I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 18
* * *
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The Consultation Room had reclaimed its silence so thoroughly that one could hear the clock mechanism ticking. The same held true for those seated within it.
Olivia had returned to her usual composed and composed demeanor, while Yujin sat quietly in his chair, his playfulness stripped away.
Though only one person had left, the atmosphere flowing between them had shifted markedly from before.
“Something’s on your mind.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. My thoughts have just been rather heavy.”
“There’s no help for it. Aiden is a complicated man in many ways.”
It was true. With so many things he carried alone, his inner thoughts remained entirely opaque.
“So then, Olivia. What brought you to request this consultation?”
Yujin moved straight to the heart of the matter. He was an exceedingly aristocratic man, yet he possessed a streak of pragmatism in peculiar places. Perhaps that was how he came to lead the Luxes Order.
“I’ll speak plainly. It’s the method of conversation you prefer, isn’t it?”
“As expected—you do read people well. Very well then, what troubles you?”
“Am I truly unfit for the Luxes Order?”
At those words, Yujin fixed his gaze upon Olivia and posed a question in return.
“Is that truly what you wish to know?”
Olivia wanted to say yes. But somehow, the words would not come. As though the admission itself were a lie.
The depth in Yujin’s eyes, as he regarded her, was striking. That was why it had happened—the true feelings she’d tried to swallow down had begun to leak through.
“……What in the world is Aiden doing there?”
“What indeed.”
“He’s afraid of me joining the Luxes Order.”
“Hmm.”
“Does my joining pose a threat to his safety? Is he so protective that he must shield me?”
Olivia wanted to become a knight of the Luxes Order.
Because Aiden belonged to that order. Because there were things she needed to hear from him. Because she wished to face him directly rather than turn away.
Since Aiden would not return, she had resolved to follow him. But if it truly would cause him great difficulty…….
“And if it did?”
“If it truly would, then I cannot join the Luxes Order.”
Olivia was prepared to break her own dreams yet again.
As Aiden had said, Olivia could go anywhere—even without the Luxes Order. The only difficulty was her promise with Yujin.
At her words, Yujin set down the teacup he’d been holding.
“What is publicly known is just the surface. We take commissions and fulfill them. We’ve even endured jests that we’re more akin to mercenaries than knights, haven’t we?”
“But that isn’t all. If it were merely that, Aiden would never oppose you so fiercely.”
“Hmm.”
“Is it because I’m not yet a member of the Luxes Order that you cannot tell me more?”
“Shrewd as always, I see.”
Yujin leaned forward as he spoke, and the curtain’s shadow fell across his face.
“Since you are someone I trust, I’ll give you one additional hint-”
His expression had grown cool and distant, the warmth of his smile gone.
“We conduct very dangerous work in The Darkest Place.”
“The Darkest Place, you say.”
“But Olivia.”
Go ahead.”
“Aiden Oblion is not opposing your entry because of what the Luxes Order does.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
“There is a side of himself he does not wish you to see.”
Yujin’s eyes curved gently into crescents, and a radiant smile spread across his lips.
“I would very much like you to come to the Luxes Order. Quite apart from our agreement.”
“Will I be of use?”
“This is my answer to that question. That I wish for you to come to the Luxes Order.”
His tone carried absolute conviction.
“For the sake of the Order.”
“……The Order.”
“And for the sake of Aiden Oblion.”
Yujin tapped his red lips lightly with one finger as he continued.
“What I cannot tell you in detail remains valid. But mark this one truth well.”
“What……?”
“Only those who have been truly protected can truly protect others.”
Ah.
Olivia fell silent with a soft exhale of understanding.
“He has his own circumstances. But that does not mean all that he says is sound reasoning. He has had precious little experience being protected.”
“Commander.”
“I wish for you to understand—to perceive the true meaning hidden beneath Aiden’s words. That is what it truly means to protect someone.”
Just then, sunlight poured brilliantly through the partially drawn curtains. Yujin, bathed in that light, gleamed like polished gold.
“If you make the effort to understand, you will come to see very clearly what is genuine and what is merely performance. That is where everything begins.”
Yujin truly was an adult. Olivia found there was much she could learn from him.
In truth, the age difference between them was not so vast, yet somehow Yujin seemed far more mature. He was a different person entirely from Aiden—headstrong, reckless Aiden.
“Understand Aiden. He is simply terrified, burdened as he is with too much.”
His calm voice ended with that rather vague comparison.
Clap!
As if to refresh the mood, Yujin clapped his hands lightly and spoke with levity.
“Though of course, that doesn’t mean you should forgive everything.”
“I never said I couldn’t forgive him.”
“No? Well, I heard a rumor some time ago—that you might kill Aiden.”
“……Me?”
“Is it untrue?”
How far did that rumor travel? Where would it finally come to rest?
Olivia found herself resenting her past self for allowing the rumor to spread unchecked. She should have said her fiancé was already dead and gone…….
“Aiden is scheduled for promotion soon.”
“My.”
“Which means killing him is out of the question. He is a talent of the Luxes Order.”
“……I’ll keep that in mind.”
Peace settled over the Consultation Room once more. Though outside the door, a very different atmosphere entirely was at work.
* * *
“Why won’t she come out?”
“……Aiden? What on earth are you doing here?”
Aiden, forced to leave Olivia and Yujin alone in the room, had been plagued by anxiety the entire time.
What was this unease? The fear that Yujin would seduce Olivia into joining the Luxes Order? Or perhaps…….
A most unpleasant whisper arose in his mind.
‘The two of them seemed quite intimate together. It appears they’ve been in frequent contact!’
“No! That can’t be!”
At his sudden, trembling outburst, Seton, who had wandered nearby, started and took a step back.
“Grow up, will you? What are you doing standing outside someone else’s consultation room?”
“Professor Seton. Why in the world is this atrocious facility necessary?”
“Atrocious? What do you mean? Surely you don’t mean the Consultation Room?”
“A space where nothing said inside can be heard from without, where two people can enter, close the door, and become entirely private!”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Why won’t she come out? Tell me?”
Seton, listening quietly to his words, reached into his pocket with practiced ease and pressed something firmly into both ears.
“What could they possibly be discussing in there! ……But Professor, what are you doing?”
“Ah, do continue. My nerves are rather frayed.”
“I am quite serious. If a space like this exists, doesn’t it compromise the Academy’s security unnecessarily?”
Seton, with earplugs now firmly fitted in both ears, had finally found peace. These plugs would be an essential item until Aiden graduated, surely.
Since Aiden had a habit of spouting nonsense without cease, Seton had decided to block his words by physical means.
Good security was desirable; what did he mean by unnecessarily good security?
What? The Consultation Room was atrocious? After finally graduating the student who had turned his insides out countless times, the man was now back as a teaching assistant, tormenting him again. Now that was atrocious.
Seton shook his head and gave Aiden a cursory look.
“F……fair……n…… say……!”
What was he saying? Fairness? At any rate, it mattered little. Seton caught only the words that reached him and responded accordingly.
“Fairness? Yes, that’s right. The Consultation Room was designed that way.”
“Equity, I mean—equity! Please take out the earplugs and listen!”
Of course, that peace ended the moment Aiden, caring nothing for propriety, snatched the earplugs from Seton’s ears. Seton gazed down at the earplugs in Aiden’s hands with forlorn eyes.
“So, Olivia is in there, isn’t she?”
“Yes! And with Commander Yujin, just the two of them— No, wait. How did you know?”
“It’s obvious enough.”
Seton truly hoped Olivia would not become entangled with Aiden.
“Give it up. Why do you keep harassing that poor student?”
“This isn’t harassment!”
Click.
At that moment, the door opened softly with a quiet sound.
“It is harassment. The noise is making it difficult to conduct the meeting properly. Why are you pestering the professor out here, teaching assistant?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Olivia!”
“For heaven’s sake. Now you’re taking the professor’s earplugs too?”
Olivia took the earplugs from Aiden’s hand and pressed them back into Seton’s palm while fixing Aiden with a steady gaze.
“As it happens, I had something to say.”
The tension in the Hallway, which had briefly eased, suddenly returned with full force.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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