Chapter 30: Second Note – 4

-Clang!

Vivian, slightly annoyed, put down her fork on the plate.

I looked at her with an indifferent expression, but inside, I thought, ‘Well, that finally happened.’

“Why have you been following me around so much lately?”

She sighed in frustration and asked me, her sharp gaze piercing deep into me.

I couldn’t easily give her an answer.

If I mentioned the note, things would get too complicated.

Also, I couldn’t tell her that unknown enemies might be after her life again.

It would only make her more anxious.

So, I answered instead.

“Following you around? I haven’t done anything like that.”

And then I took a big bite of bread to keep myself from talking.

Seeing me play innocent, Vivian seemed genuinely provoked.

She wiped her mouth with a napkin and argued.

“Do you think this is just a one-day thing? You’ve been following me for almost a month now…! You even barged into my class today!”

I shrugged and chewed my bread slowly, pointing to my mouth to show I couldn’t respond.

But she wasn’t wrong.

It had already been a month since I received the note.

Meaning, I had been following her for nearly a month now.

Sure, we always ate together, but I also sat in on her classes, watched her from a distance when she went for walks, and loitered outside her door at night.

Sometimes I tried not to get too close, and sometimes I made sure not to stray too far.

Vivian often noticed my presence, and every time, she would shoot me an irritated glare.

Whenever that happened, I pretended not to notice and ignored her gaze.

“So, you’re just going to play dumb, huh?”

She asked, narrowing her eyes.

Realizing I couldn’t deny it any longer, I offered a different excuse.

Without meeting her gaze directly, I said,

“I’m just bored. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“I saw you learning some strange dance recently. You were terrible, by the way.”

I deliberately laughed and tried to change the subject with a playful tone.

Of course, watching Vivian struggle to learn to dance was kind of amusing.

She was clumsy, like a true beginner.

Vivian’s face turned red at my mockery.

Her fists clenched tightly, and she gritted her teeth.

It seemed my joke had really gotten on her nerves.

For a moment, I wondered if this was why she didn’t want me following her around.

Instead of the outburst I expected, Vivian’s gaze wavered.

She blinked and began looking at the floor, and I noticed her eyes starting to redden.

“Huh?”

Realizing she was about to cry, I quickly stood up and approached her.

“Hey, it was just a joke. Don’t cry over something like this.”

“…I’m not crying, okay?”

-Smack!

Vivian stubbornly swatted my arm away.

As expected, she always put up a fierce front with me.

She sniffled and roughly wiped her eyes, glaring at me.

“Anyway, stop following me around. I get so annoyed every time I see your face.”

“…I can do whatever I want.”

“Sticking your face in front of me every day is one thing, but it’s driving me crazy! I can’t focus on anything because of you! Why do I have to look like a fool in front of you every time I try to learn something?”

Vivian, fuming with rage, stood up abruptly from her seat.

She stormed out of the hall, stomping her feet as she went.

A few maids hurried after her.

I stared blankly in the direction she left, then sat down in the seat she had been in.

“…Sigh.”

A sigh escaped my lips without me even realizing it.

I hadn’t noticed before, but she must not have wanted to show her clumsy attempts at learning new things.

From her perspective, she must have thought I was making fun of her.

I was so focused on keeping her safe that I missed that part.

But how could I not worry?

The note had advised me to stay close to her, and Vivian had been taking a lot of new lessons.

She had just started dance lessons, and she was learning how to converse differently, too.

Some of the lessons she was taking, I didn’t even know what they were about.

There were classes she absolutely refused to let me attend.

I suspected Lady Linne had started teaching her something strange.

And among these new teachers, there could be someone trying to harm her.

Because of this uncertainty, I couldn’t help but hover around her.

But now everything seemed to be going wrong.

I thought things would escalate quickly if something were to happen… but a month had passed, and nothing happened.

The longer it went on, the harder it became to justify staying so close to her.

Could the person who gave me the note have been wrong this time?

Could the plot against Vivian have already fallen apart?

After a whole month with no incidents, shouldn’t I assume it was over?

I was getting exhausted too.

Staying near someone who kept glaring at me with hostility wasn’t easy.

I clicked my tongue as I thought to myself.

If that’s how it is, then fine, why should I protect someone who doesn’t want me around?

Even as I thought that, an uneasy feeling lingered in my chest.

But I shook my head again.

It had been a month… I should assume everything’s fine by now.

There’s no way I could keep up this kind of surveillance forever.

Considering our relationship, it was already a miracle we had lasted a month like this.

I stood up from my seat.

The maids who had remained in the hall finally began to clear the table.

On any other day, I would have followed after Vivian, but today, I headed towards the Punishment Division instead.

The Punishment Unit had a new chain of command.

Some boys had been promoted to officers among the soldiers, just as Vergor had asked Vivian to do.

As a result, fifty boys under the newly named ‘Kailo Unit’ had been assigned to me for management.

But managing them was just a word—life didn’t change much since they all went back to living the way they always had.

Maybe it would matter more when we went into battle again.

If I stayed here for a few more months, it would soon be a year since I arrived.

Perhaps because of that, or maybe because I had earned some recognition during the last campaign, or because I had become a middle manager, the boys didn’t treat me the way they used to.

“Hey, Kailo! Want to join us for some gambling?”

Yanes, who had also become a middle manager, called out to me.

Yanes was 18, less than a year away from adulthood.

Naturally, his body was no longer boyish, and his brown beard had already started growing in.

I waved him off and passed by them.

I headed straight to my room.

Inside, as expected, were Valon, Wallace, and Martin.

They were two years older than me, 17, and already acting like adults.

Though I had been growing recently too, I still had a long way to go to catch up with them.

Vallon, who had recently slimmed down so much that calling him fat wasn’t accurate anymore, lit up when he saw me.

“Kailo, you’re back early today?”

“I just wanted to rest today.”

After greeting them, I immediately laid down on my bed.

My mind was still a mess after talking with Vivian.

Meanwhile, Valon, Wallace, and Martin resumed their light-hearted conversation.

“Seriously, though, this is clear, right?”

Wallace said with a dirty grin.

“I don’t know, I think you’re just imagining things. It’s a bit of a stretch to call that a signal.”

Martin clicked his tongue.

“A guy’s got to go for it when he gets a signal! Right, Valon?”

Valon jabbed Wallace’s side with his elbow.

They were debating whether or not one of the maids was really flirting with Wallace.

According to Wallce, she kept glancing at him from afar and smiling when they made eye contact, and he insisted that was some sort of signal.

“Hey, Kailo. What do you think? Let’s hear what the noble lord has to say.”

Wallace, now frustrated with Martin, asked me.

With no experience with women except for Vivian, I didn’t have much to say.

Thinking about Vivian again, my mind was already tangled, so I answered absentmindedly.

“…If she doesn’t dislike you, then there’s a chance.”

Martin mumbled.

“Well, that’s true…”

Nodding in agreement.

As Martin’s confidence faltered, Wallace smiled smugly, as if he had won.

“See? I told you I was right! This could really happen, huh? Am I going to end up like Yanes?”

When Wallace made a disgusting face and said, “Like Yanes,” I couldn’t help but ask.

“…What do you mean, like Yanes?”

Wallace’s expression returned to normal instantly, and he grinned.

“Oh, you’ve been out a lot lately, so you haven’t heard? You don’t know about Yanes these days?”

“What? What about him?”

“That guy, Yanes. I heard he hooked up with a maid in the stable. Wasn’t she six years older than him?”

Hearing that, I was at a loss for words.

I just lay on the bed, chewing over the fact.

It seemed like everyone else was living their lives just fine in their own way.

In a way, all of that still feels like a distant story to me.

It wasn’t that I had no interest at all, but… it wasn’t something I particularly felt like discussing right now.

As Wallace was getting excited, Martin said sarcastically.

“…Well, good luck with that.”

Wallace, even more thrilled, retorted.

“Are you jealous? What’s with your voice?”

“Jealous, my foot. I’m just saying that because what you’re saying is so ridiculous. Do you even know how to charm a woman?”

“What do I need to charm them for? She’s already giving me all the signals. All I have to do is go and pick her up.”

“And that’s why it won’t work out for you. Do you think it’s that easy? She may give you signals, but she’ll definitely play coy. If a guy doesn’t know how to approach her, a woman’s first instinct is to push him away.”

Martin’s words seemed to strike a chord within me, and without realizing it, I found myself asking.

“What do you do if she doesn’t like you approaching her?”

At the same time, silence fell over the room.

It was clear they hadn’t expected me to ask such a question.

The awkward atmosphere was broken by Valon.

He looked at me with a smirk tugging at his lips and asked in a teasing voice.

“…Wow, does our dear Alan have someone he fancies?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s fine if you’re eyeing someone, but make sure you speak up, alright? You don’t want to end up like an unlucky brother-in-law.”

“It’s really not like that.”

As I tried to deny it, Valon snickered, and both Wallace and Martin burst into laughter along with him.

The room filled with their laughter.

I just tried my best to ignore their teasing.

But after the laughter died down, Valon answered with a serious expression.

“…If she doesn’t like it, then you shouldn’t approach her.”

His words, so logical, felt strangely awkward.

Martin also nodded and said.

“That’s just common sense.”

“Unless you plan on kidnapping her, give it up.”

Wallace added as well.

For some reason, their responses left me feeling uncomfortable.

Without a word, I turned my body to face the wall and quietly mulled over their conversation.

A strange feeling started to creep into me.

My desire to just rest was becoming more and more entangled with my complicated thoughts.

I simply closed my eyes.

And with that, I cut off my thoughts.

‘Everyone get up!!!’

In the dead of night, a loud shout shook the punishment unit.

I was startled awake and bolted upright.

In the dim moonlight, I could see Valon, Wallace, and Martin, who had also hastily sat up like me.

“W-What’s going on?”

Valon, still not fully awake, asked in confusion.

But we didn’t have time to figure it out, as we all hurriedly climbed out of our bunks and headed outside.

The punishment unit was in chaos.

The boy soldiers were scrambling out of the barracks, and the large gate leading outside was already wide open.

I saw soldiers and maids running around everywhere.

My heart began to race.

It was clear something serious was happening.

A wave of unease crashed over me.

The punishment unit’s lieutenant, Coleman, shouted as he saw the boy soldiers rushing toward him, completely clueless.

His voice was filled with urgency.

“Head to the castle!! Hurry!! Grab water and run!!”

The unit became even more frantic at his words.

Everyone started scrambling to grab water bottles in a panic.

At that moment, the mid-level officer, Yanes, shouted with a mix of surprise and responsibility in his voice.

“W-What’s happening?!”

Coleman shouted back.

“The castle is on fire!”

“…Ah.”

It finally dawned on me.

It wasn’t that someone had stopped targeting Vivian.

They hadn’t been able to make a move because I had been by her side the whole time.