As Rukna was about to survey her surroundings, a gust of wind blew and a thud sounded simultaneously.

Matian had quickly entered the bathroom, cornered Chad against the wall, and subdued his body.

The moment he was about to throw a punch at Chad, a water pillar surged from the floor, tightly wrapped around his arms and legs, and instantly froze, stopping his movements.

His hands and feet were trapped in ice.

“Seeing you stop me, your magic activation has gotten faster than last time, Chad.”

Matian’s tone as he praised Chad was gentle, but contrary to his words, the bulging veins on the back of his hands trapped in ice writhed roughly.

“My activation has always been fast. This time, I just read your killing intent a bit faster.”

“Ah, right. I did show signs of anger from the doorway.”

Blue aura frosted over his frozen fist, cracking the ice, and Matian completed the unfinished attack.

Bang! The bathroom wall where his fist landed caved in, and the tiles shattered.

Chad tilted his head to the side as much as possible and narrowly avoided the attack, but a long scratch formed along the trajectory of the fist, perhaps grazed by the aura.

Wiping the wound with his hand and confirming the blood, Chad’s eyes widened.

“Eek, help me. Save me!”

Chad played a nasty prank, imitating a woman just as he had done to Rukna a moment ago.

Matian raised an eyebrow as if disgusted, releasing the suppression and brushing off his hands.

“What were you doing here?”

His tone and smile were still gentle, but his blue eyes alternated between Rukna’s loosened pants and Chad’s bare upper body, emitting a sharp killing intent.

“I came here to take a bath, not to study?”

“Not to beat someone up?”

Matian gestured with his eyes at the lump on Rukna’s forehead.

“That’s you.”

Chad pointed at his own cheek, injured by Matian, and picked up his discarded shirt.

“And whether I bathe here or seduce someone, what does that have to do with you, Mr. President?”

Chad roughly shouldered past Matian.

His intention might have been to shake Matian, but he stood firm, and only Chad had to bear the full impact of the collision.

“You’re built like a rock.”

Chad grumbled crookedly and irritably opened the bathroom door. However, he suddenly stopped his steps as he was about to exit.

“Ah, and Luka.”

As if he had forgotten to say something, he turned his head towards Rukna.

“You actually know, don’t you?”

An abruptly protruding, meaningful remark.

My heart sank heavily.

‘Of course I know. How could I not know? Every time you touched me, this unsightly body trembled.’

It must have been Chad who drove this body to death before the possession.

He probably made Rukna Golden the school outcast, constantly harassed her, and planned to use her as a sacrifice for black magic to taint the Holy Sword.

‘That guy must be the Red Eagle.’

Wasn’t the silhouette of the final villain in the Karzan Prophecy similar to him?

However, it was difficult to accuse him without solid evidence.

Before that, the Red Eagle would eliminate me first.

The only way for me, a failed creation, to survive was to feign ignorance.

Just like now.

“What should I know?”

Rukna asked with an innocent face.

“Haha! That’s why I can’t help but look after you, Luka. You’re good at pretending not to know, so it’s not annoying.”

“……”

“You were also the first one to think of me as the protagonist.”

Chad recalled what Rukna had said long ago, gently smiling with his eyes.

It was a terribly skilled and lewd-looking smile.

“I really like you, Luka.”

His sudden confession was baffling. But the person who was more visibly surprised than the recipient of the confession was Matian.

“Don’t go too far.”

Matian approached Chad with a stern face and growled.

“Ugh, why is the rock angry at my confession? Do you really like Rukna? Has the great Mr. President become a lowly sodomite? Huh?”

As soon as he heard those words, Matian’s face became even more menacing.

Fearing a second round might occur, Rukna intervened between the two men and increased their distance.

“Both of you, stop.”

Matian obediently released Chad’s collar as Rukna said and stepped back.

However, Chad mocked Matian for becoming a well-trained dog.

“I said stop, Chad. Don’t play around.”

“My goodness, I’m hurt that you treat my confession as a joke.”

Chad clutched his cheek and lowered his head, pretending to be disappointed.

“But my confession was sincere. I want you to be on my side for life, Luka.”

The brown eyes he raised again were dry without a hint of laughter.

“Because the cowardly Luka would want to live a long life.”

“What?”

“I said I like you.”

Then, with a wink and a smacking sound from his lips, Chad completely left the bathroom.

‘That crazy bastard!’

Rukna’s legs suddenly went weak, and she had to put strength into both legs.

‘The guy who tormented me like that is making such a confession? Asking me to take his side?’

It was unbelievable. No, it must be a message that he would kill me if I interfered.

My head throbbed. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have come out of that lecture hall with a suspicious bag.

‘At first, I was only wary of Matian, but now Chad too… Sigh.’

While having such thoughts, perhaps I lost my balance for a moment. Large hands wrapped around Rukna’s swaying shoulders, supporting her body.

When I came to my senses, I saw Matian’s face looking down at me with a worried expression.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Rukna nodded.

Matian was about to say, ‘Ignore that guy’s crazy talk,’ but closed his mouth.

Crazy talk. Wasn’t he actually envious?

He had to swallow his sincere feelings with difficulty, while Chad revealed them so easily.

Matian’s Adam’s apple bobbed as if swallowing words. He fell silent for a moment, then gently touched near Rukna’s swollen forehead.

“It’s swollen here.”

“I just got flicked once.”

Rukna laughed it off as if it was no big deal.

Matian looked down at her intently, wanting to ask.

How she planned to handle Chad’s confession. If his words, which were close to a threat, scared her, he could help.

But Rukna’s words came faster than that.

“By the way, how did you know to come here, Matian?”

“…The night air was cold.”

Matian draped the large towel he was holding over Rukna’s wet hair. Then he carefully began rubbing the towel to dry her hair.

“I was waiting outside just to deliver this to you. But then I heard you say you were in pain.”

“Haha, so that’s why you rushed in like that?”

Unlike Rukna’s face, which pretended to be fine, the slender body under the towel was trembling slightly.

Damn it. Instead of being distracted by Chad, he should have dried Rukna first.

Matian moved his hands more busily and answered.

“I didn’t rush in.”

“What are you saying? You came in very urgently.”

“……”

“Did you think Chad was beating me up?”

Rukna laughed awkwardly and lightly punched his chest with her fist.

Ouch, my hand hurts. As Chad said, he’s built like a rock.

Rukna awkwardly withdrew her hand.

Even though she had seen and touched his body before, it felt masculine anew, and the fist that had touched him tingled.

At that moment, Matian firmly grasped the small hand that was moving away.

“If Chad did anything to you while I was gone, don’t hide it and tell me. I’ll handle it so that it never happens again.”

“If he did something to me? Are you going to give Chad a demerit slip?”

It was just a joke. However, upon hearing those words, Matian’s complexion noticeably worsened.

Why is he being so serious? Startled, Rukna quickly followed up with an explanation.

“I’m kidding. What can happen between guys?”

As she said that, Rukna slightly twisted her captured wrist, signaling him to let go.

It didn’t hurt, but his body temperature was so hot that she felt like she was getting heated up too.

“Between guys?”

Matian released her hand, leaving a meaningful question.

Rukna, who felt uneasy, unconsciously averted her gaze. Since when?

It had become frequent for Matian to show such reactions, making it impossible to relax around him.

“Why are you avoiding eye contact?”

“Because you stare at me too pressingly.”

“Because you’re being nonchalant after receiving a confession.”

“With Chad’s personality, do you think that was a real confession? It’s a joke.”

“Still, be careful. Anything is possible between men.”

“What’s possible?”

A thoughtless question popped out of Rukna’s mouth. Matian didn’t particularly answer and only raised an eyebrow.

That alone seemed to be a sufficient answer, as Rukna’s eyes widened.

“That… is possible?”

“Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

Matian tilted his head to the side. The eyes looking down at her, that voice, approached heavily.

‘Then are you asking even though you know?’

She wasn’t that innocent, but she wasn’t well-read either.

In her previous life, it wasn’t that she lacked desire, but rather lacked the luxury.

In a life where it was difficult to make ends meet, the only escape was reading novels on the way to and from work.

‘Pleasure is also the privilege of those who have.’

If she had known this would happen, she should have extensively read more novels.

Like that noble top student who claims anything is possible between men, regardless of what kind of books he usually reads.

“It must be nice to know everything.”

Rukna sarcastically tapped the water on the bathroom floor, mocking him.

“…Do you want to know?”

And an unexpected question was heard.

The raw voice, devoid of any gentleness, was unfamiliar, so Rukna looked up.

“I asked if you want to know.”

The blue eyes asking that question were impatient, as if wanting to pour out the boiling heat at any moment.