Ruite was staring blankly at the snowy landscape when the library door opened once more.
“What are you two doing here?”
“Ah, Chester.”
Colin waved brightly at Chester, who had stepped outside.
He glanced back and forth between Ruite and Chester with a knowing smirk.
“Just watching the snow with Rui.”
Chester looked between the two with a somewhat displeased expression.
“Aren’t you two… a bit close?”
Chester’s face was uncharacteristically serious, but Colin remained beamish, seemingly enjoying himself.
“Chester, Rui, did you know? They say that if two people watch the first snow together, their love will come true. By that logic, does that mean Rui and I are destined?”
At those words, Chester’s face froze instantly.
He looked so shaken that even his pupils wavered.
“You really have a habit of saying things you don’t mean,” Ruite remarked, sounding entirely bored.
Among the three, Chester was the only one caught in a whirlwind of confusion.
“It’s just a joke. Well, I should head back in. Happy studying, everyone!”
Having delivered a significant shock to Chester, Colin sauntered back into the library.
Ruite moved to follow him, but Chester suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Wh-what?”
“…Watch it and then go.”
“Huh?”
“Watch the snow with me before you go.”
Chester’s voice was uncharacteristically subdued.
Ruite looked back and forth between Chester’s hand on his wrist and the scenery outside the window.
“You’re more sentimental than I thought. Did you want to see the snow that badly?”
Ruite chuckled and leaned back toward the window.
Chester stood beside him, his lips twitching as if he wanted to say more.
The two stood side-by-side at the narrow window, staring at the white flakes falling from the black sky.
The snow was falling thicker than when it first started.
If it kept up like this, it might actually pile up.
“To be honest, I don’t believe in that stuff.”
“In what?” Ruite turned his head at Chester’s solemn tone.
“What Colin said about the first snow and love.”
“Ah, who would believe that? If that were true, look over there—would Professor Harold and Professor Ned end up together just because they’re walking out there?”
Ruite burst into a small laugh.
Chester watched Ruite’s profile as he giggled, his own expression still clouded with dissatisfaction.
“What were you talking about with Colin?”
“Just about how fast time goes. And since we’ll have to do nothing but study in our fourth year, Colin said he wants to make good memories with everyone while he can. Since we’ll drift apart after graduation…”
Ruite’s voice trailed off.
“Why did you stop?”
“It was just trivial talk like that.”
For some reason, talking about life after graduation felt difficult in front of Chester.
“By the way, Chester, did you talk to your father about the Knights again?”
Ruite asked the question he was truly curious about to change the subject.
Back in the warehouse, Chester had seemed resigned to his father’s overwhelming presence, yet he had stated he wouldn’t give up on his own path.
He had even said he would choose for himself.
“I tried, but his reaction hasn’t changed. I didn’t expect to persuade him anyway. If he were the type to be persuaded, I wouldn’t have struggled this much.”
“I suppose so.”
“Ruite, what about you?”
“Me?”
“What are you going to do after graduation?”
Ruite bit his lip.
He couldn’t exactly say, ‘I’m going to put all my effort into getting you to divorce me and then think about the rest.’
Instead, he gave a conventional answer about taking the Mana User Exam and figuring things out from there.
“Well, since you’ll be with me… No, never mind. Just make sure you think seriously about your future. If you keep putting it off, you’ll regret it.”
“Wow, Nag Mode activated. I’m going back inside.”
If he had the luxury to think about the future, he would have done it already—if it weren’t for the massive hurdle of needing to be dumped.
It was exactly as Colin had said: time flew by.
The final exams of their third year passed in a blur, and winter break arrived.
Throughout the break, Ruite stayed holed up in his estate.
At one point, the Everhart family hosted a luncheon and invited Duke Callaway and Chester.
Watching the sheer amount of food Ruite’s parents had prepared for their son, Chester struggled to maintain his composure, which made Ruite burst out laughing.
After the luncheon, Ruite’s parents mentioned that he seemed to have grown much closer to Chester, but he brushed the comment aside, not wanting to think about it.
After the month-long break ended, Ruite officially became a notorious fourth-year.
At first, it didn’t feel real. His classmates were the same, and so were the professors.
He thought he might be able to breeze through the final year that everyone else dreaded.
That thought was shattered in exactly one week.
As soon as the new semester began, assignments and pop quizzes flooded in like a tide.
Practical lectures increased, and instead of the training grounds, they were sent to the academy’s monster-infested mountains to hunt relentlessly.
Every night, he collapsed into bed, dead to the world.
If the first three years were about ramping up study during exam periods, fourth year felt like one endless exam period.
The assignments were heavy, and the pop quizzes were brutal.
The scope of the curriculum was staggering.
Magnus once got scolded by a professor just for asking if they really had to study the entire range.
Having clocked into the library again today, Ruite finally understood why the fourth-years always looked like half-dead grey ghosts.
It wasn’t because they wanted to live that way.
Even Colin, who usually maintained a bright and gentle smile, now had dark circles under his eyes.
Ruite gave Colin a pitying look as he sighed repeatedly, then forced himself back to his books.
“Ah, I’m going to die.”
Escaping the library past midnight, Ruite rubbed his tired eyes.
“Hand in the assignment tomorrow… I need to start the Mana Theory report, so I’ll draft an outline… Oh, I have to go to voluntary training this weekend… Argh, I don’t know.”
Ruite stopped reciting his to-do list mid-breath.
He wanted to scream and ask if this was really how a human was supposed to live.
In the midst of his irritation, a sudden wave of fatigue hit him.
His vision blurred from lack of sleep, and he tripped while heading up the stairs.
Just as he was about to fall forward, someone caught him by the waist from behind.
“…It’s Chester.”
“Watch your step.”
“How do you look so refreshed? Are we even in the same grade?”
Chester looked tired too, of course, but he was in much better shape than the others.
His skin actually had a healthy glow.
“Make sure you get enough sleep. If you follow a strict plan, your body will adjust.”
“…”
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
Ruite stared at Chester with hollow eyes.
In truth, he was slightly out of his mind due to sleep deprivation.
“Nothing. It just feels like it’s been a while since we’ve talked like this.”
Since the new school year started, the atmosphere—even during breaks—was always strictly for studying.
No one talked because they had to use every spare second.
Even the practicals were intense, focused on real combat readiness.
There was no time to laugh and joke with the friends he had known for years.
“It’s kind of nice.”
“Huh? Ru-Ruite, what did you just…”
Chester asked for clarification, but Ruite was already yawning and heading up the stairs.
Watching his retreating back, Chester leaned against the stairwell wall.
“Sigh.”
That one sentence had washed away all his fatigue.
Chester covered his mouth with his hand, trying his best to keep his emotions in check.
He had been trying to limit his interactions with Ruite during the exam period, knowing he would react this way.
He felt almost resentful that Ruite would drop such a cute comment and disappear before he could even prepare his heart.
As Chester stood in the middle of the stairs fighting his internal battle, passing students glanced at him.
“Ahem.”
Regaining his composure, Chester cleared his throat and continued up the stairs.
There was less than a year left until graduation.
His goal was to graduate as the top student and pass the Mana User Exam with the highest honors.
Then, he would successfully join the Knights.
And that would be a stepping stone toward another goal.
Chester headed to his room with renewed determination.
He had intended to sleep, but he felt like he could study more now.
Thanks to Ruite’s words, he was wide awake.
From then on, time passed in the blink of an eye.
Graduation, which had seemed like it would never come to the students of the academy, was now right before them.
