Swan wasn't the type of person to worry and care for others. We had gotten close recently, but we weren't close enough for him to worry this much, I thought. Was Swan so kind of ultra tsundere*? The kind that picked on you but took care of you and worried behind your back.
I thought about it for a mont, but thinking about all of Swan's misdeeds made think differently.
"Take a seat."
Swanhaden tried to calm both his voice and his emotions, but his voice still had a hint of emotion in it. The magic around him felt incredibly unstable. The wind was getting stronger thanks to his emotions.
I didn't know when he did, but he placed his wine-colored robes on the ground where he was going to sit down. I put his robe to the side and sat on the dirt.
Swan, who still had a desperate look on his face, held my hand and poured his magic into through that connection. He was using a type of white magic to check my current state. It was kind of similar to how a doctor would scan their patients' states.
Cory had finished drawing his circle and transported us to a safe place near school. Then, he stood next to Swan next to a nervous Hylli.
"It's not a curse."
After spending a long ti examining my state, Swanhaden spoke, relieved. He opened his eyes and looked up to stare at .
Then, suddenly, he hugged . Even if he moved away after a few seconds and refused to look at . Once he finished his check up, Swanhaden imdiately released my hand. He ran a bit away from and hid behind a tree a few ters away as he caught his breath.
Hylli looked towards Swanhaden, who was far away now, and yelled.
"Are you sure she's fine!"
"Don't yell next to Shushu, her ears hurt."
Swan frowned as he regained his usual face. But he wasn't completely back to normal just yet. He kept staring at with an uneasy look.
Swan ca back to my side and began to speak again.
"You can relax. I checked again and again but it wasn't an attack-type magic that would harm you."
This comnt was directed towards , but Hylli looked more at ease by this. But still, he seed to dislike the idea of black magic as he held onto my hand and tried to rub it off with his fingers again and again. I was a bit surprised as he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Thank goodness."
He raised his head slightly as he spoke to , voice wavering.
Thank goodness. Hylli muttered again to himself. He removed his hand from mine and stood far away. Then, he caught his breath.
Cory, who had been wordlessly watching , stood right next to as he frowned.
"Was it that person I saw earlier….."
He looked like he was monts away from murder.
"Cory."
I called to grab his attention. He looked furious.
When he turned to look at , I rolled up my sleeves slightly to show him the bulging muscles I had from sword training.
Cory just blankly stared at before he smiled slightly and began to talk about the person he had seen earlier. As he did, now Swan and Hylli began to look furious. It felt like I had barely prevented one explosion only for the other side to catch fire.
I decided to ignore the two and watched as Cory took out a pen and paper and drew sothing.
What Cory was drawing was the circle that had drawn itself above the back of my hand. It had been a split second, but Cory had morized it and kept it in his head.
Sadly, Cory had just seen it for a short mont so there was a limit to his mories. I drew the hazy parts that he couldn't rember instead. It was lucky that I had also morized a portion of it.
"Should I request Yves to get so more information about this?"
Cory muttered to himself as he stared at the completed circle.
"Shushu, I'll figure out what kind of spell this is. Tell if your body feels off."
I nodded halfheartedly. I was going to go and try and figure it out when I got back too. But uh, I felt my body getting lighter and my magic getting stronger from earlier. Should I say anything about that too?
I paused for a mont before deciding not to talk about it.
Because of our negative experiences with black magic, everyone seed extrely discomfited by the current situation. Honestly, I would've been nervous too. Everyone's check ups said that I was okay, but the nervous air seed to stay.
Then, I ended up sneezing due to pollen in the air. That was my final mistake.
Swanhaden carried in his arms as he ran.
"Let's go to Yulinelle."
"Swan, heal!"
"Let's make her take any potion we have!"
The three of them, who had just finally cald down, started making a ruckus all over again. I begged them, both hands together, to believe that I was completely fine.
After subjugation, I ate dinner and made my way to head back to my dorm.
Today was a really hectic day, so I just wanted to go and sleep already. I was walking fast to my dorms when I stumbled upon Cory and Yves talking to each other. Yves, who was quietly listening to what Cory had to say, seed to grow more and more angry until he listened more and seed to sigh in relief.
They were standing near the dorms, so the more I walked the clearer their conversation was.
"So, you want to look up records of black magic and those involved in it?"
"Yes."
Yves seed deep in thought before he rolled his silver eyes and spoke again.
"The DuBois marquis seed to be researching black magic and the Augran Mountain from a long ti ago too."
"…….my father?"
Cory seed surprised when the topic of the DuBois marquis ca up. His surprised expression soon morphed into one of bitterness.
"Anyway, I'll ask the DuBois marquis or the people in the royal family and dig around, so you take care of Shushu."
Yves said before he tapped Cory's forehead with the back of hand and turned around.
I was just about to go away because I didn't know what would happen if I bumped into Yves, but our eyes ended up landing on each other.
I ended up eting Yves' eyes when he turned to look away from Cory.
I was trying to get out of the place without anyone noticing, but I was caught by Yves. He was about to quietly call my na before he began to walk over to , face slightly stiff. Cory, who was right next to him, just stared at .
"Shushu, where are you going?"
I instinctively tried to walk faster to the dorm when Yves' eyes began to take a more predatory light. But my arm was soon caught by him.
Yves wordlessly looked down at . I awkwardly tried to smile.
"I'm going to my dorm. I ate dinner and I'm stuffed, so it's ti to sleep."
"……."
Yves, who had wordlessly just continued to stare down at , tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear with his long fingers.
Yves put his hand on my shoulder and said nothing, as if deep in thought. He just kept sweeping his thumb on my cheek. I was about to shove his hand away but stayed still because of the intimidating aura he was emitting.
Yvnes, who had kept quiet for a while, soon sighed deeply and pulled my shoulder towards into a gentle hug. His hug began gentle but got tighter and tighter as he put more strength into the hug.
"I heard from Cory."
"….."
"You got hit by black magic. Even if it wasn't attack-based."
Apparently the two of them were talking about what had happened during subjugation. Yves' voice sounded full of worry.
He seed to want to talk about sothing else before he decided not to say it. Yves sighed before talking again, voice calr than earlier.
"What was on the note?"
I didn't tell Cory or any of the others about what the note had said. It was the sa for Yves. I lied and said that the note had burned itself before I even got the chance to read what it said.
Until I had climbed the tree and held the note in my hand, Swan, Cory, and Hylli didn't even know that it had existed. They had only seen the note when I had gotten back on the ground.
If they had eyes, they would see the note. The fact that they hadn't seen it until after I discovered it ant that the person who wrote the ssage wanted only to read what it said. If they were able to fool Cory and Swan with magic, then that ant that they could bother us, included, in any way they wanted.
The contents of the note were incredibly simple, but I decided to keep it to myself.
When I kept my mouth shut, Yves looked at and seed to think about sothing before speaking first.
"Do you rember when the guild leader was threatening your life?"
Yves quietly spoke as he hugged . His voice was gentle but there was a tinge of anger in it.
I nodded at his question.
"That was when I first realized that I thought of you as soone more important than myself. I didn't know that I would kill the leader just like that. I hadn't known anything about life other than revenge until then."
As Yves began to talk about the past and fell into his mories, I couldn't help but think of the ti I helped his revenge too. We had truly gone to the end of it until it had ended, just like that. It felt like it had all ended in vain. That he didn't want to see bleeding because of the leader.
And apparently, Yves had given up on revenge the mont the leader had talked about basically killing and using for decoration. I had known that he had taken a liking towards , but it felt really out of character for him to act like that when he had been completely rational.
I was still curious about it, even after years had passed. I had never been such an important person to soone who wasn't related to by blood. We weren't lovers or anything, but for him to care for that much.
I had thought about it long and hard, but I felt like Yves, who had nobody else to rely on, thought of like a younger sister.
As Yves continued to stare at the opposite direction with in his arms, he soon began speaking again.
"If you're ever in danger or you die, what do you think I'm going to do?"
He pulled away from his arms. A smile full of danger and foreshadowing stretched on his lips. It was the sa dangerous smile that I had seen when I first t Yves.
"Always be careful, Shushu."
Hurry in and get so rest. Yves smiled brightly, pressed a gentle peck on my forehead, and pat on my back.
Was this the second ti he had given a kiss?
I furiously wiped the spot where Yves' lips t my face and glared up at him. Yves just smiled slyly.
"….."
When I got away from Yves, there stood Cory, who had been watching the entire thing.
T/N: bet cory's just like "?????? why do i suddenly feel like i'm third-wheeling" poor kiddo
happy chapter 100! we have slightly more than half to go!
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