I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 51

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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 51
The sunset, spread like a crimson veil across the sky, filled Panya’s eyes completely, giving her the look of someone touched by melancholy.
“This is what Olivia wanted anyway, isn’t it?”
“Good heavens. Panya, you’re really cold-blooded.”
“I’m not the cold one—no, never mind. I shouldn’t say anything.”
“What? Why not?”
Panya didn’t answer, instead conjuring the images of the two in her mind.
A man with golden hair that gleamed like molten gold and blue eyes; a woman with fresh, verdant eyes and calm brown hair like a tree’s steadiness.
‘……No, that’s not it.’
That wasn’t right. Panya corrected herself.
“I’m scared, somehow. Scared that something big might change. What if I come to regret this choice?”
A cowardly man who made an absurd proposal, and a brave woman who, knowing full well what he was, chose to collide with him head-on.
Panya was incredibly proud of her courageous friend.
And—
“I’m a genius.”
She was incredibly, tremendously proud of her own deductive powers for uncovering this secret without anyone’s help!
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Panya. Are you sick?”
“Bennett. That club president—the one with all the whispering and murmuring. Why don’t you pass the position to me?”
“What, what, what did you say?”
“I’m better than you.”
Bennett trembled at the statement, but Panya paid it no mind. It was simply the truth.
Was she not the only person in this world—save for those directly involved and a select few connected to them—who knew this secret?
“I always suspected something was going on between them. I was really suspicious about it.”
“You were targeting our club the whole time?”
“Such elaborate concealment. Tactics so meticulous…….”
The reason she hadn’t caught on immediately, despite witnessing suspicious behavior throughout, was only one.
In Panya’s common sense, no such thing as a betrothal existed.
What madman would roll his betrothed across the ground like that—to the point of nearly killing her? And to think he’d pushed her off a cliff with his own hands.
Truly, he was utterly insane.
‘So what? He just stares at Olivia all day long.’
Every moment she witnessed their training, coming and going, Aiden’s gaze was fixed on Olivia. Since arriving at the Lux Knight Brigade, it had only grown more obsessive.
What she’d thought was a misunderstanding wasn’t a misunderstanding at all, and after grasping the nature of their relationship, looking back, all of it had been nothing but the deepest affection.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I understand Olivia, though.’
Panya had always wondered.
Even so, wouldn’t such a betrothed be rather troublesome?
Why had Olivia waited three whole years for someone like that?
‘……She’s not in her right mind either.’
She felt sorry for Olivia. But she hoped the two of them would never let each other go and live their whole lives together…….
The conflicting emotions budding in Panya’s chest waged a lively war within her.
“Bennett.”
“No matter who you are, you can’t be president! If you truly want to join, I can give you the vice-president position—”
“You have to match madness with madness.”
And a senior so mad had to be matched with a junior even madder.
Panya had no doubt that Olivia would be the victor in that struggle.
So of course, she would be carrying out this mission very well indeed.
“So—”
“What is it?”
“Let’s just focus on what we need to do. Let’s go deeper in. There’s not a single ant here. If we have to submit a report by tomorrow morning, we should hurry.”
The brutally vicious senior never gave them any consideration. In fact, she’d even threatened them to report their progress every morning, so there was nothing more to say.
If they didn’t, she’d rage that she couldn’t possibly permit this mission even if a sword were at her throat, so much so that even the unit commander had given up and let it pass.
Aiden was the sort of ruthless person who’d reserved an inn room where mercenaries gathered as an operational base, yet insisted on returning to the Knight Brigade each morning to hear reports.
“By the way, Panya.”
“Mm?”
“She’s not going to make us do morning training too, is she?”
“……No, surely not.”
“She wouldn’t go that far, right? Haha!”
“Stop saying creepy things and let’s just go.”
“Right. Would she really go that far? Let’s hurry. If the report content isn’t satisfactory, she’ll definitely hunt us down like we’re rats!”
The two of them quickly rose from their spot and moved deeper inward. Their hurried steps carried them forward, and their conversation naturally followed in their wake.
So they never noticed.
Rustle.
There was a very unfamiliar gaze following them, close at hand.
A silent gaze slowly trailed after the two figures who’d vanished into the depths of the village.
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the inn where mercenaries’ voices rang out loudly.
Aiden was experiencing, for the first time in his life, what Mirror Therapy truly meant. The reflection staring back at him was utterly bizarre.
‘Contemplative Night’—the inn, which somehow exuded a lyrical air, had descended into unexpected chaos. And it was all because of one person standing up from her seat.
“Want one? An interesting story.”
“Ah, what’s wrong with you!”
“Hmm. Your voice is small. Doesn’t seem like you’re very interested. Well, how boring.”
Aiden’s lips trembled faintly. He covered his face with his beer mug and blinked blankly.
The Olivia who’d been shaking, frozen stiff with cold before entering this place, was gone. In her stead remained ‘Lib,’ handling the mercenaries with practiced ease.
And Aiden instantly recognized whose mannerisms Olivia was mimicking—or rather, whom she was imitating.
‘……Did I act like that?’
Me? Really?
This was a lie. Aiden’s soul fled his body in real time, scattering into the heavens.
But Olivia, whether his spirit departed or his soul fled, didn’t care one bit. She banged the table hard enough to draw everyone’s attention.
“You want to hear the story from my lips alone?”
“Well, would you look at this guy?”
“Goodness. He seems reluctant……. Captain. This story is something only we know about secretly.”
“Ah, I understand. I said I understand, didn’t I? Here, take this!”
Whish! An old coin flew through the air.
Aiden’s body automatically reacted to whatever was flying toward Olivia, but her hand was faster still.
Olivia caught the coin mid-flight, flipped it back and forth a few times, then let out a low laugh.
“Hmm, fine. I suppose I can tell you a bit.”
Who is this person? She’s not anyone I know.
Aiden was bewildered.
“Have any of you heard of that story, gentlemen?”
And he felt somewhat embarrassed. Would this be what it feels like to observe myself through a third party’s eyes? Was I really like that in Olivia’s view?
Natural self-reflection followed.
A slanted posture, raised eyebrows, and even light physical contact to draw intimacy.
Every time Olivia’s hand brushed the shoulder of a nearby mercenary, Aiden felt a possessive fury threatening to drive him mad.
‘My little Lib is making contact with those human garbage.’
My girl is touching something filthy right now!
Should I disinfect her first, or eliminate those bastards first?
But if he moved now without restraint, he’d ruin the operation entirely, and worse, earn Olivia’s resentment. So Aiden could only grip the innocent table and twist it. Creak—a thin crack split across it where he held it.
“Do you know Veritas Academy?”
“Is there a single person in the empire who doesn’t know Veritas Academy? Hah, come on.”
“You know they conduct field training exercises there every year? For graduates?”
“Yeah. I know. Wasn’t there one recently? Heard it was quite chaotic.”
That’s right. Recalling that time, his heart still grew tight. Having developed the habit of shaking his head to clear memories every time, Aiden had to do it again now.
The good news was that this story had caught the mercenaries’ interest.
Seeing bodies inching closer toward Olivia, Aiden wedged himself into the gap between them and her, putting some distance between the mercenaries and her.
“Something pretty serious happened back then, apparently.”
“What? What kind of thing?”
“What was it……. Calamity? Something like that seemed to come up.”
“……What?”
The mercenaries’ expressions changed. This story had clearly struck a nerve.
“You know how the Academy usually sells off monster corpses from the training exercises discreetly, right?”
“Sure. Every season they come out in droves.”
“This time there’s nothing like that. Rumor has it they disposed of them secretly at night.”
“……Why?”
Because a Demonic Beast appeared there, of course.
But she had no intention of telling them the truth. What these two needed now wasn’t truth—it was the ‘lie’ that would make them move.
Mix a lie with just a hint of truth, and it becomes a very attractive, very interesting story.
And it would be a story that drifts with such an intoxicating scent they couldn’t help but move.
“Wouldn’t that mean the corpses were too damaged to be of any use?”
Olivia said this, then immediately cast her bait.
“And here’s the thing. I heard it from an acquaintance who frequents the Academy……. Ahem.”
Olivia paused, hinting at something incomplete, and another coin immediately flew from the mercenaries.
As if waiting for it, she caught it and pocketed it, drawing her red lips upward before continuing.
“The corpses looked a bit strange that day, apparently.”
“How so?”
“What was it……. Like it had torn into its own flesh with its own hands, or something like that?”
“……You’re saying what?”
“Ah, there was also this.”
Olivia didn’t stop casting bait. Bait so irresistibly attractive they couldn’t help but bite.
“Magic Stones went missing too, apparently. As if someone had dug them out.”
“…….”
“Doesn’t that seem strange?”
Perfect acting. Acting that bore an uncanny resemblance to Aiden himself.
Thump-thump. Aiden’s heart beat strangely as well. Was it because it was summer? The air felt oppressively warm.

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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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