CH 24

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He slowly looked up at the source of the voice, but he was blinded by the bright light behind him, so Liel’s face could not be seen properly.

As Bion frowned, the clouds covered the sun just in time.

Thanks to this, Bion was able to clearly capture the darkened face of Liel.

He learned for the first time that a person can make such a scary face.

Bion looked down reflexively as he felt his murderous aura coming out.

Liel only rolled his eyes, turning to another student who had been talking to Bion a while ago.

Then he trembled and got up from his seat.

“I, I remembered something urgent…… I think I need to leave early. I have to leave.”

It was clear that Hamel would make him run 20 laps to the training ground if he got caught later, but it was more urgent for him to leave where he is right now than that.

So, Bion, abandoned by his friend, faced Liel alone.

“Senior.”

Liel sat down with his knees bent and called for Bion. His eyes standing on the same line showed each other’s faces.

“I asked. Was it purple?”

“…… Huh? Uh, uh…….”

Bion gradually became uneasy.

The fact that Liel knows Lucy’s hair color really means they’re friends.

“That’s right, then. She’s my friend.”

As if his expression he showed just before was an illusion, Liel smiled beautifully as usual.

But Bion, who felt the uneasiness behind his smile, had a hunch that something bad was about to happen to him.

“Y, yes…? I, If she’s right, tell her she’s right.….”

Bion stuttered as if embarrassed.

“I thought she was just chasing after you this time, too. It happened before too.”

Bion explained his position word by word.

The light in Liel’s eyes, covered by the smile in his eyes, showed for a while then disappeared.

“But why would you send her back?”

Liel’s head tilted sideways as if he didn’t know what to say.

“No, hey…. Of course it interferes with the training.….”

As he continued to make excuses, Bion’s pride was gradually hurt more and more and more. This is because the attention around him was focused on Liel and Bion.

Bion was dissatisfied with Liel, who was younger than him, questioning him in front of people.

“Hey. I didn’t do it with bad intention, and didn’t you treat people like weird people from before…….”

“I heard you talked to Lucy because she was your type.”

Lucy?

The first name that came out of Liel’s mouth, Bion took a breath.

Soon, he realized that Liel’s “Lucy” was the subject of this conversation and answered.

“My first impression was a little…….”

She was pretty.

He decided to talk to her, and he felt disappointed by the person she was waiting for.

As Bion blurred out the end of his speech, the smile disappeared on Liel’s face. He rolled his eyes slowly, looking at Bion’s right little finger.

Without that, he wouldn’t be able to hold the sword.

It was an idea that came to mind so suddenly that he didn’t know why.

Liel closed his eyes tightly to regain his reason. His bloodshot eyes have regained their original color.

Soon after, Liel, who slowly got up from his seat, concealed his expression.

“Actually, I have a chronic disease, but I left my medicine at my friend’s accommodation.”

A chronic disease?

Not only Bion but also all the students listening to the conversation with their ears open questioned Liel’s words.

“So maybe, my friend was trying to get me some medicine…….”

That’s what he prevented.

Liel continued with a troubled face.

“Did you have a chronic disease?”

Bion, who was still listening to Liel, asked with a puzzled expression.

His complexion turned a little pale, so he seemed embarrassed by Liel’s words.

“Yes.”

Liel nodded in a brazen face.

“What chronic disease? No, why didn’t you say that—”

“Why? Are you saying that I should be proud of it?”

Liel, who secretly dodged telling them the name of his disease, swept his hair with a frown like a person in a troublesome situation.

“I have to take medicine…….”

He murmured in a subtle voice.

Even though it was a small voice, Liel’s words were accurately embedded in Bion’s ears.

He sounded like he was in trouble because he couldn’t take medicine because of Bion.

One by one, their classmates began to look at Bion as if they were looking at a person with no sense.

Bion’s face turned red.

“If you had just left her alone without talking to her…….”

Liel frowned as he blurred out the end of his words. His face looked either angry or a face that endured pain.

But all those watching him thought Liel frowned to bear the pain.

Bion, who looked at Liel’s face, quickly rolled his head for a short moment.

Although the situation of being reprimanded by his junior was embarrassing and humiliating, he could not be brazen because he was right that he shouldn’t have intervened as a third party.

And that means—

‘So Lucy doesn’t like Liel, does she?’

Hope sprang up in the eyes of Bion.

Soon after, Bion opened his mouth with a bright face.

“Hey, I don’t even know that, and I’m really sorry…….”

When Biion apologized gently, Liel glanced down at him.

“What is it, your friend? Did you say Lucy? Tell her I’m sorry.… Oh, never mind. I would just meet her in person and apologize…….”

“That’s enough.”

Liel answered, clutching the sword he was wearing around his waist with a large hand.

A tendon stood out in his hand holding the sword.

“Yes, thank you…… Huh? Enough?”

Bion asked back with a perplexed look at the unexpected answer.

“Yes.”

Who doesn’t know what’s inside that filthy mind?

Liel snorted inwardly at Bion.

“Just remain a strange person in Lucy’s memory for the rest of her life.”

Kajik—

Liel’s words mixed with the sound of a sword breaking.

“L, Liel! Hey! What are you doing?”

At the same time, Rhode rushed over and grabbed Liel’s arm.

Liel’s blood fell to the floor with the wrecked remains of the sword.

It was because he grabbed the blade of the sword.

Before he knew it, Rhode, Bion, and the other knight trainees who were quietly watching them grew pale.

“I should leave early, too.”

Liel spoke in a sour tone. There was a strange madness in his eyes as he turned around without checking his wound.

꧁꧂

Liel, who left the training ground as it was, clenched his fist with his blood flowing in his left hand.

“Can’t I just cut a finger?”

When he thought of Bion, who was interested in Lucy, he felt nauseous inside.

Liel covered his mouth with his right hand and felt sick.

In the meantime, Liel cared more about his right ankle than the blood flowing in his left hand.

There was a feeling that something was pressing hard on his ankle.

Liel knew that it was the ‘snake’ that had been living under his ankles since he was a child.

It’s always been like this.

Usually, it was sleeping like a mouse without him realizing it’s there, but it woke up every now and then and bothered Liel.

In the end, Liel, who couldn’t stand it, knelt on the floor and pulled up the hem of his pants.

“…….”

The snake, which grew a little longer than last year, was twisted in Liel’s ankle.

Liel looked at his ankle with indifferent eyes.

At that moment, the snake’s head raised its head toward Liel. As if trying to make eye contact with Liel.

Despite the bizarre sight, Liel was not surprised at all.

“Let go.”

Liel commanded the snake in a low voice. Then, the pressure that was bothering his ankle gradually subsided.

Liel, who rose from his seat again, took a look at the bench where Lucy was, and soon moved to her accommodation.

꧁꧂

[Lucy’s POV]

Upon returning to the accommodation, I looked through the clothes scattered here and there.

This is because I had to move to the academy dormitory soon, so I thought I should organize my clothes first.

‘No, but the more I think about it, the angrier I get.’

Especially at the end, what? Stop me from getting dumped by Liel?

That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard this year.

“Why will I be dumped by someone who’s like a family?”

Knock knock.

When I was organizing my clothes by myself, someone knocked on my room door.

“Who is it?”

I thought it was the accommodation manager, so I asked who’s on my door with my bent waist up.

“Lucy, it’s me.”

“Liel?”

Why is he here at this hour?

I rushed to the door with a curious mind and opened it.

“Liel, it’s time for you to be on the training ground—”

Right…?

The smell of blood brushed the tip of my nose, my eyes automatically turned downward. Then, Liel’s left hand, which seemed to have been soaked in blood, caught my eyes.

I felt like my vision was going white.

“You, your blood……! Blood on your hands!”

Embarrassed, I pressed Liel’s left hand tightly with the clothes I was holding to stop the bleeding.

I was so surprised that my body trembled.

“What’s wrong with your hands? How did you get hurt like this……!”

I asked, looking alternately at Liel, who seemed like he had turned back to how he was when he was seven years old, and his blank expression.

“And if you’re hurt, you should go to the doctor. Why are you here….?”

Perhaps because I had never seen Liel hurt so badly, I was suddenly scared.

Tears welled up naturally.

“It’s not as bad as it looks, so I just came to see you.”

It’s not too bad?

It felt like a fever was rising to the top of my head.

When I glared at Liel as he kept talking nonsense, he burst out laughing.

You’re laughing at this situation?

“It’s true. My tendon didn’t break, and I’m just bleeding a lot.”

What’s he talking about?

I couldn’t even think of anything to answer because I was speechless.

Liel’s nonchalant attitude made me even angrier.

Even so, I didn’t want to push an injured child, so I held back my anger in my heart.

“More than that, I heard you came to the training ground today.”

I felt his gaze from above, and Liel asked me a question.

But before I could answer, Liel went on straight away.

“……Don’t do that from now on.”

“What?”

“Don’t come to the training ground.”

“…….”

At Liel’s words, the words of the brown-haired man who kicked me out earlier, crossed my mind.

“It’s a distraction from training.”

Did I really disturb you…?

Beyond being upset with Liel, my heart was flooded with sadness.

The corners of my eyes drooped unknowingly.

At the same time, a startled Liel stepped back.