"What rumors?"
"That you are a part of the Dark Church," she replied, a conflicting expression adorning her face.
"....What?" I asked, frowning at her words.
"Yes, since morning, I have heard at least three people talk about it," she replied, nodding her head.
"They were saying that you joined them before arriving at the academy."
"What the heck?" I mumbled as I massaged my head.
Why are there rumors about this now? There weren’t any rumors about this until yesterday.
... until I met with Jaquab.
’Ahh, fuck my terrible luck.’
Did that bastard spread rumors about me being a part of the church after I didn’t accept his offer?
Or did the royal family do that?
’There goes my image.’
Even though these are just baseless rumors with no confirmation, I am sure this will affect my reputation even more than it did previously.
Being a part of a group that is hated by every being in the kingdom is more than enough to make me isolated from the rest of the people.
Just the fear that being close to me can even make them look like they are also part of the church was enough for people to stop engaging with me.
’And here I thought my reputation couldn’t go any lower than it already is.’ I sighed as I thought about it.
I looked around, and sure enough, people were not wearing pleasant expressions whenever my eyes met with them.
They either fearfully averted their gaze, or they just behaved like they didn’t see me.
’Why is she staring at me though?’ I thought as I looked at Aeloria.
She wasn’t shying away from staring at me; even when our eyes met, she didn’t avert her gaze.
I observed her for a while before shifting my attention towards Angelina.
She wasn’t looking anywhere but was focusing on the book placed on the desk.
Even now, Eden’s feelings are affecting me, making me feel affectionate towards her.
However, now I had enough control over myself and my feelings for her to completely ignore her presence.
After scanning the room, I shifted my gaze back to the girl beside me.
"Why are you still here?" I asked, looking at Emily.
"You know, you are risking your reputation by being close to me," I said, squinting my eyes. "I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had shown me a cold shoulder."
"I don’t have anyone else to be with," she replied in a timed voice, embarrassment evident on her face.
’No, I am not buying that,’ I thought as I looked at her.
Apart from Aeloria, her behavior was the most drastic one, so much so that she was completely different from her game counterpart, who was always on guard against boys, not even talking to them because of her and her mother’s tragic past.
In the game, she was just one step away from hating men entirely—that is, until Aron helped her in her arc of the story.
But now she isn’t even guarding herself against me, and from what I have noticed, even if we were both alone in a closed room, she wouldn’t panic that much.
"Now that I think about it, didn’t you once say that we met in our childhood?" I asked, remembering her words.
"I beat the shit out of him," he replied, grinning.
"Damn, boi, you did good," I replied, nodding happily.
"You shouldn’t fight in the academy," Emily said, her gaze on Breg.
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"I don’t care; they were tarnishing my brother’s reputation. How could I just ignore them?" He said it in a serious tone.
"You have a reputation, Eden?" Fatima exclaimed, looking at me with astonishment.
"Not funny, idiot."
"Anyway, where is Nora?" Emily asked, looking around.
"There she is," Breg said, pointing in one direction. I looked there, and indeed, Aron, Cassia, and Nora were coming in our direction.
"How are you guys?" Aron said with a smile as he looked at us, specifically towards Emily and Fatima.
"Good," Fatima replied, and Emily just nodded her head.
"You haven’t talked to me for a while." I commented, looking at Cassia.
"My grandfather told me to be careful around people like you." She replied without looking at me.
’That fucker really did tell them to stay away from me, huh.’
I need to do something about him. In a few months, I will come to the point where Eden truly started his villain journey in the game.
And the next event in the game was the start of that. As Eden slowly started to lose his mind when he looked at Angelina happily talking with Aron.
About Aron, this was also the event in which Aeloria started to like him as well as she was his partner on the trip.
I also need to be careful about that old man’s position as well, as he is the one who is working as an ’eye’ for them.
And if they notice any type of change in the situation around Aron, they will send someone after me whom I can’t deal with easily.
"You got the same advice, Aron." I asked as I looked at the hero.
"No, I just don’t like being around people like you." He said it with a smile as he looked at me.
"You changed your way of talking quite a lot in a few days as well, huh?" I said, and at my words, he visibly flinched.
’So something really did happen." I thought as I noticed the shift in his behavior.
"What do you mean?" He said this as he glared at me.
"Anyway, have you guys checked who will be your partner on the trip next week?" Fatima said as she looked at everyone.
"When did that get disclosed?" I asked, looking at her.
"Lady Sophia told us about this in our class." She replied, "They have posted a notice on the board."
Ahh, I was dozing off in her class because I couldn’t sleep properly last night.
"Have you checked yours?" I asked.
"Yeah, me and Emily are the partners." Fatima replied, smiling happily.
’Same as the game, huh?’
"I checked yours as well, Eden." She said this as she looked at me.
"Who is mine, then?"
"Aeloria."