I Became The Academy’s Narrow-Eyes

< Chapter 19: Oh >

Like a boiling kettle.

As Adrian’s ears turned bright red, she abandoned her casual nonchalance and the way she handled her arms and gaze in one fell swoop, rushing towards Ceylon and leaning forward as she spoke.

“W-what are you talking about!? M-me wanting to be friends with you!?”

“Oh. Did I interpret it wrong?”

“Of course you interpreted it wrong! You’re saying something that doesn’t make any sense! Why would I want to be your friend in the first place? What am I missing that makes me ask you to be my friend!?”

“Well, well. That makes sense. Someone like Miss Adryn wouldn’t have any reason to want to be friends with someone like me.”

‘Someone like Miss Adryn.’

Upon hearing those words, Adryn immediately regained her composure and returned to her nonchalant and relaxed noblewoman demeanor.

“Hmph, I see.”

“It seems that after hearing what Miss Adryn said, I projected my own desires onto it without thinking.”

“I see. It’s probably the first time you’ve ever had the opportunity to interact with someone like me, so it’s understandable that you’d be impatient.”

Adryn’s shoulders seemed to lift.

“That’s exactly what you said. What did you say just now, that you’d be willing to be close to me, if I asked nicely? Wow, that took me by surprise, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. I mean- ah, no, not close, but acquaintance!”

“Ah, yes, acquaintance. I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself, I guess I’m panicking after all?”

“Oh, come on, calm down.”

Ceylon was stuttering and stammering, and Adryn’s mood was fluctuating between panic and nonchalance.

Who should panic and who should calm down?

If someone weren’t listening to the conversation and just watching the two of them, they would definitely think it was Adryn.

“So, what do you say?”

“Of course! It’s a pleasure to me. A chance to get acquainted with Miss Adryn. When else would a wretch like me get such a valuable opportunity!”

“Hmm. I understand.”

“But may I ask one thing? Miss Adrian?”

Adryn watched Ceylon’s reaction nonchalantly.

His eyes were sparkling.

They were real eyes, so she couldn’t see the pupils, but it was there nonetheless.

“Mmm,” Adryn murmured nonchalantly, barely suppressing what could have been a smug smirk at the apparent respectful response.

“Go ahead.”

“Why did this offer come about? This extraordinary opportunity?”

“Hmm.”

Here it comes.

Adryn trembled inwardly, but outwardly, she stood tall.

“Just say it plainly.”

“What do you mean?”

“That you actually… resent me, don’t you?”

“What? Why?”

“Don’t pretend not to know. Earlier when I publicly raised concerns about your record. Because of that, your position at the academy became precarious. In other words, you ended up like this because of me. Naturally, you must have thought so too, right?”

Adryn averted his gaze, afraid that Ceylon would now reveal his hidden animosity.

“Huh? How is that because of Miss Adryn?”

“What?”

But soon her gaze returned upon hearing Ceylon’s calm voice.

“If we consider the atmosphere at the time – even if Miss Adryn hadn’t raised any concerns, someone else would have. And because Miss Adrian raised the issue, it was revealed that there were problems with my record – and everything that was wrong was corrected. Therefore, all Miss Adryn did was what she should have done. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?”

“What…”

It was a conclusive argument.

Even Adryn herself couldn’t reach such an objective conclusion despite considering herself as the perpetrator.

How could Ceylon talk about it so objectively, like it was someone else’s business, when he was the victim?

Adryn stared between his slender threaded eyes, trying to read Ceylon’s hidden thoughts.

Still nothing could be seen, but at least it didn’t seem like Ceylon made up words just to make himself look good.

Adryn’s original frivolous and empty-headed image of Ceylon contrasted sharply with this new side of him.

She even momentarily forgot her role as a calm and relaxed noblewoman and genuinely became flustered by Ceylon unexpected behavior.

Adryn considered Ceylon’s comment for a moment, then shook her head.

“Yeah, you’re right. In that situation, even if it wasn’t me, someone else would have raised the issue. So ultimately, it was good that I brought up the problem and corrected it.”

“Isn’t that right?”

“But-”

The question was how Ceylon, the person in the situation, would take it.

When it comes down to it, humans are animals whose emotions override their reason.

Normally, if you were in Ceylon’s position, you would blame yourself, even if you knew it rationally.

“Are you sure you don’t mind…?”

“If I say I’m not disappointed, then I’d be lying. Well… there were bigger gains from this incident anyway so let’s just leave it at that.”

“Bigger gains? What do you mean…?”

Ceylon pressed his lips to his index finger, pondered, and then smirked.

“It’s a secret.”

Quest cleared.

Ceylon couldn’t really say that, so he stammered appropriately.

“…”

However, Adryn unknowingly stared at Ceylon absentmindedly and suddenly had a thought. She mumbled under her breath while avoiding eye contact in embarrassment.

“Wow, He is a good flatterer.”

“What?”

“Oh, no, whatever. Okay.”

Adryn made the face of an aristocrat again, grave and relaxed, and looked at Ceylon proudly.

She didn’t realize that her face showed a hint of excitement that anyone could see.

“Ahem. To tell you the truth, I was worried about you. You seemed thoughtless. But luckily enough, you did have some thoughts after all.”

“Well… yeah…”

“You’re quite kind-hearted, Miss Adryn.”

“Geez! Stop flattering me like that!”

Ceylon smirked, and Adryn tried to respond nonchalantly, but ended up avoiding eye contact again.

“But like I said, Miss Adryn, you don’t have to feel responsible for what happened.”

“What? You mean you don’t need me?”

Adryn glared at Ceylon out of the corner of her eye.

On one hand, she seemed to be timidly gauging his reaction.

“Haha, of course not. I wouldn’t dare say that myself. I can’t possibly take advantage of such a precious relationship as yours, Miss Adryn. However, what I meant was that you don’t need to burden yourself with responsibility that you don’t have to feel.”

Responsibility.

It’s really annoying and unpleasant but there’s no choice.

That was Adryn’s intention in getting involved with Ceylon.

But when Ceylon mentioned ‘responsibility that you don’t have to feel’, her reason for being involved disappeared.

And that’s a good thing.

Because it was really annoying and unwanted.

And maybe Ceylon wasn’t the gloomy man Adryn had imagined from their conversation alone.

Maybe Ceylon really good at taking care of his own business.

And maybe Ceylon is thinking the same thing.

“So, what do you ultimately want?”

“What?”

“You don’t want my help, do you?”

Adryn attitude suddenly became passive and she slouched down slightly.

Adryn squinted her eyes threateningly at Ceylon while trying hard to appear indifferent as she spoke

Ceylon looked at her quietly for a moment before finally showing an empty smile on his face.

“That’s not possible, I mean, it’s not something you should feel responsible for! If it’s okay with Miss Adryn, then please, despite my reservations, I dare say I can count on your goodwill.”

“…Really?”

Adryn looked at Ceylon for a moment and then cleared her throat.

“What’s with you? You said it would be like this anyway, why did you change your words like that?”

“Haha, just thought if I accepted it too easily, it would seem too shameless of me.”

“You’re such an idiot. How do you see people?”

Suddenly, Adryn’s cautiousness towards Ceylon completely disappeared.

She regained her original self and showed Ceylon the indifferent and relaxed demeanor of a noble.

Ceylon was inwardly amused.

‘This person is really interesting.’

Similarly, Adryn felt inwardly delighted as she continued speaking nonchalantly.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. If you insist so much… fine. I’ll help you out. So now you have no choice but to pass the entrance exam.”

“Wow, you’re so supportive…! I thought I was going to fail the entrance exam, but now I’ll have no choice but to pass it!”

“Bullshit.”

By the way-

Ceylon looked around.

“Surely, there are noticeably fewer people than there were during the second exam?”

The waiting room for the third exam was noticeably smaller compared to the second exam waiting room.

Nevertheless, even now, as the second exam is almost over, the inside of the waiting room remains quiet.

“I guess it’s because the difficulty of the exam was quite high. Maybe Academy intentionally took into account that this batch of new students has a particularly high level. They seem to have made a deliberate effort.”

“And we passed it?”

“Don’t get cocky. And by us, I mean you and me, please don’t try to hook up with me wholesale.”

“Hmm?”

Ceylon’s real eyes and thin lips drew a meaningful line.

“What’s with that expression?”

“Well, I remember my grades weren’t much different from Miss Adryn’s.”

“Hey!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Adryn shouted angrily.

Ceylon looked at Adryn and thought to himself.

‘Is she… An angel…?’

The praise that had been silent when she’d shown the kind of heart that could be called an angel came out in a moment of sternness.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

At that moment, their gazes simultaneously turned towards empty space.

A voice transmitted through mana resounded throughout the waiting room.

-The second round of the examination has ended.

Following that announcement, traces of mana flow could be felt throughout the examination hall.

Ceylon and Adryn both looked down at their chests at once.

The mana leaves its mark as it moves around.

When it was done, they both had the number 17 engraved on their chest pads.

-The third exam will proceed in groups of three individuals per team.

-Participants should check their assigned team numbers and begin preparing for the test.

-The third exam will start in approximately 10 minutes.

Ceylon and Adryn listened attentively to these words while gazing into empty space before them.

They both checked each other’s chests at the same time.

“Oh.”

The sound came from Ceylon’s mouth.

“Oh.”

It came from Adryn’s mouth.

“So when Miss Adryn said she would help me during my time at Academy… Was this what she meant? Hahaha.”

Ah…

That sound came from Adryn’s mouth.

Ceylon just smiled as she looked at the stunned Adryn.

“I look forward to working with you in the future.”

He said something meaningful.