Chapter 26
“Isn’t it amazing? How can you lift something that heavy?”
“With training, it’s not even hard. I mean, yes, not hard.”
“Arfedi…”
“Just call me Bedol. I mean—please, call me Bedol.”
“Oh my, how polite! Then you can speak casually with me too.”
Lady Saroni beamed brightly.
The excitement in the arena was heating up in anticipation of the upcoming match.
Bedolman, the most senior in the swordsmanship club, didn’t head to the waiting area but stayed beside Bellia and Lady Saroni.
“Shouldn’t you go over there?”
“I’m still far down the list, so it’s fine.”
Bellia looked a bit surprised at how well Bedol took Lady Saroni’s chatter.
Even though he wore an expression that said he found it tiresome, Bedol still answered her questions sincerely, which was unusual.
“It’s starting!”
At Lady Saroni’s shout, the first bout began.
Thanks to Bedol, they had claimed the best spot to watch, and they focused on the match.
Though it was a student tournament, to make it more fun, they had introduced betting on winners starting this year.
Everyone cheered passionately for the fighters they had put their stakes on.
“Who do you think will win?”
“That brown-haired one over there?”
At Bellia’s words, Bedol ruffled her hair.
“Oh, you’ve got a good eye? That’s right. Do you know why he’ll win? His fundamentals are different. See that stance when he swings the sword sideways?”
Bellia nodded with a bright smile.
“Yeah.”
When she rubbed her head against his hand, Bedol suddenly realized what he was doing and pulled his hand back.
“Hey, what the—”
“You put your hand there, so what do you mean ‘what’?”
Bellia chuckled at his flushed cheeks.
“I—my arm was tired, that’s all. Hey, watch the match.”
Bedol leaned closer to the railing.
Bellia shook her head with a small smile at the sight of his reddened ears and turned her gaze to the other side.
“Oh!”
She gasped and pointed across the arena.
Even with the distance, their eyes met perfectly.
There was none of the tormenting hallucination she’d experienced at the last banquet.
“The winner of the first match has been decided!”
Wow—!
The cheers around her made her ears ring.
Magically conjured sparkling lights filled the air in celebration.
Even in the dimly lit hall, through the shimmering illusion magic, Carlton’s eyes shone a vivid red.
“Tower Master!”
Bellia turned quickly.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“Bathroom!”
She pushed through the crowd, running to meet Carlton on the opposite side.
* * *
“That young lady will be attending the Academy too. She said she wanted to meet you. Don’t you feel the same? Go and see her.”
Because of Allendo’s earlier hint, today’s encounter wasn’t unexpected.
So running into her like this shouldn’t feel strange… and yet, it did.
Through the mirage-like lights, Bellia looked different.
Thump—
The feeling in his chest made Carlton suck in a breath.
His expression tightened.
The sway of her black hair, the way her dark eyes widened in surprise—it was more intense than any moment before.
Only when Bellia turned away did he come back to his senses.
Thump, thump, thump.
Despite the deafening cheers, all he could hear was the irregular pounding of his heart.
“This is…”
Carlton blinked hard, unsettled by the unfamiliar sensation.
He lifted his hand, absently touching the spot on his left arm where the curse mark would be.
Had he overused his mana lately, ignoring Karin’s warning, causing some abnormality in the curse?
“Ah.”
Thinking of Bellia disappearing from sight, Carlton forced himself to focus again.
* * *
“What the—?”
Bellia looked around, panting in confusion.
She had run across the arena to find Carlton, yet somehow she didn’t recognize this place.
She thought she’d returned to the spot she’d entered from, but now there were far fewer people around.
The swordsmanship club building hosting the tournament was enormous.
Though she had attended the Academy before, this was her first time inside this building.
“Where is this place?”
“Where are you headed?”
She froze mid-step and turned.
“Ah…”
The tension rose in her as she met those unwavering red eyes.
“Where were you running off to like that?”
Carlton’s breathing was heavy too, as if he’d chased her.
She instinctively averted her gaze.
“I, uh… was trying to find you…”
For some reason, she couldn’t look at him directly.
Carlton swept his hair back.
Bellia glanced at him.
He hadn’t changed much from when she’d seen him at the banquet before.
But whereas back then he’d seemed frightening, now he wasn’t so intimidating.
She had pictured his face countless times while recalling that illusion.
Carlton simply watched her avoid his eyes.
“…Why did you want to meet me?”
Why is he… asking something like that?
Carlton frowned slightly, as if surprised at his own pointless question.
Under his piercing gaze, Bellia took a small step back.
“Because… you said you’d come find me, but then you didn’t…”
“You didn’t contact me either.”
Carlton’s expression darkened.
His unruly mouth was saying things he hadn’t planned, and the pounding in his chest was giving him a headache.
“How could I contact the Tower Master? I wanted to—every single day! I couldn’t even sleep at night…”
The thought of all those restless nights spent over that vision made her feel wronged.
Carlton didn’t respond, and Bellia glanced away, taking in the faint magical lights still drifting around them, even outside the arena.
It reminded her of that banquet.
“Lenin Empire customs are peculiar.”
The memory of Carlton’s misunderstanding from their first meeting made her cheeks flush.
Carlton stared at her intently.
Bane.
The name that had haunted his thoughts somehow felt more distant now.
He raised a hand, intending to brush dust from her dark hair.
“So, if you came looking for me, why didn’t you?”
His hand fell.
“Something came up.”
“I waited.”
Last night she hadn’t slept a wink, thinking of what to ask him today.
Perhaps she could finally learn the truth behind René’s appearance, the impostor, the deaths—everything that had disrupted her life.
But there was also the fear that she’d only be disappointed again.
She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them.
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
She grasped his sleeve.
The sudden floral scent made Carlton flinch.
“What is it?”
“That day… what did you see in me that startled you?”
Her urgent, pleading gaze made him glance at the spot where her mark would be.
“Why does that matter? You said you don’t know this ‘Bane.’”
“That’s…”
Her eyes wavered.
She had vowed to live flamboyantly, to throw everything away and face death without regret.
But that vision kept haunting her.
The busier she became with her handbag business and tea parties, the more she realized how colorful life could be.
When she’d gotten revenge on Varun, when she’d grown close enough to Allendo to exchange silly jokes, when she shopped and spent time with other young ladies—those moments had felt joyful.
She had tried to ignore it for fear of being disappointed again, but every night her thoughts returned to that vision.
Maybe it held the answer to her death and her repeated returns.
If this was her last life, and she had finally met the man she had never encountered in past cycles, then even if she died, she wanted to know the truth first.
“When I was eight…”
She began slowly.
“I had an accident. I have no memory of what happened that day—everything is black. But at that banquet, when I met you, I think I remembered something.”
“You remembered?”
“Yes. Like this—”
Carlton looked at the small hand holding his.
“When I held your hand and then let go…”
When the brief warmth vanished, she felt regret.
Regret?
Carlton’s brow furrowed.
“I remembered something. A child with the same red eyes as you told me to run.”
“Told you to run…?”
“Yes. And then I…”
She reached up toward his face.
Her touch was as soft as flower petals brushing across his skin, tickling the corner of his eye.
“I think that child with red eyes was you.”
“And why is that?”
Over time, she thought the image had faded, but seeing him this close made the boy’s face in her vision clear again.
“You look too much like him. That boy from my memory—or vision, I don’t know which. And I’m sure that day, you saw something in me too. That’s why you asked for my name, isn’t it?”
