The Reason Behind the Confession

Thanks to the active intervention of Lily and Luke, Donovan quickly regained his composure. The first thing he did was tidy up the mess he had made. Luke let out a long sigh of relief, wiping his face with his hands, while Lily massaged her throbbing temples.

“I feel exactly like I did when my mother told me she was getting remarried…” Donovan muttered bashfully.

As if echoing his embarrassment, the spirits hovering around him twisted their bodies sheepishly. Normally, it would have been a cute sight—and they were cute—but since it followed a near-catastrophe, the club members looked at them with cold, judgmental eyes.

“…Right. We all rely on Ensi a lot, I know.” But wasn’t that a bit much? Lily swallowed the scolding that climbed up her throat. It was risky to snap at someone who had just barely stabilized, especially considering the spirits—the source of the disaster—hadn’t returned to their realm yet.

“Mm, I understand. I felt similar to Donovan,” Titania added in a slow, supportive voice now that she had calmed down.

“I understand too, but Ensi is the same age as us. He’s allowed to date,” Cyril said, letting out a sigh as she took another step away from the spirits.

“I never said I accepted the confession, Cyril.”

Ensi, who had been sitting still and watching the spectacle as if it were none of his business—regardless of whether the expensive Sun Grass was crushed or the greenhouse they’d barely secured from the Academy was destroyed—finally spoke up.

“Oh, is that so? Then it just ended with the confession?” Cyril asked, her eyes wide. Ensi gave a slow nod of affirmation.

Luke, replaying the conversations in the greenhouse, suddenly realized something and snapped his fingers.

“Wait. Didn’t Donovan say he thought it was related to Agniele? If we combine that with Lily saying Ensi got a confession, then the one who confessed was…”

“Agniele?”

“Oh my god! Is it a soap opera?”

“Hold on! Didn’t you say Agniele was Lily’s male lead?”

“Uh… if it’s true that Agniele confessed to Ensi, should we consider that Lily successfully avoided the original plot as she wanted?”

Words poured out from Titania, Cyril, and Donovan in that order. As the situation devolved into a chaotic mess of everyone talking over each other in excitement, Ensi rested his hands on his knees and propped up his chin.

Lily, who had been trying in vain to calm them down, looked back at Ensi. She pressed her palms together in a silent, pleading gesture. It was a blatant cry for help. Ensi considered ignoring her, but since his ears were starting to sting from the noise, he let out a sigh.

“Stop.”

It was a small voice considering the distance, but the noisy trio instantly snapped their heads toward Ensi.

“Everyone, calm down.”

Meeting the eyes of the members who were now looking at him, Ensi pressed his index finger to his lips. Immediately, the three mouths snapped shut.

Lily, despite being the one who asked for help, found it absurd that a few words and a simple gesture from Ensi could quell the storm so easily. She let out a huff and brushed her hair back roughly.

“Riiight. I’ll explain everything one by one, so please, let’s just stay calm, okay?”

She was starting to wonder if she had made a mistake bringing this up. She had expected a stir, but not a full-blown riot. While she realized anew just how much they depended on Ensi, the fact that the real story hadn’t even begun made her want to quit everything and run back to her dorm.

However, she was the one who started this. Lily steeled herself, reminding herself she couldn’t quit halfway, and tried to find her inner peace. Once composed, she gathered the three who had become like gentle lambs at Ensi’s word.

As they huddled in front of her for the explanation, Luke didn’t join them; instead, he walked over to Ensi.

“Why? Afraid it’ll be too loud?”

“You know me well. Besides, Lily talks too much.”

Luke nodded, not disagreeing. Although it was hot near Ensi, it wasn’t unbearable. As someone who handled mana, he could regulate his body temperature better than an average person.

To him, it was better to endure the heat and get a concise explanation from Ensi than to listen to Lily’s exaggerated storytelling. Reading Luke’s intentions, Ensi let out a dry chuckle and tilted his head slowly. His long golden hair cascaded down with the movement.

“It seems you’ve already figured out the answer… what are you curious about?”

As Luke sat on the ground, he expertly tucked back Ensi’s hair that was dangerously close to touching the dirt.

“The reason Agniele confessed to you. I can’t wrap my head around it.”

Agniele’s confession was sudden, to say the least. As far as Luke knew, Ensi and Agniele had no interaction despite being in the same department. Why would such a man confess? Unless there was some special catalyst he didn’t know about, it smelled like a scheme to get something out of Ensi.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know either.”

Luke looked displeased at the answer. If Ensi didn’t know, it meant there truly was no catalyst. That left the possibility that he used the ‘confession’ as a front for something he wanted.

“How did he confess?”

What could he possibly want by faking a confession? Since Luke didn’t know the inner workings of the Ingrid Empire’s politics in detail, he couldn’t guess.

Unlike Luke, who was deep in thought, Ensi spoke lightheartedly, as if it were someone else’s problem.

“He did it at the training grounds.”

“—So he did it in front of a crowd.”

If it was intentional, it was cunning and manipulative. Rumors might seem trivial, but they could often act as powerful shackles.

“Do you not like it?”

“No. Didn’t you say he’s the successor of a Dukal house? I can’t possibly like someone who acts without considering the weight of their own influence.”

A sharp confirmation followed Ensi’s casual question. Luke looked so genuinely disgruntled that Ensi broke into a pleasant laugh.

“I told you, I already rejected him.”

“Don’t state the obvious. You didn’t have any intention of dating in the first place, did you?”

Luke snorted, then asked a small, doubtful question. Ensi merely shrugged.

“For now, that’s true.”

Thoughts could change at any time, and even against his will, he might have to engage in something resembling romance. Luke nodded slowly in agreement, as he was in a similar position to Ensi.

Meanwhile, Lily, having finished her explanation, brought the other three over to where Ensi and Luke were. They looked utterly drained, as if they had traded their souls to a demon for information. Despite only a short time passing, Lily looked as haggard as a defeated soldier. Ensi clicked his tongue. He didn’t feel sorry for her, though; she chose this, so she had to deal with the consequences.

“Ensi, Ensi.”

“Yes.”

Titania rushed over the moment she caught Ensi’s eye and snagged the last remaining spot next to him.

“Why did you reject the confession? Do you not like Agniele? Or do you just not want to date? Or was the idea of meeting with marriage in mind too burdensome?”

The questions were long, but the core was the same. She was asking for his true feelings. Ensi stroked the hair of Titania—the first one to actually care about his feelings since the incident.

“Well, if you combine everything you said, it’s probably close.”

“Mm, right. A heart can’t be explained by just one reason.” She smiled softly, accepting his gentle touch.

“In any case, there’s one thing we need to focus on, right?”

“Exactly. Why did Agniele confess to Ensi?” Lily pointed out firmly. Knowing that would allow them to predict his future actions and set a plan.

Lily felt a bit touched seeing them so proactive for Ensi’s sake when they usually told her they’d “think about it when it happens” for her own problems, but she didn’t show it.

“First, Lily, what kind of person was Agniele in the original story? Specifically, what made him fall for you?” Cyril asked. Information was the basis for any deduction, and Cyril looked at Lily, the only one who had actually read the book (even if she dropped it).

“Uh… what was it again?”

Lily, who had been grumbling internally, tried to recall the original plot. But she soon clutched her head, struggling to remember. In truth, Lily had barely realized which novel she had been transmigrated into because she couldn’t remember the details of a story she had dropped halfway.

Seeing Lily groan in silence, Luke gave up. He didn’t have high expectations for her to begin with, so it was easy to let it go.

“It seems getting the information we want is out of the question.”

“Instead, wouldn’t it be better to check the situation of Agniele’s family? Since he’s the son of a Duke, I doubt he acts purely on emotion.”

“Ah—! No! I remember now!”

Spurred by their lack of faith in her, Lily recalled a sentence buried deep in her subconscious.

“He was a total sucker for a pretty face!”

Everyone fell silent at Lily’s loud exclamation, which hammered into their ears.