"......Lady Aten......"
Everyone was looking at her.
Seeing her cold face suffused with agony.
Blood dripping from her clenched lower lip.
'Search......'
Find a way, Aten.
You're a princess.
You're meant to save people.
'...No.'
That's not it.
After coming this far, in this dire situation, are you going to lie?
It's not about being a princess.
Just as Frondier saved Aten Terst not as a princess,
I want to save Frondier.
I,
I, Aten Terst, want to save!
Frondier de Roach!
...Huh?
Then she saw something, a sight not of this reality, visible only to her eyes.
Thud.
Philly, who had been watching, took a step forward.
She was going to stop Aten.
Afterwards, Philly would tell Aten about her foresight.
That there is a future where Aten can 'restore' someday.
Then, Aten would surely hate her.
For not telling her in advance.
That she could have saved Frondier if she had known.
Aten, who had been the purpose of her life, would curse her for a long time.
But that's okay.
Such hatred, she had prepared for it a long time ago.
"Aten, stop now-"
Philly tried to say but stopped.
Aten wasn't looking at Frondier, but at the empty air.
Concerned by her odd behavior, Philly looked into Aten's eyes.
And then she knew.
What Aten was seeing right now.
'Aten, could it be...!'
-I am a descendant of Vala.
-My mother said she could do it.
-I wish my daughters didn't have this ability.
Philly told Frondier.
She could see the future because she was a descendant of Vala.
Philly's mother also had the ability to foresee.
Then, her daughter Aten as well-!
'...Ah.'
Aten saw.
She didn't feel all futures through senses like Philly.
The blood of Vala becomes thinner with each generation.
What Aten could see now was only herself.
Only her own future.
'I see.'
She saw herself standing as a healer in the future,
And she saw that knowledge.
Aten poured out mana.
Her cold mana pouring down on Frondier without a gap.
In the coldness where the air froze and shattered into light, Aten's gaze was warmly looking at Frondier.
As if gently waking him from sleep.
Frondier, Frondier.
Wake up.
Frondier's eyelids trembled.
His eyes slowly opened, and he saw Aten, who was smiling through tears.
"...Aten."
"Mr. Frondier."
"...Why are you smiling, no, crying?"
Watching Frondier as usual giving a hard time, Aten couldn't help but let out an uncharacteristically small laugh.
"I saw the future."
"…Aten."
Frondier sighed at that response.
"From the moment we first met until now."
The conversation isn't getting through.
* * *
Renzo's intrusion had triggered an emergency throughout all of Constel.
The analysis of the damage and its causes was in full swing, causing all classes to be suspended.
However, that was just the superficial reason.
The real reason Constel had halted lectures was much simpler.
"──There's a rat here."
Central meeting room.
Alex, a combat technique teacher at Constel, growled in a gathering of faculty members.
Even Teacher Jane, who always disagreed and clashed with Alex, kept silent.
They shared the same thought.
Jane, in fact, slowly opened her mouth in agreement with Alex.
"…Previously, during the pro experience the third-year students were having, a monster from outside invaded the place."
The outside monster Frondier had warned Quinie about.
Despite Quinie handling it well, there were casualties.
Many teachers had left Constel to honor the deceased's families and investigate the cause.
Chancellor Osprey was no exception.
"Just when a significant number of teachers were absent, Renzo attacked."
"According to the report, Renzo suddenly appeared and attempted to kidnap Aten. As if he just popped out of nowhere."
"…Teleportation magic."
Listening in, Teacher Binkis judged it so, and everyone nodded in agreement.
However, teleportation magic isn't as easy as it sounds.
Especially if it involves moving not just objects, but living beings, and even more so, people.
"It's fortunate the student handled it well, or we could have faced a far more dreadful situation."
Jane said.
"He handled it very well, didn't he?" remarked Malia, the health teacher, with a wry smile.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
They didn't know that Frondier had cut off Renzo's arm.
They had been told a somewhat altered version of the truth.
In the middle of the practical exam, a student named Frondier de Roach had accidentally discovered Renzo.
He had then slipped away and told Aten and the others, who had promptly moved to thwart Renzo's plan.
That was the extent of their knowledge of the incident.
Frondier didn't want his involvement to be known.
Of course, the people present had no way of knowing that.
But Frondier was already acquainted with Philly, Aten, and Ellen, and Aten wasn't the type to gossip. As for the Knights, they had been entrusted to Philly.
Since they were in Philly's hands, it was safe to assume that the details wouldn't be leaked among the Knights.
'But it's strange how Frondier handled it so well,' Malia thought.
She didn't know the exact circumstances of Renzo's infiltration, but it was unlikely that he had barged in without a plan.
Especially considering that there was a traitor among them.
So it was hard to believe that Renzo had been caught by Frondier before he could even initiate his plan.
'Could Frondier be the traitor? ...What a ridiculous thought.'
Malia's mind raced.
'But if he were trying to stop Renzo, a student would normally call for a teacher, right?'
However, no teacher seemed to know about the incident.
So why hadn't Frondier notified a teacher?
'...That's right.'
Somehow, Frondier had figured it out.
That there was a traitor among the teachers.
