Emerald Academy, Capital City of Inidal Empire
“It has not even been that long since you arrived here, Mister Hevel, yet I have already received a formal complaint from Viscount Ironwood stating that you have squandered your scholarship money on purposes entirely unrelated to your education,” the Headmaster of the Emerald Academy sighed. The bald man rubbed his temples, his long white beard shifting with the movement.
Alan simply kept his head down, an entirely disinterested expression plastered across his face as the Headmaster continued to lecture him.
“Sigh... Fine. You will be reassigned to a different dormitory, given that you no longer possess the scholarship funds required for high-class housing. Furthermore, any and all letters you attempt to send out will be strictly rejected unless they are directly addressed to the Ironwood Viscounty or the Imperial Palace.”
Randell... that pathetic fool must have sold me out after failing to spread those rumors properly, Alan thought, scoffing inwardly. I shouldn’t have expected much from him anyway. Even Mother never held him in high regard when he was a servant.
“I understand, Headmaster,” Alan replied smoothly, hiding his internal rage.
With a stiff bow, he walked out of the office, his expression instantly souring into a frustrated scowl the moment the door clicked shut. Gathering his meager belongings, he made his way toward the low-rent dormitories reserved for the commoners attending the academy, letting out a sharp sigh of resentment.
Deep within the second residential building, he stopped in a drab hallway, halting right in front of a door marked with the number 20. He unlocked it, stepped into his cramped new room, and began unloading his boxes with an entirely emotionless face.
Tak... tak... A sudden knock rattled the door. Alan completely ignored it, focusing instead on unboxing a collection of storybooks his mother had written for him back when they still resided in the grand manor. But the visitor wasn't deterred. The door swung open unannounced, and a young man around his own age strolled right in.
“Yoho! Neighbor!”
The boy was around fourteen, just like Alan. He had slicked-back brown hair, clearly trying to mimic the refined look of a high noble, but the average, slightly coarse material of his clothing instantly gave away his true status as a commoner.
“So you’re the one moving in next door? I’m Raymond Gill,” the boy said cheerfully, walking up to the box Alan was hovering over and extending a hand for a handshake.
“Alan Hevel,” Alan grumbled, completely ignoring the hand as he turned back to his books without making eye contact.
Raymond slowly pulled his hand back, a relaxed smile remaining on his face. “Ah... so you’re that type, huh?”
“What type?” Alan snapped, halting his unpacking to glare at him.
Raymond placed his hands behind his head, entirely nonchalant. “The snobbish, grumpy kind.”
Alan stood up abruptly, his glare intensifying as his voice dropped to a warning tone. “What did you just say? Do you even have any idea who I am?”
“What? You? You're a student at the academy who is living in the commoner's dorms just like me,” Raymond countered easily, shrugging. “What more is there to know?”
“I...” Alan clenched his fists, his face flushing with an angry heat. He struggled to find the words, desperately trying to salvage his pride, he didn’t want to use this card but he did anyway. “I am not a commoner! My uncle is a noble!”
“So is my elder sister's husband. So what of it? Even if our relatives are nobles, we aren't,” Raymond pointed out with brutal, casual logic. He stepped forward and placed a small wooden container onto the desk Alan had just cleared. “You look busy unpacking, so I brought over some lunch to share, like a good neighbor. Do me a favor, be a good neighbor yourself and come by my room tomorrow evening. I’ll be hosting a welcome party for you, my snobbish neighbor.”
“I won’t be going,” Alan barked back coldly.
Raymond just chuckled as he strolled out into the hallway, entirely unfazed. “You can leave early if you want. Go ahead and keep acting like all the other distant relatives of nobility before they come to their senses, delusional.”
With that final jab, the door clicked shut with a heavy noise as if something broke, leaving Alan alone in the quiet room.
Alan found himself standing stiffly in the dimly lit hallway, staring blankly at the wood of Raymond’s closed door. Internal noise and muffled laughter leaked through the cracks, making him hesitate.
“I have an assignment due tomorrow,” a voice suddenly spoke up from behind him.
Alan turned to see a young lady with golden-brown hair walking up to stand beside him in the corridor.
“Oh...” was all Alan could manage to reply.
“I probably don't have much time left to waste,” she continued, giving him a subtle side-eye as she leaned against the wall. “It seems like a massive waste of energy to spend it standing outside a party. Ahem... not that I would call six people eating and drinking in a crammed room much of a 'party,' anyway.”
Alan kept his eyes on her as she went on, her tone dripping with a dry, rebellious humor. “But sadly, it’s as close as I get nowadays, ever since they banned me from the local tavern.” She paused, scowling slightly. “Cowards.”
A silence stretched between them for a few seconds before Alan finally spoke. “I am Alan.”
“Serena.”
They stood there together for a few more moments before Serena looked over at him. “Are you really going to just stand out here all evening, Alan?”
“I am not very good with parties,” Alan admitted, looking down. “I used to just follow my mother around... She was the sociable one. People only really liked me because I was always by her side.”
“Well... I happen to be pretty beloved myself,” Serena replied with a confident smirk. “So just stick close to me.”
Without waiting for an invite or even bothering to knock, she boldly turned the handle and pushed the door open. Left with no other choice, Alan swallowed his pride and followed her inside.
The room was tiny and suffocatingly cramped, but bursting with a raw, chaotic energy Alan had never experienced in noble banquet halls. The air was thick with the scent of cheap ale, roasted nuts, and warm bread. Six students were packed tightly around a single mismatched wooden table, some balanced precariously on crates while others sat cross-legged on the floor. Laughter bounced off the low ceiling as glasses clinked carelessly, spilling foam onto the floor, and someone strummed a slightly out-of-tune lute in the corner. It was loud, crowded, and entirely unrefined, yet undeniably alive.
“Serena! I heard you were officially banned from entering the tavern downtown? Is it true they actually had to call up the Imperial Knights?” Raymond asked jokingly from across the table, raising his cup.
Serena chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she reached into her bag and pulled out a heavy iron prop. “Just look at what I managed to steal from them while they had me locked behind bars!”
The entire room erupted into fresh roars of laughter at her shamelessness. But as the image of the young lady playfully waving the stolen handcuffs flashed in his vision, Alan’s chest suddenly tightened.
The laughter around him instantly felt distant, as if he were submerged underwater. His heart began to hammer violently against his ribs, and the cramped air of the room suddenly felt entirely unbreathable. Panic seized him. His head flashed the images of Maria in chains.
Abruptly standing up from his seat, he knocked his stool back. “E-excuse me, everyone...” he stammered out. Without waiting for a response, he rushed out into the hallway, desperate to reach his own room.
Raymond’s smile faded as he eyed Alan’s retreating, frantic back. “Just a second, everyone,” he murmured, stepping away from the table to follow him.
The moment Alan reached his room’s door, he grabbed the handle and shoved, but the warped wood was completely stuck in its frame. “Shit! You freaking piece of shit!” he hissed, his anxiety boiling over into pure rage. He began aggressively banging his fists against the stuck door, kicking it as if he wanted to smash the wood into splinters.
Breathing heavily, his chest heaving with an angry, emotional sob, he whirled around to vent his frustration, only to freeze when he saw Raymond standing a few paces away, watching him quietly.
They stood in the dim hallway, the silence heavy between them for several agonizing seconds, before the dam broke and Alan blurted out, “My mother is dead.”
He took deep, ragged breaths, desperately trying to fight back the hot tears stinging his eyes. He walked a few shaky steps closer to Raymond, who now wore an expression of deep, quiet concern.
“My mother is dead!” Alan repeated, his voice cracking as the tears finally spilled over, trailing down his burning cheeks. “And the world just keeps on turning... and people just keep on living their lives! They study, they laugh, they eat, they go to sleep, and they get up... and they just do it all over again!”
He gasped for air, his vision blurring completely. “And I absolutely hate them for it.”
Raymond didn't interrupt. He simply stood there, letting Alan sob openly for several minutes. There was nothing but the cool evening wind whistling through the corridor and the pale moonlight casting long shadows against the walls as the boy wept.
Slowly, Alan’s heavy sobs began to subside into quiet trembles.
“M-my sister... after our parents passed away, she told me something,” Raymond said softly, breaking the silence. “She said that grief makes your past feel too close... and your future feel too far away.”
Alan shot back instantly, his voice bitter and empty. “Well, after my only family's death... I don't have a future at all.”
“Yeah, but you’re still here, buddy,” Raymond replied gently.
Alan let out a self-deprecating scoff. “What? Here? In the commoner's dormitories?”
“Everybody is just trying to figure out what to do with the time they've got left,” Raymond countered, his tone steady and grounded. “That goes for young people, old people, nobles, and commoners. It doesn't matter who you are. We’re all stuck here. So it’s always entirely up to us how we use the time we have in this world... because,” Raymond looked Alan straight in the eye, his expression dead serious, “nobody gets a second chance at it.”