Urula Lavender.
She was the daughter of the Margrave Lavender House, which guarded the eastern border of the Aiwood Kingdom, and a transfer student who had enrolled in the Royal Academy only a short time ago.
She wore her purple hair in a short cut, and her features were as exquisite and well-proportioned as a bisque doll's.
On top of that, her face rarely showed any change in expression, making her seem all the more doll-like.
Her build was petite, much like an elementary schooler's, creating an undeniable sense of dissonance whenever she sat alongside the other students.
Most of her classmates shared the same impression of her: they simply had no idea what was going on in her head.
"Sniff, sniff..."
"...How on earth did it come to this?"
For some reason, that very same Urula Lavender was currently clinging to Lest's back.
Not only that.
She had her face pressed right against the back of his head, twitching her nose as she sniffed his hair.
The setting was their Academy classroom.
While Lest sat at his desk, Urula pressed flush against him, thoroughly savoring the scent of his scalp.
Watching the two of them seemingly flirting inside the classroom, their classmates shot dubious glances in their direction.
(Why did she become so attached to me...? No, can you even call this being attached in the first place?)
"Lady Lavender, could you please let go of me soon?"
"Lady Lavender, wrong."
When he offered a mild protest, Urula pushed back in a flat, monotone voice.
"Lady Lavender, wrong... Urula."
"............"
Did she mean he should call her by her given name instead of her family name?
Though Lest hesitated for a fraction of a second, he did as he was told.
"...Urula."
"Mm. I am Urula."
"Ah, right. You're Urula Lavender."
"Mm."
Once again, she buried her face in his hair.
No... what in the world was she even doing?
Wondering if some kind of sweet nectar was leaking from his head, Lest was left at a complete loss.
"Good grief... Again today, Rest-kun?"
"Lest-san... Today as well?"
"Viola, Primula..."
The ones calling out to him were Viola Rosemary and Primula Rosemary.
They were the two girls who served, for all practical purposes, as Lest's fiancées.
"Isn't clinging to each other in the classroom going a bit too far, no matter how you look at it?"
"Even if she looks like a child, this is excessive."
"Look... even if you tell me that..."
Ever since she transferred in, Urula had been acting like this non-stop.
Even though they had only just met, she stayed absurdly close to Lest, trailing after him everywhere he went.
Once, she had even tried to follow him right into the boys' toilet, which had caused him genuine panic.
"Urula-san, why are you clinging to Lest like that?"
"Scent. I like it."
Urula answered Viola's question straightforwardly.
Though taciturn and expressionless, it was not as though she was incapable of communicating.
"Rest-kun's scent?"
"Yes. Incredibly fragrant."
............
Viola and Primula exchanged a glance.
The two of them turned bewitching, predatory eyes toward Lest... sending a sudden chill racing down his spine.
"U-Um... What's with the weird looks, you two?"
"Rest-kun... Would you mind letting us have a little sniff as well?"
"Lest-san. Just a little bit—it'll only take a moment."
"Wait... WHAT?!"
Lest was thrown into genuine panic.
While he did not know her actual age, Urula looked like a child on the outside.
Even when she clung to him, he did not feel any particular sense of guilt.
(But... with Viola and Primula...)
The two of them were normal, fully grown young women of his own age.
If anything, their figures were far more distinctively womanly than the rest of their female classmates.
(Having both of them press up against me is really bad, isn't it...?)
"Come on, Rest-kun. It's fine, right?"
"Is it truly no good, Lest-san?"
"Ugh..."
However... when faced with the two of them looking up through their eyelashes and pleading, any words of refusal simply died in his throat.
Was this what they called the weakness of being in love? Before he knew it, Lest was nodding.
"...Fine. Just a little bit, okay?"
"Yay! Don't mind if we do!"
"I shall have a sniff. Sniff, sniff..."
"Whoa..."
Viola and Primula pressed in from both his left and right.
Their warmth... their distinct fragrances enveloped him.
And then came the unmistakably soft sensations pressing against his shoulders. The moment he realized what they were, a sweet, tingling shiver shot right down Lest's spine.
"Sniff."
"Sniff, sniff."
Right beside his ears, they inhaled the scent of his head.
Embarrassed, flustered, ticklish... Lest was left utterly bewildered by a fluttering sensation unlike anything he had ever felt in his life.
"I see. Not bad at all."
"It really is a strangely addictive scent."
The two shared their impressions.
While he was relieved not to be told he stank, being praised for it made him feel weird in an entirely different way.
"Mm. Fragrant."
Urula chimed in with absolute confidence, puffing out her chest as if taking credit for the whole thing.
Why was she acting proud, as if it were her own accomplishment? He really wished she would stop unilaterally laying claim to another person's head.
"Um... class is about to start, you know..."
As Lest and the girls held their suspicious little gathering in the corner, an instructor who had entered the classroom unnoticed spoke up with an exasperated sigh.
Academy life with Urula around was, for the most part, exactly like this.