Chapter 27: Bet

It was an unpleasant situation.

Everyone around me was looking at me.

“……Did you just hear that?”

“Huh? Are you crazy?”

Everyone who heard the sentence I just uttered was whispering and looking at me.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time I’d experienced this situation.

I had experienced it not long ago when I was sparring with Edgar Tristan.

I had no intention of exaggerating by saying that I had never experienced it before.

‘……There’s no way I’d get used to this situation.’

However, I just couldn’t get used to it after experiencing it once.

This intense focus of people that seemed like it would pierce my skin.

It was just that it was hard to get used to it after experiencing it for only about 20 minutes at most.

“……Ha, what did you just say?”

“Didn’t you hear? Spar with me. If you want to get revenge on your boyfriend.”

I continued to provoke Erica, who was making a fierce expression even though I knew this fact.

“……Are you crazy?”

The moment I finished speaking, I heard Ellis’ voice.

The expression on her face, as if she was flustered, showed just how flustered she was.

The woman in front of her briefly glanced at Ellis and nodded as if she agreed with her words.

“I think the same. Are you really crazy?”

“…”

“You seem to be proud of yourself for having beaten Edgar once by chance. I’m not someone who lets your guard down like Edgar does.”

“……Calmness?”

“Yes, carelessness. There’s no way Edgar would have really lost to a useless rascal like you.”

It was a question I asked just in case.

It seemed that Erica really believed that her boyfriend had lost because he let his guard down.

“…”

“You didn’t really believe that you had beaten Edgar with your own strength until now, did you?”

As someone who knew the truth of the duel better than anyone else, it was an absurd situation.

‘……Being a lover, I might be a little jealous of that.’

I even thought that I was jealous of Edgar Tristan.

Edgar had at least one person.

It was certain that there was at least one person in the world who believed in him.

Despite being a supporting actor.

Despite being a villainous extra who didn’t have much weight in the original, I found myself grappling with deep emotions.

Someone who believed in him.

Someone who believed in him and loved him unwaveringly.

The person that I had wanted more than anything in the past already existed in Edgar Tristan.

‘……Maybe I’m abnormal.’

Maybe everyone except me already had at least one person.

That’s what humans are.

We trust each other, build trust, and share that trust with others.

Everyone had someone they trusted.

Everyone had someone who believed in them.

It was just that I didn’t fit into that ‘someone’ title.

That easy title.

I was the only one who didn’t fit into that easy title that anyone could fit into.

It was just this simple fact.

I knew this simple fact well, so I didn’t complain.

Because it was meaningless.

Because complaining wouldn’t make anyone believe in me.

It was meaningless.

This was the thing I hated the most as I started living as Lian Trice.

“……Then I don’t mind accepting it. If you really think so.”

“……What did you say?”

“That’s right. If I were that insignificant, you could just have a quick sparring match and win and prove it to me.”

I was doing the thing I had clearly declared that I hated the most.

Common sense would tell me so.

Common sense told me that there was absolutely no reason for me to get involved in this situation.

Who would I be?

Why would I really get involved in something like this?

And it was an incident that was mentioned in the original work.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of a reason to get involved in the original heroine’s case.

And, this was very natural.

‘……There was no real reason.’

My involvement in this situation was also very impulsive.

In other words, it was an act that did not go through my brain.

It was an act that came out without even a single filter.

I just felt annoyed for some reason.

I was annoyed at myself for stupidly watching what was about to happen.

I was angry at myself for just watching this situation like an ordinary character, even though I was a possessed person.

It was an impulsive act that I did just because I was like that.

As I thought about this, Erica’s expression became even more bewildered.

“Why should I waste my time sparring with you?”

“Then don’t do it, If you don’t want to get revenge on your boyfriend, I don’t intend to provoke you any further.”

“……Ha. You really have a talent for making people angry.”

Erica glared at me with a really annoyed expression.

‘……It’s true that Ellis is scarier when it comes to threats.’

It was a completely ineffective threat to me, who had already heard similar threats from Ellis countless times.

“So what are you going to do? Will you accept it?”

“……I’ll decline. As I said earlier, I don’t need to waste my time on a loser like you.”

It was an answer I had roughly expected.

From Erica Perleino’s perspective, there was absolutely no reason to accept this duel.

It was obvious that she would win.

If she lost, it would mean that her lover and I would have to go through the humiliating experience of losing to a loser.

Erica, who had a lot to lose, had no need to accept this offer.

For this reason, I also naturally expected Erica to not accept it.

“Instead, I’ll make a counteroffer.”

“……Proposal?”

“Instead of the duel you so desperately want, I’ll make a bet on something else.”

However, I didn’t expect the sentence that followed.

“As you know, it’s almost time for the second semester midterms.”

“…”

“The person who gets the higher combined grade on this midterm will win the bet. How about that?”

Erica had an arrogant expression on her face, as if telling me to accept it if I wanted to.

“This way, I won’t be wasting my time. After all, as a student of the Academy, I have to take the midterms anyway.”

“What are you going to bet on?”

What I was curious about now wasn’t the fact that Erica wouldn’t be wasting her time.

“If it’s a bet, you have to bet on something. What do you want?”

“…”

Erica’s purpose.

I was curious about her purpose in delaying the time until the midterms and increasing the scale of her proposal.

“……Drop out.”

“…”

“If I win, you will voluntarily leave this Academy.”

“…..What did you say?”

What did you say?

Ellis, who had been keeping her mouth shut since she said, “Are you crazy?”

It was a voice loud enough to startle you if you hadn’t prepared for it.

“If I win?”

“……Yes?”

“If you win, I’ll drop out. If I win, you can do something for me.”

I didn’t really pay much attention to that voice.

The reward for victory.

Because there was no element as important in a bet as this.

Erica, who heard my words, laughed in disbelief.

“Huh, do you really think you can beat me?”

“…”

“Fine. If you get a higher score than me on this midterm, I’ll grant you one thing you want.”

Of course, that won’t happen.

Erica Perleino, who had been laughing at me until the end, left.

“……Lian Trice.”

“Why?”

“Are you really out of your mind?”

As soon as Erica left, Ellis grabbed me by the collar as if she had finally come to her senses.

“Why did you make the bet? What would you do if you really lost……”

“If I win, that’ll do.”

“……Huh?”

“If I win, I don’t have to drop out, right?”

Ellis made a dumbfounded expression upon hearing what I said.

As if she really hadn’t expected that kind of answer would come out.

She quietly watched Ellis’s expression, then spoke in a much calmer voice than before.

“Ellis Akstra.”

“…”

“If you’re going to hide it, hide it properly. Don’t meet another person like me and get fooled.”

“…….Huh?”

“You were going to take it out earlier .That dagger you always keep hidden in your bosom.”

“How did you ……”

Confusion and surprise.

These were the emotions engraved on Ellis’s face right now.

How on earth, how on earth did she realize her own thoughts?

It was an expression that said she couldn’t figure out at all.

“Does that matter now? What matters is that you lost your composure, even for a moment.”

“…”

Unfortunately, she had no intention of kindly telling her how she had come to know those thoughts.

In the first place, she doubted whether she would believe her if she were telling the truth.

Even when I told her that I had been given a terminal diagnosis, Ellis had dismissed it as a lie.

Rather than forcing herself to explain why she wouldn’t believe him, she would rather be looked at as a strange person.

“I told you last time. The longsword isn’t your main weapon in the first place.”

“……That’s right.”

“And someone who knows that is going to kill their sparring partner just because she provoked them a little?”

“…”

Ellis closed her mouth again as if she had nothing else to say.

‘……Really?’

At this point, I felt a little creeped out.

It was just a casual remark.

I never thought she would really kill Erica Perleino.

As expected, she wasn’t the heroine who was considered the darkest person in the original work for nothing.

“Anyway, if you’re going to hide it, hide it properly. Don’t get caught by a strange person again.”

“…… Is it because of me?”

“What?”

“The reason you accepted Erica Perleino’s offer. Is that because of me?”

Ellis was looking at me with eyes that seemed to contain a hint of guilt.

As if she was sorry.

As if she was really sorry if what she said was true.

And, was it because of those eyes?

“……That can’t be.”

“…”

“Ellis, I already know that you hate me more than anyone else.”

She even said things she wouldn’t normally say.

“I didn’t hate you that much……”

Ellis’s sentence stopped as she spoke with a look of resentment.

“No? Why couldn’t you finish your sentence?”

I knew why that sentence stopped.

Ellis, who was involved, probably knew even better.

That’s why I didn’t bother explaining it.

“I did it to get revenge.”

“…”

“After all, Erica Perleino is Edgar Tristan’s lover, and Edgar hasn’t apologized to me yet.”

I just mumbled excuses that I couldn’t even prove to myself.

“If I win this bet, I can get an apology.”

“But……”

Ellis, who heard everything I said, twitched her mouth as if she had something she wanted to say.

“…”

In the end, no more words came out of Ellis’ mouth.

“That’s all.”

“…”

I didn’t question Ellis like that.

I just stayed still.

I just stood still and felt the silence with my whole body.