WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 106

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Episode 106. Remember Me Beneath the Magnolia Tree.

As the night deepened, the drunken haze began to set in.

"Fufu, Licht. Your face is red."

"Please don't lift my visor outside, Phine."

"Why...? I don't mind...?"

With her face flushed, she kept teasing me, lifting my helmet's visor, laying her hand over the back of mine, one thing after another.

"It's unsightly. It'll ruin your appetite."

"Look closely and you're handsome. Probably."

When I startled and looked at her, she just gave a shy little laugh. So this really is Lumen's Sleeptalk. My own head was spinning too, hard to hold onto my senses.

"Probably? Are you saying I'm ugly?"

"Ah, caught. But you're cute..."

Cute, huh. I heard that a lot from people around me when I was young, but hearing it from a woman now that I'm grown feels strange. I drank some water alongside the liquor, trying to fight off the drunkenness.

"Licht."

"What is it, Phine?"

"Is love... happy?"

She emptied her cup once more, glancing sideways. Beside us, Dennis and Baek-Mokryeon were laughing brightly, catching up on lost time.

They talked about feelings they'd never managed to say, the empty place each had left in the other's life, tears welling faintly even as they smiled. Was that what made her curious?

Same as during the summer festival, our Phine doesn't seem to know much about love.

Then again, when she became the Saintess, she must have lost her bad memories to Ache's scheme. Maybe that only made her innocence stand out more.

"...It can't always be happy."

"Then, is it unhappy? Like with Professor Dennis, too."

"..."

The person who used to claim pure love was invincible had lost every trace of that self, but maybe someday she'd get her bright side back and fall in love again too.

"Take your time thinking about it. There's no right answer when it comes to love."

Let's settle for that much advice. I couldn't let myself lecture Phine just because I was projecting the Nameless Saintess onto her without asking.

"Will you teach me, Licht?"

"Pfft."

The white-haired woman lowered her eyes as she said it, then peeked up at me, her golden eyes wide.

"Ah, you're flustered."

I nearly choked on my drink. Our affection level was a mere one percent. I had no intention of doing anything right now to raise it.

"You're imagining it."

Love isn't something you can calculate with a number. Even if a status window appeared before my eyes showing an affection level, that couldn't possibly be love.

'If all I'd wanted was to raise the percentage, I wouldn't have naturally tried to help Kainel and Ariel the way I did.'

That was the same reason I'd bothered to step out of the way and give them advice so they could face their own feelings, no matter how much it was also for the sake of the Grand Route.

I hadn't forced their wishes aside or locked the two of them alone in a room together. I hadn't even revealed that they liked each other.

'Besides, I don't trust the status window anyway.'

To begin with, even Nex and Chartiness, Dennis and Baek-Mokryeon, only showed up on it later.

The percentage does drop when someone's in a crisis... but that's about all it does. During the search for Phine, I'd only offered light advice, not real help.

It was almost as if it were testing whether I could still love her even after she became a named princess. What could the reason be?

"Even now...? Just my imagination? Licht...?"

While I sat there out of habit with my chin propped on my hand, deep in thought, Phine came up close beside me, smelling of liquor.

We'd been sitting across from each other just a moment ago. Why the sudden change? Her snow-white ears pricked up, and her white tail wagged like a puppy's.

"Your shoulders are so broad..."

I flinched. The breath brushing right against my ear seemed to wake every nerve in my body all at once. A small, hot breath.

"Let's stop drinking. You're too drunk."

"No... Licht..."

I took her cup away from her. My own stomach was already churning and drowsiness was creeping over me, but this had gone too far.

"I might not look it, but I'm still a Black Knight."

"Ah..."

I tipped the clear liquor down my throat. This stuff was really strong. But why was she staring so intently at my lips? Ah, don't tell me, was this an indirect kiss?

"...You drank it."

Our Phine's health mattered more to me. What was she thinking, trying to drink more here when anyone could snatch her away? I fought down my embarrassment and spoke up.

"Don't tell me, are you trying to get me drunk on purpose? Phine."

"Ah, no...?"

Her reaction said otherwise. She shook her head hard to deny it, but her tail and ears couldn't lie. Her white tail had shot up like an exclamation point in surprise. Her wolf ears kept twitching.

"Excuse me, could I get one chocolate drink over here?"

What was Phine trying to pull? Normally I'd have fallen for whatever trick this was, but her tongue was thoroughly tangled with drink.

"If you want to get me drunk, don't go about it like this. Be bolder than that."

Thunk. The table rattled as the drink I'd ordered arrived, and I took her hand, lacing my fingers through hers.

「Icicle.」

With my other hand, I gripped the chocolate drink's cup and cast the ice spell. Swirling the cup slightly, I turned the drink into something like a slush.

"...If it's you, I'll gladly drink as much as you like in your place. For now, have this."

"Huh...? Was this for me?"

Phine tilted her head, looking at the slush with faint frost already forming on it. Right, back in the real world, I was the type who always ate ice cream to cure a hangover.

"Fufu, it's cool... and sweet..."

Good, it seemed to be working. She kept poking out the tip of her pink tongue, savoring the slush little by little. She looked just like a small puppy, so cute.

"So... why were you trying to get me drunk?"

"There's something... I wanted to ask. Icht..."

She'd dropped the "Li" from my name. I poured out the rest of Lumen's Sleeptalk and drank it all down. She couldn't be allowed to drink any more here.

"The Nameless Saintess... what kind of person she is... I wanted to know..."

Her wolf ears and tail drooped low. There were too many people around to talk about this here. What should I do?

"...Finish that, and let's go outside, Phine."

"Okay. Licht."

I draped my Academy coat over her shoulders, quietly settled the bill, and stepped outside the tavern.

* * *

The summer heat hadn't cooled even at night, so we sat down on the edge of the imperial fountain, and I opened my mouth.

"What is it you want to know about the Saintess?"

Thud. Phine's head dropped onto my shoulder. Her white hair fell across my leg, and I felt a light weight settle there.

"The Nameless Saintess... what kind of person is she to you...?"

So it had finally come to this. Then again, it made sense she'd be curious. In the incident tangled up with Magic Hat, I'd nearly died while mentioning the Saintess, and even in the grip of my trauma, I'd mistakenly called out her name.

Was it right for me to clear up this misunderstanding?

If I told her she was a Phine Gransia from a future timeline that no longer existed, that I'd loved her when the Demon Kings had dragged her life down to the very bottom of ruin, would she even believe me?

"I know she's someone precious to you... Licht."

Her attribute had probably been changed by Magic Hat's authority, and her memories and name had been erased by Erasure of knowledge.

Could that really be called a happy life? She'd been a lonely wolf with no family, no friends.

"She was a first love I could never forget."

"...First love?"

Let me speak only the truth here. Just as she had loved every part of me, I couldn't go on loving only one part of the person that was Phine Gransia.

Princess or Saintess, it was only right that she get to live a happier life.

"She's a one-sided love I can't meet anymore now. Are you satisfied, Phine?"

Even if fate had changed so we could never be together, as long as she was happy, that was enough for me.

"Men are all the same."

At that, Phine's voice turned prickly again, faintly annoyed. Why did she suddenly sound so angry?

"I even kept the promise I made with you, Licht."

"..."

"I never once said I was weak, and I even gave you my Dragon Heart... Licht."

She looked up at me quietly. Her eyes were reddening as if she might cry any moment. I'd thought what I said was the right answer, but it seemed I'd been wrong.

"Do all men... never get over their first love? Why do you go handing over everything you've got like that?"

"Phine..."

"I'm the one who saved you, Licht."

My heartbeat pounded and overlapped inside my chest again and again. She must have gone through a lot of heartache patching me up. After all, someone close to her had been struck down by a Demon King, twice over.

"I know."

"And that other Saintess, when you nearly died, she was nowhere to even be seen...!"

After all, a Saintess is someone chosen by the God of Light, a superhuman already skilled in holy power even before becoming one. I could understand why she was this angry.

"I... my chest feels tight..."

"It's alright. I'm alive, aren't I."

Her logic was probably something like: when someone's life was in danger, someone who'd been shot by Ache while looking only at her, the least that other Saintess could do was show up and cast a healing spell.

'From what I heard from Kainel afterward, she'd stayed by my side for over half a day trying to save me...'

But you were the special case, Phine Gransia. How was she supposed to bring her own future self here?

"Next time... tell that Saintess to come fix you herself... I'm not gonna heal you..."

Phine's grip on my arm tightened. Her tone now even sounded resentful.

"That's not possible. She's an extremely busy person, Phine."

Before she could sulk any further, I quickly stroked her hair. At the soft feel of her hair under my hand, I felt a small startled tremor.

"Hooo... Lichttt..."

"By the way, where did you learn all this about men being players, or never getting over their first love?"

Her wolf ears had folded all the way back now, as if to make it easier for me to pet her. This wasn't good, our Phine was growing more and more used to my touch.

"I read it in a book..."

I tickled her chin lightly, since her eyes had even closed from comfort, and only then, seemingly a little sobered up, did her eyes go wide.

"See... all men are wolves, perverts..."

The princess mumbled, swallowing her words slightly. Even being cursed at like this by Phine felt like a reward, somehow.

"Just what kind of book have you been reading?"

"A romance novel..."

A romance novel, huh. Now that she mentioned it, I recalled that was supposed to be something she enjoyed reading. But do they really get that lewd?

"Why would you even..."

"Because the main character seemed a lot like me."

She scooted a little closer to me as she began to explain. The scent of roses and the warmth of her skin through her clothes left my reason reeling.

"A heroine who's lost her emotions gets loved by four male leads."

So it was a reverse harem. The moment I realized our Platinum Wolf had been reading a forbidden grimoire, my mind cleared right up.

"The men all crave her love, but the heroine falls into tragedy, or can never be happy."

"...Reality and fiction are different things, Phine."

"I used to think they were the same..."

That was when she lifted my visor and smiled. Brown eyes and golden eyes looked into each other.

"Fufu, I mean, before I met you, Licht..."

"I'm a Black Knight. I'm nothing like those perverts."

Blood rushed to my face. I'd known Phine was beautiful for a while now, but this was much too close. A man and a woman leaning against each other, side by side, with the fountain behind them.

"Actually, I know. Licht, you're kind."

She brought up how I'd swirled the cup earlier to make the slush. She said it made her happy that I always looked out for her that way, different from everyone else.

"You've always looked out for me, and protected me."

"I didn't do it hoping for anything in return... We're friends, aren't we..."

"Friends... friends, huh..."

Her eyes suddenly narrowed into thin crescents. A thought struck me all at once, that I'd just touched something dangerous.

"If I do this, wouldn't that make us not friends anymore...?"

Just like that, she caught the back of my neck with both hands. Her face drew closer and closer. Her soft-looking lips glistened, moist under the moonlight.

"Phine. Wait a moment, you're too drunk."

"...If I do this, will you treat me as someone precious too, the way I feel about you? Licht."

Phine seemed to be acting out drunk. I'd never seen her like this before, not once.

I tried to pull away, but her wolf eyes were already like a predator's before its prey, looking as though she meant to devour me whole.

"You're already someone precious to me, Phine."

"I know it's true, but I can't believe it, Licht."

Phine closed her eyes gently and parted her lips slightly. A small wolf fang peeked out from inside. She was acting as if she meant to kiss me.

"I want to be a little more special to you. Like that Saintess..."

I tried to push her face away with my hand, but

"Nnh... Lichttt... the book said men fall for it when you do this..."

Every time, she shook her head, resisting adorably. The wall inside my heart kept crumbling little by little.

'This isn't right, it isn't right...'

My head was so full of alcohol I couldn't think straight. Was it right to just accept this as it came? The moment I squeezed my eyes shut and resolved to let it happen, just this once,

"Princess Gransia!! His Majesty Rook summons you!!"

Right before our lips could touch, a werewolf man in golden armor burst into view in front of us. Behind him, knights in differently colored armor came into sight as well.

I'd seen this somewhere before. Don't tell me.

'That's the Imperial Guard.'

So they'd been assigned to Phine too. Startled, I quickly put some distance between us. I wasn't ready for my head to roll just yet.

"Father...?"

She tried hard to hide her flushed cheeks as she looked at the kneeling knights, but their faces were pale, as if drained of all blood.

"Yes. The order is that Licht is to come to the imperial palace together with you tomorrow as well."

What? Me too?

Replaying what had just happened in my mind, I felt a cold killing intent creep over me. It felt like a razor-sharp axe blade had been set against the back of my neck.

"Gold, is that true...? Why Licht too..."

"We haven't been told the reason either, Your Highness."

Ranked first in combat power among the Ten Greats.

The Wolf King of the Gransia Empire.

The woodcutter who conjures sonic booms with raw strength alone.

The wolf who bites into the sun and swallows the moon.

Emperor Rook Gransia had summoned Phine and me.

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