[Episode 7]
‘What kind of insane stunt is this?’
In that bewildering situation, I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Roxanne. That girl was looking this way with a strange expression. Ah, I was going out of my mind.
The Second Prince was still glaring at me with burning red irises. However, his gaze soon shifted away.
“What’s going on?”
Perhaps displeased that his fiancée had been caught up in an inexplicable commotion, the Crown Prince frowned and walked over. Watching the original work’s main leads trail along in a line like sausages just because one of them had come, I just wanted to faint.
The Second Prince instantly smoothed his expression—as if the sneer he had directed at me and Cedric moments ago had never happened—and smiled softly at his older brother. But the Crown Prince, still seeming displeased, pulled Roxanne, who stood before the Second Prince, behind him as if to protect her.
“It’s nothing. I suppose I’ve been away from the empire for too long. To the point that I couldn’t even properly recognize your lovely fiancée.”
As he spoke, the Second Prince extended his hand toward Roxanne, who was hidden behind the Crown Prince. His tone and expression turned cocky again, but his posture in asking for a dance was impeccably courteous, befitting a prince who had received an imperial education.
“I would like to ask the lady for a dance again, by way of apology.”
As if to say, to the *real* lady, the Second Prince glanced sideways at me again. Roxanne seemed slightly hesitant, but she soon smiled brightly, saying it was an honor, and took his hand.
Before I could do anything, the situation was settled. The music began again. The people started dancing to the cheerful music, slightly awkwardly at first. Not letting the opportunity slip while everyone’s attention was scattered, I hurriedly left the hall.
Only after leaving the ballroom and reaching a spot where I couldn’t be seen from the hall did I take off my shoes. They were low-heeled shoes made for easier walking to accommodate my uncomfortable leg, but shoes were still shoes; after walking for so long, my feet hurt.
I walked slowly down the dark, empty corridor. The cold marble stuck to my soles with soft clacking sounds. As I was limping along like that for quite some time.
“It’s been a while.”
I sensed someone approaching, and then a low voice echoed through the empty corridor.
‘…Is he talking to me?’
With a heart full of doubt, I turned around, and what first caught my eye was blonde hair that shone even in the darkness. An unwelcome person had followed me. Hiding my hands behind my back, I bowed my head and greeted him once more.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince.”
When I raised my head to look at him, the Second Prince was simply staring at me. Careful not to let him notice, I adjusted my grip on the shoes hidden behind my back. Even if it was slightly improper, it seemed better than showing him I was barefoot. Thankfully, my feet were well hidden by the dress. Whether he knew of my efforts or not, the Second Prince spoke.
“It seems quite a lot has happened to you, my lady.”
At his words, I couldn’t hide my stiffening expression.
‘No, you heard earlier. The lady isn’t me… Dietrich isn’t, I mean, it’s Roxanne.’
He had even said with his own mouth that he would ask the *real* lady to dance. But I didn’t have the energy to argue at length. I let out a reply like a sigh.
“As you heard earlier, I am not a lady.”
At those words, now it was the Second Prince’s expression that stiffened.
“…Is that so?”
“Yes.”
So please, just let me go. I gazed steadily at him with a tired expression. The cold corridor marble was gradually warming under the temperature of my soles. I said nothing more, and eventually the Second Prince relented and opened his mouth.
“…I see.”
“If you have nothing more to say, I will take my leave.”
“Yes. It is hardly polite to keep a lady standing barefoot for long. See you again.”
With those final words, he relaxed his expression, smiled playfully once more, and turned his back.
‘…Did you know?’
Overcome by intense embarrassment, I could only stare blankly at his retreating figure. Before I knew it, the Second Prince had walked far away.
With difficulty tearing my gaze away from him and turning my head, I saw a clock tower in the distance through the window. It was one of the oldest buildings in the Academy, and one of the tallest. Even from afar, its height was considerable.
Dietrich had thrown herself from that clock tower to her death.
I thought of the humiliation, the confusion, the anxiety that my past might be uncovered, and the moments I had been swept up in confusion over an unknown past, all experienced as Dietrich. I stopped in that spot and gazed at the clock tower shrouded in darkness for a long time.
My heart was weary.
***
He watched the woman’s retreating, limping figure. Her hair rippled in smooth waves, shimmering in the light.
He had recognized her from the very beginning. The existence he had waited so long for, the one that had become his reason for living for quite some time.
‘It’s her.’
From a moment he couldn’t even remember, that black-haired girl had become the reason for his life. His heart began to beat lightly. It must be the result of this long wait.
He tried to calm his quickening breath. Steadying his body, which swayed lightly under the surging emotions, he calmly gauged the feelings rushing through him.
Seen up close, she was more gaunt, looked more tired, and… more unsightly.
So his emotions were, so to speak, a rage filled with a sense of justification.
‘Finally.’
He brought his hand to his slightly flushed cheek. The moment had come when he could snap the neck of the existence he had long hated.
***
The Academy of the Thromphlay Empire was indeed befitting of an institution that represented the empire, with stately, old-fashioned buildings everywhere one looked. But even in that beautiful Academy, there were places one absolutely must not set foot in.
The original protagonist’s favorite places: namely, the greenhouse and the library.
Roxanne would study at the new building library, which was well lit by sunlight, and when she had free time, she would enjoy tea among the flowers in the greenhouse. It was said that when Roxanne drank tea in the greenhouse, at a glance one might mistake her for a fairy sitting among the brilliant flowers. Naturally, the male leads of the original work would loiter around the greenhouse to catch that sight.
Anyway, since the protagonist Roxanne’s range of activity was limited like this, I only needed to avoid the library and the greenhouse. Fortunately, neither was a place I had any business in.
Having grown accustomed to the biting wind of Heilem in Gangwon Province of Thromphlay, the greenhouse was too humid and hot for me. Especially since the Academy’s new semester was still between the chilly winter and spring, the greenhouse was maintained at a higher temperature than usual.
Furthermore, the Academy had two libraries. One was the new library in the new building that Roxanne frequented, and the other was the library in the old building that boasted a long history. When the library in the old building had been constructed, the building couldn’t support the weight of the books, so it was built underground.
With the new library in the new building, the heavy ancient texts were packed away even more into the old library. Perhaps because there were many old books and people didn’t visit often, only students who had graduated from the Academy and entered the academic institute would occasionally come to the old library.
Though no sunlight reached it and numberless motes of book dust accumulated over the long years floated in the air, the old library was one of the quietest and least frequented places in the Academy. In the dungeon-like old library, only the occasional groans of pitiable academic institute students, sounding like suffering creatures, would echo. Listening to their groans like white noise, I thought I had finally found a place I liked.
“Dietrich Degoff?”
But that silence didn’t last long.
“Yes?”
Startled by Dietrich’s name being called so suddenly, I looked warily at the blonde-haired female student standing stiffly before the desk.
“Ilene Horatius. I handle the accounting for the Academy student council.”
After the chaos at the ballroom, my chest would grow cold every time I saw blonde hair. I stared at the outstretched hand, waiting for the student before me to speak again.
“Ah… yes. But what business do you have with me….”
My first impression of Ilene, who spoke with an expressionless face, was that she resembled the Second Prince, Icarus, so much that it seemed as if he had appeared as a woman. Of course, comparing her to the Second Prince, who possessed not an ounce of refinement, Ilene felt mature beyond her years. Especially her eyes, a deep green like a dense forest; that noble light suited Ilene’s calm demeanor and tone well.
‘If I recall, she’s related to the imperial family, and her family is a count’s house, I believe.’
“The Academy student council traditionally recruits new members through a nomination system. Are you this year’s second-ranked student, Dietrich Degoff?”
While matter-of-factly explaining the Academy student council’s traditional cartel, Ilene stated that she was nominating me, ranked second, as an executive member of the student council. She added that traditionally, nominated freshmen are assigned to the department of the senior who nominated them for their first year, so I would be handling accounting alongside her.
In the original work, Elius, who had been a student council executive, had nominated his fiancée Roxanne as a new member. And since Evan had taken first place, he had probably been nominated by someone else and invited to the student council as well.
A student council bustling with the original work’s main cast was a place to avoid even more than the greenhouse or library. But truthfully, even if it weren’t for Roxanne and Elius, I had no intention of joining the student council.
‘Who would want to wear an official’s hat at school…’
Moreover, accounting in a world without Excel? You’d have to be crazy to take that on. Nevertheless, I opened my mouth, pretending to be deeply honored by Ilene’s offer while also feigning a lack of confidence.
“It is an honor to be invited. I am very grateful, but… I fear I am insufficient to take on the great responsibility of the student council’s accounting.”