Love in the Academy – 2
Ever since a name I absolutely should never have considered had floated up as a baby nickname, a single ghost had been drifting through my head. Marx… Because of that name, I simply could not think of any other nickname.
Damn it.
I closed my eyes in utter despair. Get out of my head this instant, you damn red. Why show up and wreck the naming of someone else’s child?
"It's hard to come up with one on the spot, isn't it?"
Mar chuckled softly as she watched me fall into forced silence. She seemed to think I was simply agonizing over the nickname for our first child.
"Yeah, a little hard. I don't know what would be good."
It was a misunderstanding, but I nodded without hesitation. The ghost occupying my mind had once dominated the world of my previous life. Explaining that to Mar would get me nowhere—and even if she understood, that would be a problem of its own.
To hang such a name on our child, born of the bluest of blue blood… If Mar turned stern over it, I would simply have to accept the scolding with humility.
"Then would it be all right if I chose one?"
"Of course it's all right. You'll pick a prettier name than I ever could."
I nodded vigorously at her next words. Leaving this to Mar was the right call. Whatever nickname emerged, it would be better than anything I could invent.
"How about First Snow?"
"Huh?"
But the word that came out was not what I expected.
A person's name… First Snow?
"Uh, well, um…"
I rolled my eyes this way and that in flustered silence.
It was not a name one would normally give a person, yet looking at Mar's face, she did not seem to be joking. Which meant she genuinely wanted that nickname.
What do I do?
What was I supposed to do? Show reluctance to Mar after she had kindly offered an idea and say, "That's a bit much"? Or meekly bestow the magnificent name First Snow upon our child?
It was a hard choice. Choosing the former would be a terrible thing for a husband to do; choosing the latter would be a sin against my own child.
"Pfft."
While I fretted, unable to decide, Mar burst out laughing again.
"It's not a real name—it's only a temporary nickname. It's fine to use an everyday word like this."
Having read exactly what I was agonizing over, Mar smiled and stroked my hair.
Ah. So a baby nickname didn't have to be crafted like a proper person's name.
I would have known if I'd ever heard other nicknames before.
Unfortunately, in my previous life I had been a creature far removed from the concept of baby nicknames. I had never married, so I had never needed to invent one, and with no parents of my own, I had never even known what mine had been. So I had assumed a nickname had to be coined like a real name.
How embarrassing. I had been this close to blurting out names like Ferdinand or Maximilian to Mar, who was simply thinking of something ordinary.
"The child came to us in winter, and will be born around the time the first snow falls. I think First Snow is a good name."
"Yeah. First Snow… I like it. Let's go with that."
I smiled back and agreed at Mar's additional explanation.
Our treasure, who I hope will be born healthy, together with beautiful first snow. The name First Snow suits them perfectly.
"Then the second one's nickname will be Autumn Leaf."
"Pardon?"
Mar blinked at my words, then her face flushed red as she grasped the meaning.
"If we work hard at it, it should be around then, right?"
"Th-that… I-I suppose so?"
Fortunately, she did not refuse.
Several days had already passed since the start of the new term.
Which meant I had also spent several days watching Erich hem and haw under Sera's watchful eye.
Good grief.
I swung my sword again and again until a hollow laugh finally escaped me. That those two, who had made no progress in an entire year at the Academy, had managed a breakthrough over a mere winter break was nothing short of astonishing.
It was a shame. If only I hadn't returned home, I could have watched their relationship grow closer in real time. At times like this, being a prince of Armein was a real drawback.
And a faint irritation stirred. Erich, that shameless bastard. If you're going to torment everyone watching for a whole year, the least you can do is announce your relationship in front of those people—and instead you make progress while we're gone? And you don't even send a single message through the communication orb?
And it's not even an official relationship yet.
The dry laughs kept coming. They were already halfway there—no, further than that—so wasn't the decent thing simply to admit he was dating Sera?
I didn't like saying this about a friend, but he was awfully full of himself. Honestly, did Erich even have the right to agonize over Sera's affection? When someone said they liked you, shouldn't you just bow your head and say thank you?
No matter how many times I thought about it, I could only sigh. Please, let Erich and Sera become a proper couple before the first semester ends. If the first semester is impossible, then at least before graduation.
If I graduate without seeing it, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
Once I graduate from the Academy, I'll have no reason to come to the Empire. So it has to be finished before graduation, no matter what. Only then can I return home with peace of mind.
"Your Highness. Is something troubling you?"
Just as I was taking a slow breath to settle my frustrated heart, Dame Perosa's voice reached me.
A slip. I had been so lost in idle thoughts that I had forgotten I wasn't training alone—other people were present.
"Ah, it's nothing. I was just adjusting my stance for a moment."
I answered Dame Perosa with an easy smile. Dame Perosa was the daughter of Sir Villar, the head of my guard. If I showed her anything odd, word would reach Sir Villar, and then he and his knights would start fretting around me, watching my every expression.
That would be a nuisance. Having guards nearby was already distracting enough—if those same guards started reading my mood on top of it? Just imagining it made me feel stifled.
"But I must have been moving too leisurely. If even Dame Perosa noticed something off, I'll have to work harder from now on."
"Ah, no, Your Highness! You are already a knight without peer!"
I had tossed out a joke to show I was fine, but Dame Perosa reacted with startling intensity.
Oops. Not the right approach? In the club it wouldn't have been a problem to say something like that.
…Friends and subordinates really are different, after all.
It was a little bittersweet. For two years I had enjoyed the company of friends who understood me, and now I had only one year left with them. After that year, I would be stuck in a dull royal palace, looking at stiff knights every day.
"You're laying the flattery on too thick. How can I be a knight without peer when Advisor is here?"
"Th-th-that's… strength of arms and… a knight's mindset are separate things, so…"
"Haha! That's true enough!"
The one silver lining was that I had found an entertaining knight among the stiff ones.
She was a rare knight close to my age, and whether from youth or not, unlike the rigid, formal other knights, she was lively and delightfully reactive. Prod her a little and she didn't just apologize stiffly—she came back with her own novel responses.
So whenever Dame Perosa was nearby, I found myself speaking to her one more time. She was a kind of knight I had never seen before.
"A knight's mindset! A most important element! That is precisely the pillar that allows Armein to be called the Kingdom of Knights to this day!"
I laughed heartily and patted Dame Perosa's shoulder, and she hurriedly bowed her head.
A subtle tremor reached me through my hand, but I didn't mention it. Prod her too much at once and Dame Perosa might short-circuit.
I'm taking a lot home from the Academy.
If I hadn't come to the Imperial Academy, I never would have met Dame Perosa.
Studying abroad in the Empire truly was the best decision of my life.
Mornings when Mar, First Snow, and Titi saw me off to work never got old, no matter how many times I experienced them. Wife, child, pet—wasn't that the classic composition of everyday dramas and movies?
Granted, First Snow was still in Mar's arms and couldn't speak yet, but I believed they were seeing their dad off in their heart. They surely were.
"You've been looking brighter lately. Becoming a father must be a great blessing after all."
Ainter's words drew a natural smile from me.
Yes, a blessing. For a couple, no happier or more joyful blessing exists than having a child. Except maybe having a grandchild.
"Your stance is falling apart."
"Ugh."
And so, with a generous heart, I pointed out Ainter discreetly slacking on his form. My happiness was my happiness, and the fact that he still had to roll was a separate matter.
"Stance is the foundation of everything. Sometimes fools brag that in real combat, instantaneous adjustments matter more than textbook form—but those adjustments come from stance in the end. Someone who hasn't even built the basics has no business talking about applications."
But hammering a pure beginner like Ainter without mercy would be harsh, so I explained the justification for this training. Suffering without knowing why feels different from suffering with purpose.
"I'll keep it in mind."
Ainter seemed convinced by my advice; even as sweat poured down him, he didn't go on strike.
Good.
Satisfying. Being physically exhausted is only natural for a beginner. What matters is not giving up even when it's hard.
"What? You're still at it?"
"A count teaching a marquis. No matter how many times I see it, it's a rare sight!"
Meanwhile Erich and Ryutis, who'd been sparring among themselves, ambled over.
"Can't we move on to the next stage already? Ainter's pretty decent even among his peers."
And then they dangled a devil's temptation before Ainter, who was diligently working.
This crafty little brother of mine. You can never train the basics enough, and yet a fellow martial artist dares to—
"How long has he been learning for you to say he's fine?"
"He's only been learning from Advisor for a few days, but he trained over the break, didn't he? And he says he built some foundation as a child, so it should be fine for him to start proper swordsmanship soon."
Ryutis quietly joining in almost made me sigh.
He wasn't wrong. Ainter had trained at the Imperial Palace over winter break, and because he'd been at the palace, knights of the Imperial Guard had given him advice, knowingly or not. Their teaching ability surpassed mine, so it must have been a great help.
On top of that, Ainter had learned martial arts in the period when he'd lived as an ordinary prince, before the Second Prince was thoroughly crushed. It hadn't lasted long, but what he'd learned, he'd learned. That experience was serving as a foundation, and Ainter was improving rapidly.
Still, the reason I insisted on stance rather than swordsmanship was simple.
The moment he picks up a sword, he'll become a sandbag.
I couldn't throw Ainter to these veterans who go wild over newbies.
Even now, a strange hunger shone in Erich's and Ryutis's eyes. How thrilling must it be, after sparring with the same opponents forever, to suddenly get a fresh newbie? They must want to cross blades as soon as possible.
That would be a problem. No matter how fast Ainter was growing, he wasn't ready to spar against those two.
"It's not time yet. Wait."
"Tsk."
At my firm refusal, I heard Ryutis click his tongue in disappointment.
Veterans, the lot of them.