BSS 51

Chapter 51

When I didn’t react the way he expected, Bright shouted in a flustered voice.

“Kenyan! I said Kenyan! You don’t know the Kenyans?”

I really didn’t. What even was that? A family that makes chocolate? But Iruse already covers that. Since my reaction was disappointingly flat, Iruse leaned in and whispered quickly.

“Jinny, the Kenyans are the only magician family in our country! They’re a noble house that earned their title through a lineage of mages.”

“Oh.”

“Remember?”

“I think it was on the test once. That mage family.”

I remembered now—mainly the rage I felt over having to memorize all kinds of pointless trivia.

There was a class called Noble Genealogy, where we had to memorize the history and achievements of prestigious families. Completely useless, but it existed.

Being included in the curriculum meant the family was a big deal.

Not that I cared even now.

“I didn’t recognize you. So? What business does the great young master of the illustrious Kenyan family have with me?”

Bright looked secretly pleased that I acknowledged how amazing he was.

Maybe because of the weight of the family name on his back, Bright practically exuded confidence.

Actually, calling him a “boy” didn’t feel accurate. He looked closer to a young man.

He was much taller than me, and his face had shed almost all traces of baby fat. Clean-cut features, smooth light-brown hair, and eyes the color of high-grade amethyst…

“Ahem, so… um… I saw that thing yesterday.”

“That thing?”

“The duel with the combat class kid. I was in the dining hall.”

“And?”

“Well… uh…”

His eyes really were pretty.

I unintentionally stared, and the more I stared, the more he stuttered.

“…?”

He was senior to me, so he was being polite, but I had absolutely no idea why he was acting like this.

Why come find me out of nowhere just to stand awkwardly in front of me, lips twitching? And why were his cheeks turning red?

His gemstone-like purple eyes trembled violently.

His rather handsome face flushed bright red in an instant.

Just as I tilted my head at the strange situation, Bright Kenyan took another step closer.

We were way too close.

What was he even trying to do? If it was another duel challenge, I seriously wanted him to stop.

When my curiosity reached its peak, Bright sucked in a deep breath and shouted:

“Jinny! Go out with me!”

“…Huh?”

“I fell in love at first sight!”

“WHAT?!”

“I’ve never seen anyone use magic as elegantly as you… so… uh…”

Damn it. Kids these days…

“Ever since then, I keep thinking about you. Isn’t that what it means to like someone?”

At first I was too dumbfounded to speak, but then I began accepting it rather positively.

I mean… objectively speaking, my beauty is quite something. This body isn’t lacking in popularity at all.

Though as proud as I was, I also felt a deep sense of despair.

Why is it that in my previous life—seventeen whole years—I never received even one confession, but now, in the body of a ten-year-old, I’m suddenly getting confessed to?

What were you doing, past me?

Ah. Studying. Right.

“I’ve never felt this way before! I got chills watching you yesterday. My heart was racing…”

“Maybe those chills were just fear?”

“No! It was different!”

Bright Kenyan yelled desperately.

I stared up at him.

Clear skin without a hint of acne, intelligent-looking features, mysterious purple eyes, sharp lines like they were drawn…

Fine. He was handsome.

“Hmm…”

“I’ll treat you really well, Jinny!”

“It’s a bit tempting, honestly. But let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

I smacked my lips. It was a bit of a waste.

“W-why? You don’t like me?”

“It’s more that it sounds like a hassle.”

“I won’t be a hassle!”

“But I don’t even know what it means to ‘date’… I’m not interested. And most importantly, there’s way too much of an age gap between us.”

I was ten. Far too young to be dating.

If I added my past life age, I was twenty-seven, in which case Bright seemed too young.

Up or down, it felt like committing a crime.

“You and I are only six years apart!”

“That’s a lot.”

“…My parents are fourteen years apart.”

True. That was normal in this world. An unsettling kind of normal.

Plenty of kids my age already had fiancés. In prestigious families, engagements were arranged at birth.

“Hmm. Anyway, not happening.”

“Do you already have a fiancé?”

“No fiancé. I just don’t want to.”

“What do you dislike about me? I’ll fix it!”

The way he panicked was kind of cute.

“It’s not that I dislike you. I just… don’t really know you.”

“Then! Let’s start as friends!”

They say power of persuasion lies in the face—yeah, that must be what this is.

Having a handsome guy cling to me… it did feel kind of nice.

Those slightly damp, pleading purple eyes weakened my resolve.

“Hmm? Jinny?”

“Okay… well, that much is fine.”

Maybe my face even brightened a bit.

“Thank you!”

But the idea of dating, getting engaged, or getting married still felt completely impossible.

A few hours after receiving the first confession of my life and riding high on newfound confidence, I was now drowning in despair.

I wanted to die from the motion sickness.

“Urrrrgh…”

My stomach churned like it was being ripped apart.

“They say some people don’t react well to Warp travel…”

“Why… why does that have to be me?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were that type, Jinny.”

Teacher Iruto’s sympathy didn’t help at all.

I discovered—through the Warp itself—that I had some freakish constitution incompatible with Warp travel. Couldn’t they find this out beforehand?!

“Mmgh.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth to hold down the rising nausea, but even that made me dizzy.

It felt like I’d spent three hours in a carriage doing figure-eight loops.

Calling this motion sickness felt insulting. This was suffering on a whole different level.

My insides wanted to evacuate my body.

[Are you all right, Master?]

[No. No, I’m not.]

Rai usually disappeared whenever Iruse was around—Iruse saw him as a rare creature and wanted to study him, making him practically Rai’s natural enemy.

But maybe because I looked so awful right now, he didn’t run. He stayed by my side.

Even a tactless spirit was pitying me. That’s how bad I looked.

“I-I think I’m dying.”

“Oh dear! It must be bad. We’ll have to Warp once more tomorrow. Will you be okay, Jinny?”

“Teacher… can’t I… can’t I go by carriage instead…?”

“By then the festival will be over…”

I want to cry. I want to cry so badly.

This wasn’t the end. We had only warped to Remaly, a city between Veilan and Ellan. Tomorrow we had to Warp again to Ellan’s capital, Neikal.

Meaning there was one more Warp left.

No—wait.

If I counted the return trip…

That meant three Warps left.