Chapter 20
Since that day, Liet had become even more isolated at school.
Even the sideways glances had disappeared, and the few girls around avoided her completely.
She admitted she had reacted emotionally to Samuel’s proposal. But even if she turned back time a hundred times, she knew she would have acted the same. So, she had no regrets.
And to be honest, this much didn’t faze her. She had already braced herself for it.
“Liet, why is your lunch always so bad? Is your cook that unskilled or something?”
There were still jerks who talked to her.
“Then don’t eat it. And your lunch is…”
Liet glanced at Lucas’s lunch and trailed off.
Lucas was the son of a nameless baron family. But Liet didn’t stop because she was about to insult his humble lunch. On the contrary…
“…Why is it always so fancy?”
Lucas’s lunch was excessively luxurious. Even Evan’s lunch, made by a top-class chef, didn’t look this extravagant.
“Ah, my family just puts a lot of importance on food.”
At his nonchalant reply, Liet scrutinized him.
Now that I think about it… this guy’s clothes and personal items all seem expensive too.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me self-conscious.”
“It’s nothing. And my family’s food isn’t bad… it’s healthy.”
Liet turned her gaze away and picked up her fork.
“Anyway, a lot changed while you were gone, huh?”
After his fight with Jackson, Lucas had been absent from school for a week, saying he had family matters to attend to. It seemed personal, so she hadn’t pried.
“Liet, I heard you had a clash with Samuel and his gang.”
“It wasn’t a clash. I just rejected his garbage offer.”
Liet replied with a grimace, remembering that day.
“Still, that’s cool. Samuel’s scary, you know.”
Lucas added casually, as if he wasn’t scared at all. Then he asked curiously,
“What did he offer you?”
“He asked me to help him become third place.”
Liet spooned a bland, low-sodium health stew into her mouth. But a voice full of emotion rang out beside her.
“Liet… don’t tell me… you rejected him because of me, the one in third place…?”
“What are you saying? I didn’t like his tone, and more importantly, there’s no way someone like Samuel could make it to third just with a little help from me.”
She shoved a piece of bread into Lucas’s mouth to shut him up. While chewing, he said,
“Samuel aiming for third? It’s not impossible.”
“What do you mean? He just hangs around with guys like himself and bullies weaker kids.”
“Liet, you really don’t care about others at all, do you? Samuel’s actually in fourth place.”
…So that’s why he made that proposal.
She had thought it was an absurd request, but maybe it wasn’t completely baseless.
Even so, she absolutely didn’t want to side with someone like him.
“…Anyway, that’s not important.”
“I still think you did the right thing. I’m just worried.”
Lucas looked up at the blue sky and said,
“They’re not good people.”
Liet agreed, but at the time, she hadn’t taken his concern seriously. Like the fluffy clouds drifting alone in the sky, she had vaguely believed that this quiet school life would continue as is.
But in that afternoon’s fencing class, Liet learned something.
Just how vile and petty they could be.
After lunch, Liet and Lucas changed into training clothes and headed to the fencing arena.
Once the students lined up in rows, the instructor called out loudly,
“Today, we’re doing sparring practice.”
He pointed to the rack of swords nearby.
“Everyone, switch to practice swords.”
All fencing lessons used real swords, except for sparring, which was done with wooden swords. They looked like real swords but were much lighter and duller, so they wouldn’t injure anyone even if they struck or stabbed.
“Now, let’s form teams.”
Once the students gathered with their practice swords, the instructor began calling names in pairs.
Usually, sparring teams were made of students with similar builds. That way, the fights wouldn’t be too one-sided, and everyone could learn proper fencing techniques.
“Liet will be with—”
“Sir! Me!”
Just as the instructor was about to call Liet’s partner, Samuel raised his hand.
“What is it, Samuel?”
“I’d like to spar with Liet today.”
There were giggles nearby.
“No, you’re too different in size.”
“Sir! Liet gets A grades in fencing, beating all the boys. I think we should raise the difficulty to match the honor student’s level.”
Samuel grinned at Liet as he spoke.
Transparent. So obvious.
Liet shook her head at Samuel’s blatant intentions.
“Liet, are you okay with this?”
“Yes.”
If someone picks a fight, you should accept it.
Liet planned to use this opportunity to warn Samuel. If it wasn’t just brute force, and it was one-on-one fencing, she knew she could win. She had sparred with Evan since she was a child.
Liet glared at Samuel with fierce eyes. Samuel, looking confident, seemed to believe he would win easily.
The instructor hesitated, but in the end, agreed and paired them together.
Once everyone was assigned a sparring partner, the matches began.
The rules were simple: land a hit on a vital point, or make the opponent surrender.
Lucas’s match was first. He was tall and well-built, so his opponent was, too.
But the other boy looked terrified even before starting—he already knew how skilled Lucas was.
Lucas swung his sword a few times and then stood ready. Before the match, he politely greeted his opponent.
“Begin.”
At the instructor’s signal, everyone watched intently. Liet did too.
Observing others was just as important as handling a sword yourself when learning fencing.
Lucas was always an excellent model.
Clang! Clang!
The sound of practice swords clashing echoed.
“Wow, his movements are so clean.”
Compliments spread among the onlookers. Liet was impressed as well. But not just out of admiration.
Has he always moved like that…?
Something about Lucas’s swordsmanship felt different. Had he taken private lessons during his week off?
Lucas’s usual style was calm and polite, much like his personality. But now, he was more aggressive, fierce.
Now that she thought about it, he had also seemed different when he fought Jackson.
“Match over. Lucas wins.”
The match ended much faster than expected. While his opponent was drenched in sweat, Lucas looked like he had just taken a walk.
“Did I do well, Liet?”
“Yeah.”
At her compliment, Lucas’s eyes crinkled into a smile.
But just before returning to his seat, Lucas glanced at Samuel and whispered to Liet,
“Be careful.”
Liet understood what he meant, but she shook her head. There were too many eyes watching for Samuel to pull anything underhanded.
He probably thought he could crush her spirit with a win. But he had chosen the wrong opponent.
“Liet, Samuel.”
Liet stepped forward confidently when her name was called. She greeted Samuel with proper etiquette.
“Take it easy on me, Liet.”
Samuel said with a sneer as he adjusted his grip.
“Begin!”
At the signal, Samuel swung his sword. Liet dodged lightly—it wasn’t hard.
She had watched her classmates spar and memorized each of their styles. Samuel’s style was especially predictable—textbook, even.
Liet dodged nimbly and aimed a counterthrust at his chest.
“Oho!”
But Samuel staggered to the side, causing her sword to narrowly miss. He regained his stance and swung again.
Slow.
Easy to dodge, yes—but something felt off. Why was his swing so slow?
Frowning, Liet kept her eye on the sword. Just then, a sudden scream rang out from the audience.
“Ahhhh!”
Everyone turned to look, including Liet.
But the boy just laughed it off, brushing away concern. He was one of Samuel’s usual gang.
“Sorry, there was a bug.”
While everyone was distracted by the commotion—
“You shouldn’t look away during a match.”
Samuel’s sword slashed across Liet’s side.
A sharp pain tore through her. She looked down in a panic.
Blood was running down where the blade had grazed her.
What…?
Liet blinked slowly. Seeing the blood left her mind dazed.
But this is a practice sword… why is there blood?
Before she could process it, pain overwhelmed her and she collapsed.
“Liet!”
She saw Lucas and the teacher running toward her, but her vision was blurry—like a heat haze was warping everything.
Just like the time she hurt herself playing hide-and-seek with Evan as a child, the trauma kicked in.
And then—
“Liet! Liet!”
With Lucas’s panicked voice as the last sound she heard, Liet lost consciousness.
When she opened her eyes, a man with an extremely pale face was looking down at her.
Déjà vu.
This happened when I was younger, too.
Except back then, it had been Evan. Now, she assumed it was Lucas.
Remembering that the last face she saw was Lucas’s, Liet opened her mouth with difficulty, responding to the gentle hand brushing away her sweaty hair.
“Lucas… thank you.”
“Lucas?”
But the voice that answered was chillingly cold. Only then did Liet realize it wasn’t Lucas.
Lucas would never speak to her like that.
Then… who is this?
She had definitely seen Lucas before she fainted.
With effort, Liet opened her eyes to focus her blurred vision.
And there, in front of her—
“…Evan?”
She had mistaken him for Lucas because of his pale skin. But instead of Lucas’s bright platinum hair, she now saw jet-black hair and eyes like the night sky.
It was definitely Evan.
But—
Why does he look so murderous?
