A few seconds later, a light, fluttering sound resonated in the stillness of the night.
It was the moment the two pairs of luxurious underwear, belonging to Ne-sama, touched down.
“―… Ah, I-I’m sorry, Leonora… I didn’t mean to…”
Seeing the girl, whose face had lost all color, Bianca snapped back to reality.
Even though it was for the girl, she never intended to let such a precious gift fall to the ground, nor did she plan to chase after her so fiercely.
Bianca had a bad habit of letting her emotions get the better of her, causing her hands and feet to act impulsively.
Looking at the girl, who was staring blankly out the window, Bianca timidly spoke.
“I’m sorry, um, I didn’t mean…”
“Ne-sama…”
“Eh?”
Unable to catch the quietly muttered words, she instinctively asked again.
The girl’s large purple eyes, on the verge of overflowing with tears, began to tremble, her slender throat quivering.
“Even though… Ne-sama…!”
Bianca was taken aback by the fragmented words. Could it be that she was saying, “Even though Ne-sama gave me these precious underwear…”?
(Does she really think of me as her “sister”…? And does she truly value this underwear so much…?)
Bianca clutched her chest, feeling an indescribable guilt.
If that were the case, what had she done? The girl cherished her as a sister and wanted to treasure the underwear, but Bianca, mistaking it for stubborn reluctance, had trampled on her feelings.
But, of course, as for Leo…
(Aaaahhhh! My two pairs of Ne-sama’s underwear! The precious, precious Ne-sama’s underwear, reduced in value by being covered in mud!)
Leo wasn’t crying out of sorrow for the girl’s feelings but because he was thinking of the lost value of the underwear, shedding metaphorical tears of blood.
The winters in Weitz were filled with snow. Recently, the weather had been clear, but precisely because of that, the ground was likely muddy with melted snow.
(Ne-sama… My precious Ne-sama… in the mud…)
What an utter disaster. To lose balance and let go of the two most important pairs of underwear, more valuable than his own dignity.
This was an unforgivable, shameful, and irreparable blunder for someone as miserly as he was.
“A-Actually, I’m really sorry, Leonora. I’ll go retrieve them…”
Leo had been standing there in shock, watching as the two pairs of Ne-sama’s underwear slipped through his fingers, but Bianca’s words snapped him out of it.
What am I doing? This is no time to be in shock. I need to rescue Ne-sama immediately.
If I retrieve them quickly and wash them, maybe I can preserve at least one pair’s value. To Leo’s eyes, the underwear had become nothing more than precious fragments.
He hurriedly turned away from the window and prepared to leave the room.
But just before he could, something—or rather, someone—caught his eye in his peripheral vision and miserly instincts.
(Hmm!?)
Leo spun around.
There was indeed a figure outside the window, illuminated by the moonlight. It appeared to be a man, nervously glancing around. Once he seemed assured that no one was approaching, he bent down—right where the luxurious underwear had fallen.
(A panty thief!?)
Leo’s eyes widened in shock.
What a disaster! The rumored thief had chosen this exact moment to come and steal Leo’s precious high-end underwear. It must have been the irresistible allure of the luxury lingerie that drew him in. His keen sense of smell and rapid actions were formidable.
(But I won’t allow it!)
Even though Leo grudgingly admired the thief’s ability to detect valuable items, there was no way he would let Ne-sama’s precious underwear be taken. Those were Leo’s now, meant to bring him silver coins through their sheer value.
Driven by intense greed and righteous anger, Leo grabbed the edge of the slightly open window and flung it open with force.
“Leonora!?”
Bianca and the others were taken aback.
After initially showing signs of leaving the room, Leo suddenly turned back, stared intently out the window, then threw it open as if preparing to jump out.
“Leonora, what in the world are you—”
“Thief…! I won’t forgive you…!”
Bianca and Natalia both reached out in a panic, but before their fingers could reach her, the girl had already leapt out the window.
“Ahhh!”
“Leonora!!”
Their screams, sharp as tearing silk, echoed through the night.
“Leonora! Leonora! Leonora…!”
Bianca, almost hysterical, clung to the window frame with a pale face. In her panic, she seemed ready to throw herself out the window as well, but Natalia stopped her just in time.
“Lady Bianca, please get a hold of yourself!”
“But! Leonora…!”
“Look closely. Leonora has landed like a cat and is standing up. She’s alright. She’s alright.”
Trembling slightly, Natalia pointed out, and as Bianca strained to see in the dim light, she saw the girl standing up straight, shouting something.
(Shouting…? At whom—?)
Until now, Bianca had only focused on the girl, but she now looked down and gasped.
“Who is that…!?”
A figure, briefly hiding in the bushes after being spotted by the girl. Bianca and Natalia, finally understanding the meaning of the girl’s “thief” accusation, turned pale and exchanged frantic glances before rushing out of the room.
***
With a swift leap out of the window, Leo landed gracefully, driven purely by his obsession with gold. Ignoring the mud splattered all over him—after all, he wore old clothes just for occasions like this—he pointed a stern finger at the shadowy figure.
“Don’t move! I raise my hands!”
Ideally, he wanted to shout, “Don’t move, raise your hands,” but due to the magic that sealed his ability to utter threats, Leo compensated by yelling at the top of his lungs, his face turning bright red.
“Thief! Unforgivable! Surrender!”
The force of his voice, which cut through the night air like a knife, left the figure standing there with a stunned expression. Leo, splashing through the mud, approached the man and seized his arms with a firm grip. To anyone watching, however, it looked like a delicate girl trembling and blushing as she clung to a man’s arms.
“Wh-what, soaring through the air…? A-a spirit…? No, why is Leonora here, of all places…?”
The man mumbled to himself. It seemed he knew Leo’s name, leading Leo to deduce that this was another student from the academy.
Upon closer inspection, the man was clean-cut and had a neat appearance, with a face exuding a certain charm. He looked a few years older than Leo, perhaps three or four, with a slightly rustic air suggesting he might be an upperclassman from a commoner background rather than nobility.
(But what does age or charm matter when he’s trying to steal something!?)
Leo, already harsh towards those older and of the opposite sex, was in no mood to show mercy to someone who tried to steal his treasure. He glared sharply at the man and tried to snatch the underwear from his grip.
But the man, confused and flustered, unintentionally tightened his grip on the underwear with his male strength, making it impossible for Leo to take it. Frustrated, Leo shouted,
“Let go! Now!”
With a firm tug, he yanked the man’s arms up like a fisherman reeling in a catch.
“Whoa!”
“Ah!”
Unfortunately, the man lost his balance and fell towards Leo. Leo, clutching the retrieved underwear, twisted to avoid the fall, but—
Thud!
Both of them ended up sprawled on the ground.
“S-sorry! Are you alright!?”
The young man, finding himself inadvertently pinning Leo down, quickly propped himself up and asked frantically. Despite his unsavory actions, he seemed quite gentlemanly. However, Leo had no time to dwell on the man’s concern or the fact that his lower half was still pinned down. His gaze was fixed solely on one thing.
In the tumble, the underwear had been driven into the ground, now soaked with mud beyond repair.
“…Ah…”
Leo’s lips quivered, and his large purple eyes welled up with tears.
“This is… terrible…”
Two pairs of Ne-sama’s precious underwear, ruined. Covered in mud. The delicate rose embellishments on the shoulder straps had been torn and were barely hanging on.
“No…!”
A despairing moan escaped from his slender throat.
“You scoundrel! What are you doing?!”
A stern voice rang out from behind. It was Bianca and Natalia. Bianca, not bothering to conceal her daringly bold attire, glared fiercely at the young man. Upon seeing her younger sister figure pinned to the ground and crying, she was visibly consumed with rage even in the dim light of the night.
To her eyes, all she could see was a delicate girl, tearful and pinned down.
“What… are you… doing…?!”
Bianca was paralyzed with anger, unable to even breathe, while Natalia quickly rushed over and shoved the young man aside to rescue the girl. Draping her own jacket over the still-dazed girl, Natalia asked in a hoarse voice,
“Leonora, are you alright?”
“Leonora…! What on earth have they done to you!?”
But even such a heartfelt question couldn’t reach the current Leonora, who had suddenly turned her back on profit. Trembling hands pulled what remained of her ruined underwear closer, clutching it tightly.
“I-I’ve been… defiled…”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she murmured.
“Defiled!?”
“Milady…!”
Natalia’s startled response went unnoticed by Leonora, who mourned the profit she had suddenly forsaken.
This is the worst. Absolutely the worst.
Why did she let go of her precious underwear just because she stumbled a bit back then? To sacrifice such a valuable item for a mere stumble was the lowest act against the principles of a miser.
She had thought she could maintain at least the value of two, or even just one of Milady’s garments. No matter how much she washed it, being soiled with mud like this—
“I can’t… get married anymore…!”
The girl cried out in a voice so full of sorrow that it seemed her heart might burst.
This only served to further enrage Bianca.
The one who feared men, her younger sister.
Despite that, being pushed down onto the ground covered in snow and mud—how terrifying must that have been?
Clutching her offered underwear as if it were a charm, she desperately clung to “Milady.”
It was hard to believe anything decisive had happened in such a short time, but the shock was enough for her to declare she could no longer marry.
A shiver ran down her spine like a bolt of lightning.
Intense anger, she learned for the first time, could unleash itself like a torrent of magic.
“You…!”
“Eep!”
The young man, flustered and scanning the situation, grimaced under Bianca’s furious aura. Like a frog stared down by a snake, he froze in place.
Bianca approached him slowly.
“I’ll ask you again. What did you do to Leonora?”
“I-I… I mean, I didn’t do anything…! I just tripped, really…!”
“Lies! What were you even doing here in the first place?”
The young man was clearly a senior student. There was no reason for him to be here at the girls’ dormitory at this hour, especially as an underclassman.
“You’ve been here for a while, haven’t you? Honestly, are you the one behind the recent underwear thefts that have been troubling the dormitory?”
“Well, you see…!”
The young man stuttered, his gaze wandering. But by not immediately denying it, he might as well have admitted his guilt.
“I-I mean… I just… I was curious about women… It was just… a moment of weakness…”
“You pervert!”
Bianca spat out angrily at the young man, who soon muttered in distress. Meanwhile, Natalia efficiently helped the girl into her coat, brushing off the mud from her hair.
The girl seemed deeply affected. She murmured to herself, “Curious about women…?” and fell silent.
Not getting through to her or perhaps lost in thought, the girl’s troubled expression clouded Natalia’s face. However, dwelling on it wouldn’t solve anything.
Natalia turned sharply towards the young man, her expression hardening, and narrowed her intelligent eyes.
“How shameless of you. I believe I’ve seen your face before. You’re Dominic, if I’m not mistaken—a sophomore from the upper class, isn’t that right?”
Natalia, with her exceptional memory, accurately recalled the name of a civilian student from a different year level and few interactions.
“Yes, it was Dominic. A second-year senior. His surname was—”
“I-I’m terribly sorry!”
As Natalia began to delve into her memory, Dominic suddenly dropped to his knees and began apologizing earnestly.
“I’m so sorry! I’m truly sorry!”
“Well,”
Bianca raised an eyebrow at his outburst.
“At least you’re aware of how disgraceful your actions were, aren’t you?”
“Yes! I’m sorry!”
“I lied,” Dominic continued, his forehead still pressed against the ground. “The reason I mentioned earlier was a lie. There’s actually a reason behind all this!”
“A reason?” Bianca and Natalia exchanged looks. Stealing underwear and pushing down their beloved sister-like figure was despicable behavior. Yet, there was a certain integrity in Dominic’s humble apology. And looking at his face—perhaps biased—he didn’t seem like someone troubled by women.
After a moment of silent communication, Bianca asked, “What do you mean?”
Dominic hesitated for a moment, then began to explain haltingly.
In summary, his story went like this:
Dominic had a younger sister who would be entering the academy next year. Despite being a commoner, she possessed a small amount of magical talent and excelled academically—a pride for their family. However, the academy, while claiming to uphold equal treatment among students, was rife with discrimination in practice. Noble students bullied commoners, and even basic amenities in the dormitories differed significantly.
“Laundry is particularly problematic. Unlike the nobles who can use linens freely, we have to wash our clothes by hand on snowy nights and suffer from them being damp… Clothing may seem trivial, but it’s part of our basic needs. When these issues pile up, they become grievances. I didn’t want my sister to experience such hardships…”
Even appealing to the student council was futile, thwarted by the nobles’ entourage. So, Dominic thought, if a scandal like underwear thefts occurred, perhaps the authorities would finally listen and extend linen services to commoner students like his sister.
“All the ‘thefts’ so far were actually planned with fellow female students I’m acquainted with. Even if I couldn’t directly appeal to the student council, I hoped that compassionate figures like Lady Natalia and Lady Bianca would take notice and intervene…”
“That’s…” Bianca frowned, perplexed by his plea.
Dominic’s actions were extreme. Yet, if it was for his sister and to highlight the incompetence of the academy’s authorities—if that was the case—she couldn’t entirely condemn him.
Just as they fell silent, a clear voice cut through the air.
“Liar!”