I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 104

“Evan….”

The blanket covering me slipped down without a sound. My upper body, covered in the marks of Evan’s biting and sucking, pressed tightly against his without a gap.

Through our skin pressed together, I could feel the scorching warmth and the beat of his heart. Evan’s heart was pounding like a horse at full sprint.

Evan wrapped an arm around my waist and held me as if he might crush me, then spoke. His voice settled low against my ear.

“Lucia, I don’t want to see you suffering anymore.”

“….”

“Yeah, at first I resented you. I hated you, and I swore I’d get revenge. That’s true. I won’t deny it. I’m the one who made you that offer, too. But….”

Evan, as if confused, fell silent for a moment. His body, huge as a rock, trembled like an aspen, unable to withstand the emotions surging in.

“…Not anymore. I don’t want you to be unhappy. Whether it’s because of me, or because of someone else.”

“But, Evan. I hurt you.”

“Yeah. You hurt me. I hurt you, too.”

I immediately understood what he meant when he said he hurt me. He was referring to the various things he’d made me do after we formed the contract.

But still….

“What I did to hurt you and what you’re saying you did to hurt me aren’t the same at all. I betrayed you, and you just got angry at me in a way that fit. That’s all.”

“….”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. The only bad one is me, so you have the right to want me to be unhappy. If anything, it’s only right that you want me to be unhappy.”

The strength gradually left Evan’s arms around me. I carefully pushed at his chest.

Our upper bodies, pressed together like one, slowly pulled apart. Even so, his vivid blue gaze was directed only at me.

I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes, so I kept my gaze lowered as I continued.

“So, it’s really strange for you to suggest studying abroad to me. At least to me, it sounds strange.”

“….”

“And on top of that, telling me to leave for a foreign country with you. It’s like….”

I was about to say that it sounded like he was going to forgive the wrongs of the past, like I was still his fiancée, when suddenly, a large hand covered the back of my hand and held it.

Only then did I realize my hand was trembling.

I lifted my head and faced Evan.

His grip on my hand tightened. The blue eyes looking at me were resolute, as if they wouldn’t waver in any storm.

At last, Evan opened his mouth.

“What I want is you, Lucia. Not anything else. Lucia Even. I want you.”

“….”

“Revenge doesn’t matter anymore. No, maybe it was an excuse from the start. Just an excuse to meet you again.”

A self-mocking sneer formed at the corner of Evan’s mouth. It was a face I knew well, the one I always saw before that happened.

Evan continued, “Back then, I didn’t have anything. Even if I tried to hold onto you, what could I have done for you? Nothing. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. Because I didn’t have that kind of ability.”

“….”

“In the end, to keep you by my side, the only way was for me to make you give up your dreams, your desires, everything you wanted, and sit down in place, and if I’d done that, you’d have been unhappy by my side for the rest of your life.”

I listened silently to what he was saying. Without agreeing or denying.

“But it’s different now. I have the power to put everything you want into your hands. I can’t change your status, but at the very least, I can provide you with a better environment than staying here.”

As Evan said that, he smiled. As if he was happy that he could grant what I wanted.

As if he’d completely forgotten the fact that he’d clawed his way into making money so I’d regret abandoning him, pounding the ground in remorse.

My chest churned strangely. I felt like I might cry, but no tears came.

Seeing my face that looked like I might cry, Evan cupped my cheek with his hand and brushed the corner of my eye with his thumb. Then, with a serious face without a trace of laughter, he asked, “Lucia. Have you ever regretted abandoning me and leaving?”

“….”

“Have you ever felt sorry for leaving without saying anything to me?”

I couldn’t give any answer. I felt sorry for Evan, but I couldn’t easily nod.

But it seemed Evan didn’t think whether I answered or not mattered that much.

“If you’re sorry for abandoning me and leaving, then repay me for the time you abandoned me, no. More than that, repay me with your forever.”

“….”

“That’s my revenge, Lucia.”

A fresh smile hung on Evan’s lips. It was the kind of smile that didn’t seem like it belonged to someone talking about revenge.

“After you graduate, marry me.”

And he finally proposed.

***

A few days after that, I happened to run into Ruad, and I told him the same thing I’d told Evan. That I had to write my graduation thesis, so it’d be hard to meet for a while.

He seemed to think for a moment at my words, then called me out to the academy grounds near the library.

Then he asked carefully, “Lucy, when you graduate, what are you thinking of doing?”

“….”

It was the same question as Evan’s, but just like then, I still didn’t have any plan. All I had was seeing the true ending and returning to reality, where my real graduation thesis was waiting.

When I didn’t answer, Ruad, with a serious face I’d never seen before, carefully spoke up.

“I didn’t say it because I was afraid you’d dislike it, but if you’re planning to keep researching magic and stay in academia, I think I can help you.”

“….”

“More precisely, not me, but the Rochef family would be helping you.”

Then Ruad, as if he’d been thinking about it for quite a long time, told me his plan.

“As you know, staying at Calypse Academy isn’t a very good choice. You’ll graduate somehow thanks to your advising professor, but hard things will keep happening.”

“….”

“So go abroad. Study abroad overseas.”

At the same suggestion Evan had made to me, I suppressed my surprise and smoothed my expression.

It seemed that, to the two of them, Calypse Academy had no answer. And in truth, it had no answer.

‘It was lucky Jeran or Ruad stayed by my side. If not, I’d have quit right away.’

As I thought that to myself, Ruad continued, “If you study abroad, most of the problems you’re dealing with here will disappear. You don’t have to worry about the costs or the procedures. The Rochef family will take care of all that trivial stuff. You just have to choose which academy you’ll enroll in.”

“….”

“And after you build up plenty of experience abroad and do all the research you want, when you reach the point where even the Calypse Empire acknowledges you, then come back. If you don’t want to come back, it’s fine even if you don’t.”

As he said that, Ruad smiled at me. As if it was fine even if I left the Calypse Empire forever.

I was flustered by his attitude for a moment, and then, as if he’d remembered something he’d forgotten, Ruad hurriedly added an explanation.

“Ah, of course, the Rochef family won’t demand anything from you at all. We’ll support you actively, but that’s only as support for you as a scholarship student selected by the Rochef family. It’s not because we have any intention of controlling you in any way.”

“….”

“If you want, I can even write you a written pledge. With the Rochef family crest on it. I’ll swear under Ruad’s name and the Rochef family’s name that there won’t be anything like Karl Evenhart, exploiting you or anything like that.”

“….”

“How is it? I think this is a fairly good deal for you, too.”

Despite the bright, beaming smile that matched his confident tone, Ruad cautiously watched my reaction. He looked very anxious about what I’d think of his proposal.

Ruad’s proposal wasn’t bad, just like he said. There was even something strangely moving about it.

‘He didn’t give up on the plan he made while looking at Lucia back then.’

What he’d just offered contained exactly the thoughts he’d had when he saw Lucia pouring out butterflies woven from magic.

Even though he was rejected when he asked to stay friends, and rejected when he asked to be lovers, the fact that Ruad hadn’t given up on Lucia felt truly remarkable.

What made me flustered was something else.

“…Ruad, are you really okay with it if I don’t come back to the Calypse Empire?”

At my single question, the smile faded from Ruad’s face.

I continued calmly, “You like me. But if I study abroad, we’ll have to live far apart. Are you okay even if I’m not by your side? Don’t you want to marry me?”

That was what I was curious about.

Ruad loved Lucia. He’d even boldly said with his own mouth that he liked her.

But unlike Evan, who asked me to leave for a foreign country with him, Ruad only talked about how he’d support me, and didn’t say anything about doing something together.

He even said it was fine if I left the empire.

That was no different from saying it was fine if I didn’t return to Ruad’s side, Ruad who would stay in the empire and had no reason to leave.

Ruad opened his mouth with a clouded expression, as if he hadn’t never thought about the point I’d raised.