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Chapter 7
“Alright, Rosia. Let’s think positively.”
Alina handed me an opened beer bottle. Rosia, who had been lying blankly while hugging a pillow, suddenly pulled the blanket over her head and let out a silent scream.
She was so annoyed she couldn’t stand it. Her whole body was itching with restlessness. This was all because of Senior Hayworth’s nasty temper.
As soon as the hour was up, she stormed out of the Research Building. On the way back to the dorm, she had to stop several times to suppress the irritation surging up inside her.
However, even taking deep breaths to calm down didn’t work. Various scenes popped into her head out of nowhere, causing the anger to reflux, so she needed a special measure.
She immediately packed two pepperoni pizzas from the student cafeteria and raided Alina’s dorm room. She knew well that Alina kept ’emergency alcohol’ hidden deep in her closet.
Of course, Alina welcomed her proposal enthusiastically. Thus, the two held an untimely ‘Rosia Consolation Party’. However, this time accompanied by drinking and trash-talking Senior Hayworth.
“I can’t… Even if the Incarnation of Positivity descended, they’d say ‘Ah, this is a bit much,’ and go right back…”
“What’s with that vague expression?”
Rosia sat up, took the alcohol, and climbed down from the bed. Alina, sitting opposite her, had already opened her own bottle and was waiting. Soon, the clear sound of two bottles clinking lightly rang through the room.
She drank two or three gulps out of anger, and the back of her throat burned as if a firecracker had gone off. She frowned and shivered slightly. It might be nothing to Alina, who could down half a bottle at once, but Rosia was a drinking novice who had just become an adult last month, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Rosia. No matter how rough the situation is, to protect our mental health, we must always find a positive point and focus on it.”
Alina added with a grin.
“What, was it illegal before?”
Rosia glared at her lightly and grumbled quietly. Yet, she couldn’t refute it. It was true that he possessed otherworldly looks. Rosia smacked her lips.
“Speaking of looks, you know I’m taking that Basic Physical Arts elective.”
Alina spoke while picking up a piece of pepperoni that had fallen onto her plate. Rosia immediately narrowed her eyes, ready to tease her.
“You’re going to drop that, right? Since when does a lazy girl like you do physical arts?”
“No. I’m going to keep taking it. Do you know why?”
Even though they were the only two in the room, she lowered her voice to a whisper.
Rosia burst out laughing at the unexpected reason, looking like she might lose her breath. Alina continued, paying no mind to her reaction.
“Plus, they’re super careful with me, like I’m a glass doll, you know? They’re used to seeing people with solid muscles in their faculty, so when they deal with me, they look terrified I might break.”
Alina nodded with a serious expression. Somehow, it sounded tempting.
“Really? Should I take that next semester too?”
“No way, I might lose my spot. I’m going to apply again pretending I’m retaking it. You just be satisfied with Senior Hayworth’s face. Just… try to plug your ears well.”
She scratched her cheek and glanced sideways. She seemed a bit sheepish, knowing her own words didn’t make much sense.
“Like that’s possible…”
Rosia picked at her pizza with a gloomy expression. Thinking of him made her lose her appetite.
No. She put down her plate and sat up straight. Alina held her breath with intrigued eyes. She seemed to expect another erratic resolution.
“I’m going to act out now. Until now, I’ve been lying flat on the ground trying not to offend him, but I’m not going to hold back anymore. I have a temper too, you know!”
Sounds of giggling could be heard. But Rosia was serious as always and burning with determination. At least, until she received a message from the Senior.
3. How to Deal with Rumors About a Senior
[Today after 5 PM, Archeological Magic Tools Lab]
Rosia looked at the neat letters appearing in the air and screamed silently. It was a summons that flew in as soon as it became Thursday, the end of the week, as if it could be delayed no longer.
It had been quiet for a while, so she had briefly lived forgetting about Senior Hayworth, but her sweet peace was shattered in an instant. Suddenly depressed, she let out a heavy sigh.
“Is that from Senior Hayworth? Wow, it’s as brutal as a Security Force summons. That’s no joke.”
“I can feel such a terrifying aura just from the contact magic; you might faint if you face him in person…”
“But what can you do, Rosia? It’s a General Requirement, so you can’t even drop it. You just have to face it with an unbreakable heart.”
Classmates packing their bags gathered around her, murmuring. Rosia sat back down, resting her chin on both hands, listening blankly to their consolation.
The classroom, with the class just finished, was bustling with students deciding on their lunch menu. Just five minutes ago, she too had been fiercely conflicted between a chili con carne burrito and a chicken snack wrap, but now, nothing mattered.
“It’s already been broken once…”
At her sullen reply, gentle laughter erupted. The look in their eyes was like watching a cute creature.
“Come on, Rosia. Don’t stay here like this, want to go to the Sunflower Hall cafeteria? It’s on me.”
Jeremy Howard, a classmate from a wealthy provincial noble family, suggested with a giggle. Who would refuse someone offering to buy a meal? Like that, the five of them, including her, swarmed out of the classroom.
The Sunflower Hall cafeteria was chaotic and crowded with people, befitting lunch hour. They almost couldn’t sit, but after circling three times and eyeing empty spots like hawks, they managed to secure a table right in front of the sandwich counter.
It was distracting because many people passed by due to the proximity to the line, but it was better than nothing. Just securing seats through that crowd was a miracle in itself.
The five hungry people, including the financier who had shaken his thick wallet and boasted loudly, bought the food they wanted and gathered back at the table.
Some enjoyed a proper meal with steak and wine, unlike the simple menu like the snack wrap she chose. After filling their empty stomachs, they naturally began to chat. The central topic was, of course, Senior Hayworth.
“Do you guys know that rumor?”
Jeremy, swirling his wine glass with an elegant hand motion, spoke up. Four pairs of eyes instantly focused on him. It seemed like something interesting was coming.
“Two years ago, Senior Hayworth dumped Senior Victoria Audret from the Faculty of Swordsmanship. Yeah, that Senior famous for her beautiful red hair.”
“Ah, I heard that too. They say he didn’t just reject her nicely but humiliated her by using a restraining spell? How dare he, to the young lady of the Marquis Audret’s family.”
Another classmate followed up on his words. Rosia sipped her orange juice and looked back and forth between the two.
Led by Jeremy, who first brought it up, the excited classmates rattled off things they had heard from somewhere. Rosia, who ate slowly, just quietly listened to their conversation while chewing the food in her mouth.
Since he was a living legend of the faculty, there wasn’t just one or two rumors surrounding him. There were stories of people who confidently confessed after being bewitched by his looks only to get severely cursed out, his unrealistic grades maintaining a perfect score plus extra credit for five years, and the arguments that broke out constantly.
Yeah, up to that point, it was quite interesting. Since she wasn’t very interested in trivial gossip like what was happening at school or who was famous, hearing it all at once like this wasn’t bad.
That was fine, until meaningful laughs started mixing into her classmates’ words. As usually happens when several people talk about one person for a long time, the atmosphere gradually flowed in a strange direction.
“By the way, this is something I found out completely by accident.”
Melissa, sitting next to Jeremy, smiled strangely. The ruby brooch she wore ostentatiously over the green ribbon symbolizing the Faculty of Magic sparkled like blood in the sunlight.
“I heard Senior Hayworth is a beggar mooching off the Meliode family. They say no one knows who his parents are, and his so-called adoptive father is a wandering mercenary.”
Rosia stopped biting into her snack wrap and looked up with a flustered expression. However, the others threw in a word each with fishy sneers on their lips.
