I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 34

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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 34
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It was Aiden. Olivia sensed it at once.
Throughout her hospital stay, she had waited for him. In that time, nearly everyone at the Academy except Aiden had visited her Hospital Room.
Even Eugene came. He had stared at her in silence for a long while after she awoke, then spoken to her in a voice slightly hoarse with emotion.
“……I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I heard you brought me to the Hospital Room, sir. Thank you so much.”
“I was simply doing what needed to be done.”
He lingered in her room quite a while. Thanks to that, Olivia learned what Aiden was doing.
“Director, is Aiden away on assignment?”
“Not an assignment. He said he had something urgent to attend to.”
“……Urgent? It seems he went somewhere far?”
“Mm.”
Eugene didn’t answer further. Because of it, Olivia’s imagination scattered in every direction.
What could be important enough that he wouldn’t send even a simple message when she was hurt like this?
For that reason, Olivia was now deeply resentful toward Aiden.
“Olivia?”
“Bennett, I’m heading out first. Let me know if there’s anything important I should hear.”
“Where are you going?”
“There’s someone I need to catch right away.”
A pressing matter? She could understand that.
Not visiting her in the Hospital Room either—yes, thinking it over a hundred times didn’t make it incomprehensible.
But to come this far and then vanish pretending not to see her was another matter entirely.
‘That’s running away.’
Olivia set her jaw firm and weaved through the students, nearly flying as she ran.
“Ugh! Ol, Olivia! I told you to be careful!”
Now that she thought about it, the meticulous doctor had said, “You need to take it easy for the next week.”
But, Doctor. My life is at stake here. Isn’t seeing you a little longer better than letting my life fall apart?
Olivia mustered earnestly absurd excuses and kept her legs moving hard.
She caught sight of Aiden’s back not long after she began running. Bracing her core, she called out.
“Instructor!”
I’d wager that was the loudest sound Olivia had ever produced in her life.
One of the nearby professors even rubbed his eyes as if he’d misheard, staring at her.
But Aiden was the exception. He hesitated for just a moment, then actually sped up and started running away.
‘What?’
Was he really avoiding her?
Olivia narrowed her eyes and stared at his retreating back.
That scheming yellow head and needlessly grim gait. And, as a result…….
“Good grief. His arms and legs are moving in sync.”
He was moving about like a fool right now. Olivia called out to him again, loudly.
“Instructor! I’d like to request a word!”
One thing became clear: Aiden was now avoiding any conversation with her.
But she couldn’t simply let that slide. Hadn’t she tested this enough already?
That giving him time was a mistake. Consideration led to disconnection. This was what Olivia had learned through three years of experience.
So she would not let him avoid her. Never, no matter what.
With just that thought in mind, Olivia abandoned her shame and raised her voice. Very hard, so that all passersby would notice their confrontation.
“Instructor! I said to talk to me! Right-”
“Later!”
There he goes with “later” again. Olivia pursued him with darkened eyes.
It was time to end this standoff. Olivia pushed her speed much higher. Her body began to ache, and pain crept in, but she chose not to think about such things now.
Since it was clear Aiden was avoiding her, she couldn’t afford to let him slip away.
‘Or he’ll run again.’
Aiden’s back of his head was now nearly within reach. Olivia accelerated further, closed the distance until she was right behind him, and then opened her mouth graciously.
“Instructor?”
“Argh! You, how are you so fast!”
“I’m the fastest in the Knight Department. Please keep that in mind.”
“How are you even fast at things like—”
That was the moment.
“You!”
Aiden’s eyes flew wide and he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Olivia tried to stop as well, but the momentum from her run made it difficult.
Her body, unable to overcome inertia, tilted forward.
“Whoa—”
“Olivia!”
It was Aiden’s arm, reaching out from the side, that caught her. Barely avoiding a fall, Olivia steadied herself against his arm as her breathing evened.
“You, what are you—”
“Huh?”
“What do you think you’re doing!”
Olivia lifted her head and looked up at him with confusion. Aiden was angry.
……Aiden was angry? Not her?
A cognitive dissonance struck her suddenly, and Olivia straightened her body to ask back.
“What do you mean? I came to catch you.”
“You call that talking?”
Of course. Olivia had meant every word. And the more she listened, the more she felt…….
‘Irritated.’
“Why are you angry with me?”
“What?”
“The one who should be angry is me, not you!”
“You’re here in the Academy, which— No. First, let’s move. Move, and then we’ll talk.”
“I don’t want to.”
The Academy was quiet. This was the Garden, a place students rarely came to, and because of an unforeseen accident during the Practical Exercise, the Academy had decided to close for a while.
So only the fourth-year students who had been involved in the Practical Exercise remained at school, and even they had scattered immediately after checking their grades, meaning there were only two people here now.
As if to prove that thought correct, no sound could be heard here except for birdsong and the rustling of leaves.
“Wait. Olivia.”
Without hesitation, Olivia grabbed hold of Aiden’s sleeve. It would be terrible if he ran away again. But the voice trickling through his teeth remained sharp.
“Why? Why don’t you try running away again? You were doing fine a moment ago.”
“Olivia. Olivia, just a moment.”
“How could you not come even once?”
Her voice naturally carried a note of hurt.
“You need more treatment. Your wound has opened!”
Ah. Only then did Olivia realize her body’s condition had worsened since before.
Once she recognized it, pain rushed in instantly.
“Absolutely, you must rest. Honestly, I’d like to keep you another week—”
“I’ll stay calm until I’m completely healed. Truly!”
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that since I became a doctor? And usually, students who say that come back to see me within three days.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. See you again soon, Miss Olivia Keshier.”
“……Yes.”
“‘Yes’ is not it! You should say you won’t hurt yourself!”
She had vowed to do her best not to get hurt, so that meant…….
‘Not even a full day has passed since then.’
This was all Aiden’s fault. Because he kept running away and avoiding her, she had no choice but to push herself too hard.
Olivia’s resentment poured toward Aiden.
“You said you had something urgent, yet you never came to the Hospital Room. So why are you at the Academy?”
Aiden fell silent once more. Silence was the easiest way to escape from topics he didn’t want to address, and Aiden was one of the few people who knew this very well.
She thought she didn’t resent him, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
His bearing, eyes brimming with worry and fidgeting restlessly, the careful and delicate way he inspected her wounds as if handling glassware—it endeared him to her while also making her bitterly angry.
“Are you avoiding talking again? Like that day three years ago when you abandoned me and left?”
Olivia felt aggrieved and mournful. She couldn’t even guess why he was behaving this way.
The Practical Exercise had ended early due to an unforeseen accident. But Olivia had tried to act as a Knight in every moment, recalling Aiden’s teachings.
And it had been quite successful. Everyone who knew of what happened at the training grounds that day had said so.
Olivia had shown a truly “Knight-like” bearing in that moment.
“As a Knight, it would be great fortune indeed to have a comrade like you.”
The professors, Cesare, and even Eugene had all acknowledged Olivia’s effort.
Surely this was some “proof” at least, wasn’t it? Olivia had certainly thought so.
But Aiden didn’t seem to think so. Given how much he was avoiding her.
Olivia waited for his answer. Very patiently, the way she had searched the neighborhood looking for him for three years.
“……Sigh.”
The loser of this confrontation was Aiden.
“……First, get treatment. I’ll explain afterward.”
His darkened blue eyes avoided Olivia’s gaze, scattering off into the distant void.
* * *
It had been over a week since Aiden last slept properly.
Every time he closed his eyes, the image of Olivia on the Field that day came back to him.
He had saved Olivia in time. But could it really be called saving her “in time”?
“Her heart……stopped.”
“……What nonsense is that?”
“That is, well……. Miss Olivia Keshier’s heart—”
“What are you saying? Spare me such damned drivel and bring me proper information.”
He had berated the innocent man and demanded proper information, but the fact that Olivia’s heart had stopped once remained unchanged.
If he hadn’t heard soon after that her heartbeat had resumed, what would have become of Aiden by now? Likely not the human form he was in now.
Aiden’s mind was filled only with the image of Olivia, bloodied and collapsed.
Every time he closed his eyes, the wounds carved into Olivia’s body multiplied one by one, and the Olivia in his dreams never retreated before “those she had to protect,” no matter what wounds she bore.
That image was truly so Knight-like. Yet ironically, that was exactly why Aiden was shaken.

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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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