Is This a Dream? (4)
Aaron's reason for watching over Elena was nothing special. He simply felt sorry for her — because Elena was a lot like him.
First, a word about Aaron.
Aaron was the eldest son of Viscount Karim's house, yet no one held any particular expectations of him. His talent was simply too ordinary. Some people even openly called him a dullard behind his back, though never to his face.
Aaron himself knew it. Compared to his younger brother Mosel Karim, Aaron was a pebble rolling by the roadside.
While second son Mosel drew all the hope and attention, Aaron chose the path to the Academy. He figured that if he studied there, his lot in life might improve.
But lo and behold — at the Academy he had entered out of sheer desperation, Aaron discovered his own talent.
The Academy had so much to offer. Countless materials, countless gifted people, and even a teacher who would guide him. With his horizons opened, Aaron encountered knowledge, techniques, and magic of every kind, and finally understood why he had been called a dullard all those years.
House Karim had been far too small for him. The vast Academy was the place where Aaron's talent could truly bloom. He was the kind of genius who only flowered once a proper environment was in place.
Once he realized that, Aaron threw himself into Academy life with real enjoyment. He cast magic he had never been able to use back home, and received gazes of admiration he had never once known.
Even so, he was not among the top ranks within the Academy. Above the runner flies a bird, and above the bird hangs a star no one can ever reach. But Aaron didn't care. The simple fact that he was growing, bit by bit, filled him with vitality. His years at home had taught him that comparing yourself to others was a useless way to live.
To Aaron's eyes, Elena was just like him. She had talent too. But the direction of her efforts was twisted, and because of that she couldn't draw out any of the potential she should have been able to reach.
So he helped her during lecture hours.
"Lady Rotnil. If you set the trajectory like this here—"
"L-like this? Wow! It worked!"
After that, he kept giving her quiet little bits of help without her noticing. Elena, taking Aaron's advice, gradually grew — and for some reason, whenever Aaron saw her smile, his own mood lifted too.
So when he found Elena crying at the training grounds, the shock hit him hard. Why on earth was she in tears?
"I— why am I so lacking...!"
Hearing Elena's tear-choked cry, Aaron understood. She thought she was inadequate. But that wasn't true at all. In Aaron's view, she had skill that ranked in the Academy's upper tier.
It was just that this year's incoming students were particularly monstrous — Elena herself was not lacking. But she seemed to be measuring herself against everyone around her and sinking into self-loathing.
Aaron hoped she wouldn't blame herself. Nothing is more heartbreaking than a shining person cutting themselves down. And he hoped she would not make the same mistake he once had.
That was why he comforted Elena. Because he pitied the girl who overlapped so completely with his past self — and because, for reasons he couldn't name, seeing her sad face made his own chest ache.
But after they watched the capital's nightscape together, Elena was the one who approached him first.
Aaron was flustered. She was the daughter of a Border Marquis; he was the eldest son of a Viscount. They moved in entirely different circles. It would have been one thing for Aaron to approach her — there was no reason for her to come to him.
But he couldn't push Elena away either. Because, truthfully, Aaron had no desire to push her away at all.
And so, as they spent their days together at the Academy, Elena said it.
"Aaron, I want to be with you for the rest of my life."
She said it with her face flushed red. Only then did Aaron fully realize what was in his own heart.
Elena's shimmering silver hair, the blue eyes that carried a haughty air, and the soft, fragile inner self she pretended was strong — every part of her had been tickling at Aaron's heart all along.
Aaron wanted to be with Elena too. He nodded.
"Of course I'll be with you. Elena."
"...That's how it was!"
"Good heavens. So that day you said those things just out of pity?"
"Because Eli looked so pitiful! And I didn't want her falling into the same self-deprecation I once did!"
"What did you take me for, pitying me like that!"
"You were crying!"
"That—! Still! Did I look like such an easy woman to you?"
"That's not what I meant!"
Crunch. Crunch.
The two who had been shouting at each other suddenly looked at me.
Crunch. Crunch.
"...Young Master Katram?"
"What are you doing right now?"
"Eating snacks while watching a lovers' quarrel? Want some?"
I held out the cookies. The two just stared at me with their mouths slightly open.
"Hmm, good. Speechless, are we? Has that cooled your heads a bit?"
"Ah..."
"Nothing gets resolved when you're worked up. First, actually eat the cookies. They're illusion cookies I made — and they're delicious."
Aaron and Elena took the cookies with awkward expressions and ate them. Ah, they liked them.
"Listen while you eat. From what I can see, neither of you confessed first."
"Pardon?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"After hearing both your stories, it goes like this. Aaron, you felt love for Elena. But you didn't realize it yourself. Elena fell in love with the Aaron who helped her. So she confessed. And the moment Elena confessed, Aaron realized the romantic feelings that had been inside him all along. In other words—"
Simply put, it was this.
"Aaron fell in love first, but it was Elena who woke him up to it. It's not about who confessed first that matters. The feelings you had for each other naturally brought you two together."
"Is that so?"
"That makes sense."
The two looked at each other while crunching their cookies. Elena grinned.
"Ron. So we fell in love at the same time?"
"Indeed. Eli."
"Ron!"
"Eli!"
Calling each other's names, the two tightly embraced. They hugged, and Aaron even lifted Elena and spun her around. And after putting her down, they closed their eyes and kissed—
"Hey. Cut it out."
Who exactly were they flaunting this in front of? When I growled low, the two seemed to come to their senses, faces turning bright red as they sprang apart.
"My apologies, Young Master Katram."
"Sorry."
"Haa, never mind. It's a happy time. Since your argument is resolved, I'll ask my second question."
"Please go ahead."
"Aaron, this one's for you. Um, by any chance—"
Watching the two passionately embrace just now made the words hard to get out. But it was a problem I had to confront if I wanted to resolve the current situation.
"Before you started dating Elena, did your heart ever race looking at another woman?"
"No, not at all?"
"Not at all? Really?"
"I never looked at anyone else while going around with Eli. Why would my eyes go to another woman when I already had someone I loved without even realizing it?"
"No, but you know — those things. Like your heart racing involuntarily."
"Not at all."
"..."
He was so definitive about it. Then did that make me... a playboy? For having my heart race for Iren while holding the young lady in my heart?
While I was lost in thought, Elena giggled.
"Hoho, so Young Master Katram was like that?"
"What. What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"The intent behind that question. Did you think I wouldn't figure it out? You went around blabbing about it yourself from the start."
"Wait— no."
I wanted to shut Elena's mouth, but Aaron seemed to sense something and stepped in front of me. Behind him, Elena laughed.
"You like Lady Katram, but you can't understand why your heart races for Princess Iren, so you asked that question, right? You playboy!"
Playboy!
Playboy!
Playboy!
Elena's last word kept echoing through my head like a reverberation.
I... I was a playboy... Wait. Even so, I only looked at the young lady, and I wasn't even dating her yet, so there was no reason to be called a playboy... But if my heart was going this way and that, didn't that make me a playboy in my heart at least...?
The world spun.
"No, I— ugyaaah."
"W-Young Master Katram?!"
"Eli! Go get someone!"
"Ah, okay!"
An unfamiliar ceiling. More precisely, a ceiling of which only a portion was visible — something was blocking two-thirds of my field of view.
That something looked extremely soft, and I almost reached out to touch it without thinking. What restored my reason was a voice.
"Mm. If it's Frey, you can touch."
It was Iren's voice. I immediately lowered my hand.
"Tch, you're not going to touch it?"
"What on earth is going on right now?"
"You fainted, and the merciful Third Princess of the Empire is nursing you with a lap pillow."
"That's absurd. I'll get up."
I immediately tried to slip sideways and rise. But there was no space to slip out to the side. Beyond Iren's knees, a wall immediately blocked the way.
I thought about slipping downward, but that side was blocked by the bed's footboard. Seeing that, this seemed to be the infirmary.
And with below and the side sealed off, the only means left to me was to directly push aside those ample peaks and rise upward.
Honestly, it was impossible.
The moment I realized escape was impossible, Iren said with a smile:
"Shall we talk for a bit?"