.｡.:✧ Chapter 77 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Daniel, you look unwell.”

“Yeah, I’m a bit gloomy.”

“Indeed, the start of a semester can be depressing. Even we were all in a bad mood until last week.”

That wasn’t exactly the reason, but anyway.

As I spun my pen around while attending the lecture, Eve stared blankly at my hand and asked,

“I’ve been curious since before, but how do you do that?”

“Huh?”

“I find it fascinating.”

Eve tried to imitate me by spinning her own pen, but she kept dropping it.

“Does it require practice?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t pay much attention to lectures, so I just kept doing it until I got the hang of it.”

Watching my hand spinning the pen, Eve kept exclaiming, “Wow,” and attempting it herself, but she continued to drop the pen.

“Hey, don’t cause a disturbance over there.”

Professor Amanda finally gave us a warning, prompting Eve to bow her head deeply in embarrassment and reply in a whisper.

As the lecture resumed, I thought Eve would stop spinning the pen, but she was quite diligently practicing under the desk.

“Aren’t you trying too hard? You should listen to the lecture.”

“I’m fine, I studied ahead. Ow!”

Sticking her tongue out, Eve kept attempting it, but it seemed she had developed a cramp in her hand, as she looked at me with a pained expression.

“See, I told you to be careful.”

“Ugh! Daniel! There’s a black dragon in my hand…!”

“What kind of books did you read during the vacation?”

Sighing, I took Eve’s cramped hand under the desk and started massaging it.

“Eek!”

Eve almost let out a cry, perhaps from the pain, but covered her mouth with her other hand and stared at me intently.

“Was it too painful? Sorry.”

Eve looked slightly teary-eyed, which somehow seemed adorable, so I applied more pressure, causing her to start tapping my shoulder with her hand.

“D-Daniel… Ow, eek!”

“Hehe.”

As I enjoyed Eve’s reactions while pressing on her hand like a button, Tana, who was sitting on the opposite side, scolded me, asking what I was doing.

“Ah, I was just playing around because the lecture was boring.”

“It didn’t seem like Eve was playing.”

With her head on the desk, Eve’s breathing had become shallow, and her eyes were slightly reddened.

“Hah, hah.”

Feeling like I had gone too far, I apologized to Eve, but she just replied that it was fine.

‘Oh dear.’

I knew I had overdone it, but honestly, I couldn’t deny that I had gotten a bit excited without realizing it.

Before the vacation, I had indirectly rejected Eve’s feelings, telling her I was sorry because I had someone I liked. I had been worried that she might avoid me after the vacation.

However, she treated me as usual, as if she had shaken it off, which I was very grateful for.

‘I know the feeling of being rejected.’

Of course, I had asked her to confess to me again later, but after being rejected by Eris, I couldn’t deny that I felt an even deeper sense of guilt towards the girls who had confessed to me.

Having experienced it myself, I realized how much heartache they must have gone through, and seeing them not giving up despite that made me think they were truly amazing.

After some time passed, the lecture still hadn’t ended.

Spinning the pen had lost its appeal, so I was blankly staring at the ceiling when Eve poked me from the side.

The previous look on her face was gone, replaced by a mischievous smile as she started twisting her hands in a peculiar manner.

“I’ll show you a revelatory magic trick, Daniel.”

“You were bored too, huh?”

“Ahem, the kids really love it when I do this. It’s a family magic trick passed down from my father to me.”

She then showed me a magic trick where her thumb appeared to be detached.

It was a simple children’s hand trick. Eve was performing this finger magic trick that probably wouldn’t fool even Michelle, with a very satisfied expression.

“Hehe, what do you think? Amazing, right?”

“Eve.”

“Yes?”

“Always stay the way you are.”

“Hmm? Is that a compliment?”

Of course.

Today, once again, I received healing from my little Eve.

I told the two of them I had a lunch appointment, but unexpectedly, they also apologetically said they had lunch plans.

If they were meeting someone, I thought it might be Hayun, but if it was her, there would be no reason to exclude me.

‘Did they make friends separately?’

In a way, those two were in charge of my healing at the academy, so I felt a bit disappointed, but I also had my own schedule.

The location was an empty lecture hall.

During lunchtime, few students came to the lecture halls, so as I headed there, a blonde male student was already waiting.

Ares Helias.

He looked at me with a peculiar expression and asked,

“It’s been a while since you sought me out.”

“Yeah, honestly, I feel bad for coming to you like this after saying we should cut ties. But still, please help me out.”

“…!”

Perhaps because I was openly bowing my head, Ares looked at me with slightly surprised eyes and nodded slightly.

“Tell me.”

I took a deep breath and spoke.

“How the hell did you control them?”

“…Huh?”

“No, for now, Elise and Sen are the biggest problems. How did you handle it when those two liked you and followed you around?”

“…”

Ares glared at me with a genuinely annoyed expression, but I was serious.

These girls were making my daily life difficult.

This morning, when I opened the door to my room, I saw Elise waiting in front with the dog collar I had put on her. At that moment, I felt the urge to leave the academy, apocalypse be damned.

Moreover, Sen was already in my room in the morning, and not only that…

“Daniel, I’m done. I watered all the potted plants in the academy as you said.”

Here she comes again.

“O-Okay. Good job.”

As I nodded halfheartedly, Sen smiled with a strange satisfaction and approached me.

“What’s the next mission?”

“…Go to the store, buy some bread, and put it on my desk.”

“Got it!”

Our Chokugen Faction’s bread shuttle dashed off.

“She didn’t even say hello.”

Ares watched Sen leave without a word to him, then glared at me again.

“So? Did you call me here to brag about being popular with girls? Like how I used to subtly jab at you in the past?”

“You’re not even hiding it now? So you were doing it on purpose back then?”

“…I wanted to appeal to Rin that I was a popular guy.”

While putting others down to make oneself look superior is the easiest method, it’s also the dirtiest.

It was annoying, but anyway.

“Did you see that just now? The thought of them constantly asking me what to do like that is driving me crazy. How did you manage to get along with the girls?”

Of course, I knew the situation was a bit different now.

I knew Elise and Sen probably didn’t act this way towards Ares.

But still, Ares.

The blond pretty boy who had gone through the battlefield of women’s obsessions and catfights since he was young.

I thought he might have some know-how, and after pondering for a moment, Ares spoke.

“I don’t know either.”

“…What?”

“The girls just cling to me on their own and try not to cause me trouble on their own, so I don’t really know.”

“No, there were girls who clung to you too.”

I think there was one in the village?

“The other girls all said something to her, and she quieted down after that, so it wasn’t a big problem. Ah, right. Just go and tell them harshly. To get lost, that you have someone you like.”

“You think I haven’t tried that?”

“…”

“Sigh, you should’ve handled them better back then. Why can’t you do here what you’re good at?”

Honestly, this was more of a grumble akin to whining because I was stressed, but Ares seemed to take it as a provocation.

“Hey, say it straight. You’re the one who seduced them, right?”

Watching Ares growl, there were many things I wanted to say, but I decided not to.

In the end, if you really think about it, there weren’t any girls who genuinely liked Ares either. In that sense, it was also kind of pitiful.

“Ugh, forget it. What was I expecting from you?”

“Wait a minute.”

Ares called out to me as I was about to leave the classroom.

He looked at me with a strange expression and asked thoughtfully,

“There are many girls who stop being obsessed and try not to cause me trouble with just a word from me.”

“Are you bragging?”

I thought this was another one of his bad habits, but Ares continued in a regretful tone, as if muttering to himself.

“That means they give up on me easily or don’t want anything from me.”

“…?”

“On the contrary, if they go as far as causing you trouble just to be with you, and don’t leave no matter how harshly you treat them…”

Ares took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and uttered,

“That means they’re precious to you.”

“…”

Perhaps because it was coming from Ares, who had made the hearts of countless women flutter, his words carried a certain persuasiveness, but it only made my heart feel heavier.

Then, out of the blue, he blurted out,

“I’m going to confess to Rin.”

“What?”

“Rin seems to like you, but seeing you surrounded by so many girls like this, her feelings might cool down a bit.”

“You’re the one to talk.”

I wondered if he had forgotten what kind of person he had been until now, but Ares shamelessly nodded.

“I know, but I’m still going to do it. What I just said isn’t about men and women, but simply about people.”

“…”

“Not being able to give up easily, continuing to like someone even after being rejected… It means they’re precious to me.”

With a look of realization, Ares walked out.

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