Chapter 2

“Hehe.”

“Heeheehee.”

Helena let out a laugh from behind her fan, and the minions beside her covered their mouths and laughed along.

“Heeheeheehee.”

Of course, me too.

“Lady Chacha, how long will it take?”

“They say it won’t take long, Lady Helena.”

Helena waved her fan gently and wore a pleased smile. She seemed quite satisfied that she wouldn’t have to wait long for the love potion to take effect.

I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Nine, who was already holding an empty glass.

I recalled the words of the merchant from the back alley who sold me the love potion.

‘This love potion, you see, is not only colorless and odorless, but! It also has the advantage of working quickly! And it’s potent, too!’

He explained it in a long-winded way with a foul expression, but I wasn’t listening carefully, so I didn’t remember the details. I think he said it would cause a fever or something.

“…?”

And as if his words about the immediate effect weren’t a lie, it hadn’t even been five minutes, and I saw Nine rubbing his brow. His scowling face seemed a little flushed. At a glance, he would look like he was just a little drunk.

‘But a Northerner?’

Absolutely not.

This might be a prejudice, but most Northerners are known for their high alcohol tolerance and their preference for strong drinks—so much so that the prejudice has become ingrained. I’d never seen Nine get flushed at any of the academy parties before, so this look was definitely the effect of the love potion.

Nine motioned to a servant nearby.

“Hehe…”

Seeing him, the smile on Helena’s face deepened. The servant Nine called over was the one we’d bribed to put the love potion directly into his glass.

And his role didn’t end with just handing over the champagne with the potion.

‘My girl may be a villainess, but she’s not that malicious.’

Of course, giving someone a love potion is a malicious act, but I meant she wouldn’t go so far as to orchestrate a scene for him to make a spectacle of himself in front of everyone. She wasn’t planning on taking advantage of him with the drug, just perhaps making him submit to her will.

‘Still, a love potion was too much.’

As I shook my head internally, Nine exchanged a few words with the servant and left. He would now be guided to an empty lounge.

And naturally, the room the servant would guide him to was not going to be a normal lounge. It was said to be a special room that could be easily opened from the outside but not from the inside. I didn’t know why such a room existed in the first place, as it wasn’t made specifically for this occasion.

“I’m just going to the powder room for a moment.”

I confirmed that Nine and the servant had completely disappeared and then slowly got up.

Helena didn’t pay much attention to me. Instead, it was the other minion young ladies around her who watched me.

“Oh, Lady Chacha. I was just about to tell you to go.”

“That’s right. Your makeup looks a little smudged!”

Their tone sounded kind, but I couldn’t find an ounce of goodwill in their narrowed eyes. Although we were in the same group, it was a relationship of competing for Helena’s favor. The kind of relationship where they would gossip about me behind my back as soon as I left. Since I was good at pleasing Helena, I must have been a thorn in their side.

“Really? Thank you for telling me, ladies.”

But this kind of thing didn’t even tickle me.

I had anticipated that they would say something like this and not follow me. In fact, it would have been a problem if they did. I smiled brightly at the ladies with their fake expressions and left.

***

I went into a conveniently empty room, made sure no one was coming, and took out two magical tools from under my dress skirt.

The two things essential to my plan: a cloak enchanted with a transparency spell and a bracelet that enhances strength.

My plan was simple. I would go to the room where Nine was guided, give him the antidote, and then get him out of the room.

‘Whew, I’m nervous.’

It was a simple plan, but it involved interfering with the original plot and acting in secret, so my heart was pounding.

I wrapped the cloak carefully around myself, putting up the hood, and channeled mana into it. My faint reflection in the window slowly disappeared.

‘Good.’

With quick movements, I took off my shoes and held them. The cloak only made me invisible; it didn’t hide the sound of my footsteps.

The room Nine was guided to wasn’t far from here. It was also a secluded part of the lounge, so contrary to my worries, I didn’t run into anyone.

When I arrived, the servant was already on his way back. Nine, standing beside him, looked quite normal except for his flushed face.

‘Huh, he looks okay?’

“Ugh…”

He wasn’t.

As soon as the servant disappeared from sight, Nine, who had been standing straight, instantly crumpled. He stumbled and went into the room. I clenched my fists and quietly followed him in.

I didn’t forget to discreetly wedge one of my shoes in the door crack before it closed. Fortunately, Nine didn’t seem to have the presence of mind to look back.

‘It’s a relief he hasn’t lost his senses yet. Is this the mental fortitude of the youngest swordmaster?’

While I was wedging my shoe in the door, Nine leaned back on a sofa, half-lying down.

“Haa…”

Nine closed his eyes tightly.

Seeing his pained expression, I hurried to take out the antidote. I hesitated on how to get him to drink it since he seemed to have his senses, but there was no time. If I was late and ran into Helena, things would get worse.

I quickly opened the cap and poured the antidote into his mouth.

Should I call this a good thing? Contrary to my thoughts, Nine seemed to have already lost his senses. He didn’t even open his eyes and simply drank the antidote, whether he knew what was entering his mouth or not.

“Ugh…”

A small groan escaped Nine’s lips. His Adam’s apple moved a couple of times as if he was thirsty, but he didn’t do anything else.

I quickly put on the strength-enhancing bracelet and infused it with mana.

“Excuse me.”

I asked for his pardon in a small voice he couldn’t hear, and then I lifted him up.

The so-called princess carry!

It was awkward to lift a man who was so much bigger than me, but thanks to the magical tool, his weight felt like a feather.

‘When else would I get to pick up a big guy like this?’

Despite the serious and urgent situation, my mind was full of funny thoughts.

With my tension slightly relieved, I grunted and re-adjusted the transparency cloak to better hide Nine, then retrieved the shoe I’d wedged in the door.

The plan was proceeding smoothly.

I held him securely and sprinted to my dorm room.

***

That’s what I did.

“…”

So what happened?

I massaged my throbbing head and traced my memories a little further back.

First, the reason I brought Nine to my dorm room was that there were no empty lounges, and even if there were, it was a public space where anyone could walk in at any time. Since the party was happening, the dorms were relatively empty, and since the students on my floor had already moved out, there was little risk of being caught.

Considering all this, I had sent my maid on vacation and was able to safely bring Nine to my room…

‘I definitely remember putting him on the bed.’

But the problem was, that was the last thing I remembered.

I was supposed to have put him in the room, waited until he woke up, explained the situation, and then sent him back with the transparency cloak.

“…”

I glanced to the side and then wiped my face when my eyes met his firm chest.

‘It’s clear the plan didn’t go as intended.’

Otherwise, Nine wouldn’t be lying next to me in this state.

As I endlessly wiped my face, I noticed that my body was trembling.

It wasn’t because I was cold. I wasn’t so scared that my body would tremble like this. As my mind slowly came back to me, I began to see the situation more clearly.

And soon, I understood the whole story.

‘My hands and feet are cold, and I feel exhausted. And my body is trembling.’

My current state was a classic case of mana exhaustion symptoms.

And near the bed, my dress and cloak lay like discarded skin.

‘So…’

In short, I had fainted from mana exhaustion as soon as I got to the room, and in my sleep, my body had instinctively thrown off the cloak and dress and burrowed under the blanket.

‘Right, a cloak and a dress would be too stuffy to sleep in…’

The truth was always simple.

‘Hehe.’

I came to a conclusion as if I was playing a child detective, with an expression of enlightenment. I couldn’t even let out a laugh, suppressing the sound in case Nine, who was lying next to me, woke up.

I bit my lip and cautiously got up.

‘I have to, I have to fix this quickly…’

I wasn’t even properly dressed. If Nine were to wake up now, this would be misunderstood as a huge disaster, with no way out.

‘But he hasn’t woken up yet, so it’s not too late.’

Just as I was about to rush out of bed and pick up my clothes, with no warning, Nine’s eyes suddenly opened, and our gazes met.