[Just Before the Ball]
Waking up with a nightmare put me in a not-so-pleasant mood. It was the day of the ball, too.
But as the student council president I had to pull myself together and make sure everyone had a great time.
With that kind of determination, I entered the ball venue along with the rest of the student council members. We had got the venue ready yesterday, and all that was left was to wait until it was time for the event to start, but being the organizers, we had final preps to make, hence why we came here ahead of time.
By the way, the members of the Knights of the Academy came with us, too.
“—So, any questions?”
After finishing the explanation, we reconfirmed our respective tasks.
Once that was done, we went to do our work.
However, my eyes couldn’t help but move towards… Madeline.
“…………”
“? Is there something on my face, Barrett?”
“N-no… not at all.”
Not good.
That dream wouldn’t leave my mind.
In the dream, I—the original Barrett swung his sword at a frightened Madeline. Since it supposedly happened after the last chapter I read, I had no idea how things came to that. All I knew was… Barrett’s face was full of terrifying malice then.
Was he taking revenge on Raul for taking everything from him?
However, such a development… seemed to be far from what the fans of the original novel wanted.
It deviated from the story’s main theme of ‘reaping what you sow’. It was because the protagonist overpowered the villain the readers felt catharsis.
“Is it a plot twist? …No, no way.”
It was that theme that made the novel so popular with the readers that it was made into a light novel and a manga. There were even rumors it would get an anime adaptation. There was no way the author would throw away the story’s main selling point.
But in that case… what was with that dream…?
“Barrett? Are you feeling unwell?”
As I unknowingly lowered my head, falling into deep thoughts, Tayte shoved her face in front of me.
“! N-no, I’m perfectly fine. Sorry for worrying you.”
“I-it’s okay, as long as you are fine.”
I caused Tayte to worry unnecessarily again… I had to get rid of this bad habit of mine.
That said, I couldn’t deny that dream and the developments in the original novel worried me.
Well, at the very least, I swore to God that I would never do something like that to Madeline.
Only… why did I get that dream?
And did it have something to do with the ‘One Who Knows the Truth of This World’ whose identity was still clad in mystery?
…Not good.
I ended up falling into deep thoughts again. I had to stop.
I must focus on the ball for now.
After making the final preps, the girls left to wear their dresses.
Meanwhile, the remaining boys—me, Raul, and Andrei took a short break in the courtyard.
At that time,
“Lord Barrett, have you decided on what you are going to do after you graduate?”
Raul suddenly asked such a question.
“After I graduate, huh…”
In the original story, Barrett was ordered by the king to go on a journey… but I wondered how it would go in this world.
Would the king order me to go on a journey, too?
“You’re going to be a knight, right? Raul.”
“Aren’t you the same, Andrei?”
“Well, yeah.”
Raul and Andrei were having a fun conversation.
Raul was still all polite with me even though I had told him to just be casual… but he said he couldn’t because he owed me a debt of gratitude he couldn’t repay.
Well, if he preferred that, I wouldn’t mind.
After a while, we got word that the girls were ready, so we headed back to the dance hall. There, we found other students were starting to gather, too.
The ball was finally about to begin.
…I earnestly hoped that everything went well.
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