Chapter 131: No Qualified Reason

MARIUS

I came out of the clearing alone after Isabelle and Thomas had left first.

I needed time to think, although time didn’t solve anything.

Was there anything to solve, though?

Perhaps not. I heard once that when there is no problem, there is a solution.

Skylark was in good hands. That was what I had been telling myself the whole time. Falken was looking after him. That’s what he had been doing the whole time.

Doubts will get in the way of achieving goals—I knew that.

But assessing risks and doubts will save lives—that was also drilled into me.

There was a fine line between conviction and foolishly assuming safety.

I arrived at the festival ground and began to look for Skylark. I didn’t quite know what to say to him about all this—if anything at all. But I knew we promised to meet today. There was still some time until I had to report to the student council room. Even if I told him nothing, perhaps seeing him now would give me a clearer idea about how to proceed from here.

It was then that I came across a lady who unusually navigated through the crowd to approach me as if she had been looking for me for some time now. I stopped and let her come to me.

“Marius Valenkraft?” the lady asked for confirmation.

“Yes. That would be me,” I said.

She was modestly dressed. Perhaps in her thirties, with well-groomed hair and a pale complexion. She was a refined city lady, but not a noble. She wore a green brooch on her chest.

She then took a step closer to me and whispered. Barely audible.

“The Lady has sent me,” she said.

I knew instinctively who it was.

I simply nodded.

“It’s about the artist she wishes to invite,” she said again.

“I see,” I said this time.

“At noon. The front gate. Ask her to look for this,” she pointed at the brooch.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Your escort is not necessary. Don’t draw any attention. We will take care of her from there.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She then promptly turned and walked away.

When the Second Consort, masquerading as ‘Maria,’ expressed her desire to see Blanche outside of the campus yesterday, I was concerned about how I should handle the situation—I had a clear duty to report to Falken regarding anything ‘extraordinary,’ but at the same time, it was a direct order from a member of royalty that I should keep this confidential. But the question was that of conflicting orders—a procedural confusion. Now it felt like something bigger, and it was only when I entered the exhibition hall to look for Blanche that I realized, much to my shame, that I was letting my personal matters interfere with my duties.

“Mario!”

Skylark called out to me. Blanche spotted me first, then Skylark turned to see me as well. He then turned to tell Blanche something, and now here he was, waving me over.

I couldn’t blame him for being at the club activity site, but I wished he wasn’t here at this moment.

At least not now.

“Good morning, Blanche,” I said after acknowledging Skylark’s smile with a nod.

“Good morning,” she said flatly.

We then stood without a word for a moment. Blanche looked at me, then looked at Skylark, and then, after seeing that I did not go away with Skylark yet was staying here without talking to him, she understood what I had come here for.

“Why don’t you go check on your friends by your picture?” Blanche suggested to Skylark.

“Sure! Come over when you are ready, Mario.”

With that, he went over to Briant, Alexis, and Dimitri.

“What is it this time?” Blanche asked.

“I admire your perceptiveness,” I said sincerely.

“That’s a really bad joke for me,” she said.

I didn’t mean it as a joke, but I decided to put that aside for now.

“There is someone who wants to see you.”

“I’m here.”

“You are… invited to join them off campus.”

“What the hell?”

“At noon. Look for a lady with a green brooch at the front gate. Please.”

“And why should I do that?”

“The invitation is from someone—”

“I don’t care WHO invited me. What I mean is why should ‘I’ do it.”

I whispered, “The invitation is from the Second Consort.”

“Then DEFINITELY NO.”

Blanche shot back surprisingly quickly, as if she had been offered a food she was allergic to.

I searched my mind for a suitable reason.

Turning down an invitation from the Second Consort wasn’t something I would even consider myself. A member of royalty calls, then you go. What was there to question? And why would anyone turn royalty down as an instant response?

“Blanche, please.”

“Hell no.”

“She liked your painting on the first day, remember?”

“She’s welcome to come here again. But I’m not going to the palace—or wherever else she’s thinking of, which, for all I know, could be somewhere even worse than the palace.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Blanche, I really implore you to do this.”

“Back off, Marius. This isn’t even an Academy-related matter. You have no reason to pressure me into this.”

“It’s—it’s because, Blanche… the only one—the only one that I thought… I don’t know, I can’t tell you, and I don’t even know how or what to tell you—but we need… someone… someone to…”

Blanche put her hands on her hips. She took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and asked,

“So what is this REALLY for?”

“For… someone—we may, I think, with no qualified reason, but I just sense—I just sense that we may need this for someone…”

I then cast my eyes away and finally admitted,

“Someone dear to me.”

Blanche looked at me in disbelief.

She then closed her eyes slowly.

Then she gave her answer—if one could call it that—curtly.

“Tsk.”

With that, I was waved off.

I left the exhibition hall without stopping by to talk to Skylark.

Because I changed my mind.

This was a burden I’d have to bear myself.

Something I had to untangle him from.