Chapter 49
The Battle of Aaron ended with Aaron’s escape.
“Aaah! My mate!”
Her one-time exemption from athletic hell!
Aaron, unable to resist the pressure of the Sperom twins and Pession, ran away, and Pession grabbed her as she reflexively tried to follow.
“Let go of me, Pession.”
“I can’t let go!”
“Let go!”
There goes her workout waiver!
Pession’s expression darkened as he read her obsession with her athletic exemption.
“Arellin, do you like Aaron that much?”
“What?”
“You like Aaron that much?”
“What do you mean, that.”
Pession said, looking uneasy.
“You’ve chosen Aaron before.”
What do you mean, when did I choose Aaron?
She shook her head, then searched through her forgotten memories, barely remembering that shehad chosen Aaron in a confrontation between Pession and the twins.
No way, this guy. Was that still in his mind?
There was something odd about Pession’s state.
Dark eyes and a pale complexion. His hands trembled slightly.
The strangeness of the normally confident Pession’s appearance was enough to make her cool down from her heated battle with Aaron.
“Is Aaron better… than me?”
Why is my logic running like this?
She just wanted to avoid workout hell.
“Uh…”
She used to a cheerful Pession, but she don’t know what to do with a guy like this.
What am I supposed to say?
She hesitate, and suddenly Pession interrupts her.
“No, don’t answer that.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t want to know.”
Pession lowered his eyes, his deep lashes fluttering in a melancholy expression. An unrealistic look, no matter how many times you looked at it.
“Arellin doesn’t like me, because…”
“I don’t like you.”
The words stabbed her in the back of the head. Words spoken more sharply than necessary, in an attempt to push Pession away.
‘I thought you were okay.’
She stared at his eyelashes fluttering anxiously, unable to say anything.
“It’s okay, I like Arellin.”
Repeating it like a mantra, Pession smiled weakly.
It was still a bright, melt-her smile, but somehow it had lost its shade, and for a moment she reached out to him.
“Pession.”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Hey, Pession.”
“I’ll be right back, don’t worry.”
“Pession…”
Her chest tightens.
She know he’s pretending to be okay, but she don’t know what to say.
She know she should tell him it wasn’t like that, but she don’t know what she can say that won’t hurt him.
“So…”
‘I told you you’d be unhappy with me.’
That’s all she can think of.
She so good at saying hurtful things, but she can’t say anything comforting.
‘Why am I such a mess?’
She felt a new sense of inadequacy.
‘This is why I’m an outcast.’
“Okay, go.”
She hesitated, let go of the hem of her dress, and Pession looked at her as if he wanted to say something, then walked away.
Looking after him, she gave him a dark look.
***
She looked back at her past life.
From her childhood, when she was touted as a prodigy, a prodigy, a genius, to the last Tchaikovsky International Competition she participated in.
Until ‘that day’, she had lived a life free of setbacks.
When it came to the violin, she had a natural talent, and that was enough. Everything else was taken care of by her mum.
“You just need to be good at the violin.”
All she lacked was.
Mum’s love.
‘Was that really all I needed?’
Mum clinging to a dream. Dad is clinging to Mum.
“It’s all because of you. It’s all because of you!”
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry.”
It was a common story.
A promising violinist suffers a tragic accident that leaves her unable to play the violin, and the cause of the accident is her lover.
They had a daughter, full of talent.
It’s a strange story that didn’t end in tragedy.
“You don’t need to know anything.”
“All you know how to do is play the violin, and that’s enough.”
“You won’t let your mum down, will you?”
“You won’t crush my dreams, like your father did, will you?”
Would she know?
How much I struggled not to disappoint her?
Maybe she did, secretly, as she practiced, strived, and tried so desperately to make it.
Maybe she didn’t actually love me.
It wasn’t me she loved, but the daughter who would make her dreams come true.
If she wasn’t a genius, she could be abandoned at any moment.
The first failure, the first setback, the first disappointment.
Her mum, as expected, abandoned her without mercy.
And she never looked back.
“…haha.”
She thought at least once, her mum look back.
“I thought I was loved as a daughter, at least a little bit.”
She was nothing.
What’s the point of all that now, when it’s all over?
It wasn’t until she was abandoned that she realized what a mess she was.
The only thing she knew how to do was play the violin, and without it, she was nothing, so she turned away because she didn’t like herself, and she became even more of a mess.
But her mum and dad didn’t look back.
The first thing she saw was a novel.
Now she’s reincarnated in that novel.
“Well, you never know what’s going to happen to people.”
She was sighing heavily when suddenly someone stopped in front of her.
What was that?
“Hmph.”
“Humph.”
Sperom’s Little Devil.
Pure evil spoke to her.
“Arellirin, don’t you have something to tell us?”
***
She thought for a moment.
She wondered how she had ended up in the palace.
‘I came to join a collection meeting.’
Ultimately, she came to make friends. To make friends and escape the exercise hell that punishes anyone who doesn’t walk at least two thousand steps.
‘But how did I end up here?’
She glanced around.
She didn’t see any potential ‘friends’ in sight.
The stares on her cheeks stung.
‘All this dripping jealousy and envy. It’s so familiar, so comfortable.’
Still, she think there used to be a kid or two who would somehow stay with her and try to catch Pession’s eye.
For some reason, no one approached her anymore.
“Why?”
Should she play with the twins, the only ones who would play with her?
‘I guess if they’re twins, they’ll be willing to be friends.’
But that’s a terrible idea.
Instead of hanging out with the twins, she’d rather work out with Pession.
Even if it hurts!
Even if you’re depressed!
You don’t have to worry about having a heart attack because something’s going to happen!
‘Ha, I’ll just go back home.’
She thought everything would be fine once she got out.
“So, Arellirin, what do you have in mind for us?”
“I mean, Arellirin. We’re about to get sad.”
“Oh, I got distracted.”
Sperom’s twin cried. Blatant fake tears.
“Arelliririn, are you abandoning us?”
“Are you messing with us, Arellirin?”
“Cut the crap and say something.”
She was being chased around by the twins Ciel and Noel, who were shouting at her for being cold.
“If you don’t have anything to say, I’m just leaving?!”
As soon as she got her escape angle, Ciel and Noel surrounded her and started flashing conspiratorial smiles.
“Hoo-hoo. So this is what it comes down to, Arellirin.”
“That’s what it came down to, fufufufu.”
What’s wrong with these guys, have they been eating badly?
“What is it?”
“I’m afraid we can’t help it.”
“What?”
“I know what you’re trying to do.”
“No, how?”
Had I told the twins about the Friend Shield?
Noel and Ciel laughed heartily as she blinked in surprise.
“You’re trying to be His Majesty’s best friend, aren’t you?”
“You mean you want to be recognized as His Highness’s best friend!”
“To…”
The twins smirked, as if they couldn’t see her strangely flustered reaction.
“Then we are!”
“I’m assuming you want to be recognized by the twin!”
“We’ll start the test now.”
They say now.
“No, I’m not.”
