Jeon Raydel's Secret Crush
Jeon Raydel had one particular worry. It was the kind of romantic dilemma that any boy or girl going through puberty faced at some point. The feeling he harbored for Arina—one he had kept locked away in his heart, unable to tell anyone—had been forcibly exposed to everyone because of a certain incident.
Even today, he couldn't contain those feelings. From a distance, he stared intently at Arina walking alongside Marily, desperately trying to steady his pounding heart. Her smiling face made it feel as though his heart might burst. He wished that smile were directed at him. At the mere thought, his arms and legs trembled, and he frowned at the heat rising to his face.
At a glance, it looked as if he were glaring fiercely at Arina as she passed by in the distance, but by now, everyone understood that his expression wasn't what it seemed.
"That's the one, right? He likes her so much he can't even approach."
"Honestly, if you didn't know better, you'd think he was about to tear her apart like a polar bear."
"I still can't quite believe it. Is that really the face of someone looking at the person they like?"
"In a way, it's kind of pitiful that he has to make that face in front of the one he likes."
Whispers reached him as students watched from afar. At first, it had been mortifying enough to make him want to crawl into a mouse hole, but perhaps he had grown used to it. Since he lacked the courage to confess on his own, he had reached the point of desperately hoping the rumor would spread far and wide until it reached Arina.
"There's no way anyone would betray him by telling Arina Grant the truth, right?"
"Of course not."
"We absolutely can't tell her. Now that we know the situation, it's way too entertaining."
"A confession has to come from the person themselves. If someone else helps, they'll get rejected one hundred percent of the time."
Yet, betraying Jeon Raydel's hopes, the entire first-year class maintained a united silence toward Arina. Perhaps they found his usually stern and cold demeanor cracking in such an amusing way. Lately, some students even approached him directly to ask how his progress was going.
The forced public exposure hadn't changed the wall between him and Arina, but it had somehow lowered the barriers with those around him. Still, there was one silver lining: he could now openly watch Arina without worrying about others' eyes.
Startled. Had she felt his sharp gaze? Arina turned her head toward where he stood. Jeon quickly ducked behind the wall, fleeing from her line of sight.
"What's wrong?"
"……No, it's nothing."
How strange. She could have sworn someone was watching. At Marily's question, Arina continued staring at the spot where Jeon had been, tilting her head in confusion.
If it had only happened once, I might have thought it was just my imagination.
Lately, she had been sensing this gaze more and more frequently. Was it really just a misunderstanding? Unaware that Jeon Raydel's stalking had grown bolder, Arina simply tilted her head, puzzled.
"Did you feel that gaze again?"
"Yeah."
Besides Arina, there were a few first-years who didn't know about Jeon Raydel's feelings for her, and one of them was Marily. The reason was simple: she was close to Arina. The others feared Marily might reveal the secret to Arina, so they desperately kept the rumor from reaching her. Though many first-years still didn't even know each other's faces, when it came to teasing someone, they all came together as one. Seeing how well this unspoken rule was being followed…
"Hmm."
Unlike Arina, however, Marily was quite sharp. At first, she too had thought Arina was simply imagining things. But once she realized Arina's perception far exceeded that of others, she suddenly wondered if there might actually be a gaze that only Arina had noticed.
More than anything, the kids' behavior lately has been a little strange.
They were clearly hiding something. And that gaze was always directed at Arina. They hesitated to tell her anything related to Arina. From that, Marily could tell something was happening around Arina that she didn't know about.
"Maybe a ghost attached itself to you?"
But she didn't mention it to Arina. There was no need to make the sensitive girl anxious over something unconfirmed. Marily raised both hands to her chest and let out a playful "Ooooh," mimicking a ghost with a mischievous grin.
"Stop it. That kind of scary prank…"
Arina shuddered at the mere thought and shook her head. It was a rather unbalanced sight, considering she lived with a roommate who carried countless ghost-type undead in his extradimensional space.
Uncle wouldn't have been scared of ghosts at all.
Kain would have flatly denied the existence of real ghosts, saying that aside from artificially created undead, such things didn't exist in this world. No, he might not even understand why she was afraid of them in the first place. After all, he was always lying on the sofa with that perpetually bored expression, as if nothing in the world weighed on him.
I miss him. Uncle.
It hadn't even been a week since Kain left, but perhaps because this was the first time they had been apart for so long, the longing for him was already welling up inside her.
Lately, he hasn't been contacting me much either.
Unaware that the time difference between the underworld and the living world had severed communication with Kain, Arina pouted, feeling oddly hurt that he hadn't reached out even once since the first day.
Unlike me, maybe Uncle doesn't miss me that much?
Was she nothing more than a burden forced upon him after his sister-in-law died? Because Kain rarely showed his true feelings, Arina always carried that anxiety. And this incident had only amplified it. She felt as though she truly meant nothing to her uncle.
"Aah!"
With a sharp thwack, Arina clutched her forehead and stumbled backward. Her forehead had turned bright red from the force of the flick.
"Were you thinking about your uncle again?"
Marily leaned in with a displeased expression, glaring at her. "Don't forget. Right now, I'm your roommate."
Marily openly displayed her jealousy, huffing in annoyance. Arina burst into laughter at the sight. How could she not know? Whenever Arina's expression grew gloomy from missing her uncle, Marily would pull these antics to cheer her up.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."
"As long as you understand."
Relieved by Arina's brighter expression, Marily leaned back. Then she looked at Arina with a worried gaze and asked, "But are you really going to attend?"
Three days from now, a party would be held at the Raymond royal palace. Since it wasn't being held for any special purpose, the scale wasn't particularly large. It was a modest gathering hosted by the palace to let nobles mingle and make acquaintances—a simple event where people would just talk without any special activities.
That was why Marily had originally planned to skip it and spend time with Arina in their room. The problem was that when Arina heard about the party, her eyes had started sparkling.
"It won't be as glamorous as you expect. Nobles aren't as special as they seem in dramas, you know."
In fact, some were so repulsive that they shouldn't even appear on television. While there were many nobles like Majoan or Archduke Mendelsohn who devoted themselves to their people, there were also those so consumed by greed that one had to wonder why they were nobles at all. Especially the ones who tried to tie her into marriage despite how young she was—it made her want to vomit on their faces.
And some of them are in their seventies, for crying out loud.
Even the most depraved pedophiles would hesitate at that age gap. Those crazy bastards.
Anyway, Marily wanted to protect Arina's illusions as much as possible. That was why she had desperately tried to dissuade her from attending the party, but…
"Yeah, it's fine."
Even so, Arina's resolve hadn't wavered in the slightest.
"Are you sure it won't be too overwhelming?"
"……"
How was she supposed to refuse when Arina said it like that? If she had kept pestering, Marily could have tried harder to convince her. But when Arina looked so disappointed and said, "If it's too much, I'll give up," it became impossible to turn her down.
This girl is dangerous.
Feeling exactly what Kain always felt toward Arina, Marily finally lowered her head in defeat.
"Fine. But you have to stay right behind me the whole time at the party."
"Okay, I will."
She had planned to do that anyway. Given how shy she was, if she got separated from Marily and left alone, she would definitely freeze up in the middle of the venue, unsure what to do.
"Then after class today, should we go look at dresses? I'll personally coordinate everything for you, from head to toe."
Marily had grown up surrounded by luxury goods since childhood. Her eye for fashion, honed by a princess's extravagant spending, was on par with any professional coordinator. She clenched her fist, determined to make sure Arina wouldn't be outdone by the other nobles.
"Huh? No, that's okay."
But Arina shook her head as if the suggestion had never crossed her mind.
"Before I enrolled, Uncle bought me a ton of clothes and put them in my extradimensional pouch. I can just pick one of those to wear, right?"
"That's not enough! All the other nobles will be dressed in high-end designer wear!"
"Yeah, but he basically bought out the entire luxury department store. So in terms of price, I won't lose. Probably."
"……Just what does your uncle do for a living?"
He bought out an entire luxury department store? While that was easily within her own means as a princess, it was the kind of reckless spending most mid-tier nobles couldn't even dream of. She had already sensed something unusual about the way he carried himself last time they met.
"Honestly, I don't really know either. I just figure that since he's my uncle, that's how he is."
Of course, if Arina asked, Kain would answer any question without hesitation, just as he had told her he was a dark mage. But she had no desire to pry into his secrets. No matter who he was, he was still her uncle.
"Hmm."
At those words, the face of the suspicious school nurse flashed through Marily's mind. Someone who protected Arina far too excessively. From what Arina had said, she suspected that her uncle might be behind it.
Maybe the gaze Arina keeps feeling is also from that nurse.
She would have to meet him later and warn him not to cause Arina any unnecessary trouble.
Arina's going to the party?
Meanwhile, Jeon Raydel—the true culprit behind the stalking incident—had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation, his eyes wide. A party at the royal palace. Of course, he knew about it. Like Marily, he had planned to skip it since there was no real reason to attend. But if Arina was going, that changed everything. The mere fact of her presence was reason enough for him to go.
Should I stop by the main house for a bit?
Considering the monthly allowance sent from home, he quickly calculated the remaining amount. It wasn't enough to buy clothes suitable for a royal palace party.
If I skip tonight's training and take the late-night train right after school, I could make it back before morning classes.
He would have to sleep on the train for one night, but for the sake of love, that much discomfort was nothing. After all, this was a chance to see Arina in something other than her school uniform.
"……"
After watching the two girls enter the classroom, Jeon turned away, his eyes burning with fierce determination.