Isabel Luna.
As the main heroine of the Fire Butterfly series, she is neither the temporary president nor the temporary vice president.
So, under normal circumstances, she didn’t have to follow us on the way to this meeting.
However, those taking on the roles of president and vice president could bring an assistant.
The assistant chosen by Iris was me, the temporary secretary.
Originally, Hania would have gone, but as a member of the Student Council, she graciously gave up her spot for me.
“Iris can’t sleep well if the bedding changes, so Hanon is better.”
Lately, Hania had become quite cheerful seeing Iris sleep peacefully.
Perhaps that’s why her trust in me had grown significantly.
Thanks to that, I got to guard Iris’s side.
But who did Isabel bring along?
The answer was already clear.
It was Sharine, who was lying on Isabel’s lap.
Isabel had readily agreed to come along.
At first, I didn’t pay much attention when I heard Isabel would be following us.
After all, she had sulked last time because I didn’t finish off my battle before leaving.
But she wasn’t the type to be sulky even at events like this.
The only thing I didn’t expect was
that Iris, who had fallen asleep in the carriage, would snuggle up to me like that.
And she seemed quite used to it.
“……”
A silence hung between Isabel and me.
Since I had settled into Iris, Isabel had been staring at me intently.
The strength of Iris was not from this world.
Firmly bound, I couldn’t escape the cramped carriage.
Feeling uneasy under Isabel’s gaze, I averted my eyes, and finally, her lips parted.
“Do you sleep like that with Iris every day?”
Her tone was sharper than usual.
I had been caught infiltrating the girls’ dorm disguised as Hania.
Fortunately, Isabel hadn’t blabbed about it anywhere.
Still, my heart raced daily at the thought.
“……Isabel, there’s a reason for it.”
“It’s about Iris’s sleep, right?”
Did Isabel know that already?
“Everyone knows Iris can’t sleep well usually.”
Iris suffers from severe insomnia.
No matter how much she tried to hide it, it was something that couldn’t remain concealed during academy life.
“And I know how torturous that is too.”
After Lucas’s death, Isabel endured long-term insomnia.
So she understood that pain.
“But lately, Iris has been sleeping well.”
Thanks to my efforts, Iris had been sleeping soundly lately.
Thus, to an outsider like Isabel, Iris’s face had become brighter.
“And that must be because of you.”
Isabel had noticed my involvement in it.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
When I answered honestly, Isabel let out a small sigh.
“Good job. Honestly, what you’re doing now is a bit shocking, but it was probably something needed for Iris to sleep well.”
Such compassion, fitting for a main heroine.
“Of course, I’d have liked it more if you had shown a little selfishness.”
But apart from her compassion, there was no flicker of light in Isabel’s eyes as she smiled.
“I wonder what that could mean.”
“There’s no way I’d have any selfish motives toward the 3rd Princess.”
“Yeah, that seems certain.”
Isabel declared firmly.
Why does it feel like she reads my mind?
Isabel was becoming more intimidating.
“That’s what makes me curious.”
Isabel gently stroked Sharine’s hair resting on her lap.
“If there’s no selfishness, then what are you doing?”
Isabel’s eyes quietly gazed at me.
What lay within was concern.
Isabel misunderstood that I started the Boycott Incident because of Nikita.
Thus, she thought my staying close to Iris was a continuation of that.
To Isabel, it seemed as though I clung to Iris to plot my revenge on Nikita.
At the moment when Iris completely opened her heart to me,
she was worried that I could take revenge on Nikita.
However, my recent actions had been far from seeking vengeance on Nikita.
Iris is a sensitive person.
Especially when it comes to those who harbor ill will towards her.
But I remained by Iris’s side without any issues.
This meant I had shown no trace of animosity towards her.
Feelings of resentment and anger can’t be hidden, no matter how hard you try.
Isabel, who had directly used anger as a driving force, knows this best.
That’s why Isabel had her doubts about me.
How could someone who harbored a grudge against Nikita remain so unscathed by Iris?
This leaves only two possibilities.
Either I’ve mastered my anger to the utmost and keep it hidden,
or I simply never had any grudge to begin with.
Isabel had just said to me that I had no selfishness.
This selfishness included resentment and anger as well.
Isabel’s thoughts swayed towards the second possibility.
Then another question arose in succession.
If that’s the case, what was I doing to provoke misunderstandings and instigate the Boycott?
Furthermore, what was my real objective?
As the moment of questions arose, she recalled various uncertainties that had been hanging over me.
The elements I hadn’t noticed because I was consumed by anger.
And all the conversations we’d exchanged and actions I’d taken until now.
Isabel had started to see me not in rage, but in the likeness of Lucas.
“……This is dangerous.”
As mentioned earlier, Isabel was starting to see me as Lucas.
This was a reflection of her unwillingness to forget him.
The wounds etched into her heart had yet to fully heal.
That’s why she clung to me while seeing me as Lucas, trying to shake off her anxiety.
The obsession Isabel had shown recently stemmed from this reason.
Love and hatred.
Seeing me in the likeness of Lucas engendered affection, and my comments belittling Lucas spawned hatred.
Since Isabel escaped from death driven by anger, she couldn’t easily shake off that anger.
She feared that if she carelessly let go of her rage, she might walk back into the jaws of death.
Beneath this, she had a coexistence of affection and hate.
But due to that, Isabel had been observing me closely, leading to moments of reflection.
And through that process, she seemed to have vaguely grasped that my being Isabel’s target for her rage was intentional.
“This is troublesome.”
Once she becomes convinced, I couldn’t fathom the emotions she would feel.
Human emotions are unpredictable.
If she felt gratitude, that would be terrific, but if it were tainted with betrayal, who knew what would happen?
Isabel gazed silently at me.
Her eyes showed no sign of leaving me.
“Isabel……”
Just as I was about to open my mouth to cut off Isabel’s trail of inquiries,
“Because we’re family.”
It was Iris who broke the silence.
Without knowing when she woke up, she had plopped her chin on top of my head.
When Isabel looked at Iris in shock, she hugged me even tighter.
As if she was determined never to let go of what was hers.
At the same time, the softness resting on my back intensified.
Is it okay for this to happen?
“There are secrets that others don’t know.”
Iris smiled meaningfully while looking at Isabel.
Seeing that smile, Isabel’s eyes went wide.
She surely hadn’t expected Iris to defend me.
Isabel didn’t know the true nature of my relationship with Iris.
Thus, the myriad of questions she’d had couldn’t be resolved by Iris defending me.
When I looked up at Iris, she gently closed her eyes and smiled.
It seemed to say, “I helped you with your insomnia, let me help you out too.”
Who else but the 3rd Princess would be so perceptive?
“And.”
Just then, Iris tightened her hug around me.
“Hanon is my little brother, so I won’t give him to just anyone.”
“……What?”
Isabel asked, stunned.
Iris had also caught on to the possessiveness and obsession Isabel had been secretly displaying.
Even if it stemmed from her seeing me like Lucas, it was all directed towards me.
I had been sticking close to Iris all along.
It was something Iris couldn’t possibly be unaware of.
Thus, right now,
Iris laid claim to me.
It was meant to imply that her stuffed animal was not up for grabs.
But Isabel, who was harboring feelings of love and hatred, had already been shaken by the fake girlfriend Hania in front of her.
Iris’s statement was like throwing gas on Isabel’s inner fire.
Isabel’s eyes slowly narrowed.
Those were eyes that definitely couldn’t belong to a main heroine; they looked deadly.
“Iris, just because he’s your brother doesn’t mean you can treat him like a possession, right?”
“It’s fine. I’m a princess.”
In that moment, Isabel was left speechless.
She hadn’t expected her position to be used against her.
“……But as a princess, shouldn’t you serve as a role model?”
However, Isabel showed no signs of backing down easily.
“Taking care of family is a perfectly commendable action.”
“But when that care goes overboard, it turns into harm. Just because someone is family doesn’t mean everything should be allowed; that’s no different from domestic violence.”
A strange tension rose between Isabel and Iris.
It almost seemed like sparks were flying in their eyes.
And in the center of it all, I sat with a resigned expression.
Since Iris had already clamped down on me tightly,
I had no real way out.
Just then, my eyes met Sharine’s, who had woken up at some point.
Feeling the atmosphere of the carriage, she moved her lips.
“Love triangle.”
Sharine was watching this situation with great interest.
It was surely her first time witnessing Isabel confront Iris like that.
Seeing her lips move, I closed my eyes right there.
If this is indeed a love triangle, at least I could feel good about it.
Having beautiful women fighting over me might boost my self-esteem a bit.
But this was different.
One was an object of love and hatred.
The other was a stuffed animal of affection.
It was leagues away from genuine love.
Their claims to ownership of me held no regard for my own will.
So that left me with no room to jump in.
This was my karma, perhaps.
I just wanted to turn a bad ending into a happy one.
‘Lucas.’
For some reason, I missed him more today.
