🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 02
It felt as though time had stopped.
Felix smiled brightly as he spoke.
“Lorena, you’re a graduate too, so you’re one of today’s stars. But since you lost your family early on, I felt terrible thinking no one would give you flowers.”
But Lorena’s chest was already overflowing with flowers given to her by admiring male students.
Felix carefully pinned a carnation onto Lorena’s collar, already crowded with blossoms, and beamed.
“You’re beautiful, Lorena.”
“Thank you, really. You’re the only one who ever thinks about me, Felix.”
Lorena smiled delicately, beautiful like a wildflower.
Without realizing it, I shrank back. The plain dress I had deliberately left undecorated for Felix’s carnation suddenly felt shabby.
“Huh? Did he just give flowers to Lorena instead of his fiancée?”
“No way. Is he finally dumping her and trading up?”
“Well, with Felix’s status now, noble ladies from prestigious families are probably lining up with marriage proposals. Why would he want to stay tied to someone like Freesia?”
“Exactly. Honestly, Freesia is kind of… dull. And stupid too. She was like the one stain on perfect Felix’s life.”
Giggle, giggle!
The mocking laughter of the graduates stabbed into my ears from every direction.
Then it happened.
Felix suddenly dropped to one knee.
Still not in front of me—but in front of Lorena.
I blinked.
What… is happening?
“Lorena Belmont.”
“Wooooah!”
“What the—?”
“No freaking way!”
The graduates burst into cheers at the sudden scene.
Like a prince on a white horse greeting his princess, Felix knelt before Lorena and held something out toward her.
A brilliantly shining gemstone ring.
“Will you marry me and spend the rest of your life with me?”
Cheers.
Whistles.
Applause.
All the noise sounded muffled in my ears.
“Oh my god, Felix!”
Lorena gasped, covering her mouth.
“What is all this? When did you prepare something like this? I had no idea!”
Flower petals drifted through the air around the kneeling handsome man and the dazzling ring.
It was the romantic scene I had always dreamed of.
Naturally, I had believed that on this day, at least, I would be the heroine.
Like a pathetic extra in a cheap play, I stumbled into the scene.
“W-Wait a second.”
The moment I grabbed Felix’s arm, he frowned as though something filthy had touched him.
“I’m your fiancée. So why… why are you proposing to Lorena…? Guys, what is going on right now? I don’t understand any of this.”
Begging for an explanation, I grabbed Lorena’s arm this time.
Smack!
Felix violently slapped my hand away.
“Fiancée?”
A cruel sneer curled across his lips.
“Yeah. You always tried to chain me down with that word. Pathetically.”
“…What?”
“A prenatal engagement only remains valid while the parties are minors. Once we become adults and graduate from the academy, nobody gets to control me anymore.”
His voice flowed smoothly, as if he had been waiting forever to say these words.
Felix smiled coldly.
“That disgusting leash your grandfather tied around my neck became useless starting today.”
I couldn’t even cry.
It felt like my entire body had been shredded apart by claws.
I already knew Felix didn’t love me.
But I had never realized he hated me.
“So… so that’s why you waited until graduation.”
Because if he had done this earlier, I might have desperately clung to him with the contract proving our prenatal engagement.
“F-Felix, wait—”
“Freesia.”
Lorena turned toward me with drooping brows.
Her expression looked pitying, as though she were staring at a beggar desperately clinging to strangers’ ankles.
“The truth is…”
Lorena stepped closer and whispered.
“I’m carrying Felix’s child.”
“…What?”
Seeing me frozen stiff, Lorena continued softly.
“Do you remember the night of the coming-of-age ceremony? The night you went to bed first… Felix came to see me that night. I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t.”
Lorena blinked her delicate eyes pitifully.
“That night, we realized we were destined for each other.”
“Destined…?”
“Yes. Otherwise, how could we receive such a blessing after just one night together?”
Lorena glanced down at her stomach with loving, sorrowful eyes.
A child. She was carrying Felix’s child?
My mind, battered by too many shocks in a row, creaked like it was breaking apart.
“H-How could you…”
Like an idiot, that was all I could manage to say.
Then, in an instant, Lorena’s expression crumpled and tears poured from her eyes.
“You already have everything. Can’t you at least give Felix to me? What did this child ever do wrong? Please, Freesia. You can hate me all you want. But this child… I want to protect this child no matter what. Hic…”
Clear tears spilled from Lorena’s large eyes.
“Oh my gosh, Lorena’s crying!”
“What did Freesia say to make her cry like that?”
“Freesia is so cruel. She should’ve stepped aside from the beginning.”
“Still, Lorena totally hit the jackpot, huh? A commoner getting proposed to by a noble like Felix—that’s a total life reversal.”
“Didn’t she only get into the academy because a noble family sponsored her? Wasn’t it Freesia’s family?”
“Being pretty really changes your life.”
“Freesia, maybe you just shouldn’t have been ugly.”
Hahaha!
The noise around me never stopped.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I wanted my entire body to shatter and disappear.
My thick glasses fogged up so badly I couldn’t see ahead.
The moment tears dripped from my chin—
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, the academy’s east wing exploded.
Debris flew everywhere and people screamed.
“Aaaah!”
“It exploded!”
A shard tore through my dress and lodged itself into my calf.
“Ugh…!”
Groaning in pain, I collapsed to the ground.
In the middle of the chaos, something the size of a fist came flying out from the east wing.
Thunk!
The unidentified object rolled across the dirt.
It was filthy and mottled, but it looked exactly like a chick.
[Help… pl$ase… save… me…]
The strange chick rolled across the ground, its voice crackling as though broken.
“AAAAAH!”
“It’s a monster!”
People screamed and fled in terror.
Felix was no different.
“Lorena! Hurry, get over here!”
Wrapping an arm protectively around Lorena’s shoulders, Felix quickly retreated far away.
[Anyone… plea◆se… sav…]
“Aaaah!”
“That’s disgusting!”
The trembling chick staggered toward people, but everyone recoiled in horror.
As if they had seen filthy trash, every single person ran away.
Everyone except me.
I was the only one left behind because of my injured leg.
The mottled chick looked at me.
[I want… to live… please help…]
It flapped its broken wings.
It seemed desperate to somehow reach me.
A talking chick? Was it really a monster?
I knew I should run, but the pitiful sight of it bothered me.
And with my injured leg, I couldn’t escape anyway.
“H-How do I save you? Should I take you to a hospital?”
[No!]
The chick shook its head violently.
“T-Then?”
[Please express your consent to synchronize with me!]
“…Synchronize?”
The chick hurriedly continued when I hesitated.
[My existence poses no threat! I can provide the user with ultra-high-speed calculation abilities, communication assistance, logical computation, and many other forms of support! Synchronizing with me guarantees maximum benefits for the user!]
Calculation abilities? Synchronize?
I had no idea what nonsense it was talking about.
Then the chick convulsed again.
[I swear I will never harm you. I promi$e… ple… save…]
‘I’m sorry, Freesia.’
For a moment, the image of my dying parents overlapped with the trembling wings.
The chick looked like it would collapse and die at any second.
I couldn’t bear to watch someone die in front of me again.
That was the only thought filling my mind.
“Okay. I’ll synchronize with you.”
The words left my mouth on their own.
[Thank you! Thank goodness!]
The chick fluttered into my arms.
[May I know the user’s name?]
“Freesia Violet.”
[Benefactor’s name: Freesia Violet. Information learned. I will remember it forever.]
Speaking in a solemn voice, the chick pressed its wing against me.
[Beginning synchronization with Freesia Violet now.]
The moment I heard those words—
“Ah!”
A sharp pain pierced through my brain.
You said you wouldn’t hurt me…! This hurts!
And then I lost consciousness.
Without the slightest idea how much this choice would change my life.
