I Start with a Bad Hand!

“Dietrich.”

Normally, I would have immediately pulled away in surprise, but having left the Baron’s house, it had been a while since I felt warmth and I quietly remained in that person’s embrace.

It was strange. He always appeared out of nowhere at moments when I was rolling on the ground, vomiting, soaked in rain…

“Pick up the bow.”

The resonance of a low voice and the vibration coming from that person’s heart flowed into my body. The steady rhythm reassured me. I steadied my breath and straightened my posture.

My fingertips no longer trembled.

Thud, the arrow I released hit within the circle of the target.

I slowly lowered the bow I had raised, finally feeling somewhat relieved. But it was time to go back to the way things were.

I turned around abruptly, looking up at him warily. Unlike me, who had been soaked in the rain for a long time, he seemed fairly intact. Glancing under the shelter at the archery range, there was a jacket and an umbrella that seemed to belong to him, tossed aside. I looked up at him without avoiding his gaze.

“How did you get here…”

“Walking around with such a deathly look, I thought you might really just collapse somewhere.”

Despite the mocking tone of his reply, his voice was earnest. Looking at him, who gave a similar reason as he had in the classroom, I responded calmly.

“You seem to take quite an interest in dying people.”

At my words, he visibly flinched for a moment, but then smirked and replied,

“Yes, I’ve seen many people die around me.”

Ah, that made me suddenly remember that he had been traveling through war zones since he was young. I couldn’t help but recall it, as countless scars were visible beneath his drenched school uniform shirt. I quickly spoke to shift away from this awkward moment.

“You have many scars.”

As if saying this to the prince of the empire, I pretended to look elsewhere.

“Just because one is of the royal family, it doesn’t mean they can dodge every blade that comes to kill.”

His tone carried a strange tinge of amusement. However, he seemed to notice me shivering again, as he walked over to the shelter, picked up his school jacket and umbrella, and draped the jacket over me as if to cover me.

Truth be told, it would have been better to just shiver in the cold than to wear the prince’s coat, and I was about to give it back to him when I suddenly remembered the vividly exposed upper body full of scars. It was obvious what condition my top, which had been under the rain longer than Icarus, would look like.

“Madness…”

In the end, I decided to keep his coat on. With heavy steps full of despair and embarrassment, I walked slowly, and he paced himself to match my slow stride. We were leaving the archery range and heading towards the practice yard when he softly called my name.

“Dietrich.”

He no longer called me by my title, but by my name. I thought to myself, ‘It really takes getting yelled at to be heard,’ and responded,

“Yes?”

He called my name but then fell silent for a while. Just as I was about to ask what he wanted,

“I… I apologize.”

“What?”

His unexpected apology startled me as if I might jump. It was something I never thought I’d hear from Icarus. My reaction, as if written in my eyes, seemed to embarrass him even more as he stammered,

“At the entrance ceremony ball… I was rude to you because,”

I didn’t realize then that you had difficulty with your legs. Even when I saw you walking from behind, I just thought the shoes were uncomfortable and that’s why you were dragging your feet.

‘…being bad at dancing and then openly humiliating someone is certainly something to apologize for.’

Anyway, it seemed he surprisingly remembered that he had embarrassed me with a dance back then. Caught off guard by his apology, I didn’t know what to say. A fluffy feeling stirred inside me, and I couldn’t easily speak. Finally, I chose my words carefully and managed to say yes, but the atmosphere became even more awkward.

As we walked in silence for a while, I suddenly remembered leaning slightly against his chest. I really must have been out of my mind; looking back, I couldn’t understand why I had acted that way, and a self-derisive laugh trickled out of me. The Second Prince glanced at me. Then, playfully laughing, he placed his hand on his chest as if recalling that moment. I was surprised by his almost intuitive perception and tried to compose my expression before saying,

“Just wondering if Your Highness is really human.”

“Really? Even knowing I’m called a murderer…”

“No, not that.”

He raised one eyebrow as if encouraging me to continue.

“It’s just… curious. A prince from a fairy tale… no, a prince right in front of me.”

Royalty always seemed so… distant. He chuckled as if amused by my words.

“That’s a strange thing to say. It’s not like we just met.”

Of course, we had met before, but feeling his heartbeat and his body warmth was a different matter entirely.

“Of course, we met at the ball, and a few times in class…”

At that, he suddenly stopped walking and looked at me.

“What are you talking about?”

He frowned, and I looked back at him, puzzled by his reaction. Before we knew it, we had reached the front of the academy building.

“I thought you remembered as well.”

Icarus closed his umbrella, still frowning. However, I was even more confused about what he was talking about.

My memories of this world were entirely reliant on Dietrich’s memories. Yet, the only things I knew about the Second Prince were a few lines mentioned in the original novel.

Disappointing. The Second Prince looked quite hurt as he furrowed his eyebrows, but I knew from his playful smile that he wasn’t being serious. I felt somewhat toyed with as I searched through my memories, but nothing came up beyond what I had already recalled.

Seeing me still confused, he asked if I could make it back to the dormitory on my own. I nodded absentmindedly. He still wore that smile as he spoke.

“Next time we meet, try to remember.”

“I’ll take the jacket back along with your memories,” he said as he turned his back on me and disappeared. My desperate call, “Prince!” was quickly drowned out by the rain.

“What now?”

I stood hollowly, holding the doorknob of my dormitory, watching his receding figure. It seemed I might have to keep his jacket forever.

***

It was when I was about to leave the dormitory to wash my wet, soaked clothes after thawing my frozen body with hot water.

“Oh.”

As if she had been about to knock, Irene stood in front of my dormitory. Her expression was still impassive, but given the hour, she was dressed in casual clothes instead of her uniform. I looked at her with surprise.

“May I come in?”

Breaking the brief silence, Irene spoke.

“Oh, yes. Please come in.”

Irene apologized for coming so late and brought a small container of tea. Grateful, I placed the kettle on the fireplace. As the water heated, I suddenly remembered the first time Irene had visited my dormitory.

‘Last time too, we just awkwardly waited for the water to boil.’

Indeed, the last time Irene had visited, she had come to encourage me to join the student council, but now… As I was about to carefully start a conversation, Irene spoke.

“I feel like I’ve made a promise to you that I couldn’t keep….”

She said this while looking out the window beside the table. It was dark outside, and only her face was reflected in the window, yet she continued to gaze out.

“I promised you. That you wouldn’t be rejected for any reason.”

I was too complacent. Irene now turned her head to look at me. The kettle began to whistle—screeching with the boiling water.

Not knowing what to do, I approached the fireplace, took the kettle off, and started to pour the tea. While I did, Irene stopped talking again and just watched the cups as they filled.

“I didn’t know the reason why you refused…”

Her tone was unusually trailing off compared to her usually crisp manner. I felt like I knew what she wanted to say.

I hadn’t heard any apologies from the person I actually wanted to hear them from, yet others seemed to be confessing and offering apologies as if in confession. Irene didn’t need to apologize to me. With that thought, I slowly began to speak.

“While it was your encouragement, and ultimately my decision…”

“It seems I won’t be able to continue with the student council.” I said this, trying to forget the days and nights I had spent dedicated to council work. Irene responded briefly as if she had expected it, “I see.”

“But if you’re quitting because of what happened today, if it’s because of what Duke Cedric Elexion said…”

Irene paused to take a breath before continuing almost sighfully.

“You don’t have to. You’ve been a great help to the student council.”

Her words made me suddenly remember why I had decided to join the student council in the first place. The trust she had in my existence and the expectations she held. It was not so much that I wanted to do the council work itself, but rather… I had accepted her offer because I liked the trust Irene had in me. It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Thinking this might be the end, I forced a smile that wouldn’t naturally come.

“Thank you for everything.”

Irene, without any reply, slowly rose from her seat. I stood up, feeling as if something inside was broken, and followed her.