Chapter 25.1

So far, Gloria has not done anything.

I was a bit surprised. Then why had she joined the club?

Of course, it could be that she truly had an interest in literature, but something felt a little off about that.

“What are you looking at?”

“The swordsmanship division training.”

After throwing Dora a careless reply, I propped up my chin with my hand on the window sill and stared blankly toward the exercise hall.

Gloria was out there wielding her sword in comfortable clothes.

With skills so unrivaled like hers, it seemed like the academy had prepared a separate practice hall all for her own, since nobody else was in the area.

Gloria murmured something underneath her breath and the sword in her hand was soon covered with ice.

My eyes widening into saucers, I leaned my body out the window to get a better look.

“…!”

Sword Aura was a magical skill. Only those who had trained swordsmanship for a very long time would be able to reach this level of mastery.

This was the first time I had seen with my own eyes what I’d only heard about before.

Super cool and pretty, too.

When Gloria swung her blue-lit sword, about 20 straw bales were slashed through at once.

The parts of the bales that had been sliced through were frozen solid.

It was an ultra-rare sight to behold midsummer.

Whoa, if that ever sliced through your body, then there was no way you could ever attach it back together again.

After wielding her sword a couple more times, she put down the sword and rubbed her palms together.

Complaining a bit about something for a moment, she suddenly whipped her head around in my direction.

I turned away quickly, but it seemed like she’d known the whole time that I was watching her.

She stared point-blank in our direction for a while before she turned around and left.

“… so cool,” I murmured, lowering my hand from my mouth.

There had been times when I’d heard rumors that the young lady of the Lupinus Marquis had almost reached the status of mastery.

But to think it was to this extent.

Knocking on the window, I shook my head while looking lost.

Though it wasn’t like I had some kind of knowledge about swordsmanship, I could say for sure that Gloria’s swordsmanship was amazing to the point of wowing her enemies and that she looked genuinely happy when she was wielding her sword. For the first time, I felt something akin to humanity in my senior.

And, though I didn’t know why, I found myself thinking that, oh, I’ve only ever considered her on the axis of absolute evil until now, without a drop of blood or tears to her.

The thought washed an inexplicable feeling of embarrassment over me and I hung my head.

“Yeah, let’s stop being so mental. It’s really hard on me, too.”

In the end, Gloria was also an eighteen-year-old female student with the same red blood flowing in her veins, and above all, she hadn’t done anything yet. Though, of course, the entire premise would change the moment she actually did commit evil.

Even now, there were several differences from what had happened in the book.

One of those differences would be me and the other would be Gloria.

Gloria had joined our club. And even worse, it felt like she had more interest in me than both Noah and Flora. Though it did also look like she was trying to clear her obstacles one by one.

Hmm… And maybe Noah had changed a little, too? Since all of a sudden, he was beginning to show interest in me. Though it wouldn’t last long, of course.

Now, I didn’t even know if that thing called the Book of Prophecy was really the unconditional truth. Even if it might be true when it came to the big picture and the two seniors’ stories, the other smaller details looked like they were subject to change.

Gah, I really didn’t know. Why did I have to think about such headache-inducing worries anyways?

“Ugh.”

I massaged my stiff neck.

That’s right, let’s not overdo things and just stay still. Since things have turned out this way, let’s just study and work even harder so that at least the tuition fee won’t be wasted.

***

Once I decided not to do anything, I felt so much more at ease. I slept well, too.

Yeah, considering just how hard things had been until now.

If you think about it, it wasn’t like I would have any reason to go crazy and start tormenting others anytime soon, so maybe it would’ve been better if I hadn’t known a single thing about that Book of Prophecy.

Then I could’ve quietly given up on my feelings while swallowing down tears, even if that would make me a little sad.

Thinking about such various things, I was in the middle of passing through the hallway like usual when…

“Hi.”

Like an unbelievable coincidence, I came right across Noah. His neatly pressed tie and silver hair tied up in one ponytail were beautiful enough to draw my attention as usual.

I smiled softly at Noah’s greeting.

“Hello.”

It was also around at this point that I decided to stop avoiding Noah, too.

I just wanted to get along well with him like before. After all, I didn’t have to cut ties with him just because he had a lover.

Though I would have to be prepared for a bit of bitterness, of course.

Even after the contents of the books came true, couldn’t I at least remain as an acquaintance?

Well, when the two of them began dating, I could stand on the side, applauding them.

Noah, who’d been hemming and hawing for a while, suddenly opened his mouth. “There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, go on ahead.”

Squeezing the book in my two hands, I made the most encouraging face I could manage.

His well-shaped, well-positioned lips opened and closed two or so times before he finally struggled to speak. “Is Gloria harassing you by any chance?”

“… What? No.” Blinking my eyes blankly, I slowly shook my head.

Technically, she hadn’t done anything yet.