Don’t Tame It [Novel]

6.

For a brief moment, Leticia covered her mouth with both hands. A second later, she wore a smile as radiant as a flower in full bloom, her voice flushed with excitement.

“I had the honor of meeting Your Grace two years ago. At a banquet in the capital.”

“Is that so? How remiss of me not to remember such a beautiful lady. Please forgive my oversight.”

“Oh, no. There were so many people greeting Your Grace back then. I’d estimate there were well over a hundred.”

“I shall not forget this time, Miss Rios.”

“!”

Leticia’s cheeks turned as red as a boiled octopus. Count Rodri, seated beside her, gave a subtle nudge as if to signal that it was time to leave.

Just as the Baron and his wife were about to step away with expressions of deep reluctance:

“Baron Rios.”

Diego spoke abruptly. Baron Rios turned back to him, his face expectant.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“By any chance,” Diego began, sliding one eyebrow upward. “Do you know a Miss Irene Rios?”

“……Irene, Rios?”

Baron Rios swallowed, a short silence passing before he asked back, his face rigid. Diego waved one hand airily.

“Ah, never mind if you don’t. Since the surname was the same, I wondered if you might be acquainted.”

Diego shifted his gaze to the next noble in line. Just as Count Rodri was about to introduce them, Baron Rios replied in a dry voice.

“She is my daughter.”

Diego’s gaze shifted back slowly. He narrowed his eyes, clearly intrigued. It was because the expression on Baron Rios’s face as he said those words was as crumpled as a discarded scrap of paper.

When Diego glanced over, he saw the Baroness and their daughter wearing that same look, as if stamped from a single, bitter mold.

“This is getting interesting.”

“Pardon?”

Baron Rios asked, looking as though he hadn’t heard properly. Diego smiled softly. “It is nothing.”

Ignoring the noble waiting to greet him, Diego continued to address the Baron.

“I visited the Royal Medical College of Divoa yesterday and met Miss Irene Rios. She is a brilliant talent who represents the college. You must be pleased to have such a wise and sensible daughter.”

“……Yes, Grand Duke Cassis. If you’ll excuse me.”

Baron Rios, who had been straining to exchange even a single extra word with Diego moments ago, was the first to offer a farewell—as if he could not bear to speak of Irene for another second.

Is it not becoming more and more amusing?

Besides, human nature being what it is, when you tell people not to do something, they only want to do it more. Especially someone like Diego, who was writhing with boredom.

Diego opened his mouth with a deliberate smile. Conversely, the face of Baron Rios, who was forced to listen, gradually turned ashen.

* * *

Maxy stared at the top of Irene’s head with a heated gaze. If anyone else had been watched this intensely, even the most oblivious person would have looked up, but Irene seemed to think the book was coated in honey; she had no intention of looking away.

“Tsk.”

Maxy, clicking his tongue in a show of spite, finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Broomstick.”

The gaze that had seemed anchored to the page finally rose slowly. Her blue eyes landed on him. Maxy, feeling a prick of unease for no reason, sneered with a feigned, wicked expression.

“I take it you admit to the fact that you’re a broomstick?”

The emotion that bubbled up whenever he saw Irene was clearly anger. If it weren’t, there would be no reason for her to be such an eyesore.

Irene lowered her gaze again, her face impassive. To her, he wasn’t worth the effort of a response. Maxy raised his voice.

“When someone is talking to you, look at them!”

Students behind them glanced over, their expressions clearly reading, “Those two again.”

Irene sighed quietly and extended a finger, pointing somewhere. Maxy’s gaze followed it.

「Silence」

Only then remembering where he was, Maxy pressed his lips shut. However, unable to swallow the words surging within him, he pressed her in a hushed, sharp voice.

“Is it true that you turned down the Grand Duke’s offer? Don’t tell me you lied to me?”

“Why would I lie? I have never told a lie in my life.”

Maxy mocked her.

“Then is that why you shot your hand up when the Orthopedics professor asked, ‘Does anyone think there is a problem with my teaching method?’ Do you even know how tense the room became because of you?”

“I only raised my hand because the professor asked us to. It is inhumane to deliberately break a frog’s legs for the sake of a class.”

“Ha, and to think those words came out of your mouth—’inhumane’.”

Maxy scoffed and shrugged. Seeing Irene’s indifferent expression, his inner thought—*you’re the one who’s more inhumane*—clearly failed to land.

Irene added, as if providing an excuse.

“If the professor hadn’t asked us to raise our hands, I would have stayed still. I know at least that much. But it was the professor who told us to raise them, and that implies that if there is a problem with the teaching method, he intends to change it.”

“No, you’re wrong. Saying ‘raise your hand’ just means ‘shut your mouth’.”

“…….”

Every time this happened, Irene was secretly perplexed. She had been confident this time, but it seemed she was wrong again.

Perhaps, while Irene was lost in her own thoughts, the professor and the students had made an unspoken agreement, excluding only her. Otherwise, how could the command “raise your hand” possibly mean “shut your mouth”?

Next time, she decided, she wouldn’t let herself get distracted during a lecture—no matter how much the professor bragged about his wife, which had nothing to do with the lesson.

“But why hasn’t Grand Duke Cassis reached out yet? He clearly said he was looking for a surgeon.”

“You don’t know the reason?”

At Irene’s calm question, Maxy looked suspicious, yet intrigued.

“You know?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Grand Duke Cassis was interested in the student expected to graduate at the top of the class.”

With those words, Irene closed her book and stood up. Maxy stared blankly at her retreating back, his expression twisting a beat too late.

“What is that supposed to mean! Are you saying he hasn’t reached out because I’m not the top student?!”

But Irene had already left the library. Maxy, fuming by himself, only stopped when he felt the stinging glares directed at him.

Irene could not understand Maxy. She was generally indifferent to others, yet there were people who seemed to harbor a particular dislike for her.

The Orthopedics professor who gnashed his teeth whenever he saw her, or Leticia, who tormented her in every way possible, were examples of this.

So, she mostly avoided them. If she didn’t encounter them, problems wouldn’t arise. That was the best solution Irene had found.

Yet, strangely, she kept running into Maxy. Once, she had even shared her logic with him.

―So, are you telling me to disappear so I’m not in your sight?

She couldn’t understand how telling him it would be best if they didn’t run into each other outside of class—since they couldn’t help but be in the same lecture—translated into a demand for him to vanish.

Irene had suggested there must be something wrong with his brain and that he should see a professor as soon as possible. Naturally, those words only added fuel to Maxy’s rage.

―If I’m such an eyesore, then I’ll disappear! Don’t you ever speak to me again!

And yet, that very evening in the student cafeteria, it was Maxy who sat down opposite her and spoke first.

―Your personality is like that because you’re a picky eater. You should eat a balanced diet like me.

“There really must be something wrong with his brain. For Maxy’s sake, I wish there were a surgery department that specialized in the brain.”

Just as Irene muttered this to herself in a low voice:

“Miss Rios.”

Walking with her eyes on the ground, Irene slowed her pace. The only people who called her Miss Rios were the staff.

Sure enough, she saw the caretaker walking quickly from the opposite direction. His breathing was slightly labored, and he held out a letter.

“A letter arrived from your home. Seeing it arrived via express, I thought it might be urgent, so I was heading to the library. Since you’re either in the anatomy lab or the library, Miss Rios.”

The elderly caretaker gave a kind smile. Irene nodded once and took the letter. Her gloved fingertips trembled slightly, but fortunately, the caretaker did not seem to notice.

“Then, excuse me. Have a pleasant afternoon.”

Only after watching him disappear around the corner did Irene turn her gaze to the envelope.

Her eyes sank deeply. Without realizing it, she held her breath. Setting the book she was carrying onto the windowsill, Irene opened the envelope.

A faint crease formed between her brows as she read. Passersby in the hallway glanced at her, looking puzzled.

“What’s with the Iron Mask? Why is she frowning?”

“I know, right? What kind of letter is it?”

“I heard the caretaker say it was from home?”

“Home? Ah, come to think of it, doesn’t she stay at school even during the holidays? I think she only goes home once a year, at the end of the year? And that’s only for three or four days at most.”

“It’s obvious. With that personality, I’d hate her even if I were her family.”

“I suppose so.”

Irene ignored the whispering and tucked the finished letter between the pages of her book. Clutching it with both hands, she began to walk again.

Her face had already returned to its usual expressionless state. The students muttered, “Typical,” and hurried on their way.

* * *

Standing in front of the front door, Irene looked up at the two-story stone building with a high roof and quietly inhaled. Usually, three deep breaths were enough to calm her, but for some reason, even after five, her heart remained unsettled.

The cream-colored building before her eyes was the place where Irene had lived from the age of eight until four years ago.