I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 30

Edward and Jahar

The Academy was quite big. There were a number of buildings with classrooms that were used for teaching. Apart from that, there was a building that was used for martial arts training and other practical skills, and also one that had offices for the tutors. The Academy also had a student dormitory within its boundaries. And it had other buildings that were used for things other than teaching such as a library, a dining hall and lounges for the students to relax in. 

Apart from the tower, all the buildings were low rise so each building took up a large area of land. There was a large garden in the front which housed a big pond and a greenhouse, and it had a nice path laid around it for students to walk on as well as to use for practicing horse riding. 

It would take a whole day to give a tour of all these places, and they had started late, so for the time being Edward only took Jahar to the places he would be using frequently. 

“This is the building where we practice magic. Sword practice takes place in the building opposite this, the one with the blue roof.” 

“Hmm, I see. What a strong defensive barrier.”

At first glance, the building for magical training looked quite plain but it had a strong protective charm cast over it. Edward was a bit taken aback at Jahar who was able to discern this so quickly. It was well known that Bakur’s strength lay heavily at sword fighting; he hadn’t expected Jahar to be good at magic. 

Jahar shrugged and gave Edward an amused smile.

“I know some magic too. That said, I’m good at recognising it but not that good at using it.”

“I see. But, Sir Dion’s class is included in the curriculum too. Will you be alright?”

“Well, we’ll see.”

The rumours about Sir Dion’s strict teaching methods, that Alexander had been so eager to escape, had even spread to other countries. However, since Jahar had entered the Academy as a special case, he had been ordered to learn as much as he could before he could return back to his Kingdom. 

“It looks pretty calm from the outside but there’s actually a class going on right now, right?” Jahar asked.

“Yeah. Your fiancee should be in there as well.”

“Ah, because Lettie is really good at magic.” Jahar boasted as if he was talking about himself, with his chest puffed out in pride.

Edward nodded at him. “Amy is also really skilled. I was surprised to see she can even do healing magic at her age.” 

As they started walking towards the next destination the content of their conversation had moved to magic and the girls who were good at it. 

Speaking of Amy, Jahar recalled the letters he had received from Leticia and he turned to Edward, “Lettie’s words sounded very affectionate whenever she mentioned her friends in her letters, so I always wondered what kind of girls they were.”

“What do you think now that you’ve met them?”

“Rosalind was exactly how Lettie had described her. Amy was a bit unexpected.”

It was common for high ranking aristocrats to be related to each other in some way. The Marquis Elphinstone of Leticia’s family was related to Alexander’s mother, Duchess Camila. 

The marquis family had paid a visit to the Duchess as soon as they had returned back to Rudusia. During the visit, their conversation had naturally flowed to Amy Northland who was to be Leticia’s classmate in school, and was also looked upon favourably by the Duchess as a fellow cat lover. 

The Duchess’s words about her had been nothing but positive but Leticia did not have a good impression of Amy. 

Although her grandfather, the Margrave of Warram, was a renowned aristocrat, Amy was still just the daughter of a Count. Moreover, Leticia found it suspicious that despite being the only remaining fiancee candidate for the Third Prince, she had yet to move on to the position of fiancee. Such a long time had passed since the fiancee candidates had been announced but no progress had been made, so there must be something wrong with the girl in question. In fact, Leticia had heard nothing but bad rumours about her appearance. 

On top of that, her cousin, Alexander seemed to regard Amy in a good light as well. Her cousin always treated ladies with a cool indifference, and yet, from his words, she could tell he let down his guard with Amy. 

She’d even reeled in Sir Dion. Exactly what kind of person was she? Leticia had thought doubtfully. 

During her stay in Bakur, Leticia had frequented the Royal Palace a lot, and had seen many political and romantic schemes up close. 

She hadn’t said anything in front of the Duchess, but she had thought that Amy was a conniving girl who had the Margrave of Warram wrapped around her fingers, she had even curried favour with the Duchess, and seemed to be leading both the Third Prince and the First Son of Duke Coverdale by their noses. 

However, ever since she met her that suspicion slowly faded away as she got to know Amy more and more. 

“Lettie told me the first time she saw her was when she was healing a student after class. Was Ed there as well?”

“No, I was in the Palace at that time so I heard about that later.”

Amy had used healing magic for the first time at the school a few days after she enrolled.

That day, the Knight Commander had been visiting the Academy. He had been invited to offer a practical lesson in the sword fighting class. 

A lot of students who wanted to show their skill, or those who wished to join the knights in the future, had participated in his class. As a result, there had been a lot of injuries that day. 

The Knight Commander had held back, so no one had gotten serious injuries. At most, they had small scratch wounds. One of the students who participated was a junior of Harold, and was acquainted with Amy. 

Amy offered to heal him, and when the other students saw him get healed without a single scar remaining, they all rushed to get healed too. Amy had continued healing them until Sir Dion came and scattered the students like baby spiders. 

Her magical energy had almost depleted fully, and she looked like she was on the verge of fainting. But she’d still smiled as she called for the next person to stop forward and offered to heal them all without refusing. Leticia had watched this from a little further away.  

“Lettie mentioned in her letter that she was too much of a people’s pleaser, looks like she’s worried about her.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Amy tended not to care about herself when it came to animals or using healing magic. Edward had noticed this about her soon after interacting with her. 

“I would prefer it if she didn’t push herself to her limits.” He said. 

“Yet you don’t stop her from doing it?”

Edward gave a sheepish smile at Jahar’s point. Amy was usually not very assertive in her daily life but when it came to this she could be rather stubborn. It was like she felt like she had to use her abilities to the maximum. 

There were only a limited number of people who could use healing magic in the Kingdom, so they were welcome to practice to the best of their abilities. But Edward didn’t want Amy to do it to the extent that it would have a negative impact on her health. Especially since she was the girl he liked. 

But the reason he never stopped her from doing so was because Amy never looked as lively as she did when using healing magic. 

And another reason was the words she’d spoken when he’d once asked her whether her healing magic was a burden to her or not. 

“I feel very happy when I can heal others with my magic. Of course, I like when people say thank you but that’s not it. Hmm, how should I put it? I feel relieved. It’s like a reminder of my existence in this place.” Was what she had told him as she stroked the horses in the stables of the Royal Palace.

Unlike himself, who had faced a stifling environment in the Palace since his childhood, Amy grew up being loved and cherished by her family. He could tell from the behaviour of his mentor and superior, Count Northland, and also from the Countess who he had met on a few occasions before. There was no doubt from their behaviour that Amy was clearly loved. And yet…  

The words Amy had uttered sounded like she didn’t believe that she should exist, like she was doubtful of her presence. Edward had been bewildered at her words. Perhaps she realized the meaning of her words, but she’d quickly changed the topic, acting as if what she’d said was nothing important. But it was enough to make a deep impression in Edward’s mind. 

It had been four years since he’d first met her. He was quite happy that she had considerably opened her heart to him and treated him like a dear friend. But there was still a line drawn between them that he couldn’t cross. 

He was sure the key to it lay in her interest in ‘animals’ and ‘healing magic’. 

This was why Edward didn’t force Amy to stop practising her healing magic. Though of course he had taken steps to make sure it didn’t harm her, which was made easy with the presence of Sir Dion who acted like her grandfather. 

“If you’re so worried about her you should just make her your official fiancee.”

“If only I could.”

“Hmm? Oh well, she’s not bad as a person. Even Lettie likes her a lot.”

“So you judge others based on her opinion about them?”

“Of course, it’s because I’ve seen Amy for myself as well. But I also trust Lettie’s decisions. Ah, what’s that!?”

People of Bakur were quite open in expressing their love. Edward was amazed at Jahar openly speaking fondly of his fiancee when the younger Prince pointed at something to the sky. Edward followed his finger to see he was pointing to the Astronomy Tower.

“That is for observing the sky at night…”

However he realised Jahar wasn’t looking at the tower, but rather at the sky beside it. 

“Ah, that’s for me.” Edward said. 

He had just spotted the white owl that was swooping down from behind the tower. He pulled out a simplified version of a leather belt from his pocket. As soon as he wrapped it around his arm the owl swooped down and quietly settled down on his arm. 

Edward stroked the bird’s head in thanks before taking out the letter from the cylindrical compartment attached to it’s leg. 

“Oh it’s the Roodle! Long time no see!” Jahar said to the bird.

“He has retired from being an official messenger bird. He is now known as ‘Fukuta’. Good work, Fukuta.”

“Fukuta?”

“Yeah. Amy chose the name for him.”

“Eh, Eeeh… I don’t know a lot about the naming conventions in this country but isn’t this name weird_ AH! Uh, sorry, sorry, Fukuta. Yeah, now that I think of it, it’s such a unique and great name!”

The bird had spread open its feathers in a wide arch as it snapped its beak at him at Jahar’s words. It was clearly threatening him. Jahar quickly apologised to Fukuta to appease him.  

Edward had thought the name unusual when he’d first heard it as well, but he didn’t say anything. Currently, he just smiled at the sight as he stroked Fukuta’s head.