Chapter 146: Rejection and Acceptance
It was the day of the Imperial Family Observation Ceremony at the academy. This year, Crown Prince Lawrence and his cousin, Marchioness Elena, were attending.
The Imperial Family Observation Ceremony at the Graduation Building always included a joint magic duel class. It was one of the ways to entertain the visiting royals.
The joint magic duel class was a class where students with outstanding magic talent, regardless of their grade, class, or rank, competed against each other. The winner received a large prize, since the royals were watching.
Sue hadn’t thought much of it until she heard the names of the participants in the first round from the spectator stands.
“Enzhe Lopetrefer Kel, Soran Halo!”
‘What?’
Sue blinked, her eyes darting between the two duelists who had entered the arena.
‘Oh, this is bad.’
The problem wasn’t Halo. It was Enzhe.
Sue had known that Halo was participating in the duel for the prize money. But Enzhe had never mentioned anything about participating.
There was no reason for her to be there. In the novel, she had participated to crush Halo, who was a thorn in her side. Of course, it was always Enzhe who ended up being crushed. But now, there was no such justification.
Sue watched them with a sense of unease. Just before the judge signaled the start of the duel, Enzhe suddenly raised her hand and shouted,
“I, Enzhe Lopetrefer Kel, am the girl who will soon be joining the Fritz grand duke family. So Your Highness the Crown Prince, Marchioness Elena, and all the souls of Atlantis gathered here, please watch closely the woman who will become Shina Fritz’s partner. Please.”
“What the…!”
Sue was the only one who was appalled. Perhaps Fritz was sighing inwardly as well. But the rest of the students just laughed, amused. Even Lawrence and Elena seemed to be enjoying her performance.
Only Halo was calmly taking deep breaths, ignoring Enzhe’s words.
‘She has to stop her. Tell Halo to stop…!’
The duel began before Sue could even scream. It was common to use wands in magic duels, but neither Halo nor Enzhe were holding one. That meant they were both skilled at using magic.
No one, except Sue, expected Halo to win. But Sue was too distracted to focus on the duel.
The first round was filled with dazzling magic, like a final round match. From ordinary magic bullets to flamethrowers, water cannons, vine whips… They even shot beams of light and used dark magic to obscure each other’s vision. But most of the magic was blocked by their anti-magic resistance.
It was a high-level match, unbelievable for a duel between seventeen-year-old girls.
But as time went on, Halo gradually gained the upper hand. Enzhe was first overwhelmed by Halo’s stamina, and then by her firepower.
Enzhe’s face started to flush. But Halo’s mind was focused only on winning.
She was about to deliver the final blow when she suddenly hesitated. Sue Byron’s pathetic voice echoed in her mind.
‘Please just live a quiet life.’
Come to think of it, she had been asked that.
Halo stared at Enzhe, who was lying on the ground.
What would happen if she defeated her here? Would she be breaking her promise to Lady Byron? She was just participating for the prize money.
And then,
“Die!”
It was a reflex. Halo deflected the surprise dark magic arrow and shot a light magic bullet at Enzhe’s chest. It wasn’t lethal, but it would put her to sleep for a day.
Enzhe, unable to resist the drowsiness, collapsed to the ground. She had boasted about being “Fritz’s partner,” but she had lost to a mere special recruit.
“Master Fritz’s partner lost to a girl without a third name.”
Marchioness Elena mocked, and Lawrence, sitting next to her, laughed. But Enzhe was fast asleep, oblivious to the humiliation.
Sue watched the whole thing unfold, her heart sinking.
“The winner, Soran Halo!”
Halo, her name called, looked around, her face dazed. And then, she felt a piercing gaze and turned her head. Her eyes met Sue Byron’s, who was staring at her blankly. Sue immediately left the arena.
And at that moment, Halo realized that she had broken her promise to Sue.
Something was strange. Something had gone wrong.
***
Enzhe, unable to contain her stress, activated Sue’s snake curse all day, as if she had gone mad.
Sue ended up resting for an entire week. Halo, seeing her at the academy, immediately apologized.
“I’m sorry, it was a reflex…”
“No, it’s fine. I understand.”
Sue replied coldly and quickly walked away. Halo had technically broken her promise, but Sue knew it wasn’t her fault.
And besides, Sue didn’t have the energy to comfort Halo, as she was too busy taking care of Enzhe.
Enzhe, clinging to her last shred of sanity, didn’t touch Halo. Because Halo was a student sponsored by the Lopetrefer family.
If Soran Halo hadn’t been sponsored by the Lopetrefer family, she might have suddenly disappeared, her body turned into a corpse, without a trace.
Grand Duke Lopetrefer didn’t have a reason to target Soran Halo, as she had no connection to Fritz. That might be why Enzhe was going even crazier. Ironically.
Halo, as long as she wasn’t involved with Fritz, was protected by the shield of being a “special recruit sponsored by the Lopetrefer family.” She was no longer a threat to Enzhe.
Even Shina Fritz started to worry about Enzhe, who had become even more irritable, rather than Halo, who had defeated her. Sue would grit her teeth and reply, “She’s fine,” whenever he asked her about Enzhe.
‘If you’re so worried about her, why don’t you just take back your stupid words and tell her you don’t love her?’
Sue couldn’t help but become irritable herself, both physically and mentally exhausted.
Enzhe, tired of tormenting Sue, started picking on random academy students, dragging them to the basement for her amusement.
Well, not exactly random. She would pick on the weakest third son from a remote family in the sixth-year building and torture him relentlessly. Almost to the point of death. And then, the boy would withdraw from the academy, citing family reasons. This was the first time Enzhe’s “bullying” had become this severe.
Fortunately, she still had the habit of choosing her targets carefully, a habit she had developed after moving to the Graduation Building. She still had the ability to objectively assess the situation.
Melaine, who had been appeasing Enzhe to some extent, hadn’t come to the glass garden at all lately. When Sue asked her why, she said it was “too much trouble.”
“I don’t want to go to the glass garden anymore. It’s tiring, and I’m exhausted.”
Sue felt a sense of hypocrisy, even though she had been one of the people who had pushed Melaine to change. She was jealous of her now.
Did she think she went there because she wanted to?
Just because she didn’t have the snake curse, she had so much more freedom.
While Melaine was handing out bread to the villagers, claiming it was repentance, Sue was trapped in the basement, kicking a junior’s face until Enzhe was satisfied.
It was absurd.
“…I’m bored.”
Those were Enzhe’s words, as she looked down at the bloodied student, her face emotionless, marking the end of the tumultuous two months.
Sue was exhausted. She felt like her spirit had been crushed by her own pain and the tears of others.
‘It’s cold.’
Winter had arrived.
Sue was the last to leave the basement that day, after the disgusting charade had ended. And ironically, she ran into the man who was sitting at the greenhouse tea table, reading a book.
“Byron, is it over?”
Sue lowered her gaze at his gentle, unsettling voice.
Acrea closed his book and looked at her, standing blankly at the bottom of the stairs, his face as emotionless as ever.
Sue didn’t answer, either because she was frozen or because she didn’t want to think anymore. She didn’t even want to wonder why he was reading a book here, why he was greeting her so casually. It was probably the first time she had treated Acrea like that.
Acrea, ignoring her reaction, spoke slowly,
“It’s time to stop this.”
His gentle voice was firm. Sue could sense that he wasn’t just making empty threats. She wasn’t even angry.
“Time to stop?” So he knew.
…No, of course he knew. He knew, but…
“Yes, I’ll stop.”
Sue hid her hands behind her back, smiled brightly, and answered like a doll. She lied, as she always did.
There was no sincerity in her words. Because she had assumed that Acrea would let it slide.
“You’re lying.”
And so, she had never imagined those words would come out of Woo Acrea’s mouth. Sue Byron hadn’t.
Third BETRAYAL! I mean obviously but yeah