The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 383: Side Story: Elizabeth: The Beginning of the Rift

"Good morning, Your Highness Elizabeth..."

"Hello, Your Highness the Princess."

"Hello, Your Highness."

Within the quiet library, small, whispered greetings and salutations passed through the library filled with books and rotating stands. But the greeted lady didn't speak, merely nodding with a greeting smile. In passing, she held up an index finger, signaling that this was a library and one should constantly maintain quietness.

It turned out to be an extremely young and beautiful lady, wearing a milky-white swan gown. A pair of slender legs was hidden beneath the dress tail resembling pure white feathers. Small feet outlined by long white stockings were simply enclosed in exquisitely crafted princess boots.

Looking at her face, it made people feel it was even more flawlessly exquisite...

A pair of gentle and spirited pale golden eyes flashed with the luster of intelligence. The golden hair knot spiraled upwards, tied into the relaxed daily style most favored by the young misses of Saint-Nazareth.

So noble yet not feeling distant, so gentle yet not lacking dignity. Of such a female, not a few had ever appeared in the entire nation, and once one appeared, people would definitely first compare her to this Highness Elizabeth in their hearts.

In fact, not only did the students of the Royal Academy so love and respect this eldest princess, the people of Naris did too. Even the Schwalians, who were currently at daggers drawn with Naris, knew the title of this "Pearl of Naris."

But right now, her footsteps were light, slowly heading towards a familiar direction, as if she had walked this path for a very, very long time. Passing through quite a few bookshelves, in a small room by the window, the first thing that appeared in Elizabeth's line of sight was a stack of books piled quite high.Sweeping her beautiful eyes over them and counting them down, astonishingly all of them were profound and abstruse academic tomes resembling heavenly scripts.

"In-depth Discussion of Magic Dualism Theory," "Loopholes of Magic," "High-Tier Magic Arts"...

Walking a bit closer, she finally discovered that besides this stack, there was another equivalently heavy stack of books placed on the other end. All of them in sequence were books on philosophical discussion. Elizabeth even saw a tattered, hand-copied original scroll placed on top of that stack of books.

Elizabeth had just wanted to reach out and take that book when a calm male voice abruptly transmitted from behind,

"Don't move it."

Elizabeth's movements came to an abrupt halt, and a touch of helplessness towards someone being insensitive to romance instantly appeared on her face. But by the time she turned her head back, that smidge of helplessness on her face had already turned into a gentle smile,

"This is the 'Amoheid伦理 Manuscript' placed in the deepest part of the tomes room, currently the earliest surviving original philosophical manuscript book in Naris, right?"

At this moment, appearing before Elizabeth was a handsome young man, but his expression was somewhat cold and stern. The clothing on that man's body, just as before, was merely a white shirt. Elizabeth knew that the classmate Fisher before her constantly only had two spare daily outfits in his dormitory year-round.

She heard from the students of the Magic Academy that the suit he wore to attend the end-of-term scholarship ceremony was even borrowed from his roommate...

Mm, as for why Elizabeth would know the situation of the wardrobe in Fisher and Tlander's rented house?

This, of course, was a lady's secret, not easily made known to outsiders.

"You've read this tome?"

As expected, if one spoke of other matters with Fisher, his expression wouldn't have such an obvious change. Only revealing a knowledge of learning to him could stimulate his desire for knowledge.

Fisher raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Elizabeth like this and asking.

A complex look of "Just you wait, kid, I've got you wrapped around my finger" appeared in Elizabeth's agile gaze. But on the surface, she merely raised her head and said to Fisher rather plainly,

"That's a given. Principal Dami'an was Royal Father's Minister of Military Affairs when he was young, and my relationship with him is very good. Not only have I read the Amoheid manuscript, I've even read the original magic tomes that flowed out from the Kadu Cathedral?"

"I see... He told me the magic manuscripts were collected within a magic protective barrier, and taking them out would damage the originals, so he wouldn't let me borrow them. I didn't expect it was just because my status wasn't high enough to borrow them."

Fisher shook his head rather disappointedly, sitting amidst that pile of tomes. And Elizabeth also smiled quietly and sat opposite him. Subsequently, she took out a "Modern Military Theory" book from her schoolbag; this was the textbook for the course she was currently taking this semester.

Although this book already counted as one of the top few in difficulty among the major academies, clearly compared to the books the professors were currently studying and pondering over on Fisher's desk, it naturally wasn't enough to look at.

In the entire Royal Academy, only the genius Fisher Benavides could manage to study three degrees simultaneously while still having ample energy left over. The old professors from the College of Philosophy frequently ate meals with him, and Helson even took him in as his first personal student. May I ask who else in all of Saint-Nazareth could obtain such a special honor?

Although Fisher's personality seemed somewhat eccentric in the eyes of ordinary people, otherwise he wouldn't frequently criticize to Elizabeth that the courses of the Grand Mage Helson had problems.

However, the more eccentric the better. Fisher's appearance was already extremely outstanding; if his temper were a bit better on top of that, wouldn't every lady be fighting with her for him?

Speaking of this, Elizabeth's gaze quietly raised up, looking at the handsome youth close at hand. He attentively read the ethical tomes on the desktop, effortlessly absorbing the recorders' arguments, continuously pondering them in his mind until he produced refuting or agreeing viewpoints.

Yes, Elizabeth had a secret. she had fallen in love with the eccentric classmate before her, Fischer Benavides.

Driven by appearance?

But Elizabeth was the eldest princess of Naris; what kind of handsome youth hadn't she seen? Ugly ones weren't even allowed into the Golden Palace to dirty her eyes, not to mention she herself was a matchless beauty in the world.

Driven by talent?

Perhaps only a lady like Elizabeth who spent day and night with Fisher truly understood the reality. Perhaps there indeed were people cleverer than Fisher in Naris, but such people absolutely weren't as diligent as Fisher, and absolutely didn't possess the same love for knowledge and truth as him.

If one really had to say, what truly attracted Elizabeth was the eager, kind heart hidden beneath Fisher's cold and stern face.

Elizabeth cupped her face, smilingly looking at Fisher's visage, as if seeing his beating heart through his expression.

His life was strapped for cash yet not lowly, not pursuing secular wealth, not fearing secular power, unknown to the public pursuing the goals he had set for himself, yet still able to maintain a feeling of respect towards the demi-humans and animals in the tomes.

When Elizabeth gradually deepened her understanding of Fisher, it was like arduously climbing a giant snowy mountain, and ultimately discovering such a beautiful snow lotus at the summit; she was that excited and thrilled.

"What are you looking at?"

Mulling it over, perhaps never tiring of looking, Elizabeth's fervent gaze made Fisher unnaturally uncomfortable. He was seen sighing, putting down the book in his hand, and simultaneously looking at Elizabeth.

Upon being discovered, Elizabeth wasn't shy either. Instead, she naturally shifted her line of sight, pointing at the cup beside him,

"I forgot to ask when I came, do you want to drink coffee?"

"...Actually, it's you who wants to drink, right?"

"You found out. Then will you help me brew some?"

Fisher shot a glance at Elizabeth, subsequently slowly standing up and walking to the shelf beside him. On top of the shelf were ground coffee beans. Fisher set up a funnel and filter mesh to brew coffee to drink. Elizabeth didn't bring those expensive apparatuses from her home either, letting Fisher play to his strengths.

Elizabeth cupped her chin, her legs swaying as she watched Fisher's back. The golden eyes reflected bits of faint light from outside the window, as if her entire eyes were lit up by Fisher's figure.

"It's done. Take your time."

"Thanks, Fisher. Your coffee is truly the best-tasting coffee in this world, bar none. Every day after class coming to the library, I hanker after this sip of yours~"

"Your baristas in the Golden Palace are all crying worrying about unemployment."

Fisher lowered his head and blew on the dispersing hot mist in his own coffee cup. The coffee's temperature couldn't be too scorching hot either; the first sip after being blown by cool air like this tasted the best.

"However, even masters receiving the highest salary in the country and possessing the highest coffee-making skills wouldn't be able to produce this taste. Because in their eyes, I am the eldest princess, the first daughter of His Majesty the King, but not Elizabeth in Fisher's eyes, right? Only coffee made with Fisher's perspective and Fisher's hands is the coffee most befitting Elizabeth, and also hits the spot for me the most."

Fisher's motion of wanting to taste the coffee halted slightly, and for the first time obvious ripples were produced in his gaze, as if emotional fluctuations were produced because of her sentence. He raised his head to look at Elizabeth, only to find she was simultaneously looking at him as well.

Hot air continued to surge up. The coffee Fisher had just spent effort blowing on for a long time missed its optimal tasting time. He gently set the coffee down, and then not knowing what to say, had to reply rather stiffly,

"...It's good that you like my coffee."

Regarding Fisher's response, Elizabeth wasn't surprised in the slightest. Or rather, for Fisher to be able to say such words was already enough to make her thoroughly satisfied.

Her smile was rather warm, and her agile gaze was filled entirely with Fisher. Taking a shallow sip of coffee, she abruptly asked Fisher with quite some interest,

"That's right, next weekend is the quadrennial 'Griffin Race' right away. Will you participate?"

"Griffin Race?"

Fisher knew about this matter, but he extraordinarily didn't want to meaninglessly show his face in public. Participating in the Griffin Race also required making certain preparations, and at that time during the Griffin Race he would also have to debate with other classmates, engrave magic concepts, fight, etc...

Having this bit of time, he might as well go ask Principal Dami'an to lend him the original Kadu magic manuscripts for research; it's possible he might be able to obtain more results.

"Mm, the Griffin Race, a competition held once every four years... but if it's Fisher, I believe you could definitely obtain the championship very easily, right."

"No, I don't want to waste time at all."

Elizabeth cutely pouted. Although she loved Fisher very much, she might still have a bit of a headache regarding his personality, especially this appearance of excessively hiding his clumsiness and maintaining a low profile.

Please, I am a princess. If you keep maintaining such a low profile, how am I to talk to my Royal Father, how am I to account to others regarding our matter?

Sighing, Elizabeth's eyes lit up slightly. Subsequently, while turning her head to the side, she sighed with quite some regret,

"What a pity. What if I said that if Fisher obtains first place I will agree to any one request of yours?"

"Any one request?"

Fisher opened his mouth, asking thusly.

"Yeah, no matter what request you make, as long as it isn't too excessive, I will agree to you... 'Elizabeth's Universal Request', mm, would saying it like this be a bit better?"

Fisher's heart moved slightly, looking at the bright, lovely princess resembling gold before him. Actually, speaking up to here, he already wanted to participate in this Griffin Race. But at the end of his words, he still asked one more sentence,

"Then is it to say, if I don't participate, no matter who gets first place you will give this universal request?"

Speechlessly, Elizabeth stretched out an index finger, excessively crossing the midline of the table, gently touching Fisher's forehead. Within his rather dark line of sight, before he even reached out to grab her hand, she had already craftily shrunk back,

"What are you thinking? Of course this universal request only takes effect for you; otherwise how could I only say it to you? But then again, a qualified Naris gentleman cannot just harbor talent without displaying it, oh. Since you are an extremely outstanding person, then you must uprightly let the world know, shouldn't you?"

Actually, how could Elizabeth's implication not be obvious enough?

If as an ordinary person without any background, without any money or status, wanting to stand equally by Elizabeth's side and make others feel they were a good match, no matter what he had to prove himself.

Fisher fell silent for a second, abruptly making a decision in his heart that violated his original introverted character of hiding his clumsiness. He wanted to participate in the Griffin Race, and obtain first place. Not only that, he wanted the entire Royal Academy, all people who might hold status in the future to know the name of him, Fischer Benavides...

"Alright, I will go sign up for the Griffin Race."

Elizabeth's smile grew increasingly brilliant, and even her throat unconsciously began to hum a ballad, appearing thoroughly delighted that Fisher had agreed to her request,

"In that case, on the weekend..."

But before her words were finished, the door of the library reading room behind her abruptly opened, revealing a bespectacled girl from outside with quite delicate and pretty looks.

Hugging books, with one glance she saw Fisher and Elizabeth inside. Subsequently, she immediately gave a respectful curtsy towards Elizabeth,

"Good afternoon, Your Highness."

Although the curtsy was done towards Elizabeth first, Elizabeth's expression gradually became somewhat gloomy and cold down, because she clearly saw that the female student's gaze fell upon Fisher's body first, and furthermore lingered for as long as a second.

The affection and attention faintly revealed in that gaze, as a lady, how could Elizabeth not understand?!

"What's the matter? Classmate Casse..."

"Ah, Senior Fisher, it's like this, this is the book I borrowed last week, specially coming over to return it to you."

"You didn't need to specially run over. Don't we have the same class next week?"

"Hey hey, but wouldn't that be too late? It's still better to come over and give it to you now..."

Better? Better?

Same class?

Elizabeth's expression was still gentle, but the fists hidden beneath the table had already been clenched tight at some unknown point.

Clearly, just earlier she was telling Fisher to openly stand in front of the public, but Elizabeth had ignored a fatal flaw issue regarding herself.

She never expected that an emotion named "possessiveness" would be produced within her heart.

Clearly, she could casually share any other things and items; clearly, from childhood to adulthood, she had been praised by her Royal Father and elders as the most generous and elegant princess...

But why, just seeing Fisher having a somewhat ambiguous conversation with other females like this, just seeing other ladies making sheep's eyes at Fisher, a ragingly burning flame seemed to want to thoroughly pierce her soul, causing her to burn with anger.

Elizabeth's golden eyes reflected the figure of that Casse. In her heart, the usually gentle, calm, and forgiving thoughts became unusually irritable at this moment.

Indeed, previously Fisher had always kept a low profile, so his good qualities fundamentally weren't noticed by others. In case other people discovered Fisher's good qualities and wanted to fight with her for him, what should she do?

Even if she was a princess, even if they couldn't possibly succeed in fighting over him, but just feeling they had Fisher in their hearts, that they kept looking at Fisher, Elizabeth's inner heart was exceptionally vexed.

Elizabeth's expression was calm, and her clenched hands had already reached the point of turning white.

All the other females knew the relationship between Fisher and herself; why did a girl lacking a sense of propriety like this suddenly pop out?

Was she declaring war on herself? Was she intentionally displaying such intimacy with Fisher in front of herself?

How dare she?

Such a simple thought effortlessly surfaced in Elizabeth's mind.

"Mm, I've got it, goodbye."

Elizabeth didn't even know when the conversation between Fisher and that female student ended, nor did she know when Fisher sat back in front of her again. She merely maintained a somewhat stiff smile, consistent with exactly how it was before that classmate came in.

"Elizabeth? What's wrong, are you feeling unwell?"

"Eh... no, I just, thought of some bad things."

Elizabeth, interrupted by Fisher's words, waved her hand, signaling she was fine.

But Fisher still didn't set his mind at ease at all. He just continued to lean a bit closer to Elizabeth out of concern, earnestly asking,

"Bad things, can you tell me? Don't keep these matters in your heart alone, saying it out loud might feel better?"

Looking at the handsome Fisher earnestly leaning closer, the irritability and unease in Elizabeth's inner heart, that terrifying possessiveness faded away bit by bit. She also slowly became calm, her heartbeat speeding up bit by bit.

Looking at the Fisher before her, a warm sense of security rose bit by bit in her inner heart, because the opposite party's gaze was telling herself that he belonged to her...

Although he was extremely outstanding, although he was very good, but he truly loved herself...

Was she being too sensitive? Should she not have thought like that just now?

Elizabeth instantly felt ashamed for that kind of terrifying thought just now. She was ashamed to tell the opposite party this kind of thought, so she could only warmly shake her head, saying,

"It's nothing, Fisher, I was just thinking about what we should eat tonight."

Fisher, however, sensitively perceived Elizabeth's insincerity. He shook his head, looking towards the direction the junior schoolmate Casse left just now, asking,

"Is it because of that junior schoolmate just now? Rest assured, Elizabeth, I understand what you're worried about, but I have already sworn to be loyal to our feelings, and will not do things that bring up unexpected complications... Look at me, believe me, won't you, Elizabeth?"

"Mm."

Elizabeth warmly gazed at the Fisher before her who exclusively belonged to herself. Naturally, she believed Fisher's feelings for her; they had always possessed each other with such tacit understanding this whole time.

But... she didn't believe that Casse who suddenly popped out.

Women understood women better. Elizabeth deeply knew, she was provoking her.

She should perhaps chat a bit with that junior schoolmate. She wanted to let the opposite party tactfully stay far away from her man; she didn't want anyone to step in between their relationship.

Mother Goddess be her witness, Elizabeth indeed only wanted to frankly and peacefully chat a bit with the opposite party, absolutely having no other thoughts.

But no one knew, her not telling Fisher and deciding to solve this matter alone would bury a monstrously huge hidden danger.

A fatal hidden danger that would rip apart the currently so beautiful feelings.