Chapter Text 章节正文
Ichika always knew that Rin was clingy, sometimes embarrassingly so, especially since they were in the same class. He always sat next to him, ate with him, studied with him, trained with him, and they were basically with each other until they had to go to bed in their separate rooms in the dormitory.
Ichika 一直知道 Rin 很黏人，有时甚至到了令人尴尬的地步，尤其是他们还在同一个班级。他总是坐在他旁边，和他一起吃饭，一起学习，一起训练，基本上除了各自回宿舍睡觉，他们几乎形影不离。
Everyone knew that. Everyone has
seen
that. Meguru sat on Ichika’s other side and often accompanied them for lunch and dinner even though Rin shot him obvious glares. There were times where others like Sae or Ambrosia joined but no matter what, Rin and Ichika were together.
大家都知道这一点。大家都见过。Meguru 坐在 Ichika 的另一边，经常陪他们一起吃午饭和晚饭，尽管 Rin 明显地瞪着他。有时像 Sae 或 Ambrosia 这样的人也会加入，但无论如何，Rin 和 Ichika 总是形影不离。
In their second year (Rin’s first year), Ichika knew that weird rumours would start popping up. The school contained children of nobles and most were aware of their close relationship, but then there were others that didn’t know the extent of it. Ichika could ignore the whispers easily because Rin was able to deter them away with his sharp attitude, scaring those who dared speak poorly of him.
在他们二年级（Rin 的一年级）时，Ichika 知道奇怪的谣言会开始冒出来。学校里都是贵族子弟，大多数人都知道他们的亲密关系，但也有一些人不知道这种关系的程度。Ichika 可以轻易忽略那些窃窃私语，因为 Rin 能用他尖锐的态度吓退那些敢说他坏话的人。
Ichika knew that this was the opposite behaviour he should be aiming for but perhaps he was an opportunist with that so he could be protected.
Ichika 知道这与他应追求的行为背道而驰，但或许他是个机会主义者，这样他就能得到保护。
Even though he knew that there were rumours simmering in the crowd, he didn’t expect for them to have a
surge.
尽管他知道人群中流传着一些谣言，但他没料到它们会突然爆发。
“I heard that Prince Rin has officially begun courting Lady Isagi!”
“我听说王子Rin已经正式开始追求Isagi小姐了！”
“Eh? Weren’t they just ‘best friends’?”
“诶？他们不是一直说是‘最好的朋友’吗？”
“Do you
really
believe that?! Look how close they are.”
“你真的相信吗？！看看他们有多亲密。”
“I’ve always suspected something but they always denied it…”
“我一直怀疑有什么，但他们总是否认……”
“Does that mean that Lady Isagi could be the next princess?! Did His Majesty approve of that?!”
“这是否意味着Isagi小姐可能成为下一位公主？！陛下同意了吗？！”
How did these rumours spread so widely and so quickly? They hadn’t surfaced in a long time so Ichika was surprised that they returned when it was quite obvious that he and Rin weren’t dating. It’s not like they kissed or flirted with each other and there were no declarations of love. It must’ve been a case of people making it up again because they were close.
这些谣言是如何如此广泛且迅速地传播开来的？它们已经很久没有出现了，所以Ichika对它们在明显他和Rin没有在约会的时候重新出现感到惊讶。他们并没有接吻或调情，也没有任何爱的宣言。这一定是人们再次编造的，因为他们关系亲密。
They had to kill those rumours before they got out of hand.
他们必须在谣言失控之前将其扼杀。
“Rin.” Ichika began after class one day and immediately, it felt like the air changed as the once busy students that were trying to get out as quickly as possible, suddenly stopped, watching the two of them. “I need to talk to you about something.”
““Rin.” 一天课后，Ichika 开口说道，顿时，原本急匆匆想要离开的学生们突然停下脚步，注视着他们两人。“我有件事需要和你谈谈。””
“Sure.” Rin nodded, immediately standing up with his books. He smiled so brightly that even the sun would be jealous. “What’s up?”
““当然。” Rin 点头应道，立刻站起身来，手里还拿着书。他笑得如此灿烂，连太阳都会嫉妒。“怎么了？””
“Um.” Ichika glanced around to see their classmates listening in eagerly. They all tried to act nonchalant and pretended they weren’t paying attention but they were pretty obvious. “Not here. In private.”
““呃。” Ichika 环顾四周，发现同学们都竖起耳朵，急切地想要偷听。他们试图装作若无其事，假装不在意，但那副模样实在太过明显。“这里不方便。私下说吧。””
“Sure.” Rin nodded, completely oblivious to the watching eyes around them. Ichika and Rin walked out of the classroom in search of a location with little students. There were some that were still hanging around before going to their club activities or back to the dormitory.
“当然。” Rin 点点头，完全没有察觉到周围窥视的目光。Ichika 和 Rin 走出教室，寻找一个学生较少的地方。还有一些学生仍在徘徊，准备去参加社团活动或返回宿舍。
Usually, there would be somewhere they could find where there weren’t many people or if there were people, they would be a distance away so they could speak privately. It seemed to be a little odd day where no matter where they went, there were preying eyes on them.
通常，他们总能找到一个没多少人或即使有人，也能保持一定距离的地方，以便私下交谈。但今天似乎有些奇怪，无论他们走到哪里，总有窥探的目光盯着他们。
‘Why is it so busy today?!’ Ichika thought as he looked around, feeling a bit annoyed. He sighed, resigned to the fact that he’ll have to keep his voice a little quieter since there were so many around today.
‘今天怎么这么热闹？！’ Ichika 环顾四周，感到有些烦躁。他叹了口气，无奈地接受了自己今天必须压低声音的事实，因为周围人太多了。
They found a spot which had a bit of distance from the closest person. They shouldn’t be able to hear unless they were being particularly loud so it should work for now.
他们找到了一个离最近的人稍远的地方。除非他们特别大声，否则应该听不见，所以暂时应该没问题。
It was now or never.
现在是时候了，不能再等了。
“Do you remember when you first arrived at the Academy and there were some rumours about us going around?” Ichika began, hoping to jog Rin’s memory at how awkward of a time that was.
“你还记得你刚到学院时，关于我们的谣言满天飞吗？” Ichika 开始说道，希望能唤起 Rin 对那段尴尬时光的记忆。
“What about it?” Rin asked with a tilt of his head in confusion.
“这有什么问题吗？” Rin 困惑地歪着头问道。
“Well, it seems like weird rumours are popping up again.” Ichika answered, placing his finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose. “So if you hear someone talking about it, it’s best to tell them that it isn’t true so they can avoid spreading it around. People won’t believe me so I’ll need your help with it.”
“嗯，看起来奇怪的谣言又冒出来了。” Ichika 回答道，用手指和拇指按在鼻梁上。“所以如果你听到有人在谈论这件事，最好告诉他们这不是真的，以免他们继续传播。人们不会相信我，所以我需要你的帮助。”
Rin was quiet as Ichika spoke, the smile on his face was gone. There was a strange look in his eyes and his mood seemed to have shifted, lips pursing.
Rin 在 Ichika 说话时保持沉默，脸上的笑容消失了。他的眼神中流露出一种奇怪的神情，情绪似乎发生了变化，嘴唇紧抿。
“…is it really that bad?” Rin asked quietly, his eyes looking away. “What kind of rumours are they?”
“……真的有那么糟糕吗？”Rin轻声问道，目光移开。“他们传的是什么谣言？”
“Rin, you know what kind of rumours they are.” Ichika said as he crossed his arms. “They say that we’re courting and are romantically interested in each other and that our claim that we’re best friends is just a cover up to hide our relationship because your grandfather doesn’t approve of my low status.”
“Rin，你知道他们传的是什么谣言。”Ichika说着，交叉双臂。“他们说我们在谈恋爱，彼此有浪漫兴趣，而我们声称是最好的朋友只是为了掩盖我们的关系，因为你的祖父不赞成我低微的身份。”
Rin frowned at that. “Grandfather would never judge you purely on that.”
Rin对此皱眉。“祖父绝不会仅凭这一点就评判你。”
“That’s not the point.” Ichika sighed, placing his hand on his forehead. “But either way, we should let people know that this isn’t the case.”
““这不是重点。” Ichika 叹了口气，把手放在额头上。“但无论如何，我们应该让人们知道事实并非如此。””
“We don’t necessarily have to.” Rin replied with a bit of a huff. “Something like this should be fine, right?”
““我们不一定非得这么做。” Rin 有些不悦地回答。“这样的事情应该没问题吧？””
Ichika blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Ichika 眨了眨眼。“你什么意思？””
“I mean, it would help keep that bastard out of the way.” Rin answered, his flashing dangerously causing Ichika instinctively to reach out to his arm. He rubbed it before lowering it to his hand to hold. “If the rumours are so bad it gets to
him,
he should have some sort of decency to not touch you, right? Especially if you’re in a relationship with a prince of the country he is a visitor in. It’s practically declaring war.”
““我是说，这能让他那混蛋离远点。”Rin回答道，他闪烁的眼神让Ichika本能地伸手去摸他的手臂。他揉了揉，然后把手放下来握住。“如果谣言已经严重到让他受不了，他应该有点自知之明，别碰你，对吧？尤其是当你和这个国家的王子有关系时，他作为访客更应该注意。这几乎是在宣战。”"
“That’s…a little bit of an exaggeration.” Ichika said in disbelief. “It’s not like I’m Ambrosia who is engaged to your brother, the future king of Orentia. We know that I’m from a low ranking family now and you’ll be engaged to someone better in the future so having rumours circulating about us is pointless.”
“这……有点夸张了吧。”Ichika难以置信地说道，“我又不是阿姆布罗西亚，她可是你弟弟的未婚妻，未来的奥伦提亚王后。我们都知道我出身低微，将来你也会和更优秀的人订婚，所以关于我们的流言蜚语根本毫无意义。”
“It’s not!” Rin immediately raised his voice and Ichika knew that others could hear him. He rushed to hold both of his hands, rubbing the back of them with his thumbs. “What do you mean I’ll be engaged to someone better in the future?!”
““不是的！”Rin立刻提高了嗓门，Ichika知道其他人都能听到。他急忙抓住他的双手，用拇指揉搓着他的手背。“你说的我将来会和更好的人订婚是什么意思？！””
“I mean, you will!” Ichika pointed out matter-of-factly. “Doesn’t His Majesty already have a list of potential fiancées for you? Some of the rumours have been saying that it’s weird that you don’t have one yet because you keep rejecting them since your grandfather doesn’t want us to get married.”
““我是说，你会的！”Ichika直截了当地指出。“陛下不是已经为你列了一份潜在未婚妻的名单吗？有些传言说，你到现在还没有订婚很奇怪，因为你一直在拒绝她们，因为你爷爷不希望我们结婚。””
“I’m sure grandfather would be fine if I just ask!”
“我相信只要我问，爷爷一定会同意的！”
Ichika narrowed his eyes. This was getting further from what he wanted and heading towards the path of being Rin’s fiancé, which would eventually lead to his death. He absolutely could not let that happen. Even rumours were dangerous and peer pressure could impact the opinions of everyone.
Ichika 眯起了眼睛。事情正偏离他想要的轨道，朝着成为Rin未婚夫的方向发展，最终将导致他的死亡。他绝对不能让这种情况发生。即使是谣言也充满危险，同侪压力足以影响所有人的看法。
“Rin.” Ichika spoke quietly and firmly. “This is besides the point. We have to stop the rumours.”
“Rin.” Ichika 平静而坚定地说道。“这无关紧要。我们必须制止谣言。”
“No.” “不。”
“What?!” “什么？！”
“I said
no.”
Rin huffed, looking away. “If they’re loud and convincing enough, that
guy
will leave you alone. He won’t be able to touch you because you’re under my protection. The status of my best friend isn’t strong enough to deter him so we need to change it so he does!”
“我说了不行。”Rin 哼了一声，别过头去。“只要他们够吵闹、够有说服力，那家伙就会放过你。他不敢碰你，因为你在我的保护之下。我最好的朋友这个身份还不足以吓退他，所以我们得换个让他不敢轻举妄动的身份！”
“What—” Ichika stopped, completely baffled and speechless at his logic. Rin was talking about ‘that guy’ and even mentioned ‘that bastard’…
“什么——” Ichika 停了下来，完全被他的逻辑搞得不知所措，无言以对。Rin 提到了“那个家伙”，甚至还提到了“那个混蛋”……
Was he talking about Prince Michael?
他是在说Michael王子吗？
“A friend? So what? You cannot control your friends in such a way. They can make friends with others, and also can have lovers separated from each other. This will be the case for Lady Isagi and I.”
“朋友？那又如何？你不能这样控制你的朋友。他们可以与其他人交朋友，也可以各自拥有恋人。我和Isagi小姐也会如此。”
Did those words really have such an effect on Rin? Ichika just thought that was Prince Michael provoking him and wasn’t really serious. It had been a few days since then and he hadn’t encountered the prince since then, probably because Rin made it a habit after that to wait for him after he finished his extra classes so they would walk to dinner together. Ichika knew that he hated him but to agree to continue the rumours…
那些话真的对Rin产生了如此大的影响吗？Ichika只是觉得那是王子Michael在挑衅他，并非真心实意。自那以后已经过去几天了，他再也没遇到过王子，大概是因为Rin从那时起养成了习惯，等他上完额外的课程后一起走去吃晚饭。Ichika知道他讨厌自己，但竟然同意继续那些谣言……
“Rin.” Ichika’s voice was stern. He frowned. “Did you have something to do with the rumours?”
“Rin.” Ichika的声音严厉。他皱起眉头。“你和那些谣言有关吗？”
He felt his muscles tense in his hands and knew the answer.
他感到手中的肌肉绷紧，心中已有了答案。
“Why would you do such a thing?” Ichika hissed, trying to keep his voice down so others wouldn’t hear. If Rin was trying to amplify the rumours, he wouldn’t shut them down, they wouldn’t disappear, and all of Ichika’s protests would fall on deaf ears. No one would believe him if he said they weren’t actually courting because Rin was the
prince.
He could easily control the narrative!
“你为什么要这么做？”Ichika低声咆哮，试图压低声音以免他人听见。如果Rin试图散播谣言，他不会制止，谣言不会消失，而Ichika的所有抗议都将无人理会。如果他说他们并非真的在交往，没人会相信，因为Rin是王子。他完全可以操控舆论！
Rin mumbled something but Ichika didn’t catch it.
Rin 咕哝了一句，但 Ichika 没听清。
“One more time.” “再来一次。”
“I just mentioned to Reo that none of my potential suitors are as interesting as you.” Rin said, a blush crossing his cheeks. “Which is completely true. All of them are so dull.”
“‘我刚跟玲说，我的那些追求者没有一个比你更有趣。’Rin说道，脸颊泛起红晕。‘这绝对是真的。他们全都那么无趣。’”
“Rin, don’t say that about noble women!” Ichika scolded but he was more in the mood to scold Reo.
He
probably blabbed such a thing to his friends and in turn, they spread that around.
“‘Rin，别这么说贵族女子！’Ichika责备道，但他更想责备玲。他很可能把这种话告诉了他的朋友们，然后他们又四处传播。”
That troublemaker. 那个捣蛋鬼。
But more than anything…
但最重要的是……
“You started it!” Ichika sighed in exasperation. He released Rin’s hands and threw his head back dramatically, hands on his face instead. He groaned. “Now what do we do?!”
“是你先开始的！”Ichika 无奈地叹了口气。他松开了Rin的手，戏剧性地仰头向后，双手捂住脸。他呻吟道：“现在我们该怎么办？！”
“Well, we can just, you know, not make them rumours.”
“好吧，我们可以，你知道，不让他们变成谣言。”
Ichika snapped his head back and stared at Rin who didn’t have an ounce of shame on his face.
Ichika猛地回头，盯着Rin，后者脸上没有一丝羞愧之色。
“Like I said, it’s better to just use the rumours to protect you from him but if that shit finds out that they’re just rumours, he’ll go after you more persistently.”
“就像我说的，最好只是利用这些谣言来保护自己，但如果那家伙发现这些只是谣言，他会更执着地找你麻烦。”
“I can handle him myself—”
“我自己能对付他——”
“You said that last time and do you remember what happened?”
“上次你也这么说，还记得发生了什么吗？”
Ichika immediately shut his mouth, not pleased that somehow
he
was being scolded. Rin deserved to be scolded more than him but somehow
he
felt guilty.
Ichika立刻闭上了嘴，心中不悦，不知为何自己竟被责备。Rin本该被责备得更甚，但他却莫名感到内疚。
At Ichika’s silence, Rin continued.
在Ichika的沉默中，Rin继续说道。
“We should just make a show and go along with the rumours for now.” Rin said quietly as he crossed his arms. His eyes had shifted, looking at the closest students that were occupied by playing a ball game in the courtyard. “It’s a win-win for both of us. That poor excuse of a prince will stay away from you if it seems like we’re together. It’s already easy enough to fake such a thing since we’re always together anyways. The rumours started because of that anyways.”
“我们不如顺势而为，暂时配合这些谣言。”Rin轻声说道，双臂交叉。他的目光移向了院子里正在玩球的一群学生。“这对我们双方都有利。那个可怜的冒牌王子如果以为我们在一起，就会远离你。反正我们总是形影不离，假装这种事已经很容易了。谣言也是因此而起的。”
“You’re
the one that restarted the rumours!” Ichika argued, reaching to smack his arm but he caught his wrist just in time. “You want us to just…fake date just to get Prince Michael off my back?”
“是你重启了那些谣言！”Ichika争辩道，伸手想拍他的手臂，却被他及时抓住了手腕。“你想让我们……假装约会，只是为了让王子Michael不再纠缠我？”
“Don’t say his name like that.” Rin scowled. He pulled his wrist, causing Ichika to step forward, their faces centimetres apart. “He doesn’t deserve to have his name said by you.”
“别那样叫他的名字。”Rin 皱眉道。他拽了拽手腕，迫使Ichika 向前迈步，两人的脸相距不过几厘米。“他不配被你这样称呼。”
“Fine. By
that guy.”
He couldn’t very well curse Prince Michael like Rin has been so he’ll use something less derogatory. “You want us to fake dating?”
“好吧。就那个家伙。”他总不能像Rin那样咒骂Michael王子，所以他会用一些不那么贬义的词。“你想让我们假装约会？”
Rin nodded. “It’s the best way. He said I couldn’t do anything if you’re my best friend. If we’re officially courting each other, that should make him back off.”
Rin 点头道：“这是最好的办法。他说如果你是我最好的朋友，我就什么都做不了。如果我们正式交往，他应该就会知难而退了。”
“I really don’t think he’s interested in me in that way.” Ichika said honestly. Based on their conversation, Prince Michael seemed interested because of whatever Noel Noa did to transfer his powers to him and the fact that he has magic. It was just like Bishop Snuffy and Ego had warned him about and it could pose to be quite dangerous. If that was the case, extra protection from Rin would definitely be more useful…
“我真的不觉得他对我有那种兴趣。”Ichika 坦诚地说道。根据他们的对话，王子Michael 似乎感兴趣是因为诺埃尔·诺亚将他的力量转移给了他，以及他拥有魔法的事实。这就像主教斯纳菲和伊戈警告过他的那样，可能会相当危险。如果是这样，来自Rin 的额外保护无疑会更加有用……
It was logical but illogical.
这合乎逻辑却又荒谬至极。
He had to think which was the lesser of two evils: being taken away by a foreign prince who would want to use his dual powers for whatever he had planned, or to be under the protection of the future tyrant that will kill him in the future?
他不得不权衡两种恶行中较轻的一种：是被一个外国王子带走，利用他的双重力量实现其计划，还是受未来暴君的保护，而这位暴君将来会杀了他？
“Fine.” Ichika finally gave in. Rin was the best choice considering he wasn’t showing his tyrannical tendencies at the present. “But how are we going to convince anyone that what we’re doing is nothing different? We’re just friends and we have to fake our courtship?”
“好吧。”Ichika最终妥协了。考虑到他目前并未显露出暴君倾向，Rin确实是最佳选择。“但我们如何说服别人，我们所做的一切并无不同？我们只是朋友，还得假装谈恋爱？”
“People believe the rumours because of how we are anyways so it’s probably safe to just continue what we’re doing.” Rin answered. “It’s fine.”
“人们因为我们的关系而相信那些流言，所以继续我们现在的做法大概也没什么问题。”Rin回答道，“没事的。”
“That’s true…” Ichika trailed off. It happened in his second year after all and Rin didn’t even start the rumours back then. It just happened naturally because of how close they were but after they denied it, he assumed that their classmates had just gotten used to their closeness even with the title of ‘best friends’.
“确实如此……”Ichika 的声音渐渐低了下去。毕竟，这一切发生在他的二年级时期，而Rin 当时甚至没有散布这些谣言。传言的产生只是因为他们关系过于亲密，但在他们否认之后，他以为同学们已经习惯了他们即便以“最好的朋友”相称也依然亲密无间的关系。
“…but then again, everyone knows us for being best friends and if we don’t act differently, it won’t be as convincing.” Rin was thinking the same thing. He tilted his head, eyelids lowering slightly as if considering something. His voice lowered. “Then we’ll just do some small adjustments.”
“……但话说回来，大家都知道我们是最好的朋友，如果我们不表现得有所不同，那就不会那么有说服力。”Rin也在思考同样的事情。他微微侧头，眼睑稍稍下垂，仿佛在考虑什么。他的声音放低了些。“那我们就做些小调整吧。”
“‘Small adjustments’?” Ichika questioned.
“‘微调’？”Ichika 质疑道。
Rin didn’t say anything. Instead he stepped forward, their bodies closer, and leaned down. Ichika felt irritated that he had to do such a thing to reach him only for that thought to completely disappear when Rin’s lips touched his forehead.
Rin 没有说话，只是向前一步，两人身体更近了，然后他俯下身。Ichika 本有些恼火，觉得非得这样才能靠近他，但当Rin的唇触碰到他的额头时，这个念头瞬间烟消云散。
He couldn’t believe what was happening. Did Rin actually fall over by accident and his face hit his head?
No,
Rin would have fallen a lot harder and Ichika was sure he would’ve collapsed on top of him instead. The lips on his forehead were soft and strangely gentle. Something must be wrong because when Rin stepped back, his face was completely red.
他无法相信眼前发生的一切。Rin 真的只是不小心摔倒，脸撞到了头吗？不，Rin 应该会摔得更重，而 Ichika 确信他会直接倒在他身上。印在额头上的唇柔软而异常温柔。一定有什么不对劲，因为当 Rin 退后时，他的脸完全红了。
“L-Like that!” Rin said quickly. He turned on his heel, looking away. “T-Then I’ll see you after your classes. Don’t meet up with him again!”
“就像那样！”Rin 迅速说道。他转身背对，目光移开。“那我下课后见你。别再和他见面了！”
Rin ran off before Ichika could say another word. The image of Rin’s red face would stay in his mind forever. He had seen him with pink cheeks that looked adorable and sweet, but this Rin was a completely new experience. He had never seen such an expression on his face before and wondered if he was sick.
Rin 在Ichika 能再说出一个字之前就跑开了。Rin 那张通红的脸将永远留在他的记忆中。他曾见过他粉嫩的脸颊，显得那么可爱甜美，但这次Rin 的模样却是一种全新的体验。他从未见过他脸上出现过这样的表情，不禁怀疑他是否生病了。
Because Ichika could feel his own face burn and wondered if he was also just as red.
因为Ichika能感觉到自己的脸在发烫，并好奇自己是否也像他一样满脸通红。