Jae almost smiled, the smallest twitch at the corner of his mouth, but Tirel’s voice broke in before he could answer.
"I told you he’d bounce back," she said, leaning lazily on his other shoulder, her grin widening. "But even I didn’t expect him to look this good after a fight like that. What’s your secret, hero? Did you make a deal with the gods while you were out?"
Byun gave Jae a firm pat on the back, his weight solid and grounding. "Seriously though... I thought you’d be bedridden for a month. You had half the academy thinking you wouldn’t wake at all." His voice softened, just slightly. "Not that I doubted you."
Yuna crossed her arms, trying for her usual sternness but failing to hide the way her lips curved into a smile. "You were unconscious longer than anyone wanted. Then suddenly you’re walking around like nothing happened. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?"
The comnt stirred another ripple of whispers around the courtyard. The word suspicious carried quickly, spreading like a spark through dry grass. Students leaned closer to each other, murmuring theories, each more dramatic than the last.
Jae rubbed the back of his neck, his smirk faint but tired. "I healed. That’s all."
The answer was too simple, too dismissive. Elise’s frown deepened.
"Healed?" she repeated, her voice low, sharp with disbelief. "That doesn’t explain it. And your body..." She broke off, glancing at the faint flickers of light that still shimred beneath his skin when the sun caught him just right. "...your body doesn’t look like it went through that fight at all."
Her concern struck more deeply than accusation could have. Elise wasn’t trying to undermine him. She was worried , and the tightness in her voice made it plain.
Jae hesitated. She wasn’t wrong. He rembered the battle with agonizing clarity: the way the Shadow General had clawed at him from within, the fire tearing through him, the cracks opening across his skin.
He rembered the agony of his body splitting under the war of fire and shadow, rembered the way his heart felt as though it had been hollowed out by molten steel.
He rembered collapsing, sure he would never stand again.
And now... he was standing. Whole. Walking. Speaking.
It shouldn’t have been possible.
But he knew there was almost nothing the system could not fix. It seed as long as he wasn’t dead, the system could nd him just fine. Wounds that should have crippled him for months were now gone as if they had never existed.
Scars he should have carried for life had faded into nothing. That knowledge gave him comfort, though it also left a faint unease. Power without cost was never truly free. He knew that. He just chose not to think about it now.
Tirel nudged him with her hip, breaking his silence. "See? He’s not going to give away his secret. Maybe it’s part of that whole mysterious hero charm he’s got going."
Jae only smiled faintly and let her talk. Tirel’s banter was like background noise, familiar and grounding.
More students were gathering now. What had begun as scattered whispers swelled into a low, rolling hum of voices that filled the courtyard. Dozens of eyes tracked Jae’s every movent, their gazes clinging to him like hooks. He felt them on his back, on his face, even on the way he stood.
Fragnts reached his ears, drifting through the air.
"Hero."
"He’s different now."
"Dangerous."
The words carried differently depending on who spoke them. Hero, for so, it was reverent, their voices hushed with awe, eyes shining as if he were a figure out of myth.
For others, it was sharp with jealousy, their narrowed gazes marking him as competition. And then there were the cautious ones, who let their words tremble on their lips, as if naming him dangerous might summon sothing they couldn’t control.
Jae ignored them. He had learned long ago that people would always talk, always try to define what they couldn’t understand. The only thing that mattered was what he did, not what they said.
"Not everyone is so impressed."
The voice cut across the courtyard like a blade through fabric. Cool, controlled, sharp enough to still the noise in an instant.
Sun stood a short distance away, frad by the lingering scorch marks on the walls as though the battlefield itself had followed him here. His dark hair fell over his eyes, his twin swords sheathed neatly at his sides. Behind him lingered Fin, silent, his presence heavy and watchful.
Yuna turned sharply, her brow furrowing. "Brother, won’t you congratulate him?"
Sun’s gaze flicked to her, then back to Jae. His jaw tightened, the faintest tremor of disdain passing across his face before he masked it again. "For what?" His voice carried clearly, every syllable deliberate. "Overextending himself and nearly destroying the academy? That’s nothing special."
The courtyard stilled. Students held their breath, whispers dying as though even sound feared to break the tension.
Jae didn’t move. His posture was relaxed, almost casual, but his eyes, calm, steady, red as embers, t Sun’s scowl without flinching. His expression betrayed nothing.
Byun muttered under his breath, not quite low enough for Jae to miss. "Here we go again."
Elise’s shoulders tensed. Her fingers tightened around Jae’s sleeve, holding on as if to keep him from leaping into a fight that hadn’t yet begun.
Tirel, in contrast, tilted her head, clearly entertained, her lips curling into the beginnings of a smirk. She thrived on friction like this.
But it was Yuna who stepped forward. Her tone was sharp, almost uncharacteristically so. "You didn’t defeat the General, Sun. Jae did. He saved all of us."
"And?" Sun’s reply was clipped, cold. His stare never wavered from Jae. "The power of one reckless student doesn’t make him a savior. It makes him dangerous."
The words struck deeper than most insults. They carried the weight of the crown prince, the heir to the throne. To the students clustered around the courtyard, they sounded less like an opinion and more like judgnt.
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