Chapter 26
Blair headed to the classroom for the one theory class he had put in his schedule: History of the Crassia Empire. It was a large general education course attended by over a hundred students. Since it was a required course, it was always packed with students. Blair entered the classroom and put down his book and cape in a suitable corner seat.
Having to sit through another boring class like this.
Blair grumbled internally while twirling his pen between his fingers. He was confident that he could teach better than the professor right now. Though Blair was a warrior to his core, he was fundamentally a born aristocrat. Noble families paid tremendous attention to how others perceived them.
Blair tended to think that the rumor about House Monetery buying their title with overflowing gold wasn’t completely baseless. Of course, since the Crassia Empire had existed for thousands of years, enough time had passed for such history to be diluted. But he occasionally felt that a slight sense of inferiority and insecurity subtly permeated the foundation of the family.
Of course, Blair’s father, Count Monetery, and Theodore had excellent characters and practiced noblesse oblige more perfectly and nobly than anyone else, but education was a separate matter. Clara, who was a different kind, had no pride as a noble and only loved money, but Theodore and Count Monetery were people who were quite fixated on appearing noble.
Thanks to this, Blair had grown up receiving quite strict teachings about noble refinement and deportment from a young age. In other words, he had learned the empire’s history, noble attitudes, and etiquette until they were ingrained in his ears. He could confidently say he knew these things better than anyone else in this room.
For someone like him, the most basic general education classes among the lower-grade courses couldn’t possibly be interesting. Blair was confident he could recite the entire book from beginning to end if asked. Already bored, Blair tapped the desk with the tip of his quill pen. With his chin resting on one hand and playing with the pen, he clearly looked bored and completely uninterested to anyone who saw him.
“Oh, hello? May I sit next to you?”
A clear voice pierced Blair’s ears. Though it wasn’t a particularly loud voice, it was as if all his auditory functions were focused only on that voice; all surrounding noise was filtered out, and only that voice was heard. Blair slowly turned his head to look at the owner of the voice.
After enduring Blair’s direct gaze for a while, the owner of the voice gradually blushed after not too long.
“Uh…”
The person who had spoken to him was Kyle. Blair stared blankly at him for a long time. When Kyle’s ears, which had been enduring Blair’s straightforward gaze, turned red, Blair finally came to his senses, startled, and offered the seat next to him. If he had refused immediately, it might have been different, but after such a delay, he couldn’t say no.
“Of course.”
Blair hurriedly tidied up his scattered books and writing materials. Kyle sat down, brushing his hair up. With flushed cheeks, Kyle awkwardly greeted him first.
“Hello?”
“Yes, hello, Your Highness.”
Blair didn’t bother hiding his discomfort. History of the Crassia Empire was a class most people took in their first year. While it made sense for a second-year student to take it, it wasn’t a course for someone in their fourth year. The Kyle he remembered was a good student, an honor student. Why would such a Kyle be taking this basic course?
Though curious, Blair decided to suppress his curiosity. He needed to minimize the number of times they conversed. Kyle, who had tried to speak to Blair, awkwardly turned his head away at the cold atmosphere.
Kyle couldn’t understand Blair’s wariness. In any case, even though he was just a prince in name without power, there were quite a few people who showed goodwill toward him. There was an implicit cheap sympathy, like what one would show to weak small animals, and even more people showed interest because they were captivated by his face.
Kyle was well-objectified about his own face. While he didn’t necessarily agree with the praise from others that he was a great beauty of the age or that his face would go down in history, he had long been aware that his face could be a significant asset. He couldn’t help but know it, having eyes himself. When Kyle just gave a slight smile, most people would lower their guard and show goodwill.
Perhaps it was also because Kyle was a powerless prince and therefore not threatening. In any case, Kyle was quite accustomed to unconditional goodwill, so Blair’s wariness felt very unfamiliar to him.
If Blair had known this, he would have cursed a fair amount internally. Blair was trying his best not to show his wariness. He was treating Kyle as normally as he possibly could. Blair also knew that if he were too wary of Kyle, Kyle would immediately think something was strange. He didn’t want even that kind of negative attention.
The problem was that there was a discrepancy between what the two considered a “normal distance.” In reality, Blair’s behavior wasn’t without its excesses, and Kyle was very used to people’s affectionate advances, so Kyle felt a sense of dissonance even though Blair’s attitude wasn’t excessively cold.
‘Why isn’t that bastard Aaron taking this class with us? Always absent when needed, useless guy.’
Blair grumbled internally. A north wind-like awkwardness swept between the two. If Aaron had been there, the awkward atmosphere would have been much more relaxed. In any case, while Blair was holding onto discomfort and Kyle onto dissatisfaction, the professor entered. That was fortunate. Blair hurriedly opened his book. The history professor in charge of this class was quite strict.
His notoriety was secretly heard even after Blair was appointed Grand General and entered the imperial palace. His strict teaching style was the reason students avoided him. But since it was a required course, everyone had to take it reluctantly, like eating mustard while crying. Though Blair remembered him as “that stubborn old man,” when he actually faced the professor, the face was younger than expected.
Though he had thought the professor had snake-like or jackal-like eyes, now that he saw him again, he didn’t feel that way. Blair had seen far more wild, crazed eyes many times. It was common for people who had learned enough in the imperial court to act more insane than this. A cold-blooded snake was better than a crazy old raccoon.
The face looked only about ten years older than the past Kyle. Back then, Blair had really thought of him as a grandfather professor, but the professor was quite young. Regardless of Blair’s reminiscence or reassessment, the strict history professor seemed intent on conducting the class from the first day, as he briefly went through his self-introduction and immediately instructed everyone to open their books.
Kyle obediently opened the book he had brought. Blair glanced at Kyle’s book from the corner of his eye. With neat handwriting in the corners and empty spaces, it seemed like he had either inherited the book from someone else or was retaking a class he had previously taken. No matter how powerless a prince he was, Kyle’s circumstances weren’t so bad that he had to inherit a book from others because he couldn’t afford to buy one. The Crassia Empire wasn’t in such a bad financial state. It seemed he was retaking the class for some reason.
It felt quite coincidental.
Of course, in the past, Blair and Kyle had taken a few classes together. But that was after the two had become close, when they deliberately overlapped their schedules.
Even then, after Kyle advanced to the fifth year and they were divided into upper and lower grades, it became difficult to take the same classes, and not long after Blair became a fifth-year student, Kyle had to be sent to the battlefield, so they hadn’t actually taken many classes together.
But now, Blair, who was just a second-year, and Kyle were already taking two classes together. Though he had returned to the past, it seemed that not everything was repeating exactly the same. Although events from 17 years ago were a long time back, making his memories not so clear, even with hazy memories, he could remember that he and Kyle hadn’t taken classes together before they became close.
By this point, it was natural to become curious again. Why, for what reason, had he returned to the past? He had long since concluded that it wasn’t because of his own regrets.
Then, why? What choice should he make? Even after living to thirty-three, life was still difficult. There must be a reason why he had come back and was repeating this process, but that reason still seemed elusive.
While he was scribbling in his notebook and thinking about other things, the professor’s voice announced that the introduction to the course outline was over and instructed them to open the first chapter. Blair diligently opened chapter one and waited for the professor’s explanation.
History of the Empire. In the first chapter of this course, the founding history of the Crassia Empire is covered.
Starting from the founding history to the current Emperor, Kyle’s father, it was a section where they would learn about the reigns and evaluations of the historical emperors. Even when learning about this as a child, Blair had wondered why the current Emperor, whose evaluation could change after his death, was included, but since Blair wasn’t part of the writing team, he had nothing to say. The professors seemed to think it was right to learn about the current Emperor’s achievements as well.
Of course, in the past, the current Emperor hadn’t lived very long and had died, and he hadn’t left any significant mark in history. As a result, his lifetime reputation hadn’t been reversed. Suddenly, Blair became curious about how Kyle would be evaluated as a king by future generations and how he would age. But as the current Blair, he would never know that.
Blair flipped through the pages with an uninterested expression. Kyle, who had been stealing glances at Blair’s profile, tilted his head slightly.
‘What is it?’
[To be continued…]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
