Chapter 294
Chapter 294
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 294
Chapter Title: I Told You Not to Avoid My Gaze, Didn't I?
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***
"Don't avoid my eyes."
A cold, coercive voice. More than anything, the honorifics in her speech were gone.
With her hand on my shoulder, there was nothing else I could do.
*Slowly...*
Just as she said, I turned my gaze to meet hers.
“...”
But just meeting her eyes made me feel like I would be crushed by her presence.
—She was serious.
This woman was genuinely trying to overpower me. And I had already let her get irrevocably close.
Unable to even swallow, I met her sunset-colored eyes, and it became clear.
The tense reflection of myself in her eyes was as clear as if I were looking in a mirror.
“I didn't want to go this far either.”
I flinched at the cold words she spat out.
*Squeeze!*
I could feel her hand on my shoulder tighten its grip.
It wasn't meant to cause me pain.
It just felt like more pressure was being applied to my shoulder. She clearly wasn't trying to harm me.
But even knowing that, I couldn't let my guard down in the slightest.
“You. Do you know why I'm angry right now?”
“...Yes. I do.”
As I struggled to speak and agree, Dame Isabell suddenly twisted her lips into a crooked line.
It was a strangely distorted smile.
A cold smile, completely different from the impression she gave when we met yesterday.
“Ah. So you do know.”
I carefully added to her strange words.
“That’s why this... will never happen again. I promise.”
During our first meeting yesterday, I might have made a decent impression on her. But now, I could feel it.
That was why she had treated me so well.
And now, she was about to completely change her attitude toward me to one of coldness. So, I had to stop that, at least.
I didn't know how much of an asset she would be in the future, but the reputation of a Golden Knight was not to be taken lightly.
“...You promise.”
“Yes. I promise. Something like today will never happen again.”
...Though I was being crushed by her presence, I tried my best to answer calmly.
I couldn't appear servile, nor could I seem arrogant.
Right now, the gap between Dame Isabell's position and mine was immense. I thought it best to appear as someone who could discern right from wrong.
Inwardly... even if that wasn't the case, I had to appear that way to her on the outside.
“You're quite the smooth talker.”
I couldn't easily reply to her chilling voice.
I couldn't tell from her gaze whether my words had pleased her or not.
Because her eyes showed nothing but cold emotion.
“...”
As we held each other's gaze in silence.
I gradually felt the pressure on my shoulder release. Before, it had felt like she was forcing me not to escape her grasp, but now it was as if she had gently let go.
“You know, despite my title as a Golden Knight, I haven't actually held it for that long.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yes, I'm just entering my fourth year. The age difference between us probably isn't that great. So, I originally had no intention of offering you advice about your future or anything of the sort.”
I listened to her cold, continuous words, carefully meeting her gaze.
*I need to quietly play along with what Dame Isabell is saying.*
I felt it instinctively.
“But still. I think I need to say this properly. The time I've spent as the second daughter of Marquis Eleanor, and as a Golden Knight, is time you've likely never even witnessed. I believe that experience is something that transcends age and cannot be compared to ordinary life.”
*Pat. Pat.*
I felt a strange touch, as if she were patting the shoulder she was holding.
“I hope you don't think I'm just showing off.”
“Of course not. I don't think that at all.”
“Really? Then this will be easier.”
Just as Dame Isabell's voice, which had cut in, felt even colder.
*...Shove.*
I suddenly began to be pushed backward.
The hand on my shoulder was pushing me back.
And it made it incredibly difficult to keep my balance.
“...!”
*Thud.*
Even as I barely managed to keep my balance and was pushed back without falling, Dame Isabell didn't widen the distance between us at all.
*Thud!*
As I was continuously pushed back, she leisurely pressed her body against mine.
*Thump!*
And at the end, my back hit the wall.
“...Ah.”
A foolish sound escaped my lips without me realizing it... The psychological pressure was immense.
This was the first time in this world I had ever felt such intense pressure from another person, rather than from the danger of an Apostle.
*What should I do...*
How could I appease Dame Isabell? My mind was a mess, and no answer came to me.
"..."
Even now, she was staring intently at me from a distance where our breaths could mingle.
*Smirk.*
And was she enjoying my flustered state?
Dame Isabell gave a very strange smile.
“Don't be so tense. I have no intention of hurting or harming you. I'm not going to resort to common corporal punishment, either. Even if I'm your superior, I believe making someone listen through physical abuse is utterly barbaric and uncivilized.”
Even as she assured me the worst wouldn't happen, I couldn't find a suitable response.
*Slowly...*
Suddenly, I felt her hand move slowly up from my shoulder.
From my shoulder to my collarbone, then from my collarbone to my neck. The sensation was different as her hand came to rest gently around my neck.
It wasn't a feeling of physical pressure.
I could tell that, just as she'd said, she wasn't gripping my neck with the intent to harm. She was simply resting her hand there, cupping it. Yet, that alone created an extremely peculiar sensation.
A situation where my safety could be gravely endangered by a single, light movement of her hand.
"..."
Even without physical pain, I felt completely pressured by Dame Isabell psychologically.
I couldn't think of any way to escape of my own will or break free from this situation.
“I think I need to give you a more proper warning.”
“...”
Fearing I would say something foolish if I tried to answer clumsily, I just gave a slight nod.
I thought it was the best response I could give right now.
“And this is truly the first time something like today has happened. I never imagined that someone I'm supposed to protect would try to destroy their own body.”
“...It won't happen again.”
“You say it won't happen again. Then why did you do it today?”
I barely managed to open my mouth, but her follow-up question left me speechless.
It was because... I wanted to grant Leonhardt's wish. Even though my body wasn't in perfect condition, I wanted to be of some help to a guy who was going through a very tough time.
That's why I recklessly accepted the duel.
“...”
I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.
Dame Isabell, who had only arrived at the academy yesterday, wouldn't understand or accept such an explanation.
“What, can't you say?”
As she pressed me with strange persistence, I wondered how I should react.
How could I give such a paltry explanation?
*Thump!*
“...!”
Then, at the loud sound of a hand hitting the wall, I flinched involuntarily.
Her right hand was still around my neck. It was her left hand that had moved.
Below a shoulder adorned with a dazzling golden insignia, her arm was planted on the wall right next to my face.
*Glance.*
The moment my gaze instinctively shifted to her arm.
“I told you not to avoid my gaze, didn't I?”
At her cold voice, I hurriedly turned my head back.
And now, I could see the intent in her eyes as she stared at me intently.
*Is she trying to warn me...*
She was warning me not to do what I did today, but her method felt intimidating.
If she had physically harmed me instead, I was confident I could have endured it.
Thanks to various situations, I have a certain tolerance for pain. But her pressing me like this, with words and actions... was something I had never experienced before.
That's why I was so flustered.
*What answer does this woman want from me?*
I thought I had given the best possible answer.
That something like today would never happen again, and that I had no desire to ruin my own body.
Who would want to, in the first place?
“Dame... Isabell.”
“Speak.”
“What answer would satisfy you?”
In the midst of the tension, I ended up asking her directly.
I knew that asking in such a way might be like pouring fuel on the fire of Dame Isabell's anger.
And yet, I couldn't understand her.
Pinning me against the wall like this, her hand around my neck, blocking my escape by planting her hand on the wall—what more did she want from me while pressing me like this?
At this distance where our breaths could touch, what on earth was the answer she wanted from me?
“...”
Perhaps my words were unexpected. Dame Isabell fell silent for a moment before suddenly letting out a soft breath.
“Hah.”
...As her deep breath washed over the nape of my neck, I did my best to control my body's reaction.
I understood her general intention for acting this way, but I didn't know why she was going this far.
“You.”
“Please, speak.”
“I'll put it simply. I'm trying to imprint myself on you right now.”
“Imprint...?”
“I’m trying to imprint this situation, this moment, my words, my expression, even the look in my eyes—all of it—onto you.”
Dame Isabell spoke without hesitation, the words tumbling out.
She was outright telling me that creating this situation was her goal.
And it was only then that I understood.
"..."
That the very act of me experiencing this was the 'warning' she wanted to give me.
“I understand your meaning.”
“Do you really understand?”
I answered her peculiar question with a deep breath.
“Yes. Everything.”
“...”
With those words, my previous cowering posture disappeared.
I hardened my gaze and met hers.
As I now stared firmly back at her, she, too, met my gaze unflinchingly.
This woman wanted me to properly accept her words and actions.
"......"
"......"
For a short while, we stared into each other's eyes, but there was no change in Dame Isabell's gaze.
In the midst of a strange atmosphere where it felt like our gazes could be locked forever.
The change came at an unexpected moment.
“What do you think you're doing?”
With the arrival of a completely unexpected voice...