48

"You don't seem to be able to see me."

"Oh, my. How could I not have seen Your Highness? I just saw you in my undergraduate lecture, so I just omitted it because I didn't know how to say hello."

"Nonsense. It's a matter for you to judge."

As usual, he had no expression on his face, but the way Sian spoke felt strangely edgy. Ren, who was exchanging a tense look, smiled and gave up.

"I'm sorry for being so rude. I've done enough disrespect. I managed to find the person next to you, and I was so happy that I couldn't see anything."

"Do you know each other?"

When Sian turned his head and asked, Elena replied hesitantly.

"We don't know each other."

"It sounds like you're not even close."

Ren's eyebrows wiggled. Sian's arbitrary defining of his relationship with Elena was annoying.

"If you say so with the party present, it's disappointing."

"What do you want with her?"

"It's extremely personal. She owes me some money."

"Debt?"

Sian's gaze reached Elena again. It was a glance asking what the debt was, but if there was anything to be noted it was the school uniform he lent to her saying that she shouldn't get wet.

'Owing you money?'

If that were true, Elena would have been mortified. It was not enough that he had knocked her down with his foot, but he had stood her up in the rain, soaked her, and then put a jacket over her, saying, 'don't get wet in the rain.' There was no such coercion. Sian gently looked at Elena's expression and answered instead.

"I don't think so."

"…!"

Elena stared at Sian in surprise. The way he was dealing with Ren, as if he was defending her, was so unfamiliar to her that she was confused.

"Oh, this is the world. There's someone who owes me, but there's no one to pay me back."

Ren was sarcastic except for the subject. Even if the authority of the imperial power was not what it used to be, Sian was still the Crown Prince who would succeed to the throne. Such blatant sarcasm on such Sian was only possible because Ren was truly a madman who didn't think about the consequences.

"Get back."

"Oh, it can't be like this. Your Highness, I've made it clear that there's still a matter to be settled between her and I."

"I've said it twice. Get back."

Sian warned Ren with his unique numb stare. As if he wouldn't sit still for the third time.

'Why are you doing this? What do I do?'

Considering it, this was the relationship between Elena and Ren. Sian, a third party, did not have to intervene. However, even though she was thankful for him, he was hostile to Ren, and she did not understand.

"Yes, yes, Your Highness has asked me to step aside."

In a fierce battle of tempers, it was Ren who put his tail down first. No matter how outgoing he was, he was not so unthinking as to push the Crown Prince against him.

"By the way, Your Highness. That's not a very good choice."

"Are you trying to lecture me?"

"No way. It's just that Your Highness has tried to protect her so many times that… It makes me want to make her suffer more."

In Elena's position, it was as good as a death sentence. It was as if Lucia's status, which still had a lot of work to do, would be put on hold.

"What if I don't allow it?"

"As His Highness does his best, I can only do my best."

Ren grinned at Elena. The smile was ferocious like a beast aiming for prey.

"Let's meet again, freshman. And when we do, it'll be just the two of us, not the three of us."

Elena's eyes frowned as she saw Ren moving away. Until before, it was considered the best practice to behave as unobtrusive as possible and to go quietly. If she stepped on the shit and struggled a little, there would be a problem with working as Lucia.

But now they were so estranged that she couldn't fix it. They had crossed an irretrievable river. Elena wasn't going to be a weakling either. As much as he was in the academy, Ren had to follow the rules. She had no choice but to go all the way to what has become like this.

"Are you alright?"

She stared at Sian, who was worriedly inquiring about her safety. The only thing she cared about more than Ren right now was Sian. She didn't know why he was helping her so much.

'Cause you're worried about me? But Your Majesty is not that kind of man.'

Sian was not one that showed emotion. As the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne, he was in a position where he had to live with a serious sense of duty and responsibility. Because of this, he was always forced to kill his emotions and live a cold and rational life. This may be the reason why she was pained by his contemptuous glances in her past life.

"Thank you for your help."

What's clear was that Elena owed him for today.

"You seem to be calming down a bit now."

"… Did it show a lot? He's actually a difficult senior to deal with."

Elena smiled awkwardly. It was really strange. Earlier, they drank tea intimately, and now they were exchanging dialogue as if they were senior and junior who had become much closer.

"You are very strange."

"Am I?"

Sian suddenly changed the subject and stared at Elena. It wasn't blatant, but the devouring gaze was almost too much to bear.

"Fainting at our first meeting."

"That's…"

"You cried in the studio."

"…"

"And you were being bullied today."

Elena bowed with embarrassment. It wasn't at a strange level, but when she heard it so clearly, she thought it was nothing but a disgrace.

'I can't blame anyone. I would think it's weird, too.'

Whether or not he knew Elena's true intentions of wanting to get in if there was a hole, Sian did not avert his gaze from Elena and spoke calmly.

"So if I'm worried, am I strange?"

"…!"

Elena's heart skipped a beat.

Sect 8. Less

"Have you never taken any undergraduate classes?"

Ren visited the humanities department building with a lecture on archaeology. As soon as the lecture was over, several archaeological students came out and were questioned.

"I only saw her name on the role book."

"I've never seen her."

"I haven't seen her since the start of school, and she isn't even called for attendance these days."

The students all said they had never seen Lucia.

"Are you telling me the truth?"

"O-of course. Why would we lie?"

The students, intimidated by Ren's fierce eyes, protested. No matter how hard he looked at them, he didn't think they were lying and glanced at them.

"What's up with her?"

It was not difficult to stop by the academy and find out which department a girl named Lucia was attending. Until then, he thought they would meet soon.

But what's this? Even though he visited the lecture room of the archaeological department, he could not meet Lucia. No, rather than meeting her, questions had piled up to the point where he wondered if he could meet her.

"C-can we go?"

When Ren, who was lost in thought, was silent, male students from the archaeological department looked at him and asked.

"You have to go. Sure. Go."

When Ren gave a test to wave his hand, the boys bowed politely and ran away.

"It'd be better to go to the dorm, wouldn't it?"

As a rule, all students at the academy lived in dormitories. On rare occasions, due to health or family obligations, students had to go to and from school from outside, but this was literally extremely rare.

Ren walked past the central square and headed for the women's dormitory on the northeast side. It was a familiar place, located near the drill hall where the swordsmanship department held lectures. But today was the first time he had been in the area where the women's dormitories were clustered.

"L-look over there! Isn't that Ren?"

"Why is he here? I'm nervous. Who else is he trying to pick on?"

"Oh, that freedom… I'm going to fall in love with it."

"You're really crazy."

The female students who were passing through the dormitory whispered in surprise at Ren's appearance. Ren was an object of avoidance for female students as well, as he was a relentless tormentor of both men and women once they got on his nerves. Of course, there were only a few girls who liked Ren because they were attracted to bad men.

"I'm sorry, but access is prohibited from here. Please go back."

The knights who had been standing by to guard him stood in front of Ren. Since the buildings of the female dormitory were densely packed around the base of the gate they were guarding, they thoroughly controlled the entry of male students. Ren pointed to a female student who was just entering the dormitory, as if she had no particular intention of entering.

"Hey, you."

"M-me?"

"Yeah, you. Come here."

When Ren gestured, the girl approached with a tearful face.

"Why, why?"

She seemed to be in danger of crying when he touched her, perhaps thinking she had been put on Ren's list.

"I have something to do in the dormitory. But I can't go in. I'm angry."

Ren jabbed at the knights in front of her face. The faces of the knights hardened, but they ignored him as if they didn't want to be swayed by useless disputes.

"So, you need to find someone for me. Of course, you can't refuse."

"W-who?"

"Lucia. She's a freshman in the archaeology department this year."

The girl mumbled and remembered the identity of Ren.

"I-I'll find her and let you know."

"No, if you do, bring her out. If she doesn't come out, tell her I'll go in. I'm not very patient."

When Ren grinned, the girl shuddered and ran into the dormitory. Soon after, the girl came out with a harsh breath.

"S-she's not here."

Ren's eyebrows wiggled.

"She's not?"

"Roommate said she'd never seen her. I heard she came here a few days before the eve and unpacked her luggage… That's all. She hasn't come in since."

"Really?"

Ren looked as if he was more interested.