Chapter 250

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What on earth is going on?

I blinked twice and tilted my head.

My head couldn’t keep up with the sudden unexpected situation.

I was completely dumbfounded and couldn’t speak properly.

To calm my chaotic mind, I first organized the situation.

I went to bed late yesterday, so I woke up later than usual. I must have turned off the alarm in my sleep. Alice woke up first, but she didn’t wake me because I was sleeping soundly. She said that since I usually wake up early, sleeping in a little wouldn’t make me late.

There was nothing special about staying up late. My thoughts were complicated. I was agonizing over whether or not to go see Belial.

This is where my decisions are important. Should I wait a little longer? Or should I briefly show my face? But I can’t even self-harm, and I don’t want to only please Belial. No, in this situation, how about I pat Belial’s bottom and get vicarious satisfaction?

Such thoughts sprang up in succession, keeping me up all night.

I couldn’t reach a conclusion and fell asleep at some point.

Thanks to that, I postponed going to see Belial.

Since I overslept, I was a little pressed for time to get to school. I quickly got ready and hurried out of the dormitory. Luckily, I wasn’t so late that I had to run, so I walked to school with Alice.

‘Then I ran into Eugene…’

I never thought I’d run into Eugene at this time, as he always moves early. Well, Eugene is human too, so he might oversleep sometimes. It was also unexpected to see him with Arin, but Arin is also one of the heroines.

In the ‘novel’, she had a romantic flag with Eugene. Still, the main heroine is Alice!

‘When I greeted him with a smile…’

I said, “Good morning.” and greeted him as usual, waving my hand.

Usually, Eugene would smile back and greet me in return.

But today was different.

Eugene’s expression stiffened.

He looked at me, his blue eyes wide.

As I tilted my head in bewilderment,

Suddenly, Eugene came striding towards me.

“Lucia!”

“Eh? Eh? Eugene?!”

And when I came to my senses, I was in Eugene’s arms.

As expected of Yoo-seong’s descendant, suddenly hugging someone seems to be ingrained in their bloodline.

Yes, blood is thicker than water after all.

No, that’s not the important thing right now.

“W-what is this suddenly?”

I’m not a teddy bear, you know.

It’s embarrassing to be suddenly hugged.

Unless it’s Alice, even if Eugene hugs me…

Ugh, the smell of the sun… is strangely pleasant…

I feel like I might get addicted…

Alice smells like soft, baby powder…

No, what am I saying?

“…Sorry.”

As if he finally came to his senses, Eugene released his arms.

I regained my freedom, but I couldn’t see Eugene’s face.

It was because Alice—no, Frey—jumped and dropkicked Eugene.

“It seems that you’ve developed a terrible habit over the span of a single day. Did the God of War beat you up so much that your brain is finally having issues?”

“Fre…Alice. I apologize.”

Frey gritted her teeth and shouted.

I awkwardly laughed and stopped Frey.

The current Eugene has become aware of his true supernatural ability.

The fact that Eugene, who can use Arin’s danger sense, was caught off guard by Frey’s surprise attack meant he let himself be hit on purpose.

He seems to know his own mistake, so let’s be lenient.

Frey, relax your eyes. If you fire a heat ray again, it won’t end in another letter of apology.

“Eugene, what’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

“…Yes, I did. I had a rather scary dream.”

Eugene got up from the ground, brushing off the dust.

His eyes showed a slight surprise at his own impulsive behavior.

It seemed like he acted emotionally, unable to control his momentary feelings…

I glanced at Arin and got the general idea. Eugene’s unusual behavior and Arin’s surprised expression. The puzzle pieces fitted together, and everything started to make sense.

‘…Arin, why did you tell him?’

You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!

I trusted you! I was trusting you!

Waahhhh, Arin is a liar!

‘…No, did I break the promise first?’

I promised I wouldn’t do ‘that’ anymore, on the condition that Arin wouldn’t tell.

And I haven’t, I swear! I haven’t used the rope since that day. It was torn to shreds anyway, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.

But it might not be the same from Arin’s point of view. Because I’ve tried to self-harm several times since then and she caught me.

Ugh, what’s the point of thinking about that now? I can’t cry over spilled milk.

I made a sad face in my heart, but I pretended to have a calm expression on the outside.

Well, let’s not think too negatively.

Arin must have done it for me.

If necessary, I can use my last resort.

The reason I hid my true nature until now was to follow the contents of the ‘novel’.

The contents of the ‘novel’ have been deviating for a long time. Even though I tried to follow the original plot as much as possible and hid my masochistic tendencies… After reading Lucille’s memories, I wondered if I needed to hide it that much.

I didn’t plan to keep it a secret forever anyway.

I’ll try to resolve the misunderstanding as much as possible, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll just confess the truth.

“Lucia is actually a heroine who really likes self-harming!” I’ll say.

I don’t think they’ll believe me easily… Yes, if I show them believable evidence, won’t it be solved?

◈

“What made you do something like that all of a sudden?”

Arin’s rebuke left Eugene at a loss for words.

He never intended to act like that at all.

He had planned to act naturally, as if nothing had happened.

The moment he saw Lucia smiling and waving her hand as usual.

Heat, starting from his heart, spread through his blood vessels to his entire body.

It was an impulsive act. The story he heard from Arin flashed through his mind. Lucia attempted suicide. She tried to end her own life. She suffered a terrible ordeal, to the point of giving up on life.

Yet, she was smiling. As always. As if she was claiming to be fine.

What kind of emotions were swirling behind that smile?

He thought that without thinking, and a mixture of emotions pushed Eugene forward.

“I’m sorry.”

Eugene apologized weakly. The God of War had always said, “Don’t be controlled by your emotions. Control your emotions. Supernatural abilities are the power of the mind; emotions can both strengthen and weaken supernatural abilities. Always be calm; if necessary, create even nonexistent emotions. You must keep emotions under your control.”

But what was it just now?

He acted emotionally, succumbing to impulse.

It was the moment when all his training became useless.

If the God of War had seen him, he would have scolded him, called him a pathetic fool and thrown him to the ground.

“Sigh, it’s done. What’s the point of arguing now?”

Arin sighed and shook her head.

“And depending on the circumstances, it might have been a good thing.”

“A good thing?”

“Knowing that someone worries about her this much might comfort Lucia a little, wouldn’t it?”

Arin saw Lucia’s bewildered expression clearly. She probably realized that because of Eugene’s impulsive action, I told him about that day.

She felt a pang of guilt for breaking her promise. But Lucia broke the promise first. I didn’t do anything majorly wrong. I only did a little wrong. Arin tried to justify herself and looked at Eugene.

“Even if not as blatant as today, show her your affection as much as possible from now on.”

“Af-affection?!”

“You like Lucia, don’t you? I mean, don’t hide your feelings.”

Sometimes, the love of another person can be more effective than any medicine.

Eugene genuinely liked Lucia after all.

Judging by Lucia’s attitude towards Eugene, it didn’t seem like she was completely thoughtless.

Even if she didn’t show blind love towards Eugene, it was clear that she had some level of affection for him.

Yes, now that I think about it, it’s a good thing.

Lucia was mentally vulnerable right now. Many gaps were evident in her heart. If he slip into those gaps, he might not only achieve Lucia’s love, but Lucia might also regain mental stability.

It feels a bit unsettling to use Lucia’s vulnerability, but it’s much better than her truly giving up on life and becoming completely despondent.

‘The problem is…’

Alice also saw that scene.

She had beaten up Eugene with her occasionally fierce personality.

Alice is innocent, but that doesn’t mean her judgment is poor or that she’s stupid.

Considering her drive when Lucia was kidnapped, she was actually very planned and decisive.

‘She must have had some suspicions already, but seeing that scene…’

Alice’s suspicions would have deepened.

Until now, she had pretended not to know, but it’s unknown if she’ll continue to do so. If Alice, who usually depends heavily on Lucia, finds out about Lucia’s suicide attempt…

“Ah, there you are.”

As the saying goes, speak of the devil.

Arin looked at the little girl walking towards them and put her hand on her forehead.

Eyes scattering a faint red light.

Her coldly stiff expression spoke volumes.

It’s Alice in her fierce mode, the same way she dropkicked Eugene earlier.

Arin and Eugene were on the stairs at the end of the hallway.

Few people go there, so it’s a good place to have a private conversation.

Yet, another presence appeared on the quiet stairs.

The little girl stood in front of the two of them, frowning and said,

“You two, don’t you have something to say?”

“Something to say?”

Arin asked back, pretending not to know.

Beep, beep, beep.

Ah, wrong answer.

Danger sense started to ring frantically.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
If you don’t speak, you’ll die.

(Seriously)

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Slife moments like this are a good step back from the action~