It was Nigel’s face from yesterday’s lunch, shamelessly saying he’d cut the Alchemy Department’s budget.
‘What are you going to do if you get cursed or something?’
He’d definitely warned him like that.
Nigel had snorted that things like black magic didn’t exist in the world, but no one knows what those harboring resentment might do. That stubborn, obstinate fool.
What if they really had broken into Nigel’s room? And what if the broken cup wasn’t just accidentally broken, but a trace of violent resistance?
No. That would be an absurd speculation.
Rowen cooled his head and decided on his destination.
First, he needed to confirm the facts. A place Nigel might stop by before class when he had no official schedule.
Rowen hastened his steps.
It was the Student Council room. If anywhere, at least one person there would know that guy’s whereabouts.
His cold expression remained unchanged, but his footsteps were noticeably faster than his usual leisurely stride.
“Hey, Rowen!”
A Swordsmanship Department classmate called his name from behind across the corridor. Rowen, who’d been hastily walking toward the Student Council room, only turned his head back slightly and greeted with his eyes. Then the other person walked toward Rowen and spoke.
“Today’s match preparation—”
“Ah, later.”
Rowen immediately cut off his words. His usual smooth and relaxed demeanor was nowhere to be found. The Swordsmanship Department classmate seemed surprised by that appearance, his eyes widening.
Rowen had a large build and when he kept his mouth shut, had an impression that was difficult to approach. Knowing this well himself, he always went around smiling.
But right now, Rowen didn’t have time to soothe his classmate’s flustered emotions.
“I’ll listen later.”
Then he turned sharply and passed right by his classmate.
Uh, um… He heard the voice of the classmate left behind, but Rowen Ashfield ignored it. He could properly greet him when they met later.
* * *
Arriving in front of the excessively ornate Student Council room’s greenhouse, Rowen flung open the massive glass door.
If Nigel had been inside, he would have surely scolded him for barging in without even knocking, saying it was improper.
But Nigel wasn’t in the room.
Inside the glass greenhouse was submerged in the stillness of early morning. Only one person was positioned there—Eden Lake, sitting upright at the secretary’s desk, flipping through documents. Eden slowly raised his head toward the source of the sound.
Rowen and Eden’s eyes met in midair. His black eyes held no emotion whatsoever. He knew well that the intruder who’d barged in was Rowen Ashfield, Senior Nigel’s only friend.
However, Eden wasn’t on ‘good’ terms with Rowen. He only thought of him as the man occupying the seat next to Senior Nigel, unnecessarily kind to everyone.
Rowen walked unhesitatingly toward the secretary’s desk. His blue eyes were coldly frozen, unlike when in front of Nigel.
“Nigel.”
A tone closer to a notification than a question. Eden ignored Rowen’s rudeness and answered without taking his eyes off the documents.
“He hasn’t come.”
“Damn it.”
Rowen ground out a low curse and touched his brow as if anxious.
Damn it? Eden’s hand, which had been turning pages, hesitated. Eden slowly raised his head. Right, Rowen Ashfield looked anxious and uneasy, unlike usual. Was something wrong? His black eyes sharply observed Rowen.
“Why are you looking for Nigel-nim?”
“……If he’s not here, that’s fine.”
Rowen clicked his tongue with a tsk, then turned his back. He’d been about to head to the annex where today’s class would be held.
“Has something happened to Nigel-nim?”
“……”
Rowen’s bright blue eyes glanced toward the junior one year younger than himself.
What if something happened? You’re no help to Nigel anyway.
Though he didn’t say it out loud, Rowen’s gaze seemed to be saying exactly this.
“Senior.”
Eden rose silently from his seat. Since both were among the top in size and height within the academy, their eye levels were the same.
The Rowen Ashfield family’s trading company was famous enough that anyone on the continent would know it. Eden, who knew how insignificant his own bloodline was in comparison, was always a man who knew his place.
He was a pragmatic person who clearly knew when and before whom he should bow his head. Especially in front of the Ashfield family’s heir, like now, even more so. Avoiding unnecessary friction was the best policy.
“Please tell me. Especially if it concerns Nigel-nim’s safety.”
“……”
Rowen closed his mouth slightly and stared at Eden. In truth, both men’s worries were excessive. Nigel was a proper student of the academy, and he himself had an appearance always near perfection, as if born having selected only superior genes.
His personality of mercilessly treating things that fell even slightly short of his own standards was a problem, but Rowen rather considered even that fastidiousness to be Nigel.
He was also satisfied with the fact that Nigel comfortably revealed all of that sensitive temper only to Rowen himself.
Anyway.
Rowen looked at Nigel’s loyal junior and exhaled a slight sigh. It wasn’t really something to hide. It wasn’t like a big commotion had occurred either.
Not yet.
Rowen spoke with a slightly frowning expression.
“Nigel has disappeared.”
Immediately, the pupils of Nigel’s junior, whom he remembered by the name Eden, widened.
* * *
“…Disappeared, you say?”
Eden’s lips, which had been frozen for a moment, opened.
“Nigel-nim?”
Eden immediately muttered as if he’d heard something absurd. Rowen fully understood that he couldn’t believe his words.
Right, wasn’t the subject that Nigel? Who could believe at face value that the Empire’s Crown Prince, that arrogant and thoroughly meticulous control freak, had disappeared within a mere academy without even a note?
Eden’s reaction changed from simple disbelief to sharp wariness in an instant.
“Since when? He was certainly the same as usual until yesterday afternoon.”
Eden asked in a low, cold voice. Rowen’s brow narrowed.
“Isn’t it too early to conclude he suddenly disappeared today?”
“You know Nigel well too, don’t you? He doesn’t break his routine without a particular schedule.”
“……”
“Of course, it’s probably not a big deal. He must have left in such a hurry because there was some other important matter.”
Rowen added words he wasn’t even convinced of himself. Eden wouldn’t miss that clumsy excuse and self-rationalization.
“What’s the basis for your judgment that he ‘left in a hurry’?”
It wasn’t a pure question, but a clear interrogation. Rowen was at a loss for words. Those broken cup fragments he’d seen this morning. And his own ominous suspicion about the Alchemy Department.
There was no reason to report all of that in detail to this junior who wasn’t even close to Nigel.
“……Are you daring to interrogate me right now?”
Rowen’s voice sank low. As if the temperature inside the greenhouse had dropped several degrees in an instant, a deadly atmosphere swirled between the two.
“That’s not my intention, but,”
Eden also didn’t back down and met Rowen’s gaze head-on.
“When it concerns Senior Nigel’s safety, there are no exceptions, no matter who it is.”
That’s when it happened.
What broke the tense standoff between the two was another voice from outside the door.
“Hey, why’s the atmosphere between you two so deadly this early in the morning?”
Lios Cesare entered the greenhouse with his characteristically smooth smile. His appearance was like pouring oil on a burning house.
This just got unnecessarily troublesome. Rowen irritably rubbed his face. Eden gave a light bow toward Lios, but still didn’t withdraw his wary gaze from Rowen.
“What, did you two fight or something? Where did our lofty Crown Prince go, leaving just you two having secret talks this early in the morning?”
Hm? Lios asked, looking back and forth between the two with interest.
“What brings you here so early, Senior?”
Eden asked coldly first. Normally he wouldn’t have committed the rudeness of first asking a senior like Lios his business, but he was annoyed by the troublesome situation.
“What brings me? With the festival right around the corner, I woke up even earlier than usual today.”
Smoothly deflecting that, Lios shrugged his shoulders once.
Originally, the Student Council, according to the rules, had been gathering one hour before class started each day to report that day’s schedule. Of course, most ignored that rule, but now with the festival approaching, it was different.
The key officers in charge of practical work had to gather from early morning to check the situation. Lios was a third-year but was one of the overall festival coordinators, and Eden, as secretary, naturally had to be here.
But not Rowen.
“I know diligent Eden is here every day, but—”
Lios’s gaze turned to Rowen.
“What brings Rowen, the hope of the Swordsmanship Department, here at this hour? Don’t tell me you’re attending the meeting in Nigel’s place?”
