"Come closer. I seriously think I've seen you before."
"That kind of old-fashioned pick up line won't work on me."
"Those annoying scarlet eyes, it feels like it's on the cusp of my mind…"
He spread his arm to grab at my towel. I slapped his hand away.
"Seriously, this is the first time we've met. Stop trying to flirt with me!"
Appalled by my words, Hylli swiftly took his hand back. Seeing his disgusted face made me feel peculiar.
I must have moved too fast from my exaggerated, panicked movements. The towel on my face had loosened. I didn't realize it until then because I was too busy trying not to get caught.
When I moved again to avoid Hylli's hand, the towel covering my face fell to the floor.
My orange hair and red eyes were open for him to see. I could see the prince's shocked expression. It looked like he remembered who I was.
"As I thought, you….. Back then! That!"
He saw my face, then ground his teeth in anger.
"It was a disguise!"
As Hylli angrily stomped over my way, I turned back and ran.
Behind me, I could hear Hylli's angry voice. When the teacher saw me furiously running, they asked me where I went. I bumbled out an excuse about needing to go to the restroom and left the hall.
I didn't hear the students behind me muttering, 'Wow, she must have really needed to go.' and 'She must've been really nervous because of the prince.'
Hylli rushed after me, but thankfully gave up once I ran into the girls' bathroom.
I was so desperate to run away from the prince that I forgot to factor in my surroundings. After saying that I needed to go to the restroom, I didn't return until the end of class.
My first day of the academy came to a close, with me not knowing that I became known as the class poopy-pants.
"Where's orange hair?! Orange hair, come out!"
I hid behind some greenery and ate the donuts that had been passed out in the cafeteria. Hestia sat next to me, participating in this game of chase, sweat on both of our faces.
"Shushu, what's going on?"
"What did you to have the royal prince chase you like he's going to kill you?"
I had originally been eating with Hestia in the cafeteria, but had run out once I had seen the prince in the vicinity. Everyone had started screaming in joy at Hylli's appearance, but my face had gone pale. I ignored the students looking for orange hair and exited the cafeteria. I had told Hestia not to follow me, but she seemed worried as she followed me out.
"Shushu? I'm asking what's going on?"
I sighed as I responded to Hestia's barrage of questions.
"Your future husband candidate is making my life miserable. What should I do?"
Hearing my words, Hestia asked "Why would the prince be a husband candidate?" with a confused expression. Seeing how Hestia took my words as nonsense, I racked my brain for an excuse. Should I say that I'd trapped the prince in a palm-sized ball and made a fool of him? The magic tools that I had created were crazy enough, though, so she might have actually believed it.
I stayed there, thinking about how I could avoid the prince who was making a ruckus out there. Every time someone passed him by, he would ask the students to "Tell the long orange-haired girl with the dirty look on her face to come over here." I wanted to knuckle-punch his face, but held it in.
Hestia started to worry about long-term hair loss as she saw me tug at my hair in worry.
"Orange hair! I saw you running out of the cafeteria! If you want to return to your dorm, you'd better start showing yourself!"
Hylli had grabbed a wooden branch from who knows where, and had added his aura in and was using rocks as baseballs, hitting them into the distance.
Until now, he had a 100% hit rate. I…would probably end up like those rocks. I was adding meaning behind every single one of his actions as I looked at him from where I was hiding.
" *whine* ...Shushu, my legs hurt. Let's go back."
"Oh, sorry. You can go back. If I go out right now, I think I'm going to end up as one of those rocks over there."
"Okay. Then don't get caught and keep hiding!"
Hestia seemed to think I was joking. She immediately tried to stand up. It was right then that Hylli had hit his tenth rock with his tree branch.
Unluckily, the rock that he had hit was heading right towards where we were.
"Kyaaah!"
"There you are."
Hestia screamed in surprise. The prince walked over to where we were after hearing her voice.
Hylli had walked over to where we were, but stopped abruptly when he saw Hestia. She was already tired and now, after that surprise, her big eyes were wide with tears.
"...I thought you were orange-hair."
Hylli muttered as he saw Hestia.
Hestia looked at him and started to tear up.
"Oh my goodness. *sniff* You scared me. Why are you throwing rocks everywhere?"
Hylli had a perplexed expression his face. It was an expression I'd never seen on him.
"No, that's....I apologize. Are you okay? Miss, why are you crouched over, crying all by yourself?"
Even without recounting the original novel, I could easily tell that the circumstances of the characters' meeting had changed drastically.
Even if the story had gotten mixed up because of me, it looked as if the story itself had not changed much. Whatever then. If that's that case, I'm going to live how I want.
I couldn't believe that I was witnessing such a scene, even if it was because I was trying to avoid Hylli with Hestia. The fear within me had died down. I was intrigued. I watched the scene in front of me as if I was watching a movie. Wow, this was so fun.
Hestia didn't respond to the prince's question.
"…..I'll be on my way, then."
"No, wait. Hey!"
It looked as if the prince thought he had hit Hestia, who was crying all by herself, with one of the rocks he had thrown.
Hestia originally was a crybaby main character. She cried when she was surprised and when someone barely teased her. Not too long ago, she had cried about how pretty the flowers were. Anyway, Hestia was embarrassed by her tears and passed Hylli without another word. Hylli tried to grab her, but lowered his hand.
"Excuse me, miss. Your name, at least!"
The prince called after Hestia, but she had swiftly ran away from his sight. Hylli stared at her retreating back and stored that image in his heart.
In the novel, Hylli fell in love at first sight, so was that just it? I stared at the prince from my hiding spot in awe.
If that's the case, then it meant that the story's plot would progress, regardless of the location...it would be hilarious if it happened during an embarrassing situation.
It might be extreme, but if he met Hestia while he was pooping on the street, or something like that. Sorry, that's not as funny as I thought.
I imagined myself being executed via dismemberment for treason against the royal family and barely lowered my breathing. While I was busy thinking, Hylli sighed loudly as he stared at the dorms.
Then, he began monologuing like a main character in a novel.
"...How can a girl look so pure as she weeps? Her wavy pink hair lingers in my eyes. And within those long, plentiful eyelashes…those eyes look so pitiful that my heart cries with her."
I wanted to cry listening to Hylli's speech. What sins had I committed to have to listen to this?
"I wonder why she was crying alone in such a place. What hurt her so, for her to have such a fragile expression…."
Hylli picked up the empty yogurt bottle that Hestia was drinking off the floor. The scene reminded me of the prince picking up Cinderella's glass slipper and made me laugh.
He held onto Hestia's trash and leaned on a nearby tree. The hand that wasn't holding the bottle was closed tight into a fist.
I stared at the scene in front of me and paused in thought. I felt the urge to go up to him and punch him in the mouth to make him stop saying such weird things.
No, Shushu. He's a middle schooler. He just graduated elementary school. It's okay. He's at that age. Calm down, keep your head straight. Think of your younger siblings in your past life. LIke Saeyoo. Think of Saeyoo.
"I have never felt emotions such as these. Ah, my heart cannot resist. When I see her next, I promise to make her laugh instead of weep!"
I squirmed in agony and accidentally pressed something in my pocket. It was an honest mistake.
[Your audio recording has been saved.]
Within my pocket, a loud beep sounded along with a woman's voice. I unconsciously stood from my hiding place.
In front of me was a stunned and red-faced Hylli.
"...apologies."
I didn't mean to record your shameful past.
I heard a loud voice saying something behind me, but I ran as fast as I could into the dorm.
I went back into my room and removed everything in my pockets.
An empty candy wrapper from morning, a memo with something written on it, some crumbs from a snack, and...
"....huh."
There was a magical audio recording device that was somehow turned on.
I placed the round candy-sized audio device on my palm. It looked like I had accidentally turned it on in the morning, and the recording had saved when I shuffled around earlier.
The audio file was around ten hours long. I was sure that the embarrassing monologue was also part of the recording.
I edited the audio file by taking out the embarrassing monologue and placing it onto another device. Then, I added a function to allow me to name the file and separate it. I titled it, "The Prince's Shameful Past #1". Then, I raised the volume and listened to the separate audio file.
[...How can a girl look so pure as she weeps? Her wavy pink hair lingers in my eyes. And within those long, plentiful eyelashes…those eyes look so pitiful that my heart cries with her.]
The solemn voice rang loudly in the dorm room.
Hazel, who had just come back from washing up, burst into laughter as she patted her hair dry.
"Ha! Who is that? Puhahahahaha! Isn't that a bit too passionate? Hahaha!"
I turned off the audio coming from the device and grinned.
"Right?"
The smile reflected on my mirror was pure evil.