Chapter 28

I felt strangely as if I was being interrogated by my lover, and I answered hesitantly.

"Think of me as a friend, okay?"

"A friend... like a mimosa?"

How can you think of me as a friend like a mimosa? It was absurd.

"How can you and mimosa be friends? Mimosa sees you as a guy."

Demian's eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn't expected me to be so direct.

Then he asked with a peculiar look.

"If you don't see me as a guy, why did you hide just now? It was like you were caught cheating."

'Oh. So you felt the same way I did.'

I felt embarrassed and, while wiping my lips with a handkerchief and putting it back in my bag, I lowered my head.

"Well, if mimosa misunderstands, it'll get noisy at school."

"We're friends, right? So are we going to keep meeting secretly like this?"

'What? Do friends keep meeting like this...? That's not how friends behave.'

While I was trying to figure out how to continue the conversation in a logical way,

Demian exclaimed, "Ah!" as if he had realized something.

"So that's why you asked me to tell you a place to hide?"

I was taken aback and opened my mouth helplessly.

"No, I was telling you not to hide in places like the supply closet...!"

Demian reached out to me with a gentle smile.

It was a quick and graceful movement, and I didn't have time to dodge.

His thumb brushed against my lips, which felt cool.

"I'm glad. Our relationship has finally improved. I like you, Thérèse. I've always wanted to be friends with you."

"…Really? But your hand is a bit…."

"There's still lipstick on your lips. We can't let mimosa find out we were together."

'Well, that's true, but isn't this a bit too strange?'

Ding!

[Throne 'RomancePath' has donated 1,000 coins.]

[Kiss already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Right. It does look like we're about to kiss.

I narrowed my eyes and gently pulled Demian's hand, which was rubbing my lips, down.

"I don't do this to friends."

Demian tilted his head innocently.

"Then what?"

"…That's something lovers do. This kind of thing."

"Really? But other people want this even if they're not lovers."

I sighed.

"That's because they like you as a guy."

As I explained, I couldn't understand why I had to tell him this.

But if I said, "Don't pretend to be innocent," I might get a black heart, and I could be quietly removed while I was asleep.

I decided to go along with it. Yes, I'll think of it as a role-play...

'If I do this, I can get what I want when I mingle with the noble ladies and pretend to be clueless like a raccoon to get out of unfavorable situations.'

I decided to humbly accept this as the developer's karma.

There was no other choice, anyway.

"Anyway, your actions just now felt a bit too much for me."

Ding!

[Throne 'WolfGottenLol' has donated 1,000 coins.]

[Why is this BJ so conservative? Lol, can you teach me how to charm guys? Lol]

Ding!

[Throne 'BlockingAngle' has donated 1,000 coins.]

[Not going far ㅃ]

[Channel Manager-Ozwald has blocked Throne 'WolfGottenLol'.]

I blinked for a moment.

'…Was I conservative?'

I started to wonder if Demian's actions weren't really that strange after all.

Then Demian, looking embarrassed, hid the red lipstick on his thumb.

"Sorry. I guess I overstepped the line, thinking we were closer. If you feel that way, I'll be more careful in the future."

When he said that, I felt like I had done something wrong...

I frowned and bit my lip in discomfort.

"...As long as it's not too much. To the point where others won't misunderstand."

"Okay, I will."

I felt that staying here any longer would only make things more confusing.

I felt like the coffee I had just drunk had been used up by the recent situation, and I said goodbye to Demian.

"See you next time."

"Okay. Take care, Thérèse."

This time, Demian didn't follow me out immediately, unlike before.

It was a bit strange, but I thought he must have something to do.

'Ah, I didn't finish reading the book after all.'

Sigh. School life is not easy.

* * *

Demian watched Thérèse leave, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"This is strange. Why can't I read her pattern?"

People have their own tendencies.

Therefore, if you observe someone for a long time, their actions generally don't deviate much from what you expect.

However, the Thérèse he had seen recently seemed to have completely changed her behavior.

Demian picked up the coffee cup from the table and dropped it into the trash can.

Clang!

The sound of the broken cup was loud.

"I can't figure her out. It's annoying."

His eyes, looking at the broken cup, had a chilling look typical of an assassin.

While closing the supply closet door, which was still open, he leaned his head against it and looked inside.

If I had gone in there with someone who couldn't use their body well, Mimosa would have definitely found out.

I did consider just letting her find out, but only until Thérèse grabbed my collar and acted strangely.

Her eyes, which were glaring at me, had no trace of malice and looked completely innocent.

Thérèse was always a bit dim, but not this innocent.

It was different from just being more docile.

'She's clumsy.'

Yes, she's clumsily ordinary.

To the point where she stands out even more.

Knock knock knock.

At that moment, a bird tapped on the window. It was a messenger bird.

Demian untied the note from the bird's leg and gave it some food and water.

In this day and age, who would use real messenger birds, but using magical messenger birds in Valhalla could lead to being tracked.

So, despite the inconvenience, they maintained communication with the guild through this traditional method.

The empire's people, who were used to magic, were actually more vulnerable to traditional methods.

Demian unfolded the note.

"Check the magic attribute of Squire Rivi. Report any other findings."

"Hmm."

He thought of the blonde freshman he had seen yesterday.

She didn't resemble Thérèse at all.

Even though he had only seen her briefly, she was definitely different from other noble ladies.

She had lived in the slums, hadn't she?

In comparison, Thérèse was a noble among nobles.

Sometimes she acted even more arrogantly than Mimosa, as if she had a more noble bloodline.

But what about the Thérèse he saw today?

'...I still don't know.'

The Thérèse he knew and the Thérèse he saw today were mixed up in his mind, making everything uncertain.

Amidst this, a ridiculous thought came to him.

Thérèse, who no longer saw him as an enemy, wasn't so bad.

Demian wrote a report on a small piece of paper.

"Need to strengthen surveillance on the squire. A preliminary check revealed a white magic attribute in the second sibling."

The guild was looking for a white mage who was supposed to have disappeared.

This rare attribute was often found in noble bloodlines, and sure enough, Rivi had a white magic attribute.

Thanks to Thérèse's odd behavior of entrusting her sibling to me yesterday, I could easily confirm it.

That's why Thérèse seemed suspicious.

'She definitely introduced her sibling to me on purpose.'

Why? Could she have known I was looking for a white mage and set a trap?

'No way.'

Thérèse is dim.

She's like a low-level demon in human form.

Even if she knew I was the successor of the assassination guild, she wouldn't have the depth to confuse me like this.

She must have had to.

'I don't know what she's thinking, but I'm confused about Thérèse Squire.'

Should I report this to the guild?

But what would I write?

The always tense atmosphere has become strangely soft.

She doesn't seem to realize it, but she often has a dazed look.

No, her expressions have become more varied.

She suddenly laughs, frowns, looks surprised, and even scared, making it hard to understand what she's thinking.

More detailed observation is needed.

"..."

I couldn't write such content in a report without going crazy.

The changes are real, but they're not significant enough to consider in the grand scheme.

Demian sent the messenger bird without including the information about Thérèse.

For now, he thought he could keep an eye on the changed Thérèse on his own.

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[Goodwill: ♥♡♡♡♡]