I Start with a Bad Hand!

‘What kind of madness is this?’

In the bewildering situation, I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Roxanne. With an enigmatic expression, she was looking this way. Ah, it was maddening.

The second prince still stared at me with his fiercely red eyes. However, his gaze soon shifted away.

“What’s going on?”

It seemed the prince was displeased to see his fiancée caught in some unknown disturbance, as he frowned and walked towards us. As one came, so did the others, like sausages in a line – the main characters of the original story – and I just wanted to lose consciousness.

In no time at all, the second prince’s expression softened as if he hadn’t been mocking me and Cedric, and he gave his brother a mischievous smile. Yet, the crown prince still seemed displeased, shielding Roxanne behind him as if to protect her from the second prince.

“It’s nothing, I think I’ve just been away from the empire for too long. I hardly recognized my brother’s lovely fiancée.”

With that, the second prince reached out to Roxanne, who was somewhat hidden behind the crown prince. His tone and expression teased again, but the gesture of asking for a dance was perfectly polite, befitting a prince educated in the royal ways.

“I’d like to ask the lady for a dance again, as an apology.”

‘The real lady,’ he said, glancing at me again. Roxanne seemed hesitant at first but soon brightly smiled and accepted the second prince’s hand, considering it an honor.

Before anything else could be done, the situation was swiftly resolved. The music started playing again. People awkwardly began to dance to the lively music. Seizing the moment when everyone’s attention was diverted, I hurriedly left the hall.

Once outside the ballroom and out of sight, I took off my shoes. They were low-heeled for comfort, but still, shoes are shoes, and walking for long made my feet hurt.

I walked slowly down the empty, dark corridor. The cold marble clacked against my soles. As I limped along, someone approached.

“It’s been a while.”

Hearing footsteps, a low voice resonated through the empty corridor.

‘…Is he talking to me?’

Filled with suspicion, I turned around, and the first thing I saw was the shining blond hair, even in the darkness. An unwelcome person had followed me. With my hands behind my back, I bowed again without showing my face.

“Your Highness, the second prince.”

As I looked up at him, the second prince was just staring at me intensely.

I carefully adjusted the shoes hidden behind my back so he wouldn’t notice. It seemed better to slightly breach etiquette than to show I was barefoot. Suddenly, the dress…

‘Thankfully, the dress covered my feet well enough that they were not easily visible.’ 

Whether the second prince knew of my efforts or not, he spoke up.

“It seems a lot has happened to the lady recently.”

I couldn’t hide my stiffening expression.

‘No, you heard earlier. The lady isn’t me… it’s not Dietrich, it’s Roxanne.’

After explicitly asking the ‘real’ lady for a dance himself. But I didn’t have the energy to prolong such a conversation. I sighed and responded to him.

“As you heard earlier, I am not the lady.”

At this, the second prince’s expression hardened.

“…Is that so?”

“Yes.”

So please let me go now. I looked at him with a tired expression. The once cold marble of the corridor was slowly warming under my feet. I did not continue the conversation, and finally, the second prince seemed to step back.

“…I see.”

“If you have nothing further to say, I’ll be going now.”

“Yes. It’s not polite to keep a lady standing barefoot for too long. Until we meet again.”

With that, he relaxed his expression and turned around with a playful smile.

‘…Did he know?’

I was overwhelmed with embarrassment as I blankly watched his retreating back. Before I knew it, the second prince was gone.

As I turned my head away from him, a view of the clock tower through a distant window caught my eye. It was one of the oldest and tallest buildings at the academy. Even from afar, its height was imposing.

Dietrich had fallen to her death from that clock tower.

I reflected on the humiliation, the bewilderment, and maybe the fear that the past might be dredged up, as well as the confusing moments of a past unknown that Dietrich had experienced. I stood there, gazing long at the clock tower shrouded in darkness.

I was weary.

***

He watched the woman’s limping figure from behind. Her finely waving hair shimmered in the sunlight.

He had known from the start. She had been the reason for his life, for quite a long time.

‘It is her.’

From moments he could not even recall, this black-haired girl had been the reason for his existence. His heart began to flutter lightly. It must be the result of a long wait.

He struggled to calm his quickening breath, steadying his body that swayed lightly under the rush of emotions, and composedly sorted through the feelings welling up inside him.

Up close, the girl seemed more sullen, worn out, and… unimpressive.

His feelings, then, could be described as a kind of… righteous anger.

‘Finally.’

He touched his slightly flushed cheek lightly. The moment had come to strangle the existence he had long despised.

***

True to its reputation as the empire’s leading educational institution, the Thomple Empire’s academy was dotted with old-fashioned buildings everywhere. However, there were places in that beautiful academy that one should never set foot in.

The protagonist’s favorite spots: the greenhouse and the library.

Roxanne would study in the sunlit new library wing of the academy and enjoy tea among the flowers in the greenhouse whenever she had free time. When Roxanne was drinking tea in the greenhouse, it almost seemed like a fairy was sitting among the vibrant flowers. Naturally, the male leads of the original story often loitered around the greenhouse to see this sight.

Therefore, as long as I stayed away from the library and the greenhouse, Roxanne’s main haunts, I would be safe. Fortunately, I had no reason to go to either place.

Being from Heylem in Thomple, accustomed to the biting cold winds, the greenhouse was too humid and hot for me. Especially since the new academic term at the academy was still between the chilly winter and spring, the greenhouse maintained a higher temperature than usual.

Moreover, there were two libraries in the academy. One was the new library in the new wing, frequently visited by Roxanne, and the other was the old library with a long history in the old wing. When the old library was constructed, it was built underground because the building couldn’t support the weight of the books.

With the new library in the new wing, the heavy ancient texts were increasingly relegated to the old library. Perhaps because it housed many old books and was not frequented by many, only students who had graduated from the academy and entered the academic institute occasionally visited the old library.

Despite the lack of sunlight and the countless dust particles from the books accumulated over many years, 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 miserable academic institute students, sounding like tortured creatures, echoed. Listening to their moans, which blended into a sort of white noise, I thought I had finally found a place I liked.

“Dietrich Degoph?”

But that tranquility was soon broken.

“Yes?”

Suddenly called by the name “Dietrich,” I tensely stared at the blonde-haired female student standing stiffly in front of the desk.

“Ilene Horatius. I handle the finances for the Academy’s student council.”

After the chaos at the ball, every time blonde hair fluttered, my heart chilled. I stared at the extended hand and waited for this student before me to speak again.

“Ah… Yes. But why do you ask me…?”

My first impression of Ilene, who spoke with an expressionless face, was that she resembled Prince Icarus if he had appeared as a woman.

Of course, compared to the uncultured Prince, Ilene had a mature air not typical for a student of her age, especially her deep green eyes that resembled a dense forest. Her noble gaze matched well with Ilene’s calm demeanor and speech.

‘I remember they are related to the royal family, their family was a count’s, I think.’

“The Academy student council traditionally selects new members by nomination. You are Dietrich Degoph, the runner up, right?”

Ilene explained the student council’s traditional cartel while nominating me, the deputy, to join the student council as an executive. Traditionally, the nominated freshmen are to work in the same department as their senior who nominated them for the first year.

In the original work, Prince Elius, who was a student council executive, nominated his fiancée, Roxanne, as a new member. Evan, who also held a senior position, would likely be nominated by someone and encouraged to join the council.

The bustling student council, a key focus in the original work, was more dreaded than any greenhouse or library. However, even if it weren’t for Roxanne and Elius, I had no intention of joining the student council.

‘Who would want to wear a hat at school…’

Moreover, to do accounting in a world without Excel, one would have to be mad. Nevertheless, I opened my mouth with feigned humility, yet obviously reluctant.

“It is an honor to be invited. I truly appreciate it, but… I feel quite inadequate for the significant responsibility of managing the student council’s finances.”