Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On?! Volume 7

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-1430-6
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On?!

What started as a loveless contract marriage between a prestigious duke and the impoverished daughter of an earl grew into true love before they knew it. Now that Viola and Cercis have renewed their vows-and meant it, this time!-a new chapter begins in their life together. But as it turns out, they aren't the only ones responsible for all that love in the air! While Cercis was on his quest to win over his wife, his longtime, long-suffering friend and partner-in-crime, Corydalis, was busy falling head over heels for a certain maid from the Fisalis manor! Will we see love blossom between yet another pair?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tsuredurebana

Weitere Mitwirkende

Hagiwara, Rin

Quinn, Tara

Leseproben

1. The Man Known as Corydalis

My name is Corydalis Cashmeriana Pulcherrima, the third son of the Pulcherrima family. My middle name doesn’t get used too often, so feel free to forget it immediately.

Thanks to the two very distinguished brothers who came before me—a reliable eldest son and an intellectual in the middle—I had a pretty relaxed upbringing. Unless things went catastrophically wrong, there was no chance I’d ever end up inheriting the marquisate.

I was better at studying than your average kid, but I’d always preferred doing physical exercise and swinging a sword around. When I told my dad I wanted to be a knight when I grew up, he gave me the go-ahead immediately.

“Have at it, son. I think you’re well suited to the job.”

“There are a variety of roles within the chivalric order,” my oldest brother explained. “Some squads call for brains over brawn.”

“I imagine you’d fare well with either, Cory. A more cerebral position will give you a leg up on climbing the ranks, however,” my middle brother said, his glasses glinting in the light.

With getting into the knights’ training academy as my new goal, I devoted myself to studying and practicing my swordsmanship until I reached the age of admission.

* * *

When I was fifteen, I was admitted to the academy.

I would be living in a dormitory for the two years from my enrollment to my graduation. Being the son of a marquis didn’t win me any special treatment there. That said, the dorms divided into two buildings, colloquially known as the Noble Wing and the Commoner Wing.

Whether you lived in the Noble Wing or the Commoner Wing, everyone started out in what we called the Grunt Chamber (in other words, a collection of those on the bottom rung). After that, you would get assigned to a room with marginally nicer amenities and decor depending on your grades. Nobody ever got their own private room, though.

The Grunt Chamber had several sets of bunks, and the only space that was yours was your bed. Personal belongings had to be kept to a minimum.

I’d never lived like this before, so I was just as excited as I was nervous. Though the dorm room was charged with all the nerves and apprehension of the first day of school, I was thinking positive thoughts as I went to work arranging my space.

Right as I’d finished setting up my living area just how I wanted it, the whole room suddenly went dead quiet. I poked my head out from my bunk to see what was up, only to be greeted by a pair of long, slender legs.

I lifted my gaze up and up, eventually landing on one hell of a handsome face.

I’d seen him around at plenty of parties before, so I recognized him immediately. I

“Do you have the top bunk?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m Corydalis. Nice to meet ya.”

“I know who you are.”

“Well, well.”

That terse conversation was my introduction to Cercis. I could tell that the rest of our peers were listening in on it carefully. They all knew who Cercis was already—which came as no surprise—but now that they were seeing him up close and in person, his beauty and grandeur were so overwhelming that all they could do was stare.

Thinking back, the two of us have been inseparable ever since that fateful moment.

We successfully made it out of the Grunt Chamber after our first exam, and with each subsequent test, we moved on to a higher-ranked room. But somehow we ended up in the same one.

On top of that, we were perpetual rivals in both our studies and physical training. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t mean in a fraught sort of way. It was more like a neck and neck race where we’d keep swapping the lead back and forth.

“Damn! Looks like you came out on top in training, Cercis.”

“And? number one on our written exams. Can’t call myself top dog until I’ve claimed both spots.”

“Ooh, big talk!”

And so on. Together we held a total monopoly over first and second place. Nothing beats having a little competition!

As competent as he was in his studies and training, being the pampered rich boy that he was, Cercis was totally useless when it came to chores.

The younger students in the dorm had to take turns preparing meals as part of our hands-on training. The first time we had meal duty, Cercis told me had zero experience with housework, so I put him in charge of the easiest task of all: making the soup. Literally all he had to do was take everything the rest of us had chopped and put it into the pot.

“Go ahead and toss in those ingredients over there.”

“Got it.”

It seemed like he understood what to do, so I left him to it while the rest of us went to work on the entrée and side dishes.

Fortunately, I got just a bit concerned and glanced over to see how he was doing. And wouldn’t you know it? For reasons that escaped me, the dope was about to dump a bunch of fruit into the soup.

“Whoa there! What the heck are you doing?!”

“Cercis, no! You can’t put in!”

“Don’t jump the gun! That’s for the dessert!”

When the other members of our team scrambled to stop him, he responded with a blank look on his face, “Huh? But you told me to toss in the ingredients over there.”

“I meant the ingredients FOR THE SOUP!”

“These were sitting right next to those. I think it was strange for fruit to go in a soup, I’ll admit.”

“Okay, that’s it, Cercis! We’re putting you on dish duty!”

From then on, Cercis was appointed Chief of Silverware.

He got plenty of attention just from his looks, but his grades netted him even more. The world of knights is a meritocracy, where people’s abilities matter more than their lineage. So as you might expect, we often came across peers or older students who didn’t think too fondly of us, and we were called out back on more than one occasion.

Sometimes it was tough-guy seniors (who had worked their way up from the rank of commoner, naturally), and sometimes it was classmates pretty confident in their skills (who had worked their way up, etc., etc.). We were regularly outnumbered, with Cercis and I having to take on a handful of guys each.

’Course, we always managed to send them packing.

For the record, every single one of those guys we beat ended up becoming our “vassals.” They were all decently capable themselves, so that was sure to come in handy down the line.

And that’s the story of how Cercis and I became buddies.

* * *

Once we had successfully graduated from the training academy, we joined the chivalric order at long last. There, we were given our temporary assignments.

“Whaaaat? I’m stuck with you ?!”

“That’s line!”

On the bulletin board where the assignments had been posted, both my and Cercis’s names were written under “The Special Operations Division.”

Considering the two of us had been in an eternal competition for the top grades of our school year, these results weren’t surprising.

* * *

Now that we’d graduated, we were free men once more. I, however, opted to stay in the knights’ dormitory instead of returning home. I was an adult now, so I figured I was better off fending for myself.

Cercis didn’t have that option, so he went back to his ducal manor. Considering how self-sufficient he was (meaning, not at all), that was probably the right move. A wise decision.

After that, we started getting invited to social functions. I always went in with an attitude of, , but it was different for Cercis. All the young noble ladies wouldn’t leave the damn guy alone!

“It’s good to see you, Sir Cercis!”

“Would you care to dance with me tonight?”

“Goodness, no! Come dance with !”

You get the idea. There would always be a huge crowd of girls around him. The guy was a total chick magnet.

Cercis knew how to deal with this by then, so he’d always put on his best mask of a smile and say, “No need to fight, ladies. I’ll come ask you for a dance next, so stay faithful and wait your turn.”

“C-Certainly, milord!”

He then flashed them a dashing grin.

I was decently popular with the ladies myself, but I wasn’t really...