The Hawthorn Does Not Break - 1
For the crime of being a pitiful civil servant, I had been locked in a prison called a dormitory inside a penitentiary called the Academy. The prisoner roster was probably somewhere in the Imperial Capital.
Honestly speaking, I had beaten up a royal, so the charges existed separately—but using the Academy as a place of confinement still felt like overkill.
I didn't even thrash him properly.
Strictly speaking, I hadn't beaten Ryutis with fists or feet. I had merely grabbed his clothes and moved him elsewhere. It was practically a tactical temporary relocation.
The destination being a hard stone floor was a minor flaw, but it still wasn't assault. If Ryutis had just been a little sturdier, nothing would have happened, would it? Walter used to crawl back up even after falling off cliffs.
But Ryutis had already coughed up blood, and I had been disciplined. The window for asking for just one free pass had closed long ago.
"According to Dame Perosa, things are quiet. She says everything is ordinary."
Still, having someone take the hard work in my place was a tremendous relief.
"I see. Thanks to Dame Perosa, I can set my mind at ease."
Perosa was the only teenager among the three kingdoms' forces, so if you dressed her in a school uniform, she drew no suspicious looks.
Of course, anyone who knew Perosa would immediately realize she was an outsider—but everyone who knew her was of one mind in silently permitting her reconnaissance.
"It's a pity she can't enter the club room, though."
"It can't be helped. Even with a disguise, that would be too much."
As Villar said, proper surveillance meant entering the club room rather than merely hovering nearby.
The problem was that simply putting on a uniform and pretending to be a student was one thing; boldly walking into a club room with a total of six members was another entirely. The members might even take open offense at such blatant monitoring.
Still, it was only a pity at most. Leaving it to Perosa, watching from nearby was more than enough.
Fan devotion is terrifying.
Entrusting the observation of Ryutis—or rather, the club that included him—to Perosa, who idolized him with burning passion?
She would clearly break past her limits while doing emotional somersaults of joy. It wasn't private misconduct but official duty, so she could even hold her head high before herself. In a way, she was a state-sanctioned stalker.
"If anything happens, please inform me at once. I'll take measures as well."
I forced myself to erase thoughts of Perosa, the nationally approved stalker, and spoke.
Regardless of Perosa's job satisfaction, monitoring the club members was originally my duty. To put it bluntly, I had foisted my own work onto someone else.
So saying I would rush over if anything happened was the least I owed them. Frankly, the Crown Prince designating the Academy as my confinement site was his way of saying that if an emergency arose, I should go out and handle it.
If he had a conscience, he wouldn't pile on extra discipline just because I left the confinement area. He'd locked me in to work—if he punished me for working, what kind of person would that make him?
Ah. He's not a person.
I had briefly mistaken that bastard for a human being.
"Not at all. We will resolve matters as best we can, so please rest thoroughly, Inspector."
As if reading my mind, Villar firmly shook his head.
Yes, in Villar's eyes I was probably a pitiful man who needed rest. I still couldn't forget his expression after hearing the legendary tales of the Crown Prince's antics.
If Villar had told me, "His Majesty the King orders you to serve your confinement at the Academy," I would have looked at him with the same eyes.
"I'm grateful for your words."
So I decided to simply rest thoroughly, just as Villar said. Even machines break down without oiling.
Whether my prayers had reached the heavens or not, the confinement period passed day by day in quiet peace. The things that happened while I was stuck in the dormitory were such cozy little events they barely deserved to be called incidents.
"They say not seeing sunlight is bad for your health. So at least the food should be good."
"Thank you, Mar."
For example, Margareta's visit today, as reliable as always. Somehow she seemed to regard me as locked in an underground dungeon, but maybe that was just my imagination. Still, I was grateful for the thought, so I served tea whenever she came.
They had said I couldn't go out—not that others couldn't come in. My conscience was clear. I was under confinement either way.
"It's nice being in the same room as Karl. Though the reason we're together is a sad one."
"I'm sorry..."
But that clear conscience vanished like foam at a single word from Margareta.
"If you're sorry—once your confinement ends, could Karl come to me?"
And the words that followed left me no choice but to be startled. She spoke with a gentle smile, but the content was far from light.
She had said that sharing a room under the pretext of confinement was sad, so she wanted to be properly together once confinement ended. And asking me to come to her suggested she meant Margareta's room.
Had the shock hit Margareta harder than I thought? I never expected a princess who always strove to maintain her dignity to say something so bold.
"It will be difficult, but if that's what Mar wants, I'll do my best."
It was flustering, but Margareta must have worked up the courage to say it. No need to refuse and make things awkward. Climbing in through a dormitory window was nothing.
But Margareta tilted her head at my resolute answer, then hurriedly shook her head a moment later.
"Not my room—the vice president's office!"
"Ah."
I was the one who'd been hit harder by the shock.
Has a lecherous demon taken up residence in my head?
Thanks to that, Margareta—who had entered smiling—left with a flushed face. And that was about the scale of the incidents that occurred during confinement.
"Brother, you're doing well, I hope?"
"We already met this morning."
And the next event was Luise's visit. She was such an enthusiastic visitor that she came once before school and once after.
I doubted even people with family in actual prison came for visitation this often. Or maybe it was precisely because this wasn't a prison that it was so easy to visit.
I accepted the cookie tin Luise held out and stroked her hair.
"Coming once a day is plenty. It must be a hassle for you too."
Still, I didn't forget to scold her. Margareta bringing me meals every day was one thing, but Luise showing up several times a day was excessive.
No—even once a day was excessive. It was only a week. A week was a stretch of time where I wouldn't even feel lonely if no one came to say hello.
"How can I help being worried?"
But looking at Luise muttering dejectedly, I couldn't push her away too hard. I didn't understand why someone sitting quietly in a room needed worrying over, but there it was.
Fine. I was grateful she came. This kind of excess was better than a lack of it.
After stroking my hair once, Brother told me to come in and have some tea.
Yes!
As expected, Brother never sent away a guest who had come to see him on purpose. He even served them and looked after them himself.
The moment I entered Brother's room, my heart began to pound wildly. The princess had been right.
"Young Lady Luise spends a great deal of time with Karl, but the two of you are rarely alone together."
Two days after Ryutis collapsed, on the day Brother's confinement began, the princess had quietly come to offer me advice.
That Brother receiving the disciplinary measure of confinement was unfortunate—but that this was also an opportunity. An opportunity that would never come again, with always-busy Brother staying still for a whole week.
"When it's just the two of you, people tend to speak their true feelings. And with no one else around, your heart will be more at ease too, won't it, Young Lady?"
I had nodded again and again at the princess's precious advice.
The place I could see Brother was the club room. And the club room wasn't just me and Brother. Even when I tried to approach him, the other members' gazes made it too burdensome, and I couldn't get closer.
...Yes. It was because of the gazes. I hadn't stayed still out of fear. If only there were no eyes on us, I would have confessed to Brother long ago.
"I know well how hard unrequited love can be. I don't want my precious junior to go through that either."
"Senior..."
For the sake of the princess who had shown me such undeserved consideration, I decided I would believe it was because of the gazes.
"Ah, how is Ryutis?"
Brother, who had been preparing tea, turned his head toward me and asked. He seemed worried, since he was the one who had hurt him.
And for just a brief moment, I nearly felt jealous of Ryutis. Bringing up someone else when he was alone with me—that was something I would never tolerate unless it was the princess.
Thank goodness he's a man.
If Ryutis had been a woman, our friendship would have been in danger of shattering.
"He's doing as usual. He said he'll come visit soon, apparently?"
"Tell him that just staying still and breathing is already helping."
I smiled awkwardly at Brother's firm words. Looking at Ryutis's recent mood, even if I tried to stop him, he wouldn't listen.
Ever since Brother received the confinement disposition, Ryutis also seemed unsettled. Partly because the person he saw every day was gone, and partly because it felt like Brother had been disciplined because of him.
So he was making his own preparations to comfort Brother.
"In Armein, there's a restorative dish for criminals who've been released from prison."
The direction seemed a little twisted, though.
"Come to think of it, Luise. I have a favor to ask."
"Ah, yes! Please tell me!"
At the unexpected words, I hurriedly nodded.
A favor. A favor. Brother, who always solved everything alone, was asking me for a favor. A favor made directly to me, not even the princess!
What could it be?
Worry and a racing heart washed over me at once. I wondered what on earth could make Brother ask for a favor—and at the same time, I was so happy that I was the one he asked.
"Could you bring me that hawthorn from the club room? Being alone is lonely."
Ah.
My heart began to race for a different reason than before.