Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Could She Refuse Me?
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***
Gulp.
The sound of a swallow, however faint, could be heard.
“……”
As I fixed my gaze on Instructor Adelia's body without a word, I was clearly crossing a line. It even felt like I was making a huge gamble.
My earlier statement about having a question was nothing more than an excuse to look at her body.
This blatant gaze, raking over her body, was my ‘true intention’.
"..."
My eyes fell upon her black instructor's uniform, which seemed ready to burst, bringing her figure into sharp focus.
Her body, from her bust—larger than any woman I had ever seen—to her ideally balanced proportions, was truly beautiful. It was no exaggeration to say she possessed a fatal charm that would leave anyone mesmerized.
‘She must find my gaze incredibly rude.’
I was well aware of how my actions must appear to her.
That was why I had consciously tried to avoid looking at her body until now.
But now, despite that awareness, I continued to scan her body openly. My own heart was on edge.
Had I ever looked at her so brazenly before? I could say with certainty that not once during the ten days I spent with her in the infirmary had I ever done this.
Our relationship had grown close enough to be called quite friendly. I had restrained myself because I didn't want to ruin it.
But now.
I was completely breaking that rule, my gaze clinging to her figure. I was doing it so openly, even as she watched me.
To see her reaction to my behavior.
To confirm what was in her heart…
“……”
“……”
Me, with my intense gaze on her body, and Adelia, frozen and silent under my stare. A stillness hung between us.
That silence itself was significant.
...that Adelia was surprisingly not repulsed by me.
Even though I had crossed the line like this, she was so ‘aware’ of me that she seemed willing to permit even more. Realizing this, I composed myself.
I forced a calm expression and spoke the words I had been thinking.
“This is a personal question, but... Instructor Adelia, are you seeing anyone right now?”
I didn't think she had a lover based on what I knew, but since I'd already said I had a question, I asked it as a formality.
“W-Wait a moment, Cadet Han Cheon-seong? Even for me, there's a limit to the questions I can accept…?”
As if belatedly snapping back to her senses at my question, she showed a slight sign of rejection.
But as I met her faintly narrowed eyes, I felt strangely devoid of any sense of crisis or tension.
At any other time, this would have been a situation where I should have been flustered, mumbled an excuse, and apologized.
‘Not at all.’
I had no desire to do so.
Instead, I only felt that she had allowed me too much. It felt like she was belatedly trying to push me away now, and I didn't want to accept it.
Crucially, even her rejection, her attempt to push me away, felt ‘too’ weak to me.
'...a limit to what she can accept.'
That was as good as saying she had permitted all of my actions up to this point.
So, I actually managed a faint smile, as if nothing was wrong.
“Can you not answer my question?"
The words I spoke were clearly not the kind of question a cadet should ask an instructor. One only had to look at how Jerad was harshly dealt with by Kalli when he asked a similar question in her first lecture.
But I didn't hesitate in the slightest.
The line that shouldn't be crossed had already been crossed long ago.
In fact, I crossed it yet again. If I didn't confirm her feelings right now, I would continue to misunderstand her on my own.
“Haa….”
She let out a long, flustered sigh as she looked at me, but I simply met her gaze calmly.
Even when she glared at me as if troubled, my heart didn't waver or stir.
I just watched.
Or rather, I watched her, so clearly shaken and hesitant because of my words.
Then, I realized what I was feeling.
‘Why is that?’
I was thinking that I had the upper hand.
A conviction that if I kept pushing, the line between us would narrow significantly. I even had a gut feeling that she would accept me.
So, I no longer looked at her body with that clinging gaze. The line had already been crossed several times; all that was left was to confirm her feelings.
“I don't... have one. A lover, I mean.”
When she finally gave a reluctant answer and avoided my gaze, a small smile unknowingly played on my lips.
Does she know?
That her reaction itself feels like another signal to me.
I couldn't tell for sure if she was acting consciously or if she was simply embarrassed.
In the end, it didn't matter which it was.
*Ssk.*
As I lightly clenched my fist... my heart was somehow filled with a strange heat.
“Thank you for answering. To be honest, I've been very curious. I wondered if a beautiful woman like you, Instructor Adelia, might have a lover, or a suitable partner.”
...I continued speaking quite naturally, pausing to gather my thoughts.
If she were a cadet like me, or if I were in a position where I could act boldly, I would have pushed her hard.
But that was not our relationship.
“……Cadet Han Cheon-seong. You've been thinking such things while looking at me all this time?”
Adelia asked with a slightly dazed look, and I nodded naturally.
“Yes. You're that beautiful. Any man... facing you, Instructor Adelia, would surely feel a great attraction.”
“...When I'm with you, Cadet Han Cheon-seong, I sometimes feel this, but do you know how unfiltered you are? Really... it's only because it's me that I'm accepting this. Normally, you shouldn't say such things to an instructor.”
Watching Adelia speak as if giving me a slight warning, I no longer felt the need to confirm anything else.
I just stared at her blankly. Now, I was certain.
—She has feelings for me.
That she has feelings for me. As I realized this clearly, I had to face a different kind of confusion.
Honestly... I didn't dislike her. If I had to choose between liking and disliking, I would say I liked her.
‘Who could dislike Adelia?’
She was beautiful, kind, and overflowing with the charm of a mature woman in many ways, including her figure.
Sometimes she would express her charms boldly with mischievous jokes, and she would close the distance without hesitation.
Having spent time with her, I felt it even more strongly.
That's why I felt as if my heart was floating.
*Glance.*
"……."
Even now, Adelia would look at me, as if studying me, before averting her gaze.
Faced with her like this.
‘What should I do?’
I had realized her feelings, but now I had to establish my own stance.
In that moment, I realized.
We were now... on the verge of entering a very dangerous relationship.
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, I unconsciously ran a hand over my face.
“...Well then, Cadet Han Cheon-seong. I think it would be good to call it a day and part ways. What do you think?”
At her voice, which suggested she wanted to end our time together, I nodded blankly.
“Yes, Instructor Adelia... I really enjoyed today.”
“I enjoyed it very much too. I'll be checking your body properly next week as well, so don't you go overdoing it, alright?”
Watching her smile lightly, as if she had regained her composure, I, in contrast, was plunged into deep thought.
The way I saw Adelia had completely changed from before.
Seeing her smile at me, I thought she looked even more beautiful, and a strange possessiveness, a desire to have her, welled up inside me.
If I were to approach Adelia right now.
If I were to stop her from leaving…
‘Could she refuse me?’
It was truly a fleeting thought.
“……”
But I couldn't bring myself to voice it. My mind was filled with too many thoughts right now.
“Yes. Until then... I won't overdo it either.”
“Good. I'll see you again next week, then.”
*Rustle.*
With a gentle smile, she softly stroked my hair as she stood up. I flinched involuntarily at the subtle physical contact.
...The feeling was completely different from before.
‘Is she conscious of her actions right now?’
She wasn't being cautious enough about the feelings she held for me or the distance she was allowing between us; it was almost bewildering.
Moreover, if I had noticed her feelings, it was highly likely that she was already aware of them herself.
Perhaps all the ways she seemed to give me openings today, to tempt me, were intentional.
I'd felt this before, but the way I saw it, she never acted toward other cadets the way she acted toward me. Of that, I was certain.
"……."
Watching her back as she headed in the opposite direction from my dormitory, I cautiously began to walk as well.
*Thud.*
*Thud…*
A deep sigh escaped me as I walked.
“Huu….”
While a part of me was happy that someone had feelings for me, a confusion several times greater dominated my thoughts.
—Instructor and cadet.
Above all, our respective positions weighed heavily on my mind.
A thick boundary was drawn, one that prevented me from acting as I pleased.
‘Is a relationship between an instructor and a cadet even... possible?’
In ‘Groa’, the story that served as the background for this world, I'd never seen an instructor as a heroine. Even Leonhardt, who seduced nearly every woman he met, strictly maintained his distance from the instructors.
That meant even the guy who unintentionally charmed countless heroines hadn't laid a hand on an instructor.
And yet I, who am not the protagonist.
“Me and Instructor Adelia…?”
My heart continued to sway violently as I muttered blankly.
...Fiction and reality were different.
And even in the novel, something like this had never happened.
'Could I….'
Can I handle it?