Episode 3

Autumn came quickly.

The sound of cicadas that shook the sky disappeared without a trace, and instead, the crowing of grasshoppers flowed into the dormitory window every night.

During the day, the number of students walking around the campus at leisure, enjoying the cooler weather, increased. It was an atmosphere where everyone welcomed this refreshing season that had been around for a long time with open arms.

Except for one person here.

"Ech!"

Felix was walking down the street and sneezing, unable to control the tickling tip of his nose.

What a terrible season.

He muttered to himself and sat down on the bench for a moment. It was to take the allergy medicine out of the bag. But no matter how much I looked, the medicine box was nowhere to be seen. It looked like it had been left in the dormitory.

"Oh, damn it."

He groaned and wiped his face with his hands. As he raised his head again, he saw yellow-green leaves stretching out here and there in his eyes.

The 'Maram Vine' is a plant that blooms every autumn and grows wild throughout the Beros Empire. It was such a common weed that the average person didn't even care whether the vine bloomed or not.

But unfortunately Felix, who was born with a congenital allergy to maram vine, had to frown whenever he saw the plant.

The sneezing that came out of nowhere and the tip of his nose that tickled all day made his mood plummet to the floor.

However, the allergy medication prescribed by the duke's doctor did not work. It just stopped sneezing.

However, last fall, Adrian, who was suffering from the same symptoms, obtained the medicine from somewhere and brought it to him.

Not only did it stop sneezing, but it also cleared away the tickling at the tip of the nose.

Oh, I can't do without that drug.

Going back the way it came was troublesome, but better than constantly sneezing in class, Felix eventually decided to go get some medicine.

It was then. A familiar gait was seen.

Lucy Keenan was approaching him.

Felix's eyes widened for a moment at that unexpected appearance, but then he returned to a gloomy expression.

Apparently, Lucy had mistaken herself for Adrian when she saw it from afar. After coming closer and realizing that he was Felix, he almost ran away again.

As always.

He turned off her and started picking up the unpacked stuff on the bench to go get a pill box or something.

However, the sound of footsteps that he had expected to move away somehow drew closer to him.

Suddenly, the round shoe nose stopped under his gaze.

Felix slowly shook his head.

Under the clear autumn sky, Lucy's emerald green eyes were looking down at her.

what.

Felix swallowed his saliva without realizing it.

what.

A few seconds passed after our eyes met. By this time, Lucy Keenan, who had to flee in astonishment, was still standing in front of him.

Felix thought as he felt his own heart beating strangely.

… … Did I mistake you for Adrian? This time?

As the flowing silence was about to become awkward, Lucy opened her mouth.

"Senior Felix. I'm sorry, but , which seniors loaned on September 3, has been overdue for the second day."

Her small but clear voice flowed into Felix's ear. His voice cooled and scattered like the autumn wind that invaded his clothes.

He trembled slightly.

iced coffee. book.

So she just came to pick up overdue books.

"There is a lot of waiting for that book, so I want you to return it as soon as possible."

When Felix didn't respond, Lucy added an explanation.

"I haven't read it yet."

Felix said impulsively.

The book was right there in my bag. The necessary information had already been transcribed into a notebook, and I had no intention of reading the book to the end.

Rather, returning the book now may save you the trouble of going to the library and returning it.

But for some reason Felix didn't feel like returning the book to her.

His impulsive reply seemed to have embarrassed Lucy.

"However… … You've already missed the return deadline by two days. Everyone has come several times to find the book... … ."

She blurted out her words with a troubled expression on her face.

Felix took out from his bag. At that moment, a smile of relief appeared on Lucy's face.

She held out her small, white hands.

But the book she desperately wanted to receive suddenly opened from Felix's lap.

"Then wait."

"Yes?"

Felix sat cross-legged and fixed his gaze on the book.

"There are only a few left, so sit next to me and wait."

"I… … ."

Lucy was trying to retort, but she shut her mouth again at Felix's momentum, as if she was really trying to sit still and read a book.

Felix's eyes, pretending to read a book, glanced at the shoes that wandered helplessly at my feet.

do you just want to go away?

Even so, it wasn't strange. If you look at me alone, I'm not the kind of kid you've been busy avoiding.

But Lucy, wanting to turn away, slowly walked to the edge of the bench and sat on the edge of the bench as far away from Felix as possible, with her hips slightly draped.

Her posture seemed very uncomfortable to the extent that it would be appropriate to say that she was sitting in the air rather than a bench.

Felix glanced at her with a sideways glance, then pulled the corners of his lips together and smiled.

Lucy Keenan was a really funny kid.

When you run away from me without hiding your awkwardness, it's like waiting with an uncomfortable attitude to get a book now.

Not knowing Felix was secretly laughing, Lucy looked down at the ground, waving his feet, looking at passersby, and fiddling with the surrounding trees for nothing.

Felix continued to peer through books he hadn't read, pretending to flip the pages from time to time. For some reason, I felt good.

Enough to hold back the tickling on the tip of his nose and hold his seat.

"Adrian!"

A loud cry that broke the calm flew in.

From a nearby building, with Alec in the lead, third-year boys like Felix were rushing out. They found Felix and came straight to the bench.

"Ugh, Adrian doesn't look at me with those eyes."

Alec said as he looked at Felix's bloody eyes at him.

"Then it would be Felix, not Adrian!"

Another boy sat down next to Felix and said playfully.

The bench quickly became lively because of the boys who had gathered around Felix.

"Aren't you going?"

Felix wrinkled his face and shouted. However, his friends burst into laughter and became more and more entangled with him. No matter how much they pushed their faces away with their palms, they didn't move. On the contrary, it just became more playful.

In the midst of the chaos, Felix turned his head to check the end of the bench. No one was there.

He could soon spot Lucy Keenan's back, moving away from the bench.

In the midst of that, , which was on my lap, fell to the floor. Felix took a deep breath and then clenched his fists and shouted.

"Get away from me right now!"

* * *

Eventually, the book went back to Felix's bag and was forgotten.

He had a busy day, returning to the dormitory to pick up allergy medicine, and running to the classroom in order not to be late for class.

On Wednesday, classes were packed from morning to late evening, and the schedule became even more twisted by pretending to read a book while sitting on a bench in the middle.

In the end, Felix, who returned from the last class, swordsmanship, fell on the bed as soon as he finished showering.

"Hey, that's my bed."

Adrian, sharing the same room, said sitting on the sofa. Felix waved his hand as if he didn't want to respond.

Adrian's extravagant words did not enter Felix's consciousness, but flew out the open window and scattered.

Felix fell asleep as he felt the cool autumn wind on his cheek.

When he opened his eyes again, it was bright outside the window and birds were chirping loudly from somewhere. When he got up, he saw Adrian falling asleep in Felix's bed with his bed taken away.

Fortunately, the first class of the day was in the afternoon. Felix stretched out, got up and ate breakfast.

When he returned to the room, Adrian was still buried in the duvet. It was rare for him to sleep so late. He also seemed to have had a tighter yesterday as well as himself.

Felix laid the duvet right over the twin brother's body and sat on the sofa to spend some leisurely time.

smart.

It was not long after that someone knocked on the door.

Felix raised his head with a puzzled face. Among the friends who would come to the Berg twins' room, there was no one who could knock on the door so timidly.

Felix got up and walked to the door. When he opened the door, Lucy, in her neat school uniform, stood by the door as usual.