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Chapter 27
“Hiden?”
He turned his head slightly and looked at me.
“What did you just say to me?”
“…I didn’t say anything.”
“You did.”
Hiden let out a long breath of cigarette smoke and pressed his lips tightly together.
When I stood my ground, waiting for an answer, he finally opened his mouth with a stiff expression.
“…That at least your face looks normal.”
“…?”
When I stared at him in shock, he turned fully toward me, clasping his hands casually behind his back.
“Ahem. You heard that?”
“Damn it… No. I must’ve misheard. That’s not what I thought you said.”
At least her face looks normal.
Even taken on its own, that was incredibly unpleasant.
Apparently unaware that I was being sarcastic, he nodded with a bright expression.
“Ah. That must be it. Since I didn’t say anything.”
Didn’t say anything, my ass.
He literally just said it himself.
Doesn’t he realize how his words don’t line up at all?
But Hiden genuinely looked like he had no idea what he was saying.
I had rushed back here after much deliberation, and this was what he was thinking about?
Instead of arguing further, I scoffed and turned toward the purification room.
“Fine. Then I’ll go first. Make sure you get rid of the cigarette smell before coming up. You know I planted new greenery in the purification room, right?”
“I know.”
“Want me to bring you deodorizer?”
“…There’s some in the lobby. I’ll be fine.”
When I lingered nearby, worried he’d secretly bad-mouth me again, he gently pushed my back, telling me to hurry along.
I turned away from Hiden with an unsettled feeling.
The days following the graduation ceremony were peaceful.
I worried occasionally because Hiden worked himself pale and exhausted, but since he seemed to enjoy it, there wasn’t much I could do.
Karen was as noisy as ever, and everyone else worked at a suitably lazy pace.
If there was one complaint about this daily routine, it was how too quiet Bliar’s movements were.
Isn’t she being overly cautious?
That was why neither Hiden nor I noticed her true identity at this point in time.
I was absentmindedly writing Bliar’s name in my notebook when a flash of reddish hair kept creeping into my field of vision.
Why does she keep coming over here instead of staying at her own desk?
Annoyed, I snapped my notebook shut. Karen, who had been craning her neck, immediately pulled back.
“Karen. It’s rude to peek at someone else’s desk.”
“What? I wasn’t peeking. I just happened to glance over.”
“For a ‘glance,’ your stare was pretty blatant. If that’s just my misunderstanding, then I apologize.”
Even after all that, Karen only widened her eyes and said, “Huh?”
As if she hadn’t heard me.
When I clicked my tongue lightly, she returned to her seat with a disappointed look.
If that expression was an act, she was just as bad at acting as I was.
Or maybe she disliked me so much she didn’t even bother hiding it.
Were we always this hostile toward each other?
She was the type who had a bit of pride—someone I thought I might actually like.
But the strange feeling didn’t end there.
Hiden, who usually never let things slide, was also acting odd by ignoring us openly slacking off.
He was sunk deep into his large chair, staring blankly out the window.
Meditation, at a time this busy—what a luxury.
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Mei lowered her mask and leaned toward me.
“Don’t you think Priest Hiden’s been acting strange lately?”
“In what way?”
“He keeps zoning out like that, staring into space.”
As if he sensed we were talking about him, Hiden quickly turned his gaze toward us.
“Ah!”
Mei snapped back to her seat at the speed of light, burying her face in her desk like she’d never looked over.
Wow. She’s quicker than she looks.
Ignoring Mei’s perfectly calm expression, I met Hiden’s eyes again.
He did look better than I’d feared—apparently he’d gotten some rest.
I’d packed plenty of nutrients into the medicine I gave him, so a day or two of overwork wouldn’t make him collapse.
“……”
Hiden, who had been meeting my gaze, glanced at my desk and then turned his back completely.
“That’s really strange.”
The man who always led by example was now nudging others to work while spacing out himself.
I bit the tip of my pen and narrowed my eyes, focusing on him.
Does he actually have something troubling him?
But as far as I knew, nothing this year topped his first encounter with Bliar.
At the very least, the next two or three years were supposed to be peaceful.
Knock, knock.
The drowsy atmosphere shattered at the sudden knock.
“Is Lady Kalsiren here?”
A girl in a Kyern Knight uniform spoke in a clear voice, and everyone’s attention instantly snapped toward me.
…Huh? Normally, wouldn’t they look at the messenger instead?
“It’s me.”
“You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
Karen let out a small scoff.
“Miss Kalsiren. What kind of trouble did you get into this time?”
“I have no idea.”
Shaking my head uneasily, I asked the girl,
“Who is it?”
“Lady Bliar Blanchet has come to see you.”
“……”
The moment her name was spoken, my head reflexively turned toward Hiden. Perhaps because of the announcement, he was already looking at me.
Under his gaze, I calmly pushed my stiff chair back and stood.
“I’ll be back shortly. Seems someone I’m not particularly close with came to visit.”
“They said someone from the Guild would arrive this afternoon, so please return before then.”
As Hiden checked the time and reminded me, I gave him an easy smile.
“I will.”
I forced my voice to sound normal, but my palms were drenched in sweat as I grabbed my bag.
Why did Bliar come here?
Did she really come to see me?
No—if that were the case, she would’ve come to my estate.
She had never once come to Kyern Knight just to see me.
Am I walking naturally right now?
With every step, my heart pounded harder, as if it might burst out of my chest.
As one thought repeated over and over, memories I’d tried to forget resurfaced.
“Ugh.”
“Lady Kalsiren?!”
When I stopped and grabbed the stair railing, the girl hurriedly supported me.
“Haa… I’m a bit short of breath. I’m not feeling well. Go ahead and escort the guest to the lobby first.”
“Yes. Understood.”
She vanished toward the lobby in an instant.
Swallowing dryly, I continued down the stairs slowly.
Halfway down, I didn’t even need to look around.
Bliar—lavishly dressed—appeared right before my eyes.
As if she’d completely forgotten what happened not long ago, she waved at me cheerfully.
Damn it. Time doesn’t dull it—it only gets worse…
The moment I saw her smile, a sharp phantom pain shot through me.
I hallucinated dozens of bullets floating around her, shards of metal flying straight toward my eyes—only to vanish completely when I blinked.
Just another hallucination.
“Ah. Disgusting.”
We’d only met twice, yet the hallucinations from my death had become disturbingly vivid.
Scowling, I practically leapt down the last few steps.
“Did you come here to show yourself off?”
Unlike my razor-sharp tone, Bliar smiled refreshingly and grabbed my hand.
“Honestly, would I come dressed casually just to see you?”
The answer rubbed me the wrong way, but there was no hostility in her tone or expression.
…She was absentmindedly touching the cheek I’d slapped before, so she clearly hadn’t forgotten.
“You came all the way here just to see me? What for?”
When I looked at her warily, Bliar lowered her gaze slightly.
“Ren.”
“……”
I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded once.
I told her not to call me that.
She was doing it on purpose, wasn’t she?
“Ren.”
She repeated my nickname deliberately.
I wanted to grab her hair and yank it out, but causing a scene where Hiden was present wasn’t an option.
That might lead to the two of them meeting.
Instead of shouting, I irritably brushed the hair off my forehead.
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
Bliar’s cheeks dimpled deeply once she finally got a response.
“I heard you’ve been really busy. I didn’t see you at the graduation ceremony, so I came to check if you were doing well.”
“You could’ve come to my house.”
“I wanted to see you right away.”
“…Isn’t this too far from your place?”
No matter how coldly I pushed her away, she didn’t budge.
“Anywhere you are is somewhere I can go.”
“Ha. That’s a terrifying thing to say.”
“I came at this hour so you could rest. Your boss may be a down-to-earth noble, but he’d still allow you a privilege like this, right?”
“Bliar.”
Please—don’t drag Hiden into this with that filthy mouth of yours.
Since I couldn’t curse with so many eyes around, I let out a string of sighs instead. Bliar pressed her forehead against mine.
“Are you sick?”
“Don’t do that where people can see.”
Naturally, she ignored me.
“You’ve got a slight fever. You go to work every morning, don’t you? Aren’t you just exhausted?!”
I frowned and glanced around.
The kids in charge of guiding guests and cleaning were lingering nearby, pretending not to watch.
“Let’s go outside first.”
When I tugged at Bliar’s clothes with two fingers, she resisted, tensing her arm.
“Why?”
“There are too many people.”
“So what—”
“Because there are too many eyes on us!”
When I finally snapped, the kids spying on us quickly turned away.
Bliar’s smile stiffened—just slightly.
