For Your Failed Unrequited Love

But the goosebumps around her neck were not necessarily attributed to the wind. Lucy was very surprised by the appearance of the boy who looked exactly like Adrian.

To keep cool, the boy fan himself with his shirt.

“Why are you sweating so much?” Adrian asked.

“I’ve been walking,” the boy replied.

“Walk? What about the carriage?” Adrian rose from his seat and went in front of the boy. Lucy’s presence seemed to have been forgotten for a while by his sudden appearance.

“Riley was going to nag me again, so I just got off and walked over.”

“What’s wrong with your clothes?”

“It was a running carriage,”

“…You’re driving me crazy. Why would you jump out of it?”

“Do you think Riley would let me off?” the boy asked Adrian with a rather resentful look on his face. “He’s going to be ninety the day after tomorrow. I’m afraid I’ll be wandering around in poverty if he dies because of me.”

Adrian clicked his tongue and shook his head. 

“Adrian, give me some water,” the boy said shamelessly, pretending not to have seen such an expression.

“Get it yourself.” 

“Bring me cold water.”

Adrian sighed and turned toward Lucy. “Sorry, Lucy. Can you hold on a second?” he asked Lucy for her understanding and disappeared to where he had previously got the tea.

The boy looked away from Adrian’s retreating back and glanced at Lucy, who was sitting right behind him, for a moment. Their eyes met, but he immediately turned away as if he were not interested.

Lucy turned away from him and sat up straight. No, it was more appropriate to say that her body stiffened. She was baffled.

She heard a rustling sound behind her; the boy had taken off his tie. Afterward, she heard the sound of a tie being thrown away randomly. Then he leaned back against the sofa. Lucy could feel the small movement against her back.

There was no sound after that.

Lucy, face blank, was lost in thought.

Twin. The same face. Prince Berg. Two people.

The boy she saw at the lake seven years ago may not be Adrian.

Yeah, I felt something different. 

Adrian and the boy by the lake looked alike, but the way they carried themselves was completely different. When she was thinking about it, she felt someone tap her shoulder.

Lucy looked back in horror.

The boy was looking at her. Seeing Lucy’s surprised reaction, he withdrew his hand a little awkwardly and apologized, “I’m sorry.”

Lucy stared blankly into his blue eyes, forgetting to let out the breath she held. Her hand gripped her school uniform skirt hard.

Then the boy looked at Lucy with a slightly strange look and said, “Do you have a ribbon?”

“What?” Lucy asked, unable to understand the meaning behind his question.

The boy stared at Lucy’s braided hair on the back of the sofa. He tapped his finger on the ribbon at the end. “Do you have one more?”

“No,”

“Okay.” He turned his back again, sweeping back his long hair that tickled his cheeks and neck.

Lucy stared at the back of his golden head, then fixed her sitting position and quickly regained her composure.

What. That surprised me. The boy behind me seemed to be the boy I met when I was a child, or not.

Lucy frowned in confusion.

Is that right? No? Which one is it?

The boy didn’t talk to Lucy anymore after asking her if she had a ribbon. He was still wiping the sweat on his neck, his hair now damp. The mere sight of it made her look hot. She gazed at him, then loosened the green lace ribbon that tied her hair.

“Excuse me,” she called the boy quietly. He looked back. “Here.”

Lucy held out her ribbon, and the boy looked back and forth at Lucy’s face and Lucy’s loose hair. He asked her first if she had a ribbon, but he didn’t accept it and instead looked away.

What? Why aren’t you taking it?

Lucy looked at him in wonder, but then the boy took the ribbon from her hand. He didn’t even say thank you.

He turned around and placed the ribbon between his lips. Then he brushed his hair with his hands, drawing the strands into a ponytail. His blonde hair, as bright as sunlight, swayed gently in front of Lucy’s eyes.

The strange sight of a large but slender hand moving slowly with a lace ribbon somehow gave her a strange feeling. Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of him tying his hair together with a ribbon. 

Soon he tied his hair with nimble hands and turned back to Lucy. She didn’t expect him to suddenly turn toward her—she closed her lips and drew herself back.

He looked into Lucy’s eyes as if observing something, like someone who had no idea that it was impolite to stare into a stranger’s eyes. 

W-what…

Lucy was so embarrassed by him, so casually looking into her eyes, that she didn’t even think of avoiding his gaze. Her heart began to beat fast at the sudden thought that came to her. 

Don’t tell me…

Her eyes lit up with expectation.

I wonder if he remembers anything about me.

The boys gazed into Lucy’s eyes, and his eyebrows wriggled. He kept tilting his head as if he was thinking of something.

Whoosh~

Something white flew in and covered the boy’s face. The blue eyes in front of Lucy quickly disappeared, replaced by a white towel.

Adrian stood in front of Lucy and the boy with his hand on his waist. “Why are you bothering her?” he asked as the boy removed the towel covering his face.

“What did I do?” the boy replied gruffly, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the towel.

“You just glared at Lucy,” Adrian said, putting down his cup of water in front of him.

“Oh, I remember! Do you remember “The Witch’s Tears”? The boy paid him no mind and suddenly said something ridiculous.

“What? What are you talking about, all of a sudden?”

“Lucent’s painting. It was hanging across the room at the end of the hallway on the 2nd floor.”

Adrian still stared at the boy with a blank face.

“The Witch of the Forest is holding a great emerald… no, nevermind.” He was about to explain something more, but he stopped talking and drank the water that Adrian had given him at once. Then he picked up the coat and tie he had left on the sofa. “I can’t stay here because of your nagging.”

“As soon as I get to the dorm, I’ll pack your things.”

“Look at this. You’re nagging me again.”

“If you don’t tidy up, I’ll throw it all out.”

The boy quickly put on his coat and strode toward the entrance, running away from Adrian’s nagging.

“Felix!” Adrian shouted, displeased.

The boy named Felix looked back, but he was not looking at Adrian. He stared at Lucy and pointed his finger at the ribbon that tied his hair. “Thank you,” he said.

“What?” Adrian asked, but Felix strode out of the library with his long legs. Adrian shook his head, tired of his selfish behavior.

“I’m sorry, Lucy,” he apologized, looking back at Lucy. “He’s my twin brother, and he got work at home, so he arrived at the Academy just now. I’m not being rude to you, am I?”

Lucy shook her head at Adrian’s question. “It’s not rude. It’s just…”

It was strange. She swallowed the words in her heart.

* * *

Since then, Felix Berg has not appeared in the library again. Lucy also had an interview with the book club, so she had no time to worry about him.

The book club interview ended unexpectedly quickly.

Lucy was very nervous about what Adrian was going to ask. She tried to recall the countless books she had read.

Is he going to ask about the contents of a classic novel? He may ask about philosophy books or history books.

Along with these thoughts, Adrian made an unexpected request, as she recalled difficult classics, various philosophies, and history books.

“Now, Lucy, will you get up and move these books over there?” Adrian said, pointing to the books piled high in the corner of the library.

Lucy looked at it, puzzled, and then rose from her seat a moment later as she came to her senses. She took a large amount of books and went to the place Adrian instructed her.

After she had safely put the book down, Adrian said quickly, as she looked back at him. “Passed.”

“What?” asked Lucy, as if she had doubted what she had heard. “Is that it?” 

Lucy stared at him incredulously, but Adrian strode closer and held Lucy’s hands tightly. “Well, that’s it. Welcome to the book club, Lucy Keenan.” Then he added, with a grim look on his face. “Please stay in the library for a long time. Please don’t just leave.”