episode_0028

Deron had a terribly bad habit.

He would press, he would hit without a second thought…

…Am I being bullied by any chance?

Suddenly struck by a huge thought, I raised my head to look at Deron.

I always give him delicious candies, but he always hits me with a slap.

A shocking fact was revealed once again.

I stared at Deron with eyes as wide as a cat who found a cucumber.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

I just wanted to be friends with the prince.

I had no intention of being a punching bag, so I quickly escaped from Deron’s embrace and wandered around looking for Shasha.

As I ran through the hallway, students greeted me, and although it took a little time to reciprocate the greetings, I was able to easily find Shasha.

Shasha was chatting with Seyna and Doran.

I rushed towards Shasha.

“Shasha!”

“Huh?! Did you cause trouble again?!”

Why does he react like this as soon as I call him?

He must think I’m always causing trouble.

What image does Shasha have of me…

“…Did you cause trouble…?”

What’s with him now?

Seyna approached Shasha slower than a snail and casually spoke.

Although his tone was timid, his words were anything but timid.

“Seyna…”

I wanted to ask if he was planning something serious, but asking that would lead to a fight, so I swallowed my words.

“Anyway, I have something I want to discuss as a friend!”

“What is it?”

“What?”

I spoke seriously, looked around, and whispered.

“…I think the prince is bullying me.”

“Oh, that’s nothing…”

Shasha, that’s what you say to a friend who came to you seriously for advice.

He seemed to be getting colder towards me as time went on.

“Just listen to me for now!”

“Okay.”

Shasha lightly touched my cheek as he shook his arms in protest.

Although his attitude was not serious at all, I felt prepared to listen, so I slowly began to talk about my worries.

“You know that the prince takes care of me, right?”

“Right?”

Shasha and Seyna nodded their heads simultaneously as if they already knew.

“But apart from taking care of me, don’t you think his hands have been rough lately…?”

“Is that so?”

“Is that so?”

Both of them tilted their heads at the same time, and it seemed like my explanation was lacking, so I calmly continued to explain, taking deep breaths.

“He takes care of me, which is good, but every time we meet, he presses my head, hits me…”

“That’s… true…”

“Really?”

Now that they seemed to understand me, I smiled broadly.

“And just now, look, here.”

I bowed my head to show my forehead.

The place where I was hit was slightly swollen, and a bruise was starting to form.

“…Hmm, but you know… Lia.”

“Huh?”

At Shasha’s cautious words, I raised my head and looked at him with bright eyes.

I expected him to take my side.

“…Lia was wrong.”

But his response filled me with deep betrayal.

“…Me…?”

For a moment, I froze, doubting my ears, and Seyna, noticing my reaction, continued to speak hesitantly.

“V-Violence is wrong, but I want to support Lia as much as possible, but… because Lia was wrong…”

“…Me…?”

I trusted that they would take my side, but it seems I was wrong.

Was the friendship of the girls so shallow?

The emotion that came after the betrayal was despair.

It was the despair of knowing for sure that I had chosen the wrong friend.

“Lia keeps spreading weird rumors about the prince… Honestly, I think it’s lucky if it just ends with a few punches…”

I tightly shut my mouth.

If I were to say that, it would make my words meaningless.

However, apart from having nothing to say, I also felt unjustly accused.

I never intended to spread such rumors on purpose.

It was just a result of exaggeration as the students passed on our words from mouth to mouth.

Blaming me as the culprit of the rumors, I was also a victim of exaggerated rumors.

I came to seek advice, but I felt even more unjustly accused, so I turned my head away in tears.

“…I have no one on my side!”

As I threw a tantrum, Shasha sighed and hugged me tightly.

It was quite humiliating to be embraced by a 10-year-old girl.

Perhaps, if I were to name the emotion I was feeling now, it would be more like frustration.

I sighed as I broke free from Shasha’s embrace and prepared for the upcoming class.

It was a gloomy break time, compressed with interrogations from the sub male lead, being hit by the prince, and denying injustice to my friend.

Children might act like that, but adults also get hurt in their hearts.

The only difference might be that for children, it’s like black ink dropping on a white canvas, showing immediately, while for adults, it’s like black ink dropping on a canvas already covered with various scribbles, so it doesn’t show much.

However, not showing much pain doesn’t mean it’s not there.

With so much scribbling, adults feel like they might tear apart at any moment.

“Being an adult is tough…”

I said it was because my body was tired, but it was also because my mind was tired, like a child crying for no reason.

I had already experienced what adults go through.

I didn’t want to become an adult, I wanted to remain a child forever.

I sighed.

Even to myself, it sounded like a pitiful soliloquy.

As break time was ending, I left behind the friends who didn’t understand this friendship and walked away with heavy steps.

Soon, it was time for class, and my mind was so full of injustice that no content came in.

When my friends betrayed my trust and the prince hit me, I let out a deep sigh, but when Professor Mosan told me to stop sighing, I did, but the frustration didn’t disappear.

The class passed by without me realizing how, and it was break time again.

“Why do you keep sighing like that?”

As if there was nothing to be done, Deron approached me and sat next to me.

“…It’s just because of all the hitting, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“…It sounds like you’re asking me to worry a lot.”

The truth was, the reason I was feeling so gloomy right now wasn’t much.

It was because the prince seemed to see me not as a friend, but as a punching bag.

I wondered if taking care of me was also done with the feeling of managing a punching bag.

After lying on the desk and mumbling, Deron sighed and lightly touched my head, awkwardly patting it.

It was more like messing up my hair than patting me.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

“…There’s no need to apologize.”

I was surprised that he was apologizing for my sudden outburst and looked up.

As I stared at Deron, he observed me closely, then offered another apology.

“I never thought you were stupid.”

“…Me?”

“I shouldn’t have hit you on the head.”

“…Me?”

What on earth is he talking about?

“Let’s try to come up with a different approach from now on.”

“It sounds like you’re saying you’ll hit me differently….”

It sounds really dangerous.

As my body trembled, he patted my shoulder, but his smile didn’t seem cool, it felt rather creepy.

“Ugh….”

He lowered the hand on my head, touched my cheek, and then pulled it straight down.

“This way, you won’t be stupid anymore, right?”

“…Thank you.”

So he hit me and then pulled my cheek…?

The tension was released, but at the same time, it turned cold.

Is this what friends do…?

“I think I made a mistake in choosing my friends….”

“I agree.”

It was a moment when both Deron and I felt uncomfortable being friends with each other.

After staring at each other for a while, we both looked away at the same time.

“I don’t need someone like a prince.”

“I don’t need someone like you either.”

…What?

“R-really…?”

I timidly grabbed Deron’s sleeve and looked up at him with trembling eyes.

It’s nice that the male lead declares that he doesn’t need someone like me, but it’s not the indifference I hoped for.

I feared that our relationship might completely deteriorate and turn into a bad fate.

Deron glanced at me briefly and let out a sigh.

“….Ha.”

Seeing that he didn’t forcefully shake off the hand holding his sleeve, it seemed that my fears were unfounded.

It’s probably because Deron is paying a lot of attention to me.

Since it was clear that if Deron and I were completely at odds, I would be separated from Lia and Ara.

I let out a sigh of relief and put on the prettiest smile I could muster.

“I’m glad…!”

The murmurs around us were probably a good sign.