episode_0075

As I walked towards the martial arts lecture building, preparing for the upcoming class, my mind was occupied.

While Cain and the heroines managed to overcome their situations somehow,

There was still one more problem that needed to be resolved.

“Darius Trevan… I must catch that crazy bastard.”

Despite numerous warnings, he had been revealing my identity.

It was a clear warning. Furthermore, it was an act of betrayal.

I had mentioned sending a punishment notice to his family, but I hadn’t done so.

Still, it bothered me until the brink of death. It was my own form of leniency.

“But then again…”

A chilling feeling crept up on me, almost freezing the back of my neck.

-Step, step.

My steps were calmer than ever.

As I walked, I finalized how to deal with him.

Upon reaching the classroom, I quietly opened the door.

-Creak.

Standing in front of the podium, I spoke.

“Darius Trevan, come out.”

My voice resonated calmly throughout the classroom.

The students who were chattering while seated pyramid-style fell silent and all eyes turned towards me.

They sensed something was amiss.

A quiet student who usually kept to themselves suddenly calling out someone?

Especially someone known for causing trouble and having a bad reputation?

Everyone realized something significant was about to happen.

Hedy, sitting in the central seat, also looked at me with surprise in her eyes. But I paid her no mind.

“W-what’s going on…?”

Darius scratched his head in confusion and approached me.

Other students widened their eyes upon seeing him comply without resistance.

He, known as the troublemaker of the martial arts department, had never obediently followed someone else’s words.

Ignoring his protests, I told him, “Stop talking and come outside.”

Even if my emotions were running high, this was still a classroom.

Causing a scene in front of students would be troublesome.

“B-but it’s almost time for class… Whatever it is, we can deal with it later-”

Before he could finish speaking, I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him outside.

“W-what…!”

Being pulled along, Darius protested with a face full of defiance.

Whether due to public humiliation or his wounded pride, his high self-esteem seemed shaken.

Taking a breath, I spoke once more.

“Quietly follow me.”

“….”

With an inscrutable expression, Darius quietly followed behind me.

After a stormy situation, the students stood outside the door for a while, looking bewildered.

Stopping in the deserted backyard, I finally broke the silence.

“I told you not to speak about it.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Darius’s eyes sharpened.

It was as if he was saying, “Why treat me like this when I haven’t done anything wrong?”

Meeting Darius’s gaze, I chuckled and said, “Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

“Yes, I truly don’t know.”

“Despite my leniency for the last incident, why did you betray me like this?”

“….”

Darius remained silent. The more he stayed quiet, the more intense my emotions became.

“Not going to answer?”

“I really don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

For a moment, I wondered if Darius was truly innocent due to his continued denial.

However, his reaction to the question I threw out next made that thought vanish instantly.

“Someone told me you were gossiping about me with friends behind my back at the martial arts lecture hall.”

Darius flinched and shot me a look as if to say, “So what?”

Enough was enough. There was no need for further words.

-Snap!

“…Catch?”

“….”

As I attempted to strike his face with my fist, he grabbed my arm.

He swiftly drove his fist into the man’s neck so forcefully that he couldn’t react.

– Thud!

It felt like déjà vu. Gasping in pain with his back against the backyard wall, he glared at me.

“What are you looking at as if you’ve done something great?”

“Master Gongja… Huk, what have you done so well… to act like a saint…?”

“…What?”

“Isn’t it true…? Just like me in the past… Hoo… committing all sorts of misdeeds… and now pretending to be a saint, it’s truly disgusting….”

“……”

Amidst my boiling anger, many thoughts raced through my mind.

I am not the foolish Master Gongja Si-an.

I am Choi Ji-an from South Korea, who has transmigrated.

If I appeared to those entangled with the previous Si-an and his relationships with people as if I were acting like a saint, then what kind of life had the previous Si-an lived?

His principles were shattered, dreaming of no future and living recklessly.

Violence? Drinking? Perhaps… beyond mere escapades, he might have manipulated events like Cain, creating a victim and using the family’s influence to cover up his actions.

In Darius’ eyes, I could very well be despicable. It would be ironic to now ask for accountability for the same things.

But.

…One thing was certain.

The man before me insulted me and, not content with that, rejected the leniency I offered. This was enough to demand accountability.

I rose and drove my fist into Darius’ abdomen once more.

“Huk…!”

And I said,

“Leave the academy. Disappear from my sight. If you dare to ignore this again, an official letter will be sent to your family.”

“……”

With that statement, I walked towards the classroom without even looking back at Darius.

It was the moment I left the backyard.

Tap, tap, tap! I heard hurried footsteps moving away.

‘…Did someone overhear?’

Since I suddenly brought the troublemaker out of the classroom, curious students might have come to see.

I wasn’t overly concerned.

‘It doesn’t matter now.’

Having revealed my identity to Cain and the heroines, further hiding my status was unnecessary.

I walked towards the classroom without a care.

Darius, lost in thought, didn’t follow or call out to me. He didn’t appear until I arrived at the classroom for the lesson, and the same was true the next day.

***

Several days passed since then.

Darius hadn’t been seen at all since he supposedly applied for withdrawal as I instructed.

Occasionally, while wandering around the academy, I coincidentally ran into Lucy, Aria, and Rosaria.

“Oh! Si-an, wait a moment…!”

“I’m sorry.”

Each time, I turned away, passing them by.

I was mentally exhausted and thus pretended not to notice, needing to avoid getting involved.

I also put off anything related to Hedy.

Our relationship hadn’t recovered, but I too needed a mental break, so I treated her with the same indifference.

Although he seemed to glance at me in the classroom occasionally, I attributed it to mood swings and didn’t bother to acknowledge him.

That week seemed to pass calmly without significant changes in my routine.

Yes, that week.

“L-Lies…! Si-an from the Brace Kingdom didn’t withdraw…?!”

“Wow, how can a person change so much? Were they pretending all this time?”

“I didn’t even know they were the same person and tried to mess with them… I feel disgusted with myself! Ugh!”

“But wasn’t their spirit broken? How did they achieve high grades in the grading exam?”

“Ariel Academy wouldn’t yield to family connections, right…?”

I don’t know how the rumors spread, but it seemed like most of the students in the martial arts department had learned about my true identity.

It probably wasn’t because of Darius.

He disappeared without a trace. If he wanted to keep an eye on me until the end, he would have spread the rumor first and shamelessly flaunted his face afterwards.

Ignoring the students who stared at me in bewilderment, I sat in my seat in the classroom, pondering.

‘Who exactly am I…?’

Cain is likely not the type to spread rumors, and neither would Lucy, Aria, nor Rosaria have a reason to do so. Since they have been seen together until now, there wouldn’t be any benefit in spreading gossip.

Hedy sitting across the way is also unlikely to be the culprit. She…

Has no friends.

“…Was she in the backyard last time?”

When I dragged Darius away and we came back out to the backyard, I heard hurried footsteps running away.

I wasn’t paying much attention to whoever it was… Could that have been my downfall? Seems like they were more talkative than I thought.

“Phew….”

After the combat practical theory class ended, I immediately got up from my seat.

I couldn’t bear the increasingly uncomfortable gazes of students whispering as they looked at me.

I moved my steps as if fleeing to the dormitory.

“Just a moment!”

But then, someone called out to me.

“Sian, from the Brace Kingdom, right?”

It was a student from the fencing club who took classes in the same room.

Tiny eyes like beans, a crooked nose.

Thick hair, slightly darkish yellowish skin, tall but chubby.

“Who are you?”

“Wow, hahaha, pretending not to recognize me just because I went on a diet?”

He chuckled annoyingly. Was he someone I vaguely knew before the possession?

I asked cautiously.

“Sorry, I can’t seem to remember well. Were we acquainted?”

“Aww, how hurtful! It’s Verdida! Verdi! The prince from the west we used to hang out with!”

‘The prince from the west?’

Since most of the west is desert, if there’s a prince, there’s only one country it could be.

The Desert King. Ruler standing atop the pyramid, the great ruler known as the ‘Khan’ who rules…

“…The Prince of the Bahatla Empire?”

“That’s right! You finally remember! Haha.”

He clapped his hands, chuckling away.