Ard went anyway. He still had obligations, regardless of how he felt about them.
He was nearly at the hall when he turned a corner and found Tiffany standing in the corridor.
"Oh, Ard!"
'She is still here.'
"Why are you still at the academy?" He pressed two fingers to his forehead.
"I am attending the meeting as well."
"You are not an instructor."
"I am not sure either. I am simply doing what the Headmaster asked."
'Elisha again.'
"Well then, let us walk together."
"No. Thank you. I decline." Ard immediately lengthened his stride.
"Eh, why not?" Tiffany matched him without effort. "I wanted to talk about something on the way. Do you not want to hear it?"
"Correct."
"How cruel."
"Correct."
"Even though I—"
"Correct."
"..." Tiffany went quiet for a moment, still walking. Then something shifted in her expression. A small, dangerous smile.
"Ard."
"Correct."
"Bread."
"Correct."
"You like bread?"
"Correct."
"You like tea?"
"Correct."
"You like Elisha?"
"Yes, correct."
Silence.
"Wait..." Ard stopped walking. "I did not mean that. That was a misunderstanding."
"But you said it so clearly." Tiffany covered her mouth.
"That is your fault entirely!"
"I am going to tell the Headmaster. Hahaha~" She broke into a run.
"What?!"
Ard ran after her.
He arrived at the instructors' hall out of breath, caught himself with both hands on his knees for a moment, then straightened and looked around. A large room, long rows of seats on either side, a raised stage at the far end. Many of the instructors were already seated.
"Sorry I am late. I was chasing a cat that ran off with my lunch."
"Ah, that explains it. Did you catch it?"
Ard made his way to his seat.
"No. I think it ran in here."
"Really? I did not see any cat come in. What does it look like?"
"Yellow fur. Sometimes wears the robes of a Saintess."
The man beside him considered this for a moment, arriving at a mental image that did not resemble anything real.
"I am Roman."
"Hello. I am Ard Le Ventias."
"No need for formality. We are the same age."
"You became an instructor first, so technically you are my senior."
"I never liked formality. Relax, Professor Ard. Are you still going to look for the cat?"
"Yes, I have to."
"You are very committed."
"Because it took my life with it." Completely serious. Completely dramatic.
"I, see..." Roman smiled in a way that suggested he had decided not to ask further.
"I really do need to catch it—"
"Catch what?" A woman's voice from directly behind him.
"A very loud and talkative cat. Yellow fur. Wears Saintess robes."
"My, is there really a cat like that?"
"There absolutely is," Ard said, turning around. "There absolutely IIIIS."
Tiffany stood behind him with her hands clasped, wearing an expression of pure, gentle innocence.
"Professor Ard. Why are you so surprised?"
"It is her! This is the cat!"
"Goodness. You think of me as a cat? How rude, as always."
"It is accurate! You are a troublesome cat! Always talking, always causing problems—" He was speaking quickly, eyes closed.
"Yes, indeed. Professor Ard was just saying..."
He opened his eyes.
Tiffany was whispering into Elisha's ear. Elisha, who had apparently just arrived.
Ard opened his mouth. Then he saw Elisha's face go red.
'I want to ceace to exist.'
The shame was total.
Tiffany, watching his expression, was laughing on the inside. Her face showed nothing.
The meeting began shortly after, with Ard unconscious.
Fortunately, Roman and Celi were nearby.
* * *
The academy had gone quiet by the time the moon rose.
Its light came in through the gaps between clouds, pale and unhurried, and found its way through the window of a room on the upper floors where a man sat reading in a chair. The night air moved through the vent above the window, cool without being cold. A cup of tea sat within reach. A small plate of snacks beside it.
Ard had one hand propped under his chin and the other holding a novel.
"Now this is living."
He started humming quietly. Something from a previous era, a melody from his past life that he had never quite been able to let go of. He was the kind of person who preferred a little ambient sound over complete silence, and since he had grown tired of cycling through the few records he actually liked, humming had become the habit.
"I like medieval-era music. Just not all of it."
"Lutra."
"Yes, Young Master." She appeared behind him without a sound.
"How are they?"
"They are fine. They asked that you visit more often." A brief pause as she worked out what he was actually asking.
Ard said nothing and turned another page.
"Is she still doing it?"
Lutra went still. She was not sure what he meant.
"Claire. Is she still swinging her sword?"
Ard could hear it. The rhythm of the blade, the cold aura pushing outward with each strike. The training grounds were far away and his room was in the upper floors, but his senses had simply never worked the way other people's did.
Lutra sharpened her own focus, pressing it outward carefully.
"Ah. Yes, she is still going." A brief pause. "I can sense it now."
"How long has it been?" Ard closed the book and reached for a snack.
Lutra did not know. She had only just found the trace of it.
"Never mind." A light exhale. He had known the question was unreasonable before he asked it. "Do not worry about it."
"I apologize. I will do better."
"It is fine. Do not push yourself on my account. The fact that I can sense something that far away is not normal."
"Even after all this time serving you, Young Master, I cannot stop being surprised."
Ard turned in his chair and looked at her, snack still in hand. "Do I always surprise you?"
"Always."
"That cannot be good for your heart. Since you are getting on in years, I should try to be less surprising. Actually, wait. Am I actually doing surprising things?!"
Ard had asked this with complete sincerity, out of genuine concern for her health. Lutra's expression did not share it.
"It is impolite to discuss a woman's age." A vein had made itself visible at her temple.
"Woman?" Ard raised one eyebrow. "More accurately, someone entering her thirties. You look like a woman in her mid-twenties, but the actual number tells a different story." Lutra's teeth pressed together.
"You should have been married by now, with children. If you had a child, they might even be in my class right now. Actually, I am trying to work something out, do you want to hear it?"
"No. I. Do. Not. Please. Explain." Lutra was smiling. The vein at her temple, the twitch at her cheek, and the hands slowly curling into fists told a different story. Ard, being Ard, explained anyway.
"I cannot decide whether to feel sorry for the man who eventually marries you, or to congratulate him. He will think he is marrying a woman in her mid-twenties and discover she is thirty. That is either a disappointment or a pleasant surprise depending entirely on whether he prefers older women. And given how young you look, I would wager he would not mind at all, so actually you might—"
He stopped.
"Lutra. Wait." He looked at her with wide, genuinely concerned eyes. "Are you perhaps... attracted to women?"
Lutra grabbed his ponytail.
"Ouch!"
"I am sorry, I could not hear that. Could you repeat it?"
"What is wrong with you?! I was asking because I was worried about you, it is a reasonable thing to wonder about!" Ard said this while also trying to protect his scalp.
"I have never once said I do not like men. Where did that conclusion come from?" The grip tightened.
"It was speculation! Pure speculation! Alright, alright, I am sorry, please let go, it feels like my hair is leaving my head!" Lutra released him, though the irritation remained.
"Oh come on. Why are you upset?" Ard rubbed the sore spot and tried a disarming smile.
Lutra turned her face away.
"Lutra. I am genuinely just worried about you."
"Thank you for your entirely useless concern."
"Rude!" He scratched the back of his head. "But I mean it. Why not step back and start a family of your own?"
"Are you dismissing me? Have I become unnecessary? Is that what you are saying? I am no longer useful? Is that it? Is it?" She advanced one word at a time, closing the distance, and Ard retreated at exactly the same pace.
"C-calm down." She stopped. Ard exhaled. "You have looked after me since I was small. All the way until now. I am grateful for that. I would have been completely lost without you."
Lutra made a small, satisfied sound.
"I mean it. When I could not dress myself, you were there. You taught me to write and read from the beginning. You knew which foods I liked before I had to say anything. You spent your own wages on snacks and foolish little requests when we went into the city. I remember all of it."
The room had gone quiet. Ard smiled as he spoke. Lutra said nothing, just listened.
"My father, mother, and older siblings were all good to me. But you were not any less. You were the one who chose to take care of me when most of the other staff at the mansion would not. Because I was a demon. I was seven years old at the time."
Ard had understood his situation even then. His body had been a child's. His mind had not been. He had not expected anyone to volunteer, had already made peace with managing without. But then Lutra had appeared in front of him and knelt down, lowering her head to his eye level.
'Hello, Young Master. My name is Lutra. From today onward, I will be your personal attendant. I will take care of you and look after you. I still have much to learn, but I will do my very best.'
Their eyes had met.
And something had been decided then, quietly and without ceremony, between a young master and his maid. A bond that had carried forward, unchanged, to this very night.
* * *