I Start with a Bad Hand!

Crawling out of the water and catching his breath, Aiden was in stark contrast to Evan, who had just been pulled from the water, looking so wilted that his face was pale and his eyes closed.

“CPR… CPR… quickly!”

“Fix your crude way of speaking. How does swearing change anything right now?”

“It’s not a swear word, it’s CPR. Ah, damn it, really.”

Ah, this is so frustrating, I can’t even have a conversation. Move! I pushed Aiden aside and climbed on top of Evan.

‘Chest compressions first, right. Was it 30 times? It should be 30, please.’

I interlocked my fingers, aiming for the center of the chest bone. Is this the right spot? Nothing was precise. Looking down at his pale, cooled face, my fingertips felt just as cold. There was no time left to think.

Please.

Hoping my memory was correct, I began the strong compressions. 1, 2, 3, 4…

“What are you doing!”

“You’re trying to turn a murderer into an attempted murderer, why!”

Keep quiet so I can concentrate. At that, Aiden shut up, his shrunken form from being soaked was unusually quiet, then he muttered in a waterlogged voice.

“What if he really dies? Because of me…”

Those words made me grip my interlocked fingers even tighter.

“If he really dies, the Elexion Ducal House won’t let me off….”

…Of course, they wouldn’t. Ah, I really don’t match well with this.

“Ah, you’re insane! Instead of that, go call someone!”

…29, 30.

I pinched Evan’s nose and tilted his head back. There was no movement. Two rescue breaths. I hesitated for a moment, but then I took the deepest breath I could and performed the rescue operation. Huh, Aiden’s muttered remark was irritating.

One more time.

Yet, Evan remained motionless. Damn it. I started sweating profusely. I had to start the chest compressions again. But doing this, could he really be saved? Me, without proper memory or training, doing this?

‘I have to do it anyway. Just don’t think about anything else right now.’

Now I was more desperate. Whatever Aiden muttered, I kept doing whatever I could. As soaked in sweat as if I had been pulled from the water, and when some physiological tears were about to come, the health education that had been mandatorily carried out finally showed its worth. It was when Aiden was about to stop me with a gesture.

“Cough.”

Evan, having lightly spit out the water, was gasping for breath. Aiden, with a look as desperate as mine, gave me a ‘can you believe it worked?’ look. It was the first time I realized his eyes could open so wide. Only then did I get off Evan’s body.

Evan coughed roughly for a while.

“Hey!”

Then, from a distance, I saw Agnes running towards us, her face pale with shock, and Icarus, looking just as stern, was with her.

“Why did you bring the prince?”

“How else were we supposed to overpower him with just the two of us?”

“Wait, why are we talking about force when we’re going to apologize?”

As soon as the muscle of the operation arrived, he separated Aiden and me.

“Are you okay?”

Icarus asked, turning around with a frosty expression, and this time, Aiden really looked wronged. Amidst the commotion, Evan coughed a little as he staggered to his feet.

“No… I mean, Dietrich…”

“Are you okay?”

To this, Evan, still pale, nodded silently. Perhaps because he had been in the water, his eyes, usually the color of water, had reddened.

“But, breathing… gasp, it hurts too much to breathe.”

“It’s because you just regained consciousness. It will get better soon.”

Eventually, Evan was carried to the temple because the intense chest compressions had broken his ribs. And there were students who witnessed the scene near the lake. Thanks to them, the desperate life-saving efforts transformed into a romantic anecdote spreading across the academy. Damn.

“They say you pounded on his chest as if you were resenting him, urging him to wake up.”

That pounding broke Evan’s ribs.

“They say you kissed him with tears in your eyes. Are you two really in that kind of relationship?”

That was… sweat.

“It will pass.”

Unable to bear the ongoing gossip any longer, I cut through the crowd as if splitting it apart. Only then did it quiet down.

The somewhat intuitive method of CPR had splendidly adapted my life-saving efforts into a scene from a romantic novel.

“Ah, damn it… These provincial fools.”

Thanks to that, my already not-so-great reputation was thoroughly smashed. But now that Dietrich was not here, that was solely my responsibility. Then it was fine.

Whether or not people who didn’t know the full story murmured among themselves, the situation between the three of us was fairly settled. Aiden had left his fate in Evan’s hands, and Evan had left it in mine.

Amidst all this, Agnes was absurdly suggesting, “Given the situation, shouldn’t you try to get along with the duke’s second son?”

“You should start explaining everything one by one now.”

Could there be a more miserable plea hearing? Aiden began to speak, genuinely recounting everything.

“…I heard a rumor that you entered the academy with the support of the Elexion family.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“And despite some dishonest circumstances in the entrance exam… I heard you just glossed over it, which was infuriating.”

“…Dishonest circumstances?”

In the meantime, my closeness with Devon and Logan, who were involved with me, was annoying, and moreover, it was unbearable for him that I had rejected Devon and was now chattering away with Klaus. I felt Icarus glance at me at that point.

But I knew that was just a superficial reason, and so did Agnes and Icarus, who had already heard it from Agnes.

Eventually, Aiden revealed his true feelings.

“I didn’t like you being close to the senior. There, I said it? You and that commoner, Bardy, walking around with the senior seemed to lower her status, and I hated it.”

Anticipating this, Aiden sighed as he looked at us exchanging knowing glances. Are you going to tell the senior? he asked in a voice full of impatience, then sighed again at Agnes’s crazed smile.

“It’s done. What does it matter now? The senior will now look at me like I’m an insect.”

“Then you should have tried to win with love instead of picking fights.”

“I know that. But what do you expect me to do?”

…

“No matter what, there was no way to get closer. I thought joining the student council would make it possible, but the senior chose you. With you and the senior always together, there was no chance or way to approach. As if a busy person would participate in your pathetic play…”

I couldn’t help but snort at his last remark. He watched a play because of the senior?

“Speaking of which, what was that play about?”

One of the few students who had come to see our play was Aiden. The depth of his affection revealed was greater than I had expected. But no matter how deep, there are things that cannot be reached. Just as a lake cannot become the sea.

“Even if it hadn’t been me, you wouldn’t have ended up well with the senior.”

“Why? Because my family isn’t as good as a marquis’? …Because the senior has Elexion?”

Aiden emphasized ‘Elexion’ with a somber expression. I had always sensed an inexplicable hostility towards Elexion. It felt like the pieces of the puzzle were finally fitting together. At the same time, I disliked the part of me that began to understand his feelings.

Agnes suddenly interrupted after listening for a while.

“It’s not just about the family.”

“What?”

“Personality, character, intelligence, wisdom, physical strength, appearance…”

Agnes rattled off all the positive qualities that exist as if she intended to list them all. If there weren’t classes next time, she seemed like she could continue until tomorrow. Before tomorrow actually came, I quickly interrupted her.

“You know that Klaus punched Devon, right?”

Aiden, who was about to snap at Agnes, suddenly clamped his mouth shut. It looked like he knew something. But that’s not important right now. I continued speaking.

“Do you know what the senior said to Klaus? He told him not to engage in cowardly acts of pressing down an opponent who can’t fight back. Even though it’s his own brother, he still said that.”

“That’s admirable.”

Aiden still seemed out of it.

“…So, you were doomed from the start. The senior is that kind of person. Honest and upright. It’s not anyone’s fault but yours; you’re just the complete opposite of her, and that’s why it didn’t work out.”

It probably won’t be possible in the future either. After all, you never sincerely apologized to me or Agnes until the end. I swallowed that last part and got up from my seat.

“I feel so miserable I could die…”

With those words, Aiden openly began to sob.

“Crying over love is truly unsightly.”

“Really. Let’s not be like that.”

And Aiden’s tears left that sort of impression on Agnes and me.

“Is it really worth being that ugly?”

Icarus murmured a brief sentiment.

With that, the chaos ended.

While not as much as Agnes, Aiden also received a suitable level of discipline. Anyway, I testified at the disciplinary committee again. It wasn’t Aiden but Evan who had shoved, and I did not deny that this part was crucially helpful.

Well, what… I couldn’t lie about that either.

“…Thank you.”

After the disciplinary committee ended, Aiden muttered in a face that screamed he was utterly embarrassed.

Seeing his face, it seemed like a not-so-bad outcome had been achieved.