OHNIR - Chapter 71
Chapter 71: Liking
Holy Light Magic Academy, Second-Year Tower.
Perhaps because she was newly recovered from her illness, or perhaps because her mind had been too tense from contemplating the various factions, Kelusta remained drowsy after dinner. Though she was still writing an analysis paper for her herbology class, her head was already swaying, coming to rest on the shoulder of Gloria, who was sitting quietly beside her, reading a book.
The weight on her shoulder roused the silver-haired girl from her book. She tilted her head slightly to look at Kelusta, who had already closed her eyes and fallen asleep. With a soft sigh, she closed the book, set it aside, and shifted her body to carefully draw the other girl into her arms.
On the book’s cover, the title was printed in Gothic script as red as blood: Cruel Era: War of Gods.
It detailed the earth-shattering war and how the gods, one by one, met their demise.
As if disturbed by Gloria’s movement, Kelusta’s head stirred, and she groggily awoke. She blinked, instinctively wrapping an arm around the other girl’s neck, and asked blankly, “Did I fall asleep?”
“You’re tired. Go to your room and sleep.” Gloria glanced at the wall clock, her voice as soft and gentle as a lullaby. “It’s almost midnight.”
Kelusta stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes. Perhaps it was due to her lingering sleepiness or the dimness of the room, but her usually brilliant eyes now held a touch of enchanting depth, making them all the more captivating.
She blinked at the hands of the wall clock, staring sluggishly for a while before saying in surprise, “It’s almost midnight… Lux, why haven’t you gone to rest yet?”
“Didn’t I take a short nap this afternoon? I’m not tired yet.”
Gloria lifted her chin, directing Kelusta’s gaze to the parchment spread out on the table, which had only a few words written on it. Seeing the unwilling expression that immediately appeared on the brown-haired girl’s face, she covered her lips to hide a slight, deliberate smile and asked, “Classmate Ruth, as for you… it’s late. What are you going to do about this assignment?”
Kelusta’s face fell into a miserable pout. “I’ll… I’ll just deal with it. Professor Lysa is famously good-natured, so she should… probably… maybe… I guess she won’t do anything to me?”
“No, you’re thinking of Lysa too kindly,” Gloria said. “She’s quite the traditional old scholar… She doesn’t mind if students shovel one less scoop of dirt or pour a few fewer drops of water in class, but when it comes to exams and papers, she’s not so easygoing.”
Kelusta asked cautiously, “How is she ‘not so easygoing’?”
Gloria smiled radiantly. “Exams are retaken. For every wrong answer, two extra questions are added to the next exam. If you get those wrong, four more are added, and so on. As for papers… it’s slightly better. They’re just returned for a complete rewrite, over and over until she’s satisfied.”
And that’s supposed to be slightly better?
“…” Kelusta turned to look at the brown parchment, over two feet long, which Professor Lysa had personally distributed with instructions to fill it completely. She was shocked. “A complete rewrite, including the parts she was satisfied with?”
“Including the parts she was satisfied with,” Gloria repeated for emphasis, reaching out to stroke Kelusta’s hair. “Even my papers are often sent back. For you freshmen, you’re certain to be knocked down a peg or two.”
“Then… then I’m not writing it!” the bad student declared decisively. “If I write it seriously and it gets sent back anyway, I might as well just turn in a blank… a yellow sheet of paper.”
Seeing her childishly clever and self-assured expression, Gloria found it amusing and chuckled aloud.
Kelusta narrowed her eyes and tilted her head back to gently bump the silver-haired girl’s chin. “Don’t laugh,” she said threateningly. “Writing such a long paper once is enough to kill a person. If I have to do it a few more times, will I even survive?”
“But if you really turn in a paper that’s only half-written,” the experienced senior advised, unfazed and still smiling, “then you won’t have to wait for a second draft. Lysa will fail you in herbology on the spot.”
Failing meant instant death, so there was no point talking about being tired or not.
“…Sigh, what a pain. The paper is due on Tuesday. Where am I supposed to find two feet of nonsense to write?” Kelusta rubbed her temples with a headache, closed her eyes again, and slumped into Gloria’s embrace. “I’m so annoyed. Let it all burn. Why did I even come here to study—”
The casual complaint was like a stick poking a hornet’s nest, radiating an aura of impending trouble.
At her words, the silver-haired girl’s gem-like eyes narrowed, and a dark glint flashed through them.
“If you didn’t come here to study, how would you have met me again?”
She reached out, her long, slender fingers hooking under the chin of the girl in her arms, lifting her once-lazily drooping head to lock their gazes firmly together.
Kelusta froze, her eyes wide with confusion as she looked at Gloria, who had somehow found another reason to be jealous.
But the other girl completely ignored the question marks on Kelusta’s face. Not only was her gaze fixed on her, but her voice carried a hint of danger. “You didn’t want to come to the capital to see me… Did you want to stay in Seaside Town with that childhood friend of yours, Kevit, to study and grow up together?”
Kelusta: “???”
Poor, innocent Kevit, catching strays like that!
How did I never realize you had a tendency to jump to conclusions, Sister?
A chill ran down her spine. She knew this was bad. If she didn’t neutralize the sourness in the room quickly, either she would die or Kevit would.
“When did I ever say that? You’re twisting my words again, Lux,” Kelusta said, tilting her head back to reveal a stretch of her fair, slender neck, launching a preemptive counter-accusation. “My hatred for homework is directly proportional to how much I like you. Why are you still so dissatisfied, always finding ways to be jealous every day?”
She glanced down at Gloria’s fingers, pulling them from her chin and clasping them in her palm. Her amber eyes were filled with an intoxicating smile, like a glass of rich, sweet white wine, as she met the other’s gaze.
Her other arm, still hooked around the silver-haired girl’s neck, tightened slightly. Kelusta brought herself closer until their noses were barely an inch apart, and the faint scent of roses seemed to grow richer.
Under Gloria’s silent watch, she curved her lips and said softly, “I said it fifteen years ago, Lux. I have no desire to embrace Kevit, or anyone else…”
Gloria’s gaze deepened, her pupils reflecting the movement of the other’s crimson lips, though her heart had already anticipated the words that would follow.
“—I only want to embrace you, Gloria.”
The brown-haired girl’s eyes curved into a smile, her voice dripping with a honeyed sweetness. “Because the person I like the most, from beginning to end, has only ever been you.”
“…”
It was a direct hit, sharp and true.
But it wasn’t a confession.
Although Kelusta was certain of her feelings, she was unwilling to formally invite Gloria to be her lover until Gloria had clearly stated her allegiance.
Therefore, her tone was deliberately sweet and soft, like a child asking for candy—sincere, yet lacking the formality a proper confession should have.
This was enough for Gloria to understand that these were just more sweet words from the brown-haired girl, meant to please her.
However, even knowing full well it wasn’t a confession, the silver-haired girl, who was so rarely called by her name, half-closed her eyes, her long silver lashes concealing the almost savage desire hidden within her gaze.
“Smooth talker,” she said flatly, her expression unreadable.
Kelusta opened her mouth, thinking Gloria didn’t believe her and about to argue her case, when she saw the silver-haired girl suddenly smile. The arm around her waist tightened, bringing them even closer.
Kelusta felt as if the very air she breathed was filled with Gloria’s faint scent of roses. They embraced like the most intimate of lovers, their noses brushing, as if they might exchange a deep, lingering kiss at any moment.
“However, today’s sweet words… are quite satisfactory.”
Gloria sighed, her warm breath intentionally or unintentionally caressing the corner of Kelusta’s lips. Her jewel-blue eyes shifted slightly, looking past the girl’s brown hair toward the parchment on the table, held down by a quill. She chuckled softly. “Therefore, I’m willing to give you a chance to make a deal with me. Do you want it?”
Ding. Gloria’s affection +2.
Kelusta, holding her position at a dangerous, hair-trigger distance, clearly saw the movement of the other’s eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized something, and she couldn’t suppress the upward curve of her lips.
A secret confession came with such a great bonus?
“Yes!”
Taking in the brown-haired girl’s eager expression, Gloria’s face finally softened again. She asked, knowing the answer, “I haven’t even said what the deal is, and you’ve already agreed. Aren’t you afraid I’ll turn around and sell you?”
“You couldn’t bear to sell me,” Kelusta said with a grin. “Because you like me the most too, right?”
But this time, Gloria did not give the affirmative answer she hoped for.
The silver-haired girl’s gaze became unreadable. As if not seeing the faint disappointment in Kelusta’s eyes, she brought the topic back to the original “deal.”
“I can help you finish that paper and guarantee Lysa won’t return it.” Her tone was steady, but her voice held a hint of amusement. “In return, you must fulfill one condition I propose.”
Kelusta bit her lip. The thought of a top student taking over her hair-pulling-out-of-stress paper clearly cheered her up. She pulled herself out of the small disappointment of not getting a confession in return, her eyes brightening as she looked at Gloria and pressed, “What’s the condition?”
“The condition is—”
Gloria’s lips curved into a deeper smile, her sea-blue eyes focusing on Kelusta’s lips.
“Kiss me, Ruth,” the silver-haired noble girl said in a low voice. “Prove to me that you like me as much as you say you do.”
“…”
Kelusta’s breath hitched.
Her eyes shifted downward, involuntarily fixing on Gloria’s beautifully curved red lips. She felt her heart pounding like a drum, so loud in the silent room that the other girl could surely hear it.
The opportunity felt unreal, like being in a dream, and she feared waking up to find it was all an illusion.
Kelusta knew what was in her heart, and she knew how long she had yearned for Gloria.
From the moment she had unknowingly stepped into the Holy Light Magic Academy, she had been hopelessly captivated by the duke’s daughter’s tenderness, even letting down the guard she should have maintained against the game’s final boss. After her memories returned, the bond that had been planted long ago was restored. To Kelusta, every promise and vow made in childhood was something that had to be fulfilled in “this life.”
I do like her.
Kelusta thought.
Perhaps because her mother had died young, she had always lived with a clear head. Whether it was her affection for her father or her friendship with her childhood friend Kevit, she had never dared to hope for forever.
But from the very beginning, her promises with Gloria had used that grand and lengthy word: “forever.”
—No one but you can accompany me to my grave.
That was the meaning of forever.
Kelusta stared at Gloria for a long time, then suddenly smiled, just as the other girl had.
She closed her eyes, steeled her heart, and with a sudden exertion of the arm around Gloria’s neck, she accurately pressed her lips to Gloria’s.
Only lovers can be together forever.
I want you to be my lover.
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