And then, winter came.

Graduation will be soon.  If one were to speak of large events left at school, it would be the graduation party.  As to what graduating students do, it is deciding on their paths for the future and passing their graduation exams.  That’s all.

“Well then, shall we have young Roland propose to you?!”
“No, wait?”

Even I, at the very least, am the daughter of a noble, if just barely.

As such, the option of leaving as a bride as Nora suggested is the optimal solution.  Roland, however, has the status of a baron.  Not only is he of a lower status than mine, he is also the second son.  It didn’t matter how estranged he was from his parents, they might have another use for… Ah, he may have already reconciled with them, or perhaps taken control of the situation?

Still, even if such adult circumstances were set aside, if someone were to say we have become close, then we had, in our own way, not that we did anything more than hold hands.   Neither discussions regarding betrothals nor about being boyfriend and girlfriend had come up either.

So, when I called for Nora to stop, she expressed her dissatisfaction without reservation.

“In that case, do you have a dream?  Will you inherit your own territory?”
“Rather than inheriting, I thought I would probably continue helping as I have until now… is what I had in mind.”

I would be a servant doing paperwork until the very end, doing miscellaneous jobs ranging from housework to territory management for that family.  Then, when convenient circumstances presented themselves, I would be married off for political reasons, probably to some narrowminded man for bride money.  Such was the future I envisioned…

At my ingrained reply, Nora spoke.

“Well, I won’t let that happen.”
“Eh?”
“Alright, let’s get going~”

The place Cecily forcefully went to was the Royal Capital’s Magic Research Institute.

“Excuse me~ ♪”
“Like I said, wait!?”

Of course, even if I called for her to stop from the bottom of my heart, there was no way she would listen.

To begin with, the Royal Capital’s Magic Research Institute was a place of employment everyone aspired to.  An elite organization where anyone could enter so long as they had the ability regardless of status.  One whose head wielded authority comparable to the castle’s chancellor.  Indeed, quite a few firstborn sons seem to have relinquished their positions as heirs in order to take on the challenge of becoming researchers here.  The prestige went to such an extent, that being a full-time staff member at the Royal Capital Magical Research Institute was considered an honor.

…Naturally, that included me as well.

Except… except I am withered grass without magical power?  There’s no way someone like me could be employed…  Actually, we came without an appointment.  There’s no way they will let us in!?

However, Cecily completely and thoroughly caused a scene.

And an acquaintance of hers was forcibly called out.

“…You really are free spirited, aren’t you?  As I thought, you do like me after all?”

Yes… the handsome young-man so famous I cannot even speak his name.  He was originally a staff member here… so now that classes have lessened, it follows that the time he spends here at his proper workplace would naturally increase.  Actually, we had bumped into him when we came to the royal capital during the summer break.  Cecily… or rather Nora, experience various things with him.

“I suppose that self-importance alone is something I can’t help but respect.”

Honestly, from my point of view, they are mutually in love.

Nora herself would absolutely never say so, but he is already absolutely special to her.  It’s to the level that even I, someone wholly ignorant about romance, can understand.  Yes, the reason she won’t accept him…it’s because Nora truly will disappear soon?

…Hey, Nora.  Are you really going to disappear?
…Is it not possible for the two of you to continue living together like this?  To get along forever?

Yet Nora, like every other day, didn’t show even a hint of harboring such feelings.  It was only to that anxiety of mine to which she didn’t respond.

“I want to take the employment examination.  Even without going through the formal procedures, if one has a letter of recommendation from a full employee, one can take the exam here at any time, right?  Could you write one for me?”
“If it’s your request, I’d write as many as you want…  However, I have no intention of recommending someone who will soon disappear from before my eyes.  But if it were for the section of my wife, then I’d write it even for just a single day.”
“That I absolutely refuse.”

Nora has told him that she will vanish before spring comes.  Of course, that also included telling him she is another person possessing the body called Cecily.  If anything, the famous handsome young man whose name I cannot say also investigated and discovered various things, and he was the one who helped resolve the eight hundred year old burden of Nora Noz… this however, would likely turn a story if seen from another’s perspective.

For now, this is my story.

“It is for my sake, but not for my sake.  There is nothing to worry about, for I am able to take any sort of exam.”
“Fuu~n…”

From just that phrasing, he surely understood everything.  The person whose name I cannot say gives a small laugh and turns on his heel.

“Fine, a recommendation for the notorious wicked woman of the era— rather than something written on paper, I’ll allow you to meet the director directly.”

“Well then, do your best after this.”
“…Yeah!”

Nora and I have also been together for quite a while.  I know that no matter what anyone says, it will not get through to her.  If she tells me to do something… then I’ve just got to do it!

Then, to start, I had to take a simple written examination.  I say simple, but that doesn’t mean the answers to the questions were simple.  The wording was straightforward, but they revolved around theories at the foundation of magic arts that have not yet been elucidated.  Regarding them… even though they caused me trouble, I think I properly wrote my own answers within the allotted time.

The director’s interview also somehow worked out.  Of course it was frightening, but… inside my own mind where there is no escape, with whom have I been speaking to everyday?  There are hardly any people more frightening than the “notorious wicked woman,” Nora Noz.

After that… only the crucial magic-power examination remained.  All that required was making the testing crystal shine.

No matter how much knowledge one has, no matter how well one is received by superiors, if the essential magical power is lacking, then there is no way one can work at the Magic Research Institute.  However— I am a woman who, until now, has been told that she has no magical power in magic-power examinations.

“I believe I’ve said this before, but… there is no such thing as a human without magic power.  Magic is something anyone can use, so long as they dream of its existence.”

From behind me, as I placed my hand upon the testing crystal, my beloved friend Nora Noz also placed her hand atop mine.

“I, who am nothing more than consciousness, have no magic power.  Magic power belongs only to living humans.  That is because the very power to imagine the future is the source of magic power.”

Yes— that was also something asked in the earlier examination questions.

The summary of my answer was this—magic power is confidence.

Thus, I poured out all the memories I had made since meeting Nora.

Nothing but unreasonable things kept happening, but Nora overcame each and every one of them full of confidence. 

That which I had always lacked, Nora had always possessed.

And it was the one thing Nora bestowed upon me.

The crystal before my eyes began to shine dazzlingly bright.  I succeeded.  It was a quantity of magic power so great that I didn’t even need to look at the examiner’s face.

“I did it… I did it, Nora!!”

Then, when I turned around— vaguely, I saw an extremely beautiful girl with a bright smile on her face.  I immediately realized that it was Nora.

“Congratu—”

She disappeared in the middle of her congratulatory words.

After that, my consciousness was never again able to hide itself away within my heart.  From within me, the notorious villainess of the era, Nora Noz, had disappeared.

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