Looks Like Spring is Coming #2
The Arclight family was mercilessly thorough in all things. The current head, Cain, was the sort of man who taught his children discipline over affection. Raised under an excessively strict father in a strangely twisted manner, the siblings had grown into something off-kilter. Such were the current three children of House Arclight.
Orca Arclight, the eldest son and the hidden mastermind of the student council route, could be set aside for now. The second child and eldest daughter, Flora, was hardly normal herself.
“Allow me to confirm one matter, Victorica. Your elder sister Flora is a third-year student this year, correct?”
Victorica answered my question with a small sigh and a nod.
“Yes. She’s a third-year this year.”
It matched the game’s setting exactly. Flora was a third-year at Ludens Academy. Yet unlike her brother or younger sister, she had not been chosen as a student council officer. It was easy to imagine how distorted a person she must have become, nursing an inferiority complex toward her black-hearted older brother and her accomplished younger sister.
A chill ran down my spine. Simply recalling Flora’s appearance made my blood run cold. This memory had to be etched into Victor’s body rather than mine—Ha Seung-ri. It was the moment I vaguely realized that Victor did not particularly care for Flora.
They had few points of contact in the game, but…
“Anyway, my sister will be arriving at Ludens soon. Victor, I need you to play along with me. If you don’t want to deal with the hassle, this arrangement benefits you as well.”
“......”
Instead of replying, I sank briefly into thought. Victorica apparently took my silence as refusal and added a few more words.
“I know you dislike the current state of the Arclight family. But if word spreads that you broke off our engagement, do you truly believe you can handle Flora?”
“What is the meaning of that statement?”
“You and Flora have a worse relationship than a dog and a monkey. The only reason my sister remained relatively well-behaved was because you were the fiancé my father brought in. If it becomes known that the engagement is over…”
The fact that Flora and Victor were like cats and dogs was new information to me. After all, the game’s episodes had focused on Victorica and Enio advancing as the goddess of victory, not on Victor, who exited as a mid-boss character.
Human relationships I knew nothing about… They sparked my interest. At the same time, they were details I needed to survive.
“One question. What was the reason Flora hated me?”
“That…”
Victorica seemed about to speak, then shook her head.
“I assumed you would know better than anyone. In truth, I would like to know why she despises you so intensely.”
Even Victorica did not know the reason.
Summarizing her words, the suggestion was that we pretend the engagement had never been broken in order to avoid the annoyance of dealing with Flora. But would that actually work? It seemed unlikely.
That was when Victorica spoke again.
“The Ludens newspaper already ran a prominent story about our broken engagement. Your expression suggests you doubt my sister Flora would believe any claim that it never happened.”
“......”
How had she read me? I brushed a hand across my mouth. The face beneath my fingers was the same stiff, expressionless mask that belonged to Victor.
“Is your current expression asking how I could possibly guess your thoughts from your face alone?”
I had no choice but to admit it.
“Correct.”
Victorica had never possessed any mind-reading talent. That sort of ability suited Enio far better than her.
“How did you do it?”
At my question, Victorica thrust out her chest and shoulders, declaring triumphantly.
“Your expressions have become quite easy to read lately, Victor. They are far more varied than before. Naturally, no one but me would be able to tell the difference.”
“Impressive.”
“It means your face shows more emotion than I realized. I only discovered this fact recently myself.”
So the gaze I had felt during class earlier had come from Victorica.
Suddenly curious, I asked, “Then what does my expression look like at this moment?”
“Now?”
Victorica stared fixedly at my face. With her brow furrowed in serious concentration, she resembled an expert gemologist sorting stones. She would never guess correctly, however. Because right now I had absolutely no thoughts. None whatsoever.
Had I posed too difficult a problem? The pure white of Victorica’s face, locked with mine, gradually flushed a deeper and deeper red that was all too easy to understand.
“......”
Victorica was someone who knew how to feel shame at her own incompetence and shortcomings. She must have grown frustrated that her abilities could not decipher my current expression.
Finally, her face now the color of a perfectly ripened tomato, Victorica burst out.
“Hah, ridiculous! Why should I have to read your expression anyway? I refuse!”
With that, she whipped her head away.
She had a point. There was no real need for Victorica to read my face right now.
The real issue was whether Flora would fall for any act we put on when the news of our broken engagement had already spread so widely. Victorica gave a sincere answer to that question as well.
“I will think of a solution. I will contact you shortly. My sister arrives tomorrow, so we should align our stories by this evening at the latest.”
That meant my afternoon was free. I should head to the market first.
In the languid afternoon, I used the week’s earnings from selling spice soup and bomb sauce bulgogi to bring a 3-million-rene brazier into the club room. It operated on magic stones, yet its appearance and usage were identical to a gas range.
“You seem to have worked diligently instead of playing, yet the money in your pocket refuses to grow.”
Since this was the investment phase, being in the red was to be expected. Even a debt master like myself could not help feeling a touch of gloom.
“Victor, look at this! I’ve made some real progress taming the queen bee!”
Nike shouted with delight. When I turned, I saw a Bashkir queen bee sitting obediently on her palm, drinking water.
Beee, beee.
Even while motionless, it looked terrifying. The fact that Nike would place such a creature on her palm proved she was no ordinary girl.
“If you have finished drinking, return to the hive now, Elizabeth.”
“…Why is the queen bee named Elizabeth?”
“I agonized between Buzzy and Elizabeth before deciding.”
“Elizabeth is a name with deep history and dignity.”
At any rate, Nike’s successful taming of the queen bee was positive news. If she managed to train it properly, we would be able to mass-produce Bashkir honey. We might even create the legendary dish beyond Tier 1: Honey Shaved Ice Harmony.
If that ever got made, it would turn the entire academy upside down. Still, the road ahead remained long.
“Now that I think of it, Nike, take a look at this. There was something I wanted to show you.”
I handed her a single flower I had kept carefully in the corner of the club room. Nike’s face instantly brightened like forsythia blossoms on a spring day.
“What a stunningly beautiful flower! Victor, are you giving this to me as a present? I’ve never received a flower gift in my entire life!”
Nike was overjoyed. She looked exactly as I had when I received my first Christmas present—a set of twelve crayons.
Because of that, I found it difficult to say, “No, I was wondering whether you could mass-produce and cultivate this Snowflake Lily. You are an earth magician, are you not? This much should be possible for you.”
“Heheung~”
Humming cheerfully, Nike soon produced a pot from somewhere and carefully planted the Snowflake Lily.
“It’s such a mysterious flower. If we raise it well, we can harvest seeds and create an entire flowerbed! Thank you for the gift, Victor!”
“Since you mentioned a flowerbed, I must ask. Do you believe mass production of that flower is feasible?”
“I don’t know!”
She did not know. The process had taken a strange turn, but the end result was that Nike had begun working toward mass-producing the Snowflake Lily. No matter how you looked at it, we were quite compatible partners.
If Nike succeeded in mass-producing both Bashkir honey and Snowflake Lilies, escaping our mountain of debt before summer ended would be all but guaranteed for both of us.
“Then I’ll go ask Rose about this flower, Victor! She’s my roommate and incredibly knowledgeable about flowers!”
I knew Rose as well. The four-leaf clover decorating this club room had been a gift from her.
“So you share a room with Rose.”
“That’s right! We talked about you last night before bed! She praised you so much for removing that beehive behind the dormitory! She said she wants to give you a thank-you gift.”
“I thought I had already received her gratitude. That clover over there.”
“Is that so? Anyway, I’ll be right back! I’ll ask her again!”
With that, Nike dashed out.
I had intended to discuss snow shaved ice, its effects, and future business expansion based on those effects, but it could not be helped. I was pondering what additional furniture we might need when I sensed another presence at the club room door.
Had Nike returned already? No, the aura was different.
“To think Victor would be in a place like this. It reeks of commoners from the very entrance.”
Someone emitted a peculiar presence just outside the club room door. Before I could identify the voice, my body reacted first—a prickling chill at the nape of my neck.
The door slid open with a rattle. Beyond it stood a woman with silver hair rolled into buns on either side of her head. Upon closer inspection, the hair was not mere silver but a platinum blonde that seemed to capture sunlight. She wore the Ludens uniform, yet her skirt was longer, resembling a dress, and she carried a dark blue parasol. She gave the impression of a refined lady wary of the sun’s rays.
Her face resembled Victorica’s but appeared slightly more mature, with eyes that were a touch sharper. Looking closely, one could see their features were entirely different.
I knew the name of this sudden visitor well.
“Flora.”
“My, what an ill-mannered dog you remain. Did I not instruct you to address me with respect as Lady Flora?”
Wait—hadn’t she said Flora would arrive tomorrow by ship?
Caught off guard by the unexpected arrival, I glanced behind her. There stood Victorica awkwardly beneath the languid afternoon sunlight in front of the storage building. Her expression was extremely sour. When our eyes met, she shook her head slowly. It appeared even Victorica had not anticipated this.
I asked Flora, “Flora, what brings you to this place? Moreover, I understood you were arriving tomorrow by ship.”
“…I told you to call me Lady Flora. Hah, that temperament of yours is unchanged, I see. In any case, never mind. I was enjoying my vacation at the Arclight main estate when truly unexpected news reached me.”
So she could not remain idle.
“Victor, to think a mere commoner would dare jilt my one and only younger sister. This is an insult to the Arclight name and an insult to me, Flora.”
“Sister, I keep telling you it’s a misunderstanding.”
“Be quiet. What misunderstanding? Victor, why on earth would you do something so foolish? Did you grow tired of Victorica’s occasional sleep-talking at night?”
“Sister! Stop saying pointless things! We didn’t break the engagement—we’re only pretending we did!”
“I do not believe your story. I am asking Victor. Because Victor is a man who does not lie under any circumstances—never, not even if a blade is pressed to his throat. Isn’t that right?”
As Flora spoke, an unrefined vein stood out on her forehead. There was clearly ‘something’ between Victor and Flora. I could not have missed it. Perhaps it was connected to Victor turning into that sluggish monster? I still had no inkling what it might be, but confirmation came first.
“What did Victorica tell you?”
“She claimed there was a reason to announce the broken engagement publicly. Something about deceiving potential enemies within and outside the student council. Enemies? How laughable.”
Victorica had clearly put some thought into her story. While I pondered my response, Flora continued.
“If the news of the broken engagement that reached even the Arclight main estate is false, then you two must still be engaged. In that case, you should be capable of this as well.”
“This?”
When I sought clarification, Flora snorted as though the question itself were ridiculous.
“What any engaged couple would naturally do, of course. Such as holding hands.”
“......”
“......”
A brief silence descended. An unintended, heavy quiet. The desolate club room that smelled of commoners froze as if time itself had halted.
Flora did not miss the opening. “What is it? Can you not even manage that?”
Surprisingly, the one who answered was Victorica.
“Don’t underestimate us. O-of course we can do something like that. We are engaged, after all. Holding hands is as easy as eating…!”