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Chapter 117
Adrian removed his hand from his forehead, glared fiercely, and spoke.
“Not going to leave?”
“I-I’m sorry. But…”
The student who had addressed Adrian immediately lowered his head. Yet he didn’t back down easily. Adrian spoke again, each word like a bite.
“If you know you’re sorry, then leave immediately.”
The students who had been hovering around him to leave a mark on his presence scattered abruptly at his fierce demeanor.
With the students who had blocked his path gone, Adrian’s full appearance was revealed.
His eyes, which had matched the color of his hair, were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Adrian’s eyes now glowed a vivid red, unlike before.
A few steps away, Stefan, who had been attending the lecture, watched him nervously and rose from his seat, creaking as he bowed his head.
“Adri… No, Your Highness, Prince Kaiser. I’ll step back now.”
Stefan carefully backed away, bowing his head.
He still couldn’t believe that the friend he had treated so recklessly for four years was actually the prince of this empire.
All the misdeeds he had committed against Adrian slowly flashed before his eyes.
The times he had bullied him, clung to him, or been defiant.
‘Why did I do that?’
Stefan felt like pounding his own head. Waves of regret washed over him. He might as well have been a dead man now…
A chill ran down his neck. He had to disappear from here quickly before Adrian remembered the past. Stefan swore never to appear in Adrian’s sight again.
Just as Stefan was almost out of Adrian’s view, Adrian’s cold voice pierced his ears.
“What are you doing? Right now.”
Stefan tried to act cautiously to avoid upsetting the prince, but it was no use. Adrian’s face was already twisted in menace.
To survive Adrian’s wrath, Stefan had to summon every ounce of politeness buried within him.
“Y-Yes? I-I was leaving because you told me to…”
“I wasn’t talking to you. Sit.”
Even after he was instructed again, Stefan hesitated as if ready to run, and Adrian’s discomfort became visible.
“Not sitting?”
“Y-Yes!”
Stefan lightly perched on the edge of a nearby chair, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.
“Drop the formalities and act like before.”
“Y-Yes, okay!”
Stefan’s eyes widened at the reflexive answer. He spoke again.
“So… does this mean you forgive me?”
As Stefan’s eyes darted around, one of Adrian’s eyebrows shot upward.
“Did you cause some trouble behind my back?”
Stefan hurriedly waved his hands.
“N-No! Trouble? Nothing like that!”
“Then what do you mean by forgive me or not?”
“I didn’t know you were the prince… I treated you terribly all this time.”
“So? Would it have made any difference if you had known beforehand? Just because I’m a prince, would I suddenly become someone else? Were you the kind of trash who treats people differently based on their status?”
Adrian’s eyebrows twisted. Stefan hesitated, watching Adrian’s expression.
Adrian was right. Stefan had been that kind of trash. Of course, most nobles were hardly any different, but the status of a prince was on another level.
He was the one and only prince of the Flannel Empire. If Adrian wished, he could erase Stefan’s very existence from the empire without a second thought.
No, perhaps even the entire Panteago family could disappear. And Adrian’s personality wasn’t exactly forgiving. Just moments ago, he had created a menacing aura that drove all the students away.
How could Stefan possibly treat Adrian as he had before?
Just as all the past misdeeds he had inflicted on Adrian threatened to replay before his eyes, Adrian let out a long sigh.
“Treat me the same as before. Nothing has changed. I’m the same person now as I was then. If your behavior changes just because I’m a prince, that would disappoint me even more.”
“So… you won’t kill me?”
Stefan twisted his body, wearing a pitiful expression.
“What are you imagining right now?”
“If I treat you like before, you won’t kill me, right?”
Adrian looked at Stefan as if hearing the strangest thing.
“Crazy. Why would I kill you?”
“Adrian!”
Stefan called his name, overcome with emotion, and hugged Adrian tightly.
“Are you crazy? Let go right now.”
Despite Adrian’s grimace, Stefan clung stubbornly.
“Do you know how sad I was thinking I couldn’t be your friend anymore? Don’t you get it?”
“How should I know? Gross. Let go immediately.”
Only when Adrian invoked his status as prince was he able to pry Stefan off.
But Adrian had another person he needed to attend to. As soon as Stefan was removed, Lionel was standing before Adrian. It was the first time Lionel had approached him while attending this lecture.
‘Could that guy also be here to fawn and leave a mark like everyone else?’
Adrian immediately dismissed the thought. That wasn’t Lionel’s personality. Besides, Lionel already knew he was the prince.
From the moment he knew Adrian was a prince, Lionel neither flattered him nor tried to get close. His status clearly had no effect on him.
In fact, Lionel often showed annoyance or disgust toward Adrian. He must have another purpose.
Adrian spoke.
“Why?”
“I need to ask something.”
Skipping even a greeting, Lionel got straight to the point. There was urgency in his voice, uncharacteristic of him.
“What is it?”
“Jaelin?”
Adrian and Stefan exchanged glances. It had already been three days since they last saw Jaelin.
“She hasn’t come today.”
“Why?”
“She said she wasn’t feeling well when we last parted, but she hasn’t come since. She’s not responding to community messages either.”
“Since when?”
Stefan thought carefully before speaking.
“It’s been about three days since she last came, and she stopped responding yesterday. I went to the department office to ask for her address and checked her boarding house, but the owner said they could never open the door without her consent…”
Before Stefan could finish, Lionel stormed out of the lecture hall.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
Panicked, Stefan shouted after him, but Lionel had already left the room.
He ran at full speed toward Jaelin’s boarding house. He had assumed she was avoiding him because of the incident at the library. But she hadn’t even attended classes all this time.
He hoped nothing had happened. He even wished she had been avoiding him, rather than something serious.
Thoughts and negative emotions swirled in Lionel’s mind.
Arriving at Jaelin’s boarding house in one bound, Lionel knocked harshly on the door. A middle-aged woman opened it sharply.
“What’s all this noise?”
“I’m sorry.”
Seeing Lionel’s polite demeanor and handsome face softened her expression slightly, but her sharp tone remained.
“What business do you have causing such a ruckus in front of the house?”
“I’d like to see the owner of this boarding house, if possible.”
“I am the owner.”
“My friend is staying here, but I haven’t heard from her in days. Could you check if she’s in her room?”
The woman was strict. As Stefan had said, she was reluctant to open Jaelin’s room.
“Ah… Well, I can’t open the door without her consent.”
“It may be difficult in principle, but please, just this once. I’m worried because my friend hasn’t been seen for a long time. She’s been fainting occasionally lately, so I’m concerned something may have happened in her room…”
Lionel deliberately added a serious, slightly exaggerated story to heighten the boarding house owner’s anxiety.
“She hasn’t been seen for several days. She doesn’t seem to eat properly either.”
“It’s not necessary to open the door. Please just check if she’s in the room. If something happened to her…”
Lionel’s words finally convinced the boarding house owner, who had been standing with a displeased expression, to give permission.
She was more afraid of being inconvenienced by a tenant than genuinely concerned for Jaelin. Moreover, any rumor that a student had gone missing from her house would have been troublesome.
The owner led Lionel to Jaelin’s room and knocked.
“Hey, student.”
Despite knocking several times, there was no response. The owner’s face grew increasingly anxious. Lionel felt the same.
“Wait a moment. I’ll get the key.”
While the owner went to fetch a spare key, Lionel paced impatiently in front of the door.
If Jaelin wasn’t here, where could she have gone? He tried to think of places she might have gone, but nothing came to mind.
Jaelin had to be in this room. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know where to look for her.
