บท 36: An Attempt to Get Closer
After the class was dismissed from History of Magic, everyone was quick to say goodbye. Percival made himself polite enough to say a few words before leaving, while Anakin said a whole paragraph before exiting the classroom with a wink.
On the other hand, Deor, Franco, and Anastasia all just left silently.
I didn't say a word, but there was no need to since I'm the last one to leave the classroom – it ended up like this because I was observing everyone else as they leave, and now that everyone has finally left, I stood up from my seat, walking towards the door to exit the room with a very normal walking pace.
In Royal Academy, students aren't required to carry a bag or any materials and objects. They are free to bring or not bring anything as long as they aren't going against any rules of the Academy, and as long as they are still guaranteed to be learning something.
Of course, this also applies to writing notes and stuff – it isn't required. Students will pass as long as they do all the requirements such as exams, and more. As for being present during classes, it depends on whether or not there is an important activity that will be done. Depending on that activity's importance, it may affect the students' grades.
However, whether or not they will be able to stay in the Class they wanted depends entirely on them.
"Where are you going? Did you perhaps forget that this is not the direction towards the dormitory?" Gaos asked, seeing as I didn't walk towards the exit of the main building. If I answer yes to him, he will definitely ridicule me, I can almost hear the excitement in his voice. Unfortunately for him, that's not the case.
"I have something else to do." He clicked his tongue.
Then it was silent again.
I continue walking until I finally found myself at the entrance of RA's garden. It's kind of like an open-type entrance made up of stone shaped like half of an oval surrounded by flowers and vines beautifully. Since it's like that, on both of its sides is a long fence like a green bush.
When I was about to enter, a voice came from behind me and I stopped.
"Ah."
It was more of a sound than a word, but when I looked behind me to see who it was and saw Deor there standing with his usual cold expression, I froze for a bit before recovering almost immediately as well.
"Your Highness." My expression remained cold.
Is this perhaps the event?
My eyes quickly glance at his neck and chest area. Seeing that the necklace is still there, not lost like what's supposed to happen in the original plot of the otome game, I got slightly nervous. This could only mean two things.
One: Although Deor didn't lose his necklace because of what I said earlier, he still somehow end up going here because of some... kind of setting or plot science. Two: Deor already lost his necklace earlier, and he already met Anastasia – which means I was late. In this case, since he appeared from behind me, then I do hope he is just about to go into the garden.
If it's the first one, then this will be more problematic and annoying for me. I've read some fictional stories where even if the main character interfere between two people, those two people would still somehow meet each other since it seems like that is what's supposed or destined to happen, one way or another.
But I guess, I shouldn't assume that too fast. It could be just a coincidence as well, but... is there really a coincidence in this kind of world?
"Are you also going in the garden?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes... and you are going as well." Deor stated, his gold eyes looking behind me for a moment before meeting my eyes.
"I'm going." he simply stated before turning back and walking away. I stood there, watching him until he disappear from my field of view, and seeing him gone, I felt relieved. It's good that I didn't have to deal with convincing him to go somewhere else or deal with going to the garden with him. This also shouldn't count as me stealing the event since we didn't do anything.
Taking a few seconds to refresh my mind after that, I finally decided to enter the garden.
And entering it, different kinds of flowers completely invaded my field of view. Rose, marigolds, cosmos, begonias, and other more I would no longer name. There are also a few trees.
The garden itself is like a maze, but the difference is that the flowers and bushes aren't high enough to block your view, and you can still see where you're going. At the very center of it is a wide space of circle wherein multiple tables, chairs, and a few benches are placed.
However, what really caught my eyes first when I entered the garden isn't the flowers, not the trees, and not even the tables.
It's Anastasia Clovis standing beside the red roses near one of the tables, observing it. It reminded me of the time when I saw her in the classroom earlier – that looking at her like this, it looked like a picture or a portrait, as if Anastasia Clovis is an existence that shouldn't be bothered, a thorny flower like the rose she's looking at that can not be easily touched.
Because if you do, you'll get hurt.
Since I'm still standing near the entrance, it seems like she hasn't noticed me yet. But... I'm not here just to observe her, and unlike those events in otome games, this is no coincidence or 'fateful' encounter.
Ignoring the sudden nervousness I'm feeling, I walked forward.
Then once I'm just about 5 steps away from her, I stopped. Anastasia probably already knows that I'm here since she heard my footsteps, and her not saying or doing anything – not even looking up to see who it is, might have meant that she thinks I'm just going to pass by her or leave.
"Do you like roses?" I asked, glancing at the red roses as well in slight curiosity.
Then I look back at her only to see her staring at me with an unreadable expression and eyes slightly wide, but as if everything was just an illusion, and before I even had the time to analyze the meaning behind that reaction, it was gone, and her usual cold expression returned.
Did I say something strange? I merely asked about the roses, but did she perhaps find that offensive or too much? Well... although we are classmates and groupmates, we barely know each other so it won't be surprising if Anastasia was surprised by my approach. I didn't expect this reaction though. I even thought of what to say in advance earlier.
"Lady Euridice," she finally said, "... Yes, I guess I do like roses." her voice is as cold as usual, but with that answer, she was able to ease my worries a little.
"Do you?" Anastasia asked, and I blinked, not expecting her to ask me back.
I nodded, "Yes, I like them as well. But If I were to pick my favorite flower, I'd probably pick red spider lily." Since they're said to be associated with final goodbyes or death.
"I see, spider lilies do seem to suit you, lady Euridice." She said in return, taking me by surprise again. Is that a compliment or an insult, I wonder? Her actually talking to me like this is a surprise itself, since I'm already half expecting her to just take her leave immediately.
"I came here to check the garden, but I didn't expect that I would see you here..." I paused, suddenly more aware that she's still calling me by my surname although we already talked earlier with Percival and the others that we should all just talk casually. As expected, this is not easy.
"I also didn't expect to see you here." Anastasia just said, still looking at the roses. Now, I can feel the awkwardness more evidently.
With hesitance, I spoke again, "Then, I'll stop bothering you now. I hope you have a great time, lady Clovis." I... actually wanted to say that we should just drop the formalities and talk casually as said earlier, but I feel like saying it now isn't appropriate, as if I'm afraid that doing that will cause Anastasia to put more distance between us.
With that said, I turned around, walking towards the garden's entrance to leave.
I didn't make any progress at all. Although that conversation almost felt like an hour-long one, it definitely didn't even last or pass 5 minutes. As I mentioned before, I even thought beforehand of what to say, and I came up with the final decision of asking her if she likes flowers since we're going to be in the RA garden.
Then I told myself that I should make it seem like a total coincidence, and make the encounter seems... natural.
My conversation with her should also not be forced, and it shouldn't be too much because I don't want to give her a bad impression of me.
After asking her about the flowers, if she somehow answers me, I contemplated on asking her about how is she doing so far at the Academy – but thinking about it, asking that to someone I just met might be too much, at least for me. Maybe I'm just sensitive or overthinking things, but I... don't like risking too much, thus, I rejected that idea.
So I planned on saying next about how unexpected it is to encounter her in the garden, and from there, I'm going to think of another topic.
But unfortunately, I failed.
In the end, since I couldn't think of any more things to talk about that wouldn't make the conversation seems forced, I just gave up. It was no surprise though since I've always been bad at socializing. Things like approaching someone myself, thinking about how to start a conversation and such – I'm not very good at all those.
"Human... you, you want to get close to that girl, don't you?" Gaos asked as I now walk back towards the girls dormitory.
"Yes." I honestly answered since there's no reason to keep it a secret from Gaos. With him, I can admit this boldly. There's no point in keeping it a secret anyway since it should be obvious for Gaos who's literally always with me.
"Is there something special about that human? She just looked like another block of ice to me like you." I blinked at his metaphor.
"No, we're not the same." We might have some similarities, but in the end, we're still different from each other. Despite Anastasia's current coldness, I have a feeling that she's still the heroine I know from the game – kind and always on the side of justice. I... admire people like her.
They can honestly be themselves while still being kind. Although Anastasia puts up a wall or distance from others, she doesn't lie.
If she doesn't like something, she'll say or show it. I guess her personality plays a part in that. Since she's not that good when it comes to interacting with others, she would just say what she wants directly. A bold and straightforward person.
On the other hand, I... might be a very restrained person. I put limits and such on myself, making sure that I wouldn't do anything reckless or something I haven't thought of before. Between Deor, Anastasia, and me, although we have a similar cold personality, Anastasia is probably the kindest.
Deor is cold, prideful, and intelligent, always making sure that everything he does is perfect without a flaw. He only mostly let those who will give him benefits and glory in his circle of allies.
And me... I guess I'm cold and neutral. Most of the time, I tend to also manipulate or calculate. I don't do things that easily, and I make sure that nothing unnecessary will affect me. Seemingly letting everyone in, but also making them stop at a certain distance, leaving them with no ability to advance further.
Thinking about what happened earlier, as if some kind of supernatural force or power is pulling the capture targets and Anastasia to meet each other even with my interference... then I'll just have to interrupt it again if I can take that as a chance to make a progress in befriending Anastasia.
Although I'm not exactly sure about the time and date of the events since they're often described as something that happened after a class or a situation, or something – I just have to pay attention to those details and be prepared at all times.
I won't lose to some kind of destiny or plot, especially when I know I can do much more even without the help of those.
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