Love Letter From The Future

Once again, dawn arrived.

The events of yesterday felt like a mere dream. Through my hazy consciousness, I fumbled for my canteen.

A heavy weight was conveyed to my hand as I grasped it. In a familiar motion, I quickly gulped the water down my throat.

Only then did my mind begin to clear a little. With a sudden clarity, I raised my upper body.

The events of the previous night began to replay in my mind. Though I felt dazed all day yesterday, retracing my memories, I realized I had accomplished quite a bit.

First, I had secured testimony that I had touched the Imperial Princess.

I also conveyed to Senior Elsi that I wanted to avoid meeting her for a while.

At that moment, Senior Elsi had looked quite pitiful, so much so that she almost clung to my collar while choking back tears. With a yearning gaze, she looked up at me and asked.

“Uh, is it because Elsi did something wrong? I-I’m sorry… I-I won’t! I promise, I won’t do it again… S-so, please don’t abandon me…”

In that instant, my heart almost wavered, but I steeled myself.

It was for Senior Elsi’s sake. A sigh involuntarily escaped my lips.

“Senior Elsi, it’s not like that. You know very well why this is happening…”

I patted Senior Elsi’s head one last time and turned my back. Yet, despite the fondness I had for this reward, tears were the only things that fell from Senior Elsi’s eyes.

Drip, drip, the sound of her sobbing reminiscent of raindrops hitting the ground resurfaced in my mind.

It was a painful sight to recall. I absently shook my canteen and took a swig of cold water.

Now that I think about it, even early in the morning, there was an incident.

I heard the sound of someone banging on the door periodically. At first, I thought it might have been a mistake, but after the commotion continued for nearly two hours, my patience reached its limit.

If they were intent on tormenting me, they had ample means to do so.

It seemed the other party wanted to gift me an insomniac night. So, I decided to reciprocate their kindness.

A surprise gift would suffice.

After holding my breath and staying hidden behind the door for a few minutes, I finally sensed someone approaching.

I stopped breathing to erase any trace of my presence. Just as someone was about to knock on my door, I abruptly pulled the doorknob.

A male student looked at me with wide eyes.

Behind him, a few other students appeared to be his entourage. I flashed a faint smile at them.

The hand that had been about to knock was abruptly yanked back.

Then, with a thud, the door swung shut once again. Even until the last moment, the group of male students failed to grasp what had transpired.

The male student thrown onto the floor looked up at me with a puzzled gaze. There was no need for him to stare at me like that, filled with curiosity.

My fist crashed into the male student’s face.

The sound of bone collapsing rang out as his nose crumbled, followed by the sickening crack of cartilage. The male student immediately clasped his face and screamed.

“Ahhhhh!”

Only then did I hear whispers from outside, followed by loud banging on my door. It didn’t matter.

The door was locked anyway, and if they lacked the courage to rip the door off its hinges, the male student’s fate was effectively in my hands.

I swiftly climbed onto his body and rained down punches.

Bang, bang, bang.

Just three punches were enough.

At first, the male student screamed, but with the first hit, he lost some teeth, and after the subsequent blow, he could emit only a sound that resembled wind, avoiding the use of his voice altogether.

By the time I delivered the last punch, his face was already covered in bruises. His whimpering tickled my ears.

“P-please stop… W-what did I do wrong…?”

I stifled a laugh, bemused. And then I punched him again.

Bang! My fist connected with the male student, who squirmed violently. I was about to throw another punch but held back. He didn’t seem to be from the Swordsmanship Department.

Making a mistake could result in death. I tried to calm my mind and asked the sobbing male student.

“Then why are you pestering people?”

“I-I’ll report you… Ugh, I’ll get you expelled…”

I broke the finger that was wiping away his tears. There was a crack, and his finger, bent backward, trembled.

In intense pain, he writhed once more. Only then did I smile lightly.

“You think someone who touched the Imperial Family would be afraid of expulsion?”

At that, terror was distinctly visible in the male student’s eyes, trembling as he looked at me.

He seemed unable to imagine that I would react this way.

This only puzzled me further.

Logically, it made no sense for someone who had touched the Imperial Family to be afraid of expulsion. Yet all those who came into contact with me mentioned “expulsion.”

The answer to my doubts came from the male student’s trembling voice.

“W-wasn’t it said that the Imperial Princess would spare you from expulsion?”

What a ridiculous claim.

The Academy’s traditions were long-standing, and the Imperial Family respected their authority. This had been the case since the reign of His Majesty Emperor Aidalos, one of the greatest emperors in the Empire’s history.

The Imperial Family had never once intervened in the Academy’s regulations.

Following this age-old tradition, it was a principle of the Imperial Family to refrain from involving themselves in incidents occurring at the Academy.

Even if a member of royalty were insulted, the same held true.

Unless it was a physical assassination attempt, there was no way the Imperial Family would step in over a mere water splash. Doing so would diminish the authority the Imperial Family had maintained for centuries.

Instead, the Imperial Family moved in a more indirect manner.

For instance, they might send one of the Empire’s five distinguished noble families or exert pressure by mobilizing various connections.

The method the Imperial Princess was currently employing in her response to me was not much different. Thus, the possibility that she had summoned the Academy’s Disciplinary Committee was nonexistent.

No gambler would wager on a hopeless battle. In any event, a judgment of self-defense would be inevitable.

It was wrong to splash water. However, it was far worse for someone to rush at me with a drawn sword. Thus, my response was justified.

After all, within the Academy, regardless of whether one was a member of the royal family, a noble, or a commoner, one was merely an ordinary student. Even if it was just nominal, the chances of the Disciplinary Committee ignoring such regulations were exceedingly low.

Therefore, the assertion that the Imperial Princess had intervened on my behalf regarding expulsion was fundamentally flawed.

Of course, if the Imperial Family showed a willingness to do so, it might be possible, but there was no obligation to do so for a princess who fell far behind in the line of succession.

Perhaps it would be different for the First Prince or the Second Princess, who were rumored to be strong candidates for the throne. But compared to them, Shi-en held little power or influence.

So, I could only harbor more questions.

It was true that most noble families in the Empire were blinded by loyalty towards the Imperial Family. However, that still didn’t explain the likelihood of such basic misunderstandings.

There was only one answer. Someone was spreading false information.

Now, the remaining questions were who, exactly, and why.

“Did the Imperial Princess really spare me from expulsion? Who said that?”

“Y-You used inappropriate violence against the Imperial Princess…”

“I only hit her bodyguards a little; I never touched the Imperial Princess herself.”

Yet the male student only looked at me with distrustful eyes.

Tch. I clicked my tongue.

I was certain now. Distorted rumors were circulating within the Academy.

However, as far as I knew, there was no organization within the Academy that had that level of coherence.

While a few influential families sometimes controlled the rumors within the Academy, they merely silenced others; they couldn’t fully erase the truth from spreading.

On the other hand, the attitude of the male student before me was entirely different.

He seemed to genuinely believe the information he had received.

If so, then there had to be an organization capable of burying testimonies from dozens of witnesses, all for the sake of the Fifth Princess, who was far from the line of succession.

I smiled wryly and delivered my final blow.

With a crack, the sound of his bones collapsing filled the air as the male student’s consciousness faded away.

His head drooped. Fortunately, he didn’t seem dead, as he was still breathing.

I rummaged through his possessions. Since my dorm was home to many low-ranking nobles, if he were also a noble, he would likely have at least a dagger for self-defense.

Indeed, I found a somewhat crude dagger. I placed the dagger in the unconscious student’s hand and then lightly grazed my cheek with it.

This met the minimum requirements for claiming self-defense.

Just as I was about to toss the fainted male student back outside, a gray piece of paper popped out from his inner pocket.

After a moment of silence, I picked up the paper. It was a newspaper.

[The Truth About What Happened on Central Avenue That Day! How Far Does the Imperial Princess’s Mercy Extend?]

It seemed I had identified a place I needed to visit soon.

I tucked the newspaper into my clothes and dragged the male student out. Then I opened the door and tossed him outside.

The male student’s companions, who were anxiously pacing outside, looked at me in shock. I gave them a slight smile.

“He was a bit violent. I was just trying to have a conversation, but he suddenly attacked me.”

They looked incredulous, but upon seeing their friend’s battered face, their expressions quickly paled.

The silence felt awkward, so I cleared my throat and added one last line.

“Tell anyone who wants to talk to me in the future to knock anytime. With that, I’m off.”

After that, no student knocked on my door again.

They should have done this sooner, I thought as I attempted to fill my canteen with water.

But my hand paused as a particular thought crossed my mind. My gaze subtly drifted toward a bottle of alcohol.

I remembered my freshman year. On days when I especially didn’t want to train or study, I would fill my canteen with alcohol instead of water and sip it throughout the day.

And today seemed like it would be particularly bitter.

After a brief hesitation, I finally grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured it into my canteen.

It was the beginning of another day.

Today, it was time to think about how I could retaliate against the Imperial Princess.

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