A Promise of Return
Rosalyn’s face as she left Jerim’s hospital room was coldly sunken. Even so, her features remained strikingly beautiful. Yet the thoughts swirling beneath that beauty were anything but lovely. Useless fool.
In truth, the duel between Jerim and Kyle had been orchestrated by Rosalyn from the start. She had known for a while that Jerim harbored feelings for her. Ever since she was young, she had been keenly sensitive to the emotions of others—especially those directed toward herself. There was no way she could have missed the desire in Jerim Haluter’s eyes. So she deliberately approached him. She intended to use him. To make him attack Kyle.
It wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but for Rosalyn it was simple enough. Manipulating a man who carried a torch for her came naturally. And just as she expected, Jerim moved exactly according to her design. Enraged by her fabricated story, he sought Kyle out and provoked him. The ideal scenario she had painted was Kyle losing his temper and charging at Jerim without a second thought. If that had happened, it would have been perfect. Jerim would have let himself get hit on purpose, then used the incident to have Kyle expelled from the Academy entirely.
But things didn’t go that way. Kyle had indeed risen to the bait, yet he still retained enough reason to request a formal duel instead of blindly rushing in. It was disappointing, but Rosalyn was still satisfied. It wasn’t the perfect picture she had imagined, but it was a decent second-best. She had never truly believed the absolute best outcome was likely anyway.
Still, a simple exchange of blows in a normal duel would have been meaningless. Rosalyn had manipulated Jerim into expanding the scale of the match and arbitrarily changing the rules. All so she could humiliate Kyle and beat him into the ground. When Kyle finally stepped onto the dueling ground and accepted Jerim’s proposal, she had been certain her plan would succeed.
But it failed.
The duel did not unfold as expected. The Kyle who should have been utterly crushed had instead emerged victorious. It was impossible. That Kyle Berwen had beaten Jerim Haluter? She knew he had defeated Victor Dilot, but Victor and Jerim were on completely different levels. While Victor was considered upper-tier, Jerim stood at the very top of the second-year class in terms of pure combat ability. Even in a direct comparison, Jerim was at least two steps ahead. If he wanted to, he could have ended the fight the moment it began with overwhelming force.
And yet, that Jerim had lost. To none other than Kyle.
…He’s changed.
Rosalyn had watched the entire duel. She had seen Kyle claim victory over Jerim with her own eyes. It wasn’t that Jerim had let his guard down entirely—he had been careless, and that had undoubtedly given Kyle an opening. Even so, if Kyle’s skill had remained what it once was, such a victory would have been utterly impossible.
Separate from the irritation and rage of her failed plan, she had to acknowledge what she had witnessed.
He is no longer the Kyle Berwen I knew.
She had already noticed that the atmosphere around him had shifted. From the moment the new semester began, the Kyle she reunited with felt strangely, unnervingly different. And it wasn’t just the atmosphere. As a second-year, even his behavior had changed dramatically from the old Kyle. He acted so calmly it was hard to believe he was the same notorious troublemaker. And now, today, it had been revealed that even his strength had transformed.
It’s like he’s become an entirely different person.
His behavior, his aura, his ability—everything about him was different from the Kyle she remembered. So different that she could almost believe his soul had been swapped. But even so—
I still hate it.
Rosalyn disliked this new Kyle just as much. That was only natural. What she despised and loathed was Kyle Berwen’s very existence. She wanted him to fall into utter, miserable ruin. That was the purpose driving all her actions. This wasn’t the first time she had schemed against him. She had been moving behind the scenes for quite some time—spreading ugly rumors about him, deliberately tarnishing his reputation so that no one would ever see him in a different light. This had been her first direct move. And it had failed.
So it won’t be that easy, then.
Even though the plan had failed, her resolve did not waver. If anything, it burned hotter. Her resentment toward Kyle—who had dared inconvenience her without knowing his place—only deepened.
How long do you think you can hold out?
With eyes glittering coldly, Rosalyn left the infirmary behind.
Thankfully, nothing particularly troublesome occurred after the duel with Jerim. Perhaps because he had been defeated so decisively in front of everyone, the lesser pests stopped trying to involve themselves with me. And thanks to Julia’s intensive treatment, my physical condition had improved significantly compared to before. As a result, I was able to enjoy a much more comfortable life at the Academy.
Of course, my tours of the Academy with Julia continued. We explored every form of entertainment the campus had to offer and visited every notable landmark within its grounds. The fact that I still couldn’t reveal my true identity remained frustrating and stifling, but simply being able to spend time with her was enough to make me happy.
However, as someone once said, pleasant times pass all too quickly. Just like those words, the days flew by in the blink of an eye. And before I knew it, the day of Julia’s departure from the Academy had arrived.
On the day Julia was to leave the Academy, I agonized over whether I should go see her or not. I had been the one to show her around, but I knew my place. I understood that I wasn’t anyone special to her right now. Of course, I knew she paid me a certain amount of attention. She had come looking for me on her own, and after the duel with Jerim she had stayed by my side the entire time, treating my injuries. But that didn’t mean I was someone special to her. There was no reason for me to be. At this point, we were simply two people who had met at the Academy and gotten to know each other only recently. Besides, I was currently nothing more than a disowned playboy with a garbage reputation. Julia was a Saintess, so there were surely all sorts of formalities involved in her departure. She was probably quite busy. In the middle of all that, was it really okay for me to seek her out and take up her time? I couldn’t be sure.
But in the end, it had all been needless worry. I never needed to reach a conclusion. Because Julia came to find me first.
When she suddenly appeared before my eyes, I was startled—but then I smiled. The reason was simple. I was happy that she had come to say goodbye.
“Are you leaving?” I asked her.
“…….”
Julia answered with a small nod. A deep sense of regret washed over me. In the end, I would have to part with her without ever revealing who I truly was. If we separated like this, I had no idea when I would see her again. My heart ached to pull her into my arms right then and there, but of course I couldn’t do that.
As I stood there, caught in a storm of emotions I could neither express nor suppress, Julia gazed at me quietly and spoke.
“…I’ll come back.”
“……!”
My eyes widened. I had never even imagined she would say such a thing. When I stared at her in shock, Julia slowly turned her body. Then she began to walk away. I watched her retreating figure in a daze—until it disappeared from sight.
Julia’s steps as she left the Academy were light. After all, she had never wanted to come here in the first place. She hadn’t held any expectations. She had believed nothing here could possibly interest her.
But she had been wrong. Like something out of a lie, a man who captured her interest had appeared before her. His name was Kyle Berwen.
At first, it had truly been nothing more than curiosity. His way of looking at her had simply been unusual. But as time passed, that curiosity gradually grew larger. By now, it had become too big to dismiss as a fleeting whim. She knew the reason. He reminded her of Gunter. She didn’t know why. She simply felt it. And because she didn’t understand the reason, she wanted to learn more. She wanted to know why she felt that way. That was why she had decided she wanted to return to the Academy.
…Next time.
She would come back. And then she would learn more about that man. With that promise held gently in her heart, Julia left the Academy behind.
A pure white carriage raced down the road. Its size and appearance were far from ordinary. Yet even the striking splendor of the carriage paled in comparison to the woman riding inside it.
Long, wavy hair the color of lush greenery that seemed to carry the very essence of nature itself, flowing all the way down to her waist. Gentle, light-green eyes that held the warm glow of a breeze sweeping across an open field. A woman so beautiful that anyone who saw her would be captivated, radiating a soft aura capable of melting away even the harshest hostility like salt dissolving in water.
“Really?”
The woman spoke in a voice as sweet as a bird’s song.
“Julia said that……”
She murmured in a surprised, slightly incredulous tone. Then, in her eyes—
“I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of person he is.”
A deep spark of interest bloomed.