Volume 2 Chapter 12 Stone Diviner Apprentice, Struggling
A few days after meeting Mister Eliseo in town, I received a letter from my teacher.
It was a formal request asking me to officially practice stone divination.
I wonder if my teacher really wanted to marry me enough to write a letter.
But with a face and voice like that, there's no way he wouldn't be popular.
Why can't that guy get married?
"Hey, Rolus, why do you think Mister Eliseo can't get married?"
I asked Rolus, who was reading the letter beside me.
"I don't know."
"He's good-looking and has a nice voice, and while he's strict when it comes to studies, he's kind otherwise."
However, he didn't seem to have a romantic partner, so I figured he was completely single.
"Elena, do you want to marry Mister Eliseo?"
"Huh? My husband is Rolus."
"Oh, no, let's set that aside for now. If I weren't here..."
"I can't imagine a life without Rolus."
"...Me too!"
Oh, Rolus looks a bit angry.
I teased him too much.
I understand what Rolus is trying to say.
In other words, he wants me to talk about a hypothetical scenario where I met Mister Eliseo in a world where I never met Rolus.
"Well... if I were around the same age as Mister Eliseo, I might go for it."
"If you were around the same age, huh?"
"Yeah... no, I mean, I'd feel weird about Mister Eliseo hitting on a student."
Well, according to my mother, Mister Eliseo seems to be a hidden character, so if the story followed the otome game scenario, he might end up with Flora.
But still...
The idea of Mister Eliseo hitting on a student... with a stunning beauty beside him... well, it might look good visually, but still?
"...Are you really that troubled?"
Rolus looked exasperated as I furrowed my brow and thought hard.
"It's not so much that I'm troubled, but... maybe I'm unintentionally deifying Mister Eliseo."
"Deifying?"
"Yeah. After all, Mister Eliseo resembles Lady Ruby."
It's precisely because he resembles the revered Lady Ruby that I might feel reluctant to let him get paired off with some random woman.
"Elena really likes Ruby, doesn't she?"
"Yeah, I love her."
I adore both the real Lady Ruby and the one from fiction.
"...As for Mister Eliseo, who resembles Ruby..."
"Mister Eliseo? I think he's a good teacher. Though, I do find it a bit strange that he keeps trying to stubbornly teach me pest control magic."
"Is that so?"
"Oh? Oh my? Could it be that Rolus is a little jealous?"
Smiling slyly at that, Rolus went wide-eyed before turning red.
...Was that reaction really an unconscious jealousy!?
Ahh, my husband is the cutest in the world.
But still, it's best not to let Mister Eliseo see these kinds of exchanges.
Showing this to a single man who can't marry could really hurt him deeply...
"S-so, when is Mister Eliseo planning to come?"
Rolus, unable to hide his flushed face, hurriedly tried to change the subject.
"Hmm? It seems like it'll be a little while. He's quite busy."
The letter says he won't get a full break until almost a month later.
Teachers really are busy, huh?
Now that I think about it, the teacher has been around since before I arrived at the academy, and he never leaves before me──I've never seen him looking free.
Speaking of which, it was only recently that we met on the town street for the first time.
...With such a busy schedule, can he really get married?
If he ends up with a troublesome woman, won't there be an incident of "Which is more important, me or work!?"
"...If Mister Eliseo is going to get married, he probably has no choice but to quit being a teacher...?"
"Elena, don't you think it's sad to see a teacher like Mister Eliseo getting involved with students...?"
"No, that's not it."
No, it's not!
That's not what I meant!
"I was just thinking that maybe he can't get married because he's too busy with work."
"I see."
Then, would it be better for him to marry a colleague who understands his work...?
But if they're both busy, there might be a problem of "Is there any point to our marriage?"
"It's a divorce..."
"What?"
"Rolus, what should I do? Am I going to have to give Mister Eliseo some sad news...?"
"We haven't done the divination yet, and it's probably not good to pessimistically speculate about Mister Eliseo's future."
...That's true.
"You're right. It won't do to be pessimistic all the time. Hmm. Maybe we could introduce someone who can support him."
I'll introduce an adorable single girl who's a good match for him and arrange their marriage.
If Rolus and I keep him company instead of being busy, he won't feel lonely, and if he tries to run away, we can catch him.
...Sounds good?
No, that's not good.
Because that's like making him a prisoner.
"It's difficult..."
"Is it really that hard to have such a tragic air about it?"
"No matter how you think about it, Mister Eliseo ends up in a pitiful situation."
"No, that's why, we haven't even done the divination yet."
...That's right.
"Well, you know. If we do the divination, we might find someone really good nearby."
"Nearby, which means it could be a student."
"If the fortune says it would be good for him to marry a student... I might just ignore that result..."
"No, that would be the saddest thing."
It's not good to put my feelings first and lie.
That's true.
Even if the best match for him is a student, if it makes him happy, I must congratulate him.
I don't worship him, I worship Lady Ruby, so it's not right to impose my ideals on him.
Even if the teacher's best partner is a student, if the teacher is happy, he must congratulate him.
I worship Lady Ruby, not the teacher, so it's not good to impose my ideals on the teacher.
As I told myself that, Ilda came over.
"Would you like some tea?"
It seemed that while I was worried about Mister Eliseo's future, tea time had arrived.
"Ah, I think I shall."
Since I was going to have dinner at the teacher's place, it would be just right to head to the teacher's mansion after having tea.
"Understood."
Ilda smiled brightly at us before heading to the kitchen.
"...A girl like Ilda would probably end up happy if she married Mister Eliseo."
"Huh?"
At my mutter, Rolus tilted his head.
"She's kind, cute, and modest, so don't you think she won't cause any problems?"
"Well, yes, but Ilda is younger than Elena, isn't it like going after a student?"
"Well, age-wise, yes. But Ilda isn't a student at the academy, so it won't be teacher and student."
"Such a strange fixation."
...The sound of "going after a student" might be unpleasant.
"Yeah. Either way, we still have some time before we can predict, so let's think it through."
"Sure."
At that moment, I was so busy imagining the poor future of the teacher that I wasn't aware.
The position the teacher was in was... well, more complicated than I had imagined.
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