I Start with a Bad Hand!

“Ugh.” Quietly, inwardly spitting toward Cedric, I was passing by him. As Cedric walked past, he suddenly grabbed my arm.

“What, how annoying.”

Unable to hide my grimace, I asked him with my eyes what he wanted. I was too annoyed to speak. Cedric, also grimacing, didn’t even look at me as he pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

“What’s this for?”

When I didn’t take it, Cedric offered the handkerchief again to my other hand, which was stopping the blood.

“Take it. Throw it away after you use it if you want.”

“Why give this to me? No, I’m fine.”

At my words, Cedric’s frown deepened.

“So, you plan to go all the way to the infirmary like this? It’s not because I’m being nice… just so you know.”

“Yes, I will make sure to keep it well in place and not drop it on the floor. Thank you for the concern.”

“Let go of my arm.” I sharply knocked his hand away. He seemed offended by my action, blocking my path and glaring at me as I passed.

“Dietrich?”

At the low voice, I looked past Cedric to see the second prince, who was alternately looking at Cedric and me. Seeing me standing there holding my nose, he strode over with a frown.

“What’s going on here?”

Icarus carefully examined my face and asked in a low voice.

“Is there blood… Has there been any forceful behavior again?”

“No, nothing like that happened.”

I hurriedly answered that Cedric hadn’t touched me, but Cedric, treated like trash for touching someone else’s face, seemed shocked and stared at us with a hardened expression.

“Haha. Serves you right, bastard.”

Without saying a word, Cedric glared at me, then respectfully bowed to the second prince and turned to walk into the library.

“Oh, I’m still supposed to be in the library.”

Regardless of what Cedric did, Icarus pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wrapped it around the back of my head, pressing my nose like he was stopping the bleeding, and asked again.

“…So, really, nothing happened?”

“Yes, really. Maybe the library was a bit dry. It should stop soon.”

The handkerchief Icarus used to stop the bleeding felt like silk. I blankly thought about his touch.

‘And now, what should I do with this handkerchief? It seems to be silk, but I wonder if the blood will come out. Actually, should I wash silk in hot or cold water? I would know if I had used a silk handkerchief before.’

While pondering this, I realized that he was still holding the back of my head while standing at the library entrance. Carefully, I moved his hand away and said,

“It seems to have stopped now. Thank you. About the handkerchief…”

Hot water or cold water? It’s driving me crazy. Anyway, I have to wash it and return it…

“I’ll wash it and return it to you.”

“That’s okay.”

He glanced to check if the bleeding had stopped and then carefully folded the handkerchief and put it inside his jacket. Then he looked intently at my face.

“You should head back to the dormitory.”

“I still have more studying to do, so I can’t leave yet.”

I gently touched under my nose. There was no blood, but it felt unpleasant. Icarus frowned and asked,

“Are you planning to stay like that?”

Without thinking, I looked towards the inside of the library. The thought of running into Cedric again was unsettling.

‘What if my nose bleeds again from running into him? Because of my blood pressure?’

Eventually, I nodded in agreement to his suggestion and turned towards the library. Icarus stopped me as I started to walk away with a shuffle.

“Wash your face first. I’ll bring your things.”

Surprised by his unexpected thoughtfulness, I numbly nodded. Icarus then gave a slight smile and turned, walking deeper into the library.

***

“…What confidence he has.”

“He really doesn’t understand his place, does he?”

How do these nobles always love to talk about understanding one’s place? As I was tidying up my face with water in the restroom and was about to step out into the quiet corridor, I heard a distant murmur.

“A baron from some unheard-of, remote territory.”

Then, a familiar topic brushed past my ears. I stopped in my tracks.

‘…What? Are they talking about me?’

“She’s caused so many people trouble. She thinks she’s something special? And why did she even invite Klaus?”

“She probably think she’s not in the same league as a count. Ah, the more you talk about it, the funnier it gets. If they met outside the academy, she couldn’t even lift her head because of the difference in status.”

‘It’s about me!’

The anonymous students continued their relentless gossip, invoking a concept of social hierarchy that hadn’t even been considered once in the modern society of the 21st century, cursing Dietrich, cursing me.

“But well…”

To be honest, such talk of social status was expected. I was too humble in my origin in the world I came from to let such talk hurt my pride—I was from a lowborn family. Certainly, my grandfather had once proudly shown off our family register, but it looked suspiciously like one that had been purchased.

Our family’s register, supposedly passed down through generations, looked too modern to be genuine. My rational guess was that our family was at best tenant farmers, or maybe slightly better, small landowners.

‘If I had been born into a family of bureaucrats or noble relatives, such classist remarks might infuriate me…’

In reality, coming here was a social promotion. From peasant to baron, that was a significant rise in status, even by the standards of the late Joseon period. I leaned against the wall, listening to the voices grow louder.

“There’s nothing notable about her. Just look at her legs, or how she always wears the same dress—”

Hmm, now they’re even worrying about the financial state of Baron Degoph’s household. At this point, I was curious how far they would go. Just then, a shadow fell over me. The second prince had come out of the library, holding my things, but he wasn’t looking at me. His expression slightly furrowed, he kept his gaze towards the corridor where voices were coming from.

“I don’t know what she was thinking, getting into the academy. With that status, that wealth.”

“But at least she has a face worth looking at.”

As soon as that comment was made, the second prince seemed ready to stride out into the corridor. I quickly touched his shoulder, restraining him and pushing him back towards the inside of the corridor. He hesitated momentarily but surprisingly moved back without resistance.

The two anonymous students gradually moved away until they were completely out of the corridor. However, Icarus’s expression was still serious, so I eventually turned back from where I was about to go.

Once the corridor was completely silent, I took the books he was holding. He didn’t seem to want to hand over the bag. An awkward silence flowed between us until I broke it.

“Thank you. But how did you know where to find me…?”

“Finding the notoriously messy handwriting wasn’t that hard.”

Maybe I should stop talking.

He mentioned that he was also going to practice his lines, and followed me to the rehearsal room, despite not needing to. I could feel his glances and finally looked up at him slightly, prompting him to bite his lip and get to the point.

“Why did you just listen to those rude comments earlier?”

I responded nonchalantly.

“No, well, it’s not like they were wrong.”

“…So if they’re not wrong, you normally just let such things be said to your face?”

“They didn’t say it directly in front of me. You know, people talk about the king when he’s not around too…”

He suddenly stopped speaking, and with a twitch of his eyebrows, he seemed to encourage me to continue. Hmm. I might have said too much to someone from the royal family.

“…It’s not right to speak ill, but I don’t think what they said was unacceptable.”

You can’t run if you stop every time a dog barks. I don’t want to bother responding to every little comment like that. Icarus twitched his lips after my added remark but said nothing more.

When we reached the rehearsal room, Icarus surprisingly did not initiate much conversation. He casually glanced at my notebook a few times, fiddled with a pen from my pencil case, and gradually slumped down in posture until he was completely lying down at some point.

‘Why follow me if he was just going to do that?’

Ah, it’s bothering me. Watching his back rise and fall rhythmically with shallow breaths, I cautiously got up from my seat. I removed the jacket draped over the chair and laid it over his shiny blonde hair. With the jacket covering him, that bothersome presence was no longer visible.

‘Good.’

Pleased, I returned to my seat and picked up my pen. As I sifted through the history of the empire, which was still difficult to adapt to, one very small section caught my eye.

The Legend of Icarus

Not a myth but a legend. Not in a religious or cultural text, but a history book. I stared blankly at that part, then looked over at the makeshift tomb of Icarus created by the jacket. He seemed to be in a deep sleep, motionless. It could just be a legend about someone with the same name. There’s no Greek or Roman mythology here, so the story might really be different from what I know.

Still, it felt oddly like digging into someone else’s past. Should I turn the page or not? I hesitated for a moment before carefully reading through that section.

After reading the not-so-long legend, I found myself murmuring involuntarily.

“…What is this?”