I reincarnated as the Duke’s only blind daughter - Chapter 9 Part 1

My face heated up to Emilia’s extravagant complement… However, why do I feel like she is just faking it?

 

“I see that lady Emilia is agreeing to help me?”

 

“Of course I am! Princess, you are so cool! To think that you are searching for the criminal  despite your blindness. I can’t help but admire you, Princess!”

 

 

After giving praising comments like every time, Emilia dropped her tone.

 

“Where did you leave the stamp?”

 

“I think it was around the wrist.”

 

“Hm, so it’s the wrist… More than that, how awful his Highness was! The accident happened because his Highness wasn’t with you at that time! You are too kind to him, Princess Alicia!”

 

“You…think so?”

 

“Yes I am!”

 

I was taken back by her sudden straight comment. Maybe because they are close with each other, the more strict they can think of each other the better, but why did this make me uncomfortable…

When I felt like I couldn’t continue on with the conversation anymore, Karl, who seemed to be in a good mood, came closer to me.

 

“Alicia! We finished the charity booth near the school’s gate! The event is not planned so I thought everyone would notice if we did it there.”

 

“Really? That’s great!”

 

I was so happy that I took Karl’s hands and held it tight, then swung up and down. Facing me, Karl talked to me in a serious voice.

 

“If this worked out, it could leave a big impact on the academy.”

 

“Eh?”

 

“To be honest, until now, the open campus was only being held to entertain the students and the nobles. And to give and to give this event a social dimension is a first for this community, no one ever did that? We need to thanks Aramic for this great idea.”

 

“Yes, we should!”

 

Agreeing with his words, I faced Karl and gave him a smile.

 

Not so long after, I went and stood at the booth that everyone had already prepared before. To express my gratitude, I gave everyone who donated my best smile and shook their hand. We didn’t notice but when we did, there was already a long line of people waiting in front of the booth.

 

I felt like an idol.

 

“We appreciate your warm support. Thank you so much.”

 

I don’t know how many people I shaked hands with, but I didn’t feel anything, even a little bit of heat when I held their hand tight.

 

We stood by the booth, shaking everyone’s hands until the end of the open campus day. However we couldn’t catch any suspicious individuals in the end.

 

“You worked hard. Are you alright?”

 

Karl gave me a cold drink to me who finally had a minute to catch some breath. We couldn’t figure out anything, even a little bit of information regarding the criminal. On the other hand, the amount of money we collected was beyond our expectations.

 

“It’s my first time doing a shaking hand event.”

 

As I playfully answered back, Karl suddenly roughly grabbed my hand. Uh? Was he angry?

 

At that moment, because I was shaking hands with a lot of people, my hands got red but that little bit of heat on my hand soon disappeared.

 

“You are always reckless. If you shake hands with that amount of people in a short time, of course your soft hands would become swollen.”

 

“Thank you, Karl. It feels good.”

 

To Karl who was getting grumpy because he worried about me, I closed my eyes and gave him a smile to show my gratitude.

 

“I don’t have a say in this, don’t I? You won’t listen to what I say anyway. I casted healing magic and sterilization spells on you so you will be alright now.”

 

“Sterilization?”

 

“Of course it’s a must!”

 

“Ah,…yes…”

 

Feeling like I shouldn’t ask anything further, I obediently stayed still, receiving his treatment. Karl seemed to get that I understood his worries, he returned to his usual self.

 

After feeling better, I tightly held his hand and together, we reviewed the whole situation again.

 

“So in the end we couldn’t figure out the criminal…”

“Yes, I don’t think the bad guy who assaulted you would have a kind heart to participate in this kind of event.”

Karl regretfully sighed.

 

Not far away, I heard sir. Aramic’s voice and other people’s footsteps were coming closer.

 

“They’re here! Karl! Princess Alicia!”

 

“Aramic! What is going on?”

 

“What are you talking about? Of course all of us are here to make donations!”

 

After finished what he said, Aramic put some money inside the donation’s box.

 

“Alright then, I will receive the honor to shake the Princess’s hand as a reward, will I?”

 

“Of course! Thank you so much for your donation!”

 

I stood up, took sir Aramic’s hand and shook it happily.

 

“Come on! Aren’t you guys also going to make a donation? Erick! Mikhail! Emilia!”

 

“Uhm”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Yes!!”

 

The three of them input the money to the box in order, then after that, they moved and stood in front of me.

 

My body naturally reacted and grabbed their hands.

 

“Thank you for your support!”

 

“Ah..”

 

“Yes! We made it! Isn’t it great, princess Alicia”

 

Sir Erick was so shy that he couldn’t properly reply to me. Compared to him, lord Mikhail was thinking so positively, he even shook my hands up and down several times.

 

“You too, lady Emilia. Thank you for your support!”

 

“It was my pleasure, princess!”

 

Emilia then squeezed my hand, I gave her a handshake and also touched her wrist like I did with everybody else.

 

“?”

 

“Princess Alicia, what’s wrong?”

 

Even after she let go, I froze in a shaking hand posture. Her wrist was hot.

 

“Stamp..?”

 

I was stunned.

 

Emilia then lowered her head, in a small voice that only I could hear, she softly spoke to my ear.

 

“Princess, how about you stop playing around and return back to the original plot?”

 

After saying that, Emilia distanced herself from me and went to where sir Aramic and everyone’s voices direction.

 

I was left alone. Shocked by her words, I couldn’t move an inch but stood there.

 

What did she mean? What is the original plot?

 

I squeezed my hands tight, remembering the feeling I felt when I shook her.

 

I certainly felt the heat, but it was so small and blurry that I couldn’t bring myself to make the decision. And there was something off that made it different from the one I usually made. But the familiarity of the stamp when it recognised me was there. However, Karl, who was standing beside me did not say a thing. If Emilia was the criminal then he would have noticed the light and told me right away.

 

I impatiently called him.

 

“Karl, just now… did you see the light?”

 

“Eh? Emilia? No, there was no light. I would know immediately because your stamp would shine bright. What’s wrong with Emilia?”

 

“No, it’s nothing… Maybe I was mistaken.”

 

Because I’m blind so there is no way for me to confirm things. Karl even said that there was no light… So I was… wrong?

 

It was certainly a really light heat, I must be mistaken.

 

Without any satisfactory explanation, the first day of the charity event ended just like that.

 

After we returned to the villa, I couldn’t feel the stamp’s reaction anymore from the usual kind Emilia. However, instead, I felt something similar to a trace left behind where I first touched her.

 

No way… That sweet and innocent… Emilia?

 

I can’t believe it!

 

However it didn’t lighten up, so I must be mistaken…

 

With those confused feelings, I continued to participate in the charity, carrying out my duty to shake hands with everyone who made a donation like yesterday.

 

The time limit for catching the criminal was until the second day’s midnight, there was so little time for me to think.

 

I certainly felt the trace of Emilia’s stamp, the thing she told me before was suspicious but there was no supported proof to point out that she was the criminal. The most important thing was that Karl didn’t see any light, and I couldn’t bring myself to think that a person like her would do something so awful.

 

I couldn’t help but want to search for more.

 

As my mind was full of those thoughts, I stood in front of the door inside the head building. I did my best to knock on those thick doors even if I couldn’t see anything.

 

“Come in”

 

I could hear a voice which belonged to a middle aged lady and after that the door automatically opened. The room I went to was the office of the academy rector.

 

“Pardon me.”

 

I straightened my back, lifted my head up and walked in.

 

“Are you the lady of the Holstein Duchy house?

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

I got nervous at her simple question, and had a hard time to swallow

 

“I heard you are looking for me?”

 

“Yes, I would like to talk to you about something.”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“…Please let me enroll to study here!”

 

I went straight to the main topic, what I was here for. After a short silence, the rector finally  replied quietly  to me.

 

“Your enrollment has already been decided and we informed you of the final result 3 years ago already.”

 

“You have. However, I am here to ask you again.”

 

“…I also heard that someone assaulted you yesterday. You experienced something so horrific here but still want to study in the same place? Let me hear your reason.”

 

“That’s the reason! I want to catch the criminal. It was a shame that I couldn’t figure out the criminal in these two days. But I have a trace which can lead me to the criminal. I just want a little more time.”

 

“Only for that?”

 

At her cold voice, I pushed myself to continue.

 

“I also want to study magic. I want to make friends. At the open campus event this year, I understood that if I kept staying inside the Duchy residence, I would wear myself out. 3 years ago, I thought going to school was just a normal thing. However, now I really want to study magic with everyone else, and learn more about its connection here.”

 

“Is that so”

 

The lady didn’t move at my answer, but at that moment someone else knocked on the door behind me.

 

“Excuse my rudeness.”

 

“Karl?”

 

Hearing his voice, my body reflectively turned back to face the door. This is my own problem, and I surely told him that I will have a talk with the academy rectorf alone. He must have been worried and decided to come.

 

“It’s  about her enrollment. She has my recommendation.”

 

“Your highness Karl?”

 

“It is because, I believe she is worthy to become one of the students of our academy. Despite her blindness, she always gives her best. To be honest I still have my worries of her being attacked again, so she is not the only one who wants to find the criminal. Not to mention that even when she was in that bad state, she opened a charity to support the unfortunate children.”

 

“The charity that everyone was talking about …was lady Alicia’s doing?”

 

“Yes! She came up with the plan, we only helped. The whole idea belongs to someone else, but making the donation successful was Alicia’s achievement.”

 

I realized Karl, who was coherently speaking in front of me, was not the usual Karl I knew . I would like to learn more about him at school.

 

When I thought about that, the rector who was deep in thought finally replied.

 

“About the plan you made… It worked as the amount of donations received was important. Moreover this received a lot of compliments from the participants.”

 

“Eh?”

 

Her comment was so sudden that it surprised me. However, she then sighed deeply.

 

“Lady Alicia, can you take responsibility for your actions?”

 

“Of course! There are times that I still need the help of my personal maid, but I would never cause troubles to other students!”

 

“Right now we do not yet have any information regarding the one who attacked you. Of course our side is also working on the search, and we are looking more closely at the security problem too. However there is no warranty for your safety for now.”

 

“Yes! I promise not to be alone. I will firmly follow the rules.”

 

“I see… I cannot deny a person who made the charity booth a success, am I?”

 

I swallowed my saliva again.

 

“However, you cannot enroll in our academy as a student right now. How about enrolling as an auditing student?”

 

“You say…as an auditing student?

 

“Yes, that’s right. You still need to pass the enrollment test, however if you pass you can take any classes you want.”

 

After thinking for a while, I understood what she said but not all of it. Karl then tapped my shoulder and gave me the explanation.

 

“Alicia, just like what the rector said. Auditing students need to take the enrollment test, but after that you can choose whatever classes you like. And you don’t have to take tests like other students. However, there will be no graduate certificate. The system was created for foreign students who come here for a limited time. I think it fits you the best.”

 

Now that he explained, I indeed have 3 years blank, even if I enroll here as a normal student, I wouldn’t have enough credits to graduate.

 

I was so sure in my heart and made a decision.

 

“I see …, I don’t mind becoming an auditing student! Whatever, please allow me!”

 

I deeply lowered my head towards the direction I believed that it was where the rector   was sitting. After a little silence, I was surprised by her gentle voice, which contrasted with the one I heard from the beginning.

 

“I understand. Then let’s quickly finish all the paperwork. Bring me the passed result test then I will accept you in our academy. I’m looking forward to seeing you as a student here.”

 

First I have to pass the enrollment test , I accepted her offer to become an auditing student.

 

ーーーー

Tikki：Finally something is happening!!!!

I really want to see how she is gonna fight against Emilia… I really just hope that Karl will trust her and that there will not be misunderstanding… Because then I don’t care!!!!! Let’s abandon Karl if he doesn’t trust her XD

Heaven: I’m exciting too T.T I have 0 trust on Karl right now because he said he has no interest in rumors before (҂◡̀_◡́).

I’m like, Alicia is blind and being surrounded by those fake ladies and you didn’t even care? lol my rants… forgive me XD