The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character
Chapter 92: Librarian Ernest (13). Fake? Or Real?

After the exchange meeting, Eris’s position had become exceptionally solid.

Her performance in the mock battle, and the sheer dramatic nature of the process, had caused the already high opinions of those around her to lean even further into idolization.

At first, Eris had been happy too.

Her once-awkward relationship with her teacher had grown close again, giving her peace of mind, and from an academic standpoint, it was nothing but beneficial that public evaluations of her were so positive.

But—

‘...There’s a limit to everything, isn’t there?’

In her private dormitory room, Eris let out a deep sigh.

The reactions were just too over the top.

Even before, she had been highly regarded as the archmage’s disciple and the top student of the training school, but now, it had gone beyond mere praise—she was being revered, almost worshipped.

People would say that even just sitting absentmindedly on a bench made for a picture-perfect scene, or that she must be pondering the future of Ravellocia. Words she casually tossed out during conversations with other students were now circulating under ridiculous titles like “The Sayings of Lady Eris,” becoming a trend among them.

Honestly, it felt insane.

‘I should probably stay away from the school for a while.’

There wasn’t much time left until graduation.

The classes at the training school were becoming more sporadic, taking on a form closer to self-study, and rather than focusing on their studies, the students were spending more and more time chatting about their futures.

Well, to be fair, that might’ve always been the case—but the difference now was that no professors were bothering to stop them.

Especially for Eris, who had secured her admission to the Sky Academy thanks to her performance at the exchange meeting—if she just submitted a formal request, she likely wouldn’t be denied permission to study somewhere else instead of attending class.

Studying at her teacher’s home, which she had been avoiding for a while, might be a good idea. Or maybe scouting out the area around the Sky Academy wouldn’t be bad either.

Still, no matter what other options she thought of, her mind always returned to one particular place.

That quiet, untouched library where no one set foot.

And in one corner of that library, a certain librarian—calmly reading a book, wearing an expression that made it unclear whether he had any intention of assisting customers.

“...Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him since the exchange meeting.”

It couldn’t be helped.

There had been the reconciliation with her teacher, a summons from a high-ranking royal—she’d spent the past several days completely overwhelmed.

“Well, I owe him a bit anyway. I suppose I can repay the favor by increasing his sales a little. And maybe, along the way, I could humor that odd hobby of his...”

Dressing up her true feelings—“I just want to go see him” and “I want to share the experience of reading the same book together”—in an excuse that sounded reasonable, Eris lay down in bed, looking forward to tomorrow.

Or more accurately, she tried to lie down.

—“Oh my, is that really true?”

—“Why would I have any reason to lie?”

Springing up.

Eris shot up like she’d been launched from a trampoline.

She heard the voices of a man and a woman.

Cheerful, warm—like a couple having a secret rendezvous and sharing a pleasant conversation.

That in itself wasn’t the issue. Frankly, it was none of her business.

The problem was that the voices were painfully familiar to her.

Whip!

Eris yanked open the curtain.

Through the window, securely double-paned, she could see the backs of a man and woman.

Tall enough, with a slightly slender frame. Light suit. Curly blond hair.

She couldn’t make out any distinct features of the woman, but she could vaguely recall seeing her chatting with Ernest a few times in the library.

—“Ahaha, you’re really funny.”

—“I don’t think I said anything particularly amusing.”

Their voices and shadows gradually faded into the distance.

Eris bolted out of the dormitory on instinct and looked around hurriedly.

Just barely, at the edge of her vision, she caught sight of the two and began following them at a quick pace.

The woman looked genuinely delighted as they talked, and while Ernest wore his usual calm expression, the corners of his lips were slightly turned up.

Eris felt something unexpectedly surge up inside her.

She had seen that smile before.

But there was a world of difference between having that smile directed at herself, and seeing it aimed at a girl she didn’t even know.

—“As for Miss Eris, you see...”

Flinch. Eris’s body trembled.

—“Really? She didn’t seem that way to me.”

—“Well, you can’t judge a person just by how they appear, can you?”

She couldn’t make out the full content of their conversation.

But people could usually tell from the tone and nuance of someone’s voice what was being said.

The tone of conspiracies whispered behind someone’s back, of ridicule and scorn, of malicious rumors...

That distinctive slyness and irresponsibility of people spreading such things was oozing from their voices.

Eris trembled with a sudden sense of betrayal.

‘...Wait a second.’

She stopped in her tracks as a creeping sense of wrongness finally registered.

The circumstantial evidence was too perfect.

If this had been a scene from one of the books she had read, it would be the kind of setup that clearly signaled an impending disaster.

But for that very reason, Eris regained her composure.

It was too well put together.

Too convincing.

She just so happened to overhear someone speaking, it just so happened to be someone she knew, and that person just so happened to be talking behind her back?

No, even before all that—

‘—There’s no way I could hear people talking on the street from inside a dormitory room with excellent soundproofing! Especially when the window wasn’t even open!’

The moment she realized that, Eris instinctively cast a spell on herself.

"Magic to Awaken from a Shallow Dream."

A spell capable of dispelling lower-tier mental attacks and weakening more advanced ones.

Crack!

The moment the spell detonated, she felt a backlash, like a thin glass wall shattering.

When she looked ahead again, the figures in the distance were no longer Ernest and the girl who had visited the library.

They were complete strangers—men she had never seen before, with only vaguely similar builds.

Their faces were drained of color, and they now stood completely still.

Gone were the cheerful, friendly expressions they wore just moments ago. Now, they stared at Eris with faces frozen in cold, dead stillness.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Their mouths opened.

—“Discovered?”

—“Discovered?”

—“Discovered.”

—“Discovered, huh.”

—“Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered. Discovered.”

Eris instinctively took a step back.

And then she noticed it.

The voices weren’t coming from their mouths.

They were—

—whispering right by her ear.

“Ugh...?!”

Disgust and horror surged through her. Eris wrapped herself in a barrier of flame as if to shield her own body.

As she did, the voices receded, then burst into manic laughter.

She turned toward the sound with wide eyes.

Malik Grimloon.

The very person she had knocked flat in a duel not long ago, now stood grinning like a clown as he looked directly at her.

“Aaah, come on. That’s no fun. You caught on way too fast. I wanted to string you along a bit more, make you wail in despair!”

“You...! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“What the hell? Isn’t it obvious? Revenge.”

Malik’s eyes widened—so wide it seemed like they might pop right out of his skull.

He looked less like a human and more like a reptile, or perhaps a dead fish. The sight triggered an instinctive wave of revulsion in Eris, and she stumbled back a step.

But just one.

Grinding her teeth, she pulled her wand from her robes and pointed it directly at Malik.

Courage in the face of fear, calm amid confusion.

Anyone else might’ve called it commendable.

Watching her, a grotesque contortion twisted Malik’s face.

But it wasn’t anger.

It was... disappointment. Or perhaps boredom.

“Yeah. This isn’t going to be fun after all.”

“?”

Before Eris could question him, the two strangers from earlier—who had seemed so distant just moments ago—let out inhuman shrieks and lunged toward her.

There was no time to think.

Instead of casting a spell to intercept them, Eris spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction.

She clenched her teeth.

‘I got too careless...!’

Considering Malik’s personality, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to attempt some kind of retaliation. But Eris had let her guard down, thinking everything was going smoothly.

Rushing out just because she heard someone she knew talking? Chasing after them without a second thought?

That was recklessly naïve. Even if she had been momentarily enchanted by magic, she had realized it too late.

Still, if she were to make an excuse—

‘When the hell did he cast the spell? And how did he manage it without me sensing a single trace of it?’

Eris was a fundamentally solid mage.

And “solid” didn’t just mean knowing how to cast spells well. It meant being skilled at detecting and reacting to spells cast by others.

But this time, she had fallen for the illusion without noticing even the slightest warning sign.

She had known Malik was talented, but... had he really improved this much in such a short time?

—“Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go.”

—“Come with me. Come with me. Come with me.”

The two figures chased after her, their bizarre chanting growing louder behind her.

This time, they weren’t whispering into her ears—they were actually speaking with their mouths.

That didn’t make it any less horrifying.

Even with her body reinforced by spells, Eris couldn’t gain any distance. They were fast.

She hesitated.

‘Should I fight back?’

Malik was nowhere in sight.

If he hadn’t caught up yet, this might be her only chance to take down a few of his allies.

But if he had caught up and was hiding his presence, the moment she slowed down to cast a spell, she might be stabbed in the back.

Then again, she couldn’t just keep running forever through these strange alleyways. Who knew how long they would stretch?

In the midst of that dilemma, Eris made a decision and turned down a side alley.

Just as the two figures rounded the corner and she prepared to unleash her magic—

“Pardon me for a moment.”

An arm reached out from the shadows and clamped over Eris’s mouth, yanking her back.

She struggled in shock, trying to bite the hand, elbow the ribs, stomp the foot—but the person didn’t budge an inch.

Moments later—

—“Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?”

—“Me too. Me too. Me too.”

The two shadows rushed past her, running off in the wrong direction.

Only once they had gone far enough did the person holding Eris finally speak.

“Try not to make too much noise. It’ll be a pain if they realize we’re here.”

The voice was far too calm for such a dangerous moment.

That familiar tone, that deadpan manner—it made Eris’s eyes widen as she turned to see who it was.

Librarian Ernest.

He was right there.

“Y-you... are you real?”

“If I’m real, then I’m real. If I’m not, then I’m not. Either way, does it really matter? In the end, believing is just something people choose to do or not.”

“...The most memorable opening line from the book you read recently?”

“‘I’m utterly fucked. That was the conclusion I reached after careful consideration. I’m fucked.’”

He was real.

Eris exhaled a sigh of relief.

“This situation—”

“I know you probably have a lot to say, but if you trust me, follow me. We don’t have time.”

“...Where are we going?”

“The library. I can’t really use my strength properly anywhere else. Of course, if you don’t trust me, you’re free to go wherever. Reaching out to the professors at the school wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

His tone made it clear—he was leaving the choice up to her.

But that, in turn, earned her trust.

Compared to the crude illusion from earlier, this was unmistakably Ernest-like.

“...Alright. Let’s go. To the library.”