Chapter 40: Like a Scene from a Fairy Tale

Chapter 40:
Like a Scene from a Fairy Tale

 

HE’S SO BLUNT TODAY… (Chew chew swallow). That’s unusual. (Chew chew chew).

As Gia enjoyed his enormous bites of bread, he watched Yulan with interest. Yulan was normally a steady anchor to Gia’s highs and lows. He didn’t usually see his friend like this, and it made him rethink things a little.

Gia still remembered the day he first met Yulan.

Sina’s monarchy was still new, and their population didn’t have much formal education, so it was Gia’s royal duty to study abroad. His two older brothers and his father had all attended Tanzanite Academy in the past, so he followed in their footsteps. At the age of twelve, right after graduating from a Sina elementary school, he enrolled in the middle school section and moved into the dorm for international students.

It took a while for his classmates to warm up to him. In a sea of proper young ladies and gentlemen, his relaxed upbringing made him seemed crude; but even if he learned to imitate their manners, the color of his skin would still make him stand out. He had luckily been blessed with two valued traits from his home country: the perceptiveness to notice who had the biggest problems with him, and the boldness not to care what they thought.

Still, no one would talk to Gia. His classmates just watched him from afar, until he started to feel like a rare animal in a zoo. He knew he could get by all right in school, even if he had to stick it out alone, bored out of his mind. He didn’t think he had a choice.

“You’re going to eat all that?” a student asked him.

“Huh?” Gia grunted, mouth full, as he turned to see an unfamiliar face looking down at him. The question was interested but neutral, not mocking at all.

When Gia looked up into those completely dull, golden eyes, he didn’t know that Yulan would turn his school life completely around.

Yulan was a head taller than everyone else and had a smile filled with kindness and warmth. His size might’ve made him seem frightening, but with his gentle face, somehow the best word to describe him was “cute.” The tall boy had always attracted attention in class, and Gia was surprised he’d come talk to him at all. But even more surprising was the fact that Gia couldn’t read his expression. That handsome face was totally inscrutable.

At first, they exchanged brief comments. Next, it was greetings in the halls. Soon, they were talking regularly, then before he knew it, they were spending most of their time together. Gia only realized they’d become best friends when other people described them that way.

“You and Yulan are close, huh? That’s surprising,” another student told him.

Yulan was well-liked in class, so when he befriended Gia, the others started talking to him, too. They began to see him as an individual, not just a foreigner and an outsider. He never had many actual friends among his classmates, and plenty of them still didn’t accept him, but that didn’t matter. A comfortable life and a few people to talk to was more than enough.

He wouldn’t really claim Yulan as a friend, if he was being honest. That felt pretentious, like he was making more of their relationship than it deserved. He suspected that Yulan felt the same.

Yulan’s normal expression was a gentle smile that practically made flowers bloom around him, but with Gia, he’d get exasperated or snort with laughter. His usual gentle tone was replaced with blunt statements or cutting remarks. They could open up with each other, let themselves be a little rude or unguarded, and know that the other wouldn’t make trouble. If that made them best friends, then he supposed they were.

But it didn’t mean anything.

Yulan clearly liked having Gia around, but he wouldn’t feel sad to cut him out of his life. The only person he really cared about was Violette. It was baldly visible on his face when he said her name with a voice as soft as someone handling delicate glass, when his smile overflowed with emotion at the sight of her. He only burst with uncontrollable happiness when Violette was at his side, and the care with which he shielded her from anything negative—even his own personality—made it clear how much he cared for her.

Gia knew better than to do something stupid like fall for her himself. Yulan treasured her so, so deeply. He was normally indifferent to everything, but his mind and spirit were entirely transformed by her.

Three years after meeting Yulan, Gia finally spoke to her for the first time.

I was right to call her Princess.

As a prince, Gia had seen princesses from many other countries, and he wasn’t overly concerned with looks, anyway. But even he was surprised at her beauty. The soft gray of her hair and eyes gave her a mysterious air. Gia didn’t think Yulan was particularly hung up on appearances either, but her beauty might explain why he was so overprotective. After all, the attention beautiful people attracted could be a blessing or a curse.

Right now, Yulan’s overprotective impulses were out in full force, and the reason was much simpler to understand.

“Is it good?” Yulan asked her.

“Oh yes…delicious. Thank you for asking,” Violette replied.

There wasn’t a hint of negativity in Yulan’s face when he looked at Violette. But when he turned just a few degrees, toward Claudia and Milania, his gaze turned to heavy rain and lightning. Gia couldn’t comprehend how he did that—Yulan’s two-faced nature was strange and terrible.

It was also interesting.

Yulan was almost always impartial, at least when it came to things that didn’t involve Violette. He saved all his special kindness for her, but with others, he’d smile politely, act out kindness, but stay aloof. Gia thought his fake niceness was cold and calculating, but it was in Yulan’s nature to default to being kind when he didn’t care.

For Yulan to display his displeasure so openly, there had to be something else going on.

Did these new people, Claudia and Milania, bother Yulan so much it broke through his polite mask? Based on everyone’s body language, he suspected that Claudia was the problem.

All through the break, Yulan ignored his own lunch to grin broadly at Violette. Gia often ate with Yulan, and he knew this wasn’t normal for him; at this rate, he’d take even longer than Gia to finish his meal.

Something must’ve happened between them.

Gia stuffed a croissant in his mouth and enjoyed the crispy texture as he tore into it. Food here was bountiful, and this country was full of wonderful ingredients and culinary talent.

Gia was sure he could dig up the history between Yulan and Claudia with a little poking around. He couldn’t manage that for the average commoner, but privacy didn’t exist for aristocrats. Some people believed that a high rank would protect their rights, but nobles had too many things to hide and too many people eager to uncover them. It didn’t matter whether the target was a high school student or a newborn baby. Status could protect them from some of the consequences, but it couldn’t stop people from finding out in the first place.

But Gia didn’t want to do that. Sure, he was curious, but if Yulan wasn’t going to tell him, Gia didn’t want to know.

Gia felt a little bad for Claudia, being marked as an obvious enemy by his difficult friend. Yulan acted with open hostility toward Claudia—he didn’t ignore him, or respond with anything but politeness, but the undercurrent of malice was obvious.

Still, he didn’t think even this barely suppressed anger was a sign that Claudia had truly affected Yulan. Violette was still the only person who could do that.

“Miss Vio has it rough too, heh,” Gia muttered.

“Hm…?” said Violette.

“What was that? Did all that bread finally go right to your brain?” Yulan asked.

“Nothing wrong with my brain—and you’re one to talk. You’ve barely made a dent in your food,” Gia said.

“The way I eat is totally normal,” Yulan replied, deadpan, ignoring the evidence in front of him. He’d barely made any progress on his sandwich, despite Violette warning him to eat faster multiple times. Every time she said it, he laughed it off.

Violette liked taking care of Yulan too, even if he didn’t always let her.

When she smiled, Yulan practically danced with joy. Claudia noticed and sourly looked away. Yulan glanced over blankly before returning his attention to Violette with a smile.

Violette was the only person who could reach Yulan’s heart.

I hope nothing happens.

He hoped that none of them—not his first friend, not this “princess,” and if possible, not even the prince he barely knew—would get hurt. He hoped that only happiness would circulate among them.

He wished for kindness from an uncertain future.