Iris’s First Friend

Iris rose only after a late lunch had passed.

Fortunately, it was the weekend, so sleeping in was quite permissible.

Hania, in the meantime, had ventured to the men’s dormitory in my stead.

Without her, I would have unintentionally spent the night out.

“……”

Iris, once awake, remained quietly silent.

Then, she gazed at my face for a long while.

I faced Iris now not as Hanon, but in the guise of Vicamman.

Perhaps because of this, her steady stare felt rather burdensome.

“Ahem, ahem, Lady Iris.”

“Vicamman, ah yes, there was such a person.”

Ah, so she simply didn’t recall.

Indeed, Vicamman was hardly a significant figure to Iris.

Someone who had brazenly attacked her within the Demon Palace.

Nothing more, nothing less, I surmised.

And so, Iris regarded me with a questioning gaze.

“Why have you been helping me all this time?”

Vicamman was the one banished from the academy by Iris.

If anything, I should have incurred her resentment.

There was no conceivable reason to assist her.

Why had I helped her?

Faced with that question, I paused, silent for a moment.

What should I say here?

Several excuses surfaced in my mind.

But I resolved to utter the most honest words.

“One can’t always ascribe a reason to helping someone.”

I had wanted to help Iris.

I had seen her life and suffering through the Flame Butterfly’s perspective.

I wished for her end not to be a bad one.

And so, I had helped her.

That was my truest feeling.

I knew Iris wouldn’t understand with just that.

So, I conveyed words she could perhaps better comprehend.

“More than anything, it’s because you remind me of a younger sister.”

Iris’s eyes widened.

“……A younger sister?”

“Yes, I have a younger sister, two years my junior.”

Zenia and Iris shared certain similarities, after all.

Blessed talent.

Expectations from those around.

A mission to lead a collective.

Affection never felt from family.

All of this they held in common.

Seeing Zenia, Iris would inexplicably come to mind.

Perhaps, just as Iris treated me like family, I, unconsciously, had come to regard her as such.

‘Considering it, the order *was* reversed, though.’

It wasn’t a lie.

Iris gazed at me, her face blank.

Worried that she might not understand, her lips soon parted.

“…So, *I* wasn’t the older sister.”

Was *that* the issue?

In truth, I am older than she.

A position where I could only be older, both mentally and physically.

Iris’s face grew serious.

“Then, Hanon, no, Vicarman was the *oppa*.”

“Well, I suppose so.”

Hearing Iris call me *oppa* evoked a strange feeling.

Is *this* why men like being called *oppa*?

If I still held any lingering affection, this could have been quite a blow.

“Then, what sort of relationship do *we* have now?”

I had been acting as Hanon until now.

As such, Iris had consistently treated me as her younger cousin.

But now, with my identity exposed.

I’m thankful that Iris understands my true feelings.

If, by chance, she hadn’t accepted me, I’d have no complaints even if I were executed on the spot.

What should we call our relationship, then?

“…A symbiotic relationship, perhaps?”

A relationship where we help and support each other.

As I asked if that’s what our relationship might be, Iris’s gaze turned subtle.

She stared intently at me.

Then, Iris raised her hand and began to grope my chest.

Where is she touching?

Iris fumbled for quite some time, then spread her arms wide.

Thereafter, she abruptly lowered herself and buried her face in my embrace.

While I stared back, dumbfounded, Iris tossed her head from side to side and then looked up at me.

“No. *You’re* my younger sibling.”

When did I become Iris’s younger sibling?

It seems Iris desperately wants a younger sibling.

“Then, what about a friend?”

“Friend…”

“Yes, Lady Iris, you know by now that family isn’t the only answer.”

Iris had clung to the idea of family because she lacked an equal relationship.

She was always in a position to lead people.

Or, as with Cheonhye Gong, only a handful of superiors.

With family, she could maintain an equal relationship without worrying about such things.

Iris had believed that and clung to family.

But facing the real Hanon, she must have realized it.

That even with true family, an equal relationship doesn’t exist.

“I may not look it, but I’m quite brash. I’ve got the kind of personality that could make friends with Lady Iris in a heartbeat.”

Iris, who’s seen me from the side, knows my personality best.

A man who can barge into anyone’s life, no matter who they are.

Bicamun, the Bulldozer.

A guy who wouldn’t hesitate to throw a punch even at Ergo, the heir apparent.

If Iris is okay with it, I can always be an equal friend.

Iris, still in my arms, looked up at me.

Her ruby-red eyes were incredibly beautiful.

“I’ve never had a friend before, so I don’t really know.”

“It’s nothing much. Anyone can become friends as long as they get along well with each other.”

“I’m a princess, you know?”

“Yes, even if you’re a princess.”

It was a novel thing to hear for Iris.

And perhaps the words she had wanted to hear the most.

“Bicamun, you’re like someone from another world.”

She was striking the crucial point more accurately than I expected.

“So, you’ll keep coming here like this?”

“What I’ve been doing, is there any reason not to keep doing it?”

This is something I have to do, even for my own sake.

Because Iris needs to sleep well so the nightmare gauge doesn’t fill up.

I gave her a thumbs-up, expressing my active willingness.

Iris stared at me for a moment, then raised her eyebrows.

“So you’re saying you’ll continue to sneak into the princess’s chambers?”

“If you even joke about that, my life could be forfeit.”

“I’m not joking.”

The corners of Iris’s mouth were subtly upturned as she said that.

“Playing these kinds of pranks, that must be what friendship is like, right?”

“They’re spine-chilling pranks, though.”

“Good.”

Iris rested her forehead against my chest once more.

“Good.”

A satisfactory relationship, for her too.

A relationship that was enough.

And with that, Iris and I became friends.

“Well then, drop the honorifics.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Using polite speech isn’t really a thing in a friendship.

Iris’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.

Iris, who had never heard casual speech before.

Maybe that’s why she seemed to be filled with a strange anticipation.

I swallowed a dry cough.

It felt embarrassingly awkward, trying to say it like this.

“Uhm, Iris Highsillion…”

“You don’t attach the family name, do you?”

Right, I suppose not.

“…Iris.”

When I called her name, Iris smiled faintly.

A smile that held even a hint of decadent beauty.

“Yes, Vykamon *Oppa*.”

“You really intend to call me that?”

“I can’t help it with the age difference. But…”

Iris extended a long finger and lightly scraped my chest.

“When I’m in Hanon’s form, *I’m* the older sister.”

“…You don’t actually want me to call you *Noona* when I’m Hanon, do you?”

She only smiled, offering no answer.

This terrifying woman.

“Still, we’re the same age officially.”

“By family registry, I’m younger.”

Iris raised her hand.

Then, she firmly grasped the bandages of the veil I wore.

She had already seen me transform my appearance with the veil’s bandages.

As such, she knew of the veil’s existence.

“Now, transform into Hanon.”

And call me *Noona*.”

Iris was starting to blackmail me.

I tried to escape, but her arm had already seized me tightly.

I don’t know why she only puts her full strength into things like this.

Iris’s eyes gleamed like those of a cat that had spotted prey.

*Clunk*-

“Aigo.”

Just then, Hania appeared, bursting through the doorway.

Hania alternated glances between Iris and me, a deep displeasure etched on her face.

“So, while I’m gone, oppa’s having a grand old time with his new little sister, huh?”

Hania glared daggers at me.

“Becoming friends with Iris-nim? Not in a million years!”

“A million years is longer than even the Old Dryad has seen.”

“Don’t add reality to my theatrics.”

Hania’s eyes flashed, a venomous glint in their depths as she stared me down.

More importantly.

“Hania, you heard everything we were saying but deliberately waited before coming in, didn’t you?”

“Oh my, please don’t slander me.”

“I don’t think you even know what ‘slander’ means.”

“Ahahaha.”

As Hania and I faced off, Iris suddenly started laughing.

It was a comfortable, disarming sound, and we both stopped our bickering, finding ourselves smiling along with her.

A newly formed friendship with Iris.

I couldn’t say what the future held for this budding connection.

But today, I had become Iris’s first friend.

* * *

That weekend, after becoming friends with Iris,

I managed to escape the girls’ dormitory with both Iris and Hania unscathed.

Although I missed morning practice, I headed out for the afternoon session.

With the Winter Magic Duel drawing near, I wanted to master the embers of Ash Flame.

‘And who knows what might happen after that.’

I had to get stronger, even just a little, to advance through the scenario.

It was then, as I approached the training hall,

that I saw a crowd of students milling around outside.

Why were so many people gathered here on the weekend?

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, Hanon.”

I walked over and asked, and one of the students recognized me.

He was from the martial arts department, and he looked at me with a troubled expression, glancing at the training hall.

“It’s about Seron.”

“Seron?”

My eyes widened at the unexpected name.

I pushed my way through the throng of students and entered the training hall.

Soon, I spotted a girl.

Sweat beaded on her brow beneath her fiery red hair.

She looked utterly exhausted.

It wasn’t just that, though.

Seron’s axe-wielding hands were a bloody, chaotic mess.

Anyone could see she was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

Before her, the students she’d been training with sat slumped, utterly spent.

I panicked at the sight and cried out,

“Seron!”

Her shoulders twitched when I called her name.

She met my gaze, a strained smile twisting her lips.

“Sweet potato Prince.”

With that, Seron’s body began to list.

I lunged forward, catching her as she fell.

Seron, so much smaller than me in Hanon’s borrowed form.

She crumpled into my arms, a ruined figure.

The fact of it muddled my thoughts.