Chapter 202: Shedding

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She couldn’t believe her ears.

Her mind grew hazy, taking longer than usual to process thoughts.

What had she just heard?

Sex friend? So… friends with benefits?

“—That’s not it!!”

The shout tore out of her immediately, sharp enough to reverberate through the forest.

If it had come from anyone else—say, Ianne—she might have brushed it off with a cutesy whine. “That’s ridiculous, you dummy!”

No, scratch that. They wouldn’t even joke like that in the first place. Sugar’s friends already saw the two of them as nothing less than lovers. Even when Sugar denied it—”We’re not like that!”—they’d just click their tongues and let it slide.

So she’d always denied it freely. Secretly thrilled each time, yet pretending otherwise.

But this girl was different. She wasn’t the type to let this performative back-and-forth end there.

Sugar knew exactly what kind of feelings this girl harbored for Riley. That’s why there was no way she’d let it go.

Hearing those words from someone like her felt like a knife twisting in her gut. A piercing discomfort shot through her chest, flooding her with revulsion all the way to her scalp.

“What do you mean, ‘not it’? You’re not dating, right? Not in a relationship, right? Then if you’ve sucked and fucked, that’s friends with benefits.”

“S-Sex…! We haven’t done that! We haven’t gone that far yet!”

“Hah? You’ve gotta be kidding me… That just makes it worse, doesn’t it?”

“…Worse how?”

“You’ve definitely been in the same bed. A man and a woman, stripping, leaving marks all over each other—but you didn’t go all the way? That’s even weirder. Not even fuckbuddies, huh?”

Sugar’s temper flared. Her breath came in sharp, ragged bursts.

We… We just respected the line that night. An unspoken boundary. I refused, and Riley respected it.

That’s how much he values me.

“We’re not… not some cheap, filthy fling like that…”

“Not lovers, not even in love—yet you tangled your bodies together?”

“I do love him! As a friend, as family—I really—!”

“You. You’re a coward.”

Natasha laughed.

But her voice trembled. The corners of her lips twitched unnaturally, muscles spasming as if forcing the smile. She must have been just as shaken. After all, she’d seen the evidence of her crush’s intimacy with another girl.

Right. You’re just bitter. Just jealous.

You’re trying to tear me down. Tear us down.

“Is this how you’ve always dodged it? Baring your fangs at every girl who gets close, yet when it matters, you always hide behind excuses and run away.”

Just trying to tear me down.

It’s not true. I don’t need to hurt over this.

“Pathetic. If you want to claim him, why won’t you say it? If you love him, say it. Say you want to date. Say ‘he’s mine.’ How can you refuse to show your heart yet act like no one else can have him?”

I shouldn’t hurt over this.

“This isn’t that kind of feeling…!”

“Oh, really? Just friends, huh? Not romantically interested?”

Yet it shattered anyway.

“You’re drowning in love yet can’t admit it. You interrogated me about Riley like a lovesick fool, dripping with honeyed concern—all while seething with jealousy.”

Shattering.

“Playing pretend forever—acting like family, like friends… You know what you’re doing is just roleplay, right? Nothing more, nothing less.”

Falling apart.

Sugar gritted her teeth.

“Shut up…! Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to spew this crap?”

She clutched at the fragments, tried to plug the cracks with her hands.

I never liked you.

Some nobody with no right. Just because you hung around Riley a little while I was gone. Just a passing fling. Why do you keep strutting around like you matter?

“We’ve been bound since childhood by something deeper… We’d die for each other. What we have is precious, obsessive, unmatched—nothing like whatever you think you have.”

“…”

“No one else could even imagine it. A bond beyond ordinary friendship…! So you think spouting this nonsense changes anything? There’s no room for you to interfere!”

“…”

“What we have doesn’t need anyone else—it’s already complete between us!”

As Sugar’s declaration cut through the air, Natasha’s expression shifted into something unreadable—somewhere between a smile and a sob.

“Fine… I’ll admit it. What you have is incredible. I’m not denying that.”

“Then—”

“But I’m his friend too. Because I like him, I think I’ve earned the right to say this much.”

…What?

Before Sugar could react, Natasha straightened up, meeting her gaze head-on.

“I like Riley. Not as a friend—as a woman.”

“Shut up…!”

“Since I was fourteen. The moment I first saw him—the moment he came to save me, I fell for him.”

“Shut your mouth!!”

“That’s why this pisses me off. Watching his so-called childhood friend cowardly monopolize him.”

Suddenly, Natasha remembered it—Riley wiping away the tears of that white-haired girl.

A Few Days Ago, I Saw Them Kissing on the Street.

I saw it—how he wiped away her tears, whatever the reason they’d spilled.

Has that man ever once wiped Natasha’s tears? Even setting aside those kinds of feelings—just as a friend?

So, that’s how it is. Yeah. That’s how it is.

I know exactly where both their hearts lie.

It’s just… frustrating.

“So, I—”

“Don’t! Shut up! Don’t say another word!”

Sugar lunged at Natasha. With surprisingly little resistance, Natasha fell back, and Sugar pinned her down.

“Don’t like him…! Don’t you dare like him! Don’t you dare love him!!”

“Who the hell are you to dictate someone else’s feelings?!”

“I said shut up! I have the right! Unlike you!”

“You’re not his lover. You claim you don’t even like him romantically…! So why are you trying to control who else gets close? That’s not right!”

“I’m keeping bad people away! For Riley’s sake! As his friend, as his family!!”

Natasha, who had been just as heated, suddenly went slack. A hollow, exhausted expression crossed her face.

“Even now… you’re still lying…”

Sugar shoved herself up and away.

The last shred of her rationality forced her to move.

If I can’t hold back this murderous urge, Riley will hate me. He’ll be disappointed. He’ll get hurt. That’s the one thing I can’t let happen.

Because the thought of you having those feelings for him is the most unbearable thing in the world.

Or maybe—she just couldn’t stand the weight of those accusing eyes.

She took off running, chanting the incantation for flight magic. Something wet blurred her vision—sweat or tears, she couldn’t tell.

After that, her memory blurred. She just flew recklessly until she reached the Holy City.

Flying long distances was exhausting. That was part of it, sure—flight magic was inefficient, terrible for long trips—but it wasn’t the only reason.

Dragging her drained body back to her room, she locked the door.

Immediately, she stripped and pulled on Riley’s shirt—the one she wore as pajamas. She wrapped herself in it, drowning in his scent.

Why had she come back here? Why hadn’t she gone straight to him? Why was she clinging to his shirt like a pathetic substitute?

I didn’t want to see you. But I needed you.

I didn’t want you to see me like this—seething with resentment, choking on insecurity. I didn’t want you to laugh at me, a jealous mess who couldn’t keep it together. I didn’t want you to think I was disgusting.

Isn’t this too pathetic? Screaming like a child, running away, then coming back to cry into his clothes.

‘My head’s a mess. This frustration, this anxiety—it’s driving me insane.’

She buried her nose in the sleeve. His scent flooded her senses. Normally, she couldn’t sleep without it.

“Hn… Ugh… Riley…”

It was a good smell. Warm. Comforting. So why did it keep making her cry?

She’d been laid bare.

Natasha wasn’t some clairvoyant. Not some unicorn blessed with insight. Just an ordinary girl in love.

Yet she’d seen right through her.

And that was infuriating.

The real reason Natasha unsettled her—it wasn’t just jealousy.

If she’d been a villain, some trashy girl who trampled on others, Sugar could’ve hated her freely. She could’ve said, “I’m keeping bad influences away from Riley.”

But Natasha was good. A woman who spent her free time helping others. Someone who lived by the kindness she’d been shown as a child.

She had human flaws—jealousy, for one—but at her core, she strived to be decent.

And that was the most unbearable part.

‘Why do you have to be like this? Why can’t you just be some filthy, rotten bitch?’

Because everything she’d said was true.

You’re a coward.

A liar.

What you’re doing is just roleplay.

Sugar couldn’t refute it.

And worse—she felt defeated by Natasha’s honesty.

‘I’m the pitiful one. Jealous of everyone, yet too spineless to say the one thing that matters. The world’s biggest fool.’

So she cried. In fury, in humiliation, in sheer disgust.

How ridiculous.

Running away, then seeking comfort in his scent. Too ashamed to face him, yet desperate for him. Shaken by another girl’s confession. So utterly enslaved to him.

No—ridiculous wasn’t the right word.

This was inevitable. Of course it’d come to this.

Sugar lusted for Riley’s body, burned at his words.

She never wanted him to see her ugly side. Only ever cute, only ever pretty.

If he smiled, she’d smile. If he grieved, she’d erase the cause from the world.

Why?

Why did she hang on his every word, swing between joy and despair at his reactions?

Why did it feel like defeat, hearing that girl confess so easily? Why did it hurt so much?

Why did she secretly love it when people mistook them for lovers? Why did she always want to kiss him?

She wanted him happy. Wanted to give him everything. Felt jealous regardless of gender. Wanted to be under him. Didn’t want his hatred. Wanted to stay together forever—

Why?

“Hn… Ugh… Hnng…”

The more she questioned, the harder the tears fell. Not sad tears—just empty, helpless ones. The kind that spill when you can’t hide it anymore.

The answer was obvious. She didn’t even need to ask. A child could’ve guessed.

You’ve known all along. You just refused to admit it.

Beyond friendship. Beyond family.

Purely, completely—

This girl loves that boy.