101-23

Chapter 23

“Herwin, there’s something I want to ask you…”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Do you… happen to like Arista?”

Herwin, who she thought would answer anything without hesitation, faltered and instinctively stepped back. His reaction only fueled Lucia’s unease.

“Really… do you like Arista?”

“Me… like Arista?”

Herwin looked bewildered, unable to hide the tremor in his eyes. He seemed to be turning Lucia’s words over in his mind.

“I…”

Herwin frowned, and then his earlobes flushed red. As if realizing something, his brows lifted.

A faint thrill of emotion settled over his expression.

It was a look Lucia had never seen on him before, yet at the same time, it was achingly familiar—because it was the very same look she herself wore whenever she thought of Herwin.

That bubbling thrill, the fluttering heart that could never be hidden no matter how hard she tried—it was written all over his face now.

And so, Lucia felt utterly wretched.

She thought she had no further ground left to lose, but she had been wrong.

Shoved off an endless cliff, Lucia was drowning in despair.

Her heart plummeted as if it had stopped beating altogether. Her mind went blank white as she asked hollowly:

“…So you do like Arista.”

Herwin neither affirmed nor denied it. Which only made it feel like the strongest affirmation of all.

Lucia’s lips trembled.

“Why? What about Arista do you like? Is it… because she saved you?”

“…Lucia?”

Herwin’s voice held concern. He turned toward her, uneasy. Without realizing it, he shivered.

Lucia’s expression twisted strangely, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Though she forced her lips into a smile, her eyes were weeping.

“What is it about Arista that you like, hmm? Answer me… please.”

“Lucia, what’s wrong with you? Your face looks strange.”

“I said answer me! What is it about her?”

Even when Herwin tried to cut in, Lucia pressed with the same question over and over.

Normally, she would have instantly noticed his worry and care for her. But swept up in the whirlpool of jealousy, her vision had narrowed.

All she could see was him evading her.

“Don’t like Arista.”

“…What?”

“I said, don’t like her. I get that you feel grateful since she saved you, but Arista isn’t as good a person as you think.”

Lucia’s mind filled with Bianca’s words.

‘Lucia, look carefully. She doesn’t even care about that guy, but she keeps flashing smiles, flirting, and sneaking touches under the excuse of playfulness. Others might not see it, but I do. That’s her way of stringing men along to build connections.’

‘Friend? Please. There’s no such thing as real friendship between a man and woman. That’s just an excuse. Look, you like Herwin, don’t you?’

‘I saw through her from the start. She puts on a sweet face, but I bet behind people’s backs she’s gossiping and nasty. She’s cunning—she knows exactly how to reel men in.’

Ever since Lucia first grew wary of Arista, Bianca had been feeding her such negativity.

Before, it all seemed too absurd to believe. But now, those words felt frighteningly plausible.

And so, unable to suppress her emotions, Lucia began repeating Bianca’s accusations—her desperate attempt to sever Herwin’s interest in Arista.

But the more she spoke, the darker Herwin’s expression became.

At first, he was merely confused. Then his face hardened, his mouth clamped shut, and a furrow dug deep between his brows.

“…So Arista isn’t the good person you think—”

“Lucia.”

Lucia stopped mid-sentence. Herwin’s voice, sharp and cold at her ear, made her blood run chill.

Sensing something terribly wrong, she lifted her head. Her eyes widened.

“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”

On Herwin’s face was a faint scorn, the kind one might wear when swatting away gnats drawn to a light.

“Do you realize what you’re saying right now?”

The pressure radiating from him made Lucia stagger back.

“Just because I might like her, you’re slandering Arista?”

“N-no, I wasn’t slandering… I just wanted you to know the truth—”

“Truth? You think those words you spewed are the truth?”

His brow furrowed even deeper.

“You’re blinded by jealousy, tearing Arista down no matter what.”

Thump—

Her heart, which she thought had already sunk, dropped again.

“What’s wrong with you? This isn’t you. You hate nothing more than people who gossip behind others’ backs, who spread nonsense they can’t say to someone’s face. And yet… look at yourself right now.”

Herwin’s face twisted with pity. Lucia could not refute a word.

Because hideously enough, she was acting exactly like the very people she despised.

“I… I…”

“No matter how much you like me, that doesn’t give you the right to control my feelings.”

Lucia bit down hard on her lip.

“I’m disappointed in you, Lucia.”

The merciless words stabbed into her ears.

She stared blankly at him. He wore the same hard expression he reserved for strangers, and he wore it at her.

Something had shifted between them—something irreversible.

Lucia knew. Herwin was disappointed in her. He had raised an invisible wall, and he was now guarding himself against her, keeping her out.

She had been pushed entirely beyond the line he had drawn.

All her years of effort, gone in an instant, collapsing like sand.

Perhaps she no longer even deserved to stand by his side.

That realization pierced her skin and sank into her bones.

It was despair beyond words.

A single tear slipped silently down her cheek.

Herwin passed her without a flicker of emotion.

“Think carefully about what you did wrong.”

He left her behind without a single attempt to comfort her.

All Lucia could do was watch him go, unable to call out, unable to reach for him.

“Damn it…!”

On his way back to class, Herwin cursed through gritted teeth. His stomach felt twisted and heavy, as if clogged.

When Lucia had asked him if he liked Arista, he had only then realized the truth: that he did, in fact, hold special feelings for her.

Before, he had thought of her like Christine—just another close friend. But everything had changed after the encounter with the ogre in the mountains.

When he had been injured, he was sure he was going to die.

With his ankle twisted and unable to move, dodging the ogre’s attacks had been impossible.

If only he had mastered aura, he might have fought back. But Herwin couldn’t produce aura yet.

It was in that moment of despair that Arista appeared.

‘Herwin!’

Her shout thundered through the forest. Her blade erupted with violet aura, splitting the pounding rain and cleaving the ogre in half.

From then on, he could barely remember how he had escaped the forest—only Arista’s image remained.

That moment planted a deep admiration in him.

Not only because she had saved him, but also because of her sheer strength. He had been awestruck.

Later, when they spoke again in the infirmary, he thanked her—and promised to spar with her once he recovered.

It had been a long time since he felt that rush of competitiveness, that bubbling thrill.

Before, he had simply enjoyed being evenly matched with her. But now it was more—it was joy and excitement unlike anything before.

So this… is this what it means to like someone? He wasn’t sure. But he knew it was something special, something he had never felt before.

‘Arista isn’t as good a person as you think.’

Lucia’s words echoed.

What followed had been nothing but confusion and shock.

He hated people who carelessly slandered others more than anything. And yet, just because he liked Arista, Lucia had done exactly that.

And worse—everything she said about Arista was false. How could anyone even view Arista that way?

Her pale, trembling face replayed in his mind.

When he had called her out, she knew she was wrong—that much was clear in her eyes.

Her slander made him angry, yes. But knowing she was not normally someone to say such things made it hurt all the more.

So when she cried, his heart wavered despite himself.

“…Haa.”

He truly didn’t know how to look at her anymore.

Rubbing his tangled hair, Herwin entered the classroom.

“Herwin, why are you alone?”

“Where’s Lucia?”

Seeing him return without her, his friends looked puzzled.

“You didn’t find her?”

Bianca rose from her seat and walked over.

Already in a foul mood, Herwin’s frown deepened at the sight of her.

…She’s been hanging around Bianca a lot lately.

It was right after she grew close to Bianca that Lucia started to change. Could Bianca have influenced her?

As he stared at Bianca, her ears flushed faintly pink.

“W-what?”

“…Nothing.”

He had no proof—only suspicion. Still, Bianca had always made him vaguely uncomfortable, unlike Christine. Maybe it was time to pay closer attention.

“Herwin, did you and Lucia talk? Did she say anything… about me?”

Arista approached, her violet eyes locking onto his. For a moment, he froze.

“I don’t know.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Arista demanded he explain properly, but Herwin remained silent.

Creak—

The back door opened, and Lucia stepped in.

Her friends lit up at her arrival.

“Lucia, are you—”

Ethan tried to ask brightly, but the moment he saw her face, he fell silent.

Her tear-stained eyes were still swollen and red.

The group faltered, uneasy.

Herwin too was shaken inside, but he forced his face to stay composed.

“…Lucia.”

Arista called her name softly, but Lucia ignored her and went straight to her seat—right next to Herwin’s.

He stole a glance at her. She kept her head bowed, hiding behind her hair, then laid her arms on the desk and buried her face.

The atmosphere plummeted.

Everyone sensed it immediately.

Herwin and Lucia had fought.

Normally, when others fought, she was the one to smooth things over. But now, she herself had fought with Herwin.

That alone told them this was no ordinary quarrel.