Chapter 237
Chapter 237
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: A Relationship That Can't Be Friends
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"Would you accept it even if I kissed you right now?"
Her words were like a bombshell.
Yet her voice was utterly calm.
Glacia's gaze was so serious that Cheon-seong couldn't possibly pass it off as a joke. He felt his body freeze on the spot.
It was as if his thoughts had suddenly shut down; he couldn't properly process the situation unfolding before him.
‘What in the world...’
How could a conversation possibly lead to this? And he had never imagined Glacia would say something like this to him.
He had no idea where to even begin to understand.
But... one thing was certain. The feeling Glacia gave off was completely different.
It felt as though our previous conversations, and the relationship I thought I had with her, had changed entirely.
"...Glacia?"
Even though his mind wasn't working properly, he called out to her first.
"Yes."
Her action of forcing him to look at her, her gaze meeting his own—even that felt strange.
If this were the Glacia I knew...
If this were the girl I had come to know...
She shouldn't be acting like this toward me right now.
Her words and actions were coming across completely differently. It wasn't something I could simply take at face value as I had before, when I perceived her as pure or naive.
"Weren't we... friends?"
Before anything else, I asked about our relationship.
I knew she treated me preciously, and that at some point, I had also stopped treating her simply.
That much was clear.
It wasn't a relationship where we met and exchanged things for mutual benefit, as it had been in the beginning. We had become friends who truly cherished each other and shared our hearts.
"Of course, I think of you as a friend."
"...A friend."
When she gave the expected answer, I let out a hollow laugh. I saw Glacia flinch for a moment.
"......What's wrong?"
Glacia, replying awkwardly, seemed to feel a sense of dissonance from my reaction. And though I knew this, I couldn't stop the empty laugh from escaping.
She was currently holding my head, forcing me to look at her, and was clearly ‘interfering’ with me.
It didn't feel like the kind of concern one would have between friends. It was as if she were telling me to be careful in a romantic sense. I could feel it clearly.
The meaning behind her words telling me to be wary of Kalli.
At first, I was unsure and didn't fully grasp what she meant. But now, I understood the true meaning behind her words.
Glacia was now... telling me to be wary for an entirely different reason.
‘And yet she says we’re friends...’
As I stared at Glacia in silence, she cleared her throat softly and blinked, looking at me cautiously.
"...I think it's a slightly deeper relationship than a common friendship."
When she added a bit more explanation, a sigh escaped my lips.
It seemed she had misinterpreted my laughter. Even that was amusing.
"Hah."
Letting out a deep breath, I slowly raised my hand and removed Glacia's from my head.
Flinch.
...From Glacia, who flinched slightly just from my hand touching hers, I had to feel an extremely peculiar emotion.
‘I really thought she was just pure.’
Even now, my perception of Glacia as a pure person hadn't changed all that much.
To put it nicely, Glacia was a truly ‘pure’ person.
But to put it differently, I had noticed in many ways that she was clumsy and inexperienced in interpersonal relationships. That's why I had thought she acted so freely around me until now.
And at the root of it all...
—Because I was her first.
There was something Glacia had told me with her own lips. That I was the first person she had ever been this close to.
That's why I had taken her words about wanting to try many things as friends lightly.
Because when she said I was her first, I felt that I should treat her a little better, too.
Organizing the thoughts that flooded my mind in an instant, I looked directly at Glacia, who came into my view.
"......"
Even though her hand was no longer on my head, I didn't look away. I continued to look at Glacia, and Glacia looked back at me.
As we faced each other now, I had to be sure.
"Glacia."
"...."
"Before anything else, let's get one thing straight."
My feelings were incredibly complicated even as I carefully began to speak.
"......Yes."
Glacia swallowed nervously at my words, and I voiced my thoughts.
"The friendship you want with me... how far are you hoping it goes?"
"Han Cheon-seong. What do you... mean by that?"
"It's not about what I mean. I'm asking you exactly what I said. I'm curious about how much you expect from me."
I had to confirm it while speaking calmly.
From the very beginning, Glacia had defined our relationship, stating that we were friends. I acknowledged that and accepted it as such.
However. The way Glacia was treating me now was not like that.
She was clearly seeing our relationship as something more. Something beyond that.
"Han Cheon-seong. I don't really... understand what you're asking. Did it sound that strange when I told you to be cautious and wary of Instructor Kalli just now?"
Then, as if asking what was so strange, Glacia narrowed her eyes.
Her transparent gaze seemed to say, *'Isn't that something I'm allowed to say?'* A sigh escaped me once again before I knew it.
"Hah... Yes, it sounded really strange."
"My words sounded strange..."
"Yes. Because your words are strange."
Glacia was clearly crossing a line right now.
And whatever meaning Glacia herself might feel behind those words, to me, the intention was all too clear.
‘She's trying to interfere with me.’
It wasn't the kind of interference that comes with friendship. She was trying to interfere with my romantic relationships.
And that meant...
The relationship we thought was a friendship could never be just a close friendship.
"First, Glacia, you said we were friends. Very close friends, at that. A deeper relationship than a common friendship."
"...Yes. I did."
"Then why did you feel I should be cautious and wary of Instructor Kalli?"
"Because you... seemed defenseless."
"Why did I seem defenseless?"
"You just accept everything, don't you? When someone approaches you, rather than rejecting them, you first assume there's a reason for their actions and allow it."
Glacia's answers to my repeated questions were truly unhesitating.
As if she truly believed it, she looked me straight in the eye and answered honestly, without a hint of falsehood.
I didn't dislike that attitude of hers. There were no lies in it.
And yet, she didn't utter a single word of the 'essential answer' I was hoping for.
"So you don't like it when I allow someone in? Like you said, Instructor Kalli... or maybe Karite, or Millia, or anyone else?"
So I asked more pointedly.
"......"
Glacia's eyes narrowed sharply.
Her eyes were fixed on me, but her lips didn't part as easily as before.
So I pressed on.
"Glacia, you said we were friends."
"Right. Because we're friends. Can't I worry about you?"
"Because we're friends... you're worried that I'm letting other people get close?"
"Yes, because we're friends, I can worry. And if someone were to approach you with ulterior motives, I thought you'd be completely taken in... That's why I said that. Because you seemed too careless."
As the conversation spiraled further into absurdity, another hollow laugh escaped me.
That kind of worry wasn't something a friend would have. I had been asking repeatedly, deliberately, so she would realize that.
And yet, Glacia just couldn't seem to accept my words.
‘...I feel like I'm the one going crazy.’
The more we talked, the more I felt like I was becoming the fool.
I thought Glacia would have noticed what I was trying to say, that she would have understood the point of my words. And I believed that being pure was not synonymous with being stupid.
And the Glacia I knew was a smart person.
She knew how to draw clear lines, and she was a woman who knew how to express what she wanted and disliked better than anyone.
"......"
But now, she was staring at me with her lips pressed tightly together, a clear sign that she was displeased.
She was gazing at me with a defiant look, as if challenging me to say more if I had anything else to say. It even felt like she was convinced she had done nothing wrong and was therefore confident.
A look that seemed to say she was genuinely worried about me as a friend. And that look was filled with a sense of disappointment...
Now, meeting her eyes, I was simply amazed.
‘Is she doing this on purpose right now?’
She had an innocent expression, as if she didn't know what was wrong with her actions or why I was questioning her so insistently. But from my perspective, this was already beyond a matter of being clumsy.
It was just...
She should have known.
Why she acted this way toward me. Why she said such things...
It was strange not to know.
"Glacia."
Calming my heart, I called to her again.
"What."
Her sullen reply only made me more defiant.
I felt I had to confirm whether she was truly feigning ignorance now, or if she could genuinely show such an attitude with pure naivety.
"You said to me, 'Would I accept it if you kissed me?'"
Flinch.
As I repeated the words she had said to me, I saw her eyes tremble greatly.
"......"
She was deeply shaken, and it seemed she knew those words had been uttered impulsively.
And Glacia herself felt that such words were not to be said, even in jest.
"What kind of answer were you hoping for when you asked that?"
"That was... I meant that I wanted you to be more cautious and... wary. It wasn't meant literally..."
Glacia, who had struggled to open her mouth, couldn't answer as confidently as before.
She was hesitant and cautious.
...Her answer was still unsatisfactory to me. And so, my defiance grew even stronger.
"So, can you kiss me?"
I decided to treat Glacia the exact same way.