RODNEY and I were thirteen when we enrolled in magic school. I was shorter than him back then and struggling to gain muscle mass, so I appeared skinnier too.
“Father says you have broad shoulders and large hands and feet, so you’ll grow big someday, Ge— I mean, Master.”
“You don’t have to call me that if it’s awkward, especially when we’re alone.”
“Absolutely not. I have to get used to it if I want to serve in your household.”
“You’ll be part of my household no matter what. Nobody’s better than you, Rodney.”
“…Please stop saying things like that…”
A servant commonly accompanies the son of high-ranking nobles at all times, even while schooling, but I wasn’t enrolled in regular courses. The program was exclusive, and candidates had to pass special entrance exams before admittance. Not many servants could join their masters or mistresses in such elite study, and despite having to undergo additional special training as part of his heritage as a Kofi, Rodney still managed to perform better academically than some of the noble boys who had far more time and money.
“Yes. As the son of Marquis Drewett, you have every right to turn down an invitation to tea if you wish, Master! I’ll write your reply now,” he once assured me.
“Okay.”
“Just to confirm, Master. Will you attend Lady Haydn’s tea party?”
“No way.”
“As I thought.”
Though I told him that he didn’t have to fulfill his menial duties while at school, Rodney insisted on the role as he sorted through the piles of invitations. Only a small handful were from families that ranked higher than mine, and for a majority of even those, I always found a reason not to go. Really, simply too many tea parties transpired every day. Was anybody actually studying?
Betrothal was reserved for the eldest sons of higher nobles, so everyone else, me included, was free to socialize and mingle until an engagement typically at the age of sixteen or seventeen. The boys and girls at magic school therefore strove to secure advantageous matches on their own.
I was invited to so many functions because I was a “catch,” according to Rodney. My father held several titles, so although I was a second son, I was likely to inherit at least one. And while I wasn’t sure whether I was truly a “catch,” what puzzled me more was how girls believed they could secure my affection without investing any effort. They neither studied hard nor honed their social skills in between terms.
In spite of her enrollment in the same exclusive course, Haydn’s academics weren’t exactly great. That didn’t stop her from acting as if she were someone special though, and for some reason, nobody called her out on it. Perhaps that was due to her talent for healing magic, which was rare among the students, but I didn’t think she was special. I wasn’t interested in her at all.
“It’s because she’s friendly, cheerful, and treats people with fairness,” Rodney explained.
“She’s just rude and overly friendly. I don’t get why she thinks we’re friends. She follows me everywhere and touches me all the time. Gives me goosebumps.”
“Huh?”
Just then, something clunked against the windowpane. Rodney and I pushed it open, looking down.
“Hey! Let’s go have lunch!”
Speak of the devil. Haydn stood in the courtyard of our dormitory, fiddling with a pebble as she flashed a too-bright smile.
I slammed the window shut. “See?! Rude and overly friendly! Why does she think we’re friends?! She follows me everywhere and touches me all the time! I don’t get it! It gives me goosebumps.”
“You’re repeating yourself.”
She was creepy, yes, but ultimately harmless. Besides, she was a girl, so I couldn’t treat her too terribly. In the end, I chose to simply ignore her.
But she still turned up at the tea parties I was forced to attend, inserting herself like a mother hen between girls fighting over me.
“Oh, Gerald. You should just be honest and tell them you’re not interested!”
What was that about?
Or when she’d brag to her friends, “Well, I don’t think Gerald cares about girls. But I’m different.”
That honestly gave me a headache. What did she mean?
I thought I was rid of her when I graduated from magic school a year early, but she followed me to the military academy, then into the military. Assigned to a rear-line unit that specializes in recovery and support, she nevertheless always found a way to appear before me. After I achieved some success, I utilized the general’s sympathy to finally get her relocated to a distant territory.
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“I heard she was doing fine out there and has matured over the past four years. She is an earl’s daughter, after all…” reports Rodney on our way back from work.
After sending Abigail home, I shook off Haydn and spent the afternoon in meetings. Rodney seems to have used that time to research her.
“I don’t know about maturity…”
“She’s always been that way when it comes to you, Master.”
“Welcome home, my lord!”
I catch Abigail as she dives toward me. Nuzzling my cheek against the top of her head, I let the tension seep from my shoulders at last. Ah, she’s just so cute…
“My lord, my lord! Can I bring some potatoes when I go to work next time?!”
“Oh, sure, of course. Wait, potatoes? Wait a minute… Let’s stay like this a little longer.”
“Yes!”
Potatoes? I’ll have to get her to explain once more.
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“THIS cake is made of carrots, my lord! But it tastes sweeter than carrots! And the topping here is cream cheese. The head cook made cheese cream using the castle milk, then used that to make cream cheese!”
“I see. Though I think you confused the two.”
“Huh?”
“Cheese cream is made from cream cheese.”
“Oh, you’re right!”
I’ve missed my chance to ask about potatoes for the moment, so I simply watch Abigail as she nibbles on her carrot cake. She’s breathing heavily, which means she’s been busy in the kitchen since she woke from her nap. She must have been quite interested in the “castle milk.”
In reality, the cow came from the same farm where we’ve always purchased milk. Abigail is just so cute that nobody has the heart to tell her the truth.
Seriously, why is she so obsessed with castles anyway…?