Episode 2
Am I dreaming right now? I rubbed my eyes and looked around.
Since the academy was a place attended only by nobles, the crowd gathered for today’s graduation ceremony was naturally immense.
The front of the academy was bustling, packed not only with the families of the graduates, but also with servants from various houses.
“Excuse me, did you see the man who was standing right here just a moment ago?”
When I grabbed a classmate and asked, he simply shrugged his shoulders lightly.
“beats me? There are so many people here that I really don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“He was right in front of you!”
“I’m really not sure.”
What is he doing walking around without looking where he’s going! I grabbed another person.
“Pardon me, did you happen to see a man holding a bouquet of flowers here?”
“A bouquet of flowers? Oh, dear child. Most of the people here are holding bouquets.”
She patted me gently, smiling warmly as if dealing with her own daughter.
“Are you looking for your father?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right. He has blond hair, and he’s about this tall!”
“Hmm. I don’t think I saw any blond men. He will arrive if you wait just a little longer. Isn’t there still plenty of time before the graduation ceremony begins? Don’t be so anxious.”
“But!”
He was definitely right here. He looked at me, and with a faint smile that was barely visible, he clearly called my name.
I remembered the carriage my dad had stepped out of earlier.
Fortunately, the carriage hadn’t gone very far.
“E-Excuse me!”
The coachman slowly brought the carriage to a stop.
“Are you getting in, miss?”
“No, it’s about the man you just dropped off at the academy! You remember him, right?”
However, the coachman looked at me as if I were insane.
“Dropped someone off? I haven’t picked up a single passenger today.”
“What? What do you mean? No, he definitely got off from this carriage! Right at the main gate of the academy, holding a bouquet of yellow flowers!”
“Miss, are you dreaming in broad daylight? I haven’t picked up a single soul today, so I don’t know what nonsense you’re talking about. Spitting bad luck before I even get my first customer of the day—ptui!”
The coachman spat on the ground and drove the carriage off testily.
“Liar.”
It was definitely Dad. It wasn’t a distance where I could mistake a person’s identity, and it hadn’t even been long since I got new glasses.
“Right, a phone call. Let’s call Dad first.”
I stepped into a nearby bookstore. Since it was a place I frequented while attending the academy, I was able to borrow a phone without much trouble.
-“The number you have dialed does not exist. Please check the number and try again.”
“What is this thing talking about?”
With trembling hands, I slowly dialed the numbers. However, the voice coming through the receiver remained the same.
“Why on earth does it say this number doesn’t exist!”
There was no way I wouldn’t remember my home phone number that had never changed!
“Phew, let’s calm down.”
If it’s Dad, he might have forgotten to pay the phone bill while traveling around doing mercenary work here and there.
“Cynthia.”
A low voice called out to me. A large shadow approached from behind. That sturdy physique—it was definitely Dad.
“Dad!”
“…What are you talking about? ‘Dad’?”
However, my expression was forced to freeze immediately. The man looking at me with a disgruntled expression was, naturally, not the dad I was looking for.
It was my academy classmate, Aidan Winslow.
“What on earth are you doing here? How can you just vanish out of nowhere right when graduation is about to start? Did you forget you’re the student representative for today’s ceremony? Because you suddenly vanished, all the professors told me to go find you, putting me in quite a pinch.”
Raking his hand nervously through his red hair, beads of sweat had formed on Aidan’s forehead.
“It’s a good thing someone saw you walking out of the academy, or else I would have been searching for ages.”
When I looked at him blankly without replying, he let out a deep sigh and furrowed his brow.
“We have to go, quickly.”
Although Aidan Winslow was famous for having the worst personality at the academy, he was the sole heir of a ducal family. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he sat at the top of the food chain.
“Aidan Winslow!”
So… couldn’t he help me?
“W-What? Won’t you let go?”
“Dad—please help me find my dad!”
“What?”
“You’re Young Lord Winslow! That means you can dispatch the family knights, right? My dad suddenly disappeared! He was right at the entrance of the academy, right in front of my eyes! But he’s definitely, definitely in the capital. So please, help me!”
The words came out in a jumble, but I thought he would be able to understand my desperate feelings all the same.
However, Aidan roughly shoved my hands away.
“What on earth are you talking about? Where would you get a father?”
And at the words that followed, I froze on the spot.
“What?”
“You’re an orphan of the Imperial War. Have you developed delusions all of a sudden? Aren’t you a bit too old for that?”
At his pathetic tone, I grabbed his collar once again.
“What on earth are you talking about? If I’m a war orphan, why do I have the surname Violeta, and why was I able to attend an academy that only nobles can attend!”
Having his clothes grabbed once more, Aidan, seemingly unable to endure it any longer, pushed me away. I fell flat on the ground.
“I don’t know what kind of nonsense you’re spouting, but your parents passed away during the Imperial War after saving His Imperial Majesty’s life! Out of gratitude to your deceased parents, His Majesty bestowed the noble title of Violeta. You were just an infant at the time, so he allowed you to be raised in our territory. The academy was also thanks to His Majesty’s grace…”
I couldn’t understand what on earth Aidan was talking about. It was unbelievable enough that Dad had suddenly vanished before my eyes, but at the claim that I never had a dad to begin with, a ringing sound echoed in my ears.
“Hey! Cynthia Violeta!! Where are you going! I said we have to head back to the academy!”
So I just ran away. Aidan yelled something, calling out my name, but I simply ignored him and ran.
It had to be a lie. I had definitely bought a home and spoken with him on the phone not too long ago. He was definitely right before my eyes earlier.
Here were Dad’s bag and the bouquet of flowers he had undoubtedly bought to give to me.
I roamed the capital like a madwoman.
However, I couldn’t find Dad. In the end, I stayed up all night alone in the house I had purchased to live in with him.
And the next day, I set off for my hometown, the village of Robeang.
“Dad!”
The moment I arrived home, I threw open every room door. Dad was nowhere to be seen, neither in the study nor in the bedroom.
That wasn’t all. None of Dad’s clothes, shoes, or hats were there. It was as if Dad had never existed in this place from the very beginning.
“Ashford Violeta? Was there ever such a person in our village?”
Neither the fruit shop lady…
“Ashford Violeta! Ashford Violeta, who worked in this mercenary group for over twenty years! He was a commoner who received the rank of Baron because he was a war hero of the Empire, and isn’t there even a book called ‘The Golden Hero’! The one written about my dad!”
“Ashford Violeta, you say? That’s a name I’ve never heard in my entire life.”
“’The Golden Hero? I’ve never seen such a book.”
…Nor the members of the mercenary group who were Dad’s colleagues, nor the bookstore owner.
“What are you talking about. Where would you get a dad.”
Even the butcher didn’t remember my dad. There wasn’t a single person who knew him.
Right, now I truly had to accept it.
In this world, the existence known as ‘Dad’ had completely vanished.
***
Regardless of the fact that I had fallen into a nightmare, time continued to flow. During that period, I tried incessantly to find traces that Dad had existed, but the more I tried, the more it only proved that I was insane.
Just like that, a week passed. I received a notice stating that if I continued to be absent without leave, my passing result for the civil servant exam would be revoked.
Truthfully, if Dad wasn’t around, I wondered what meaning there was in being a civil servant, but thinking of the time after Dad returned, I ultimately reported to work at the Imperial Palace.
“Ha, Cynthia Violeta. A whole week of unexcused absences starting from your very first day of work. How remarkable.”
My former classmate, Aidan Winslow, had become my superior, perhaps owing to his noble title.
“I’m sorry…”
“Because you ran off right in the middle of the graduation ceremony, the order of events we painstakingly prepared was ruined. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to clean up that mess?”
Come to think of it, Aidan was the one who prepared the graduation ceremony as the grade representative. He didn’t like me much to begin with, so I’ve really landed on his bad side now. To think we’d end up in the same department, of all things.
“No matter if you’re noble in name only and lack noble dignity… I thought you weren’t the type to be a nuisance to others. To think you don’t even possess basic etiquette. How pathetic.”
