I Liked You First
Ahh...
Rina let out a long sigh beside me as well. Then, with an awkward smile, she said,
"Now, cheer up. How long are you going to keep that sad face?"
"I can make whatever face I want. You don't get to decide."
Before I could finish, the sound of the rooftop door being roughly yanked open echoed through the air.
"Yeon! There you are!"
The person who came sprinting over, panting heavily, was Senior Bella.
She had lost her usual composure and rushed toward me with a frantic expression.
Rina turned to stare at Senior Bella in surprise as well.
"Senior? What is it...?"
Before I could finish, Senior Bella cupped my face with both hands.
Then, with her thumb, she gently wiped away the tears at the corners of my eyes.
Only then did I realize I had been crying.
"...!"
The sudden action left me frozen in shock.
After wiping my tears, she pulled me into a tight embrace without a word.
It was warm.
It felt more direct and intense than the words Rina had just offered—a comfort that went straight to the heart.
"Are you okay?"
Senior Bella whispered softly against my ear. Her voice carried genuine worry.
I awkwardly nodded and tried to pull away from her arms.
But she refused to let go.
Instead, she held me even tighter.
The sharp gaze I felt from Rina right beside us made me uneasy.
"What are you two doing here?"
A cold, sharp voice.
It was nothing like the tone that had just comforted me.
Rina stood with her arms crossed, glaring at us.
Where her usual gentle smile should have been, her face was now cold and expressionless, her eyes sharp as ice as they fixed on Senior Bella and me.
'...Ah, that look.'
It was exactly the same eerie expression I had seen right before we parted ways at the café last time.
"Ah, Rina. This is..."
Senior Bella tried to explain hurriedly, but Rina's gaze didn't soften in the slightest.
"I didn't know that the famous Professor Bella Staren had some sort of relationship with Student Yeon Bennet."
Rina's voice was laced with clear venom.
"I have no prejudice against relationships between women, but even so, isn't it better for you to restrain yourselves from acting lovey-dovey in front of me here at the academy?"
"L-lovey-dovey?! That's not what this is at all!"
Senior Bella flushed red to her ears and stammered. Her usual cool demeanor was completely gone.
"I was just... I mean..."
Still holding me, Senior Bella desperately signaled with her eyes for Rina to give us space.
But Rina didn't budge.
She only tightened her arms and continued watching us.
"..."
For a moment, an awkward and uncomfortable silence fell. Finally, Rina spoke.
Her voice was flat, emotionless, yet somehow chilling.
"I seem to remember saying we weren't close before."
Her eyes were hollow, as if all light had been drained from them.
Like the bottom of a deep lake—nothing reflected in the darkness...
Then she slowly turned her body.
"I'll be going now. Sorry for interrupting."
Thud. Thud.
Rina left the rooftop without a backward glance.
Even after she disappeared, I couldn't shake the chill that ran down my spine.
That expression. That voice.
It was nothing like the usual Rina. It felt like a completely different person.
"Huu..."
Only after Rina had vanished completely did Senior Bella let out a relieved sigh and release me.
"Are you okay, Yeon?"
"For now... I think I'm feeling a little better."
I forced a casual reply.
Senior Bella grabbed my shoulder and examined me with worried eyes.
"Still... you have to be careful. The situation seems to be turning strangely."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
I asked in confusion.
Senior Bella's expression grew serious.
"Rumors have already started spreading that Dorothy-nim is absent. And... several families have begun moving, as if waiting for it."
"Families?"
"Yes."
Senior Bella lowered her voice.
"The Medici family, the Rafflesia family, and even some factions of the Bennet family who are backing Serena. All of them are demanding your whereabouts."
"...My whereabouts?"
I asked in disbelief.
"What do you mean...?"
"It shouldn't be possible in the first place. Demanding the whereabouts of an academy student, especially the duke's daughter... But with Dorothy-nim gone, it seems like they're trying to seize you during this gap before the next guardian is chosen."
'I understand the Rafflesia family.'
They were the ones who wanted to use me as a test subject to treat Sera, Elise's sister.
'But why the Medici family and ours?'
Camilla would probably use me to attack the Bennet family, and Serena would want to expel me from the family.
So why were they so desperate to secure my whereabouts?
Was there some other scheme I didn't know about?
...
...
...
With the cold wind of the rooftop behind me, Rina's footsteps descending the stairs were heavy and cold.
In her mind, the scene she had just witnessed kept replaying like an unpleasant afterimage.
Yeon Bennet, held in Bella Staren's arms.
Her usually fragile face, glistening with tears, nothing like before.
And the subtle tension that had flowed between them, which had made Rina's mood unpleasant.
'Not close at all?'
Rina let out a scoff.
Bella's excuses didn't reach her ears.
What mattered was that Yeon had been held in the arms of another person, and that she had shown her weakness to someone other than herself.
From deep within Rina's chest, a dark and sticky feeling rose.
Yeon Bennet.
When Rina had first met her in the slums, she had truly hated Yeon.
A greedy, self-centered, heartless woman who trampled on others without hesitation, just like the adults in the slums.
Rina had despised her.
But...
Then came the moment when Yeon appeared covered in blood, pushing herself in front of the monster's sharp claws to protect her instead.
A faint flicker of confusion and worry crossed her usually cold and vicious face.
At that moment, Rina saw something else in Yeon for the first time.
And she felt it intensely.
She wanted to stay by that girl's side.
She wanted to make that girl hers alone.
Even after that, Yeon continued to push her away.
Every time it happened, a part of Rina's heart ached, but she had been fine with it.
Because Yeon was pushing away not only her, but everyone else.
Since no one else could enter her world, Rina had quietly convinced herself that she would be the only one who could know her true self and become special to her.
When she saw Yeon being bullied by the other students, Rina thought it was her chance.
This was the perfect opportunity to approach Yeon, save her, and in return gain her heart.
She believed that her own frozen heart would melt under the warmth of the hand she extended.
But what she received was nothing but a cold "Don't worry about it and get lost."
She had been momentarily furious at that firm rejection, but at the same time, another thought had crossed her mind.
'...Is she still lacking in despair?'
Rina walked down the dark corridor with a faint, eerie smile.
Yes. She still thought there was somewhere she could rely on Yeon.
But that was fine.
Time was on her side.
Thanks to Serena Bennet's declaration, she had already been abandoned by the family.
Now, the students and professors at the academy would completely turn their backs on her.
When she was completely abandoned by everyone in the world and driven to the end of despair with nowhere to turn...
Then, she would have no choice but to seek her out.
Because only she would be the one to reach out a hand to her.
It should have been like that...
'...I can't forgive you.'
But today, Bella Staren had appeared.
And she had the audacity to act as if she was trying to take what was hers.
The sight of Yeon being held in her arms, crying, and Bella comforting her made Rina's heart freeze.
So what exactly did this Bella Staren know?
Why her and not me...?
I liked you first...
I had known you since we were children...
When you pushed me away, I had always...
Always...
Why...
Why...?
Why...?!
Originally, Rina had wanted to have an equal relationship with Yeon.
From the moment she had been saved by her in the slums, Rina had seen the other side hidden behind Yeon's cold mask and wanted to understand her.
She wanted to pull her out of the darkness and lead her toward the light, wash away her past mistakes, and help her live a new life.
She had planned to do her best to genuinely reform her.
But... if Yeon continued to reject her hand until the end and kept wandering in the darkness?
If she crossed an irreversible line and truly became a criminal corrupted by contamination?
'There are no human rights for criminals related to contamination.'
Rina muttered coldly.
It was a strict rule she had learned from the Holy Kingdom, and one she herself agreed with.
Contamination was absolute evil that devoured Tera, and those who cooperated with it had abandoned their dignity as humans.
Rina had truly hoped.
That Yeon wouldn't cross that line.
Please, hold her hand.
So that they could walk together as equal friends, or even something more.
But if the worst possible situation came...
Then there was nothing she could do.
It would be heartbreaking, but she could no longer treat her as an equal human.
Instead, she would have to make her her possession.
Better to lock her away and make her suffer for life, or have her executed miserably, than anything else.
To live safely under her control, by her side.
At the very least, she would treat her like a pet.
Yes. That would be the final mercy for Yeon.
Rina looked at the faintly glowing cross of the chapel at the end of the dark corridor.
And she prayed quietly.
'Please... Don't turn me into that, Yeon.'