“Kirian?”

I squinted my eyes in disbelief at the figure that appeared behind the gathered students.

“Why are you here?”

“I’ve enrolled. Starting today.”

Kirian’s voice was nonchalant, as if he were stating an obvious fact.

He was even wearing the academy uniform.

From his perfectly fitted shoulders to his loosely tied necktie, the design of the clothes that looked like borrowed dad’s clothes when worn by other male students in the class suddenly looked different on Kirian.

They say the completion of fashion is the face. Now I realized how true that saying was.

But the fact that the uniform suited him well and that Kirian, who was not of age to suddenly enroll, appeared at the academy, were two different things.

“What? Why you?”

When I gasped, Kirian slightly smiled and changed the subject.

“Weren’t you taking a test, sister?”

Oh right. The test.

Looking at the classroom clock, less than 15 minutes were left. Kirian greeted my frantic expression with a bright smile.

“Sorry for interrupting, sister. Good luck with the test.”

“Aaah!”

I rushed back to the classroom, stumbling on my feet.

After Kirian left and the crowd that had gathered to see him like a celebrity slowly dispersed, the classroom became quiet again.

But it was all in vain.

Time had already passed a long while, and my mind was still blank.

In the end, I handed in a halffilled test paper, and the etiquette teacher began to sob.

“Oh, oh how hard I struggled to get this job, sniffling. To lose it, to lose it so pointlessly. Sob, sob.”

“I’m sorry.”

Not knowing what to do with myself, I bowed and apologized repeatedly.

“I, I only made the test questions based on basic knowledge….”

The etiquette teacher sighed and wiped away tears.

I couldn’t tell her that it was even harder that way, so I just repeated my meaningless apologies.

If only I could have concentrated better, I could have filled in at least one more answer. It was all Kirian’s fault.

(This is a time separator.)

After finishing the exam and shuffling out, Kirian was waiting in the hallway.

“Did you do well on the test?”

Kirian asked a very pointless question.

“Where did you leave your noisy followers and why are you alone?”

At my sharp question, Kirian tilted his head.

“You didn’t do well on the test.”

At Kirian’s spoton remark, I nearly fell backward, grabbing my throat.

“You! You!”

“It’s okay, sister. It’s possible to do poorly on a test.”

It was a very suffocating and deafening comment.

“It’s your fault I did poorly! Your fault!”

Despite my rage, Kirian showed no sign of remorse.

“I made you fail the test? Why?”

“Yes!”

I crossed my arms and snapped at him.

“If the empress was there, I was just about to remember how the duchess would greet her when people were making so much noise that I couldn’t concentrate at all.”

Despite my scolding, Kirian still didn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation and kept smiling.

“If it were Mother, she would naturally shake hands. Or pat her on the shoulder.”

Suddenly, I pictured the duchess patting the empress’s shoulder, saying, ‘You’ve been well, haven’t you? Your face is glowing.’

It seems I was destined to fail in etiquette no matter what I did.

But Kirian’s complacency was still unbearable, especially his unapologetic and mischievous smile.

“What’s so funny that you’re giggling like that?”

Kirian slightly closed his eyes and took my hand.

“It’s good to see you after a long time, sister.”

“Well, me too.”

His sincerely heartfelt words softened my previously playful smile.

“Let’s go. It’s time for dinner.”

Momentarily spellbound, I followed the gentle hand that was leading me.

(This is a time separator.)

As we entered the restaurant, people’s eyes naturally followed us.

“I’m seeing Lord’s real self for the first time.”

“I saw him once at the founding festival when I was young. I couldn’t see well because he was far away.”

“Is it true that he caught an orc with his bare hands last year? He’s so pretty….”

I glanced at Kirian and clicked my tongue at the students whispering and gazing at him.

“What’s so fascinating about staring like that?”

“He doesn’t go to gatherings, so it’s curious to look.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” I muttered and continued to follow Kirian.
Kirian answered nonchalantly.

Of course, he would.

Ever since my first attendance at the founding festival, Kirian was firmly opposed, fasting in protest for days following the founding festival. Consequently, he abstained from the festival the following year.

I never knew exactly why he hated the founding festival so much, but I faintly remembered Kirian throwing a tantrum in front of the duchess, exclaiming, “Make friends, but don’t make a boyfriend!”

After that, he seldom participated in social gatherings. The last social event he attended was the engagement ceremony of Countess Lamira, which said it all.

A considerable number of lower nobles must have never seen Kirian.

But it was absurd to receive this much attention just because he didn’t attend gatherings.

“I don’t go to gatherings much either.”