Chapter 71

70.

Deep into the night.

Creak-

Leo carefully opened the window of the dormitory room.

Whoosh-!

A cold snowstorm whipped around.

“Too cold! Close the window!”

Kiran, who was trembling in front of a candle after wrapping a towel around his hands like he was warming them by a bonfire, panicked when he saw it.

“Stay here and don’t move.”

With those words, Leo left the room through the window.

The place Leo was heading to was none other than another high-class hotel where the second-year students were staying.

“Figured you’d make a move.”

Meanwhile, Lunia, who was keeping watch on the movements of the Lumern dormitory through her own room window, wore a meaningful expression.

“I was right.”

Without hesitation, Lunia opened her window and stepped out.

Sometime after Leo and Lunia had left their rooms.

Click-!

“Eh? Mr. Leo and Miss Lunia, together…?”

Another window opened, and Eiran poked her head out.

Eiran, who had mustered the courage to join Seirun today, was staying here instead of at home on Herdium’s recommendation.

Unable to sleep properly due to nervousness, she unintentionally witnessed the scene of Leo and Lunia secretly leaving the dormitory.

“What’s going on? Why are Mr. Leo and Miss Lunia…?”

For some reason, Eiran’s gaze kept being drawn to the Lumern grade representative and the intimidating yet admired Seirun grade representative leaving the dormitory late at night.

“Could it be… A secret rendezvous?”

The young girl’s imagination, which loves heroic tales, went into overdrive.

She covered her blushing face with her hands, unsure of what to do.

‘Unhealthy relationship… as students!’

Having quickly jumped to conclusions, Eiran hastily put on her clothes and went outside.

Leo, having arrived at the hotel where the second-year Seirun students were staying, stood on the roof.

He pressed his fingers into the wall, concealing any noise and applying force.

Crack-!

The hotel wall caved in.

Having used that method to descend to the lower floor, Leo detected movement inside the hotel.

‘Seems this place was rented out in its entirety by Seirun as well.’

There wasn’t any noticeable presence inside.

‘The floor the students are staying on is the third, I assume?’

It was deep into the night, so the Seirun students were already asleep.

Leo descended to the third floor by climbing down the wall and checked inside through the window.

‘Total of nine. One is missing.’

After confirming the count of the sleeping second-year students, Leo narrowed his eyes.

Then he opened the window of the occupied room that had luggage but no inhabitant.

Click-

The window latch was unlocked, making it easy to open.

Leo sat on the windowsill, stepped onto the floor while taking off his heavily snow-covered shoes to avoid leaving footprints, and checked the name tag on the school uniform hanging on the wall: ‘Rauta’.

‘So he too left the dormitory secretly…’

“Hey! What are you doing here?”

Suddenly, Lunia, with an expression of panic, appeared at the window and spoke.

“What about you? What are you doing?”

Leo, who already knew that Lunia had followed him stealthily, responded with a calm face.

“Does that matter right now! You’ll get caught if you enter the second-year dorms like this! Hurry, get out! Before we’re found out…!”

Lunia took off her shoes to pull Leo out of the room.

Unauthorized leaving of dormitory and trespassing. Especially considering they were from different schools, if caught, it wouldn’t just be a simple case of disciplinary action.

Thud! Bang!

“Ow!”

Taken aback, Lunia accidentally kicked the leg of a table as she approached Leo.

The table fell to the floor with a loud sound.

Lunia, having stubbed her toe, instinctively grabbed her feet as tears welled up in her eyes.

After a short while, an irritable knocking sound was heard.

Lunia, who was holding her foot and wincing, panicked and looked towards the door.

‘Huh? It’s not locked!’

If it were opened this way, they would definitely be found.

Leo too frowned upon noticing this.

“Hey, Rauta! What’s all this noise in the middle of the night? I thought you were the only one here! Let me sleep!”

An irritated male voice was heard.

Leo quickly closed the window after leaving his shoes outside, grabbed the frozen Lunia by the wrist, pushed her into the bed, and pulled the blanket over them both.

“Hey! What the…!”

“Shh!”

Leo placed his finger on Lunia’s mouth as she turned red and was about to say something.

“Are you ignoring me!”

Crash-!

The door was thrown open irritably.

Lunia felt her heart stop.

The distance between the door and the bed was quite far, so unless someone approached closely, it would be hard to tell there were two people lying there.

“You came in, and yet you’re ignoring me? Is this your way of saying the upperclassman doesn’t even want to talk to the lowly mid-level class, huh?”

The male student, incorrectly assuming after seeing someone under the blanket without even showing their face, slammed the door irritably.

After a while, Lunia, whose neck was red, hastily distanced herself from Leo upon getting out from under the blanket.

“You didn’t need to hug me like that!”

Leo responded as he got off the bed.

“If I hadn’t, it would’ve been obvious there were two people lying there.”

“But still!”

‘Tch! Why is he so calm!’

“I don’t care! I don’t care! Anyway, if you mention this elsewhere, you’re dead!”

Lunia, showing him a clenched fist in a threatening manner, made Leo burst out laughing as he moved towards the window.

“Really! Why did you come here anyway!”

“To find Rauta.”

At Leo’s words, Lunia froze.

“Is this Rauta-senpai’s room?”

“Yes. He left the dormitory secretly. He has definitely headed to the Fairy Forest.”

“Why?”

Lunia wore an expression of confusion.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

” Wait. You’re going to the Fairy Forest at this hour?”

“Yeah. Go back to your dormitory.”

“…”

Lunia crossed her arms, lost in thought.

“Do you currently suspect that Rauta-senpai is involved in this incident?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s wrong. That’s an absurd story.”

After all, even if he were an unpleasant senior, Rauta was still a Seirun student.

From Lunia’s perspective, it wouldn’t feel good for a student from another school to associate Seirun students with Tartarus.

Still, leaving for the Fairy Forest this late was suspicious on its own.

“So, I’ll go with you and confirm. As the representative of Seirun’s first year, I need to clear this suspicion regarding our senior.”

“Do as you like.”

Leo, who had put on his shoes, climbed onto the rooftop.

Lunia followed him.

“Alright, then let’s go.”

The two arrived at the entrance of the Fairy Forest after leaving the city.

Upon arriving, Leo stopped and let out a small sigh.

“You’re going to keep following me?”

“Huh?”

Lunia was taken aback by the unexpected question.

Rustle-

Eiran appeared after pushing through the bushes.

“Eiran? When did you follow us?”

“I’ve been following you the entire time.”

“What?”

Leo had sensed Eiran’s presence since he realized Lunia was following.

‘Eiran isn’t the type to tattle, but…’

Eiran was more likely to suffer in silence after witnessing someone leaving secretly rather than report it immediately.

So Leo had left her be, but now he had to ask why she continued following.

Lunia approached Eiran.

“Eiran, why did you come here? Go back to the dormitory…?”

“Ah…!”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Ah, it’s not allowed! Unhealthy romantic relationships among students aren’t allowed!”

“…”

Seeing Eiran’s scarlet face as she hastily exclaimed this, Lunia wore a bewildered expression.

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw it! Mr. Leo and Miss Lunia sneaking out of the dormitory and entering another hotel’s room secretly!”

“Eiran! Wait! Let me explain. That was…”

“But, of course, Miss Lunia is beautiful! And, Mr. Leo is incredibly cool! I even think you two suit each other, but still! You’re only in the first year! It’s…immoral for you two to have such a physical relationship!”

“Agh! Seriously! That’s not it! Leo! Explain yourself already!”

Unable to bear listening to Eiran’s runaway imagination anymore, Lunia yelled as she turned to Leo.

Her forehead veins popped as she saw Leo holding his stomach and laughing.

“Are you laughing? Is this funny?!”

As Lunia grabbed his collar and yelled, Leo stopped laughing after letting go of her hand and explained to Eiran.

“Eiran, you’re mistaken. Neither me nor Lunia are in such a relationship.”

“Is… is that really true?”

“Yes. That was a Seirun second-year’s dorm. I went in for a bit to investigate something, but I didn’t stay long.”

“Ah…”

Eiran gasped.

And after a while, she covered her face and sat down cross-legged on the ground.

“I’m, I’m so embarrassed.”

“Phew. Really. I feel awkward too now.”

Lunia, who had been fanning her face with her hand, laughed as she looked at Eiran.

“But still, you thought I was engaging in some inappropriate relationship and came to stop me?”

“I’m, I’m sorry. Did it offend you?”

“No. I’m just surprised. I don’t think I’ll ever neglect my studies due to love. If that ever happens, it wouldn’t be good for you either.”

In Seirun, unlike Lumern, students watch each other extremely closely. If someone causes another to lose focus on their studies, that’s considered advantageous.

“No, it’s not like that at all. Miss Lunia is the best student, and I wish you could always be the best.”

Upon hearing that, Lunia was slightly surprised.

‘What, she thought like this about me?’

Lunia, from a prestigious family, had always been brimming with confidence. On the other hand, she sometimes felt bored. There were no students in the first year of Seirun capable of being her rival.

So when Eiran, who was in the mid-level class, rapidly rose close to her level, she was delighted to have found a rival.

When others gossiped about Eiran, Lunia only chuckled. She didn’t believe her rival would be swayed by such ‘losers’.

‘Now that I think about it, Eiran was always alone.’

Lunia felt embarrassed for not paying attention to Eiran, even after calling her a friend.

“Eiran.”

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you come to school today? That excuse of being sick wasn’t true, right?”

Upon Lunia’s question, Eiran lowered her head.

“I didn’t come to school as seriously aiming to become a hero like everyone else but merely out of a light-hearted desire to observe those close to being heroes.”

Though she admired heroes, she had never envisioned herself becoming one. She simply found observing them enjoyable.

“I thought coming to school might be disrespectful to those who sincerely dreamed of becoming heroes…”

“Disrespectful? That’s nonsense. Thinking that is disrespectful to your efforts.”

Getting ranked second school-wide from the mid-level class wasn’t an easy feat.

Eiran was actually a topic of much discussion.

Yet Eiran, shy and timid, was afraid of that attention.

Coupled with the jealousy and resentment from her classmates, it was overwhelming.

Thinking she was all alone, she fled back to her family home.

Hearing Eiran’s words, Lunia sighed deeply and said,

“I hope you continue to attend school.”

“Why, why?”

“Because you’re my friend.”

Eiran looked surprised.

“A-a-am I really friends with Miss Lunia?”

“Huh?”

A laugh sounded from behind, causing Lunia to glare at Leo.

Apparently, earlier Eiran’s supposition that Lunia didn’t consider her a friend was correct.

“You’re my friend, so ignore the nonsense of others and keep coming to school! I need you!”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You are. As a friend and a rival, I want you to keep competing with me.”

As she said that, Eiran’s bewildered expression brightened.

Seeing her smile, Leo smirked faintly.

“Kids grow up fast, huh?”