The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

MARIUS

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked Briant.

Briant seemed hesitant to answer, but when I followed his gaze, I saw that it was Blanche from the art club that he had noticed.

"Yeah, what do you mean, ’it is her’?" Skylark asked him as well.

Briant gave it one more moment of thought, let out a sigh, and then answered,

"Let’s just say that I saw her once when I was younger."

"Eh~ a childhood crush?" Thomas teased.

"I did not say such a thing!" Briant protested.

"Haha, if Briant had a childhood crush, we’d know about her," Alexis, who had just come to the dining hall, said.

I didn’t think it was particularly appropriate to gossip about a lady, so I was glad that Briant exercised restraint and refused to talk about her. However, the fact that Skylark was likely to join the art club and potentially spend a substantial amount of time with her made me curious about her too.

Just finding out the name couldn’t hurt.

"What is her name?" I asked.

"Blanche Belrive," Briant said, then added, "and guys, please forget what I said. She’s just someone I saw once a long time ago, and there is nothing else to it. I would hate to think that you guys think up some random nonsense about her."

That made Thomas giggle, a giggle that said, "If you say so, mate."

After that, we all got our dinner servings over the counter. But the dining hall was still rather full, and it seemed our group was too big for everyone to sit together. While we were looking around for a place to sit, Skylark exclaimed,

"Oh look, there’s a seat now at Blanche’s table!"

Indeed.

It seemed two people who were sitting at her table had just left, and there were Blanche and another girl—whom I now recognized was also from the art club, the one who was drawing a raven—still eating their dinner.

"Let’s go and sit with—" Skylark suggested, but then held back and asked Briant,

"Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe you want to sit with her...?"

"Come on, Leo. Don’t fall for Thomas’s nonsense. She’s not my crush, not even a friend. You can go sit with her if you want," Briant said, half frowning and half smiling.

"Heh, cool. Let’s go then, Marius," Skylark said and led the way quickly, as if he was concerned someone else would take the seat if we did not hurry.

Once we got to the table, Blanche noticed us first. She raised her right hand slightly, waved, and said,

"Hi."

"Can we sit with you?" Skylark asked.

"Sure," Blanche said.

There was a brief moment of silence after we sat down and started eating. With Skylark showing once again his voracious appetite, the raven-drawing girl asked,

"So are you guys joining the art club?"

This was when I realized that I was actually being rude—coming over and asking to sit with them, and then not making any effort to hold a cordial conversation.

I should have done better than that.

"I’m sorry, I’m Marius Valenkraft, and this is Leo Skylark. We talked to Blanche earlier at the club room, but didn’t get the chance to introduce ourselves to you."

The raven girl then blinked a few times and said,

"But that is not what I asked."

I felt stupid.

"You are right, and the answer is—we don’t know yet. I, for one, cannot join the art club as I have other activities I am committed to."

"I see," the girl said, taking a sip from her cup, and asked Skylark,

"How about you?"

Skylark stopped shoving food into his mouth, which was already too full, and took some time chewing before he answered—an etiquette he was gently taught by Briant some time ago. I was happy to see that Skylark remembered and adhered to it.

It meant we all sat and just watched him chew his food for five to six seconds, though.

"I think I will," Skylark surprised me with his answer, as earlier he wasn’t fully decided on it yet.

Upon hearing this, Blanche extended her arm across the table toward Skylark with a clenched fist, which Skylark understood immediately and reciprocated with a fist bump.

What an unusual way for a lady to behave with a guy she didn’t know well, I thought to myself.

Nevertheless, I needed to probe a little deeper into the members of the art club, especially now that I was here and had the chance to do so.

"Excuse me, if you don’t mind telling me—may I ask your name also?" I asked the raven girl.

"Liesel Gruber. Nice to meet you too, Marius Valenkraft," the girl said with an appreciative smile.

"Oh, have you heard about Marius before too?" Skylark asked.

"He told me his name just a moment ago, haha. But to be honest, yes, everyone knows Valenkraft," Liesel said.

"Blanche didn’t know," Skylark pointed out.

"Blanche knows nothing," Liesel said with a short and harmless laugh.

"Having said that," Liesel switched the topic and continued, "if you ever have time, you should still come to the art club someday, even if you don’t join us or draw anything."

I was a bit puzzled about this request—why would I go to the art club if I wasn’t drawing anything?

But then I noticed, from a side glance, that Blanche was giving Liesel an eye-roll that seemed to say, ’there you go again,’ which Liesel simply shrugged off and told me directly,

"You would be a great model to draw for me, and for Sebastian to make a sculpture of."

So that’s what it was.

I couldn’t exactly tell why, but I felt disappointed. There were many sculptures and portraits of the Valenkraft ancestors back in the mansion, and our greatest ancestor, the First Knight, even had a statue on this very campus. On one hand, it was an honor to be commemorated as a Valenkraft, but at the same time, I couldn’t quite take it as a compliment.

"Why, though?" Skylark asked, oblivious.

"Oh, it’s because he’s very good-looking, obviously," Liesel said, which threw me off completely.

This was not a kind of praise I had ever received before.

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