## Chapter 185 – The Moment I Held a Secret (2)
And so, they found themselves huddled together in a shady corner of the training grounds, sharing the packed lunches they had brought.
Unlike Edward and Eloise, who had brought portions for two from the start, Marie seemed to have considered that Anne might be training with others, so there was no shortage of food.
Was this the excellent support of an older sister who cared for her younger sibling?
Recently, Marie had been reducing her workload and studying leisurely, often humming as she focused on her housework.
Compared to before, when she tried to smile but only looked pitiful, her face now was not only relaxed but vibrant.
Anne could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
She didn’t want to see her sister working herself to exhaustion again.
Fortunately, Marie had told her that the family’s finances were gradually improving, so perhaps Marie would soon be able to focus entirely on her studies.
But unlike her sister, whose condition had improved, her younger sister still seemed like a child.
“So, how long have you two been together?
How long has it been since you met?”
“Hmm… about two years…?
The engagement talks in the family…
That’s right, isn’t it, Edward?”
“Exactly two years, two months, six days, nine hours, sixteen minutes, and nine seconds, I believe.”
“You don’t need to be that precise, you know?”
“I just happen to have a knack for rote memorization.”
“Shall we create a position for you in the Department of Magical Engineering?
I think you’d do well there too.”
“Even so, that’s a bit much…
Not that far, so please spare me.”
“Ohohot!!”
Normally, she was just a stoic girl with an armored wall, but in front of him, Anne couldn’t hide herself behind such an iron wall.
Eloise and Edward were chatting and laughing.
How could she bear the way her emotions surged when she looked at him?
Unlike Anne, who couldn’t hide her discomfort, Lucia, sitting next to her and sipping the tea Marie poured, looked utterly serene.
‘Perhaps Senior… feels the same way as me…?’
Lucia had confessed her feelings to Edward, but she couldn’t do that in front of Eloise or others.
She controlled her emotions so perfectly that it was almost eerie, only smiling and answering when the conversation turned to her.
But there was another person like her.
‘He looks uncomfortable…’
Edward’s brow furrowed slightly whenever Lucia spoke calmly, revealing his guilt.
Guilt for having laid his hands on a student while having a lover.
And aversion to making his lover and the person he was having an affair with face each other.
In fact, she could have figured it out with a little thought.
His expression at Paulo Hall had looked very embarrassed.
‘Lucia… Lucia…!!
I can’t… not anymore…!!’
‘Oohp… It’s okay… Give it to me…
Teacher… Mmm… Oop…!!’
Wasn’t it because of Lucia’s relentless and proactive advances that he couldn’t help but make such an expression?
‘I flaunted my insignificant, pathetic body, whose only merit was being a virgin.
I desperately seduced him so that he would embrace and desire me!!’
A woman who wanted him to accept her, and a man who didn’t want to hurt that woman.
If she were added here, only the number of women would change.
Lucia must have been just as desperate as she was, but in the end, she couldn’t overcome the wall of reality.
Rather, there was even more meaning in what Lucia couldn’t do.
Could she, a mere daughter of a poor noble family, a mere Baron’s daughter, accomplish what even the daughter of a Duke, who moved the country and had everything, couldn’t do?
“Ah~! Delicious!! Our disciple sister!!
Your cooking skills are better than I thought?”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Please take good care of Anne in the future.”
“Of course!! I have to earn my keep!!
Apart from that, disciples should be cherished with love!!
No matter what happens, I’ll teach her to become a warrior who can follow in my footsteps!!”
“Ahah!! That’s reassuring?”
“Of course!! I’m guaranteeing it, after all!!
These days, swordsmen are the best frontline warriors, you know?
Actually, another classmate told me this, but the Royal Knights aren’t what they used to be.
The work-life balance is terrible, and there are so many old fogeys.
So, it’s better to work as a frontline mercenary, in terms of pay and other aspects.
From career planning to employment!! This Nell teacher will help you with everything!!”
“Ah… that’s amazing…”
Watching her sister marvel at Polcinella’s words, Anne swallowed hard.
She didn’t want her family to get hurt because of her greed.
The girl, who knew that love was free but its realization was not, had to hold onto her increasingly troubled heart.
“Mm!! That was a good meal!!
It was a pleasant meal for once.”
“Things like this are nice.
Shall we have a tea party next time?”
At Edward’s satisfied voice, Eloise smiled brightly, as if agreeing with him, and Lucia, also smiling demurely, chimed in with a word.
Was that her way of conducting herself?
“That’s a good idea.
I’ll prepare the refreshments.”
“Great!! Oohihit!! I’m looking forward to it!!
Ah, I’m in a good mood, shall we spar?
We have a disciple and a junior?
Sister, would you like to see how well my younger sister does?”
“It would be an honor to spar with you, Senior.”
Unlike Lucia, who welcomed the spar with a strong opponent, Marie, who had been invited to watch, shook her head with a regretful expression.
“I have plans later…
It’s a shame, but I have to study to keep up with the curriculum…
I’ll head back to the Magic Engineering building now…”
Although she had quit her part-time jobs and had more free time, she still had other things to do.
Maintaining her grades still required a lot of effort.
“Then, shall we go together?
I’ve finished eating, so I’ll head back from here.
We have such passionate students gathered here?
Edward should be here, shouldn’t he?”
“That’s true.
Then, where… shall I join the sparring…?
It’s still vacation, but the Rommenberg special lecture is always open…!!”
At Eloise’s gentle smile and dissuasion as she tried to get up from her seat, Edward scratched the back of his head sheepishly and headed to the office next to the training grounds to get a wooden sword.
Marie, who had been packing up the lunch boxes again, then seemed to remember something and told Anne.
“Sorry, Anne. I think I’ll be late getting home today.
Have dinner first tonight?
And I forgot to bring something from the Magic Engineering classroom…
Can you come with me for a moment? I have something to give you.”
“Okay…!! Then I’ll be back in a moment!!”
“Don’t rush, take your time!!
I need to see how much Edward has grown in the meantime!!
He hasn’t dulled already, has he!! Oohihit!!
It’s a duel with a man’s pride on the line, Edward!!”
“You’ll have to defeat me first.
I can’t let a hyena trying to climb onto the stove late in the game.
There’s an order to everything.”
‘I think I heard something strange just now……’
Leaving the three of them behind for a moment, the three women headed towards the Magic Engineering building.
“The mana dispersion magic circle of Prudekilos that we learned in the second semester of last year, Professor?
The setting of the mana injection amount according to the diameter of the third circle is 1.2 times that of the existing circles…”
“To be exact, it’s 1.25 times. Prudekilos’ mana dispersion magic circle is often used together, so flexible adjustment up to 1.5 times is necessary depending on the diameter of the first and second circles and the amount of magic used in them.”
As expected of Marie, who was passionate about learning, she fired questions like a machine gun at Eloise, the professor who happened to be next to her, even on the way back.
“Looking here, the concentric composition of the overlapping magic circle…
It’s largely composed of 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13 layers… here!
Prudekilos’ mana dispersion magic circle belongs to 3 layers, right?
In order to disperse the mana received by the first and second circles in the third circle, the mana circuit must be accurately distributed, so…”
And Eloise didn’t bother with her questions at all, but rather used magic to display letters and shapes in the air like a blackboard.
Anne, who was watching this from the side, was quietly lost in thought as she walked.
A magician with excellent skills and a great educator in terms of personality.
‘She’s a good person……’
She knew what Edward’s strengths were, so she must have fallen for him too.
Perhaps Edward fell for her after seeing this.
“I hope we have another chance to meet.
Then, let’s work hard until we meet again?
Anne, feel free to talk to me anytime when we meet next time?”
Was she too deep in thought?
At the lobby of her sister’s academic building, the Magic Engineering building, Eloise waved her hand and went her way.
Even in the midst of all this, Anne, who had been focusing on her, couldn’t stop following her from behind, even as she bowed her head.
“Thank goodness… I have a few books to leave at home today…
I have something to do a little far away today.
So it was difficult to carry them around…?
Can I ask you for a favor this time……?”
“Yeah, Sister… it’s not that difficult…
You can always feel free to ask me……”
“Oh… yeah… but is something wrong…?
You don’t look good……”
“It’s nothing.
Really… nothing…
Then I’ll bring this later.”
“Okay. Can I ask you for a favor? Then see you later, Anne?”
Anne, who had been lost in thought, didn’t even see Marie’s darkening face.
In the end, leaving her sister, who was going back to the classroom she used as a study room to study again, Anne slowly retraced her steps, pondering the situation from earlier.
‘I… can’t become such a wonderful woman…
Like the professor… like Senior… I can’t……’
Long, grayish-white hair that seemed to have been grown for a long time.
A body with a frail, sickly beauty that was likely to shake men’s hearts.
And yet, she could show such a beautiful smile.
‘Can I… follow her……?’
It was as if the match had already been decided.
She had told Lucia so confidently that she would beat her.
She had been dreaming of surpassing her and opposing Eloise, the official wife.
Was it because she realized that what she was trying to do was not winning, but unilateral plunder?
‘I can’t do this……’
Feeling like she was about to burst into tears at any moment, Anne clutched the few books in her arms and hurried away.
Although there weren’t many people because it was vacation, there were still students coming and going from time to time.
She had been holding back her tears all the way down the stairs to the first floor, and as soon as she came down, she looked around.
– Women’s restroom
And just as Anne found the small sign she was looking for in the corner of the first floor of the Magic Engineering building, she rushed towards it before her tears could burst out.
The face of the Monehen family.
She couldn’t be crying on the street like this.
She hadn’t cried even when Vivian bullied her, so she couldn’t show tears in front of others over something like this.
Entering the women’s restroom, Anne put her sister’s books in the space next to where she put things down and grabbed the sink, and only then did she begin to shed overflowing tears.
“Sniff… Uh…….”
Her heart hurt so much. It hurt so much.
Even though her helpless self was tripping her up again, she, the person involved, couldn’t do anything.
She had resolved to become a better person, to become a daughter and sister that her family could be proud of.
Even so, was she just a stupid girl, as Vivian said, who couldn’t even control herself?
Anne, who was clutching her chest as if her heart was boiling, was sobbing quietly.
“Oook…!! Ugh……!!”
“……!!”
Startled by the unidentified sound coming from the corner of the restroom, Anne gasped and turned to the side.
“Oogok…. Ook… Ogoogok……”
What should she call this sound?
A sound like a beast with a blocked throat was wailing.
Although the sound itself wasn’t loud, it wasn’t at a level that she couldn’t hear if she tried.
Perhaps it was the sound of a wild animal that had sneaked into this place.
“Oook… Oohok… Oogeuk……!!”
At least it was different from the cries of the animals she knew.
Why did that sound sound so familiar?
‘What… is it……?’
The place where the sound was coming from.
Located there was the partition door of the toilet stall, which was commonly seen in women’s restrooms.
And the door that Anne, trembling, approached, was marked as locked, as if someone was inside.
‘A person…? Is someone… there……?’
But what kind of person would make such a sound?
Perhaps they were in pain.
If their condition wasn’t good, she would need to help if they needed help.
Just as Anne, who was about to call out to the person behind the door, was about to lower her voice.
“E… Edward… Oook……♡”
A name that she couldn’t help but hear clearly, and a voice that she seemed to know who it belonged to.
Anne’s eyes were shaking violently as she heard it.
