I Start with a Bad Hand!

“…You’re the salutatorian?”  

On my first day entering the student council, that was the first question I received, and I instantly knew.  

This place wasn’t normal either.  

“Why?”  

I wondered if it was due to the poor nature of the academy, or if it was this title that was the problem. The nobles of the academy tended to have a twisted aspect to their characters. This male student, who introduced himself as Aiden Douglas, was no different. I felt his gaze briefly touch my legs before falling away.  

“…Is your question how I became the salutatorian?”  

As I questioned back, unable to fathom the intention behind his question, Aiden responded with a snicker.  

“No, it’s because it’s impressive. From that rural domain, and with such… physical condition to become the salutatorian of the Royal Academy.”  

It was about the leg that was injured, not the head, but I didn’t understand why he connected the two, yet I casually responded and moved on.  

“Yeah. Thanks. I also think I’m pretty impressive.”  

As I walked away, Aiden looked dumbfounded. In fact, I had been worried about something else that seemed trivial compared to such malice.  

Like Roxanne, who had been looking for a chance to speak since earlier.  

“We met at our restaurant that time! I actually wanted to talk more…”  

My prediction was spot on. Roxanne quickly approached, grabbed my hand tightly, and continued speaking with sparkling eyes before I could even respond.  

“You seemed so busy I couldn’t dare stop you. But I’m glad we could meet like this! When Senior Irene Horatius mentioned appointing this year’s salutatorian as a student council officer, she brought up a name I hadn’t heard before. I didn’t know it would be you.”  

Honestly, I was really surprised when you came in with the senior. I thought a burly boy would enter. Roxanne said this with a beaming smile that warmed the surroundings.  

‘But it seems that wherever I go, my name always comes up.’  

I nodded to Roxanne’s words, thinking, ‘I see.’ It really seems the naming sense of Baron and Baroness Degoph is extraordinary…  

After that, Roxanne continued to ask me how I was whenever we met. She held my hand warmly, speaking in a kind tone.  

‘How can this be? This is what it must be like to be a protagonist.’  

As we awkwardly held hands, I looked at Roxanne with a vague smile, and every time, the prince would gaze at us intently.  

Surprisingly, he was always beautifully unfluctuating. Every time I looked at the prince, I reaffirmed my taste for calm and subdued men. Not that I had any intention of getting involved with him, though.

When the prince looked at me, or more precisely, at the hand Roxanne was holding, and it became uncomfortably burdensome, I always carefully withdrew my hand from hers. And, as naturally as possible, I would pat Roxanne on the shoulder or make some excuse about Irene to slip away quietly.  

Each time I did so, Roxanne visibly deflated, and the prince, though his face remained expressionless, seemed to harbor a slightly colder look.  

‘Do one thing, you idiot.’  

Being close caused a stir, and trying to distance myself caused a stir, so it was better to just stay away. Fortunately, these two problematic individuals rarely came out once they entered the student council president’s office.  

My office, the finance room, was a small room tucked away in the corner. It was a bleak place where no one visited unless it was related to budget issues, where Irene and I maintained an oppressive silence.  

‘I might be like this, but why doesn’t Irene, who comes from a ducal family, have any friends to hang out with?’  

Though it’s called a student council room, other kids would occasionally bring their friends… After observing for a few days, the reason wasn’t hard to find.  

“There’s absolutely no related experience, and what does a background in theology classes and managing a magic tool shop have to do with inviting this person as a guest lecturer? I can’t justify allocating budget for this.”  

“Use surplus funds to stock snacks in the student council room? No.”  

“The floral decorations for the spring ball. The budget you submitted and the quotes I received from suppliers differ. It’s not the first time either; what are we even doing here?”  

As one managing the finances, there were endless budget-related issues to deal with, and it seemed that Irene was not one to be swayed by persuasion or flexibility. Thanks to this, our environment was completely isolated from the bustling outside.  

I found that, that was…  

‘So comfortable… and nice!’  

The finance room, barely lit by sunlight due to the tall bookcases, was cool and quiet. Sipping tea Irene had shared, I reviewed the handover documents. If student council life was like this, it seemed entirely manageable.  

After the tumultuous days passed, life at the academy became quite stable. Apart from attending classes and following Irene on student council duties, I spent most of my day either studying in the old library or shooting arrows at the archery range. Fortunately, both the library and the archery range weren’t frequented by many people, so I could enjoy a relatively quiet routine… or so I thought.  

It seemed not only the weather was thawing. The hearts of the academy students seemed to loosen as well, and I began to notice a peculiar atmosphere emerging in the glances of the students passing by.

When the freshmen, still tense and frozen from their recent entrance, roamed about, it seemed they were unlike the sophomores and juniors who had just reunited at the academy after a break at their respective homes. Perhaps their longing grew during their time apart, as they sought secluded corners within the academy grounds where only they could exist. It seemed one such chosen spot was the old library.

“Didn’t you miss me?”

“Uh… don’t ask that. You know.”

“I won’t let you go until you tell me.”

“What, really. Ahaha.”

Everyone can hear you, kids…

It was unpleasant to overhear the private whispers of strangers in a place where only the rustle of pages should be heard. It seemed the people in the library either didn’t think others could hear them or treated them like NPCs who wouldn’t mind overhearing.

Seeing pairs enter and then leave separately with flushed faces, I could understand why the scholars I used to encounter in the old library had gradually disappeared like ghosts. They had learned through a few encounters that during this period, the old library served functions beyond just being a library. As if reaching enlightenment after witnessing the continuous in-and-out like a conveyor belt sushi, a man passed by my desk. Just another one passing by, I thought as I turned a page, but then the same student returned and stopped near me.

“Dietrich?”

…Someone who knows Dietrich?

I looked up at the male student who called out Dietrich’s name. Oddly, my heart sank the moment I looked at his face.

The student before me was ordinary. Naturally, he couldn’t compare to the faces of the main characters or the second prince, but even considering that, his features were just about right, positioned where they should be. His face, pale like flour, and his blotchy blond hair were somewhat striking.

What was strange was my body’s reaction, or rather, Dietrich’s body’s reaction.

My heart had never raced this much, not even when I saw Cedric, and I’d never felt nausea rise like this. The involuntary physiological repulsion was so strong it even caught me off guard.

‘What’s going on?’

As the nausea overwhelmed me, my head began to throb painfully. I had never experienced such sudden pain in reality, and I was at a loss for what to do. Unable to respond, the man continued awkwardly.

“It is Dietrich, right? I was unsure. Hey, it’s been a while. How have you been?”

The man seemed to be examining my expression strangely, as if trying to gauge something. I wanted to respond to that pasty-faced man, but I couldn’t hold back the nausea any longer. I tried to stand up hastily but ended up falling from the chair with a loud thud.

In the quiet space, the sudden noise echoed loudly, and I could hear the librarian approaching with a reprimand. The headache was getting worse by the moment.

“Ugh.”

Finally unable to hold it back, I emptied my dry stomach. Fragments of Dietrich’s memories, which had remained faint since I entered this world, surged forward.

With a splitting headache, I gasped for air and vomited again as if coughing. The pain of acid rising burned through my stomach, and I couldn’t gather my senses.

The librarian, who had approached by then, carefully supported my body and examined my complexion, asking what was wrong. I looked past the librarian at the male student standing awkwardly behind him. His pasty face, mottled blonde hair, and lips that twisted whenever he was shocked. The face of this student was vividly retained in the sudden influx of Dietrich’s memories.

“…!”

On the day Dietrich fell down the stairs, this man had been there.

Logan Usher. The third son of the Usher baronetcy and the family’s troublemaker.

And something like Dietrich’s ex-boyfriend.

I say ‘something like’ because this guy had never formally dated Dietrich. Holding hands, offering a shoulder, a light kiss. All these had happened before any relationship could be defined between them.

Logan’s parents, the baronet and baroness Usher, tired of their youngest son’s antics even before he reached adulthood, had sent him off to the countryside of Heylem under the guise of recuperation. Thus, Logan, one of the few noble ‘spare children’ contributing to Heylem’s finances, met Dietrich, who was confined within her own castle in the lordship.

For Logan, who had nothing much to do in a remote countryside, the fact that a girl of his age lived in the lord’s castle was quite intriguing. Over several days, he threw pebbles at Dietrich’s window, coaxing her out. After several days of persistence, Dietrich, unable to curb her curiosity, finally opened the window.

The Dietrich that appeared, as you know, was a girl with a romantic comic appearance rare in the countryside. Logan must have seen her pale face peeking behind the opened window and her hair sparkling in the moonlight, and it was obvious what happened next.