I Start with a Bad Hand!

“He’s a boy.”

“A boy?”

“Yeah. He was described as having a slender build. His face was hidden by a robe, though.” Agnes explained, still wearing her coat, adding that there were fortunately few injuries.

“The fire wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and not many people got hurt.”

“That’s a relief.” I politely accepted the coat Agnes handed over with a smug expression, mulling over the description of a slender boy.

“He was skinnier and shorter than that person over there,” she recalled, describing someone similar to the person the butler had seen bringing the portrait. My guess might be correct.

‘They could really be the same person.’

“Did you hear anything else?”

“There wasn’t much else, but one peculiar thing was that he didn’t speak. He communicated by writing.”

“Writing?”

Agnes straightened her posture, having leaned towards me. As I watched, her chin crinkled in that way it always did when she was hiding something good.

“Say that I’m the best.”

“I’m the best.”

“No, say that Agnes is the best.”

What was this all of a sudden? Suspicious, I gave her a doubtful look, and she drew out the moment with a smirk.

“When you find out what I brought, you’ll want to carry me around all day.”

“Is it that good?”

With a smug expression, Agnes pulled something out from her coat and showed it to me.

“This is….”

“And I brought the paper he used to write.”

Amused by my wide eyes, Agnes laughed, saying, “Hey, it looks like your eyes are about to pop out.”

“How did you get this? I mean, how did you manage to find this amidst the fire?”

“It was with the money box. The box was made of metal, so it didn’t burn.” 

They just gave it to me, saying it was trash anyway. Laughing, Agnes handed me a stained piece of paper. There was a single line written on it.

「Show me the best quality black hair you have here.」

‘The quickest and most accurate way would be to find someone with the same handwriting as on this note….’

But going through all the Academy members’ handwriting was practically impossible. There wasn’t even a legitimate reason to do so. Damn it, if only I were in the student council, I could have easily created an excuse to check everyone’s writing.

Agnes and I stared at the note for a long time, as if looking at it long enough would reveal something about the person who wrote it.

“It’s the first time I’m seeing this handwriting.”

“Exactly.”

We fell into another long silence. The handwriting, aside from having an old-fashioned feel, was ordinary. Then, Agnes came to an unexpected conclusion.

“But this person is probably left-handed.”

I looked at her with a questioning gaze, and Agnes tapped on the letters, continuing nonchalantly.

“My sister is left-handed.”

Whenever she writes quickly, she smears the ink like this. Since she’s left-handed, the side of her hand always brushes against the writing.

It was true. I hadn’t thought to look at anything other than the script and content. The letters in that short sentence had all slightly smudged ink marks to the right.

‘This girl is sharp.’

I thought as I looked at Agnes, who seemed different today. Agnes continued speaking as she stared at the piece of paper.

“When I was little, I thought it was cool that my sister wrote with her left hand, so I wanted to write with my left hand too. But I couldn’t do it well and cried a lot.”

Whenever I cried, my sister would get excited and write ten pages in front of me with her left hand. And then I’d cry again.

“Her writing always smudged like this.”

Listening to Agnes’s cute story, I recalled the portrait. The painting of Dietrich looking to her left.

‘Back then, I thought it was just because the artist was skilled at drawing from different perspectives.’

If this person is really left-handed, drawing from that angle might have been natural. I silently gave Agnes a thumbs-up, and she blushed and smiled sweetly.

“Worth carrying me around all day, huh?”

***

From that point on, I spent my time at the academy cafeteria, observing people. But there was a problem. There were more left-handed people than I expected.

‘Are all the left-handed people in the empire gathered at this academy?’

I had never seen so many left-handed people in my entire life. I didn’t need to scrutinize everyone, and many of the students were ones I didn’t even know by name. But I wasn’t completely empty-handed.

A slender, lean boy. Left-handed. Someone who knew about my relationship with Roxanne.

I observed two people from a distance who fit all the criteria.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

As I stared blankly, fork suspended, Icarus followed my gaze. His words brought me back to reality, reminding me that it wasn’t good to stare for too long.

“That too, my brother.”

The crown prince of the empire was left-handed.

“I wasn’t looking at the Crown Prince.”

“Then?”

“….”

Evan was the same.

‘Why are those people left-handed?’

Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that either of them was behind this. Icarus, who had sat down in front of me without even bringing a tray, had been observing me. He waited for my response, tapping the table with his fingers. After a while, he brought up a topic that was quite different from our previous conversation.

“Did the third son of the Usher family respond to you?”

I paused, my fork in the salad. Oh right, there was the matter with Logan too. What is that guy doing that he still hasn’t responded? I answered indifferently.

“…No. Not yet.”

His expression changed subtly.

“What will you do if he doesn’t respond?”

“I’ll have to ask again.”

“What if he refuses your request?”

Annoyed by his persistent questioning, I looked away from my dismantled salad and met Icarus’s gaze.

“…Then I have no reason to go. To the ball.”

It sounded nuanced, but it was true. There was no reason to attend the ball without Logan. What was so special about that ball that left such a lasting impression? I gathered the scattered salad back together and looked up at Icarus.

“There’s no point if I don’t go with him.”

“Dietrich.”

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, unable to hide my irritation at the sudden contact. The first thing I noticed was the twisted smile. And the hand on my shoulder… was a right hand.

“Logan.”

Smiling politely, I lowered the hand I had raised to the table. I couldn’t show him that I was clenching my fist. Logan greeted the prince with proper etiquette but continued to glance at him nervously.

“Well, I realized I hadn’t responded.”

“It’s okay. It happens.”

“So, about that…”

Logan was so obviously conscious of Icarus that it was hard to tell if he was talking to me or him. Icarus, with a skewed expression, turned his head to glare at Logan. Finally, Logan looked down and addressed me directly.

“After all, going with you seems like the best option. There’s no one quite like you.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

…Ha. Icarus’s expression was now completely sour.

“I’m leaving.”

Without waiting for a response, he got up and strode away. I lowered my eyes, breaking the gaze I had shared with Logan. It was probably for the best. I had no intention of going to the ball with Icarus anyway.

‘You did well. We agreed to keep our distance, after all.’

I had lost my appetite. But losing my appetite wasn’t the only problem. No matter my personal circumstances, the exam day inevitably arrived. Despite my resolve not to overexert myself, I ended up pulling an all-nighter. Yet, I didn’t expect the same results as before.

I fulfilled my duties as a student, but the tension was significantly different this time. I had already maintained my scholarship up to this semester, and even if I failed to keep it, it didn’t matter anymore.

However, when I saw the grades posted in the academy foyer, I was stunned.

9th Place: Dietrich Degoph

‘I’m… 9th?’

I struggled to close my gaping mouth. How… How could this be?

‘I didn’t study much, so how am I 9th?’

Then how little did the others study? I was bewildered by the academy’s academic standards. If I could get 9th with this level of effort, why did I work so hard before?

‘I could have taken it easy.’

I covered my mouth to suppress a sigh. Then I quickly scanned the names from the top.

‘As expected, Evan is first, and… around this time….’

Roxanne was in 5th place.

It was the time when Roxanne was making her climb. I looked at her profile, standing with bright eyes in front of the grade board. Roxanne had always been like that. She seemed slow at first, but she eventually showed her true abilities.

‘In the original story, Roxanne became the undisputed top student from her second year.’

As Roxanne turned away from the board, she met my eyes.

“Oh.”

An awkward tension hung between us. Unable to withstand the pressure, Roxanne spoke first. She glanced between the grade board and my face, then carefully opened her mouth.

“Dietrich, um, this time… there were a lot of things going on. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”

She brought up a topic a bit different from what I expected.

“What?”