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Chapter 13
This is bad.
The date on the letter was already two days old. Knowing Adellind’s temper, she would have set out the moment she sent it. Considering the distance from Luxen to Viera, even if she took her time, she would definitely arrive within the week. She might have already passed through Viera’s gates by now.
‘No. If that were the case, Damian wouldn’t be here—he’d be there. She hasn’t arrived yet… but what difference does a day or two make?!’
She must be coming because she heard about the engagement. Then what should I do? What am I supposed to say…?!
Without realizing it, Tislin looked up at Damian as if asking for help.
“Shall we go together this weekend?”
That was the answer she got.
“No.”
She sharply turned her head away on purpose. Damian, looking troubled, spoke gently as if to calm her.
“Don’t be so angry.”
His hand slowly reached out and brushed across her forehead. With practiced ease, he tucked her messy hair behind her ear. It was the same hand that used to tie Adellind and Tislin’s hair when they were children. Though now it was much larger and rougher from harsh training and battle.
The memory of childhood softened her without her meaning to. She knew it was a problem that her heart gave in so easily, but she couldn’t help it.
“…Say something that makes sense. You have to go pick up Adel anyway. So how could you go with me?”
“That’s true.”
At the same time, his hand that had brushed past her ear fell away without hesitation. Only then did Tislin realize she had been holding her breath. If she stayed any longer, she felt she would be swept up again without an answer, so she quickly stood up.
“It’s late, so I’ll go now. For Adel… I don’t know, I’ll just buy her some chocolate or something.”
“I’ll walk you out. You said you don’t want to be seen.”
“If someone sees me leaving with you, that’s even worse. If I’m caught being here alone, well… they’ll probably just think I’m dating Arkin Ludera or something.”
She had said it half-jokingly, but Damian frowned. Tilting his head slightly with an unreadable expression, he spoke slowly.
“That’s not very pleasant to hear.”
It was the kind of thing that could easily be interpreted however one wanted. It almost felt as if he had said it on purpose.
In any case, she didn’t want to misunderstand anything in a situation like this, so she pretended not to hear him and held out his coat.
“Anyway, I’m leaving now. Don’t come out.”
Even after she said that, Damian remained leaning against the lounge door until she left the room and opened the door leading outside the dormitory. His gaze felt as if it were stuck to her back.
Afraid she might accidentally turn around, Tislin quickly shut the door and hurried out. In her rush, she hadn’t even properly checked whether she had taken all her books and assignments.
Only after sitting down on a bench beneath a tree near the Administration Department dormitory and rummaging through her bag did she let out a sigh of relief.
‘I brought everything. Nothing seems to be missing.’
There were many distracting concerns, but the assignment itself had gone well. For something they had suddenly met and finished without prior discussion, their research had been thorough.
Then again, the two of them were used to “doing things together.” Convincing Adellind to attend classes when she didn’t want to, comforting her when she was sick, preparing birthday parties… They had done things like that together for nearly ten years. That experience must have helped.
Tislin absentmindedly touched a few notes written in Damian’s familiar handwriting while feeling the cold evening breeze. Then she suddenly came back to her senses.
‘I’ve lost my mind. I got dragged in again!’
This time, she had done her best. The assignment was finished safely, and she had asked everything she meant to ask. It was just that nothing had been resolved.
She absolutely, absolutely could not understand why Damian was insisting on this marriage. She had thought talking would give her answers, but instead she had come away with even more questions.
But honestly, the reason didn’t matter. As long as it led to breaking off the engagement, that was enough. And the way to break it off was practically what Damian himself had told her.
“Justification… A justification that makes it impossible to continue the engagement…”
Finding the right justification wasn’t easy.
She didn’t want to cause a scandal big enough to disgrace her family. Nor did she intend to ruin her own life just to force the issue. Tislin didn’t want to marry Damian—but she also didn’t want to throw away everything she had built so far.
As she eliminated options one by one, there was almost nothing left she could do.
“Is that really the only way?”
While wiggling the one finger she had left as a possibility, Tislin suddenly remembered the new development: “Adellind Lux arriving soon.” She dropped her head onto her bag with a thud.
Whether she broke off the engagement or not, she couldn’t do anything while Adellind was in Viera. She didn’t think Damian had planned it that way—but if he had, it would mean he had struck precisely at her weak point.
So what should she do?
“Sigh… I’ll just finish my remaining assignments first.”
There was no other option. For now, she would have to push aside all these complicated problems and return to her duty as a student.
Tislin’s steps down the corridor grew faster and more unsteady. The moment the door closed with a thud behind her, she ran as if she had seen a ghost.
Damian watched her until the door shut, then turned back into the lounge. A half-finished mug and an untouched teacup sat there.
Though someone was assigned to manage the lounge, he cleaned up himself, not wanting to leave signs that he had brought in an outsider. Once the room looked as if no one had entered, Damian quietly stared at the seat where Tislin had been sitting.
It was a rare, neat, and bright space within the school. He had even heard that students from the Knights’ Department used it for dates with their fiancées or girlfriends.
That was why he had brought her there on purpose—but instead of softening the mood, it seemed to have only made her angrier. Honestly, he felt a little flustered.
‘I didn’t know she would hate it this much.’
Naturally, Damian had no idea that Tislin had only been informed of the engagement after it was already decided. Just as the Grand Duke had asked for his opinion before confirming the engagement, he had never once doubted that Tislin’s parents would have asked for hers.
So he hadn’t expected to hear her suddenly ask if he would break off the engagement the moment it was finalized. If he had known all that, he wouldn’t have insisted on getting engaged to her in the first place.
…Would he really?
He couldn’t say for certain—but such hypotheticals didn’t matter. He had no intention of breaking off the engagement anyway.
If it had been before the engagement was confirmed, that might have been different. But now that it was official, it was impossible to cancel it just because Tislin stubbornly wanted to. So it didn’t matter if she didn’t tell him why she wanted to break it off.
It didn’t matter. Even so, being rejected over and over again wasn’t pleasant.
Lowering his eyes, Damian replayed the earlier moment in his mind before picking up the coat draped over the chair.
Perhaps because he had briefly placed it over Tislin, a faint scent lingered on it. It was the same scent he had noticed at the back of her neck when he had wrapped an arm around her waist earlier. Now that he thought about it, the fragrance seemed strangely familiar. After searching his memory for a moment, he realized what it was.
“Adellind’s perfume…”
About a month ago, when he had briefly returned to Luxen because of the engagement issue, Adellind had proudly shown off a perfume she had struggled to import from Minorca.
She had hovered around him with an expectant face, clearly wanting to hear that it smelled nice. He had honestly told her it wasn’t great—and she had been furious. She had complained that he knew nothing, that it was extremely valuable, that his taste wasn’t refined… He remembered her spraying it onto his face in a fit of annoyance, forcing him to smell it properly. The scent now was very similar to that one.
‘So it was Tislin’s perfume.’
He had wondered why Adellind went to such trouble to obtain a perfume she had never cared about before. It seemed she had bought it after seeing Tislin use it. As he inhaled the sweet fragrance mixed with her natural scent, he thought he could understand why Adellind had insisted on getting the same one.
His mood softened slightly. Instead of putting the coat back on, Damian carried it over one arm and left the lounge.
