Side Story: Studying for the Test

Thinking that the job of a knight is to fight, for one cause or another, was a common misconception.

After all, knights engage in all sorts of civic duties, from assisting individuals involved in unfortunate accidents, ceremonial attendance of public functions, and even tending to scripts and other literary duties.

However, if one was incapable of combat, then perhaps it would be fair to say that such an individual would not be very knightly at all.

No matter how one spun it, strength was of an undeniable importance to any knight worth their salt.

It is because of this belief that the squires of the Royal Knights continued to train and work hard, all the while aspiring to be just like their seniors.

These very squires, however, were currently stuck in a particularly daunting stage of their journey — instead of their usual training regimen today, the squires were learning about history, language, and mathematics, with a dash of scientific studies on the side. Such was how their afternoon was spent, under the watchful eye of an instructor.

Squires, for their part, had to excel in their studies as well — this was the direction that Orstoll had decided to take with regards to education in general.

To ensure that the squires were keeping up with their studies, a test was administered every few months.

The test was fair, if not thorough — they would be tested on everything that they had learned so far. Squires who scored below a certain threshold would be required to attend remedial lessons on their rest days.

In a certain corner of the northern dormitory, a single piece of paper was hung up. Slad, who had been staring at the paper for a while, had turned decidedly pale.

“Guh... What is this? What do you mean there’s only one more week until the test...?”

“You are aware that the notice has been up for the past ten days, right...?” Such were the words of Gees, who was currently looking at his friend with a considerably exasperated expression.

Slad, who was lively and more physically-oriented, did not have a history of good grades. Perhaps it was because Slad also had a tendency to skip classes — his grades in history, language, mathematics, and the natural sciences were all bad.

On the other hand, Gees’ grades could be said to be somewhat average. Considering that Gees was actually younger than Slad, Slad could not help but feel a little pathetic.

“I mean... There’s been a lot of events up until now, right? The inter-dormitory duel... and all that, you know? There’s hardly any time for something like studying!”

“So you say, but... there’s been nothing between the time of the notice being posted and now, right? That’s just an excuse, Slad...”

“Ugh...”

A somewhat pathetic sound escaped Slad’s lips upon Gees’ mercilessly accurate reasoning.

“Ahh. Don’t worry about it too much. You can always ask me if you don’t understand something. We should work hard.” Witnessing their exchange, Remie could only smile apologetically as he offered his friends some words of encouragement.

Slad, touched by Remie’s caring nature, hugged his friend with watery eyes.

“Remie! You’re such a nice guy... You’re like... the goddess of the northern dormitory!”

“Ah... Ah... Haha...”

Although Remie’s features darkened for a moment upon being addressed as a “goddess,” he was soon back to his old self, smiling warmly at Slad. He was, after all, third from the bottom with regards to the manliness ranking contest. Unknown to Slad, his words of gratitude had accidentally ended up hitting a nerve.

“You’re always like this... Well, I guess I’ll help too...”

Placing his hands on his hips, Gees sighed, eventually deciding to tag along. This was as mundane and regular as daily life in the northern dormitory could get.

“What about you, Heath?”

With the boisterous atmosphere somewhat settling, Gees and his group decided to ask after Fie instead.

“Heh heh.” The grinning Fie handed Slad a slip of paper.

“Wh-What do you mean by you’re fifth from the top in the dorm?!” Slad couldn’t help but be surprised at what was written on the slip of paper.

“Who would have thought... Heath, of all people, had good grades all along?”

“Well, I did study for it, you know.”

Although Fie was the northern dormitory’s problem child, it would seem like she had reasonably good grades. In addition, Fie also attended lessons regularly and handed in assigned homework on time. It occurred to the other squires that Fie was actually a model student in this specific regard.

“So Heath is a good student after all!”

“Actually, why do you even carry that slip of paper with you? Don’t tell me you have it on you at all times...?”

It was perhaps worth noting that Remie, who had just praised Fie, was ranked 7th from the top — it would seem like Remie excelled in his studies as well. Gees, however, was in 15th place. Slad, whose grades were at the bottom of the barrel, never did reveal his exact ranking.

“Hmph. Tests. What a pain. If I don’t do well on them, though, everything I have done until now would mean nothing. Got no choice but to do them.”

Gormus, as expected, found his studies difficult.

However, his position was far better than Slad’s. Although he displayed little interest in history and language, often sleeping in those classes, Gormus’ unexpected interest in mathematics and the sciences ensured that he scored better in those subjects. It would appear that Gormus was the kind of squire who would put his heart to something if it interested him.

In Gormus’ case, all he had to do was ensure that he scored a minimally acceptable grade in history and language — that much was enough for him to stay beyond the reach of remedial lessons.

“Seems like you guys are fine this time round too, huh...”

Fie nodded at Gees’ words.

“Yeah, I guess. You’re fine too, right, Queen? Eh...? Queen...?” Fie trailed off mid-sentence as she turned to look at Queen.

Fie could not help but feel a tinge of doubt as her eyes swept across Queen, who was currently pale-faced, shivering where he stood.

“Queen... Don’t tell me you’re... Not good at...”

“N-No... I’m f-fine...”

Despite his assurances, Queen did not appear to be fine at all.

“...Show me your history quiz from today.”

“Eh...”

Staring hard at Queen, Fie repeated her request.

“Show it to me...”

“Uhh....”

Although Queen clearly had apprehensions about showing Fie his test results, Fie was not so forgiving.

Slowly and fearfully, Queen took out a slip of paper and handed it to Fie with shaking hands.

“Wh-What is this?!”

A variety of crosses adorned Queen’s answer sheet, and his results were terrible to say the least — even for a quiz. Academic knowledge was, after all, attained by an ongoing, daily effort. With Queen’s current marks being the way they were, there was no doubt that he would do poorly on the upcoming test as well.

“You didn’t get a single one of these right? What exactly have you been doing in class?!”

“...” Queen could not answer.

To be specific, he could not bring himself to say that he had spent the entire lesson staring at someone he liked, although such was more than common for youth their age.

“I mean... I never even thought that it was possible for your grades to be this bad...” Fie returned her gaze to the test sheet.

Amongst the squires of the northern dormitory, those of noble birth commonly had higher grades — it was common practice for noble families to begin educating their children from a young age.

Conversely, those born in the downtown and slum districts, such as Slad, commonly disliked schoolwork of any kind, and avoided studying as much as they could.

Fie had not worried about Queen much due to him being of noble birth — this development was unexpected, to say the least.

“What exactly has been going on?”

Although it was his first test in the northern dormitory, it went without saying that Queen had taken similar tests during his time at the eastern dormitory as well. However, Fie did not think it was possible for Queen to have transferred in with such poor grades.

Wiping away considerable amounts of sweat from his brow, Queen finally offered an explanation with a defeated look on his face.

“I was never good at studying to begin with... And those with martial ability in the eastern dormitory were told that it was fine to not study. Sir Carnegis would do something about it and convince the higher-ups, or so we were told...”

“UGHHH! That stupid dormitoryyy!”

Such was Fie’s opinion of the eastern dormitory. If the east-north inter-dormitory duel had not taken place, none of this would have happened — although nothing much could be done about it now.

It would seem that Queen, who had been raised in a relatively rural part of Orstoll, in addition to not being very apt at his studies, had been transferred in from the eastern dormitory without much effort to remedy the problem.

Upon witnessing Fie’s rage, Queen could not help but take several steps backwards.

“I-In any case, we still have a week! We can all work hard. It’ll be fine as long as you don’t fail. I’ll help!” said Remie, panic evident in his voice as he attempted to smooth over the situation.

Although Fie had initially assumed Queen could take care of himself one way or another, she was now obviously unsettled over his poor grades.

Slad and Queen. Taking their poor grades into account, it was decided that Fie and Remie’s groups would both offer their assistance.

As if to reinforce her point, Fie’s stare continued to drill into Queen.

“You don’t want to fail your test, Queen.”

“Yes...”

Although Fie could seem excessively strict with Queen, she did genuinely worry about his well-being.

That was just how it was, and it was a fact that would not change anytime soon.

And so it came to be that the six squires all ended up assembling in Remie’s room.

Perhaps it was due to his noble upbringing — Remie’s room was adequately furnished and cleaned, making for a good study environment.

“So... why am I here? Could you not have picked someone else...?” Gormus, who had been strung along as usual, appeared somewhat dissatisfied.

“Your grades in history and language are just barely passing, Gormus.”

“I know. I planned for it to be that way.”

Although no one knew if Gormus’ claims were true, it was true that Gormus never failed his tests.

“Don’t be like that. It’s not too bad to stray off the well-worn path, right?” said Slad, who had wasted no time in going back to his cheerful self and was now giving the thumbs up.

“To begin with, the reason why all of this happened is because of you two.”

“Ugh...” Slad, robbed of his words once more, could only groan in despair.

“Quit dallying. Open your textbooks; we’ll start by going through what we’ve learned up until now.”

“Yes...”

Fie began teaching Queen what she knew, rapidly rattling off concepts and facts. It would seem that Fie was taking this seriously, and fully intended for Queen to score well on the upcoming test.

“Well then, I will teach Slad history and language. I’m unexpectedly good at them.”

“Then... I will help with mathematics and the sciences...”

“Thanks for the help you guys!” With that, Slad began his study session.

As for Gormus...

“Ah. Gormus, you can just copy these and make some notes of your own.” Fie handed her notes on history to her fellow squire.

Fie wanted to ensure that Gormus got something out of the study session.

“Hmph. I guess I have no choice.”

Although Gormus wanted to start studying after the others had gotten started, he ended up doing as he was told, perhaps out of respect for Fie’s efforts.

The study session progressed, somewhat quietly.

“Ughh... I... I’m fading...”

“Everyone is helping, you know. Pick yourself up...”

Although complaints periodically rose from Slad, Gees was quick to put him back on track. The seating arrangement was quite straightforward — Fie and Queen borrowed Remie’s table, while Slad, Gees, and Remie were crowded around a low table on the ground.

Gormus, unfortunately, had to sit on the bed, his large build not allowing him to do his note-taking anywhere else.

Fie, who had taken on the role of Queen’s teacher, decided to issue a small test of her own to analyze Queen’s overall academic level. The results, however, left much to be desired.

“Hmm... You aren’t too bad at language, but you’ve basically failed everything else...”

Queen’s reading habit had apparently translated into a good grade for language. However, Queen’s score in history, mathematics, and the natural sciences were by no means acceptable.

“Since you can take history notes and memorize facts on your own, let’s work on mathematics and science instead.”

“Okay.”

“I guess you need help with everything, so I’ll have to condense the information into just the main points somehow...”

Although Fie had wanted to teach Queen from the very basics up, they did not currently have that much time to spare. Strategically, Fie planned to teach Queen the topics most likely to appear on the upcoming test. However, as it was impossible to predict the nature of every single question, Fie could only do so much and taught Queen to the best of her ability.

“I’m sorry...” said Queen, turning to Fie with an apologetic expression. Fie, however, only smiled in acknowledgment.

“Let’s just work hard and do what we can. I’m sure the work we put in here won’t be for nothing.”

“Yes.”

Queen studied relatively hard on that day.

Fie and her friends continued studying for the upcoming test.

Queen, for his part, was not faring too badly — he was not illiterate to begin with, and was quick to understand concepts.

In fact, other than the times where he was engaged in battle, Queen’s personality was somewhat docile. On a sunny day, he was prone to losing focus in class; and instead of studying, he would read his favorite books. If anything, Queen’s current results were directly caused by these factors.

Queen’s ambiguous dog-like personality did, perhaps, have a part to play in it as well.

However, Fie was encouraged by Queen’s progress, and was now raising her expectations.

As today was a rest day, Fie saw it as a good opportunity for studying.

“If we are going to do it, we might as well head to the library. I would rather not be squeezed in such a small space with six people again.” This was Gormus’ suggestion, as he had been cramped in the relatively small space last time.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“All right, let’s head there after finishing lunch.”

There were no objections.

The six squires promptly headed over to the library after finishing their lunch. The library was quiet, as usual, and characteristically empty. Fie and her group quickly secured some seats and began yet another study session.

Fie, who had historically scored well on her tests, had the liberty of walking around and looking at various books as she tutored Queen. This particular library featured many reference materials and academic scriptures, and as such was a good environment for studying.

However, its lack of popular fiction and recreational magazines meant that it was not too popular amongst the castle’s general populace.

Upon retrieving several reference books for herself and Queen, Fie returned to her seat to begin her studies anew.

For a while, the squires silently carried on with their task, until a few voices interrupted them, their mocking laughter all too familiar.

“Hahaha. Look at these commoners. I feel so sad for them!”

Turning around curiously, the squires came face to face with Rigel and Luka.

“What are you guys doing?”

Luka responded to Fie’s question with yet another exaggerated pose, brushing his hair back theatrically.

“We saw you and your group head to the library. We had free time on our hands, so we decided to follow you.”

It would seem like the two were telling the truth.

“To think that you would be studying, of all things! Even a genius like me could not possibly have thought of such an outcome.”

As if to emphasize the pity he felt for them, Rigel shook his head, waving his mushroom-shaped haircut this way and that.

It was almost as if the two had expected Fie and her group to do something other than studying at the library.

“Aren’t you quite the busybodies... Doesn’t the eastern dormitory have tests, too? Are you sure you two are fine without studying, Rigel, Luka?”

Fie was under the impression that the two of them were more academically inclined than they let on. However, Rigel and Luka only continued shaking their heads in response to Fie’s question.

“We’re strong, you know. Strong amongst the strong. People like that don’t have to study. Those around us do not wish for us to be academically strong — but to be strong in combat.”

“Yes, exactly. The rights of geniuses, you know? Oh, don’t misunderstand. We are not geniuses and overflowing with talent by choice, you know. In fact, we sometimes envy commoners like you, who have to study so hard for their goals!”

Fie was uncertain of where to start pointing out the contradictions in their boasts, especially considering that the eastern dormitory had lost in the recent tournament.

“Well... that’s what Sir Carnegis decided, right? Since he has been removed from his position now, won’t that change soon?”

At those words, Rigel and Luka froze, rooted to the spot.

Fie reflected that the two were a little bit too silly for their own good.

“Hahaha.... How can that be...?”

“Yes... to think that we would need remedial lessons? Us...?”

As the two stood with pale faces and shivering voices, a familiar silhouette passed behind them, joining in on the conversation.

“It is as they say. Have you not been aware of the notice pasted on the dormitory’s boards?”

Persil, having overheard the conversation, offered his succinct observations on the matter.

It would seem that Rigel and Luka, having been too absorbed in their recreational activities, did not see the test notice at all. After all, this was all they knew ever since joining the eastern dormitory. They too were victims to a certain extent.

“Eh...?”

The light in their eyes, which had been so bright mere moments ago, was now fully faded, their features overcome by apprehension and fear. Upon seeing this, Persil could only apologize with an equally apologetic expression on his face.

“I see... You have not read the notice. Perhaps I should have informed you two of it as well... I apologize. Even if you only start now, I pray that you work hard.”

With a pat to both their backs, Persil left with a few books he had borrowed under his arm.

Luka and Rigel, however, continued standing where they were, their pale faces staring into thin air.

If Fie had to make an educated guess, those two were beyond saving. After all, only three days remained until the start of the test.

Perhaps it was a day where Fie and her friends were fated to meet squires of the eastern dormitory — the coincidences continued, with Kerio being the next squire to appear, his familiar form walking through the library entrance.

“Remie. You were studying here?”

Upon seeing Remie, Kerio approached the group, addressing the other squire warmly. It would seem like the two had become friends after their match.

“Yes. Are you studying too, Kerio?”

“Yeah. Although it’s not because I’ve been slacking off. Lack of academic focus is a problem in our dormitory as well, and so I thought I’d actually put some effort in and work hard for this test.” As he spoke, Kerio snuck a peek at Remie’s neatly-written equations and mathematics notes.

“You’re smart, Remie. There are some things about this math question here I don’t get... If it’s all right, could you teach me how to solve it?”

“Yes, of course!” Remie said, his usual happy smile on his face.

As a result, Kerio, who had originally been a passerby, ended up joining their study group. After all, he was now a friend of Remie’s, and the group accepted him readily.

Fie pointed at Rigel and Luka, still frozen as they witnessed the exchange between Kerio and Remie.

“Don’t end up like them, Queen. You hear?”

Nodding with a somewhat mysterious expression, Queen promptly agreed.

The very next moment, however...

“Please teach us as well!”

“Please!”

Rigel and Luka both begged, suddenly on their knees, their previous attitudes and boasts of being supposedly strong geniuses now evaporating into thin air.

The day of the test finally came.

Fie and her friends were seated in a classroom of the northern dormitory, each one writing their answers down on the test sheet before them.

On this day, the squire’s usual training was suspended, allowing them to sit for the test in relative peace.

Fie was doing well. The time she had spent teaching Queen ended up being a good review for her, and ultimately benefited them both. Fie had no issues answering most of the test’s questions.

Meanwhile, Queen wasn’t doing too badly either. Although he had a previous history of terrible grades and didn’t listen during lectures, him being of noble birth, and his habit of reading ended up working out in his favor. All he had to do was to memorize the relevant facts.

As Fie had spent time teaching Queen mathematics, he was now somewhat proficient. While Queen did not have any trouble understanding the concepts at first, his lack of long-term study meant that he had been unable to solve basic equations. However, with some practice, that problem had been solved.

As for the natural sciences, Fie had done what she could to teach Queen the more easily-memorized parts, under the assumption that Queen would score enough points in those sections to avoid failing at the very least.

As for Gormus, who had started his studies much earlier than he usually did, the test did not prove to be much of a challenge. Most of Gormus’ problems with academics would have been solved if he had approached it in this manner to begin with — the reason for him not doing so thus far could perhaps be attributed to his personality.

Remie, who had a habit of daily revision, did not have any issues with the test at all. However, he did have an enjoyable time studying with his fellow squires.

Gees in particular benefited from the sessions, and now found it easier to answer questions on the test. Perhaps all those study sessions were worth something after all.

Slad, however, had launched an all-nighter before the test — with a number of bags under his eyes to attest to that fact. While his friends had worried about him as he entered the classroom with a pronounced sway in his walk, they all hoped that it would work out one way or another.

The test results were handed out a few days later.

Heslow, standing at the front of the class, called up each squire individually and handed them their test results.

The squires, in turn, walked to the front of the class when called.

“Heath.”

Fie walked up to the front of the class without any hesitation.

Heslow, however, looked at Fie, and then back at her results, before sighing in resignation.

“I wish you were this serious in your actual combat training, Heath...”

Fie had apparently moved up a rank and was now 4th from the top, scoring 86 in language, 87 in mathematics, 92 in history, and 85 in the natural sciences.

“Eh heh heh.” Laughing with some degree of satisfaction, Fie returned to her seat.

Soon after, Gormus, Gees, Queen, and Remie were called.

Judging by Heslow’s facial expressions, it would seem that they had all passed the test.

Slad, however, was called after the main group.

The five squires who had been studying with Slad all this time collectively swallowed in anticipation.

Heslow looked at Slad’s results, then turned to face the squire, handing him his test results as he did so.

“Slad... you barely passed. Make sure you review on a regular basis from here on out.”

“Yes...”

Slad, returning to his seat, slumped down like a puppet with its strings cut. It would seem like a great burden had left him. Fie, for her part, was relieved as well.

All the squires received their results, and with that, lessons for that day were over.

Queen immediately approached Fie, a happy expression on his face.

“I somehow managed to pass all my subjects!”

“Yeah. That’s great!” Fie could not help but feel a sense of fulfillment upon seeing Queen’s satisfied smile.

“What were your scores?” inquired Fie, and she went through Queen’s test papers out of curiosity.

Queen had scored 48 points in the natural sciences. Perhaps that much was to be expected — Fie could only teach him the main points of the subject due to time constraints.

Language, at 75 points, was not too bad of a showing at all, thanks to Queen’s reading habit. However, Queen could do with some work on the trivia sections of the paper.

As for history, Queen scored 50 points — although he had been taught the relevant material, he had made a number of careless mistakes. Fie made a mental note to correct this in future study sessions — after all, he could have scored much better.

Lastly, Queen had apparently scored 88 points in mathematics.

“Hmm...?”

Upon seeing this, Fie turned to look at her own paper, comparing their grades.

She had scored 87 — Queen, at 88, was one mark higher. She had somehow ended up losing to Queen in mathematics.

Queen, however, continued to smile and was now positively beaming.

“I worked hard! It’s because of you that I got such grades. Thank you very much!”

Queen almost seemed like a happy dog, wagging its tail and asking for praise — at least, that was Fie’s current impression of him.

However, Fie’s response was swift — her hand was heading towards Queen’s head the very next moment, swung in a familiar chopping fashion.

“Ouch?!”

Not expecting the unprecedented attack, Queen did not move to dodge, and Fie’s hand landed squarely on his head.

“Wh-Why?!” said Queen, unable to comprehend this development.

“You don’t have to score THAT well! Hmph!”

Although Queen had only scored higher than Fie in one subject by exactly one mark, Fie suddenly did not feel like teaching her fellow squire any more. Perhaps because she had lived in the shadow of Fielle all her life, Fie was oddly competitive in certain aspects of her life as a result.

“What? Why? I... I worked hard! I did!” Queen, now teary-eyed, could only watch on as Fie continued rampaging for a while, lost in the negative side of her nature.

After a while, however, Fie did calm down and apologize to Queen for her behavior.

It was also perhaps worth noting that Persil ranked first in the eastern dormitory, and Kerio had received reasonably good grades as well.

Rigel and Luka, on the other hand, barely passed their tests.

With all of them having worked hard in some way or another, the squires all passed. The test, having come and gone, soon passed into their collective memories.

Chapter 23 — Thinking About the Future

With the east-north inter-dormitory duel over, and the recent test results released, Fie found herself rolling around on the floor of Queen’s room one evening.

The tournament, being a large event, and the test, being an important part of their squire education, had taken their toll on the squires of the northern dormitory. Although the above-mentioned events had them all on edge, some squires found themselves more energized than ever, running around the dormitory with seemingly limitless energy. Another group of squires, however, found themselves worn out and lethargic instead.

Fie belonged to the former group. As such, she found herself invading Queen’s room and reading all his books on knightly fiction. Fie had decided that between that and chatting with Queen, this was how she would pass the time.

The book Fie found herself reading today was “The King of Knights, Kaiser.” It was apparently a story about how a king, who was at the same time a knight, showed up at various battlefields and scenes of conflict to save the day.

Fie, however, had her doubts about how someone could be a king and a knight at the same time.

Despite that, it would appear that this particular book was one of Queen’s favorites. In its defense, the book was reasonably interesting, and Fie had found herself halfway through the book before long.

Next to Fie was a piece of paper detailing the latest manliness rankings of the northern dormitory — it would seem that she was currently ranked third. Although she had scored a large amount of points during the sauna incident, she had not been awarded any points since. Although Fie had wanted to catch up with Zerius, who was still in the top position, she could not think of any ideas. She tossed the paper away as an afterthought and began reading through the book once more.

“Um. I’m going to make some tea.”

Although Fie had suddenly invaded Queen’s room and personal space (in addition to rolling on the ground as she continued to read), Queen treated his unannounced guest with exceptional hospitality.

“Thanks!” Fie accepted Queen’s hospitality without much thought.

As Queen left the room, Fie, having decided that she was now bored of the book in her hands, decided to inspect the interior of Queen’s room instead.

Something was bothering her. She only had this feeling because of the information retrieval techniques taught to her by Conrad. To begin with, Fie did possess some degree of ability to read people, although it could simply be said that she was a little more situationally aware than the average person.

This trait of hers, however, enabled Fie to notice a particularly strange reaction in Queen.

It had to do with minor changes in Queen’s expression as she rolled around the floor of Queen’s room.

Upon rolling over a specific spot, Queen would become strangely nervous. Although he had consciously tried to hide it, Queen’s reaction was readily apparent to Fie. This was what had piqued Fie’s interest.

To be precise, Queen always seemed nervous when Fie rolled close to his bed.

(I wonder what’s near his bed...?)

Seizing the opportunity to investigate, Fie moved near the bed, peeking under it for good measure.

Fie soon discovered three books, neatly stacked atop each other. According to their covers, they were nothing more than the knightly fiction books that Queen was so fond of.

However, something was off.

Fie did not understand why there would be books under the bed.

In addition, they had not simply fallen beneath the bed, but had clearly been stacked. Queen was tidy by nature — the relative tidiness of his room was enough proof of that.

There wasn’t a single speck of dust under his bed. Fie’s confusion regarding the placement of the books only rose upon noticing this fact, and she eventually came to the conclusion that they had been purposely placed there.

This was strange. After all, there were shelves in the room.

Without hesitating, Fie promptly crawled under the bed to retrieve the three books.

It did not take her long to notice a few pieces of paper under them.

(And these are...?)

Fie concluded that these papers were the reason for Queen’s nervousness.

“Let’s see here...”

Stretching out her body, Fie reached for the papers and retrieved them without much difficulty.

Upon inspecting them under the room’s lamp, Fie saw that the papers were illustrations of a blonde girl who was wearing relatively skimpy clothing. There appeared to be five papers in all.

Fie looked through them.

“Hmm. I guess Queen does look at these.”

Although the papers were not what Fie was expecting, she wasn’t exactly surprised.

After all, she knew that such illustrations were common amongst youth her age. In fact, she had even been to such a store before, accompanying her fellow squires — although she did not buy a single illustration.

“Hmm. I guess these are the ones he likes...”

Fie had witnessed youths from the downtown and slum districts passionately discussing these illustrations on one of her outings. It would seem like hair color and body curvature was a selling point to these youths.

Upon further inspecting the papers, Fie inevitably found points of similarity amongst them. She reasoned that these were the traits that appealed to Queen.

Fie had no ill intent — she was simply trying to better understand the hobbies of her friend. She continued inspecting the pictures, adopting an almost scientific approach.

“Hmm. They’re all blonde.” Fie stared some more. “They all have blue eyes.”

True enough, the illustrations that Queen had purchased all featured blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls. Fie’s thoughts on the matter were relatively straightforward.

“I guess this is the most popular trend, huh...”

Apparently blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls were extremely popular amongst contemporary youth. It was worth noting that Fie’s sister, Fielle, had a fair share of admirers simply because of these traits. The color of Fielle’s hair and eyes were considered treasures, even amongst other women of similar appearance.

However, to Fie, pursuing popular trends was not exactly the most interesting thing to do. It occurred to Fie that there were perhaps more interesting factors at play. She continued scrutinizing the illustrations intently.

“Hmm. They all have short hair. Does he like that? That’s strange...”

It was more common in both men and women to prefer long hair — at least, as far as Orstoll’s fashion scene went. Noble women, specifically, often grew out their hair. Fielle did the same, and even Fie herself had a similar hairstyle in the past. Conversely, maids like Arsha were only allowed to keep a certain length of hair — primarily due to concerns that it could interfere with their work.

With those thoughts in mind, Fie concluded that these five pictures perfectly represented the sort of woman that Queen liked.

“...Does he like younger women, too?”

If the word on the street was to be believed, most youths preferred adequately curvaceous, older women. However, although Queen was the same age as Fie, it would appear that he preferred younger girls, if the illustrations’ lack of curves was anything to go by.

“And the fashion he likes...”

Deciding to identify Queen’s fashion sense, Fie continued staring, but soon stopped. The illustrations all featured girls dressed in only their underwear, in the process of removing their underwear, and in some cases they wore nothing at all. As such, it was impossible for Fie to discern Queen’s fashion sense.

“Hmm...”

After staring at the illustrations for a while longer, Fie returned them to their original position and placed the books over them.

Although Fie was worried that Queen, who had grown up in a rural location, would be left out of hobby circles, she was somewhat reassured by the discovery of his picture-collecting hobby.

Fie had even made a mental note to introduce such a girl to Queen should she ever have the chance. Unfortunately, Fie could not think of any girl who matched Queen’s preferences at this point in time.

Rolling around on the ground once more, Fie began reading her previously abandoned book, only to find that Queen had returned from his tea expedition.

“Ah. Welcome back, Queen.”

“Sorry I took so long... I passed by Slad and the rest on my way there, and we talked for a bit.”

Without knowing what had transpired in this room during his absence, Queen happily handed a cup of tea over to Fie.

“Oh, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Thanks!” Fie, saying nothing about her previous discoveries, accepted the tea readily. “Mm, this is good.”

As if to reward him, Fie poured some cookies out into a bowl from a bag and pushed the bowl towards Queen.

“This is...”

“Handmade.”

Upon hearing those words, Queen’s face seemed to light up.

“It’s from Arsha and the rest.”

Queen seemed disappointed at that revelation. Fie, noticing his disappointment, thought that Queen could have been a little more appreciative.

Holding her tea with one hand and her book in another, Fie cast her eyes upon the manliness ranking sheet once more. Zerius, with about 4000 points, was first. Fie, with 2000 points, was third.

“Hmm...”

Fie once again began thinking of potential ways to win the contest and overtake Zerius.

“Ugh... I’m drawing a blank.”

In the end, Fie did not manage to come up with any ideas.

Fie, who had awoken in the middle of the night, was suddenly struck by a thought.

“Oh... I left my cookies in Queen’s room...”

After offering her cookies to Queen, Fie had apparently forgotten to retrieve the bag they were in.

“What am I going to do? It’s already night...”

Peeking out at the moon shining in the sky, Fie realized that it was considerably late. Surely Queen and the rest would be fast asleep.

Fie was troubled.

“Hm... I’ll just go get them tomorrow... Oh, but the humidity will get to them...”

Fie had forgotten to close the cookie bag after becoming engrossed in her book again. This bothered Fie. She had wanted to sleep, but thoughts of the cookie bag flooded her mind. Sleep was, after all, a fickle thing.

After worrying about the state of her cookies for a short while, Fie decided to retrieve the bag from Queen’s room.

With the moon as her only light, Fie opened her door and made a beeline for Queen’s room through the corridors. Perhaps because she had spent some time worrying, Fie’s eyes were now used to the dark, allowing her to set off on her journey without too much trouble. It would seem that Fie was good at moving around in the dark.

Fie soon found herself standing in front of Queen’s door. However, she could not determine her next course of action.

(It would be better if I went in after knocking... But I don’t want to wake Queen.)

Although Fie had usually knocked and waited for Queen to open the door, it was now in the depths of night. The usually boisterous and noisy dormitory was all but silent.

If she entered with her usual knocks, she would surely wake Queen.

(Well... I’ll quietly go in, get the cookies, and come back out...)

Fie decided that this was the best thing to do.

Utilizing yet another technique that Sir Conrad had taught her, Fie silently opened the door. Like a cat, she slunk in, her footsteps making nary a sound.

Standing up while maintaining her silence, Fie quietly closed the door and turned around.

(Eh...?)

Something was off.

There appeared to be a light near Queen’s bed — something she was not used to seeing.

The light apparently originated from a lamp placed on the bed’s side table. In the darkness of the room, the lamp’s soft glow illuminated the room in a shroud of orange.

(Maybe Queen is awake...?)

From her angle, Fie could not see anything but Queen’s back. It would appear that Queen commonly slept on his side, with his back facing the door.

Fie was once again at a loss.

After all, if Queen were awake, it would be best for her to say something — after all, she had entered without permission and planned to make off with something in the room without Queen noticing. In addition, Fie had a good mind to tell Queen off for reading books at such an hour — such behavior did no favors for his eyes.

If he was indeed sleeping, it would be a waste to continue leaving the lamp lighted — in which case Fie would simply extinguish it for him.

With those thoughts in mind, Fie silently crept up to Queen, not wanting to wake her fellow squire if he were indeed asleep.

Upon approaching him, however, Fie noticed that there were small movements in Queen’s back.

(I guess he’s awake after all. Is he reading maybe? It’s bad for your eyes you know...)

Thinking so, Fie walked a few steps closer to Queen’s bed.

(Eh...?)

However, what Fie saw was not a book — but instead the illustrations that she had found underneath Queen’s bed earlier in the day. Queen was holding said illustrations in his left hand.

Fie did not understand why Queen would be looking at such illustrations at this time of the night. Fie craned her neck for a better view.

As she continued her stealthy approach, Fie began to notice that Queen’s breathing was strained. Staring at the illuminated picture in his hand with an expression of yearning on his face, Queen muttered under his breath.

“Heath... Heath...”

It seemed like Queen was calling for Fie.

Fie, however, did not understand why Queen would be calling for her at this time of the night, so she did what she would naturally do when called.

“What’s up, Queen? Did you need me for something?”

Queen’s body seemed to stiffen at Fie’s question, freezing on the spot. Slowly, he turned around, glancing over his shoulder in fear. Standing in the darkness before him was none other than Fie.

“A-Aah...?! Wh-Why...? Why are you... Heath...?” Queen, shocked by what he had seen, flew up from his bed like a startled cat.

“Eh? Oh, I forgot some cookies in your room... So I came to get them. Then, when I walked close to where they were, I heard you calling my name... So.”

Queen could only stare at Fie as his mouth opened and closed rapidly, his usual goldfish tendencies surfacing once more. Yet he appeared to be even more shocked than usual.

However, Fie did not understand the situation at all. Noticing yet another odd point, Fie pointed her finger at Queen and posed an innocent question.

“Hey, Queen. Why did you take off your pants?”

Queen, now positively red, appeared to be on the verge of tears. With shaking hands, he stretched out the sleeves on his shirt, as if to hide the lower half of his body.

“Ah... Aah...?!”

His beet-red face, combined with his intense shaking, was a first for Fie — even she understood that, for one reason or another, Queen was in an intense state of shock.

“I’m sorry... I don’t really get it. But if you need me to help with something, I’ll hear you out.”

With a somewhat remorseful tone, Fie offered an apology. She assumed that Queen had wanted something — after all, he had been calling her name repeatedly up until a short while ago.

“Ge...”

“Ge...?” Fie tilted her head to one side.

“PLEASE GET OUT OF MY ROOOOOOOOOM!”

In an explosive burst of speed, Queen ran forth with the force of a black cyclone. In a swift movement, he pushed Fie out of his room and into the corridor.

“Eh? W-Wait! Q-Queen...?”

Immediately after Fie had been adequately relocated, Queen slammed the door behind her. A solid thud reverberated through the darkness.

“Queen? Queen? Hey, what’s going on?”

Fie, now very much confused, continued knocking on Queen’s door — however, there was no answer.

On an afternoon two days after the event, Fie approached Queen in the canteen in attempts to speak to him.

“Queen—”

Upon hearing Fie’s voice, however, Queen promptly stood up, turned his back to Fie, and abruptly walked off. Although she attempted to catch up, Queen’s movements were far too fast.

Gormus, who had been watching from the sidelines, posed a simple question to Fie.

“Did you two fight?”

“No... At least, I don’t think so.”

Fie did not understand the situation at all. Sneaking into Queen’s room to retrieve a bag of cookies two nights ago, Fie had witnessed Queen calling her name — but that was all there was to it.

In fact, Queen had been this way for a while.

Although Fie had tried talking to him the very next day during their training regimens and mealtimes, Queen only turned away, refusing to speak. If pursued, he would escape, eventually disappearing into one hidden corner or another.

“Then I suppose you did something terrible to Queen?”

“Don’t be silly. Why would I do something like that?” Fie thought that Gormus was being particularly unfair in his assessment.

“No. Look at him. It is plain that you did something.”

“Ugh...”

Although a string of complaints and dissatisfaction arose from Gormus’ perceived persecution of her, Fie could not dismiss the possibility that she could have indeed been part of the reason for Queen’s current behavior — if only because of the overall timing and chain of events thus far. However, Fie still did not understand much of the situation at hand.

Cocking her head to one side as she remained lost in thought, Fie ate her meal, the seat next to her decidedly empty.

That very evening, Fie was approached by none other than Remie, who wore a worried expression on his face.

“Heath, what happened with you and Queen? You two have been somewhat distant recently...”

It would seem like Remie, ever-aware of his friends, had noticed the rift between Fie and Queen. It was, however, true that Fie and Queen were often inseparable — in fact, Queen had only acted this way when she had first met him.

“That’s the thing... I don’t know. I know he’s upset about something, but I have no idea why he’s avoiding me like that... I can’t think of any reasons at all.”

After all, Queen had even refused to speak to her during training — there was no way she could glean any information with regards to the current situation.

“Well... if there’s anything recent at all that is of note, maybe you could discuss it with me? An outsider’s perspective might help.”

Fie nodded and agreed with his suggestion. Appreciating Remie’s gentle nature and kind offer, she slowly recounted the events of that night.

Specifically, Fie described in detail Queen’s strange behavior that night, and as her explanation continued, Remie’s expression changed from that of worry to shock, his eyes opened wide as beads of sweat flowed down from his forehead.

Finally, Remie decided to stop Fie mid-way through her explanation.

“Oh, have you found the reason? What is it? Go on, tell me.”

With a somewhat elusive expression, Remie furtively looked around, before opening and closing his mouth rapidly in a series of gapes reminiscent of Queen.

“H-Heath... You... You know. That’s....”

Leaning in closer, Fie placed her ear close to Remie’s lips, eagerly listening to his explanation.

“Oh, I see. So it’s that.” Fie nodded at Remie’s words.

Fie, after all, had some degree of knowledge with regards to what Remie had just told her. After all, healthcare-centric lessons were also part of the squire curriculum — and that was where Fie had gained her knowledge about the topic at hand.

“So Queen does stuff like that too...”

Fie was somewhat surprised. Although Fie had known of it from books and lessons, she had never seen someone actually executing the process.

Remie, who was now positively flushed, continued to fidget, a stark contrast to Fie, who did not seem shaken in the slightest.

“Um... You can’t tell anyone about this. About what you saw, I mean. It’d be really shameful if anyone found out...”

Finally reaching the end of Remie’s explanation, Fie connected the dots at last, satisfied that she had solved the mystery of Queen’s strange behavior. She thought that this was all pretty sudden, but at the same time assumed that Queen had his reasons for doing so.

If anything, Fie was grateful to Remie for offering his help.

As if to wrap up the discussion, Fie turned to Remie suddenly, innocently asking a question.

“So... do you do it too, Remie?”

“Eh...?” Remie immediately froze upon hearing Fie’s question.

Evidently failing to understand the sensitivities behind the topic, Fie stared straight at Remie, who was blushing intensely, tears swimming around in his eyes. Perhaps it was because of his personality, or because they were friends, Remie eventually answered, albeit somewhat haltingly.

“Well... Um... I think everyone... does it, so... You know, while... thinking of someone they like... I’m around that age after all, you... you know...”

Once again obtaining yet another precious piece of knowledge with regards to the male psyche, Fie felt that she had finally understood the reason for Queen’s behavior. Satisfied, she thanked Remie before immediately turning around and motioning to leave.

Remie, however, stopped her, his voice still shaking.

“Um... It’s a delicate matter so... I hope you approach it with some sensitivity...”

“Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the help, Remie!”

Remie, hiding his unsettled expression, could only nod as Fie walked away.

Fie, for her part, seemed to immediately forget about Remie’s warning and decided to locate and apologize to Queen right away. She only realized at this point that it was perhaps inconsiderate of her to sneak into his room at night, even if she had done so with good intentions at heart.

However, Fie could not let the matter rest — her theoretical knowledge and what she had witnessed that night continued swirling around in her inquisitive mind.

“Hmm... So Queen does stuff like that too...” said Fie, with the tone of one who had just made a groundbreaking discovery, patting herself on the back for her astute observations.

Fie summarily deduced that the pictures Queen had so carefully hidden under his bed were for that particular purpose.

However, at that moment, Remie’s words resurfaced in Fie’s mind.

“Thinking of someone they like.”

A new line of inquiry emerged from the murky depths of Fie’s mind.

“Oh, yeah... Queen was saying my name as he did that, wasn’t he?”

It was then that Fie realized that Queen had been “thinking of someone he liked,” while saying her name.

“Oh...?” Such was the only sound that escaped Fie’s lips as she tilted her head to one side.

Shortly after, Fie and Queen’s dramatic chase scenes played out throughout the halls of the northern dormitory.

To the other squires, it was a somewhat familiar sight.

“Queen... I need to talk... Ugh, already gone?!”

However, Queen was not to be easily caught. Perhaps it went without saying, but Queen was after all the faster of the two of them.

(I wanted to apologize, but if he keeps dashing around like that it’s impossible...!!)

As their game of cat and mouse continued over the next three days, Fie found herself increasingly dissatisfied.

“Hey, Queen. Wait up, Queen!!”

Fie, who was currently chasing Queen around behind the dormitory building, could not close the distance between them. Although she had called out to Queen numerous times, the other squire showed no signs of stopping.

Even if she did accelerate, Queen would merely do so himself — and there the gap in their physical abilities was evident.

(How long do you want to keep doing this?!)

Fie was frustrated — all she wanted to do was to apologize to Queen.

In addition, she attempted to approach the subject in a sensitive manner — as per Remie’s advice, she did not attempt to speak to Queen in crowded places. However, in relatively deserted locations, Fie could not catch Queen, let alone speak to him.

It occurred to Fie that if this went on, they would never be friends again.

Her dissatisfaction with the current chain of events finally reaching its peak, Fie finally shouted, as if to stop Queen in his tracks:

“Do you like me, Queen?!”

Immediately, Queen stopped, freezing where he stood.

Turning around, Queen’s eyes were filled with tears, and his face was flushed beet-red — just like it had been back then. The intense shade of red on Queen’s face was visible even to one as dense as Fie.

(I-It’s true, huh...)

With teary eyes and an increasingly red face, Queen shouted his response.

“YES! I DO! I-IS THAT A BAD THING?!”

“N-No... Well, I don’t think it’s a bad thing...”

Fie thought that love wasn’t exactly something that could be right or wrong. But now being confronted with the reality of the situation, she could only stand in place, thoroughly shocked. She had finally gained a semblance of understanding, she now knew the reason for Queen’s anger.

As if having finally steeled his resolve, Queen, with his red face and teary eyes, stared straight at Fie.

“W-Well... What do you th-think about it...?”

“Th-Think...? What do you mean... think?”

“I... I like... I like you so... So... How about it...?”

Queen, still sniveling, continued staring at Fie, a serious expression on his face.

Queen’s question, however, seemed to have caused Fie to grasp the magnitude of the situation.

“Ah...”

With an apologetic voice and similarly apologetic expression, Fie looked at Queen.

“Um... I’m sorry, I haven’t thought about it at all...”

“@#&$!!”

Queen’s reaction was far too jumbled to make sense of. His face only continued to redden, hints of anger now mixed with shame. Although Queen could not speak coherently, it was plain to see that he was upset.

Fie, however, understood at last. Even she did not find her behavior up until now acceptable.

“Um... I’m sorry. Really. I’ll think about it properly... So could you give me some time? Um... Sorry...” said Fie, clasping her hands in a desperate apology.

Queen, wound up and tense during his confession, felt the strength and anger leave his body upon hearing Fie’s response. With his eyes half-closed and teary, Queen responded, traces of resentment evident in his voice.

“Well... then... I hope you... manage to think it over...”

“Um... Yes. Yes, I will...”

Fie could not help but wonder if it was the norm for confessions to be such sad affairs.

Queen, for his part, had imagined becoming a knight for the person he liked, helping and protecting her, and then finally proposing in a romantic manner — the reality, however, could not be further than that. In fact, Queen felt that the distance between his dream and his current reality was basically that of heaven and the deepest depths of hell.

However, there was nothing either one of them could do — Queen had confessed, and that was that.

And so it came to be that Queen’s hidden feelings were finally confessed to Fie.

Fie returned alone to her room. She closed the door and sat on her chair, hugging her knees as she did so.

“How... surprising. Unexpected.”

Such were Fie’s feelings about the matter at hand. After all, she hadn’t noticed that Queen liked her at all — not in the slightest.

To begin with, it did not even occur to Fie that she could be anyone’s love interest.

“What am I going to do...?”

Fie, however, decided to think about the matter calmly. She understood that she was not in a circumstance where she could be someone’s lover, much less go out on dates and the like.

However, she told Queen that she would “think about it.”

It occurred to Fie that it would be terribly irresponsible for her to simply dismiss and reject Queen.

As such, Fie decided to continue thinking — even though she was sure that she would come to the same conclusion.

After a while of not making any significant progress, Fie found herself at a loss. Up until this point, it never occurred to Fie that she had the freedom of choosing who she would be married to.

Even girls from noble families did not simply fall in love and get married to any man on the street. There were courtship procedures, getting the approval of her parents, with it all resulting in marriage after a long period of time.

Although Fie did not think about it much, she had actually already undergone a similar process.

In her case, however, she did not have anyone she liked, and her parents did not have to do anything more than deciding who she would marry, and then summarily marrying her off without as much as a question. Due to this, Fie’s knowledge with regards to marriage was somewhat lacking.

In the beginning, Fie had had some hopes that she would get along with this yet-unknown partner. But she’d ended up being shipped to another kingdom, tacked onto her sister’s marriage as a dowry gift. It wasn’t what she was expecting — and she remembered giving her father, the King of Daeman, a good kick in the chin.

No one had asked for her hand in social circles, but if she had not gotten married, bad rumors would have spread. This was how Fie ended up in Daeman — without a single shred of love or relations, and this was summarily how she imagined her future to be.

As such, it was perhaps natural for Fie to assume that she would never fall in love, much less become the target for someone else’s affections.

It was perhaps worth noting that the people of Orstoll held somewhat liberal perceptions of love. While Fie had originally assumed that individuals of noble birth would only be allowed to marry others of similar social standing, this was not the case in Orstoll. From what she had heard, nobles were known to marry knights, maidservants, and in some cases even members of the local peasantry.

It would appear that the concept of love in Orstoll transcended the boundaries of social class, amongst other things.

This was particularly evident to Fie as she recalled the exploits of Crow. If anything, Fie felt that Crow had embraced the concept of freedom a little too liberally — if he wasn’t just a flirt to begin with. Fie shook her head. She could not approve of Sir Crow’s activities after all.

Bringing her mind back to the matter at hand, Fie realized that she had been looking at the entire issue as an outsider — at least up until Queen had confessed to her. Fie, now no longer an outsider, felt that she had been suddenly dragged onto a stage without warning.

“Free love, huh...”

Fie was apprehensive of the strange obstacle that had somehow rolled into her path. This strange object, of indeterminate shape and texture, was foreign to Fie. As such, she had no idea what to do with it.

Out of respect for Queen’s sincerity, however, Fie allowed the object to stay, even as it weighed heavily in her mind. Perhaps she would approach it from a different angle occasionally. Or perhaps she would stare at the situation and think.

Although it was an impossible thought, Fie decided to entertain a hypothetical for the sake of it.

“In that case... wouldn’t Queen and I become lovers?”

Fie assumed that this would be the case. It was a strange feeling.

In the end, Fie found herself staring out at the night sky, with nary an answer in her mind.

She eventually decided that she would go to bed, and then attempt getting up the next morning and living normally, like nothing had happened.

On her way down to the canteen, Fie came across a familiar silhouette — it was none other than Queen. She greeted him as she always did, with a casual “good morning.”

“Ah, H-Heath?! Oh... good morning...”

Fie thought that Queen’s evidently suspicious attitude was a testament to how the latter wore his heart on his sleeve.

“It’s better if you calm down, you know. People around you are going to notice, see.”

“Y-Yeah...”

Fie waited a while for Queen to calm down.

Looking around to ensure that no one was around, Fie quietly spoke.

“Um... About my response, could I have a bit more time to think about it...?”

“Yeah... Um, I would be glad if you... thought about it...” Although that was not how Queen really felt, this was all he could muster the courage to say at this point.

Due to Queen’s confession, the relationship between them had changed once more. Under normal circumstances, Fie would have simply commanded Queen to settle down if he appeared suspicious for one reason or another.

Queen, for his part, was a little different in his mannerisms as well. In fact, the carefully cultivated relationship between Fie and her dog-like friend, Queen, might very well have been reset to what it was before.

Fie, noticing that, could not help but feel that something was off between them.

“Let’s go to the canteen.”

“Okay.”

However, being with Queen, like the way things had been before, brought some peace to Fie’s heart.

To Fie, Queen was an important friend. To Queen, however, Fie was someone he liked.

The two entered the canteen, queued up, and walked to their seats, before sitting down at the same seats they had sat at for the past half a year — a silent understanding evident in their actions.

Fie and Queen had sat at their regular places, and were eating together once more, as they always had. To Gormus, however, that was why this entire scene was suspicious.

“You two seem quieter than usual today. Did something happen?”

“Not really... aren’t we always like this?” Fie answered Gormus without as much as a blink. Queen, who was aware that he would be easily found out should he speak, decided to keep quiet instead, nodding to signal his approval.

However, the changes were evident to those who knew the pair well.

Normally, Fie would be particularly animated, talking about one thing or another with Queen boisterously. However, they were now seated calmly and were instead eating their meals without a single word. The changes were too obvious to Gormus and the rest of Fie’s close friends.

As Fie was usually active, loud, and particularly good at lying, the changes she displayed were perhaps a little bit too obvious.

Fie herself was troubled by this sudden change in her own behavior. After all, she could not discuss this with anyone else — but then, being treated with suspicion by those around her was not a desirable outcome as well.

Continuing to think, Fie realized that Queen could easily give himself away due to his earnest personality. Fie, however, did realize that her past relationship with Queen was a major factor in shaping how he currently behaved.

Fie recalled how Queen had first challenged her to a duel when they initially met. Although Fie had casually dismissed and refused to entertain Queen’s requests back then, he was now a friend, and someone close to her heart. Had Queen confessed to her back then, she would have dismissed him without any doubt or hesitation.

Fie could not help but smile at the irony of her current situation. It would seem like the two of them had gotten too close without her even noticing.

As if sensing Fie’s thoughts, Remie interjected, eager to help.

“But it’s good you two made up!”

“Yeah, it’s thanks to your advice, Remie. Thanks.”

“Y-Yes... Of course...” Remie adopted a somewhat strange expression as Fie thanked him.

“Come to think of it... it’ll only be a short while until the manliness ranking contest ends! As usual, Zerius is at the top with no signs of stopping! Yesterday, some of our guys saw him feeding a bunch of stray dogs... That was a ton of points!”

“As expected...”

Not sensing the odd atmosphere, Slad burst out on the latest contest developments. Gees, meanwhile, decided to entertain his friend, despite being aware of the developments on the other end of the table.

“I should work hard this time too...” said Remie, once again helping to move the conversation along.

Remie had performed unexpectedly well during the inter-dormitory duel, and was even poised to win. Unfortunately, he got no points for his showing at all, with Gormus’ flashy victory and Queen’s dramatic finish etched into the squires’ minds instead. Remie, unfortunately, was right at the bottom of the rankings.

(The manliness ranking contest... Ugh...)

Up until just a few days ago, Fie had been busy brainstorming various ideas to somehow beat Zerius and come out on top of the rankings.

(I guess it’s pointless... I can’t think of anything but the issue with Queen now either way...)

In the end, no meaningful conversation was conducted at the canteen table that day.

Fie found herself spending the day as she usually would, and returned to her room at night. Unlike how she usually spent the night, however, Fie started to worry.

With each passing day, every single line of thought ended in a negative answer.

However, it was not because she disliked Queen, nor that it was impossible to like him.

The reason for her coming to that conclusion was simple — based on her current circumstances and social standings, a relationship was difficult, if not impossible.

(Actually... if I think about it, wouldn’t dating Queen be... infidelity? Or is it cheating? Hmm...)

At least, Fie had thought this must be the case — she was, after all, already married. The act of going out with Queen alone would be a risk, if not a problem.

Having thought this far, Fie finally noticed something — to be exact, she had finally realized that she had been constantly escaping from the reality of her life.

Particularly about how she was simply included as a dowry gift when her sister had married King Roy after falling in love. She had been seen as nothing but a troublemaker, and was destined to never see the light of day. Fie, however, had escaped and worked hard to be where she was now, only for all of it to be thrown into chaos with Queen’s confession.

If she really wanted to escape her fate as the second queen of Orstoll, however, all she had to do was accept Queen’s confession. In her heart, however, Fie did not have any immediate, concrete plans for the future. This was precisely why she could not offer a proper answer.

Thus far, she has masqueraded as a man, became a squire, and was aiming to become a knight — but Fie did not know what would come next, or where she would go from then on.

It was then that Fie had realized a simple fact — in her desperation to escape her previous life, she had not thought much about the future at all. Now, faced with a choice that concerned that very future, Fie found herself at a loss.

(What am I going to do with myself from here on out...?)

Fie had originally intended to continue masquerading as a man for as long as she could.

Her thoughts, however, remained clouded with new questions, worries, and doubts.

Time continued to pass and Fie found herself unable to come up with a plan. The sense of distance between the two squires only continued to grow as Queen continued waiting.

As it was a Saturday, Fie made her way to the 18th Knight’s headquarters.

Fie soon found herself in the storehouse’s familiar confines. It would seem, however, that no other knights were present, and Fie soon found herself silently preparing a pot of tea.

Fie sighed as the kettle started to rattle slowly.

“Aah...”

“What’s got you all worried, Heathy?”

“Whoa!” Fie jumped at hearing her name, letting out a squeal as a voice rang out from the previously uninhabited storehouse.

Turning around, Fie stared at the source of the voice, resentment clear in her gaze.

“Sir Conrad...”

“Ufufu. It’s been a while, Heathy. I’m so happy to see you.”

Conrad, who had been out and busy on various assignments as of late, had silently appeared behind Fie without warning. According to Fie’s memory, it had been at least three weeks since their last meeting.

“What... are you even doing?”

Although Conrad could have greeted Fie normally, he instead chose to employ his skills at concealing his presence to their full potential, choosing to sneak up on Fie for one reason or another.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I’m only checking up on my junior, to see if you’ve gotten into any trouble. It would seem like you’re worried about something after all, Heathy.”

“I’m not worried about anything.”

“That’s a lie isn’t it?”

“W-Well, I suppose it is...” Unable to fool Conrad’s senses, Fie nodded, having little other choice.

Conrad had apparently picked up on this from the moment Fie had sighed while preparing her tea, and summarily felt some degree of remorse for having snuck up on his junior.

“You can discuss it with me, Heathy. I’ll fix it all up in a flash.”

“I think I’ll pass...” Fie, feeling nothing but a deep sense of apprehension about a potential discussion with Conrad, decided to turn down the offer.

However, it would seem like Conrad once again read Fie’s thoughts.

“So... if you’re not discussing it with me, it would mean that it’s a somewhat private matter... Hmm. In this case, it would be no one in the 18th... So it would be some other party... And if you’re hiding it so intently, you must be worrying about none other than love, am I right?”

Fie could not help but react to Conrad’s prying deductions. Conrad’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he continued.

“So? Who is it, who is it? Who confessed to you?”

“Why do you know that much...?”

Although Fie had wished that Conrad would leave her alone, Conrad had instead successfully pinpointed the issue.

“Women’s intuition.”

“That’s a lie, isn’t it...”

Even Fie understood that Conrad was a man to begin with. Waving his fan silently, Conrad only smiled at Fie’s accusation.

“You are much more of a child than you think, you know? It seems like you will need some more growth before you can fully understand your own feelings and propose.”

Fie did not understand what the heck Conrad was going on about.

Suddenly adopting a saint-like expression, Conrad continued his speech.

“It’s all right. Regardless of the magnitude of your love problems, I will help you with all of my power!”

“I’ll pass.” Fie, who felt that Conrad’s saintly expression was too suspicious, turned down her senior’s offer yet again.

However, Conrad merely continued dispensing his advice.

“I’ll give you some advice, Heathy... If you want to wrap him around your little finger, you’re going to have to throw some degree of seduction into it...”

“I never said I wanted to do anything like that...”

“So in other words... it is someone you actually think about. Someone... important to you.”

At those words, Fie started sweating. She felt like Conrad had somehow extracted information from her without her noticing.

In truth, Fie herself was very worried about the issue at hand. Fie had been thinking about ways to reject Queen, but at the same time, she had been attempting to somehow justify his confession — but found it impossible to do so.

Conrad’s words seemed to pinpoint the latter part of the issue, however.

“It would seem like you are worried about many things... But have you thought about your own feelings?”

“My own... feelings...?”

Looking up, Fie came face to face with Conrad, who had an expression she had never seen before. Conrad was gently smiling.

“You’ll get your priorities all mixed up if you don’t think about how you feel in all this, you know?”

“...”

Smiling once more as he usually did to the now silent Fie, Conrad moved to leave.

“Well then... since you want to think about it yourself, I will get going. Ufufufu.”

And with that, Conrad was gone.

(What did he want to say in the end...?)

Lifting her head to see Conrad off, Fie saw that he was now at the entrance of the storehouse, his face half hidden by his fancy fan.

“Oh, do tell me what happens. All right then, see you Heathy!”

This time, Conrad was gone for good.

“Aah...” Fie sighed once more, somehow sounding more tired than she did a few minutes ago. Sitting where she was, Fie began pouring tea into her cup, all the while not saying a word.

After their meeting, Fie decided to take Conrad’s advice to heart, and started thinking about how she felt in the whole affair.

It was then that Fie noticed how she felt — she just wanted to cheer Queen on in his quest for love.

After all, Fie’s feelings with regards to Queen were not that of love. On this point she was very clear — she loved him dearly as an important friend.

If possible, she would like for Queen’s love to result in a positive outcome — such were her true feelings.

If Queen’s love interest had not been her, she would have been able to cheer him on without any worries at all, and even help him with various issues along the way. She could imagine such a situation unfolding.

Unfortunately, this did little to change the fact that the person Queen loved was none other than Fie herself.

She realized at this point that the possibilities and answers merely appeared to shrink. And she realized how complex and unpredictable love was — specifically in how it rarely went according to plan.

After thinking about the issue for a little longer, Fie made up her mind — she had to reject Queen after all.

No matter how she spun it, she would be cheating on the King, to whom she was legally married. If she were somehow found out, it would bring about unprecedented amounts of trouble... Especially to Queen.

Fie found herself unable to shake off her circumstances — however, simply rejecting Queen did not seem like a morally correct thing to do. As such, she made up her mind on a separate matter and began making the appropriate preparations.

“Heath... why did you call me out to this place...?”

On that very Sunday, Queen followed Heath to a certain spot in the Royal Castle, all the while with an uneasy feeling in his heart.

After all, he had thought about Heath all this time, finally managed to offer an unfortunate confession, and had been waiting for her answer from that day on.

Queen, for his part, was worried that she would probably reject him — however, he still held hope in his heart that she would reciprocate his feelings. If he was rejected, however, then the two of them would simply go back to how they used to be — and this was acceptable to Queen, although it might be difficult to execute in practice.

“Isn’t this the place where... that second queen lives...?”

Heath had apparently summoned Queen to an isolated corner of the castle.

Queen knew that this was where the sister of Queen Fielle, who was also born in Daeman, lived. According to the rumors he had heard, she had come to this Kingdom, and then attempted to get in the way of King Roy and Queen Fielle’s romance. As a result, she had been locked up in this back garden pavilion — at least, if said rumors were to be believed.

In addition, Queen had heard that she had a terrible personality, with an equally terrible appearance to match.

However, the place that Heath had called Queen to was none other than the back wall of this isolated pavilion.

On one hand, Queen understood the need for privacy — but there seemed to be little reason to choose this spot of all places. In fact, Queen thought it would have made more sense for the two of them to talk in one of their rooms.

As Queen continued looking around nervously, a rope suddenly descended from above, followed by a familiar voice.

“Queen, over here!”

Looking up, Queen was greeted with the sight of Heath, who had apparently scaled the back pavilion’s walls.

“Wh-What are you doing, Heath?!”

Heath, however, quickly shushed Queen with a finger to her lips, motioning for him to remain silent.

Queen was hesitant. No matter how bad the opinion of the general public was with regards to the other queen who lived here, they would certainly get in trouble for sneaking into such a place. After all, the inhabitant was once a princess and was now one of King Roy’s spouses.

“The specifics can wait. For now, climb up. Oh, make sure you keep the rope after you’re done...”

Heath’s face then disappeared from behind the top of the wall.

Queen continued to remain hesitant.

However, even if they were to get into trouble, Queen did not want to leave Heath behind, so he soon began his unwilling ascent.

Having finally completed the climb, Queen was surprised to find that there were no guards by the back pavilion’s entrance. Heath, too, was nowhere to be found.

However, traces of Heath’s rope descent could be seen.

Finally steeling his resolve, Queen descended into the back pavilion, a place where the supposedly ill-intentioned other queen of Orstoll lived. As his feet touched the ground, Queen heard Heath’s voice again — this time from an open window of a small building, from which Heath was waving.

Panicking, Queen quickly ran in that direction.

“What are you doing, Heath?! We’re going to be in so much trouble if anyone finds us here!”

However, Queen’s attempts at forcibly removing Heath from the building were soon stopped.

“Don’t worry, this is where I am supposed to live, you know.”

“Eh?” Not understanding Heath’s words, a strange sound escaped Queen’s lips.

Upon inspecting his friend closely, Queen realized that Heath looked very different from how she usually did. She was clothed in a dress of white and blue, and the sides of her hair now framed her face, giving her a cute appearance. Queen finally noticed — Heath was dressed up as a girl.

To the stunned Queen, Heath smiled and continued her explanation.

“Actually... ‘Heath’ is a false name I use. My real name is ‘Fie.’ It’s nice to finally meet you, Queen.”

“H-Huh...?”

Although Queen had expected an answer for his confession, he had instead witnessed a completely different kind of confession from Fie. For a while, Queen stood still, unable to process the situation.

This was the answer that Fie had arrived at.

If she was going to reject Queen, she would have to tell him about herself, and summarily her circumstances.

This was how much Fie trusted Queen — it simply did not feel right for her to reject him without an explanation. As she realized that Queen’s confession arose from the depths of his heart, she herself felt that this much had to be done.

This was why Fie had invited Queen into her own home, although she didn’t really consider it much of a home to begin with.

She had arrived beforehand and made the necessary preparations, before waiting in the unfamiliar, usually uninhabited room for Queen’s arrival. Without knowing exactly why, she had even prepared tea.

As expected, Queen was swaying to and fro, still stunned by the revelations.

Fie began thinking to herself as she slowly poured a cup of tea.

(But then... Queen climbed all the way up in a single breath... Sigh. You have it good, Queen...)

Fie could not help but feel jealous about Queen’s talent and physical abilities — she soon put those thoughts aside, however.

Finally finishing her tea preparations, Fie returned to her room, whereupon she was greeted by the sight of Queen, who had been nervously awaiting her return.

Fie handed a cup of tea to Queen and sat down on her bed.

There was only a single table and chair in her room, much like how the rooms were in the northern dormitory. In fact, it almost felt like nothing had changed.

The first one to speak was Queen.

“Um... Is... Is what you said true? If you live here... then isn’t that other queen...”

“Well... If I wasn’t, we wouldn’t have had to sneak in here... Although you would have been arrested if you just walked in.”

“I guess so...”

Fie had earlier taken a quick walk in the confined courtyard of the back pavilion, before entering her room again.

Queen could not help but believe that what Fie said was true — that she was one of the two queens of Orstoll. However, it was a difficult thing to process.

After all, Fie was completely different from how the rumors had painted her — the Fie that Queen knew was always smiling and gentle, although she did get into mischief and other forms of trouble from time to time. However, this did not change the fact that Fie, in all his time of knowing her, was a good person at heart.

It occurred to Queen that this was probably why he had fallen for her in the first place.

Deciding to explain her circumstances fully so that Queen would give up once and for all, Fie started talking about her past — about how she had been ill-treated in Orstoll, about how no one had wanted to take her hand in marriage, and about how everyone around her treated her poorly.

With the finalization of Princess Fielle’s marriage, she had eventually been roped along, included as nothing more than a dowry gift — and that was how she ended up in the Kingdom of Orstoll.

“My father simply wanted money, and so with that deal he sent me away... and I was treated like a troublesome individual here too, so they shut me away in this place... I do cause trouble sometimes, so maybe they had no choice. But then... it was cramped here, and I didn’t have anything to eat, so I eventually escaped... And since I admired knights from a young age, I thought I could be like the knights from those stories too — if I didn’t do something my future would have basically ended then and there...”

As if to gloss over the entire confession incident, Fie explained her past in great detail.

She did, however, feel that her time in the Royal Knights up until now had been worth every second. She had met the knights of the 18th, and become friends with Gormus, Remie, Slad, and Gees. Of course, she didn’t forget about Queen either.

Having finally reached the end of her explanation, Fie took a deep breath, preparing to announce her rejection of Queen’s confession.

Fie assumed that, after hearing all that, Queen would surely give up — at least, that was what she believed.

“So you see... according to all this, I am already married... And married to the King of Orstoll, at that. You have to inherit your family name too, Queen. It won’t do you any good associating yourself with the likes of me, right? So...”

As she was about to reject Queen, Fie felt a pair of hands on her shoulders — the hands were hot, pushing down on her heavily. Fie could not help but lean back from the force.

Although that in and of itself was alarming, Fie had something else to worry about — she still held a cup of tea in her right hand. If she had spilled it, it would surely leave a stain on the sheets.

Looking up, Fie came face to face with Queen, who had stood up at some point in time, and was now pinning her to her bed.

“You... I had no idea... you had such circumstances...” Queen, now very clearly emotional, stared straight at Fie.

“Eh? Ehh?? Wait, Q-Queen!”

Fie, finding it difficult to maintain her grip on her cup of tea, continued to panic. It was hot enough to burn them both should it spill. With all her strength, Fie bent her arm at a strange angle, attempting to support the precariously positioned teacup.

“I... I’ll definitely save you, Heath. Although I’m just a squire now... You probably wouldn’t believe me. But one day... one day I’ll save you from all this, Heath! So... So...!!”

It would seem that Fie had made a miscalculation.

She had attempted to showcase her negative traits and unfortunate past in attempts to change Queen’s feelings for her. Fie, not having any experience in love and relations, had planned all this out in hopes that Queen would give up — perhaps in part due to her calculating personality.

In fact, Fie had no idea that inviting another person into her private quarters and speaking to them at length about her misfortunes was a common and effective way of intensifying the other party’s sympathy.

Although she had assumed that Queen would simply turn and leave, the very opposite had happened. Her explanation, originally intended to be water over a fire, had instead turned to oil at some point without her noticing.

That very same Queen, who often escaped from uncomfortable situations at the speed of light, was now overcome with emotion and holding her down — somewhat literally.

Fie felt like she had been pinned down by a particularly large dog.

“Maybe... You may think I am unreliable. And maybe I actually am unreliable. But I am going to work hard... I am going to work hard, Heath! I’ll become a knight you can count on! Until then... can you... keep thinking about me?”

Fie’s arm was at its limit — and so was the balance of the teacup.

“I get it! All right, I get it!”

Fie, now swept along by Queen’s outburst of strength and emotion, gave her response.

Fie’s shoulders were almost touching the surface of her bed. The tea, however, had miraculously still not spilled.

Queen, upon hearing her answer, heaved a sigh of relief. Fie’s words, however, quickly brought Queen back to reality.

“Um... If it’s all right with you, could you please move...?”

Queen had, at some point, apparently pushed Fie down onto her bed.

“A-Ah! S-Sorry!”

Having noticed that at last, Queen went back to his usual self, his red face accompanying his flailing arms as he panicked at the realization of what he had just done.

Heaving a sigh of relief herself, Fie finally propped herself up.

Having played her best cards, Fie was not expecting that this incident would evolve into a drawn-out battle of wills.

Although she had been swept along with the flow a few moments ago, Fie, now calm once more, realized that her answer still remained the same. Fie’s trump card was her inevitable circumstances — she thought that Queen would have given up by now. Had Queen given up then and there, this all would have ended.

Calming down slightly, the still red-faced Queen began to speak.

“Well... my father traveled a lot. He met a woman from a foreign land on one of his travels and married her — although those around him did not approve at all. That woman was my mother. Although the two of them are gone now, when they still lived, they taught me one thing. That I should never give up if there was someone I truly loved... So... I really like you, Heath. Although you spoke about my family and my social standing, I’d like to hear your answer without all those considerations...”

Upon hearing those words, Fie realized that she no longer had any cards left to play. She had done everything she could, even employing her secret weapon.

Even so, she found herself unable to deliver the rejection she should have delivered a while ago. Fie felt that no meaningful answers would come from waiting any longer — but at the same time could not bring herself to say “no.”

(How did it become like this...?)

Fie, surprised at the turn of events, sat still for a while, not saying a single word.

The following week passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, Fie constantly kept Queen in her thoughts.

(I guess this is what it’s like to like someone... Enough to keep thinking about them, at least...)

Laughing at herself softly, Fie could not help but arrive at that conclusion. In reality, Fie had fallen for Queen’s seemingly unbreakable will, regardless of gender.

However, the thoughts of not wanting to hurt him, or to see Queen sad, was a kind of love to begin with.

In addition, Queen had readily accepted Fie’s circumstances — including her living as a squire by the name of Heath. That pleased Fie greatly. Although she still had doubts about what defined love and the general direction of her feelings, she was glad that Queen accepted her for who she was.

While Fie could have just accepted Queen from the get-go, her circumstances proved to be a large barrier that had to be surmounted first. Even if Queen declared that he was fully accepting of her circumstances (and even proposed to her regardless), he would be implicated if her true identity were somehow found out.

The second queen of Orstoll cheating on the King with a squire of the Royal Knights seemed to be a sure-fire tabloid scandal.

If she did manage to stay hidden, however, the thoughts of marrying Queen while still being a knight herself was not a thought she could properly process — it simply made no sense. From an outsider’s view, the two were both male knights — strange rumors could easily arise from their interactions if she wasn’t careful.

Deciding that such responsibilities were too much for her to bear, Fie returned to her earlier and only conclusion, and once again began thinking about how to reject Queen. She could not help but feel like she was wronging her fellow squire.

Walking in the gardens of the royal castle as she continued her thoughts, Fie was stopped by a familiar voice, calling out from behind her cheerfully.

“Hey, troubled youth! Are you perhaps troubled about love?”

A clearly oblivious voice — it was none other than Sir Crow.

With his usual charming looks and flirty smile, Crow looked as if he were always ready to receive praise from his admirers. Fie could not help but wonder where Crow usually kept his more serious expressions when he wasn’t busy saving someone or tending to an emergency.

Although Fie was normally fond of Crow’s bright, if not silly nature, she now felt some resentment towards her carefree senior.

“Yeah. What about it?” Such was Fie’s exasperated response.

“A-Are you serious?!”

Although Crow himself had suggested the notion, Fie’s confirmation brought an expression of shock unto his face. After remaining shocked for a considerable amount of time, Crow went back to his usual self, smiling wryly as he placed a hand on his chin.

“I see... So the day I take you under my wing has come, my disciple...”

“Unlike you, Sir Crow, this is a serious affair between myself and another person.”

Fie quickly corrected Crow’s misconceptions.

“Hey now, I only go out with one lady at a time! At least, while we’re actually out on a date together...”

To Fie, however, that sounded like nothing more than an excuse.

“Perhaps you are troubled about how to express your feelings well? Never fear, I shall impart unto you one of your senior’s secret techniques—”

“Actually, I was confessed to, and I’m wondering about how to reject them...”

Fie had no idea how she’d ended up discussing the situation with Sir Crow, of all people. Even with such thoughts in her mind, she began selectively describing the situation, hiding certain parts so she would not be found out. After all, Fie did trust Crow to a certain extent.

“Is that so...?” Crow seemed somewhat stunned.

Fie, assuming that Crow would talk about how much of a waste it was to reject a lady, did her best to shake off such thoughts.

However, Crow, eventually regaining his calm, said something completely unexpected to Fie.

“If you’re worrying so much about how to reject them, then they aren’t someone you dislike, right?”

“Well, yeah...” Fie groaned at Crow’s strangely accurate deduction. “But you see... there are so many problems. Familial circumstances, the fact that I’m a squire of uncertain means... And although the other person tells me they like me, I don’t know if I feel the same way...”

“I see. So it’s a relationship with differences in social class... Is that what you were worried about?” Crow laughed after listening to Fie’s worries.

“It’s not just that!”

To Fie, this was an important topic, and she couldn’t help but worry about the issue.

“Haha, I guess so. But then, you’re taking on too much, don’t you think? Love isn’t something you take on yourself. What did the other person say? I bet they didn’t mind your circumstances at all, and they probably said as much, right?”

“Well... yeah...”

“Love is about two people shouldering both the good and the bad. If you’re attempting to shoulder all the burden by yourself, it won’t be much of a relationship. In other words, you won’t be popular amongst the ladies!”

“I never asked to be popular amongst the ladies in the first place...”

Although Fie had wanted to be more popular with the maidservants so she would receive more cookies, she decided to keep that fact to herself for now.

As the conversation headed in a variety of directions, Crow suddenly pointed his finger straight at Fie’s nose.

“You are still a squire. Not a knight, mind you, but a young fellow learning about life. So it’s all right, you know? To let other people take care of you from time to time, or to try your hand at many things. You’re at that time in your life where failure is okay, and even encouraged. Even love is that way. It’ll be fine. If anything happens, you leave it to us. We’ll be sure to protect you with our all.”

Looking straight at Fie, Crow smiled gently, as if to calm her down. It was the very same smile that Fie had seen when she had taken the squire test, and her heart was filled with an inexplicable sense of calm.

It was as Crow said — Fie was a squire. She did not know how to handle Queen’s feelings, let alone the current situation. Her previous life as a daughter of nobility had probably robbed her of that part of her life. Now she had escaped, and for the first time in her life, could actually worry about such matters.

Crow’s promise that he would protect her should any problems arose soothed the worries in Fie’s heart. However, such problems would probably be beyond the scope of Crow’s wildest thoughts and predictions.

“But... is it really fine? I don’t really like them in the same way... But to go out with them...”

“You’re thinking too much on that front again. Even if both people love each other equally and come together, they may split up later because they couldn’t get along. In fact, going out with someone you don’t feel as strongly for can sometimes result in a positive outcome.”

Crow’s advice continued.

“In fact, there are cases where both people feel strongly for each other and it all works out, or cases where they didn’t like each other very much to begin with and it all ends in tragedy.”

“Doesn’t that mean that all those choices are bad...?”

Crow’s four long-winded examples did not seem to serve any functional purpose as far as words of advice went. To Fie, they were all bad endings for all parties involved.

“Exactly. There are no ways to achieve absolute happiness. What’s important is how you feel about it at the end of the day, right? It isn’t about the shape of the relationship. It’s about how you shape it.”

Fie found herself agreeing with what Crow had to say, although she could not help but feel that Crow was glossing over certain details.

“The most important thing in love is...”

“The most important thing...?”

With a smile and a serious tone of voice, Crow imparted his final piece of advice to Fie:

“Guts. And dependability.”

“Ha...?” Fie, not expecting such an answer, let a dejected sound escape from her lips.

“Yes, what men need the most are GUTS. And being dependable. If you think it’ll work out, then take responsibility for it. Being dependable is very important.” Ignoring the dejected Fie, Crow continued on.

Fie, however, was not willing to let a certain point slide.

“Then... doesn’t that directly contradict what you just said about not shouldering everything?”

“Ah... yes. I suppose it does. But that’s not everything, you see. In your case, you have us behind you — and so you can depend on us. We’ll support you in whatever way we can.”

Upon hearing those words, however, Fie burst into laughter. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off her.

“So this... ‘guts’ thing, is what’s important for men?”

“Exactly. Guts.”

Although Fie had been worried all this time, she felt like she could finally let go. She had been trying to shoulder everything alone all this time — but as Sir Crow said, it was perhaps important to be able to rely on others when walking her path in life.

Fie, now once again sporting her usual smile, looked up at Crow.

“Well then, I’m going to go off and apply my guts to the problem now.”

Crow smiled in response.

“I see. Tell me what happens, you hear?”

Fie, already running off into the distance, turned around to wave at Crow, a mischievous smirk on her face.

“I’ll tell everyone but you, Sir Crow.”

“Oi! What is that supposed to mean! Heath! You’ve got to make it worthwhile for me to dispense my advice, you know!”

“It’s fine! You have guts after all, right?”

Turning her back to Crow’s voice, Fie began running earnestly in the direction of the northern dormitory.

Fie finally managed to locate Queen at dinnertime.

Walking towards him from behind, she leaned in close. Although there were other squires around them, they were sufficiently out of earshot.

“Ah, Heath.”

Before she knew it, Queen had turned around, and was looking straight at her. Leaning in and placing her head next to Queen’s ear, Fie whispered a single line: “Hey... you know, about your proposal... my answer is a ‘yes.’”

After doing so, Fie immediately leaned back and quickly strode towards the canteen.

“Eh...?”

As if unable to believe what he had just heard, Queen turned to look at Fie, now in the distance.

Fie, apparently having one more thing to say to Queen, turned around with a mischievous smile.

“I’m counting on you, Queen.”

Chapter 24 — Crossdressing About Town

Amidst their complicated circumstances, Fie and Queen had started “dating.”

However, their relationship didn’t seem to change much at all.

Fie was, as usual, reading books in Queen’s room. Rolling around as she always did, Fie was painfully oblivious of Queen’s quick glimpses at her exposed skin and bellybutton.

Queen, for his part, was fidgeting nervously. However, this behavior was not exactly new — he had been acting this way before. After all, his feelings for Fie had finally been made clear.

If anything had changed, it would be where Queen had hidden his pictures — there was no longer anything under his bed.

Fie, noticing the changes, assumed that the pictures in question had been moved to somewhere next to Queen’s desk.

As such, although the two had started dating, nothing in particular happened, and the two simply continued doing what they had been doing all along. After all, Fie and Queen had often spent time together with no one else but them present.

The only thing that changed was what they understood of each other — particularly how Queen no longer had to hide his feelings for Fie.

For the past few days, Queen was satisfied with this. On this day, however, Queen had decided to go one step further.

“Um... would you... like to go on a date? In the future, I mean...”

Upon hearing Queen’s words, Fie lifted her head from her book, staring straight at Queen. With a somewhat stoic expression, Fie gave her answer.

“A date?”

“Yes...”

Fie responded bluntly to the nervous Queen.

“It’s probably impossible.”

“Wh-What?!” Stunned and surprised by Fie’s rapid refusal, Queen let a single word slip from his lips.

“I mean, we’re squires, you know. No matter where we go in the capital, there would be knights and squires that we know, people who know them, and shopkeepers who know those people. Right?”

If the two of them had wanted to go out on a fun outing, that could be easily done. However, even Fie understood what Queen had in mind — if anything, it would be along the lines of holding hands and acting in a suitably loving manner.

Although the capital was a big place, the possibility of running into someone who knew either of them was too great. Fie didn’t want to risk any rumors being spread, and the sight of two male squires holding hands would certainly generate quite a few strange rumors.

It was perhaps worth noting that one more thing had changed — at Queen’s request, Fie began using her natural, feminine-sounding voice when they were alone, rather than deepening it intentionally to pass as a man. It would seem like Fie’s appearance and mannerisms while at the back pavilion had made quite an impression on Queen. Although Fie did not really understand it, she was glad that Queen seemed satisfied.

“Ugh...”

Queen could not think of any way to refute Fie’s logic. After all, their relationship was, for the lack of a better word, a secret from all those around them.

“Can’t we go and buy things in the downtown district? As friends I mean.”

“...”

It would seem that Queen wasn’t satisfied with Fie’s suggestion. It occurred to Fie that the hearts of men were complicated things indeed.

“I will think of some way to make it work...”

“Yeah. Do your best.”

Although Fie thought that it was mostly hopeless, she did not mind entrusting the task to Queen, as long as he was satisfied with the result.

Fie had been told, after all, that “guts” were the most important thing to men. Guts.

When Fie next made her way down to the canteen for dinner, she was handed a slip of paper by the youths of the northern dormitory.

“What’s this...?”

Glancing at the piece of paper, Fie saw the words “Penalty Suggestions” scrawled onto its surface.

“The manliness ranking has been decided. Although the penalty for the lowest-ranked squire was supposed to be decided by the guy at the top, Zerius was like, ‘I don’t need something like this.’ And then left. That’s why we decided to draw lots and see who would get the privilege... And congratulations! It’s you, Heath.”

“Ooohhh...”

Fie finally remembered her initial enthusiasm for the contest. Fie and Queen, who had been busy with their own affairs, were now both in the top ten.

The one at the bottom of the ranking, as expected, was Remie.

“Well then, it’s in your hands, Heath.” Saying so, the youths left, leaving Fie alone to stare at the piece of paper.

“Ah...! This...!”

Clapping her hands together suddenly, Fie smiled as a familiar sparkle filled her eyes.

“Oi! Queen! Stay still! You’re gonna mess it up!”

Two days later, Fie found herself holding Queen down, as she readily and happily applied lipstick onto his lips. Queen, who always had a somewhat healthy complexion, now found that his lips were colored a bright, shining red.

“Hm... next up is the eyeliner...”

Although Queen had scrunched up his face in a strange expression, Fie pinched and pulled on her fellow squire’s face readily, returning it to a normal expression before applying the relevant cosmetics onto Queen.

Remie, who was seated next to them, seemed ready to cry, hanging his head dejectedly. It would appear that Remie had already been put through Fie’s cosmetic processes, and now sported a perfectly made-up face.

“Ah, you can’t cry, Remie. The makeup will come off if you do,” Fie said, continuing her procedures on the unwitting Queen.

“Heath... where did you even... learn something like this...?” Remie asked in a somewhat dark and depressed voice. Fie, however, was too absorbed in Queen’s makeup session, and did not respond.

“Why me...”

Although Queen started complaining, teary-eyed, Fie soon put a stop to that, continuing her painstaking makeup process.

And so it came to be that the two squires, now perfectly sporting elaborately made-up faces, witnessed Fie opening a chest containing what appeared to be women’s clothing.

“Where did you even get something like that...”

“Where did you get those clothes from...?”

The two squires stood, the stoic expressions on their faces doing little to ruin the makeup Fie had applied on them.

“Hmm... I guess it doesn’t have to be a perfect fit. But maybe the coordination is more important...”

As Fie continued pulling dresses out of the clothing chest, the two squires could only watch on, an uneasy sense of worry filling their hearts.

A crowd of squires had gathered at the doorway of Heath’s room.

They were all here for one express purpose — to witness and summarily appraise the results of Heath’s penalty. Under normal circumstances, the penalties in question were simple, such as one hundred flicks to the forehead, or drinking a giant glass of orange juice all at once.

However, Heath’s chosen penalty was dramatically different.

“The two of you will crossdress and go out with me on a date for a day.”

Such were the conditions of Heath’s penalty. So detailed was the entry, that Heath had even planned out the destinations they were going to visit; then came back with a box full of dresses, feminine accessories, and a fully-loaded makeup kit.

Although Queen was nowhere near the bottom of the rankings, Heath, who was apparently still annoyed at the fact that Queen had participated in the contest without telling him, used that as a reason to rope him into it as well. It would seem like Heath bore grudges for a surprisingly long time.

Although the other squires pitied Queen and Remie’s situation, they decided to leave Heath to his own devices, primarily on account of how much fun he seemed to be having. It would seem that the other squires approved of the dedication Heath had put into the penalty.

This was how Queen and Remie ended up being dragged into Heath’s room, where they had remained imprisoned for the past hour.

This, in particular, was why the other squires, who were now a little worried for their compatriots, decided to stake out in front of Heath’s door.

“How do you think it’ll turn out?”

“I mean... it’ll probably suit Remie. But Queen is... you know.”

Although most of the gathered squires were united in their opinion of Remie’s supposed femininity, they had difficulty imagining Queen dressed in girl’s clothing. The latter’s strength and showing at the swordplay tournament had deeply influenced their views.

“Heh. Those guys gave us a lot of trouble. Let’s laugh our hearts out when we see them!”

It would appear that there were some amongst the squires who had showed up just for a good laugh.

Right then and there, the doorknob to Heath’s room turned with a soft click.

“Oh, they’re coming!”

While most of the squires present were here just to laugh at the unfortunate Remie and Queen, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.

The first one to step out was what appeared to be a beautiful young girl clad in an orange dress, her face framed with a crop of cream-colored, wavy hair. Her droopy, somewhat cute eyes were a little teary, and she nervously looked up at the gathered squires apprehensively, her timid movements strangely endearing. The squires who had made eye contact with this mysterious girl found their faces turning various shades of red.

Before they knew it, another girl stepped out from the confines of Fie’s room.

With her platinum-white hair and dark skin, she was the very picture of a foreign beauty. The contrast between her exotic skin color and long, white hair crafted a tense balance of girlish cuteness and a more adult sense of beauty. Her somewhat aggressively slanted eyes imparted a strong impression on her features, as she stared out at the gathered crowd. The squires, feeling like a beautiful woman was staring right into their souls, continued looking on, trapped in spite of themselves.

The last one to exit the room was a noticeably tired Heath, carrying a variety of makeup tools.

“Ah... I did some good work!”

With that, the squires were jolted back to reality.

“Dammit! It’s just Remie and Queen isn’t it...?!”

“If only they were real girls... If only... Ughhhhh!!”

“I thought Queen really fit the image Heath was going for there...”

As only three people had gone into the room to begin with, the squires were forced to realize the reality of the situation.

However, in their prior dreamlike state, the squires had no choice but to admit that the two “girls” they had seen were incredibly cute. Some of the squires, now shedding tears over their loss, were summarily stared at by Queen, and gazed at timidly by a terrified Remie.

“Wh-What’s w-wrong, everyone...?”

“What is it with you people?”

Much to the dismay of the squires present, the cuteness of their two crossdressed comrades did not seem to decrease.

“Well! Since Queen and Remie’s preparations are done, I’m going to get ready myself.”

Heath closed the door to his room, leaving Remie and Queen stranded outside. Various strange sounds could be heard from beyond the door.

“Hey... you don’t think...”

The assembled squires began gossiping amongst themselves.

Although they were surprised at the crossdressing results of Queen and Remie, the squires came to a collective realization that amongst their entire number, Heath was the most girlish — apart from his occasionally problematic character.

After all, he was short, had narrow shoulders, a slim build, and a somewhat cute face.

The squires came to the conclusion that Heath, who was already girlish, would probably crossdress better than the two already present.

With the results of Queen and Remie already stunning, the squires could not help but wonder what would happen should Heath try his hand at it. Slowly, this thought began permeating the minds of the squires present.

Even Queen was nervous, occasionally shooting glances towards the closed door.

Finally, the strange sounds stopped, and a presence was felt from beyond the closed doors.

The crowd collectively swallowed.

The very next moment, the door opened with a loud thud.

“Well, let’s go.”

Those were the first words that Heath said to Queen and Remie.

The figure that stepped out from Heath’s room was clad in a strangely long and large coat, and was wearing a pair of tinted glasses. A strangely large and garish gold ring sat on their hand.

To top it all off, what appeared to be a cigar fashioned from candy materials sat in the figure’s mouth — if anything, they looked more like an alchemist of questionable means.

(What the hell is that supposed to be...?!)

The squires who bore witness to Heath’s exaggerated image collectively felt a deep, piercing feeling of disappointment in their hearts that day.

The two youths fearfully gazed out at the open streets of the capital before them.

Still dressed up as women, they trailed behind the suspiciously dressed Fie, as if attempting to hide in her silhouette.

“A-Are we really going...?”

“Yep, it’s a penalty after all.” Such was Fie’s response to the tear-filled Remie. “Don’t worry, everything today is my treat.”

The two youths, however, found quite a lot to be worried about.

Having been assured that no one would recognize them, the two youths could only continue on, praying that Fie’s statement held true.

As expected, the party soon drew the curious stares of passers-by.

“W-We’re being looked at... Isn’t this too suspicious...?”

“It’s fine. They’re just drawn to you two. You know, for obvious reasons.”

Even Fie could not help but think of Queen and Remie as beautiful girls at this point in time — to the point where she would have gladly given them tens if she had to judge their appearance.

It did not take much effort to see that the stares directed at Queen and Remie were mostly well-meaning. Fie, on the other hand, was seen as incredibly suspicious.

Fie announced her next plan of action.

“All right, we’ll be going to that popular parfait store that just opened up this month!”

However, the two did not move, in spite of Fie’s considerably audible announcement.

“We’re going!” Pulling on their skirts, Fie began making a beeline for their destination.

“Kyaa!”

“S-Stop it!”

The threat of having their skirts flipped up was too much for Queen and Remie.

Evidently, Fie had no intentions of showing mercy to her ever-suffering companions.

As she made her way down the streets, Fie and her party continued drawing stares from passers-by — Fie greatly enjoyed this.

She did, after all, stand out conspicuously; although the main reason for the stares were Queen and Remie, who were currently still trailing behind her.

To top it all off, what seemed to be a youth with a heavy interest in alchemy was leading the two — it was almost impossible to not stare at the party.

Fie, in particular, thought that her tinted glasses were incredibly convenient — even if she were to shift her gaze, no one would notice.

Happily looking around at the amazed citizens of Orstoll, Fie continued making her way down the street, acting as if this was all perfectly within the norm.

To complete the image, Fie was even playing with a solid gold coin, turning the object this way and that in her hands. It was perhaps worth noting that none of her party had any idea where Fie had gotten said coin from in the first place — nor did they have any inkling if it was real.

Queen and Remie could only look on in exasperation as Fie continued her parade. It occurred to them that they occasionally had no idea what exactly transpired in Fie’s mind.

However, fearing the stares of curious onlookers, the two continued hiding behind Fie, giving off a dainty and somewhat cute impression.

Eventually, as per Fie’s announcement, the three of them arrived at a particularly popular parfait house.

“Reservation under the name of Fernando. You have seats for us, yes?” Fie asked, speaking to a female member of staff with a hilariously exaggerated voice.

“Ah, Master Fernando. We have been waiting for you.”

It would appear that Fie had actually placed a reservation and was taking this entire affair very seriously.

As expected of a professional, the staffer in question did not bat a single eyelid at Fie’s strange appearance, instead calmly leading them to their reserved seats.

“Please, this way. Here is our deluxe couple seating.”

“Eh...?”

“Whoa...?”

The seats the three squires had been led to could accommodate more than three people easily — a large sofa and table arrangement greeted their eyes. Queen and Remie could only stare on, dumbstruck. Leaving the two of them as they were, Fie handed over a tip to the staff member, thanking her for her efforts in her dramatic voice.

Immediately after doing that, however, Fie quickly and firmly planted herself in the middle of the sofa, slapping both her hands on either side of her as she did so.

“Come here, come here! Sit down, the two of you.”

Remie and Queen no longer knew what Fie was up to, or thinking about — although it did occur to the two that it had been this way from the very beginning of the day.

It was ten minutes after they were seated that the two of them finally understood Fie’s intentions.

The parfaits, finally ready, were placed on the table before them by attentive wait staff. With obviously strained faces, the two took turns feeding Fie spoons of the various parfaits laid out before them.

“Here, Master Fernando, say ‘aah’...”

Who was Fernando anyway? At least, those were Remie’s thoughts as he obediently delivered the parfait-containing spoon straight into Fie’s mouth. Lounging back on the sofa, Fie happily opened her mouth, chomping down upon the parfait.

“Hahaha. Yes, yes. Go on. No problem here at all.”

“Yes... M-Master Fernando...”

Next up was Queen, who quickly scooped up a bit from another parfait and then promptly fed it to Fie.

“Yeah... that’s delicious!”

It would seem like being hand-fed parfaits was Fie’s entire goal.

Remie and Queen could not help but wonder where Fie had picked up such ideas or notions, however.

After all, Fie’s performance likened her to a stereotypical villain — in particular, the kind that strung along pretty ladies and had the ladies feed them food by hand. Of course, said villain would eventually face some sort of punishment — at least, that was how the stories went.

Fie, however, seemed more than eager to play the part — if anything, she was clearly enjoying it.

“Did you want to do this all along? Heath...” asked Remie, who could not put up with the stares from the other patrons of the parfait house any longer. Their stares hurt — but perhaps being out in public while crossdressed hurt more.

“Yeah, this is fun! Really fun!”

It would seem that Fie had found a deep sense of life fulfillment from this event — which implied that it might be a good idea for her to go home and rethink her life.

“There are... other aspects to it too, you know.” Although Fie went on for quite a while after that, she did not reveal any in-depth details to her two suffering companions.

“The parfaits here are delicious! You two should have some fun too. It’s my treat!”

Although that was what Fie said, the two squires present thought that there was no way they could have any fun at all — especially not while dressed as women in public. And that was how the two squires felt in the parfait house that day.

After finally having finished their meals and exiting the parfait house, both Remie and Queen were swaying, seemingly on their last legs.

Fie, however, looked perfectly fine.

“Ugh... That was painful...” said Remie, teary eyed. Fie, however, turned to him with a smile.

“Good job! you can go back now.”

“Really?!”

Remie’s face was immediately filled with a happy glow. It would seem like being stared at while crossdressed was particularly trying for Remie’s mental well-being.

Fie, however, felt that it suited him very well.

“Yeah, Queen and I are going to walk around town a little bit more.”

At those words, Queen, whose face had earlier lit up in an equally bright glow, was now a dull shade of despair.

“All right... Then I’ll be going back now. Bye bye!”

Although Remie was usually gentle and kind, he was, after all, only human. Perhaps this was why he immediately abandoned Queen to his fate, walking back in the general direction of the castle with a relieved smile on his face — although he would still be dressed as a girl on the way back.

Fie, concerned that it would crush his brief sense of relief, decided to keep that point to herself.

To the disappointed and distressed Queen, however, Fie gestured mischievously with her hands, an equally mischievous expression on her face.

“Queen. See? It’s a date now.”

“Eh...?”

“If you and I are dressed like this, I can go out with you on a date, right? I even disguised it as a penalty, so...”

This was, apparently, Fie’s true goal all along. By roping Queen into the penalty and letting Remie go back to the dormitory early, she would be free to go on a date with Queen.

Upon hearing her explanation, Queen finally connected the dots in his mind. But just as his depressed expression began to light up, Queen started sulking again. After fluctuating between the two expressions for a while, he eventually settled for a sulk, looking decidedly miserable as he stood in place.

“This... I don’t like it when I am dressed like this...”

Fie could not help but laugh at his reaction.

“Now, don’t be selfish! Should we go back then?”

“N-No... I’ll stay...”

It would seem like Queen was determined to go on a date even while dressed as a girl — and eventually decided that he would continue on as such for the rest of the day.

Having to go on his first date crossdressed, Queen continued to sulk. Fie, however, decided to cheer him up.

“Well? Are we holding hands? Yes? No? Maybe?”

“I’ll... I’ll hold hands!” Queen’s response was swift.

Smiling, Queen grasped Fie’s outstretched hand with his own, the warmth from his hand slowly seeping into Fie’s.

“Well then, let’s go.” Fie continued walking down the street, Queen in tow.

Queen was closer to Fie than usual. Unlike when Fie was walking with her fellow squires or friends, this was a sweetheart’s distance — their shoulders touched, hands clasped.

Feeling the firm grasp of Fie’s hands on his own, Queen’s expression slowly began to brighten.

Upon seeing Queen’s reaction, Fie felt a gush of happiness from deep within her own heart. Although their feelings were not yet a deep, intense love, Fie felt that they would both eventually come to understand their feelings as the time passed.

“Um...”

Queen leaned in to say something to Fie. Fie felt her ear tingle — perhaps because it was because they were closer to each other than usual.

“What is it?”

Queen continued, encouraged by Fie’s question.

“Um... I’d like you to at least take off your tinted eyeglasses...”

It would seem like Queen was still not satisfied with certain aspects of the date.

“Eh? But it’s cool...”

Queen, however, thought that it was neither cool nor cute — and was sure that everyone else probably thought so as well. Everyone except for Fie, at the very least.

Feeling like she had no other choice, Fie removed her tinted eyeglasses.

It was at that point that Queen noticed something — Fie had apparently taken off the heavy-gauge gold ring she’d had on earlier, probably when they had left the parfait house. This was perhaps done out of consideration for Queen, who she was currently holding hands with.

After removing her eyeglasses, Fie and Queen visited a wide variety of shops together — they went shopping, watched a theatre show, ate dinner at a restaurant, and finally returned to the dormitory.

And so it came to be that their first date ended, with mildly satisfactory results for both sides.

Although their thoughts were not yet as one, they both felt a little closer to each other than before.