Chapter 145: Song of Stars and Starlight
Acrea, after hearing her answer, fell into deep thought again. Sue felt uneasy, wondering why he was suddenly bringing this up. He stared at the garden for a long time, then turned to her.
“Then will you sing for me?”
“What?”
Sue’s mind went blank at his absurd request. Was he joking? But Acrea’s eyes were unusually serious.
“I want to hear it too. Soran Halo’s song.”
“Ah… So that’s what it was.”
Sue touched her flushed neck.
He wanted to hear Soran Halo’s song. Well, if she could, she would gladly let him hear it.
But he was asking her to sing it.
Could she convey the same feeling that Halo’s singing had given him?
Sue shook her head inwardly.
No, she should be grateful if she could convey even half of it.
Sue glanced at Acrea, checking his reaction. He seemed to be waiting for her answer, his gaze unwavering.
‘He said it was a debt…’
He was a practical man. He was the kind of person who saw everything as a transaction, even if he didn’t seem like it. So if Acrea had mentioned a debt, it was only natural for her to repay it as soon as possible.
Besides, she would rather sing a song and be done with it than be dragged into another strange charade.
‘Okay, he asked her to sing, so she would sing.’
Sue took a deep breath.
“Master Acrea, I’m not a very good singer. Are you sure?”
Acrea nodded immediately.
“Yes, please sing.”
Sue chuckled bitterly inwardly. He was the most straightforward, yet the most difficult person to deal with.
She cleared her throat and started to hum a melody. It was nowhere near as good as Halo’s singing, but she still tried her best, hoping to reach the protagonist she admired.
Her trembling voice gradually grew stronger, traveling beyond the Imperial Garden, carried by the wind. The stage was a small terrace, the audience a single person.
But she was satisfied.
***
And there was someone listening to their not-so-secret rendezvous from behind the terrace.
“Master Woo…”
Azette Delondariwood listened to Sue’s singing with a heavy heart. The melody, sung in a clear voice, calmed her mind.
But there was another reason why Azette was feeling conflicted.
After Sue had collapsed, Acrea had carried her away, then reappeared in the ballroom, apologized to Azette, and disappeared again.
She knew she should stop, but she couldn’t help but feel lonely, so she had continued to wander around the garden, then started searching for Acrea aimlessly.
And she had miraculously found him, with Sue Byron, the girl she admired.
‘…Does Lady Byron like Master Woo too?’
Azette felt a pang of despair. Of course, Acrea was charming and popular, but it still hurt to find out that the girl she had been admiring liked the same person.
Vercia came looking for Azette as Sue’s singing faded away.
“Azette, what are you doing here?”
She had been a little surprised when Azette had suddenly disappeared from the ballroom without a word. But Azette was standing next to the terrace on the upper floor, her gaze fixed on something beyond, and she could hear a familiar voice singing.
“It’s nothing, let’s go back to the ballroom.”
Azette hurriedly pushed Vercia’s back. Vercia glanced at the terrace, then followed her friend back to the ballroom without a word.
‘What a strange taste you have, Master Acrea.’
***
Raines Noel had been leaning against the wall in the corner of the ballroom, without dancing, since Sue had collapsed. He was worried about her, but Acrea, who seemed to know about her condition, had told him not to come, preventing him from going to the infirmary.
Of course, he had understood, as Acrea had forbidden everyone except Sue’s servants from entering. He was just purely worried about Sue’s condition.
And there was another person who was doing the exact same thing as Noel. A very unexpected person.
‘Enzhe Lopetrefer Kel…’
Enzhe was standing a few feet away, her eyes blank. But surprisingly, no one was paying attention to her. Perhaps because of the preconceived notion that the Lady Lopetrefer wouldn’t be in a dark, secluded corner.
The Lady Lopetrefer, who had left the ballroom unnoticed, returned unnoticed, and was now standing in an unnoticed corner, her face devastated.
‘Is Byron still asleep?’
Noel, quickly losing interest in Enzhe, returned to his original worry. He sipped his champagne, recalling her appearance in her dress. She had seemed quite happy.
‘I had hoped she would enjoy the Imperial Ball, at least.’
And then, he heard a woman mumbling the exact same thought,
“I had hoped she would enjoy the Imperial Ball, at least…”
Noel, startled by her weak, mournful voice, turned to her. She was crying.
But Enzhe didn’t seem to notice Noel at all. She wiped away her tears and said,
“Shina, Father… It’s come to this.”
He didn’t know if she had been heartbroken, or if she was just lonely, or if something bigger had happened. Noel didn’t really know Enzhe. Sue had never told him much about her.
But surprisingly, surprisingly…
Raines Noel’s petty musings vanished at Enzhe Lopetrefer’s last words.
“There’s no point in killing Cedric if it’s going to end up like this.”
***
Enzhe had been in a noticeably bad mood since the debutante ball. Sue could tell how much her mood had plummeted just by the way her body reacted.
She had fought with Fritz. Sue had sensed it from the moment the commotion had started in the ballroom, but it seemed like Fritz had broken up with Enzhe.
As a result, Sue was dragged to the basement and slapped dozens of times as soon as the Imperial Ball ended.
“Ugh!”
Sue groaned as her head hit the wall, her hair pulled. Enzhe, her face twisted in disgust, slapped her again.
“You saw it, but you still gave me a bullshit answer, and you were having a grand old time, weren’t you, Sue Byron.”
“N-no…”
“No what?!”
Her earsplitting scream echoed through the basement. Sue realized then that her nose was bleeding.
“Why did it turn out like this?! Aaaaaah!”
Enzhe was frustrated, but Sue was even more so. Enzhe had mostly been torturing her with the curse since they had moved to the Graduation Building, it had been a while since she had inflicted physical pain.
“No, even if I begged Fritz on my knees, he wouldn’t…”
It seemed like this couldn’t be changed. But Sue couldn’t blame Fritz. He had a good reason for not loving Enzhe. But she was angry at his weakness, his inability to completely reject Enzhe and only love her as a “friend.”
Another change after the debutante ball was Melaine’s return to the academy. Sue, hearing that she had returned to school even though she couldn’t have fully recovered from the brainwashing, rushed to the Blue Shark classroom.
But Melaine’s appearance had changed drastically. Her once radiant long blonde hair was gone, replaced by a neat bob with long bangs pinned to the side, making her look at least two years younger.
And her personality had changed too. She, who had always acted mature and cared about relationships, had become a bit more sensitive.
“I thought about what would make my sister happy. And what you said too, Sue. I haven’t decided yet, but I’m going to try living like this for now.”
Melaine said she often left the capital to care for the children in Dande, even after the Holy Demon Religion was disbanded. She had also stopped hunting and started swordsmanship training. There were even rumors that she was sparring with the First Knights trainees.
“I’m not trying to become a knight. I don’t have the talent for it. The children in the village asked me to teach them how to use a sword.”
Even the sight of Melaine blushing slightly was new.
The completely transformed Melaine seemed at ease. The girls who had followed her around never spoke to her anymore.
Melaine’s attitude towards Enzhe had also become quite lukewarm. There were even rumors that the alliance between the Lopetrefer and Vava families had been broken. But it was actually Enzhe who had become colder.
“Why should I be close to someone who was brainwashed by a strange religion and came back to the academy looking like that?”
Enzhe, after snapping at Melaine, never mentioned her name again.
If Sue had done the same thing, she would have been dragged to the glass garden immediately. But even in her rage, Enzhe didn’t touch Melaine.
Even Enzhe had heard the rumors that the Vava marquis family’s power was growing. And although Sue hadn’t noticed, Enzhe was also vaguely afraid that Melaine might expose her wrongdoings.
It was one of the results of her shattered confidence after being completely rejected by Fritz.
She was mentally cornered. Very cornered. There was no rival like “Soran Halo” in the novel. Fritz’s closest friend was undoubtedly Enzhe. And yet, he had rejected her.
It was a situation that made her feel ashamed, both as a woman and as a human being. And the fact that she couldn’t give up on Fritz, even after all that, made her feel twice as humiliated.
She had no choice. Enzhe had to win Fritz’s love, no matter what.
Lol so much for mocking Melianie