I Didn't Mean for You to Come to My House - 4
I left the red ginseng—no, the potion—that the Demon Duke had personally bestowed on me in my dormitory and headed for the clubroom. I distinctly remembered that today had been the closing ceremony for the term, so why was my workplace still the clubroom?
Even more absurd was the fact that every single club member was still stationed there without exception. They seemed to be deep in some earnest discussion, but after being hammered with their nonsense in real time earlier, I couldn't look at them with anything resembling goodwill.
I was staring at them with pure irritation when my eyes met an unexpected face.
"Ah, Oppa."
"Irina?"
Irina sat awkwardly among the members, her gaze darting this way and that. What are you doing here? Judging by her expression, she wasn't exactly thrilled about it either.
"Brother, you've arrived?"
Luise, who had been facing the other way, turned at Irina's voice and greeted me with a bright smile. Following Luise's line of sight, five more pairs of eyes locked onto me.
"What are you all doing gathered here?"
"We were drawing up a schedule. Not everyone is staying at the Academy, so we need to set the times in advance."
Being stuck here without even going home should have been annoying, yet Luise's face was pure sunshine at the prospect of a trip to the Imperial Capital. Yeah, the Capital's nice. Even I felt a little thrill the first time I went there.
Back then I hadn't known how deep the Capital's darkness ran. I hadn't yet realized that the Capital's prosperity was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of civil servants.
"I have something to say, so everyone focus for a moment."
I pushed down the bitter feeling and drew the members' attention. Better to speak up before they started running wild deciding on lodgings for the Capital trip.
"Is something the matter? Has a problem arisen?"
Of course something has.
Ryutis asked as if nothing could possibly be wrong, and a double helping of curses automatically loaded on my tongue. I bit my lip and forced them down.
That hot-sauce bastard. On graduation day I'm going to use the traditional graduation punch as an excuse and hit him just once. Villar would even approve. He'd probably love it if I invited him to join in.
"How about staying in the Imperial Capital during the break instead of the Academy?"
"The Capital, you say?"
"Yes."
Ryutis's eyes widened a fraction, as if the idea had never crossed his mind. Simply touring the Capital was one thing; actually taking up residence there for the whole vacation was something else entirely. Of course it was. What kind of lunatic would even propose that?
But the Crown Prince had managed it. If I said that bastard's name three times, would a reaper come drag him away?
"Wouldn't it get boring staying at the Academy? The Capital has plenty of sights to see, and it's convenient for traveling to other cities as well."
"Not a bad idea. Finding lodgings for the entire break would be difficult, though…"
"My house."
"Pardon?"
"You can stay at my house."
Don't make me say it twice. I want to take the gold coins I got from the Crown Prince and go Meso Explosion shopping with them.
"House? The family head doesn't like outsiders visiting the manor, does he?"
"Not the family manor. My personal residence."
"You have a personal residence?"
"Are the two of you truly brothers?"
Tanian's remark left me momentarily speechless. I only ever used the personal residence for sleeping, so I'd never really had a chance to mention it. Besides, I couldn't even get back to the main house in the Tailglehen County, so when would I have found the leisure to announce, "By the way, I own real estate in the Capital under my own name"?
The unexpected proposal and equally unexpected offer of lodging caused a brief delay, but none of them objected. From their perspective it wasn't a bad deal either. As long as they weren't being told to leave the Empire entirely, they were fine with just about anything.
"Luise, I'll come along too."
"Really? You mean it?"
"Yeah. I haven't been to the Capital much either."
Amid the chatter I caught Irina and Luise whispering. So that was why Irina was here—Luise must have talked her into joining.
An unexpected guest, but one more person wouldn't make the mansion unmanageably cramped. If anything, having one more normal person among these hopeless club members would soothe my nerves. Welcome news.
Normal person, huh.
I scanned the members gathered in the clubroom. The normal-person ratio was catastrophic. Well, if outsiders were joining anyway, there was no need to stop at just one.
Some students had stayed at the Academy of their own free will; others had been forced to remain. The latter were mostly the Student Council, or the Student Council, or the Student Council. And the outsider I intended to recruit was also a member of the Student Council.
—Knock knock.
"Mar. Are you in?"
"Young Master Karl? Yes, please come in."
If Luise, Irina, and Margeta were all at the mansion, I could endure the club members' nonsense. And if the members tried anything strange, Margeta—whose status was more than enough to stand up to them—would step in and stop them.
"Welcome, Young Master Karl. I didn't expect you today as well."
Seeing Margeta greet me with a soft smile solidified my resolve. At this point, I was inviting her too.
"When I heard Mar was still working, I couldn't just sit still. Am I interrupting?"
"Of course not. I'm the one who said you could come anytime, remember? I've almost finished anyway, so don't worry about it."
She started to rise from her seat, so I hurriedly waved her back down. There was still work left; I would state my business and leave.
"Actually, I came because I have a request for Mar."
"For me?"
I nodded at Margeta's tilted head and continued.
"The Baking Club has decided to take a trip to the Imperial Capital."
"I heard. It's not exactly a short distance to the Capital—you'll have your work cut out for you."
"It's fine. His Highness the Crown Prince suggested we simply stay at my residence for the entire break. There's no need to return to the Academy, so it should be quite leisurely."
"…Pardon?"
The moment I mentioned the Capital, Margeta's worry-filled expression froze solid.
"Do you mean… the entire club?"
"That's right."
Even the corners of her mouth began to tremble; she was clearly deeply shaken. If I dragged this out any longer, I had no idea how far her thoughts would spiral.
"So I would like to invite Mar to my residence as well."
"Pardon?"
"I've received a great deal of help from Mar, haven't I? It would feel incomplete if Mar were missing from a joyful gathering."
In truth it wasn't particularly joyful. But if Margeta was at the mansion, it would be like having a thousand troops and ten thousand horses. That was a truth I could never emphasize enough.
Besides, I had unintentionally broken my promise to her during the last school trip. I had said I would visit her room, yet never made it there until the very end. If I offered this as an apology instead, perhaps she would overlook it.
"Ah, th-that…"
But Margeta seemed completely thrown by the sudden swerve. Her rigid face flushed bright red and she began to stammer.
"Mar?"
I waited, thinking she would calm down if left alone, yet far from calming down, even the hands resting on her desk started to shake violently. No, this reaction was more intense than I expected.
"Are you all right?"
"Ah, y-yes, yes! I'm fine!"
When I carefully approached and asked, the dazed look in her eyes regained focus and she hurriedly covered the documents on her desk. Why the documents…? There had been numbers written all over them in a chaotic mess.
"Mar, about my invitation—"
"I-I'll go. I'll definitely go, Young Master Karl."
Having received her acceptance, I thanked her and left. Lingering any longer felt wrong given how strange her condition seemed.
I had expected her to be flustered. This was the first time I had ever invited Margeta to my residence. Even accounting for that, though, her reaction had been far more intense. What was going on? Was something wrong?
Only after confirming that Karl had left the vice president's office did my trembling hands finally settle.
The residence… Karl's residence…
When I heard that the Baking Club would be staying at Karl's house over the break, I thought the sky was falling. Luise was in the Baking Club, after all.
I had already been robbed of the first time Karl held me. Now I was going to be robbed of staying at his residence as well? That was absolutely unacceptable. The first woman to set foot in the nest Karl and I would share being someone other than me—unthinkable.
But Karl must have felt the same, because he invited me. It was a little disappointing that it wouldn't be just the two of us, yet since it would still be my first time as well, that was something I could accept.
Karl's residence.
A silly grin kept slipping out. Luise was going because of club business, but I was going because Karl had invited me.
Inviting an unmarried lady to his private residence? That meant Karl had feelings for me too. He only could have done it because he already thought of me as his partner. Honestly, Karl, you don't have to be so roundabout about it.
I should thank His Highness.
The Crown Prince, Gilbert Libnoman. Until now I had never had reason to deal with him, so I hadn't paid him much attention.
When I first heard that the club would stay at Karl's house because of His Highness's suggestion, a flash of resentment had risen, but since it had become the very reason I received an invitation, that resentment melted away.
I exhaled a satisfied sigh as the resentment dissolved—then my gaze fell on the documents I was still covering with my hand.
"That was close…"
I carefully lifted the hand shielding the papers. Revealed at the top were the letters and numbers.
Ma 5 · Karl 7 · Re 4 · K 3 · Ge 4 · Ra 5 · Ta 5 · Si 3 · Ba 6 · U 3 · Ren 7 · S 3 · Ti 4
My name and Karl's name, along with their stroke counts.
I had almost been caught with the one thing I could never let the one person who must never see it discover.
"Vice President, do you know about name fortune-telling?"
That was what the secretary had said not long ago.
She just had to go and say something unnecessary…
Still, I was the one who got swept up by those unnecessary words, so I had no right to complain. But they said you could tell compatibility from names. Of course I was curious, wasn't I?
Of course, I had absolute faith that Karl's and my compatibility was the absolute best without needing any crude method like this. Our relationship was a destiny created by the heavens themselves. Yes, of course the highest possible score would come out.
—Or so I had thought.
Why is it 89?
The number written at the very bottom was 89. No matter how many times I looked, it was wrong. Why wasn't it 100? It should obviously be 100, right? There was an 11% deficit between Karl and me? Lies. As expected, this is nothing but crude fortune-telling. I can't trust something like this. Nope.
And I had almost been caught by Karl doodling this crude fortune-telling by myself. How pathetic would he think I was then?
Ministry of Finance officials tended to be thorough and rational in their work, so they generally didn't believe in superstitions. Some even went beyond disbelief and openly looked down on or despised people who did believe.
If—just if—Karl was one of those people…
"Mar has a surprisingly naïve side as well. I've revised my opinion of you."
I pictured Karl looking down at me with cold eyes. No. That can never happen! If Karl despised me I would genuinely die!
My hands began to tremble again as I prepared to tear up the paper covered in name fortune-telling. This cursed thing needed to be destroyed at once.
Isn't 89 still pretty high, though?
But a tiny bit of lingering attachment kept me from tearing it. Of course 100 should be the normal result, but still… wasn't 89 fairly high?
After a long hesitation, I ultimately decided not to tear it and to keep it instead.