At the same time with Leon and the boys outside.
Leon's POV
"Damn those girls, acting so high and mighty!" Daniel bellowed as we moped outside the venue.
Raymond sank down on a bench, squeezing his knees to his chest as he gazed vacantly up at the night sky. "She basically told us to die and start all over again… Do we really deserve to be told that?"
Yeah, and thing was, I was already living my second life. Didn't love hearing that I might need another.
Cheerful music and laughter spilled out of the party hall. The three of us had fled the humiliating scene as the higher class girls and their servants cackled.
The girls from the general class had either glanced at us with pity or avoided meeting our eyes altogether.
How pathetic… "I'm fed up," I blurted. "With all of it."
Daniel started to say something but thought better of it, closed his mouth, and looked away. Raymond was silent, too. As Barons, we had to marry one of those noble ladies. We belonged to a house, and therefore we needed a partner of high standing.
If we didn't, the other nobles would treat us like pariahs. There's just something not right with them, they would say.
My dad married Zola because the risks of doing otherwise outweighed the misery.
If you failed to conduct yourself with the proper decorum, other nobles called your house uncivilized and barbaric.
If society cast you out, surrounding regions found reasons to justify launching war against you.
All of these dangers fanned the desperation that led to the situation here at the academy.
Daniel and I joined Raymond on the bench and stared up at the sky.
"I'm kind of disgusted with women at this point," Daniel confessed.
"I understand completely," Raymond agreed. "If we fail to get married before we leave, we'll be the dregs of society. Women just don't face the same pressure."
It wasn't as if all the girls at the academy were terrible, but proportionally, too many were. No wonder so many men began to resent their lives here.
"When I heard some guys get so fed up with women they turn to men instead, I laughed it off," I said, remembering something Lucle told me. "That was at the beginning of the term. It's not so funny anymore."
Daniel and Raymond nodded. The worst part about that was some of the women here enjoyed objectifying male-on-male romance. This world really was beyond saving.
Guy enrolls → Girls are awful to him so he starts to hate them → He turns to men for basic human companionship → The fujoshi rejoice.
Rinse and repeat in a vicious cycle created by women. You might even call girls like that…cyclepaths. Get it? Because they're crazy and… No? Okay, well, I thought it was funny.
Soon, the music inside the hall stopped. I checked my pocket watch, but it wasn't yet time for the party to end. Maybe the band was taking a break—but the laughter had faded, too. If I listened closely, I could hear someone…shouting?
"Hey, is it me or is something weird is going on in there?" I asked.
Raymond glanced over at the hall. "Now that you mention it, sounds like a ruckus."
"Want to go check it out?" Daniel stood up. "We don't even have to go inside. We can peek in from the windows."
Raymond hesitated. "Let's not embarrass ourselves any more than we already have. If they see us, we'll be a laughingstock. Although, I would like to see what's going on…" As we discussed how best to satisfy our curiosity, a girl darted out of the building. She glanced around, then spotted us and hurried over. I noted she was wearing a school uniform, but I didn't realize it was Olivia until she got closer.
"Leon! It's bad!"