Chapter 18: She Wants to Take Me Away?

Ailisi was distracted all morning.

The Observer’s words echoed in her mind over and over again.

‘Your mother will come to the school this afternoon. He might die then.’

Duente would die.

Then what was the point of reversing the future and returning to the present?

She had given up everything for this chance—to apologize to him in person, to love him in this life, to make up for everything, to cherish the one who had once held her in the palm of his hand.

But Duente had returned too.

The coldness in his eyes wasn’t an act, wasn’t a misunderstanding. 

It was hatred from their past life.

She only hated how weak she was. 

Hated that she hadn’t known until the very last moment—that she had to pierce his heart with her own hands to awaken the World-saving Power, and that she couldn’t defy fate.

Everything was too late.

Dazed and listless, Potions class ended.

In Basic Magic class, the instructor glanced at Duente’s empty seat and asked, “Where is Duente?”

Mickey raised his hand and answered, “Family matters. He asked for leave and went home.”

When Ailisi heard his name, her fingers instinctively tightened on the edge of her textbook, then loosened.

She had stared at the same page for twenty full minutes without reading a single word.

No one around her noticed she was zoning out.

Her posture remained upright, her gaze still fixed on the blackboard.

She even reflexively looked up when the teacher asked a question. 

But she hadn’t spoken a single word.

During the break, her female deskmate leaned over and asked if she was feeling unwell.

Ailisi smiled and said it was nothing.

Her deskmate hesitated but didn’t press further.

When the noon bell rang, students left the classroom in twos and threes.

Some went to eat, some to the dorms, some to the training ground in groups.

Voices and footsteps poured out through the doorway, gradually thinning.

Before leaving, her deskmate looked back at her again, opened her mouth as if to speak, but ultimately followed her friends out.

The classroom fell silent.

Ailisi realized she was still holding the textbook she hadn’t turned a single page of.

She looked up at Duente’s seat.

The seat that had been empty all morning.

It suddenly dawned on her.

‘He hadn’t come to class at all. So where had he gone?’

The thought hit her like a bucket of ice water poured over the back of her head.

She had to find him.

The Observer said her mother would arrive in the afternoon, and it was already noon now.

She stood up from her chair. 

Her leg bumped into the corner of the desk—it hurt—but she didn’t stop.

She almost sprinted out of the classroom. 

A few students still lingering in the hallway were startled by her.

She went to the boys’ dormitory first.

The dorm supervisor stopped her at the entrance, saying Duente had left early in the morning and hadn’t returned.

She went to the library, the courtyard, the training ground, the Potions classroom.

Every place was empty.

Her pace grew faster and faster. 

Her heart grew more and more panicked.

Her mother must have found out about what happened in Potions class.

In her past life, during a training session, she had sparred with Duente and lost because she was outmatched. 

She’d gotten a minor injury, and her mother had had him hung up and beaten for an entire afternoon.

What happened this morning must have reached her mother’s ears. 

She wouldn’t let him off.

…She might even kill him.

Ailisi stopped a female student who was chatting in the hallway near the classroom building, asking anxiously, “Have you seen Duente? Where is he?”

The girl was startled by her expression, stepped back half a step, and shook her head.

She grabbed another girl coming from the direction of the training ground and asked the same question.

The girl stammered that she thought she’d seen him near the cafeteria.

Ailisi ran toward the cafeteria.

There, she saw Duente.

He was with a pretty black-haired girl. 

The two were carrying trays, chatting and laughing.

When Ailisi saw this, her heart tightened at first, but her urgency overwhelmed everything else.

Duente and Liweida had just sat down when they saw Ailisi walking quickly toward them, looking flustered.

Duente’s good mood was ruined for the time being.

But he didn’t say much.

Liweida maintained her surface-level smile, quietly watching Ailisi standing beside the table.

Ailisi’s cheeks were flushed. 

Panting, she said, “Duente, come with me. Now.”

Duente responded coldly, “Come with you? Where?”

Ailisi grabbed Duente’s wrist and said urgently, “Run away. I’ll take you somewhere safe!”

Liweida pulled Ailisi’s hand away, moving it aside, and said in a polite tone, “Senior Ailisi, don’t you think you’re overstepping?”

Ailisi looked closely and realized the person in front of her was her mortal enemy from her past life—the Demon King candidate, the Shadow Talent user, Liweida!

Ailisi grew even more frantic. 

She said, “Duente, staying by her side will get you killed even faster. Come with me!”

Duente calmly took a sip of soup and said slowly, “Die? You say that as if you know the future.”

Ailisi immediately replied, “Yes! I do know! The silver-haired woman told me!”

At this, Duente became alert. 

He asked, “Are you close with her?”

Ailisi said, “In any case, you have to come with me!”

Duente: “And if I refuse?”

Ailisi started crying in desperation. 

She shouted, “Mother will kill you!”

The crowd around their table suddenly grew quiet. 

Eyes turned toward them.

Seeing that it was Ailisi and her fiancé arguing, the noise soon returned to normal.

Just then, Mickey sat down beside Duente with a tray piled high with food and joked, “Hey, Duente, I covered for your truancy again today. How are you going to thank me?”

“Shut up. I don’t have time for you right now.”

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s that supposed to mean? Are you ditching me now that you have Ailisi? And what are you two even fighting about?”

Mickey looked at the anxious Ailisi, then at the cold Duente, then at the black-haired beautiful underclassman beside him.

The penny dropped.

“Duente, you’re a real sinner. I’ll go eat somewhere else. I won’t interrupt.”

With an awkward but polite smile, Mickey picked up his tray and moved to another table.

Liweida continued to mask her intentions with outward kindness, maintaining her polite demeanor as she said to Ailisi, “Senior, what exactly has you so worked up? My senior isn’t obligated to solve your problems for you, you know~”

Ailisi clenched her teeth, suppressing the irritation flooding her heart, and grabbed Duente’s hand again. 

“Even if I have to use force, I’m taking you with me!”

With that, she channeled her strength and forcibly pulled Duente up, running toward the cafeteria exit.

Duente never expected her to do something like that, so his body followed along.

Liweida was caught off guard as well. 

She stood up and gave chase.

The surrounding students all watched in surprise.

“That Duente kid—he’s got Ailisi and he’s still messing around outside? He’s probably going to be in for a rough time.”

“Haha, serves him right! I heard Lady Selina absolutely dotes on Ailisi. With Duente pulling a stunt like this, he’ll probably be skinned alive!”

“Did you all hear about what happened this morning? That guy publicly humiliated Ailisi!”

“There’s no way that news didn’t reach Lady Selina’s ears. Looks like Duente is really done for this time.”