28. It’s Too Harsh for Her (4)
“Why, am I in a place I shouldn’t be?”
With the same grin still plastered on his face, Lucas set down the tray and sat.
And it just happened to be right across from Karla, leaving her no choice but to face him even if she disliked it.
“The sight of your face ruins my appetite. So, get lost.”
“Tsk, isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“Shut up.”
As Karla responded with a chilly aura, purple lightning sparked around her.
The tension was still rising, as if she was about to knock Lucas down anytime, creating a highly tense situation.
But Lucas, still smirking, leaned back in his chair and casually crossed his legs.
“I’m not in a place I shouldn’t be. Karla, it’s not right for you to treat me this way either. Am I wrong?”
“Both of you are wrong, you idiot.”
Feeling an unusual atmosphere emanating from Karla’s sharp tone, Liam set his fork down, and placed both hands on the table.
Still turning to Karla, he spoke.
“Karla. Duels are permitted within the Academy.”
“Yo, you. Aren’t you Liam?”
At Lucas’s voice, Liam turned toward him.
Though his face showed no particular expression, Liam’s grim visage often regarded as emotionless was, in fact, his worst expression.
“Hmm, stop talking. You who looks like a girl.”
Even when Emil tried to interject, Lucas’s retort made Emil retreat.
However, Liam continued to watch Karla and Lucas with the same expressionless face.
“My name is Liam Fuku. If you’re trying to start trouble with Karla, I’ll take care of it.”
Liam’s hands, as big as woks, could be a weapon in their own right.
Liam was gazing at Karla’s lips while she silently glared at Lucas.
“Hey, Liam. Have you forgotten that I am of the Shaiskeil family? The one who will soon engulf Cascata and become the empire’s first pillar?”
“Ho ho ho, ho ho ho ho.”
Liam burst out laughing loudly. So much that even Lucas, who had been smirking confidently, was momentarily startled.
“Man, you’re not all there. I, Liam Fuku, am not from the empire. I have my own homeland. And even if I smash your face, the empire’s laws won’t touch me. I’m a noble from my own country. What’s the difference between your meaningless talk and revealing the level of the empire’s aristocracy?”
“Ho, you do speak well.”
But Lucas couldn’t really respond.
Nothing Liam said was false, not his foreign aristocratic status nor his status as a foreign exchange student at this Academy—things Lucas was unaware of.
“Lucas, stop it now…It’s better to stop picking fights everywhere.”
Tying her black long hair with a white ribbon, Kiara, Kiara di Servitore, hastily tried to stop Lucas.
For some unknown reason, Kiara could sense that Lucas’s persistence towards Karla was more than just competitive spirit or mere interest.
“Karla, don’t you have anything to say? Do you intend to just let this pass?”
“Shut up, Lucas. It’s not that I have nothing to say to you. I just don’t want to talk to you.”
“Ho!”
Lucas stood up in irritation.
Even as the sound of the chair falling behind him echoed, Karla kept glaring at him silently.
This is an unworthy opponent.
Even the fact that marriage talks had occurred between their families—something so embarrassing, Karla couldn’t even dare to tell anyone—was evidence of just how much of a worst-case scenario Lucas von Shaiskeil represents.
“Stop looking at me like that, Karla.”
“If you find me bothersome, why don’t you just make the first move? Aren’t you scared even though I’ve only got one arm?”
While mocking Karla, Lucas suddenly smirked wickedly.
Placing his tray down, shrugging his shoulders, he spoke.
“Well, I’ll endure for now. It’s only two months, anyway.”
“Lucas!”
The sound of the chair falling behind her rang out as Karla stood abruptly.
But Lucas was faster.
“You have two months until you eventually become my wife. I’ll enjoy watching your spectacular failure in the midterm exams.”
“Lucasuuuuu!”
As if it were a scream, Karla lunged at Lucas.
He shouldn’t have said those words.
He should’ve suppressed that rumor.
It should’ve been stopped—now it’s too late.
– Clang!
Again, the sound of a chair falling.
A fierce wind suddenly whipped through, and by the time Lucas managed to open his eyes in the wind, there stood Ivan in front of him.
Ivan, twisted grotesquely like a demon.
“Explain. What did you just say?”
“Ho? Who might you be? Oh, it’s just a commoner. For you to be so disrespectful in front of me, looks like the Academy has gotten too lenient—”
“Explain. Who is to become whose wife?”
“I don’t have to tell you.”
“Tell me!”
Lucas was lifted by his collar by Ivan, who looked as though his face had turned crimson with anger.
“Tell me now, Lucas. If you don’t, I’ll make you talk till you can’t stand it.”
“Ivan! Let go!”
Regina’s scream.
“Ivan, Ivan! Let go of him immediately! Emil, step back!”
Kiara’s shout.
Even amidst the chaos in the cafeteria, Ivan was unfazed.
Holding Lucas by his collar and without suppressing his mana, Ivan’s fist hovered threateningly over him.
“Ho, it seems like even in the esteemed Academy, violence has its place, albeit not like this. A duel would be more appropriate.”
“…If I kill you, it’s fine. There are ways for mages to survive without attending the Academy.”
Ivan’s voice echoed.
The resonant tone, as if it came from the depths of a cave, made Lucas’s spine shiver.
“If you quit the Academy, come to our country, Ivan. I’ll arrange a place for you.”
Even Liam’s bold voice added to Lucas’s growing terror.
Lucas glanced around cautiously.
Karla was biting her lips tightly, but her face was as pale as a ghost’s.
Liam stood nearby with arms crossed, glaring at Lucas, while Kiara and Emil were conversing.
“Come to think of it, commoner, weren’t you friends with Karla when you were young? Let me state this clearly.”
At these words, Karla turned around.
As she headed toward the door, Lucas’s voice chased after her.
“There’s the midterm exam in two months. Should she fail, Karla will withdraw from the Academy and come to the Shaiskeil family. She’ll be my wife. Understand?”
Karla quickened her steps.
She wanted to escape from that voice.
A rumor that shouldn’t have been known.
To that garbage of the world, Lucas von Shaiskeil, the one in the empire’s four pillars known solely for his incompetence.
That such an engagement had been proposed to someone who isn’t even a woman to begin with!
Her quick steps gradually slowed.
They slowed down, and slowed down more.
With every step, her strength ebbed away.
An unknown place somewhere in the academy, where no person was visible.
Without noticing when she had lost her shoes—Karla walked barefoot across the grass.
Cowering behind a randomly placed bench, she let out a quiet sigh.
“Isn’t this too harsh?”
After making the sacrifice, even gaining such power, wasn’t the cost too high already?
It’s too harsh that she had fallen this far.
‘I want to start over.’
If she could return her mana and become a man again.
If it were possible, she would do so.
But that’s assuming she’s intact. How could she, who has lost an arm and doesn’t possess the full physique anymore, become a man again just by returning the mana?
Tears flowed down her cheeks.
Karla, who hadn’t cried in her life until now, shed tears, again and again, since that incident.
Who should she blame for this—
Especially since it was her own misjudgment.
And ultimately, it all led to this.
…
After a long bout of crying, finally feeling somewhat relieved, Karla looked back to the voice calling her name.
Standing awkwardly and looking down at her was Ivan.
“What? How did you find me?”
“Uh, by…mana detection…”
“Really? Your mana is overflowing. Did you extend your detection that far?”
It’s truly incredible.
The saying “the sea salt doesn’t dry up” fits. His mana is absolutely enormous.
Is this also a talent? Even in this aspect, Ivan surpasses her.
“Anyway, are you okay?”
“…I’m fine. What about that trash?”
“Oh, that Lucas guy… I gave him a good punch, then came here for you. Liam said he’d handle the cleanup.”
“Damn maniac…”
Karla squatted down. She didn’t want to show her disheveled state.
“Is it true, then?”
“It’s true. It ended up this way. Daddy decided it.”
“Could it be refused?”
“…Could it be refused? Are you even thinking?”
“Then, what should I do…”
“Pass the midterm exam.”
“…”
That’s it, what else could be done?
Karla groaned softly as she stood up.
“…”
Exactly, what else could she do?
It’s about passing the midterm exam, that’s all.
Then everything will be fine.
If only that works, it should resolve everything.
It’s not something worth agonizing over.
Karla stood up and turned back to Ivan.
“I’m going to the library. Don’t follow.”
…
Then Karla began to cry.
She hid behind the bench and wept quietly.
