Chapter 2: Distance

Ellis Akstra.

One of the heroines in the web novel [Sword of the Academy].

It seems like the way she explained things is the same as when she explained Lian, but that’s not important right now.

Right now, the woman in front of me was more important, looking at me dissatisfied.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“Like thank you for giving me a ride, or thank you for really hurting my legs.”

“…Do you need it?”

“No, looking at your face right now, I don’t think you really need it. I don’t really want to hear insincere thanks.”

With that, Ellis turned her head away.

Hmm.

If that was going to happen, why did you bring it up?

You might as well not have brought it up at all.

It just made the already uncomfortable atmosphere even more uncomfortable.

It was clear that it was just a fight that was started for no reason, but it’s true that you gave me a ride when my legs were starting to hurt.

“Thank you for giving me a ride.”

“……That sentence doesn’t sound like it’s sincere at all. That’s okay. I was just passing through anyway.”

Ellis responded with a discontented voice, as if such an apology was unnecessary.

“By the way, why on earth were you trudging there? You were walking as if the sky had fallen.”

“… Are you really asking because you’re curious? Or are you just saying whatever you want because you have nothing to say?”

“This time, I’m really curious. It’s class time.”

“You didn’t go to class either.”

“I legitimately left early? I’m not like someone who just got permission to go out during lunch and ditched it.”

“….”

What the heck.

You already knew all about it.

The fact that Ellis already knew all about it was more creepy than the embarrassment of failing to go out with the logic that you were the same.

“Why on earth do you know that?”

“Well. Would you believe me if I told you it was a woman’s secret?”

“Would you believe me? I’ve asked you for a few favors.”

“I guess so. I should have dealt with the client who found out the truth.”

“Don’t say things like that, even as a joke. It gives me goosebumps.”

This was the true identity of Ellis Akstra.

Although she was a clean family on the outside, she was actually the only daughter of the Akstra Marquis family, who sat on the throne of the underworld.

She had not yet graduated from the academy, so she rarely worked directly, but seeing as she knew all the information about the academy students, she was a woman who absolutely should not be made an enemy.

As if she had read my thoughts, Ellis smiled slightly and began to look at me.

“Why, are you anxious? Are you afraid that I will erase your existence without anyone knowing?”

“…”

“Don’t worry. I don’t need to waste time getting rid of someone like you. I’m a very busy woman.”

“Oh, yes.”

“So, I wish you would answer me. Where did you go that you skipped class?”

“You already know. If you know that I got permission to go out, then you must know why I went out, right?”

Ellis, who heard what I said, crumpled her expression as if telling me not to talk nonsense.

“Do you really think I’ll fall for a lie like that? If you, who had been diligently covering up your whereabouts until yesterday, suddenly told me you were out because of the hospital, would you believe me?”

“Or just look for it. I told you there’s nothing I can’t find with your information.”

“Hmm. There’s nothing I can’t find with my information, but there’s no need to go through all that trouble to find out why someone like you is out?”

“… I’ve thought about this countless times before, but this was a way of speaking that really was good at annoying people. I couldn’t get mad at her. She was openly trying to get me to get mad. Since Ellis’s intentions were so clear, there was no need to fall for it.”

“If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t. It’s true that I went to the hospital.”

“Hmm. I guess it’s true since you’re still sticking to your stance even after all this time. Why did you suddenly go to the hospital?”

“…… Just because I suddenly wasn’t feeling well.”

“What did the hospital say? Did they tell you not to fake an illness?”

“No, that’s not it.”

He paused for a moment.

I couldn’t decide whether I should tell this to her right now.

I was worried.

Should I tell her the truth or just say something like it was a fall cold?

Even if I tell her the truth, she probably wouldn’t believe me.

I wondered if it really mattered how I said it.

If I told her the truth, she’d think I was lying and wouldn’t believe me, and if I told her a lie, there was no way that the quick-witted woman wouldn’t notice.

So, I just made my choice.

“What is it? What on earth is so important that it takes so much time…….”

“I’m dying.”

“…”

“It’s only a year at most.”

Even after I finished speaking, there was no sound from the woman in the front seat.

What the.

This wasn’t the reaction I had expected.

Of course, I thought she’d say something like, ‘Do you think I’d believe that?

‘You should keep your nonsense to a minimum.’

“Ugh. If you don’t want to tell me, just say you don’t want to tell me.”

“…”

“How much do you have to not want to tell me that you’re trying to fool me with a lie that even a passing fool wouldn’t believe?”

“It’s not a lie…….”

“Okay. I won’t ask any more questions or look into it. Actually, I wasn’t really curious.”

Hmm.

The woman in front of me was clearly a crazy woman beyond imagination.

“I can see you swearing with your eyes, right?”

“Do you know how to read minds?”

“Don’t admit that you swear. It makes me feel worse.”

“I’m joking.”

“This is really boring. Even though you were a loser a year ago, you weren’t a cold person.”

“…”

“So. When are you going to answer this? The reason why you suddenly changed. The reason why that loser, Lian Trice, suddenly clears up his past.”

She’s suddenly hitting on a sore spot.

Why on earth is she asking such a thing when she’s not even interested?

“You couldn’t find it with your information? The reason why I’m suddenly clearing up my past.”

“It hurts my pride, but that’s true. It started out as a simple curiosity, but I felt bad because I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I searched.”

“Look hard. You said there’s no information you can’t find with your own mouth.”

“…If you stimulated my competitive spirit, you succeeded.”

“Your tone just now really annoyed me.”

“It’s an honor. You even made the princess of the underworld angry with your trivial words.”

“…… Didn’t you say that if I called you by that nickname one more time, you’d erase me from the world?”

Ellis’s expression hardened as if some button had been pressed, and she became serious.

It’s scary.

That really seemed sincere.

Of course, since I had just been given a death sentence, I didn’t really know.

“Who would have found out your identity? If your identity was found out by a mere academy student, wouldn’t it be your fault?”

“That’s one of the mysteries of my life. How on earth did you know my identity and my family’s identity? My family has never directly requested anything.”

Ellis frowned again as if she felt wronged.

How would I know?

I know because I’ve read the original.

But I couldn’t tell Ellis that as is, so I answered her in a somewhat witty way.

“You must have made a mistake somewhere.”

“People go crazy because they can’t find it. They don’t make the same mistake again if they know what it was.”

“It’s natural for people to make mistakes.”

“No. Only people like you would say that. I’m the type of person who can’t tolerate my own mistakes.”

“…”

“I see it even now. If I hadn’t made that stupid mistake, we wouldn’t be having this useless conversation.”

“That’s a little hurtful. Is this a useless conversation?”

“Then is it a useful conversation?”

“It is a useless conversation.”

I had no intention of denying it.

Someone like Ellis Akstra would be the person who best suits the phrase ‘time is money.’

The higher the person, the more important time becomes.

As I was thinking that, I heard a sigh from the seat in front of me.

“Why did I end up in the wrong hands like that?”

“…… Now, can you take away the title of scoundrel? We settled everything yesterday.”

“Settling the wrongdoings of the past doesn’t mean you can escape being a person who committed wrongdoings. You should know that best, right?”

“Did you hear that news? The Brilliant family is gathering information to break up your engagement with your fiancée?”

“…… Really?”

“Yes. They sent a request to our dealer to buy the information.”

The news Ellis gave me was essentially that my engagement would be broken up soon.

“That’s good.”

“Well, how can I stop the information from being sold? Of course, it would be useless if the other party were the Brilliant Duke family…….Wait, what did you say?”

This news would have been more effective if I had heard it yesterday.

“It’s a good thing. Elena is too much for me.”

“…”

“This must be the right thing to do.”

“……That’s ridiculous. I’m speechless when you say such things from a scoundrel like you.”

After that, I didn’t say a word until the car reached the academy and automatically opened the door for me to get out.

All I did was say thank you for giving me a ride when I got off.

That was the distance between Ellis and me.

Despite the brief conversation we had, the gap felt overwhelming.