Comforting Misha

The dormitory supervisor worked very quickly.

Perhaps because this matter had caused too much of a stir to be delayed, the procedures for the room change were approved in less than half an hour.

When Vera and her follower left carrying bags of all sizes, her expression was a complex mix of relief and something else. She exchanged a glance with me before departing. Her moving into Margaret's dormitory as a roommate was truly a case of birds of a feather flocking together.

Misha, on the other hand, officially moved into Room 207.

Shirune helped Misha move her luggage over. She didn't have many belongings—just a small leather suitcase, a few changes of clothes, a set of stationery, and that well-worn copy of 《Foundations of Magic Theory》.

Although this past hour was utterly insignificant in the grand scale of a lifetime, for Misha, it felt like her entire world had been turned upside down.

“Come in,” I said.

Misha nodded gently. Even though the room layout was identical to her previous one, she still behaved with a certain restraint. Keeping her footsteps incredibly light, she stood in the center of the room, unsure of where to sit.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

What used to be Vera's bed was now just an empty mattress, which would now be Misha's. Shirune set down the suitcase, helped her spread the sheets, fold the blanket, and fluff the pillow.

Meanwhile, I took a medicine box out of the wardrobe. It was the same model as the one in the Aldheim estate, only slightly smaller.

Opening the lid, I searched for the ointment used to reduce swelling.

After all, Margaret had struck with great force, but fortunately, I hadn't held back either. Thus, Margaret was currently being treated in the infirmary. Since neither Misha nor I wanted to share a space with her, we had returned to the dormitory to tend to Misha's injuries.

“We need to treat your cheek, don't we?”

“Ah?... Ah, oh, no, there's no need to be so polite!”

“Anyway, it's going to hurt a bit.” I paid no mind to her polite refusal.

Misha had no choice but to sit on the bed.

As I treated her red and swollen cheek, Misha's nose began to tingle again, and tears welled up in her eyes. She started talking about how good and gentle I was to her... a topic that I truly had no idea how to respond to.

Sensing the slightly awkward atmosphere in the air, Shirune tactfully left the room.

In any case, I muddled my way through and finished applying the ointment.

“...There, all done.”

I packed away the medicine box. She sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers clutching that lily-patterned handkerchief, the silver bell resting quietly on the fabric. Both of these items had been returned earlier by that villainous duo, and the handkerchief had already been washed clean.

“...Miss Loris,” her voice was very soft, carrying a slight tremble.

“Mm.” I placed the medicine box back in the wardrobe.

“Thank you for standing up for me today. I-I-I-I... I'm really touched. You're the only person who has ever been this good to me in my entire life. I don't even know what to say...”

“If there's ever anything, anything at all I can do for you in the future, please just say the word. Even if I have to go through fire and water, I won't hesitate for a second...”

“And your handkerchief... I-I didn't take good care of it. Ever since you gave it to me, I've carried it with me every day with the utmost care. But today, while I was taking a shower, Miss Margaret took it from my drawer... By the time I came back, she had already used it to wipe her leather shoes and thrown it on the floor.” Her voice shook more and more as she spoke. “I-I-I was really angry... because that handkerchief was a gift from you, Miss Loris.”

“Alright, stop. I get it.”

I cut her off. There was no need to be this deeply moved.

But Misha couldn't seem to stop her tears and continued to sob. Under these circumstances, it was impossible for me to inhumanely criticize her for crying or tell her that her crying was annoying. That would be far too heartless.

Of course, given Loris's character setting, she might actually do something like that.

Fortunately, I wasn't that bad of a person, and the world's will wasn't acting up either, giving me a pass this time.

“Miss Noren.”

“Y-Yes!” She immediately raised her head, sitting up a bit straighter as she tried to hold back her tears.

“You'll be living here from now on,” I continued. “You don't have to worry about anything like this happening again. If anyone dares to bully you, just tell me. I'll protect you. After all, you are my follower.”

The tears that had only just begun to dry up burst through the floodgates once more. It seemed I shouldn't have said that.

“Miss Loris, thank you... thank you so much. No one... no one has ever stood up for me before... Not Father, not Mother, only you...”

In the end, her tears spilled over.

However, they fell silently, one after another, tracing down the bridge of her nose and dripping onto the bedsheet, blooming into a small damp spot.

With her head lowered, her shoulders and lips trembled, yet she didn't make a single sound.

Ah, save me.

I am really bad at dealing with this kind of situation.

Alright, let me think. For a crying girl, isn't a comforting hug the best solution? Though I didn't know if it might be a bit presumptuous, it was the only thing I could do right now.

I gently wrapped my arms around her. “There, there.”

Misha flinched as if struck by an electric shock, then buried her head in my chest.

Outside the window, it had grown completely dark.

The maple trees in the courtyard swayed gently in the evening breeze, their leaves rustling softly. From afar, the bell signaling the end of dinner service in the dining hall rang out, long and muffled.

(Voiceover: That night, several dormitory supervisors sat in the duty room on the first floor, staring blankly at the disciplinary reports on the desk for a long time.

Margaret Horn: inappropriate words and actions, one warning.

Loris von Aldheim: fighting violence with violence, one warning.

Two identical warnings.

Looking at these two lines of text, they sighed helplessly.

“To think she's the daughter of a duke,” one of them muttered to herself. “Standing up for a child from a viscount family.”

“The good news is that this won't get leaked out, so the matter can be considered successfully resolved.”

“...But it does violate the rules.”)