“I believe you must show a clear stance for me to be at ease as a Credere.”
After finishing my sentence, I performed a brief, formal courtesy.
I spoke those words not as Liana, a first-year student at the academy, but as Lady Credere, the daughter of a ducal house. Straightening my knees, I looked at Evan.
“Is that so?”
A picture-perfect smile spread across Evan’s lips.
Margareta stared at me for a moment, her face looking deflated. To be more precise, she looked like someone who had missed the timing to get angry.
Only faint traces of anger and annoyance remained on her crumpled face. The explosive energy, like an active volcano, had already been tucked away.
Behind Margareta’s back, I felt Evan’s heavy gaze fixed on me.
‘Why are you looking at me like that!’
I didn’t know if I had overcome the crisis or if I had created one. Damn it.
“This is the only time,” Margareta muttered indifferently.
“What is?”
Margareta let go of Evan’s arm as if throwing it away and crossed her arms. Even though she was much shorter than him, her gaze was as if she were looking down on him.
Evan still didn’t lose his smile.
“Ha! You don’t know… forget it. I don’t even want to explain it with my own mouth!”
Margareta, who had been glaring with wide eyes, squeezed them shut. She seemed to be controlling her anger.
Good job! Hold it in!
Having swallowed her words, Margareta looked at Cecilia, who seemed shocked for some reason, with a sneer before turning her gaze back to Evan.
“I will apologize.”
Margareta, who deliberately bumped into Evan’s shoulder, stood in front of Cecilia and looked down at her.
Margareta was smiling.
With a bright smile on her face, she brushed away a strand of hair stuck to Cecilia’s forehead, just as Evan had done.
Startled, Cecilia pulled her body back and hit the headboard of the bed. Margareta didn’t care and persistently tucked Cecilia’s blue hair behind her ear after carefully arranging it strand by strand.
Cecilia turned her head to look for Evan with a frightened face, but Margareta stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders, completely blocking her view.
When Margareta’s hand gripped Cecilia’s shoulder, I saw Harkins flinch at the same time.
Fortunately! Harkins seemed to be holding back this time. Instead, his resentful gaze was directed toward Evan.
“I apologize. I, Margareta Torrento, will apologize.”
Her voice was practically a shout!
I could feel a spirit from Margareta that didn’t seem like she was only fourteen.
“I went too far with the slapping. I’ll contact my family and make sure you’re sufficiently compensated. However, Cecilia Mencheson, I want you to remember. If you touch someone else’s things…”
Margareta trailed off and leaned toward Cecilia’s ear as if to whisper.
“Hands are meant to be severed.”
The words whispered in a refreshing voice were heard as clearly as a loud shout. Goosebumps rose, and a chill momentarily wrapped around my body.
Does she really intend to do that? If Cecilia and Evan show an affectionate appearance once more… does she really intend to cut off Cecilia’s hand?
It feels somewhat more cruel than I remember, but that’s probably just my imagination.
“I apologize to you too,” Margareta said to Harkins in a generous voice, as if granting mercy.
“But you’d better act according to your station. While you’re free to have foolish delusions at the academy, I will always, anywhere, be a ‘Torrento.’ Just keep that in mind.”
Margareta’s arrogant words fell like a sentence.
Her bright yellow eyes, burning like a predator’s, flashed as if they were going to swallow Harkins whole.
Harkins’s face turned red as if he had been insulted. However, there was no way she would be interested in that. Margareta, who had made a one-sided ‘apology,’ gave me a brief glance, as if seeking confirmation that it was enough.
But I couldn’t nod.
‘I’m doomed! I’m doomed!’
Instead of the situation being resolved smoothly, it had worsened completely.
This wasn’t the picture I had in mind.
“…Evan.”
Margareta’s face seemed to soften for a moment before turning expressionless, as if she had put on a hard mask.
Ah… Margareta’s clenched fist was trembling, hidden beneath the folds of her dress.
“Don’t push me too far.”
“Me? You?”
Evan tilted his head exaggeratedly, as if asking if she really thought so.
What’s wrong with him, seriously?
Isn’t Evan the one who brought this on!
If he had coaxed Margareta well, it wouldn’t have escalated this much in the first place. I bit the tender flesh inside my mouth.
It felt as if this happened because of me.
If only I hadn’t meddled.
“Isn’t it you who’s pushing me?”
What happened between the two of them for him to say such a thing?
Margareta’s pupils slowly dilated before returning to their original size, as if she had given up.
Her eyes looked like they had a lot to say, but she wouldn’t be able to say it all here.
Why does Margareta’s firm face look sadder than Cecilia’s wet face sobbing behind her?
“Come to the mansion tomorrow.”
At Margareta’s words, spoken after closing her eyes tightly and then opening them, I finally caught my breath after hearing Evan’s answer, which came after a short pause.
“…I will.”
Well, at least there’s still a willingness to talk.
Margareta left the infirmary without looking at me. The sound of her heels echoed painfully in my ears. In a situation where it was uncomfortable to follow her or stay, I had no choice but to remain in the infirmary this time.
It was partly because of the stinging glares fixed on my face, and also because I had caught a glimpse of Margareta’s eyes slowly becoming moist.
If it were Margareta… she wouldn’t want to show that.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
It was the kind of silence where the tense air felt like it would pop at any moment!
I shouldn’t have stepped in; the situation has become tangled.
Ah! I felt like I was going to go crazy from the suffocation.
Why did it turn out like this? If they had just apologized cleanly, it could have been treated as if nothing happened, so why did it escalate to this point!
The silence seemed to choke me. Only the sound of the window panes rattling in the strong wind echoed. A small stone blown by the gale even hit the window.
“Why did you bring her!”
The one who broke the silence, which seemed like no one would speak first, was Harkins.
“I’m asking why you brought her!”
Startled by the shout filled with anger, Cecilia tried to stop Harkins, but he didn’t stop.
Evan pressed his temples, frowning as if a headache had come on.
The end of Harkins’s gaze was me. It was a look that seemed to reproach and blame me.
I realized that when a person is truly dumbfounded, they can’t find the words to speak.
The hair on my neck stood up and then settled back down.
I was honestly flabbergasted. For the provider of the situation to say such a thing.
To fan the flames of a burning house… no. He was the one who lit the fire next to the things that burn well, so why is he holding me responsible?
“Don’t you know very well why I brought her?”
“To bully Lady Cecilia?”
‘Does he really think that? Is he just venting his anger?’
I didn’t think he had ever looked at me with such eyes before.
Harkins was looking at me almost with the same gaze he used for Margareta — the gaze he used for a ‘despised noble.’
“Didn’t I tell you I brought her to apologize?”
‘You idiot. Are your ears just for decoration?’
Suppressing the words I wanted to add, I tilted my head.
If I had just left Harkins alone, he probably would have calmed down soon after venting his anger.
However, the reason I chose to talk back was that I didn’t want to tolerate the discomfort and unpleasantness anymore.
“Liana.”
Evan shook his head. The area around his eyes was dark with fatigue.
“Let’s stop this fruitless talk.”
“No. If there’s something he wants to say, he should say it.”
I was curious about how far Harkins’s fragmented thoughts reached. He’s thinking that Cecilia is unconditionally the victim and that he did nothing wrong!
The more I thought about it, the more absurd it became.
“Would Torrento, who sees Lady Cecilia as a thorn in her side, really have come to apologize?”
“Harkins. How about you just shut your mouth?”
“Are you doing this on purpose? Are you using Lady Cecilia, befriending that woman who hates her just to make Lady Cecilia’s life miserable?”
A long bell seemed to ring in my head.
It was a shock, as if someone had put a helmet on my head and struck it with a large hammer.
Wow… It wasn’t just simple venting; he truly thought of me that way.
I thought that words that weren’t true couldn’t hurt, but the cold words, which suppressed excitement, became blades that tried to scratch me.
I never thought I would hear such a thing.
My face flushed, and my vision seemed to blur for a moment before returning to normal.
Evan scanned my condition and then spoke to Harkins.
“Harkins, shut your mouth.”
“Don’t you think so too, Master Evan?”
Harkins didn’t shut his mouth, and Evan ignored him.
They say that when a person hears something too ridiculous, they lose their words, and this was exactly it.
I blinked my eyes, pushing away Evan, who approached me and offered a chair as if he had seen me staggering.
I couldn’t understand Harkins’s anger-filled words toward me at all.
“Stop being stubborn, Liana. Your face is pale.”
“Answer me!”
“Sir Harkins, why are you being like this… Liana and I are the best of friends.”
In the rustling sound of leaves blowing in the harsh wind outside, their words felt distant, as if they were humming.
Meeting the gazes directed at me one by one, I…