"You… No! You're f-firing me…! You cannot fire me!"
The white-haired called out with actual fear, and the expression he was making finally made him look as young and innocent as he really was.
"I can, and I just did. By now, Adi has surely sent my decision to the duke. I believe that the church will supply you with funds, but don't worry - your severance pay will be quite a nice sum~"
Melinda shrugged her shoulders before winking at the youngster on the verge of a panic attack.
"You have nothing to worry about. Adi will bring you your things from the Sirius… you were given a proper room in the boys' dormitory, weren't you? Apparently, it's frowned upon when students of the Jade Academy aren't living in the dorms, after all."
The girl assured Zane as he was opening and closing his mouth, doing his best to say something but getting tongue-tied before being able to.
"Do your best in the new situation~"
"!!!"
Melinda gave him an encouraging smile and nodded, which worked on Zane like a bucket of ice-cold water.
"N--no. No! Please, my lady…! Melinda…! I am Melinda Fenrioette's servant! I have always been Melinda Fenrioette's servant…! You can't…! I can't…! I…! I…"
"..."
The white-haired young man took a single step forward and pleaded, trembling and about to cry, which made the gold-haired girl furrow her brows and make a troubled expression.
"You can't…! I… That's what I am! My programming…!"
Zane muttered, desperately rubbing his hands together and gritting his teeth, close to breaking apart.
"..."
"...!"
That made Melinda let out a worried sigh and approach him, reaching up her hand and touching his face, which made him freeze up with his distorted eyes - now trembling to boot - focused solely on her.
"Remember when you told me that now I'm Melinda and have to accept it? It's my time again to remind you that you are no longer a Restricted Artificial Intelligence Model, but an actual living person. You are a human called Zane. You aren't controlled or bound by any code or programming…"
Melinda smiled even more gently than ever before and explained.
"...that also means that at some point, we will have to tackle your backstory and find that bastard who experimented on you and made you the way you are… but, you know. Baby steps and all…"
She mumbled under her breath while glancing to the side with an intense gaze before hurriedly looking back at him and smiling while enjoying the closeness.
"The first of those steps is taking you out of the role of my servant. Mind you, I am not cutting off my ties with you, and I am definitely not forbidding you from talking and spending time with me. It's just that you are no longer duty-bound to do all of that now. Okay?"
Melinda declared and gently brushed her fingers against Zane's cheek once, stepping away immediately after.
"...I… I think I understand… but..."
"That's the spirit~"
Zane mumbled, and Melinda chuckled and winked at him before turning around to move to the door.
"Oh, and Zane."
"...yes…?"
She stopped with her hand on the door handle and glanced over her shoulder, making the white-haired young man breathe in as if readying for diving into the depths of the ocean.
"In the first place, I prefer a spicy relationship between an engaged exchange student and the champion of the goddess over the master-servant one... I mean, the former has a much greater chance of being officially recognized without some questionable abuse of power implications and all of that. The champion of the goddess is in a really high social position, after all. Think about it because I sure did~"
"!!!"
Melinda added while putting her hand to her mouth and tracing her lips with her fingertips before entering the girls' dormitory, leaving the blushing Zane outside.
—--------
The first two weeks at the Jade Academy passed very quickly. Zane and Melinda acclimated to the new environment quickly and made some surface-level friendships with their respective classmates.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Honestly, it wasn't even to the degree that Melinda's classmates dared to ask her about the EXP shackle.
But even so, the results of a handful of early quizzes and some good answers here and there began to give both the gold-haired girl and the white-haired young man a rather good public image.
Especially with Zane's slightly withdrawn but helpful demeanor and Melinda's open and friendly behavior, which didn't diminish the distinct aura of a high-class noble surrounding her.
"My lady~ It's morning~"
Adrianna entered Melinda's room with a warm smile to wake the gold-haired girl up as she did each morning.
"Today is the first lecture on the magic theory of the healing spells that you were so interested… in…?"
The brown-haired maid approached the bed and tugged on the blanket - only to be greeted by the sight of a pair of feet instead of the adorably sleepy face of her master lying on the pillow.
"My lady?"
Adrianna leaned back, surprised, and looked to the other end of the bed, tugging on the blanket in the opposite direction.
"...hnnngh…"
Resulting in an excavation of a grumpy gold-haired girl tightly hugging another pillow while glaring sharply into the distance, grumbling at being uncovered.
"My lady, what is going on? Are you feeling unwell?"
The maid worried and moved to the gold-haired girl, placing her hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
"I do, but not in that way."
Melinda didn't stop her but pointed out after Adrianna confirmed that she had no fever.
"Pardon?"
The maid asked, raising her brows in confusion.
"I'm having Zane withdrawals. He attends some additional activities his new position requires him to, so we barely have time to be around each other aside for some surface-level conversations during breaks..."
Melinda grumbled, glancing at the bracelet of the Scout - that Zane returned to her as he was required to leave their party - placed on her desk before tightening the grip she had on the pillow.
"I… fail to understand why that has become a problem now…?"
"..."
Adrianna furrowed her brows and tilted her head, which earned her a particularly sulky look from Melinda.