Everyone here probably knew that I’d met with Hugo, but they’d all been talking about lighter topics and about things in their lives. Nobody even tried to bring him up. There weren’t any heavy topics that came up at all. They were all good friends of mine who were genuinely concerned for me.
“So, I met Hugo today, and...it looks like he really hates me,” I said.
Hearing me say this made everyone’s eyes open wide with shock. The past me would never have wanted to discuss something like this with them, and I especially wouldn’t have been the one to bring it up. The only person who wasn’t surprised was Ana, who knew how I’d been changing. She looked at me happily.
I went on to tell them about my meeting with Hugo. I talked about how important grades had been to him and how even knowing that wouldn’t have changed how I worked to maintain my spot at the top. I wasn’t used to talking about things like this, so my explanation left a lot to be desired. But even so, they all quietly listened.
“You really don’t have to worry about the grades that much. You won fair and square. If he held a grudge against you, it was misplaced anger. It’s on him for hating you,” Anthony said, trying to cheer me up with a smile.
“Have you forgotten, Sir Ginorious? You’re a victim of someone’s grudge and ambitions, which resulted in a planned assassination attempt. You should be furious, not depressed,” Lady Byron said.
She was always fair, and would even sometimes criticize her friends and defend outcasts. Hearing someone like her say these words took a load off my mind.
“I can’t feel angry at him. I think Hugo... He was desperately trying to live. He was well aware of what it’d mean if he failed. But even so, he risked his life for his goal. I really think he tried his hardest. What I feel for Hugo isn’t anger, but...sympathy—the kind you feel when the glow of a young person’s passion and effort ends in failure.”
If he’d succeeded in my assassination, his family’s status would’ve shot up and he would’ve received a large amount of power and honor. Fail, and his entire family would be executed. He made one bad decision and as a result had sentenced his family to go together to heaven or hell.
Politics were messy. Even if you played it safe, it was hard to know what path was the safe one to take. If the nobles in this country made a wrong move, they’d be forced into a situation where they were walking a tightrope blindfolded through hell.
That’s why the nobles of this country, especially the younger ones, were living earnestly. They were thinking seriously about their future in a completely different league from the young people of my past life. After all, one wrong step, and they’d be walking that tightrope.
Hugo had been the same. He’d been born into a household that was a part of the first prince’s faction. He’d only had two choices: either to walk the path his family took and fight against the Sevensworths or do his best to deftly avoid carrying out directions in order to keep his position muddied. Between these, he chose the choice with the highest reward. I couldn’t be angry at him for that. What I felt for him right now was pity for being forced into that life, admiration for this youthful spirit to not lament over his situation and instead continue moving forward, and sympathy for how his hard work had not paid off.
“Just as always, you say the most old-person-sounding things. You’re calling Hugo a young person, but you do know you’re the same age as him, right?” Anthony said, laughing.
Though I was currently living as a younger person, sometimes I couldn’t help but act like the old person I used to be.
“I have something I’d like to ask both you and Anthony,” I said to Justin. “So, for Hugo, who came from a military tactician family, grades were incredibly important. At the same time, your grades in swordsmanship must have been very important for your families since you come from knight families. Did you two...ever resent me?”
In addition to being the best student in school, I’d also been the best swordsman. I knew there was a chance that Anthony and Justin didn’t like that. We’d already graduated so this might not matter now, but I wanted to know how they truly felt.
“Yeah, you’re right that our grades in swordsmanship were incredibly important. That’s why we trained so hard—but look, we’re knights, not tacticians. We’ve been losing in sword tournaments since we were young. If we showed even a shred of being angry that we lost, our dads would’ve smacked the crap out of us for embarrassing our family. We’ve all been raised like that, so I don’t think anybody resents you.”
“Yeah, what Anthony said. All the knights from noble families have been participating in swordsmanship tournaments from a young age. Fights can be a toss of the coin, so sometimes you get beaten easily by someone worse than you. We’ve all had that experience and we’ve all had to chivalrously congratulate the winner. Even if we’re frustrated at our own weakness, we absolutely don’t harbor any hatred toward the winner.”
I looked at both Justin’s and Anthony’s faces and could tell they were being genuine. I’d hoped that, knowing the two of them, they wouldn’t have felt any anger toward me, but hearing them strongly deny it made me feel better.
“Truth be told, as someone from a military family, I’d love nothing more than to win against you, but Ginorious, you beat one of the best swordsmen in the country, remember? Seeing that was enough to make me give up. Though I mean, I still plan on beatin’ you someday,” Justin said, laughing.
“Justin, maybe you should try focusing on beating Lady Ekatarina before Ginorious?” Anthony teasingly quipped.
“Hey, come on, man!” Justin smiled ruefully.
“Huh?”
I couldn’t help but make this sound of puzzlement. There weren’t any classes on swordsmanship for girls. They’d always had embroidery at the same time as our swordsmanship classes, and I was pretty sure it had been like that for them even in their elementary school days. But was he saying that, somehow, a noble lady who never had a swordsmanship class had beat Justin?
It was true that Lady Byron was tall for a lady, but she was still smaller than Justin, who stood at two metres tall. She was also much thinner and much less muscular.
“This is something that happened before you transferred into our school, Sir Gino,” Ana said, beginning to explain with Anthony and Justin chiming in.
Only Lady Byron stayed quiet, most likely trying to protect Justin’s pride as a knight. She was very good at being considerate like this.
Apparently, during middle school, the two of them had gotten into a fight and decided to settle the matter with a duel. Lady Byron came from a magic specialist family and had fought by using both her magic and sword. Not having encountered this kind of fighting style before, Justin lost.
It took a lot of courage for her to accept a duel despite her opponent being from a prestigious family of swordsmen. As a student, Lady Byron had been at the top of the girl hierarchy. She not only had stunning beauty, but also the best grades, an overwhelming talent for embroidery, and a very virtuous personality. I’d thought that was why she was always at the top, but maybe the biggest reason had to do with her fighting prowess.
I couldn’t help but think that by bringing up this story, both Anthony and Justin wanted to show how unbothered they were over being defeated in a duel. Even though he’d lost to Lady Byron, a girl, Justin didn’t seem to hold any grudge toward her and was friendly. Seeing this real-life example made me feel very relieved to have such good friends.
“Thanks for today. I feel a lot better after talking to them,” I said to Ana as we walked to the carriage.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Ana said with a smile filled with gentleness. “You haven’t said everything on your mind, though. I can tell...” she mumbled as I escorted her.
She was right. I’d only talked a little about Hugo. I wasn’t able to tell them everything. I couldn’t tell them about the ring I’d received or the warning he’d given me, or of the words he’d said to me, like a curse, about how I’d carry the ring forever, never to forget how I’d been the one to kill him.