Chapter 60: An Unexpected Hand Extended

I found Margaret at the largest cafe in the Academy.

Unlike the other students who were gathered in small groups and chatting, Margaret occupied the largest table alone, glaring at a teapot.

‘Thank goodness. She didn’t go very far.’

“Margaret.”

When I called her name, Margaret slowly turned her head toward me.

“May I sit?”

Margaret stared at me for a long time without saying a word, then snapped her head away. Her hair fluttered along with the movement.

When I pulled out a chair and sat down, a server approached.

“Could I have a cup of peppermint tea?”

“Yes.”

The server withdrew.

Margaret’s teacup was still full.

‘She hasn’t even touched it. What should I say?’

We didn’t speak until the tea I ordered arrived and I had finished about half of it.

I was trying to soothe my bitter heart with the warm tea when Margaret suddenly turned her head again.

Meeting her eyes directly, I saw tears shimmering in them, as if she were unable to contain her indignation.

Looking at those wet eyes, I realized that Margaret’s eyes, which I had only ever thought of as fierce, were actually quite beautiful.

Then, her carefully applied makeup, her elegantly curled hair, and her brand-new dress all came into view one after another.

“Why…”

The first word Margaret uttered was “why.”

“Why! Evan…”

Margaret couldn’t finish her sentence.

I moved to sit beside her. After a moment’s hesitation, I cautiously placed my hand on her shoulder, and she looked up.

Her breathing was still ragged, but she was trying to calm herself.

“If you’re here to scold me for doing something wrong, go back. I don’t want to fight with you, Liana. I suppose it’s only natural for you to take your friend’s side. Yes, I’ll consider it a mark of deep friendship.”

Margaret spoke with a cold face and straightened her back, which had been leaning against the chair. Naturally, my hand fell from her shoulder.

Looking at Margaret’s profile as she stubbornly stared at the table, I felt a strange sense of kinship for some reason.

Even though she and I were completely different.

“Cecilia Menchesun is truly lucky.”

At Margaret’s self-deprecating murmur, I took her hand.

Margaret’s hand, touching my bare skin, was freezing cold.

“That’s not it.”

“Not what? What do you mean?”

“I didn’t come here to blame you, Margaret.”

“Then why? You have no reason to be here.”

Margaret’s eyes narrowed.

If it had been before my regression, I certainly wouldn’t have come looking for her here. I would have been too busy fussing over Cecilia’s swollen cheek.

But perhaps because my perspective had widened after returning, I began to see things I couldn’t see before.

For instance, like today.

“I think Cecilia crossed the line. You had every right to be angry, Margaret.”

“…Are you serious?”

I felt a certain anxiety from her as she bit her lip and waited for my answer.

“I’m serious. I’m sorry I didn’t stop her.”

Margaret peered into my face for a long time.

As if determining the truth of my words, those burning yellow eyes searched my expression for a while before she turned away.

“Fine. You don’t need to apologize!”

Margaret spoke as if shouting, gulped down her black tea, and slammed the cup down hard enough to shake the table. The teacup rattled against the saucer.

“Margaret.”

“I’m sorry, but don’t call my name so affectionately!”

Margaret glared at me fiercely, but I was no longer afraid of her.

It’s truly strange.

When I headed to the administrative building for the Academy’s entrance ceremony and saw her hitting a boy, I had been terrified.

Seeing Margaret like that, I had even thought she was somewhat barbaric.

Margaret back then and Margaret now aren’t much different.

However, my heart, which used to avoid Margaret, had fundamentally changed. It had retreated cleanly, as if the events before the regression no longer held any influence.

‘I wonder why?’

“It was a mistake to raise your hand against her.”

Perhaps Margaret, like me, lacked tact.

When I spoke calmly, she bit her lip hard. She had the expression of a petulant child who knew she was wrong but didn’t want to be scolded.

“For now… wouldn’t it be better to apologize?”

“Cecilia Menchesun is the one at fault! She’s the one who crossed the line. You know she wounded my pride and insulted me… and yet you dare suggest a Torrento should apologize first?”

‘My ears are going to ring!’

Margaret shouted, her eyes bulging. Her clenched fist on the table trembled as if she were about to strike it.

“I know. I know Cecilia was wrong.”

I took Margaret’s hand.

Rather than a Margaret who kept silent because she was hurt, I thought it was better for her to shout.

“Even. So. You’re. Telling. Me. To. Apologize?”

Margaret, speaking one word at a time, had a scarier side to her than when she was shouting.

Margaret’s eyes flashed as if she were barely holding back. They were eyes that looked as if a thunderstorm were raging inside.

“Margaret.”

“I told you not to call me that!”

Another outburst!

Margaret began to huff and puff again.

Still, her hands were once again resting quietly on her lap.

‘Did she calm down a bit?’

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Margaret said, crossing her legs. Her tone was dry, as if she had purged her emotions. Like her hasty personality, her emotions changed quickly.

“You only call something a mistake or a regret if you wish you hadn’t done it. I don’t regret it. No, I regret only hitting her once! I am Margaret Torrento. Torrento! You can’t call yourself a noble if you don’t know the meaning of that name. To dare utter such reckless words in front of a Torrento…! How lowly must she have thought of me to do that? Ha!”

She continued.

“Would she have dared to say those things if she weren’t coveting the position of the Crown Prince’s fiancée? Does she think she’s a three-year-old child? Liana, do you really think Cecilia Menchesun just made a slip of the tongue?”

Margaret spoke with an excessive calmness that didn’t seem like her.

Her gaze was sharp.

‘She thinks it wasn’t a slip of the tongue?’

My heart beat clearly, thump, thump, as if announcing its existence.

“Liana, I’ve only seen you two together a few times, but every time I do, it seems like Menchesun is either swaying you or you’re just playing along with her. Am I wrong?”

“That’s…”

“Look at today. You came to me because of what she did.”

“That’s not it, Margaret.”

So that’s how it looks to others. I wonder how much worse it was before the regression.

Smiling, I pulled my heart back from the depths it was trying to sink into.

“What do you mean ‘not it’?”

“I also came because I was worried about you.”

Seeing her back as she left had weighed on my mind. If I let her go like that, I felt like this incident would remain as a deep resentment and lead to something bad in the future.

After facing her like this and talking, I felt that looking for Margaret was truly the right choice.

“If… if you say it like that!”

“I have nothing to say!” Margaret muttered, then clamped her mouth shut with a dissatisfied face.

“I’m Cecilia’s friend, but I’m also your roommate, Margaret. I don’t want there to be bad blood between you two.”

“Menchesun keeps making me angry!”

Margaret cried out with a coy face, as if she had never looked like she wanted to devour someone. Was she restraining herself because she was in front of me?

“…Liana? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Normally, I would have said, ‘Why don’t you try to be a bit more understanding and lenient, Margaret?’ In fact, I had intended to say that, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Because I knew how much compromising and being understanding could eat away at a person.

And because I knew that such consideration wasn’t actually true consideration, but just a way to smooth over a situation because one didn’t want to get hurt… I could no longer say it so easily.

Furthermore, Margaret was also in a position where she deserved an apology.

“Liana?”

“I see. You were very angry, weren’t you?”

“Are you… empathizing with me right now? With what I’m saying?”

Margaret’s eyes widened in disbelief.

A wave of guilt washed over me. Perhaps it was Cecilia and I who had made Margaret so violent before. Could it be that we had driven her to act out because she had no other choice? As a certain understanding dawned on me through my reflections… the wall I had built in my heart crumbled.

“Oh my.”

Margaret’s eyes turned red.

Did she feel my sincerity in understanding her heart?

Margaret, who had been silent, opened her mouth with flushed cheeks.

“I didn’t even expect you to understand… Hahaha! This is much better than slapping her cheek.”

“Oh my.”

We looked at each other and laughed. Margaret’s boisterous laughter drummed against the table.

“Margaret.”

As the laughter subsided, I quietly called her name, and Margaret showed her distaste.

“Are you telling me to apologize?”

“I don’t know how it is as a noble, but you hit a fellow Academy student inside the Academy. She crossed the line, but still…”

“So? I’m a Torrento. Do you think I’m afraid of such rumors?”

“What rumors would there be? It was just us! My point is, Margaret, if you want to get along with Evan, it would be better to apologize for the ‘hitting’ part first.”

“You’re more naive than I thought, Liana.”

Margaret, who had looked bewildered, soon wore an expression of pity. It was exactly like the look Ollie would give me whenever I asked a stupid question.

“Pardon?”

“Rumors will definitely spread. I guarantee it.”

Margaret lowered her hand and smiled wickedly.

‘Who is there to spread rumors among us? Ah! Is it because she has a mark on her face, so it can’t be helped?’

“Hmph! Why is a Duke’s daughter so soft-hearted?”

Margaret, muttering to herself, stood up with a grin.

“It’s annoying that you’re telling me to apologize, but fine. For the man I love, an apology! I can do it once.”

Margaret emphasized “once.”

How cool, Margaret.

To refer to Evan as the man she loves without hesitation! I didn’t know her feelings were this deep before.

“Liana.”

Margaret sighed as if worried.

“Think carefully about what I said. She isn’t as nice as you think, and you’re softer than you realize! If having no friends is the problem, you can just be friends with me.”

Margaret’s ears were red as she added the last part.

“If you can compromise and just not mention Menchesun in front of me, I’ll gladly be your friend, so try keeping your distance. You won’t lose anything. You’ll understand what I mean in a few days.”

Margaret spoke confidently, as if placing a bet.

“I’ll decline any talk of refusing, thinking about it, or trying to find out her true intentions.”

Her expression was fierce as she added those words.

“Margaret.”

“Are you rejecting me already?”

She made it very clear that she didn’t like that idea.

“No. That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

I spoke, trying to relax my stiff shoulders.

“I think I would like being your friend, Margaret.”