Patrick ♥ Isabella. This rumor had disheartened countless young men who secretly admired Isabella, but there was one person whose feelings went beyond discouragement to outright fury.
“Men are all the same, you can’t just let them be. Once their backs are warm and their bellies are full, they forget to be grateful to their wives and start letting their eyes wander.”
It was none other than the Count’s daughter, Marianne Parmas, known as the flower of the eastern territory. She ground her teeth before speaking to her personal maid, Emily, who stood beside her.
“You think so too, right?”
“Would it be… alright if I didn’t?”
“And you call yourself my personal maid? When your mistress’s man is having an affair, shouldn’t you be angry with me and thinking of a solution?”
Me?
You mean me? Emily let out a deep sigh.
“My lady, about that.”
Emily thought.
To unravel this tangled mess, the first thing she needs to realize is that Young Lord Schneider is not her man…
“Just you wait… if I get my hands on him. I’ll just… agh…”
Her personal maid, Emily, thought. It seemed that speaking the truth would not work on Marianne, who was blinded by jealousy and anger. So, Emily spoke, trying to resolve the situation in the kindest way possible.
“Well… what can you do? That’s just the kind of man he is.”
“You think he’s in the wrong too, right?”
“Yes. I am always on your side, my lady.”
As long as I’m getting paid.
“Right. Right. You’re the only one I can count on, Emily.”
As Marianne’s anger seemed to subside a little, Emily spoke.
“In that case, my lady.”
“What is it?”
“If he’s that kind of man anyway, you’re far too good for him. Why don’t we just cleanly ignore him and forget all about it?”
“What?”
“Isn’t it true? Why should someone as beautiful, wise, and from a good family as you have to date a trashy man who cheats?”
They never even dated in the first place. It wasn’t as if Emily didn't know that. But if they “broke up” here, this whole affair could be concluded without any trouble and in the best possible way.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Such were Emily’s hopes…
“No, but… breaking up is a bit much…”
Ah… it’s hopeless. Watching Marianne twirling her finger in her hair and deliberately looking away, Emily thought. Her lady would absolutely not break up with Young Lord Schneider.
“Well, a man is young, his eyes might wander for a bit. I can be broad-minded and understand that much. Don’t you think?”
No, I don’t?
“Maybe it’s my misunderstanding. They say Princess Isabella is the one passionately chasing after Patrick, and he’s just busy trying to run away, right? So… strictly speaking, it’s not an affair. Right?”
“Oh, my head.”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking how nice it would be if you were my little sister.”
“Hee hee, you want a cute little sister like me?”
If she were my little sister, I could have broken her leg bones into thirty-six pieces… Ah, the regrettable, insurmountable wall of social status. Marianne was a woman of action.
The very next day, she went to the knights’ faculty. She had known Patrick was at the academy, but her pride had kept her from visiting him first. In a romance, there has to be the fun of having the man chase you.
It was a one-sided game of push-and-pull in a situation where no romance had even been established, but her mind was still filled with sweet and sour thoughts.
‘Oh? You’re holding back, are you?’
‘You’re lasting quite a while, aren’t you?’
‘Should I send a letter first? No. If I send something like that first, I lose.’
Stop, please just stop… I feel like crying. In any case, thinking of it as conceding just this once in her game, she went to meet Patrick.
“Excuse me. May I ask you something?”
Entering the knights’ faculty, she stopped a passing student.
“Yes. What is it, my lady?”
“Where are the first-year students of the knights’ faculty?”
“The first-years should be in the first-floor lecture hall for their general studies class right now.”
“Thank you.”
Marianne gave a gentle smile. Though her thoughts were pitiful, her appearance was renowned as the greatest beauty of the East. As she smiled, the gaze of the student who had given her directions grew hazy.
“Um, if you don’t mind, may I guide you there myself?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Marianne readily accepted his kindness. Since she was on her way to meet Patrick, she had considered refusing for a moment, but…
‘No, this is actually better.’
Being popular with both men and women was an attractive trait in itself. The sense of accomplishment, the feeling of superiority, from making someone desired and envied by many into your own lover—it would surely work. Plus, if she played her cards right, she might even be able to make Patrick jealous of her.
Isn’t jealousy also an indispensable spice in romance?
‘You shall be my prop.’
“Shall we go then, Sir Knight?”
“Yes. I will guide you, my lady.”
And so, Marianne made her way to the first-year lecture hall with her nameless, pitiful prop in tow.
“The loyalty of a knight is like a green pine tree that does not change its color even in the dead of winter. Loyalty that wavers in difficult situations is not loyalty. An anecdote that teaches this lesson is from the history of the old Alfrein Kingdom…”
Watching the professor on the podium passionately explain historical events to illustrate the meaning of loyalty for a knight, Patrick thought.
‘Ah, so boring. And so useless.’
Unlike the relatively free-form practical classes, these general studies lectures were an ordeal that was difficult for Patrick’s twisted personality to endure. What is the meaning of a knight’s loyalty? How could someone chatter on and on without a break about such a simple topic?
Loyalty?
What’s the big deal? As long as you don’t backstab them and stick with them until you die, that’s loyalty. Watching the professor try to fill the lecture time by explaining that simple concept in the most difficult and plausible-sounding way possible made him realize that being a professor couldn't be an easy job.
In fact, most of the other students besides Patrick also wore expressions of utter boredom. Since they were fundamentally people accustomed to using their bodies, general studies classes were poison to them. Ding dong ding dong.
When the bell rang, the faces of all the first-year students looked as if they had been saved from hell.
“Ahem, that’s all for today. And, I will give extra credit to any student who writes a report on Sir Ricardo.”
He could guarantee that no one would write it. The moment the lecture ended, the first student to stand up was Patrick. And as Patrick stood up quickly, as if fleeing from something, and tried to head outside…
“Where are you going?”
“Aaaah!”
The moment he stepped out of the lecture hall, he was caught by Isabella, who had been lying in wait.
“Don’t you have classes, senior?”
“Third-years have a lot of self-study periods.”
“Ah, is that so. That must be nice. Well then, I’ll be on my way…”
As Patrick tried to slip away, Isabella grabbed him tightly, as if she wouldn't let him go, and spoke.
“Today’s the day you have to do it.”
“Do what!?”
“Spar.”
“Why do I have to do that? I already did it once.”
“The last one doesn’t count. Let’s do it again.”
“Why should I!?”
This squabble between Patrick and Isabella had become a rather familiar scene. The first-years still saw Patrick as a guy who didn’t know how good he had it, but things had gotten a little better after it was revealed that all Isabella wanted was a spar.
‘A guy sick with good fortune.’
‘If I ever got the chance to spar with Princess Isabella, I’d do it even if I got cut by a real sword.’
‘Should I really ask her myself?’
While the first-years watched with envy, Patrick struggled to shake off Isabella, who was clinging to his arm.
‘Agh, I can’t even shove her off because she’s a princess.’
If he had known she was this much of a leech, he never would have gotten involved with her in the first place. As Patrick was overcome with regret, a voice reached him.
“It’s been a while, Young Lord Schneider.”
“Huh?”
Patrick turned his head to see a female student wearing clothes different from the knights’ faculty uniform. The moment he saw her in her practical checkered dress, Patrick thought.
‘That girl… right, she said she was a student here, didn’t she?’
“The Count’s daughter from House Parmas.”
“Hee hee. Here, you can just call me Senior Marianne.”
With a male student who appeared to be a second-year from the knights’ faculty by her side, she spoke with a smile.
“Congratulations on your admission to the academy. It was worth asking my father.”
“Asking? Did you, by any chance, recommend me for admission to the academy, my lady?”
“That’s right.”
“You don’t have to thank me. It was nothing, really.”
“Grateful my ass…”
“Pardon?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
Patrick let out a deep sigh. In truth, he had never wanted to enter the academy. But now that he was here, he had to admit there were a few advantages.
Like free food and lodging? Or that it was a good place to go drinking? And crucially, becoming friends with Matthew, the son from the Elbador Merchant Guild, was quite a good thing for Patrick.
But was he grateful to Marianne for it?
‘Absolutely not, right?’
He had been embroiled in trouble as soon as he arrived, causing two incidents already. On top of that, the general studies class he had just endured was so boring he felt like storming out, grabbing the professor by the collar, and shaking him. And most importantly, the leech currently clinging to his left arm.
‘I’m going crazy. For real.’
There were good points and bad points. So, if he had to say, it was a plus-minus zero, something he could just accept as it was.
‘Well, whatever the case…’
“I understand. I’ll see you next time, Senior Marianne.”
“Ah, before that…”
Marianne approached Patrick, glanced at Isabella and deliberately ignored her, then clung to Patrick’s other arm. Much more deeply than Isabella. And in that state, she spoke with a smile.
“It’s about lunchtime. Would you like to have a meal with me?”
At that moment, a small sigh escaped. It came from the second-year senior who had escorted Marianne here.
‘I thought she came to see a family member…’
The second-year student was crestfallen. And Patrick, with a face full of undisguised reluctance, said.
“…Doesn’t the Department of Public Administration have a dining hall?”
“I’m curious about the Knight Faculty’s dining hall menu.”
“It’s just a lot of meat and it doesn’t taste good.”
“Oh my, then shall we go to the Department of Public Administration’s dining hall? They have pumpkin pie for dessert today, and it’s quite good.”
“No.” Just then, Isabella interjected from Patrick’s other side.
She frowned at Marianne and spoke.
“Patrick has to spar with me. There’s no time to go to the Department of Public Administration.”
“Oh my, Princess. Inside the academy, even a princess shouldn’t have the authority to give orders to a fellow student, should she?”
“That’s…”
“Is there any reason for you to restrict where we eat, Princess?”
“…Anyway, no. You’re coming with me to spar.”
“No. You’re coming with me to eat.”
“Sparring!”
“Lunch!”
Looking at the two women chattering away on his left and right, Patrick thought to himself. One is the princess of the kingdom. The other is the daughter of the most powerful noble in the East.
Unfortunately, neither of them were people he could solve this problem by beating up.
‘I wish they would all just disappear.’