I Start with a Bad Hand!

Icarus glanced at Klaus and me holding thumbs, then shifted his narrowed gaze to the bouquet in my hand. Feeling awkward from his expression, I carefully twisted my hand to free it, and Klaus also withdrew his.

“Dietrich, have a good vacation then… um… see you soon.”

“Yes, you too.”

“…It’s only two months, but still…”

I resisted the urge to hit the Second Prince with the bouquet, managing instead to offer Klaus a handshake. Klaus grabbed my hand with a bright smile, and after a light handshake, he even greeted the prince before slowly walking backwards, waving at me as he headed back to the dormitory.

Icarus, who had barely acknowledged Klaus’s greeting, was now staring pointedly at me, or more precisely, at the bouquet in my hand.

“Why are you here…”

Feeling his intense gaze, I asked him. When I looked up at his epaulet, I noticed some leaves stuck on it. Without much thought, I reached out and touched his chest. Icarus flinched at my touch, and feeling even more embarrassed by his reaction, I showed him the grass on his uniform.

“I hadn’t seen you all day.”

“…I was resting in my room. And you, Prince, were nowhere to be seen during the entire arts festival.”

“I had to go to the palace for some business.”

I see. With that, I closed my mouth again. He was still fixated on my bouquet.

“Why do you keep looking at the bouquet?”

“…Someone had left a bouquet under my painting, and I was wondering who it was from.”

“Oh.”

I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible in my response.

“Did you like it? I chose it to match the prince’s hair color.”

“…What?”

Red for his eyes, or gold for his hair, I debated and finally chose yellow tulips. At that time, the flower shop only had red roses, which seemed a bit… excessive for giving to a person of his status. The subtle influence of Confucian values always enveloped me…

“You’re saying you gave it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“People usually do that at exhibitions.”

Icarus still pointed to my bouquet.

“So this is…”

“Ah, this one’s from Klaus. He gave it to me because I had a hard time writing the play.”

At that, his tone softened.

“…Now I feel embarrassed for coming empty-handed.”

“It’s alright. You helped with my play without asking for anything in return.”

Thanks to you, I topped the class again this semester. Trying to speak nonchalantly, I smiled as I looked at him. His expression was unclear due to the backlighting, so I slightly shifted my position. As he matched my pace, the moonlight revealed his neat profile.

“What are your plans for the vacation?”

“I’ll just stay at the academy.”

He asked, seemingly surprised, “Not going back home?”

“No, it’s too far. By the time I get back, the vacation would be almost over.”

Now I really don’t have time. His face, half-lit by the moonlight, made an enigmatic expression to that reply.

“It seems late at night. I’ll head in now, Your Highness.”

Anticipating a tricky question, I quickly ended the conversation. Truly, fatigue was now sweeping over me. At my words, he briefly tidied up his hair, tousled by the wind through a corridor window, then extended his hand to me.

“I had a good time thanks to you. Have a good vacation.”

“…Yes. You too, have a good vacation.”

He smiled softly and shook my hand before turning and walking away, his cloak smeared with plenty of grass as if he had been sitting on the dirt floor for a long time. I watched his back until it faded away, then stretched my body.

Again. There was no time to relax. Now, I really had things to do.

Thus, the vacation began.

Baron and Baroness Degoph sent a reply dripping with regret to my brief note about possibly not being able to visit this vacation. I read the letter over and over, resolving that it would be better for them if I left soon.

Agatha and I, who had voluntarily taken on the night shift, began training. We kept going back and forth between the archery range and the dormitory, which could sometimes be mistaken for a training camp, shooting arrows, retrieving them, and shooting again.

While the training repeated, vacation was about halfway through when the clouds began to gather from dawn, and it started to drizzle as soon as we boarded the carriage at the academy. The road felt long to Klaus’s birthday party I was invited to.

‘This is the first time I’ve dressed up properly since the spring ball, and it had to rain.’

It felt awkward to attend someone else’s celebration too shabbily, so I barely managed a proper outfit. Still, having trained so much recently, a short break like this wasn’t too bad.

By the time we arrived at the count’s house, the raindrops had become a downpour like a cloudburst. The count’s servants, holding umbrellas, escorted the guests one by one from the carriages.

‘I didn’t plan to come this early. Good thing. I’ll just give the gift and leave quickly.’

Just as I was about to step out of the carriage, holding the hand of a servant, a sudden cry rang out.

“Oh, oh!”

I too, along with a servant from the count’s house who was holding an umbrella for me, turned our heads towards the sound. A carriage was approaching rapidly from afar, splashing water wildly.

‘What’s happening?’

As the carriage hurtled toward us, I instinctively wrapped my coat around me. With an impressive drift, the carriage came to a stop right beside me and the servant.

“Wow.”

How could this even happen?

I didn’t need a mirror to know that I must have looked just like the servant beside me, unable to hide a dismayed expression. In an instant, both the servant and I were drenched with muddy water splashed by the carriage. Standing there, soaked like drowned rats, other servants hurried over to us. While my body felt cold, my head was heating up with anger.

‘This madman. Who drives—or rather, who pilots a carriage like this?’

Yet the coachman, upon seeing me, looked as if he had lost a nation, trembling without even dismounting from his seat, his face pale as he stuttered, ‘You madman, where were you looking!’

“Ah, what has happened…!”

The noble who emerged from the carriage seemed even more flustered. A girl about my age and a much younger girl got down, both looking dismayed as they offered me an umbrella, which seemed pointless now given my soaked condition.

“I’m really sorry. How can we… We will definitely compensate you.”

The two girls, shining brightly despite the mud, kept wiping my muddy hands with their pristine white handkerchiefs while the old coachman continuously bowed, apologizing.

At this scene, I slowly lowered my hand that had been instinctively reaching to my neck. How could I remain angry when they seemed genuinely sorry? If they had been brazen about it, maybe, but I couldn’t help but bite down hard on my back teeth and accept their apology.

“I appreciate it…”

Being among insane people, it felt like ages since I had received a reasonable apology. Just then, as we were exchanging addresses for the compensation, I heard a splash and saw the day’s guest of honor running towards us.

“Dietrich!”

—Sir. As Klaus approached, he hastily added ‘sir.’ The two nobles quickly greeted him. Uncharacteristically, he didn’t return their greetings but instead covered me with an umbrella, seeing how drenched I already was.

“Are you alright? On such a chilly day, to get so wet…”

Klaus quickly took off his jacket and draped it over me. But by then, my dress was a muddied mess, probably looking worse than the dress itself. Getting angry or disappointed here wouldn’t change anything.

So all I could say was,

“It’s fine.”

That’s all.

***

Given the state I was in, soaked to the bone, there was no way I could attend the reception like this. It seemed like changing clothes wouldn’t solve the issue either. Ultimately, after borrowing some clothes, we decided I should return home by carriage. Upon hearing this, the host of the reception couldn’t hide his mortified expression.

“It’s my fault…”

Klaus, looking rather pale, stood by my side the entire time, escorting me. Since entering through the front door in such a mess was out of the question, I had to change into the borrowed clothes in a detached part of the mansion.

Unable to go where there were many people, Klaus, escorting me along a path used by the servants, repeatedly apologized for his rudeness.

“It’s not like you could have predicted the rain or known the carriage wouldn’t slow down there. It’s not your fault, Lord Klaus.”

“Still…”

As his complexion seemed to worsen with every word, I chose to remain silent. We walked down a deserted corridor for a while.

Feeling awkward in the silence, I casually glanced out the windows. Strangely, each time I looked, I seemed to make eye contact with someone at the reception who appeared to be playing metal music.

Is there metal music in this world?

‘Could it be that a weeping jester was also invited to a noble’s birthday party?’ I thought as I turned my gaze forward again. Suddenly, I realized that I had been looking not through a corridor window, but one overlooking the garden.

‘Wait a minute.’

Could that be, me…?

I stopped in my tracks and stiffly turned my head to look at my reflection in the window. Long, tightly clinging black hair. A face turned ghostly pale. Most of all, the eye makeup streaked down long enough to create a grotesque charm with black marks.

I seemed to have transformed into a hardcore metalhead straight out of hell, as if I could bite into guitar strings without issue at any moment. I couldn’t help but keep my mouth shut.

‘Wow….’

Oh, wow, wow… Internally, I couldn’t stop a different kind of admiration for my appearance. As I began to snicker, I sensed Klaus glancing at me. Keeping my gaze fixed on my reflection, I tugged at the lapel of Klaus’s coat.

“Look at that.”

Funny, isn’t it? Pointing at my reflection in the window, Klaus turned his head following my fingertip. There, it seemed like Mr. Park Wan-kyu… no, it was me, looking as if proud after a great performance. Seeing this, Klaus’s expression hardened even more.