Kecemasan itu hampir membuat Luna mengacaukan kompetisi protokol keesokan harinya.
Tema ujiannya selalu sama, hanya saja kali ini tesnya sedikit berbeda dan performa dibandingkan dengan milik semua orang. Memamerkan pemahaman yang tepat tentang etiket bangsawan, penanganan percakapan formal yang benar, navigasi situasi sosial yang rumit seperti biasa.
Luna biasanya mendominasi hal-hal semacam ini dengan persiapan matangnya yang intens. Telah dilatih sejak buaian persis untuk hal semacam ini.
Terlahir dari keluarga besar. Dibesarkan oleh para tutor yang tidak menoleransi apa pun selain kesempurnaan. Dilatih dalam setiap nuansa perilaku bangsawan hingga menjadi otomatis seperti bernapas.
Namun pikirannya terus kembali ke papan pengumuman. Kepada nama di sebelah namanya.
Ren Patinder - Luna Starweaver
Huruf-huruf itu menghantuinya. Mengikutinya hingga ke dalam tidur dan menyergahnya saat jam terjaga. Membuat konsentrasi terasa seperti berjalan di atas lumpur padahal seharusnya terasa sangat mudah...
Selama sesi percakapan formal, ia hampir menggunakan kata ganti informal padahal seharusnya menggunakan kata ganti formal. Sebuah kesalahan pemula yang akan menguras poin secara signifikan.
Ia menyelamatkan dirinya sepersekian milidetik, meralat ucapannya sebelum kata-kata itu sepenuhnya keluar dari mulutnya.
Penguji tidak menyadarinya. Terlalu sibuk memperhatikan murid saingan yang terbata-bata dalam menjawab untuk menangkap hampir-salatnya Luna. Tapi ia menyadarinya. Merasakan lonjakan adrenalin yang datang dari menyadari sebuah kesalahan sedetik sebelum bencana.
Selama demonstrasi etiket meja, tangannya sedikit bergetar saat memegang cangkir latihan. Getarannya minimal. Nyaris tak terlihat. Sebagian besar orang tidak akan menyadarinya meskipun mereka melihat langsung ke arahnya.
Tidak ada orang lain yang menyadari, tetapi ia mengetahuinya. Dan ia tahu bahwa jika ia dievaluasi lebih dekat, itu bisa membuatnya kehilangan sepersepuluh poin.
Sepersepuluh poin yang mungkin tampak tidak signifikan sampai kau bersaing di tingkat tertinggi di mana sepersepuluh poin adalah pembeda antara peringkat pertama dan kelima.
Ketika hasil diumumkan, Luna meraih peringkat ketiga.
Ren tentu saja meraih peringkat pertama. Karena rupanya meniru Larissa secara sempurna dengan skill miliknya memang sehebat itu.
Hal itu masuk akal jika dipikirkan kembali. Larissa adalah seorang jenius, perwujudan protokol. Dibesarkan di dalam keluarga kerajaan tempat etiket mencapai tingkat kerumitan yang membuat rumah-rumah bangsawan biasa tampak santai sebagai perbandingan. Setiap interaksi adalah kelas master dalam navigasi politik.
Dan Ren bisa begitu saja... menirunya. Mereproduksi pelatihan selama puluhan tahun melalui pengamatan dan kemampuan supernatural yang memungkinkannya meniru kompetensi yang sebenarnya tidak ia peroleh melalui latihan bertahun-tahun.
Seharusnya itu terasa tidak adil... Memang tidak adil. Tetapi mengeluhkan keunggulan Ren sudah menjadi hal yang sia-sia bertahun-tahun yang lalu ketika semua orang menyadari bahwa ia akan selalu menemukan cara baru untuk melampaui ekspektasi terlepas dari rintangan apa pun.
Liora telah merebut peringkat kedua, pelatihan seumur hidupnya akhirnya melampaui Luna yang sedang teralihkan.
Dan Luna di peringkat ketiga.
Posisi yang cukup dengan performa keseluruhannya di ujian lain. Cukup untuk mempertahankan posisinya di antara yang terbaik. Cukup untuk memastikan hadiahnya masih aman.
Namun Luna mengetahui kebenaran yang lebih dalam. Ia tidak berada di peringkat keempat semata-mata karena Larissa tidak berpartisipasi dalam kompetisi protokol.
Peringkat ketiga adalah hal yang bagus. Terhormat.
Sebagian besar murid akan merayakan peringkat ketiga dalam kompetisi yang seketat ini.
Tetapi baginya, itu terasa lemah.
Dan Luna Starweaver tidak pernah merasa lemah.
Sampai sekarang.
Ia selalu kuat dan kompeten. Mampu mengendalikan diri bahkan ketika segala hal yang lain berubah menjadi kekacauan.
Namun satu nama di papan pengumuman telah menghancurkan ketenangan itu dengan lebih telak daripada musuh atau intrik politik mana pun.
Dan ia membencinya.
Membenci kelemahan itu. Membenci kenyataan bahwa sesuatu sesederhana kedekatan terpaksa dengan seseorang yang ia pedulikan bisa merusak latihan dan kedisiplinan bertahun-tahun.
♢♢♢♢
Meminta saran 'menari' kepada Jeannette, Cassia, dan Seraphina terasa sedikit canggung, tetapi masukan mereka yang
The nervousness nearly made Luna mess up the following day in the protocol competitions.
It was the same exam theme as always, only this time the tests were slightly different and performance was compared with everyone else’s. Demonstrating appropriate knowledge of noble etiquette, correct handling of formal conversations, navigation of complex social situations as always.
Luna normally dominated these things with her intense preparation. Had been trained from the cradle for exactly this kind of thing.
Born into a great house. Raised by tutors who accepted nothing less than perfection. Drilled in every nuance of noble behavior until it became as automatic as breathing.
But her mind kept returning to the announcement board. To that name beside hers.
Ren Patinder - Luna Starweaver
The letters haunted her. Followed her into sleep and ambushed her during waking hours. Made concentration feel like wading through mud when it should have been effortless...
During the formal conversation section, she almost used the informal pronoun when she should have used the formal. A beginner’s mistake that would have cost significant points.
She saved herself by a millisecond, correcting before the words fully left her mouth.
The examiner hadn’t noticed. Too busy watching the rival student fumble through their responses to catch Luna’s near-miss. But she’d noticed. Felt the spike of adrenaline that came from catching an error a heartbeat before disaster.
During the table etiquette demonstration, her hands trembled slightly while holding the practice cup. The shake was minimal. Barely visible. Most people wouldn’t have caught it even if they’d been looking directly at her.
Nobody else noticed, but she did. And she knew that if she’d been evaluated more closely, it could have cost her tenths of a point.
Tenths that might not seem significant until you were competing at the highest levels where tenths were the difference between first and fifth place.
When the results were announced, Luna obtained third place.
Ren had taken first, of course. Because apparently copying Larissa perfectly with his skill was that powerful.
It made sense when you thought about it. Larissa was a genius, protocol incarnate. Had been raised in the royal family where etiquette reached heights of complexity that made normal noble houses seem casual by comparison. Every interaction a masterclass in political navigation.
And Ren could just... copy that. Reproduce decades of training through observation and supernatural ability that let him mimic competence he hadn’t actually earned through years of practice.
It should have felt unfair... Was unfair. But complaining about Ren’s advantages had become pointless years ago when everyone realized he’d just find new ways to surpass expectations regardless of obstacles.
Liora had taken second, her lifelong training finally surpassing a distracted Luna.
And Luna in third.
A sufficient place with her overall performance in other exams. Sufficient to maintain her position among the best. Sufficient that her rewards were still secured.
But Luna knew the deeper truth. She was only not fourth place because Larissa didn’t participate in protocol competitions.
Third place was good. Was respectable.
Most students would celebrate third place in a competition this competitive.
But it felt weak for her.
And Luna Starweaver never felt weak.
Until now.
She’d always been strong and competent. In control of herself even when everything else spiraled into chaos.
But one name on an announcement board had shattered that composure more effectively than any enemy or political scheme.
And she hated it.
Hated the weakness. Hated that something as simple as forced proximity to someone she cared about could undermine years of training and discipline.
♢♢♢♢
Asking Jeannette, Cassia, and Seraphina for ’dancing’ advice had felt a bit awkward but their "slightly more adult" input hadn’t been as useless as Ren had expected.
They’d given him practical tips. The kind of wisdom that came from years of formal events where dancing wasn’t just recreation but social necessity.
But now he had a theoretical exam. This week wouldn’t just be practice, but also one final exam in the mornings so he was on his way to the classroom.
And he wasn’t walking...
Ren ran.
It wasn’t the first time he’d fled from a group of nobles determined to "discuss the future" with him, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. But at least this time he noticed something different.
There were fewer.
Significantly fewer.
Where normally there would be two or three dozen girls pursuing him with terrifying determination, despite their protests that it was "just casual interest", now there were only... one. Maybe one and a half if he counted the ones who’d stopped to catch their breath three corridors back.
’Interesting,’ he thought while rounding another corner, using his superior stamina to maintain pace that would exhaust normal pursuers, ’the dance announcement really changed the dynamics like Jeannette said?’
Apparently, being publicly paired with Luna Starweaver sent a clear enough message for most noble girls to reconsider their... persistent attempts to capture his attention.
Most.
Not all.
The ones who remained were the truly stubborn. Or the truly desperate... Ren wasn’t sure which was worse.
He finally managed to lose them using several jumps. Now he used a light jump to blind them, followed by several less conspicuous shadow jumps that let him relocate without too obvious visual tracking.
He emerged near his classroom with sufficient time before class began, lungs not even burning a little and his stride steady from months of combat training that made running feel almost recreational by comparison.
He breathed in relief.
Too soon.
Because when he entered the classroom, he was immediately surrounded.
"Ren!"
"Patinder, we need to talk about..."
"It’s about you and Luna dancing! I can only imagine... What kind of dance will you give as the best duet according to rankings so far?"
The questions overlapped each other, voices mixing into incomprehensible noise that made Ren immediately regret entering.
He should have waited outside...
Should have known that a classroom full of teenagers wouldn’t let something this gossip-worthy pass without extensive interrogation.
But the group that managed to push their way to the front was one particularly... persistent.
Roran, with his smile that Ren had learned meant trouble. The kind of smile that preceded uncomfortable questions or unwanted advice delivered with aggressive enthusiasm.
Trent, practically vibrating with poorly disguised excitement. His energy threatening to explode into commentary Ren definitely didn’t want to hear.
And Jun, who at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed by whatever they were about to ask.
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