The Former Assassin Becomes a Noble Lady

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“Elysia?”

“Yes~ What is it, Selian?”

I quickly scanned her face at the call of our Selian.

Selian’s voice had been about three degrees colder than usual when she just called me. It couldn’t hurt to be cautious.

The angle of her eyebrows was about five degrees raised from normal. The corners of her mouth held the usual sweet smile. But the clarity of her eyes was not like the clear sky… but rather like the deep, dark sea?!

Dimples! Does she have dimples that show when she genuinely smiles!?

No!!!

Emergency! Emergency!!!

Selian Pattern 3!

Her face showed some sort of discontent! Selian in this mood is truly terrifying!

It would be better to face a slap like Anne than to be attacked directly by Selian’s frigid voice!

Ah, where are you, Anne! Don’t leave me alone!

However, Anne had just gone to the refreshment stand with Ian, leaving me in a bind.

“Elysia?”

Selian called my name again, still with a smile on her face. Um, Selian? Are you aware that although your mouth is smiling, your eyes are not smiling at all? If you looked in the mirror, you would surely be shocked yourself!

“Yes, Selian! Here is Elysia!”

But as if she hadn’t heard my response, Selian called my name again.

What are the odds that the Selian, who had been talking perfectly well until just now, suddenly lost her hearing? If we estimate it, I’d say a mere 0.01 percent. It’s not impossible, though.

Ahaha, Selian. If you suddenly couldn’t hear, it would be natural to feel anxious, right? So that’s it, isn’t it? So, shall we go to the Temple for some healing magic together? I can escort you now!

“……”

…To whoever of my father might be somewhere out there! If you’re watching, give me a hint!

I absolutely cannot see Selian’s攻略 method. I assure you, attempting to攻略 Selian is a hundred times more difficult than攻略 the Demon King’s Castle. If someone were to ask me to bring back the Demon King’s head right now, I would have the confidence to do so before my tea cools down!

“Why aren’t you answering, Elysia?”

“S-sorry!”

Hyuh! In my haste to respond quickly, I bit my tongue and lost my poker face.

There wasn’t even time to feel the pain. I needed to quickly figure out why Selian was angry before her mood worsened.

What did I do wrong with Selian?

When we greeted each other on the way to school this morning, was it that I responded about 0.4 seconds slower than usual? Or was it when I encroached about 0.8 cm onto Selian’s desk during class earlier?

Or could it possibly be… that?

No, it has to be ‘that.’ If it weren’t, Selian wouldn’t be this angry. I’ve lost my mind. It was obvious I’d be caught, and yet I still did that…

I immediately bowed my head towards Selian in a confession.

“I’m sorry, Selian. That… you told me to take from the barrel last time, I pretended to take one candy but actually took two! They were just so delicious…!”

It must have been expensive candy, so of course Selian would be angry about me taking two at once.

But back when I was an assassin, I could never have imagined such indulgences! The guild was poor, so I had no immunity to tasty foods.

Training for patience was limited to twisting fingers or performing things like plucking a nail or two, but resisting temptation was hardly contemplated.

I cautiously lifted my head to gauge Selian’s mood.

Selian’s eyes were sharp! The expression on her face showed disbelief!

Pattern 3 disengaged!

As fitting for a candidate hero to save the world, she seemed to show mercy and forgave my heartfelt apology.

“Hah… you’re free to eat as much candy as you want.”

Rather than just saying it, Selian immediately took out a piece of candy and placed it directly into my mouth.

Ugh~ sour! And sweet! Delicious!

“What I wanted to talk about isn’t candy, you know?”

Gulp.

“The candy talk… wasn’t it…?”

Feeling the sugar I consumed from the candy quickly depleting, I scrambled to think.

If it’s not this, then what the heck is the problem?

What on earth did I do, past me!?

“What about now?”

What are you doing, future me!?

Selian’s lips slightly pouted out.

“Why does Elysia use honorifics with me?”

Huh?

“Well, because you’re Selian?”

“What do you mean by that!? Wasn’t Elysia and I friends!?”

Father, who ignored my requests, can you hear me? Selian just recognized me as a friend.

“But don’t you use honorifics too…?”

“I naturally speak like this! I speak honorifically to everyone else! But why do you use honorifics with me while using informal language with Anne and other classmates?”

Thinking back, I realized I had been using informal language with almost the entire class. The only exception was when I talked to Selian.

“W-well… it’s because you’re special to me?”

Selian is someone I need to care for more than anyone else. I need to be careful not to upset Selian’s feelings, which is why I naturally kept using honorifics.

“Eek! Ah? Hehe!”

Teacher, Selian has malfunctioned. She suddenly started making some weird sounds.

Selian, who had been making some strange noise with her head down, suddenly shot her head up.

“Special treatment is nice, but it feels distant… I understand that Elysia thinks of me especially! So please talk to me casually!”

“Okay, got it. Selian. Is this fine?”

If that’s what our Selian wants, then I must comply.

But even with my response, Selian seemed displeased, reaching out her slender fingers to grasp and pull at my sleeve.

“Selie…”

“Yes?”

“Please call me Selie, not Selian.”

Now that I think about it, I believe she said that during our first meeting. Close friends call her by the nickname Selie.

“Sure! Selie!”

Finally receiving recognition(?) from Selian, I smiled deeply and sincerely called her by her nickname.

Mmm! I have no nickname for Selian at home, do I?

*

“Elysia~ Selian~”

Ta-da~ Anne returned from the refreshment stand, pulling out a bag of something that looked unfamiliar.

Anne proudly shook it in front of me, then ripped open the bag to pull out something small and compact.

With her tiny hands, Anne popped the item into my mouth.

Is it jelly today?

“How is it, how is it? What does it taste like?”

Ever since she fed me cake during our last outing, Anne had been enjoying feeding me like Selian.

At first, she mainly offered me small treats like candy, chocolate, and jelly, but at some point, it had become a competition between the two of them.

Forcing me to take a bite of the bread I was eating or sharing her side dishes during lunchtime, etc.

These two seem to think that as a former assassin trained in various methods, I would succumb easily to mere food, but they truly know me well.

As I mentioned earlier, I am weak against tasty things. Well, I used to eat nothing but bland food due to the poor finances of my assassin guild.

“But what were you discussing, you two?”

Anne seemed curious about what Selian and I were happily chatting about.

While asking, Anne took out a jelly from the bag, tossing one into her mouth, one into mine, one into Selian’s, another into mine, mine again, mine again…

“Ugh!”

“Hahaha! Elysia, what are you doing~? It’s so funny!”

Is this a new form of harassment? She made this mess and is now laughing at me. How rude. Such a naughty child deserves to be tickled.

Tickle tickle.

Even if he looks like a girl, a guy inside tickling a girl’s side seems a bit perverted, but with Anne, it’s just barely safe.

Anne feels more like a cute younger sister than just another girl. So that’s okay.

“Hehe! Hihihih! Stop! I’ll be good…!”

I enjoyed making strange sounds beyond just laughing, so I did not stop tickling.

Hoohoo!

Never underestimate me again! If I get serious…

Whack!

“Ugh!”

That perfect right straight from Anne I’ve seen before…

Fortunately, she ended with just one strike, but Anne continued to smack my back with her palm.

Wait a minute. Did I just get hit in the solar plexus? Really… I feel like throwing up…

“Ugh!”

*

Fortunately, no disaster of vomiting occurred. The moment I started to gag, Anne stopped hitting me, which saved me.

Maybe “saved” isn’t the right word?

Well anyway. I let the tickling and the hitting settle as a draw.

Although I still carried the impression of Anne stuffing jelly into my mouth as a prank, that’s just as sweet as the jelly itself, so it pretty much balances out.

Returning to the original conversation,

“Right~ Selie?”

Haha! How about that! I have just received the privilege of a nickname from Selian!

Anne, you have no idea who you’re dealing with!

“That’s right, El.”

Huh?

“If it’s El… then it must be me?”

“Yes. It’s Elysia, so El. Or is Elly better…?”

Considering I decided to call her Selie, it’s not wrong for Selian to call me by a nickname too.

Though Elly feels a bit too similar to Selie, which is a bit embarrassing.

“No, just El is fine!”

“Heh. Then I’ll call you El from now on?”

“Wait! What? Why did you two have this while I was away?!”

Flailing her arms dramatically, Anne tackled us.

“I want to too! I’ll call you like that! Selie! El! Selie! El! Selie! El!”

Anne chanted our nicknames over and over. Then she seemed to notice something and her eyes widened in shock.

“I… I don’t have a nickname…! Anne… Anne shortened… shortened…”

The effort we put in to calm down the muttering Anne is a story for another time.