Time of the Blind Beast - Special Side Story 1

The Awakening Beast’s Misunderstanding

So it was never supposed to come to this. In truth, the beginning had been very simple.

“Headmistress? Headmistress, are you here?”

Knock, knock. At the sound of someone knocking on the office door, Lisanne, who had been reviewing neatly organized school records and accounting reports, lifted her head.

“Come in.”

At her permission, the door creaked open. Poking her head in shyly was a girl in her mid-teens with blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Hello, Headmistress. Um, my name is Rose.”

The girl introduced her name first. Sitting comfortably, waiting for the student to speak her purpose, Lisanne couldn’t help but react at hearing the familiar name.

Rose. That was once the alias she had used. In fact, it was also one of the most common female names. So common, in fact, that every year there was always at least one Rose among the incoming students.

Wasn’t that precisely why Akenaus had given her the alias Rose? So that she wouldn’t stand out, so she would leave no impression. But the year she had lived under the name Rose remained an unforgettably vivid memory for her. For a long time afterward, whenever she heard someone call out “Rose!” she would turn her head without thinking.

Now that the scars of the past had fully healed, even her husband occasionally called her Rose. Especially on nights when he blindfolded her with a handkerchief and called her Rose, it was no different from a warning that he would not let her go until late into dawn.

“You once said during composition class that we could always come to your office if we needed help…”

Rose, standing at the door, fidgeted nervously. Lisanne quickly hid the flood of memories stirred by hearing that name and smiled kindly.

“Of course. Do you need help with something?”

“Yes. Well, I want to send a letter, but I think I need your permission… The dorm mistress keeps scolding me, saying no. I’m not writing anything bad, so I don’t know why I can’t.”

“Is that so? Who are you writing to?”

“To a friend back home. Well, not just a friend. We promised to marry when we grow up. His name is Heinz.”

Only then did Lisanne realize the blush on Rose’s cheeks wasn’t just shyness. When she herself had been a student at this very school, she had seen many classmates exchanging love letters with lovers left behind in their hometowns. This young girl, too, wanted to send her boyfriend a letter sweet and red as roses, as sugary as candy.

“Sit down here.”

Unlike the dorm mistresses, Lisanne believed there was no need to be harsh about students’ romances. She knew well from her classmates that those who wanted to write letters would find a way to exchange their secret words, no matter how strict the teachers were. Besides, Lisanne herself constantly wrote letters to her husband. Even now, while reading the school’s management reports, she had been thinking of what news to send him.

“As it happens, perfect timing. A courier will be coming soon. If you want to send a letter, I can have it sent along.”

“Really?”

Rose’s face lit up as she sat on the sofa in the office.

“Thank goodness. I wanted to send him one of Shakespeare’s sonnets we learned in class.”

Clearly very fond of Heinz, Rose had even brought prettily pink stationery with her. It was the kind of girlish charm unique to her age.

After helping Rose choose an appropriate sonnet from the book, Lisanne sat by the window and looked outside.

In the northern frozen land where winter lingered endlessly, snow was still falling thickly today. Once, she had grown so used to this long winter it had felt natural, but after living in the capital and the west with their mild seasons, she was once again struck by the severity of this land’s cold.

Of course, she was never cold in the school. Especially in the headmistress’s office of Milena Girls’ School, which Ezekiel had designed with the greatest care. Rugs covered the entire floor to keep warmth from escaping, and the fireplace and chimney had been redesigned for better heating. He had never forgotten Lisanne’s story of falling ill after the dormitory chimney collapsed. Because of Ezekiel’s insistence that any place his wife stayed must always be warm and secure, Lisanne never had a chance to feel the cold. Even now, the fireplace on the wall blazed brightly, filling the room with warmth.

At times, even now, this entire scene felt like a dream. To have married the noble officer who had once saved Milena Girls’ School from the enemy, and to now serve as the headmistress of that very school. Life, sometimes, flowed in directions one could never have imagined.

“The surviving students and teachers returned to their hometowns, and Madam Milena, the headmistress, has decided to close the school. But in my view, since that place holds memories and meaning for you, what if we were to purchase it and run it ourselves? What are your thoughts?”

Her husband, Ezekiel, who had completely changed her life, was a soldier among soldiers who could not rest easy until he kept every promise he declared with his own hand or mouth. He purchased Milena Girls’ School, reinforced its damaged facilities, and strengthened border security so Davis’s spies would never again dare to cross the border. Then he reopened the school under the name Lisanne Girls’ School, naming it after his beloved wife.

Though she had her own school to manage, Lisanne’s time in this office was very short. Only when Ezekiel led his men to the harsh northern lands for winter training did Lisanne accompany him as far as Cielsa, where the school was located. There she waited for his training to end, overseeing school affairs and occasionally stepping in to teach classes in the teachers’ stead. During other times, a representative hired by Ezekiel handled the headmistress’s duties and submitted regular reports.

Still, she couldn’t help but worry.

Was Ezekiel doing well in the extreme training?

Though he cared so much for his wife’s health, he never took proper care of his own body, and she always worried about him.

“I only hope he doesn’t get hurt…”

Still, a courier would soon come with news.

Her anxiety, however, could not compare to his. Even though he had rebuilt the school into a strong and warm refuge, even stocking emergency food that would last a whole season and constructing underground tunnels where students could hide if danger ever came, Ezekiel constantly sent couriers to check on her well-being.

Messengers frequently coming and going from the school would once have been unthinkable. In the past, Milena Girls’ School had been so isolated that the students called themselves nuns. They had been so cut off from the world that when war came, they nearly perished together without ever receiving word of evacuation.

But now it was entirely different. The soldiers guarding the border all knew the school’s location by heart, and the Valdemaira family frequently sent supplies to ensure the students lived in comfort. Especially while Lisanne was staying at the school, abundant foodstuffs and even chefs were dispatched, allowing the students to enjoy unexpected luxuries.

“Ah, I got it wrong again.”

Copying out a sonnet, Rose made a distressed face. Lisanne looked at the girl.

“What’s wrong?”

“I keep making spelling mistakes. I only have one sheet of stationery left now…”

Sure enough, several crumpled sheets of stationery already lay discarded. Seeing the girl’s effort, having even dyed the paper herself, Lisanne felt pity and took the pen from her.

“This isn’t really proper, but just this once, I’ll write it for you. Next time, try not to get nervous and write it yourself.”

To my dear Heinz.

Beginning with the greeting Rose had chosen, Lisanne’s hand flowed smoothly, copying out the poem in an instant. Rose’s eyes grew wide with admiration at the graceful handwriting.

From faraway Cielsa,

I send my tender heart to you alone. Rose.

After writing Heinz’s address and name on the envelope and the school’s address and initials as the sender, the letter was complete. Since Rose hadn’t prepared a seal, Lisanne dripped wax from a candle and pressed her own seal into it, fastening the letter firmly.

“There, all done. Now off you go. When the courier arrives, I’ll ask him to deliver this letter.”

“Thank you so much!”

The girl fluttered out of the office after giving her thanks. Lisanne handed both her own letter for Ezekiel and the one she had written on Rose’s behalf to the courier who arrived.

But the courier, so accustomed to delivering Lisanne’s letters and recognizing her handwriting, didn’t bother checking the recipient’s name or address. Seeing only Lisanne’s signature, he delivered the love letter directly to Ezekiel.

That was where the misunderstanding began.