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Chapter 86
Lionel was someone who had a lot. A defensive magical tool like this would be easy for him to acquire if he needed it. Still, this magical tool was all Jaylin could give him.
On the way to the academy, she didn’t notice any of the surrounding scenery.
Jaylin’s mind was completely filled with thoughts of when and how she could deliver the gift to Lionel.
Since the community bracelet had been left with the department office for repairs, she couldn’t contact Lionel directly to arrange a meeting.
She first checked the library and the training grounds, places where Lionel might be, but he was nowhere to be seen.
In such a vast academy, finding Lionel without any information was nearly impossible.
Jaylin gave up on searching for him herself and decided to go to the clubroom.
Rather than wandering aimlessly looking for Lionel, it seemed better to ask Stefan or Adrian to check the community network to see where he was.
When she opened the clubroom door, Stefan greeted her.
“Puppy, you’re here?”
“Stefan, I… I have a favor to ask…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“C-Can you ask Senior Lionel where he is right now?”
“If it’s Lionel, he should be at the student council office. I ran into him on the way here.”
“Ah, th-thank you! Then I’ll go. See you later.”
After parting with Stefan, Jaylin headed straight for the student council office.
She felt nervous at the thought of giving Lionel his gift. Just as she was about to knock on the office door, she froze.
Lionel and Nathan’s voices floated out through the crack in the slightly open door. She hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, she swore.
But their voices were so clear in her ears that she couldn’t move.
“How about Jaylin?”
“Jaylin? She’s just a commoner.”
Lionel’s voice sounded unexpectedly cold. After a brief pause, Nathan’s voice followed.
“Hmm, really? Then it’s okay if I try to seduce her, right?”
Her body stiffened. The hand holding the gift fell limply to the floor.
She tried to hold back her tears, but her eyes stung.
She wanted to turn back time. Back to the past when she hadn’t heard any of this.
If only she hadn’t tried to give Lionel a birthday gift, maybe she wouldn’t have had to hear his feelings. Jaylin toyed with this useless hypothetical.
But it had already happened; it was an irreversible past.
She couldn’t bring herself to enter the student council office. The only thing she could do was leave as if running away.
“About Jaylin…”
Again. It was starting again.
“What do you think?”
Nathan asked, and Lionel stared at him. Why did he even care about how Lionel felt about Jaylin? Was this some extension of the teasing Sasha had mentioned?
Yet Nathan’s question seemed different somehow. His expression looked oddly meaningful.
It seemed more like curiosity about Jaylin as a person and to gauge Lionel’s reaction.
“Why are you curious about Jaylin?”
Lionel quickly realized what Nathan was really asking. He was asking about Jaylin as a potential romantic partner.
Not long ago, during the festival, the scene of Jaylin looking up at Nathan and trusting him had unsettled Lionel.
He didn’t like the attention Nathan was giving her. His mouth went dry. He clenched and unclenched his fists.
What should he say now? Rozia—the creepy woman—was in the darkroom set up in the student council office.
Shortly after Lionel and Nathan arrived at the office, she had followed them. Pretending it was a coincidence, but Lionel knew better.
Rozia had come to spy on their conversation.
As long as Rozia was listening, Lionel had no choice but to follow through on their arrangement.
He decided to make it clear.
Nathan and Rozia—no one could approach Jaylin.
By showing he had no interest, he could divert their attention from her.
Lionel didn’t know the impact his words could cause—the power of a single statement.
So he spoke them easily. Words he normally would never have said.
Words he had never used even when rejecting countless confessions.
If he had known where his heart truly lay, he never would have said them.
The naive Lionel of that day pierced Jaylin’s heart like a finely sharpened blade.
And she didn’t even know he was speaking to her.
Words that would remain as a lasting wound for someone who hoped and longed for his love.
“Jaylin? She’s just a commoner.”
It was only natural that Lionel didn’t like her. Jaylin knew this well.
So she was content just spending time by his side. That alone made her feel like she owned the world.
But after spending so much time with him, she realized she had been relying on him. She had allowed herself a small hope that maybe they could be more than friends.
It was a feeling she didn’t want to acknowledge. Accepting that she wanted her feelings returned would only lead to pain.
But the moment she heard Lionel’s words, the emotions she had hidden deep inside surfaced.
The small, precious feelings she had kept quietly tumbled to the ground.
From his perspective, she had no chance from the start. Her background as an orphaned commoner couldn’t be changed no matter how hard she tried.
Jaylin ran until she finally stopped at the fountain behind the student council building.
Adrian, who had noticed her odd state in the hallway, followed her.
“Peanut, are you okay?”
Holding the gift box tightly, tears streaming down her face, Jaylin lifted her head at Adrian’s voice.
Tears fell from her soaked eyelashes onto her cheeks.
Seeing her, Adrian frowned slightly.
“No, hey. Why are you crying?”
Flustered, he didn’t know what to do and hovered beside her.
Ruffling his already messy hair, Adrian muttered in a low voice,
“Damn… I’m really bad at this…”
He stood quietly next to the trembling Jaylin, not asking anything further.
Tears fell in thick drops from her cheeks.
Seeing no sign of her stopping, Adrian felt compelled to do something to comfort her.
Finally, he awkwardly patted her trembling back.
“Sniff… hic.”
Hearing him, Jaylin’s stifled sobs grew louder.
Her breaths came in short gasps. Adrian let out a deep sigh, realizing he had no talent for this kind of thing.
All he could do was be there so she could cry freely.
“Just cry. I don’t know what it’s about, but sometimes letting it all out helps.”
Clinging tightly to his shirt, Jaylin buried her face against his chest, letting out her sorrowful tears.
Her crying grew louder, and Adrian’s shirt quickly became soaked with her tears.
“Hey, that doesn’t mean I wanted you to wipe your tears on my clothes.”
Her desperate grip on his shirt left Adrian speechless.
With a short sigh, he focused on a distant spot and gently patted her back.
“Yeah. Cry as much as you need.”
For some reason, the little girl had endless sorrow, and her tears didn’t seem to stop. One would worry she might have drained all the moisture from her body.
Far away, outside the student council window, a large figure watched Adrian holding Jaylin, but neither of them noticed.
If only emotions had a form that could be cut out all at once.
Jaylin had resolved not to love Lionel anymore, but she had spent ten years loving him. It wasn’t a feeling she could just discard.
How could she stop loving him?
She couldn’t. Recently, she had spent more time with Lionel.
The more time she spent with him, the deeper her feelings grew. She couldn’t pull herself away.
For her own sake, she needed to distance herself from him. Perhaps not seeing him would help her come to terms with her feelings.
Tears threatened to fall again.
She couldn’t cry anymore. Her already swollen eyes stung.
Swallowing back her tears, Jaylin trudged toward the boarding house, the birthday gift for Lionel still in her pocket.
In the end, she couldn’t give him the gift. She didn’t have the courage to see him again. That gift would likely never find its owner.
