Chapter 9: My life was a romance novel (2)

“-Didn’t we agree to talk next week?”

The Commander’s haggard face appeared in the communication crystal. A Sword Master should be able to go a week without sleep and still look fine. But he looked like this after just one day? I was concerned, but it seemed my concern wasn’t shared by our prince.

“I wish I could have waited.”

I didn’t enjoy seeing the Commander’s face every day either, but I had no choice. If news of Prince Ellen’s first love had reduced him to this state, what would happen when he learned about the prince’s rivals? I sighed, anticipating the inevitable.

“-What now…?”

His voice, already laced with exhaustion, was pitiful, but I had to tell him. Whether this world was a ropan or not, that combination of people was bound to cause trouble.

“Well…”

I relayed the facts. Without a single hint of my suspicion that this was a ropan, I simply reported what I’d witnessed, without exaggeration.

“-Don’t screw with me…”

A curse slipped from the Commander’s lips. I’d never heard him curse since becoming an instructor. He’d always maintained a jovial demeanor, even when Senior Lucia submitted her resignation letter three times a week, insisting that the important thing was an unyielding spirit, or when I demanded a salary higher than his own, a Sword Master, claiming my current rate was insufficient.

“Unfortunately, it’s true.”

“-Lies! Tell me it’s a lie!”

The Commander pleaded, but that wouldn’t change reality.

“Acceptance is key.”

“-Noooo!”

The Commander wailed at the news of Prince Ellen’s first act of rebellion. Sadly, his lament wouldn’t be his alone. The moment our communication ended, the news would spread to everyone connected to the instructors, eventually reaching the intelligence department. From there, new information would flow back to the Commander, and eventually, to me. Damn it, I should have retired when Prince Ellen was still just beating up Princess Hestia.

“-…Here’s what we’ve found.”

Speak of the devil.

“Can’t I skip this?”

“-Don’t be absurd.”

They’d completed a background check on a girl named Daisy, in a distant empire, in a single day. The intelligence department was truly efficient.

“-She’s a Baroness’s daughter from a rural backwater, even by Imperial standards.”

“I see.”

A typical background for a ropan heroine. Most of the recent ropan novels I remembered featured heroines from powerful Duke families, though.

“-Her background is so insignificant, it’s a wonder how she even got into the Imperial Academy.”

“I see.”

This was also a common trope. There was usually a hidden backstory. She was either not the Baroness’s biological daughter, or she’d learned magic from a legendary mage in her childhood. Or perhaps she would awaken a hidden talent after entering the academy.

“-She joined the Flower Arranging Club simply because she loves flowers. Apparently, daisy flowers are the local specialty of her territory.”

“How can the local specialty be the same as…”

“-I know, right? But her family seems close-knit, so it doesn’t seem like a randomly chosen name.”

The other information didn’t seem relevant. Except for one thing.

“-The Flower Arranging Club, until recently, consisted of only the president and Lady Daisy.”

The Commander lamented the word “until recently,” but something else caught my attention.

“There’s a president?”

For a moment, I’d assumed the purple-haired girl who resembled the heroine’s friend was the president, but the Commander’s next words made me frown.

“-Yes. A fourth-year male student, graduating this year.”

Another man? And a senior?

“-Fortunately, he seems ordinary.”

I couldn’t afford to be complacent. If this world truly followed ropan tropes, the first man connected to the heroine was never ordinary.

“Tell me more about him.”

“-Nothing much to tell.”

The Commander’s explanation was truly unremarkable. I was starting to think I was seeing ropan scenarios everywhere when…

“-Oh, and we acquired his portrait.”

“…”

This world was definitely a ropan! I almost shouted it out loud. Because…

“He has narrow eyes.”

That bastard, he was a “narrow-eyed character.”

***

Belian Erick, a fourth-year student at the Imperial Academy, couldn’t leave the classroom even after the lecture ended.

“How did this happen…?”

As the third son of Viscount Erick, he was admitted to the Imperial Academy due to his academic abilities. From an ordinary Viscount family, to the prestigious Imperial Academy… he entered with high expectations from his family, but his life didn’t change drastically.

His grades were average. He had no remarkable talents other than academics. He was never assertive, and his relationships were equally unremarkable.

Just maintaining a comfortable distance with similar students. The closest friends he had were the seniors in the Flower Arranging Club. A small club with less than ten members, constantly on the verge of disbandment.

He enjoyed the casual atmosphere and the unexpected camaraderie. The club faced disbandment several times due to low membership and lack of activities, but each time they narrowly avoided it, their bond strengthened.

“It’s all because of the seniors.”

“-It would be a shame for the Flower Arranging Club to end like this.”

With the graduation of three seniors last year, the club was scheduled for disbandment. It was inevitable. No new members had joined since Belian, and even the Imperial Academy, which allowed for significant freedom in club activities, wouldn’t maintain a one-person club.

Haunted by those regretful words, Belian mustered unusual courage. On the day of the entrance ceremony, in front of the hall where the new students gathered, surrounded by clubs promoting themselves, Belian gathered all his courage and tried his best.

“Flower Arranging Club?”

“Y-Yes!”

And there, he encountered a new student. Her name was Daisy, from the small, rural Parban Barony. He felt a sense of kinship.

He and the previous club members were all from similar backgrounds. And she loved flowers, it felt like destiny. Moreover…

“Can I bring my friend too?”

Surprisingly, she had a childhood friend who also enrolled. With this, they fulfilled the minimum requirement of three members. Of course, it was just the bare minimum.

Maintaining a club with only three members required some effort, but the Flower Arranging Club was already accustomed to struggling for survival. He was confident. He could keep the club alive until his graduation. So that when he met the graduated seniors again, he could proudly declare that he’d kept the club going!

“Or was I being too greedy?”

Things were going well. Daisy and her childhood friend, Violet. One man, two women. He was the odd one out, but Belian, without any ulterior motives, wanted them to experience the joy he found in the Flower Arranging Club. Observing the unique flowers that bloomed in the Imperial Academy, which boasted all four seasons, arranging them according to the season, and appreciating the small beauties of everyday life. He genuinely hoped they could find this small, but precious happiness in their academy life, often dominated by high-ranking nobles and geniuses.

“I’ll find more members!”

He’d smiled and thanked Daisy for her enthusiasm. Birds of a feather flock together, as they say. He assumed that Daisy, with her ordinary background and lack of special abilities, would bring similar people. He was wrong.

“I’m Esid, a new member.”

Was there another student named Esid among this year’s freshmen? And even if there was, could there be another with white hair and red eyes? Belian wasn’t sure whether to kneel or stand as an imperial prince appeared before him.

In a daze, he accepted the prince’s application. He went back to his dormitory, slept, woke up, went to the academy, barely attended any classes, unable to focus… Was this all a dream?

‘No, it can’t be.’

Even if his chances of inheriting the throne were slim, the next emperor hadn’t been decided yet. A busy imperial prince wouldn’t join the Flower Arranging Club of all things. He entered the clubroom, thinking that, and…

“These are the prospective new members!”

Daisy greeted him with a cheerful smile, and the gates of the demon realm seemed to have opened. That was yesterday.

“Seniors. The Flower Arranging Club is now immortal.”

Sitting alone in the empty classroom, staring blankly at the blackboard, Belian thought.

One imperial prince.
One prince from the Kingdom of Knights.
One prince from the Kingdom of Mages.
One son of a Margrave guarding the border with the demon realm.
One grandson of the Sword Emperor, known as the Little Sword Emperor.
One heir to a massive trading company that controlled the continent’s economy.
And himself, the president of the Flower Arranging Club.

With this lineup, they could probably repel a raid from the entire student council. No, anyone besides himself would be enough. The Flower Arranging Club was safe from disbandment for at least four years.

“Should I quit?”

But the Flower Arranging Club, which had been his sanctuary, was gone. It died the moment the imperial prince joined. Even the imaginary seniors of the club were saying, “Um, this is a bit much…” and running away.

“Right. I should focus on my studies and graduation.”

He was a decent student, and he’d already secured enough credits to graduate, but more wouldn’t hurt. He wasn’t inheriting the family title anyway. The only way to increase his value, coming from an insignificant family, was to become an imperial official!

“As for the president… I’ll tell Daisy, and someone will take over.”

Besides himself, the Little Sword Emperor was the most normal male member. But being president in that club was a death sentence.

“Hello, senior?”

“Oh, yes?”

As he steeled his resolve and exited the classroom, a junior appeared, as if waiting for him. Or rather, definitely waiting for him.

“I have a lot of questions about the academy. Could I consult with you for a moment?”

No. He wanted to refuse, but Belian’s danger-sense, honed by recent events, told him this wasn’t a request. It was the voice of a predator, telling him to follow.

“S-Sure.”

When Belian first enrolled, a first-year student couldn’t order a fourth-year senior around, but…

‘Things are different now!’

With the Sword Emperor and the former Tower Master as head professors, this year’s freshmen were the harbingers of the Imperial Academy’s golden age. He just had to recall yesterday’s club meeting. Sitting nervously in a small cafe within the academy, Belian watched as his junior casually brought two cups of tea.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Adam Smith, from the Leon Kingdom.”

“…”

He’d heard that name. The monster who’d easily defeated the Little Sword Emperor on the first day of the Sword Emperor’s class.

“I hate beating around the bush, so I’ll get straight to the point. Our prince joined your club, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Please take good care of him.”

But I’m quitting…

“He’s a bit shy and doesn’t interact well with others. If someone like the president could look after him…”

But I’m really quitting!

“S-Sure.”

But the words that left his mouth betrayed his true intentions.

“Welcome, President!”

Like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse, he had no choice but to return to the Flower Arranging Club.