Lily Scent, Huh?
“…….”
Silence hung over the classroom.
Gulp.
Even though every seat was filled, the room was so quiet that the sound of someone swallowing hard carried clearly through the air.
Why did it have to be this seat of all places…
Kim Yuha cursed inwardly as she snuck a glance at the girl sitting beside her.
Sleek black hair swept back. Blood-red eyes sharp enough to freeze the blood, and a delicate brow furrowed in clear irritation. The sleeves of her white shirt were rolled up to the elbows, revealing slim yet solid muscle. And then there was the thing that had been bothering her for a while now—the bloodstains on the gloves, and the faint metallic scent of blood that pricked at her nose.
A member of the Shamash Family, the organization that could swallow Korea whole if it ever felt like it. The boss’s youngest daughter. A notorious villainess famous for her vicious temperament—and, despite her young age, an Awakener of the staggering level of LV.7.
Considering that the highest known level short of the special-case LV.11 was LV.10, it was hard even to imagine just how strong she was.
Someone like me… she could kill with a single flick of her wrist, right?
Kim Yuha, by contrast, was still only a greenhorn at LV.3. Calling an LV.3 Awakener a greenhorn was almost funny in itself—most Awakeners failed to develop their abilities at all and remained stuck at LV.1. Kim Yuha had already succeeded in developing her ability twice and had grown up being called a genius wherever she went. She had always been overflowing with confidence… until the Academy entrance exam crushed her.
The reason sat right beside her now, tapping her fingers lightly against the desk: Tania. They had been in the same exam group.
When Kim Yuha had come to take the Academy exam, the other students’ skills had already thrown her off. Every single examinee was at least on her level—or better. What truly plunged her into despair, though, was watching Tania’s ability test with her own eyes.
The test was simple: unleash a full-power attack on an artifact and measure the output. Tania, then only LV.6, had passed using nothing but the heat radiating from the flames she created. She hadn’t even breathed fire—just the heat alone had left Kim Yuha’s score in the dust.
An overwhelming gap in talent. She hadn’t even felt jealousy. Jealousy only arose when the levels were somewhat close.
What Kim Yuha felt looking at her was pure awe… and, once she learned the girl was the infamous Tania, pure fear.
Realizing she had been a frog in a well, she threw herself into frantic training for her first year at the Academy. She was now on the verge of breaking through to LV.4. Yet when she saw Tania again after a year and discovered the girl had already climbed to LV.7 in that short time, what she felt wasn’t shock or admiration—it was hollow emptiness.
She had worked so hard, and the gap hadn’t narrowed. It had only widened.
Should I just ask her how she gets stronger so fast?
The thought had crossed her mind for a fleeting moment, and the chance arrived sooner than expected. She had become Tania’s seatmate.
This isn’t exactly what I wanted, though…
She had only thought about asking once if the opportunity came—not about becoming her desk partner. Still, since they were partners now, she had turned her head a few minutes ago intending to ask… and shut her mouth the moment she saw Tania’s face.
Tania’s expression had always been nearly blank, but right now it was frozen solid, ice-cold, as if something had gone very wrong.
With Tania in that state, the entire classroom atmosphere had frozen over as well. Of course, it wasn’t entirely her fault. There was one other person in the room in a similar mood.
A beautiful girl sat with her legs crossed, leaning back against her chair, twirling a lock of platinum-blonde hair that glittered like sunlight around her finger, looking thoroughly displeased.
Kim Yuha let out a deep internal sigh as she looked at her.
That’s… Adele, right?
No doubt about it. Adele Moonlight, second daughter of the Lucia Guild—the only one of the three great guilds structured as a family. Like Tania, an overwhelming powerhouse at LV.7. She was famous for her terrible personality, but her beauty was so extreme that photos of her circulated online almost daily. There was no way anyone could fail to recognize her.
The problem was…
And why is she in such a foul mood too…
With both of these infamous girls looking extremely unhappy, the classroom atmosphere had sunk into this heavy silence. No one wanted to risk getting on their bad side and finding out what would happen next.
Just as everyone in the room was praying for time to pass quickly, Adele suddenly stood up from her seat.
Startled students instantly straightened their backs and fixed their eyes on their phones, pretending they weren’t paying the slightest attention. Only Tania remained in her original posture, turning nothing but her eyes to glare at her.
Adele, now standing, briefly met Tania’s gaze, then wordlessly began walking toward the door. As she passed in front of Tania, Tania abruptly spoke.
“Where are you going?”
A flat, toneless voice cold enough to freeze the listener’s heart solid.
Adele stopped dead and turned her head just slightly to look at Tania.
“Hmm… I don’t really feel like telling you.”
Unlike Tania’s voice, her tone almost sounded affectionate—yet a sharp blade was clearly hidden beneath it.
When Adele finished speaking and started to take another step, Tania opened her mouth again.
“You’re going to see Ellie, aren’t you?”
“…And if I am? Are you planning to follow me?”
“Maybe I will.”
Tania smiled coldly. Adele’s face stiffened slightly as she shot her a sidelong glance.
The murderous glares they exchanged were so intense that Kim Yuha’s hands, sitting right beside them, began to grow damp with sweat. It might have been nothing special to Tania and Adele, but from the other students’ perspective it was a powder keg. Even a casual swing of either girl’s ability could easily kill them.
The silent standoff continued until—
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of someone running down the hallway reached them, and the air that had been frozen solid enough to give off a chill began to thaw.
Tania and Adele’s gazes snapped simultaneously toward the front door of the classroom.
Rattle!
The door slid open and a beautiful girl poked her face inside.
Snow-white hair and eyes of such a pale red they almost looked soft pink. The shy smile on her lips and the faint flush on her cheeks told everyone exactly what kind of mood she was in. The curves visible beneath her uniform and the soft sway of her skirt were more than enough to make any onlooker’s heart skip a beat.
The moment she appeared, Tania and Adele’s atmosphere melted away as if it had never existed.
But the real reason Kim Yuha’s eyes went wide was something else entirely.
Is this really Tania?
An expression a full 180 degrees different from moments ago. Completely opposite to the face the mafia boss’s youngest daughter usually wore—more like a girl who had fallen head over heels in love. Those icy eyes now shimmered prettily, reminiscent of red rubies, and the flush coloring both cheeks created a gap moe so intense it made one’s chest flutter. On top of that, the uncharacteristic way she fidgeted with her lips and wriggled her hands made it impossible not to think she looked cute.
Adele wasn’t much different. Unlike the emotionless eyes she had turned on Tania, her deep blue irises now sparkled with life, and a languid yet pleasant smile played on her lips.
While Kim Yuha and the other students stared with round eyes, the adorable girl who had opened the classroom door spoke.
“Tania! Adele!”
The students flinched hard at the names that tumbled from her mouth.
“Y-Yeah?”
“Elysia…”
Seeing their soft reactions, the students began trembling all over. Were these really the same Tania and Adele who had been radiating murderous tension just moments ago?
“I want to go to the snack shop. Want to come with me?”
The girl tilted her head cutely as she asked. Adele let out a soft chuckle and walked over to her.
“I was just thinking I wanted to go to the snack shop myself.”
“W-Wait! I’m coming too!”
Tania shot up from her seat with a shout. She was about to dash straight over to where the girl and Adele were chatting warmly when she suddenly froze in place and pulled something from her pocket.
No one else noticed, but Kim Yuha—her seatmate—clearly saw what it was.
…Perfume? That Tania is spraying perfume…?
Tania hurriedly spritzed the perfume here and there. The faint scent of blood was completely buried under a rich lily fragrance. After one final spray on her wrist, she rubbed both wrists together, then rubbed the scented wrist against the back of her neck before running over to the girl and Adele.
From a distance, the sound of the girl cheerfully greeting the approaching Tania drifted over.
“Did you just put on perfume?”
“Y-Yeah… I did…”
“What kind of scent is it? No, wait—let me guess.”
The girl gently cupped the back of Tania’s neck and pulled her into her arms, then leaned in as if embracing her and sniffed the fragrance clinging to the nape of her neck.
Tania’s face turned bright red as she fidgeted restlessly. The girl looked at her and beamed brightly.
“Lily scent, huh? I like it.”