How To Choose A Knight (28 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 74

Oops. Just as Jade was about to drop her gaze back to the ground, he reached out and stopped her.

“Don’t do that. Is something bothering you?”

“No. Would I have any reason to be upset with Sir Leon?”

Back then, when she’d abruptly fled Atanase Forest without even a proper farewell, the aftermath had been so severe.

By day, she endlessly circled the garden alone, lost in thoughts of Axel. By night, she counted stars through her open window, still thinking of Axel.

The days following her admission of feelings were truly agonizing.

This time would be no different. Merely seeing someone’s scabbard would surely remind her of Axel; casting a spell to conjure flames would bring him to mind again. And upon reading yet another suitor’s letter, she might not be able to suppress her despair.

Thus, practice—practicing distance—was her only path forward. If she kept at it, she’d eventually adjust enough by the time they crossed the border and returned home. After all, resignation only grew easier the more one practiced it.

Yet even to her own ears, her tone now sounded excessively stiff—not as if she were slowly stepping back one or two paces, but as though she’d erected an impassable cliff between them.

Just yesterday, they’d fought back-to-back against monsters, and on their way here, he’d carried her unconscious form in his arms. From Axel’s perspective, this sudden coldness must seem utterly bewildering, like an unprovoked blow. Especially since he likely still thought of them as friends.

Realizing this, Jade tried to smooth things over, but her tongue refused to cooperate. Her words merely mumbled uselessly in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Axel, staring intently down at her, gradually furrowed his brows. Clearing her throat, Jade hesitantly began to speak.

“Um… really…”

“It wasn’t me who told them.”

What was he talking about? Utterly confused by his abrupt denial, she could only blink in silence—prompting Axel to continue impatiently.

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