Jane chewed her lip as she spoke.
“No. Even just working on the fjord will be complicated now, so I’ll tell you later.”
I think we had a similar conversation last time.
Was what I wanted to say then and what I wanted to say now the same thing?
“Is this a bad thing?”
When asked if it was a bad thing, she laughed bitterly.
“Maybe.”
I was anxious that, following Fjord, Jane might also be leaving my side.
“You’re not saying you’re leaving the academy by any chance, are you?”
“I’m not leaving the academy.”
“Then that’s enough. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting.”
Jane’s eyes trembled.
“Thank you, Lien. And… Sorry.
I was distracted by the sight of Jane opening and closing her fist repeatedly, so I couldn’t hear what she said.
That habit was the kind of thing she did when she was faced with a situation from which she wanted to escape.
* * *
Lien ran down the hallway differently than usual.
Her face was reflected in the glass window.
Was it because I was out of breath, or was I flushed with excitement? A blush appeared on both of her cheeks.
Lien deliberately stiffened her expression in case Carsion noticed her excitement.
Today was the day Lien decided to visit a shoe specialty store after school with Carsion.
It was a trump card that Carsion, who saw that Lien had been in a down mood for the past few days, decided that it would not work.
His special move was effective.
Just the thought of going to eat chou took away a lot of her depressed feelings.
Lien moved to a place where students did not often go. It was to get to the meeting place a little faster.
It was when I was moving my feet so hard.
A familiar silhouette appeared in her field of vision.
A female student who at first glance seemed to have passed by at the academy.
And…
Fjord is kissing the girl passionately.
Lien stopped without realizing it and looked at the scene.
‘wow. It’s the same fjord I knew. After all, you can’t change bad habits…?’
The feeling of immorality at witnessing my friend’s private life was short- lived.
This is because I felt reassured to see that it was the same as before. Lien passed them carefully, muttering his footsteps.
No, I tried to pass by.
In an instant, Fjord’s eyelids lifted, and his dark green eyes met hers.
As soon as Fjord opened his eyes, he discovered a person he had never imagined and his eyes widened.
Lien was equally embarrassed.
Oh, uh….
“Sorry for disturbing you. I’ll get out of the way, so just keep doing what you were doing.”
That, Lien hurriedly left his seat. How long did it run?
Now was the time to slow down, thinking that it would be okay to walk slowly.
Fior, who belatedly followed Lien, stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.
“Lien!”
Even though Lien guessed that the owner of the hand was Fjord, he shrank as much as possible.
It was a reflex action.
Fjord, surprised by the rather loud reaction, quickly apologized. “Sorry. I was in a hurry.”
“It’s okay… It’s okay.”
Lien straightened her shrinking body and looked at him. Then I felt something strange and looked around.
He had left the girl he had been with somewhere and followed him. Lien looked at him with slightly blurred eyes.
“Hey you….”
“It’s wrong.”
Fjor urgently interrupted her, saying it was a misunderstanding.
“What?”
“What I just saw. Lien, whatever you’re thinking, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“What a misunderstanding…? You mean you like that girl? Or are you playing with it?”
Fjord was speechless and could not say anything.
“I’m sorry that I happened to witness that scene. But I won’t interfere with your private life. Don’t worry.”
You don’t meddle in your private life.
Lien seemed completely unconcerned that he was kissing another female student.
The tone was as if it had something to do with him.
For some reason, those words pierced my heart like a dagger.
“But I’m curious. You’re saying you won’t date someone you don’t like anymore?”
“…I’m going to get married.”
Lien thought it was unexpected.
Of course, I thought it was a casual relationship, but I didn’t know that I had feelings for him to the point of thinking about marriage.
But at the same time, I had doubts.
“Then why are you making excuses to me, Fjord? What misunderstanding do you want to clear up?”
When the question came up, Fjord kept his mouth shut again.
There was nothing else to do but clear up misunderstandings. Chasing Lien was just an instinctive action.
Because I felt like it had to be that way.
The words that followed a while later contained emotions that even he didn’t know about.
“I know. What misunderstanding did I want to clear up?”
Fjord laughed self-deprecatingly and left the place. It was a step that seemed empty.
In fact, he has never had relationships with daughters of truly powerful families.
Because there could be repercussions for me.
He only dated women from families he could reasonably benefit from.
However, the young lady he was dating this time was the precious daughter of a marquis family that was currently booming in business.
What I said to Lien was not a lie. This time, I really planned to get married.
Only then can I borrow the power of her family.
I can stand up to my brother.
In any case, arranged marriages were widespread in aristocratic society. In some ways, it was just a matter of moving forward a little, but it was a future that would not change.
But why do I feel like I am going down this wrong path?
Is it because of the guilt of tricking an innocent person and taking advantage of their heart?
But it was something I had done countless times. There was no way the guilt would be so great now.
Suddenly, I remembered Lien calling me an unburnable trash.
After some time passed, it seems that the nickname was upgraded to Burning Garbage.
The mischievous smile on his face, abbreviating it to “Ansu” or “Tatsu,” was still vivid.
She was right. He was trash.
Maybe he wanted to remain a good person to Lien. When I thought about it, I felt miserable like this. ‘What can I do if I remain a good person?’
Even so, nothing comes back to you.
* * *
“Kaon. We are in completely different classes, but if someone saw us, wouldn’t they think we were in the same class?”
“are you okay.” “I’m not okay.”
We were fighting in the middle of the training ground. That too during regular class hours.
This is because the timetable has not yet been confirmed and overlaps with Carsion’s class.
As he was glued next to me, his eyes kept focusing on us.
It would have been better if it were only Carsion. Even the coon was wandering around me, pretending not to be there.
“Kaon. Go to your class.”
When I spoke firmly, Kun spoke with a triumphant look on his face.
“Didn’t you hear? Won’t Lien tell you to go?”
Carsion did not even listen to Kun’s words and spoke to me as if pleading.
“It’s not common to see each other like this during class. Are you really going to kick me out?”
“If it wasn’t during class time, at least they wouldn’t have kicked me out.” I raised one eyebrow. This time it was Kun.
“Kun, don’t mess around with me and do your own thing.”
“Isn’t it free time?”
“I’m uncomfortable with all the attention because of you, so please get away from me.”
Then Kun lowered the corners of his mouth as if he was shocked.
On the contrary, Carsion raised one corner of his mouth and looked at Kun with a sneer.
“Even though we are in the same class, some people are told to leave because they feel uncomfortable.”
“But isn’t Carsion not much different from me in receiving the banquet order?”
“Yes, try your best to win mentally.”
I watched their childish argument, then held Jane’s hand and moved to a corner of the gym.
Just because Carsion and Kun are not around me, my attention will be greatly diverted.
…I thought so, but Carsion began to look at me obsessively from a distance.
As Carsion watched something intently, the other children followed his gaze.
In the end, the last person the gaze turned to was me. There’s no point in dropping it like this.
I pressed my eyebrows and looked at Carsion. I was thinking of telling
him to look away.
When we made eye contact, he smiled broadly and waved his hand.
Its owner, I burst into laughter, forgetting that I had even thought about paying attention to it just now.
I felt like I lost this time.
How can I say something to such a bright face?
It was a big deal because Carsion’s beauty scene seemed to be working better these days.
“I guess I’ll have to practice spitting on smiling faces soon.” “Oh! I’m good at that!”
Jane, who heard the random self-talk, became excited and offered to be her practice partner.
I had to calm her down by telling her it was a joke. Well, who knew that was Jane’s organ?
While talking about various things with Jane, who had become calm, my eyes suddenly fell on Fjord.
Carsion and the Fjord Peninsula were given free time to do whatever exercise they wanted to do.
Fjord was sparring with the children around him with a blunt sword made for training.
As a swordsman major, it was my first time seeing him properly wield a sword.
I tapped Jane.
“The fjord. Don’t you think the sword suits you surprisingly well?” “Huh. It looks pretty on the outside, but it’s really strange.”
Holding the sword, he looked as free as a fish in water. Joy was evident from his face.
I should have looked into it from the time he treated his sword with care in the club room as if it were his life.
The feeling was completely different from studying as a habit.
It seemed like he was so blinded by revenge that he didn’t know what he really wanted.
Come to think of it, Fjord said last time that there was no need for the position of marquis.
If that’s the case, it’s clear that he got to this point just because of his anger towards his brother.
It was the same with marriage.
When I witnessed Fior’s private life, I was so shocked that I couldn’t make a proper decision. But now that I think about it, it was obvious.
Fjord didn’t like the girl. He probably approached her with the aim of gaining power or money from her family.
I had a doubt.
After dedicating his life to avenge his brother, what is left for Fjord?
I slowly closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, it was with a sigh.
“It’s foolish.”
I don’t think it’s something I should say as I’m stuck in the past.
At that time, Jane nudged my side as if she had discovered something. “Lien, look over there. He’s the one who told me I had to be careful.” Naturally, I looked at the place she pointed with her chin.
