The Real Stalker
The Elemental Palace intrusion incident orchestrated by Jealousy dominated internet news headlines within hours. The main story was simple: an intruder had breached the palace. Though the Royal Mage Corps Commander personally intervened and repelled the culprit without any casualties or damage, the perpetrator ultimately escaped. The royal family's blunder kept the internet in an uproar until morning.
The culprit, Jealousy, had already returned to the academy and was sprawled across the nurse's office desk just like any other day.
"Damn it all."
The chaotic night had finally come to an end. If it weren't for his master's orders, he swore he'd never set foot in the palace again. Even after escaping, the image of the police officers who had pursued him made Jealousy shudder. At this point, it was a miracle that Majoan himself hadn't personally stepped in.
'Well, it would be the height of comedy if the Absolute Being personally chased after a mere thief.'
By that logic, an 8-star transcendent sneaking into the palace just to watch over a single child wasn't much different. For the first time in a while, Jealousy found himself wondering what on earth he was doing.
'Right. Everything is for the young lady's sake.'
Yesterday had been no different. He'd expected nothing to happen, yet the unexpected had occurred. If he hadn't infiltrated as a maid, he never would have known that Arina had cried at the party. The realization still gnawed at him.
'Should I just kill that woman?'
Unlike Marily, Jealousy had zero interest in the relationship between Arina and Anna. What mattered to him was who had made the young lady cry. Given his usual temperament, Baron Givernoon's wife would have been decapitated before sunrise. Yet, surprisingly, he left her alone. Rather than acting on his own, he intended to leave everything to his master's judgment.
'If Master orders it, I'll slice her apart. That bitch.'
Not just her—he was already considering erasing the entire Givernoon household from existence without a trace.
Suppressing his killing intent, Jealousy propped his chin on his hand and lifted his head. Glaring at the nurse's office door, he spoke curtly.
"Stop lurking around like that. If you have business, come in."
"If your senses are so sharp, why were you caught yesterday?"
Marily opened the door without hesitation and stepped inside. Drawing on her recent experience of skipping class to visit the nurse's office, she casually walked over to the sofa and sat down.
"It was my first time entering the palace. How was I supposed to recognize someone just from their footsteps?"
One would have to have heard them before to think, 'Ah, those footsteps belong to so-and-so.' There was no way Jealousy could have identified Enoch's footsteps when the man had deliberately avoided him to prevent being recognized. He'd only noticed someone approaching and prepared his maid act. If he'd known it was the chief attendant, he would have fled immediately.
'This is the consequence of insufficient prior investigation.'
Attempting an impromptu infiltration of the Elemental Palace—nowhere else—had been incredibly foolish. Jealousy scowled deeply as he berated himself once more.
"So you don't deny the intrusion."
"You already knew and came here anyway, didn't you?"
She wasn't here to skip class. If that wasn't the reason, there was no other explanation for her visit. Jealousy already knew she found him unpleasant, and he'd acted with the intention of making her feel that way.
"Quite the shameless attitude for a thief who broke into someone else's home."
"Thief, my ass."
What kind of thief in this world could fight an 8-star mage without causing a single casualty? Jealousy believed he deserved praise for that fact alone. He'd lost count of how many times he'd considered going all out against the persistent Chrombell.
'He's nothing if I fight seriously.'
Though they were both at the 8-star level, Jealousy was confident he would win in a proper fight. Not just against Chrombell—against anyone except the Absolute Being.
'My nails are all ruined. That bastard.'
Fine cracks marred the polish on his nails. He'd have to get his ruined pedicure fixed again tonight.
"So you came all the way here just to confirm that?"
If so, she truly had too much free time. Jealousy shot Marily a displeased look, his irritation aimed at the Royal Mage Corps Commander who had put him in this state. Under his contemptuous gaze, Marily's face flushed with anger as she abruptly turned her head.
"I don't think that's something I should hear from someone who was always slacking off whenever I visited."
"I finish my work before I slack off."
"Same here."
"That's rich, coming from someone who can't even do Professor Scape's assignments properly."
"……"
How cowardly, fighting with facts. Unable to retort, Marily could only tremble as she pressed her lips shut.
"Haa."
Soon calming herself, Marily took a deep breath and pulled out her smartphone. After sending a reservation text somewhere, she spoke to Jealousy.
"Stop it now."
"……"
Jealousy's fingers, which had been tapping away indifferently at his phone, froze. He turned to face her with a desolate, emotionless expression unlike before.
"What?"
His presence and intangible aura pressed heavily upon the entire nurse's office. It was proof that Marily's overstepping words had displeased him.
"Watching Arina under the pretext of protecting her, at every opportunity."
Yet Marily continued speaking calmly, as if she'd anticipated this reaction. Despite the cold sweat trickling down her face, her expression remained relatively composed.
"Do you know how much burden Arina feels from your gaze? Your actions only make her uncomfortable."
"……"
Even after Marily finished, Jealousy offered no reply. He simply stared at her blankly for a long while. Roughly a minute passed like that.
"Huuu!"
The heavy atmosphere vanished in an instant, and Marily sucked in the breath she'd been holding. Exhausted, she slumped against the sofa.
"First, a warning—don't order me around so casually. I really hate it when people give me orders."
He could somehow tolerate it from his master and Pride, who conveyed his master's will. But he had no intention of taking orders from anyone else.
'If I take orders from every Tom, Dick, and Harry, it'll remind me of the old days.'
After finally breaking free from that disgusting bondage and obtaining his freedom, nothing irritated him more than those memories creeping back up.
"I'll let this slide because you did it out of concern for the young lady, but there won't be a next time."
"……"
"Also, let me correct one misunderstanding. It wasn't me."
"……?"
With a bored expression, Jealousy rested his chin on his hand and twirled a strand of his long, flowing hair around his finger. Smirking at Marily's confused look, he answered.
"Do you really think I'd be clumsy enough to get caught tailing the young lady?"
If Jealousy put his mind to it, he could even deceive the eyes of transcendents. No matter how sharp Arina's perception was, she was only at the 2-star level. It made no sense for her to notice his gaze.
"It's the kid from the Raydel family. He's the one whose gaze Arina has been feeling."
"What? Why would that guy—?"
"I don't know. From what I heard, he likes her or something."
"What?!"
What kind of nonsense was that? That brat, who always glared at Arina like he wanted to kill her, supposedly liked her? Was he just making up excuses to get out of this situation? Jealousy met her skeptical gaze with a large yawn, as if he had little interest in children's affairs, and continued.
"He was outed during that black mage incident when everyone's memories were connected. So now he doesn't have to worry about the other kids and can follow the young lady around freely."
"Then all that time he was glaring at Arina so fiercely whenever they met……"
"Apparently he couldn't control his feelings and his whole body would stiffen up."
"Insane."
Why was she the only one who didn't know about such entertaining news? Had the kids kept it a secret from her too, even though she was close to Arina? That meant the children were keeping Jeon Raydel's feelings hidden from Arina. She never expected the entire first-year class to be so united. It was surprising news in many ways.
'I'm a bit angry, though.'
Had they really thought she'd go running to tell Arina the moment she heard this? What did they take her for? She should keep this fun secret to herself and enjoy watching how it played out. To think the kids had seen her as such a petty person. She was truly disappointed in them.
"Alright, if you're done, get out of my room. Class is about to start."
"How could I just leave after hearing this?! I'm skipping this class!"
"Damn it."
Professor Scape was going to nag him again. Watching Marily demand more explanations, Jealousy pressed a hand to his forehead as if regretting his words.
＊ ＊ ＊
With Jeon Raydel's feelings now spreading like wildfire among the first-years, several students besides Marily were keeping the secret. One of them was Togun Masao. The reason was simple—he was terrible at keeping anything hidden.
"So you're saying you ran into the intruder at the palace and felt some inexplicable sense of déjà vu?"
Perhaps because they'd shared the mana restriction cuffs while resolving the Mana Up app incident, the two had grown close enough to chat like this occasionally. In a way, Togun had become Arina's second friend after Marily.
While Marily was away meeting Jealousy, they discussed the previous night's events. Togun tilted his head in confusion.
"Was it someone you knew? No, if it was, you would've recognized them right away."
Then who could it be? Togun frowned in thought for a moment before his eyes widened as if realizing something.
"Come to think of it, you mentioned feeling an unknown gaze lately, didn't you? Maybe it's related? Like the person watching you followed you all the way to the palace."
"That seems like a stretch."
Arina shook her head skeptically at Togun's words. But Togun, convinced his theory had merit, continued building the story in his mind.
"No, think about the Mana Up app incident and the Grant Department Store incident. The world's been dangerous lately. It's entirely possible."
A black mage had been waiting for an opportunity to kidnap Marily, only to be discovered by the Royal Mage Corps and have his plan ruined. It was a 12-year-old's logic, completely lacking evidence or reasoning. Why would someone of that caliber stalk a 12-year-old child in the first place? His explanation completely omitted the stalker's motive. Though bits of truth were scattered throughout, it was an absurd conspiracy theory that only made one more frustrated the more one listened. If Marily had been there, she would have immediately told him to stop spouting nonsense and confusing Arina.
"……"
The problem was that Arina was gradually being convinced by his words. Normally, she would have immediately denied it, but perhaps because both incidents Togun mentioned were things she'd witnessed with her own eyes, an inexplicable anxiety made her swallow dryly. The fact that her uncle wasn't home right now only added to her growing unease.
"……This could be serious."
At those words, Jeon Raydel—who had been watching Arina from afar as usual—interjected into their conversation. The displeasure of seeing Arina talking alone with another boy, combined with the hatred toward the nonexistent black mage that Togun had mentioned, gave him the courage to approach. With his usual ice-cold expression, he spoke to the two startled students staring at him.
"The Royal Mage Corps Commander said the opponent was a martial artist and spirit master, but we can't definitively say there was no dark magic attribute involved."
The opponent was an 8-star powerhouse. The thought that such a being might be targeting Arina ignited a fire in Jeon Raydel's eyes.
'How dare they stalk Arina?'
What fueled his anger most was that the culprit had been watching Arina all this time. Forgetting that he himself was the source of that gaze, Jeon Raydel directed a chilling rage toward the imagined stalker.
"Uh, uhh?"
What was going on? Arina sensed that the situation was taking a very strange turn. At some point, the two had started talking to each other while completely ignoring her, assuming the existence of a culprit. It had reached the point where she wondered if they'd always been this close.
"……So what kind of entertaining situation is this now?"
Marily, who had been kicked out of the nurse's office by Jealousy and returned to the classroom, could only let out a hollow laugh as she watched the flustered Arina. In that moment, Jealousy—the underworld's Seven Deadly Sins member—had been reduced to a stalker of a 12-year-old girl.