Chapter 9:
Pride
“I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’VE GOT to pay for breakfast because you made us miss the free meal,” I grumbled.
“Oh, enough already!” Marie snapped. “This is all Cynthia’s fault for not waking up in time!”
We’d come to one of the shipboard lounges for our meal, and Marie had brought the three troublemakers with her. She’d wanted to partake in the luxurious spread the staff had prepared, but by the time she’d rounded up her three friends, breakfast was over. Thus, we had had to purchase our food before heading to this lounge to enjoy the nice scenery as we ate.
Having already polished off her sandwich, Cynthia slumped onto the table. “I’m stuffed. Wake me at noon,” she said before dozing off.
“Cynthia, no! You need to wake up!” Marie barked, smacking the top of her friend’s head.
Ellie sat beside Marie, flipping happily through a thick tome. She paused occasionally to reach for her cup of coffee or the sandwich she’d bought, but her meal was incredibly slow going. Betty, meanwhile, was modeling a painting off her sandwich.
“They live life by their own rules, huh?” I snickered.
Tears welled in Marie’s eyes as she clutched my arm. “This is no time to laugh at the situation! You should be scolding them, too!”
“You say that, but from a guy’s perspective, their quirks aren’t exactly a bad thing.”
“How come?!”
It didn’t seem like she’d figure it out otherwise, so I sighed and explained, “Look, I admit they’ve got their faults. From the perspective of a guy raised in a backwoods barony, though, they’re practically goddesses. Look over there if you want proof.”
I motioned, and Marie turned her head to see a group of guys from my cohort ogling her three friends. They weren’t even the only ones; other guys snuck interested glances this way, too. They all looked intensely envious of me.
Marie tilted her head, still confused. “These three are so immature, I just don’t see the appeal. And if they’re prime real estate to you guys, why the heck am I so unpopular?”
“That’d be because of the debt your family racked up.”
“Why can’t guys just look at me as an individual?!”
Guys had shunned Marie since our first semester at the academy. It didn’t help that she’d attempted to seduce some of the aristocracy’s most notable scions. The girls iced her out for that, and any guy who approached her afterward was guaranteed to earn other female students’ ire.
Still, as I’d said, the biggest reason of all was the enormous debt Marie’s family had incurred. In this game world, marriage connected two houses. Marrying Marie would inevitably mean linking yourself to the Lafans and shouldering their financial baggage. Anyone would have reservations about that.
While Marie and I were bantering, Lucle called, “Leon, do you have a second?”, his already-narrow eyes nearly shut.
✦ ✦ ✦
Lucle ushered me to the arcade area, which contained a billiard table, among other things. It was a nice shipboard space that offered games with no gambling involved, but apparently it wasn’t very popular, since it was largely deserted.
Other guys from the same group of poor baron’s sons soon surrounded me. Lucle stood in front, acting as their representative.
“From the bottom of my heart, Leon, please… Give us another opportunity to talk to Miss Cynthia and those other two girls!” he begged. The other men bowed their heads in unison.
I understood their desperation to land a match. I’d been in their shoes until very recently, when my engagement to Marie gave me an out. Seeing them still suffering was painful.
Nonetheless, I said, “You say you want another opportunity, but every time I give you guys one, you end up squabbling. That turns the girls off completely.”
They’d bribed Marie to help them by repeatedly buying her flan from the cafeteria, and she’d followed through on setting up group dates for them. Not that it did any good, of course. Each time, the guys just butted heads over which girl they wanted to talk to, and eventually broke out weapons and challenged each other to duels. Their desperation ruined any chance they had.
“You can hardly blame us,” Lucle protested. “It’s practically a miracle that we have an opportunity to get to know goddesses like those three.”
“Look, I feel you, but no girl wants to witness a bloody throwdown on a group date.”
Lucle hung his head. “You have a point there. But I promise to pare down the number of attendees before the next group date takes place.”
The guys behind him nodded in agreement, but something about the way he worded that reassurance was chilling. It often slipped my mind, since the rest of the student body always looked down on us, but these guys were as much aristocrats as anyone. They were probably accustomed to blood and battle. The more I thought about it, the less surprising it seemed that they might try to take one another down to thin the ranks of bachelors.
“I don’t think Marie would be too pleased about that,” I said.
“Like we have any other choice! Look, right now’s the best time for a date, since a good chunk of the other guys aren’t here. We’re serious about this, Leon!”
I shook my head. “It’s fine to be serious about the group date but not about taking each other out.”
“I don’t want to hear your preaching! You can only act holier-than-thou because you’re already engaged to Marie. This might be the last chance for the rest of us!” Tears of desperation trickled down Lucle’s cheeks.
I sighed. He and the others were so much more hotheaded about this than I was. While I dithered over how to handle the request, Deirdre showed up with a retinue of female students at her heels.
“Gentlemen shouldn’t shed tears so easily,” she said.
Intimidated by Deirdre’s rank, as well as her ostentatious style and demeanor, Lucle and the other guys stood up straighter.
“Miss Deirdre?!” Lucle blurted, panicked. As a third-year student, he was well acquainted with her. “Wh-wh-why are you here?”
I figured she’d only stopped by on a whim, but she glanced at me and grinned. “I came to check on my adorable ‘little brother.’ It seemed like someone was giving him trouble.”
At her pointed accusation, beads of cold sweat ran down the faces of Lucle and the rest of the guys. They averted their eyes.
“R-right! We’ll excuse ourselves, then,” Lucle said. He scurried away, the other boys trailing him closely.
They really lose their nerve when they deal with girls. Not that I’m any better, I guess.
Deirdre and I were technically on track to become relatives, but only because my older brother Nicks was engaged to her sister. It wasn’t that close a bond.
“Tsk, tsk. They all left you behind,” Deirdre said, feigning heartbreak on my behalf. She glanced at me, amusement in her eyes, and giggled. “You poor thing. Need me to comfort you?”
“No, I’m good.”
“What a shame.” Deirdre turned and strode off, taking her throng of followers with her.
What’d she even come talk to me for?