I Start with a Bad Hand!

Startled by the sudden voice, I turned around. Prince Elius, seemingly displeased by my unintentional touch, stepped back slightly. His expression as he looked down at me was as cold as if he were staring at a dead bug. I was just coincidentally in the greenhouse at the same time as Roxanne, but his look seemed to suggest I had entered a place I shouldn’t have.

“What, it’s not like you rented out the entire greenhouse.”

Of course, I shrugged off that piercing look. 

“Excuse me,” he said, passing me to go towards Roxanne.

As they heard someone approaching, Prince Icarus and Roxanne looked towards the door. My attempt to hide behind a plant was pointless as Second Prince’ face turned towards me. I hesitantly raised my gaze. Prince Elius’s red eyes were looking at me, but then he quickly turned back to Roxanne.

It felt… strange. Being dismissed by Prince Elius, who had looked at me like an insect and then turned his head away as if ignoring me, was somehow more jarring than his direct gaze.

Eventually, I lowered my eyes again and quietly left the greenhouse. Once outside, I leaned against the greenhouse door.

It wasn’t unusual. Prince Icarus was the brother of the Crown Prince, and Roxanne was the Crown Prince’s fiancée. Soon, they would be family. It was actually more surprising that Prince Icarus hadn’t been aware of who his brother’s fiancée was up until now. So, their meeting in the greenhouse wasn’t awkward at all. If anything, it was weird how close Prince Icarus and I had been up to this point. We really had no relationship.

And… I now knew that he was the kind of royal who, even though he had grown up on battlefields, would offer a handkerchief to someone crying, even to his brother’s fiancée. If he hadn’t been that kind of person, he wouldn’t have shown me any kindness either.

As I leaned against the door lost in thought, I saw Agnes finally running towards me, holding what looked like a picnic basket. She was beaming, shouting that she was late because she had been gathering things. But it turned out to be a good thing she was late. I stopped Agnes just as she was about to enter the greenhouse.

“We should go to the greenhouse later.”

Agnes looked puzzled.

“Why?”

“There’s a royal party inside right now.”

With the Crown Prince, Lady Elexion, and the Second Prince all present. Agnes’s face fell as I spoke with a somber expression.

“That’s a bit too much for me, even…”

It felt awkward, unsettling. That’s when such moments happen—the veil of the academy lifts, revealing the logic of the outside world.

Even Agnes, who usually speaks her mind without reservation, became cautious in that moment. It was something that people here would naturally feel, but I couldn’t.

Because I’m not from here.

Even though the academy claims that status doesn’t matter, it’s impossible not to be conscious of their ranks. Dining with a professor or a teacher is uncomfortable enough, let alone with royalty. It seemed that Agnes, too, was reluctant to engage in lighthearted chit-chat during the little tea time of royalty unless she wanted to feign enjoyment.

Agnes looked quite dejected as she turned to leave.

“There are plenty of other places to see flowers, not just in the greenhouse.”

“…”

“Flowers are in season right now.”

Flowers having a season, as if they were fish. What’s wrong with my vocabulary today? I pushed a sullen Agnes forward while stealing a glance behind me. The door to the greenhouse was firmly closed.

Eventually, Agnes and I ended up sharing our snacks while looking at the flowers in the campus flower beds. She had been late because she was gathering various things. I thought about scolding her for her tardiness but decided against it. It was a beautiful day, and even just looking at the flowers in the garden seemed to improve Agnes’s mood; she even started humming softly.

“Not long until the final assessments.”

“Please don’t talk about that.”

Being with Agnes seemed to improve my mood, too.

The more time we spent together, the more I realized that Agnes, like someone loved and cherished in her upbringing, had a charm that drew people in. Initially distant to both me and Irene, she had now subtly inserted herself between us, bringing some life into our previously stark interactions. Honest, a bit rough, but also intimate, it was baffling why Agnes hadn’t had friends before.

“Ah, suddenly thinking about those people in the greenhouse is annoying. They have such big dorm rooms, they could put plants there.”

…Actually, I understood why. Hoping that only I had heard this, I stuffed a cookie into Agnes’s mouth. It was crucial that this girl, who could speak her mind so freely, wouldn’t get into trouble.

After parting with Agnes, I returned to my room and collapsed onto the bed. I then looked at the flowers still neatly dried on a handkerchief. They were completely wilted now, ready to crumble at the slightest touch.

I got up carefully, lifted the handkerchief, and placed it on the windowsill, loaded with petals. I opened the window, and a breeze carrying the essence of spring wafted into the room.

I left the handkerchief on the sill. If the wind blew, it would let the petals fly away.

***

Despite the exams being over, the semester wasn’t. Agnes looked serious.

“Let’s say I’m the protagonist. Unlikely, but just suppose. And you take the other role.”

“But there are still a few more roles to fill,” Agnes said, folding her hands as if to emphasize.

“We need at least two more people. What are we going to do?”

The final assessment for the playwriting class involved performing a highlight from the play during the end-of-semester arts festival. Of course, only the drama class put on a proper play at the festival.

The performances by the playwriting students were different from the midterms; they were visible to other students, though no one expected the quality of the drama class. Still, more preparation was definitely needed than for the midterms.

The problem was that the two of us, possibly the academy’s least sociable, had ended up together.

Irene was busy with student council duties, and, well, Irene was just busy. And she was all the connection we had. Just one person to ask for help when there were two of us. It felt quite disheartening.

There was more than just the final evaluation to worry about. The fall hunt was fast approaching. I was still practicing, but finding opportunities to shoot at moving targets was difficult. I needed to know exactly what was required to hit a swiftly moving target, and that clarity wasn’t there.

“I’m going to lose my mind…”

Amidst my growing anxiety, an unexpected opportunity came.

“Dietrich, I need your help.”

Klaus came to me with a face as cold as ice.

“I’d rather you didn’t talk nonsense.”

He looked pale enough to suggest something was seriously wrong, and indeed, Klaus was making an absurd request.

“There’s nothing I can do about a crow carrying it away.”

Klaus had lost a platinum pocket watch. He had set it aside while reading, and a famously cheeky crow at the academy had swooped in and taken it. Shocked, he had chased the crow away, but it proudly carried the pocket watch, almost taunting him with the sunlight glinting off it as it reflected. The more I heard, the less I understood what he was talking about.

Honestly, it was harder to accept that a crow had flown off with a pocket watch than any other magical occurrences around us—water rising in a teaspoon, flowers sprouting from a palm, people teleporting. Maybe because it was so closely tied to everyday life. It’s often the small details that are the most irritating when they go awry.

As the story became increasingly preposterous, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow in disbelief. Klaus noticed my expression and must have thought I didn’t believe him. He pulled me towards the window and pointed outside.

There it was, a crow with something shimmering.

“What in the world…”

I let out an incredulous sigh. But what couldn’t be, couldn’t be. It was far too dangerous to shoot arrows within the academy grounds… Wait, although there were a few people I might jokingly want to “accidentally” shoot… No, besides being dangerous, I didn’t think I was capable of hitting a moving crow, not to mention I didn’t actually want to kill a crow just because it stole something. If I agreed and then failed to retrieve the watch, it would be embarrassing for both of us. So, I looked for an excuse to politely refuse.

“I barely passed my archery exam with 60 points. How am I supposed to hit a flying bird?”

Klaus hesitated, then confessed as if admitting something.

“I’ve seen you shoot arrows… you’re actually quite good.”

“Wasn’t I just tired or something on exam day?” Klaus persisted, not taking no for an answer. I tried to think of another excuse when I realized something odd in Klaus’s statement.

“But how have you seen me shooting arrows?”

The archery range was located deeper inside than the training grounds. It wasn’t strange for me to see people at the training grounds while passing by, but for someone from the training grounds to see into the archery range, they’d have to specifically go there, which was unlikely.

As I stared him down, pressing for an answer, Klaus mumbled something about how people from the training grounds sometimes went to the archery range to kill time. His avoidance of my gaze was suspicious, but I decided to let it go.

“It’s a pity, but how about we just let it go?”

“Think of it as a lesson to keep shiny things well hidden.” With those words, I turned my back on Klaus. But I had to stop in my tracks when he called out again.

“It’s my sister’s watch. She really treasures it…”

I turned around, stunned, to face the young man before me. This… this… absolutely thoughtless fellow…