I Start with a Bad Hand!

On the way to the theater, stands were scattered about. With a hopeful heart, I looked around for a familiar face. Soon enough, I spotted the one I was searching for.

‘There she is!’

Though practically a stranger, she knew who I was… I crouched down to greet the old lady at the stand where we had met before. Meanwhile, Klaus was distracted by the finger puppets for sale at a distant stand.

“Hello, how have you been?”

“Do you remember me?” As I said this, the old lady glanced at me and responded gruffly.

“Of course.”

Embarrassed by the old lady’s abrupt demeanor, I was about to touch various items on the stand to start a conversation.

“Why do you always come covered in things?”

“Pardon?”

Uh… Is there something on my face? Startled by her remark, I felt my face, and the old lady pulled out a mirror from under the stand and held it up to me.

“Not there, here.”

She pointed at my right cheek. In the mirror, I saw my right cheek and beyond it…

A hood. The person in a hood I had seen in front of the academy was watching me from a bustling alley.

“…Thank you. I understand.”

As she put the mirror away, she continued in her gruff tone.

“Off you go. Next time, don’t come with things stuck to you.”

Just as I was about to ask something more, someone tapped my shoulder. Reflexively, I turned, and something soft poked my cheek.

“Look at this. It’s a finger puppet.”

Klaus, who had been grinning mischievously, noticed my expression harden and carefully pulled back the puppet he had poked my cheek with, then asked,

“Is something wrong?”

How do I put this without sounding odd? How do I say that it seems someone has been following us? After a moment of thought, I tried to convey the fact as naturally as possible.

“I’m not sure how you’ll take this, but… um, it seems like someone has been following us from the academy….”

However, as I slowly looked up to meet Klaus’s gaze, I couldn’t even finish my sentence.

“How could you know….”

His usual smile completely vanished, and Klaus looked at me with a serious expression.

Now, a strange man stood in front of me, having removed his hood. Klaus seemed at a loss, again tousling his hair.

“I apologize for not informing you earlier. He’s my escort.”

I had him keep his distance because I thought you might dislike it. If I had known you would notice, I would have told you sooner. Klaus explained, looking rather sheepish.

Klaus’s escort, who greeted us curtly, walked a bit away from us. However, once I became aware of him, his presence felt incredibly intrusive.

‘This is ridiculous.’

I should have stayed away. Now that his identity was revealed, he seemed to decide to stick close to us, trailing half a step behind us. Honestly, it was quite burdensome. It felt like going to the movies with a friend who has overprotective parents.

‘I had a feeling he was like a chaperone from the start…’

Nevertheless, I tapped Klaus’s shoulder to break the awkwardness.

“I’m fine with it. It would be stranger for someone of your status to be without an escort.”

Klaus smiled, relieved by my words, and leaned down a bit to match my height and whispered,

“The truth is, my sister hates it. When she was younger, she used to escape the guards by riding off on a horse.”

“Your sister?”

“Yes, she was always good at riding. We were all walking in the forest once, and the moment everyone looked away, she dashed off through the trees.”

“What? So what did you do?”

Klaus stopped his chatter and, looking embarrassed, fiddled with his hair.

“I… ran after her crying.”

Crying bitterly. ‘Don’t go, sister! Where are you going?’ Klaus mimed wiping tears from his eyes.

“Back then, I wasn’t good at riding, so I always lost track of her. But if I cried enough, eventually, she would reappear and take me back with her.”

“Really?”

I listened to his story, struggling to hold back laughter. It was annoying yet cute and funny.

“That’s probably why she doesn’t go out much from the academy now. Every time she goes out, my parents make sure to tell the guards to follow her. That’s why she’s rarely in the dorms.”

It seems people who feel confined, regardless of the dimension, enjoy speed. Perhaps it’s because they want to escape as far as they can, even if they know they have to return eventually. I could understand that feeling, and suddenly, I felt sympathy for Irene.

“Irene must have felt suffocated too.”

“…Probably.”

Klaus met my eyes and smiled. From then on, we chatted about trivial things as we walked. Thanks to that, I learned quite a lot about Klaus. His hobby was collecting clocks, and there was one particular clock he couldn’t find, he had a strawberry allergy, and his proudest dance was the waltz.

“I’ll show you my waltz skills when I get a chance.”

I just smiled and nodded at his shy offer.

***

The curtain rose on the play. I soon found out why Agnes had not joined us with enthusiasm. As soon as the male actor appeared, we exchanged glances.

“Agnes and…”

“He looks just like her, doesn’t he?”

If exaggerated, he resembled a taller Agnes with short hair. His soft, curly brown hair and slightly upturned eyes were reminiscent of Agnes.

“The actor said he resembles his brother, and it seems Agnes really looks a lot like him.”

“That’s what I thought. I thought I was seeing things at first.”

A soft cough from behind suggested we quiet down. We promptly closed our mouths and focused on the stage. The play, titled ‘Opening Love,’ fittingly featured the protagonist engaging in love freely. Consequently, the Agnes-like male actor was seen passionately kissing various characters multiple times.

‘Oh, ugh. What is this?’

Each time such a scene appeared, the audience exhibited a kind of collective concentration, silently watching the action. However, I felt somewhat different.

‘I see why watching this play felt a bit repulsive.’

Watching an actor who resembled my friend kiss freely was too much for my emotions to handle. Every time such a scene occurred, the knight-to-be beside me noticeably flinched. When intermission began, Klaus, with red-tipped ears, awkwardly tried to excuse the play’s content.

“I had no idea it was this kind of play.”

“Really, believe me.” Klaus stammered. But my soul was already somewhat corrupted. I merely smiled quietly. Klaus, perhaps misinterpreting my smile as disapproval, became even more fervent in his excuses.

When the second part of the play began, the protagonist suddenly plunged into deep contemplation and lengthy monologues. However, my energy was no longer sufficient to listen attentively. I had briefly closed my eyes, and when I opened them, the protagonist was dead.

‘What happened?’

I turned my head slightly and saw Klaus with a somewhat overwhelmed expression. I hoped he hadn’t noticed that I had dozed off.

***

“It was enjoyable. Thank you for suggesting we see it together.”

Although I had nearly missed the second part, the play was indeed interesting. However, our conversation afterward focused more on the actor who resembled Agnes than on the play itself.

“Especially the eyes, they really looked similar.”

“If you just cover here below the eyes, you could believe it’s Agnes.” I gestured covering below my eyes, and Klaus followed suit, laughing. With just the eyes showing…

“But your eyes really do resemble Ms. Irene.”

“Do they?”

Klaus then became more enthusiastic in mimicking. He squinted and covered below his eyes as he said,

“When my sister glares at me.”

“Oh, it does look similar.”

Honestly, it wasn’t very similar, but it was cute, so I just laughed it off.

“Uh-huh…”

A strange noise made me turn around; Klaus’s escort was chuckling, struggling to contain his laughter. When our eyes met, he cleared his throat and recomposed his expression. As Klaus and I exchanged jokes a few more times, the guard continued to suppress his laughter with odd noises, and each time our eyes met again. Eventually, I felt compelled to introduce myself properly, albeit late.

“I’m Dietrich Degoph from Heylem.”

“From Heylem… Degoph… Could your father be Droyt?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

How did he know…? The guard laughed heartily and expressed his delight. His demeanor was much friendlier than when he was just stoically following us.

“He served on the same battlefield as I did. Ah, now he’s a baron, right? He was a remarkable man. I heard he was granted a fief. Wow, to meet his daughter like this. What a surprising connection.”

He was calculating the years, mentioning that he had heard Droyt had children before his ennoblement.

‘Did the Degophs have children before? I had no idea.’