房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"By the way... I kind of messed up with all that show... neither of us should go as far as we did and, honestly, we might get in trouble because of it. Speaking about trouble, my dad looks like he\'s about to get in a fight with the staff of this lovely event that tries to surround us."

The boy pointed out, making Miriette o wide-eyed.

"Your dad...? But didn\'t you just... ah...! Mizoe! That\'s right, I haven\'t seen him at the castle!"

She followed Zoemi\'s gaze and gasped in realization after seeing the light-blue-haired man with one foot on the fence separating the stands from the arena.

"By the way – we practiced together a lot and his strength is nothing like how you remember it. Let\'s not make him fight or the death count will skyrocket."

"Alright, leave everything to me then."

The black-haired boy added hurriedly, to which the dark-haired girl nodded her head with a serious expression.

The two children stepped away from each other although they were now holding hands instead, refusing to separate completely.

"I came here especially to watch whether the candidate for my attendant will be accepted into the knight training, but I got insulted instead. Ehmi, Grazio, that impudent man, who dared to insult my hair, who only got served justice because of the swift action of my future attendant was someone serving under your father, wasn\'t he?"

"...!"

"!!!"

Miriette raised her voice and used her magic to empower it so that it would boom over the area – but it was not the volume but the meaning of said words that caused everyone to stop and tense up.

"What is it then? Does Victureo family want to keep friendly relations with the Espine family, or do you wish to become our enemies? Because from what I am seeing now... those audacious fools are waiting for a chance to capture the only person here who rushed to defend my honor as if he was some kind of criminal. Do I really need to express how upset that makes me?"

The dark-haired girl scoffed, her hair stuck halfway to bristling like a forest of needles she looked down on everyone even though she was the shortest person in stature by far in the immediate vicinity.

"Young lady, that is not the case at all – the thing is this dangerous brute...!"

"Dead air."

It might have been because of the physical age of the dark-haired girl, but her words were not immediately taken completely seriously. Alternatively, the idiot daring to speak might have misunderstood that because she is a child, Miriette might be talked out of whatever she has decided on – whatever the answer was it all ended up in the man speaking up to have a tiny index finger of the young girl being pointed at him, as she cast a spell with a tired expression.

"...?"

The man\'s immediate reaction was to activate his enchantments and raise his hands defensively, but the magic this time wasn\'t so direct so he got surprised by the lack of impact that he had braced himself on a moment\'s notice.

"As I said, without a proper notice this... this... gh-yyygh...? No-notice... uh-hyyyyygh...!"

The man encouraged by what he thought was Miriette being just a spoiled child who\'s willing to listen to reason, said, but after just a few words his eyes started bulging out and his lips turned pale.

The fool reached out to his throat as if there was an invisible collar tightening around his neck, but his fingers encountered only his own flesh.

*thump* *THUMP*

It took only five more seconds for him to falter heavily, trying to catch a balance by stepping forward, but he lost balance instantly and toppled with a loud noise.

"Mass dead air."

Miriette wasn\'t even looking at the victim anymore, she instead focused on Ehmi, loudly and clearly pronouncing the name of her next spell.

"...!"

"...yyyyyyghhhh...?!"

At first lost, Ehmi trembled once everyone except her, Miriette, Zoemi, and Mizoe, faltered and reached out to their throats – including her very own younger brother, Grazio."

"They call you the only queen of fire. It always annoyed me, you know? I\'m getting the boring strongest wind magician title, while you get an imposing nickname?"

Miriette smirked, nodding to herself, while Ehmi didn\'t know what she could do and watched helplessly her brother\'s lips turning pale and his eyes bulging out as the composition of the air he was breathing changed so drastically that there was no possible way for his lungs to process it.

"M-Miri... why are you doing this...?! I thought we were friends!"

The crimson-haired girl cried out, trembling in anguish – the thought of fighting against the dark-haired girl not even crossing her mind for a second.

"...that is a good question. Are you trying to awaken her memories too, or is it just you being you...?"

Zoemi tilted his head and glanced at Miriette curiously.

"Fell free to pick whichever option you think is more attractive and go with it."

The dark-haired girl snickered evilly, giving a clear enough answer that not including Ehmi within her spell and making her question reality was simply the display of her overwhelming pettiness.

"MIRI! HE\'S DYING!"

The nonchalance of the two was directly contrasted by the panic the crimson-haired girl felt as her brother was clawing at his throat getting more and more blue in the face.

"Good. It\'s the least he and everyone else here can do to repent for insulting me."

"...pffft..."

The dark-haired girl nodded, breathing out with relief as if satisfied that her work was getting appropriately rewarded...

...which made Zoemi unable to completely hold himself back and let out an amused snort...

"Ah! You\'re not holding yourself back anymore?!"

That reaction made Miriette gasp and go wide-eyed with excitement.

"I don\'t know what you are talking about, Miri, but maybe let go of them already. Being overwhelming is one thing, killing one or few as examples are within what the nobility is expected to do, but killing a whole bunch of people including the son of the Victureo family would make too much of a mess."

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders dismissively, but the devilish smirk on his face gave him out completely – thats\' why the black-haired boy cleared histrhout and pointed out, gently touching Miriette\'s cheek with his free hand.

*click*

"GU-HUUUAAAAGHHH..!

As if this was a trigger, Miriette clicked her fingers, and the unison sound of dozens of people breathing in the life-supporting air carried over the area.

"Let it be known – I will not be trifled with, and by extension, the Espine family will not be underestimated. Know your place."

The girl looked away from her beloved, and the moment her eyes lost sight of him they turned sharp and cruel before she declared with overwhelming superiority.

"..."

"...?"

Suddenly, she twitched and bit her lips as her expression darkened, she clenched Zoemi\'s hand, making the black-haired boy confused.

The change was simply too sudden.

"Zoemi, there are still a few things I will need to wrap up, so I will have you and Mizoe leave. If you want to take part in the knight training, go to the Perserios territory, it\'s the best choice for now."

The dark-haired girl\'s expression turned serious as if she decided on something – once that happened, even Zoemi would be unable to make her change her mind.

"My presence would be a problem for now?"

"It would. But I will bother you a whole lot with message spells – so much that you will never feel lonely."

Zoemi didn\'t want to leave her side, but Miriette was the person he trusted the most in the world – so with one question answered with a short nod and a promise, he let go of her hand and took a step back.

"If anyone will try to bother that boy and his father, I will kill them. Not the Espine family. Me. And you should be aware that even my mother isn\'t able to stop my dead air spell completely."

On the other hand, Miriette took a step forward and declared, raising her hand and pointing at the surrounding people, making sure to not look directly at Zoemi.

"Dad. You heard the young miss. Let\'s go. Please."

"...indeed... thank you for your grace, young lady..."

Zoemi called out to his father and Mizoe, who was probably even more shocked by the behavior of the black-haired boy than anyone else, considering who the girl he lost his head for was, agreed, giving a respectful bow to Miriette before joining his son and leaving together.

"..."

Miriette didn\'t watch them leave, she didn\'t even budge from her spot, as if holding everyone else hostage until the departure of the father and child... but her expression faltered, and her eyes momentarily showed how upset she was.

But she had to keep her cool – if Zoemi knew what was going on and what kind of message Miriette received from her mother, lady Misena, he would never leave her side no matter what she would tell him.

After all, the only person who came close to being as stubborn as Miriette was precisely Zoemi.

"I was not aware that you knew young lady Espine."

The first words that Mizoe spoke to Zoemi as they left the city on a horseback were ones of suspicion.

"You do know that she is the fiance of the first prince Horeo, right? The truth is, before that she was supposed to be my finance. We met and liked each other very much. But her family wanted to annex the Banemor territory as their own immediately upon our marriage, which was something my family didn\'t agree and the talk broke off. Against mine and her\'s will."

Zoemi looked at Mizoe and bit his lips – he didn\'t want his father to make that kind of face when talking to him, or when mentioning Miriette, so he came up with a convenient lie that was firmly rooted in truth.