing as an excuse to drink?

“Kn-knock… You knocked me out yesterday?”

Heinrich’s face grew pale because he had just found out that he didn’t simply forget what happened and passed out but that Liana actually made him faint. 

 

* * *

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So far, Heinrich had been feeling a little out of place.

To be exact, he was so conscious of me that he wasn’t able to play around properly.

He was only paying attention to what I was up to.

When I hit him, he seemed to have come to his senses and noticed that I was stronger than he thought.
When I told him that I wasn’t interested in Liana in the least, he also seemed to be able to act more comfortably as well. 

Of course, it would be hard to revert that bad image the others had of him.

Anyway, Heinrich didn’t try to mess with me anymore.
Of course, I felt like he was looking at me with different eyes, but I wasn’t that concerned about that. 

In the end, Heinrich was able to fit in with the others much better because he cared less about me.

Liana, the owner of the mansion, said all was well, so nobody showed any dissatisfaction on the outside, although they still felt a bit skeptical.
Ellen, well, she always had a neutral expression, so she didn’t really show anything either.

 

And I found out another trait of Liana’s that I had no prior knowledge about:

She was a heavy drinker.

In the end, we gathered up that night as well to drink under the pretext of celebrating our reconciliation.
Heinrich didn’t just drink his alcohol alone in the corner like before but chatted with us about this and that.

The situation was completely different.

“You looked down on people with a normal background…”

“I… I did?”

“Yesh… Hei-heinrich, I know that you’re from a very big royal family, but… Hearing what you said… made me really sad…”

When Adelia got drunk, she told Heinrich what he had said before and made a fuss about it.

It’s not like I’m calling you a jerk, but what you said to Reinhardt hurt me as well, so I got sad.

—It was a variation of that.

“Th-that…I-I did that…? I’m… I’m sorry, Adelia.”

When Heinrich heard how much alcohol he had been drinking and what he had said, his face turned completely red.
He didn’t know what to do.

He seemed to understand why Liana wanted him to apologize.

“But Reinhardt sure was amazing yesterday.
Normally, he should have punched you black and blue in that situation, but he kept holding it in.”

At Liana’s words, he continued to stare at me—even while he was apologizing to Adelia.
He didn’t seem to be able to believe it.
Judging by the quick temper I had shown up until then, I should have let my fists fly immediately after hearing what he had said, but I had kept holding it in. 

Of course, I had only stayed still because that was the quickest way to screw that guy over.

However, Heinrich seemed to realize how much consideration I had given him.

Even though he had said things like that, I hadn’t punched him.

He realized that I really had been holding it in a lot.

“Ah, erm… I’m sorry, Reinhardt.”

Eventually, he even apologized to me.

“As long as you know it.”

I wasn’t that picky, after all.

Of course, no one told him that Ellen had actually tried to kill Heinrich or what had really happened in the Darklands.

Fortunately, no one got so drunk that they ended up making a scene that day.
Before that happened again, Liana would knock them out cold.

 

Before I went to bed, I walked to the beach in the middle of the night to cool off my head.

It was similar to the one on the uninhabited island, and yet a little different.
Just as I sat down on the beach, someone came to sit next to me.

“Aren’t you sleeping?”

“In a little while… I will.”

Ellen sat down next to me as if it was natural.

And then, again, as if it was natural, she placed her head on my shoulder.
I was used to that by then.

For a while, we just stared blankly at the waves crashing on the beach over and over.

“Are you feeling better now?”

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“…Yes.”

I felt relieved that some of her pain could be lifted by confiding in the other kids.

“I didn’t have nightmares yesterday.”

“It could be because of the alcohol.”

“…Is that so?”

“Alcohol or not, I’m glad that you didn’t have any nightmares.”

I didn’t care whether it was because she drank too much or because had she told the others.
Ellen hadn’t suffered from the nightmares that had been torturing her for all that time.

Maybe because she had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, I could feel Ellen’s breathing become a little softer.
Just how tired was she?

“…Are you sleeping?”

“…”

“No, you can’t sleep like this.”

Ellen suddenly fell asleep while leaning on my shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Harriet was getting ready to go to sleep in her room.

She felt dizzy, probably because she was drunk, so she felt like she’d immediately fall asleep if she lay down anywhere.

After she changed into her pajamas, she went to close the curtains in front of the window because the moonlight shining through it was too bright.

One had a good view of the beach through said window; it was an absolutely beautiful sight.
Although it didn’t look much different from what they had seen on the uninhabited island, they were in a much calmer environment.

She didn’t have to worry about the heat, staying hydrated, and surviving—unlike on that deserted island—so she was able to purely enjoy the scenery with a clean smile on her face. 

 

But Harriet didn’t actually dislike her memories of that time.

She should have hated them, in fact, they should have been the worst memories of her life, but she thought they weren’t necessarily all that bad.

Harriet looked out of the window into the night.
She saw someone walking towards the beach, quietly sitting down, and starting to gaze upon the sea.

‘Reinhardt…’

She could tell that it was Reinhardt just by seeing his back.
Was he unable to sleep? Should she also go out and talk to him a bit?

Harriet stood before the window, pondering for a moment.

However, after some time, she could see another person heading onto the beach.

It was Ellen.

She sat down beside Reinhardt as if it was natural and placed her head on Reinhardt’s shoulder.

Reinhardt didn’t react as if he was familiar with that.

She didn’t know what they were talking about.

But she knew…

The fact that those two were very close.
And after going through such terrible experiences, she knew that it was only natural that they grew to rely on each other, hence growing even closer to each other.

It was inevitable.

Seeing Ellen get angry on Reinhardt’s behalf as if it was her who had been insulted, she had already noticed that their relationship had undergone a slight change.

She knew, but it was still painful to see it happening before her own eyes.

-Charaan!

Harriet couldn’t bear to watch that scene any longer, so she closed the curtains.

If she had gone with them, things would have been different.

Harriet felt miserable.

Her memories of the uninhabited island should have been the worst, but they weren’t.

She wished to make her best memories in that mansion.

…But she couldn’t seem to accomplish that.

____