Instead of the silver-haired girl he had been waiting for, what appeared before him was the familiar-patterned kitten. The cat, peering out from under the bushes, walked gracefully over and sniffed around the opening of the square basket he had brought. Cassian sat up again, feeling deflated.

“Oh, it’s you? When did you ever run away from me……”

As if it had never fled, the cat approached Cassian and rubbed its head against him affectionately. It seemed to have realized after seeing him for several days that he was not a harmful person.

“Hmm, Ruby….. That’s what she called you, right?”

Calling the cat by the name she had clearly given it felt somewhat awkward, even with no one around to hear. Come to think of it, I’ve been told several times that my eyes are ruby-like because of their red color too…… The sight of the peculiar Marquis Esteban—who didn’t even enjoy social conversation among nobles—talking to a cat in such a place would have shocked anyone who knew him.

“With no one coming to feed you, I suppose you’re hungry?”

He pulled over the basket containing his lunch box and opened it. The lunch prepared by the Esteban mansion’s head chef looked appetizing even though it had gone cold.

He recalled what had happened that morning.

“My lord, I heard you plan to spend the whole day at the Imperial Academy library.”

“That’s the plan.”

“What about meals? Should I prepare a simple lunch box?”

“……A lunch box?”

As the chef’s words sank in, a good idea occurred to Cassian. Isn’t it against noble etiquette to eat alone with someone else present? Well, abruptly looking down on a noble lady I just met wasn’t proper etiquette either…… Anyway, if we happened to meet in the garden, I could ask if she’d eaten, and if she said no, I could mention I was just about to eat, take out the lunch box, and naturally invite her to join me while apologizing for my previous mistake….. We might even become closer?

“Yes! I’ll take a lunch box.”

“Very well, sir.”

“Oh, and since I’ll be reading books all day, I might get hungrier than usual, so make it enough for… about two people to eat comfortably.”

“What menu would you like?”

“Prepare whatever you think best.”

In an unusually cheerful mood, Cassian found himself grinning without realizing it, then suddenly remembered something and called the chef back.

“Wait, Thomas!”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Do you happen to know… what cats eat?”

After such meticulous planning and ambitious preparation of the lunch box, the person he was waiting for never showed up, and only the cat Ruby ate heartily.

“Is it delicious? One way or another, you’re the only one benefiting here.”

Despite his sarcastic tone, Cassian stroked Ruby with quite an affectionate touch. It was his first time touching such a small animal, and he was surprised by how pleasantly soft and warm it felt.

That girl also gives off exactly this kind of feeling when you look at her carefully, like having a cat and a rabbit together when she’s crouched under the tree…… No, why are my thoughts drifting in that direction again?

Just as he was thinking that the cat seemed full and perhaps it was time to go home, he heard small footsteps approaching, and the bushes under the wall shook rapidly.

“Ruby……!”

Had she been running from far away? Florencia’s silver hair, which was always neat, looked slightly disheveled. Moreover, her cheeks where her hair had fallen and around her eyes were somehow flushed red.

Today was the day Michael was leaving on a long journey to enter the knights’ school in Lugarn, and Florencia was on her way back from seeing her brother off.

“Michael, stay healthy and well……”

“Don’t cry, sister. I’ll return as a splendid knight.”

Though they didn’t know when they would meet again after parting, her young brother instead bravely comforted her. Even after the large carriage carrying the small boy had completely disappeared from view and the rattling wheel sounds could no longer be heard, Florencia couldn’t leave the spot for a long time.

“……Oh?”

Approaching, Florencia belatedly noticed Cassian and hesitated. In truth, she wanted to run straight to the Temple. She wanted to pour out all her sad and empty feelings to her mature and caring lover, to be held in his arms and comforted without reservation. But she had come to the Academy first because she was concerned about feeding the cat Ruby.

The carriage carrying Michael would be heading to the port without stopping. Lugarn was said to be so far away that one had to travel by carriage for a full day and then by ship for three days and three nights.

‘I heard people get terribly seasick on their first boat ride, will he be alright?’

Florencia had never seen the sea. She had heard that the sea was endlessly wide like an infinite lake, unfathomably deep, and had a beautiful blue color…… If it was blue, would it be the same blue as the sky? Or did they mean a mysterious emerald blue like Father Ludwig’s eyes?

Thinking of her young brother crossing that vast sea alone on a large ship made her heart ache. In her current mood, she would surely burst into tears the moment she saw Ludwig’s face.

“Um….. Hello?”

Unexpectedly, Cassian was in the abandoned garden. Since the cat Ruby was sitting on his lap, licking its lips, she ended up greeting him rather than pretending not to see him as usual.

“Ruby? Come here.”

You’re at the Academy even on a holiday. He acts like he’s so popular, but maybe he has no friends just like me?

Florencia tilted her head and took a step closer.

“Were you crying?”

It was an impulsive question after seeing her reddened eyes. This wasn’t at all the prepared dialogue he had planned…… As the head of a marquis family, he should have politely asked if she had gone home for the holiday or if she had eaten, and apologized for his past rudeness! But having gotten used to speaking informally from their first meeting, the words came out short without him realizing.

‘Cassian, you stupid idiot!’

He cursed himself harshly in his mind for his foolishness.

But what was even more embarrassing was that Florencia, startled by his words, rubbed her eyes and then actually burst into tears.

“I see……”

“Yes, and they say the knight school’s classes are especially difficult, so I’m worried whether my young brother will be able to endure it……”

“But if it’s Lugarn’s knight school, that’s quite a prestigious place. It’s incomparably expensive compared to other places, but the educational standards match that. It must have been difficult to send him there, so your family must care a great deal.”

“Really……?”

“Yes, that’s what I know.”

Cassian tried his best to share what he knew, and Florencia nodded while sniffling. As she calmed down, she felt embarrassed for crying in front of him. Just as someone handing you a handkerchief when you’re crying somehow makes you want to cry even more, she had suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears.

“Usually children are sent when they’re older, so it’s natural to worry, but if he truly aspires to become a knight, it’s a good choice. It’s practically the standard elite path.”

Somehow she had ended up talking about her brother. Though she wondered if it was appropriate to share such things with someone she barely knew, surprisingly, just talking about it made her feel a little better. And what was even more surprising was that despite this being her first private conversation with a boy her age, it didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable or awkward.

“By the way, you can speak to me comfortably.”

Cassian said, uncharacteristically shy. Given their relationship had been thoroughly awkward from the start, it felt strange to suddenly switch to formal speech.

“We’re both Academy students, so actually, shouldn’t the lady and I be considered friends?”

It seemed quite presumptuous, but he pressed on.

“……Friends?”

Her eyes widened as if hearing the word for the first time.

“Yes, friends! Look, my name is Cassian. I’m 19, in the graduating class at the Imperial Academy, but I took a year off, so I’m probably a year older than you.”

He introduced himself just like that. Not as Marquis Esteban as usual, but simply as 19-year-old Cassian. It came from an impulsive desire to be just a friend who shared his thoughts without bringing in his family name or creating burdens through considerations of status.

“Oh, I’m…… Florencia. 18 years old.”

“I told you to speak comfortably.”

“……O-okay.”

With a slightly reddened face, Florencia introduced herself as well. Because Cassian had done so, she too only mentioned her name and age. She felt a kind of guilt about using the Hazel surname because of her illegitimate bloodline. If she had needed to follow the typical noble greeting protocol of stating which family she came from, she wouldn’t have been able to speak so comfortably and would naturally have felt burdened.

“Florencia.”

He repeated her name, which he was hearing for the first time.

I wonder which nickname her family and friends use, maybe Flo? Or Loren?

He thought it was a name that suited her violet eyes perfectly, like they contained pure violets.

“Pretty name.”