Chapter 54

“Do you have a communication device?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Do it shortly and neatly. There would be people on guard outside while you do the call.”

“Yes.”

I smiled at his act of mercy.

Should I say I was playing along with his last generosity to a condemned criminal?

All they gave me was a short timespan to move to another room to make a call.

I raised my head as I followed the guards who led me with their expressionless eyes.

My eyes met with Rany who stared at me amidst the students who gathered in the hallway.

As if she had already figured the situation I was in, her eyes turned sharp and she gritted her teeth.

I saw the students buzzing around talking about me.

These people had no intention to hide their behavior of treating me as a ‘criminal’.

This was their method to widely spread the identity of the ‘criminal.’

By displaying the sight of me walking under the cold eyes of the guards.

Since commotion is already going on, it would be difficult to quitely solve this situation.

My heart turned cold.

Now that the situation was already this twisted, there was no choice for me other than flipping the tables.

Thus, I had to make a decision.

Whether to call my friends and announce all the truth, or to accept the sweetness of the power that I kept rejecting because I felt burdened by it.

There was only one choice I could make at the end.

I have no intentions to lose anything.

I had always acted considerately to the lifestyle Mother had all this time.

At least a bit more than the consideration she had for my life.

Thus, even if I would trouble my mother this time, my priorities were ones I had to protect.

Not long after I took out the communication device from my pocket, it finally connected to someone.

The face displayed in the video was filled with expectation and surprise.

Now that I think of it, this is our first call.

Because I never expected our first call would be like this, I felt sorry for the first time at the face I saw.

Just like how it always was, the gentle voice spoke to me first.

[Aren’t you in the academy, Marianne?]

“Are you busy? I can hear you gasping.”

[Ah, it’s nothing. I was only doing intense training to welcome the second half of the year. I just finished it by now.]

Orion’s voice was cheerful and even when he was soaked in sweat, his bright smiling face looked lively.

It was just that groans kept emitting from the screen, almost like background noise.

The long and faint groans were accompanied with a number of rough breathing sounds.

With those breathing sounds as a background, Orion spoke out.

[Knights grow as they overcome their ordeals.]

It was followed with a dull roar shouting from afar.

“You must have been busy.”

[I’m not busy. Not at all! The training was so boring today that I kept thinking of you while doing it!]

. . . Why are you thinking of me while doing your training?

“Actually, even if you’re busy, I can’t end the call. I have something to say.”

Despite my words, I hesitated for a moment.

Now that I was about to speak about it, my lips seemed to freeze.

But the buzzing sounds behind the door gave a push on my back.

I took a breath and slowly opened my mouth.

“About me asking Sir Rune to act as my brother instead of you, it was because you are too kind to me.”

His face tilted to the side as if he was surprised.

I could clearly see his rounded eyes and his brain moved hurriedly.

“For me, family is a very special existence. Truthfully, until now, I only considered you to be a son of Mom’s marriage partner.”

Orion’s lips moved a bit.

His feeling was vividly drawn on the face that turned sullen and looked like its ears drooping down.

People who had something to hide were also stingy in letting others on their side.

On top of that, I was timid.

I didn’t want to be betrayed. The people I finally opened my heart to . . . I didn’t want them to be hurt because of me.

If I didn’t start anything, then I would have nothing to worry about.

Of course, if I weren’t to start anything, I would also gain nothing.

If I had to tell the truth, Orion Miller was a good person.

Even without his rank and status.

“But I. I think I finally need Orion’s power.”

I had nothing to say if he were to judge me as shameless.

“Although I couldn’t accept Orion as a family very soon . . . Still, if you’re okay with it, I can only give you a promise to try to be your little sister.”

I unconsciously trembled at the end.

Orion quietly stared at me with his blue eyes.

I lowered down my head a bit as I spoke.

“You said the reason you like me is because I look at you not as the Young Duke but as Orion Miller, right?”

[. . .]

“But, if today I say I need Orion Miller as the identity of the Young Duke.”

[. . .]

“If I say I need your status and power, would you still hear my request?”

I averted my gaze because I couldn’t dare to face him.

And Orion was the one who broke the short silence.

[Can I ask you something?]

“Yes.”

[What kind of person am I to you? Is the reason you kept pushing me is because you have no space for me in your heart for me to be your family?]

I paused for a moment at his question.

Even at this time, he showed me his utmost sincerity.

It wasn’t difficult to speak honeyed words that were nice to hear, but I decided not to do that.

I replied as honestly as possible.

“I thought it was better for us to just live pretending not knowing each other. I didn’t push you away because I didn’t like you, but because I thought we were not fated. I don’t hate this. Though you’re a bit burdening. How many people in this world could hate people who tried their best with them?”

If the other was being sincere, then I also had to be sincere.

That point of Orion Miller was the thing that made me troubled.

Because he kept showing his sincerity to me, a person who found it difficult to show her own sincerity.

[I will go right now.]

“There’s one more thing.”

I requested one more thing from him, who had stood up as though he was ready to run here at this moment.

Now that I would turn the tables, I wanted to properly counterattack the poor and selfish decision made by the academy.