The delicious aroma of pasta mixed with oil wafted through the air, accompanied by the mouthwatering smell of meat.
On the dining table, the dish that Lily had completed was proudly displayed.
Surprisingly, Lily had cooked exceptionally well.
Though it was just a simple pasta, she seemed to have a knack for seasoning and knowing just how well to cook the meat.
Did she inherit some genetic cooking talent from Dania’s sister?
“Wow… Lily, you really have a talent for cooking!”
“No, I don’t.”
As I gazed at Lily with twinkling eyes, she awkwardly averted her gaze and stumbled over her words.
After lifting the noodles with chopsticks and putting them in my mouth, the oiled, soft noodles slid down my throat.
“It’s delicious, Lily!”
As I smiled and praised her, a blush crept onto Lily’s face.
This was a success… no, a total success.
Lily’s talent for cooking exceeded my expectations.
If she practiced just a bit more, she could surely whip up amazing dishes, right?
Then Robin would definitely love it.
I thought I should arrange a separate space for Robin and Lily later.
Was there a suitable place for Lily to cook for Robin…?
The most appropriate place would be the dormitory room, but I could never allow that.
I could tolerate them dating to some extent, but if they took it further, I would be ready to unleash my fury on Robin.
Lily was still a student.
To me, who retained some Confucian values, there would be no sexual behaviors until Lily became an adult.
‘Am I being overly protective…?’
I felt like I might be crossing a line, but there was nothing I could do.
I just wanted to cherish Lily because I loved her so much.
“Hey, Sera. You have something on your mouth.”
While I was lost in thought, Lily pointed to the side of my mouth with her finger and gently brushed her finger over my lips.
“Uh… thanks.”
“It’s nothing.”
After that, with a somewhat playful expression, Lily put her finger, which had just touched my lips, in her mouth and sucked on it.
I stared blankly at Lily, and she looked at me with calm yet fiery eyes and asked,
“Sera, what was your reason for teaching me how to cook?”
“Huh…?”
“Cooking—it feels so abrupt.”
“Um… well…”
Even I felt that it was a bit forced.
Inviting a friend over suddenly to teach her how to cook.
It wasn’t strange for Lily to say something like that.
‘…Alright. I’ll tell her.’
After all, it would clear up the misunderstandings from before.
I would tell Lily everything.
Then I could build up her affection for me.
After all, people don’t hate having someone in their corner.
I wiggled my fingers a few times and cautiously spoke to Lily.
“Lily, you mentioned someone you like, right?”
“Huh?”
Lily’s chopsticks suddenly stopped.
“Actually… I’m supporting your love.”
“What…?”
Seeing her confused expression, I continued.
“I hope you have a happy relationship.”
As I said so, I reached out my hand to cover her small, white hand.
“Whoever you love… I’m sure they would like someone who can cook well.”
“…..?”
Lily tilted her head in confusion and asked.
“Do you like people who can cook well, Sera?”
“Uh… uh? Well, I like it…”
Why was she suddenly asking about me?
For a moment, while she kept staring at me, Lily’s face suddenly darkened.
“….No way.”
Her short, chilling voice made my body jerk.
Lily tightly grasped my hand as if she wouldn’t release it.
“Sera, do you know who I like?”
“Huh…? Uh… yeah…”
Lily’s love…?
It would undoubtedly be…
“Robin… right?”
“……”
In that fleeting moment, I sensed something was terribly wrong.
Lily’s eyes looked like they had lost all color, empty and devoid of life.
Like a character from a novel who had fallen into a deranged yandere route, her eyes were dark and sticky.
“Lil… Lily?”
“…..I don’t know anymore.”
Bang—
With a loud noise, Lily shot up from her seat.
“See you tomorrow, Sera.”
Leaving behind those eerily low and haunting words, she turned around and left my room without looking back.
“……. Huh?”
In my room, only the sound of my deflated voice remained, like a balloon losing air.
…
“Haa…..”
[The ground is about to collapse.]
‘….I’m just overthinking it…’
[What on earth happened?]
……Something did happen.
Lily was angry. More than I had ever seen before.
But the bigger issue was that I didn’t know why she was angry.
Was I being too nosy…?
Or was it that the person Lily liked wasn’t Robin…?
But there were no other candidates…
“Sera, is something wrong? You look unwell.”
Iris, looking concerned, glanced at me with a worried expression.
“Ah… there’s nothing wrong, right?”
And for some reason, Ariel was demanding an answer with a frantic look.
“It’s… not like something happened… it just wasn’t nothing…”
Ariel’s eyes started to tremble at my response.
Afterward, Ariel continued to ask various questions, but my mind was too occupied with thoughts of Lily to pay attention.
Haa…
What should I do?
While I was deep in thought, someone tapped my shoulder.
“Huh…?”
When I turned to look, it was one of the girls from our class.
She looked at me and delivered the news.
“Um… the Chairman is looking for you.”
“Huh…? Me…?”
“Yeah, he wants you to come right now.”
“Oh… okay, thanks…”
Caught off guard by the sudden news, I felt a bit dazed.
But I didn’t have a reason not to go.
I pushed down the questions swirling in my mind and stepped outside the classroom.
Then, I stopped in my tracks at the unexpected appearance of another person.
But this time, it was someone I knew very well.
“Lily…?”
“Where are you going?”
Her voice was so cold it sent shivers down my spine.
Just a day ago, she had been nothing but lovely, but now Lily looked so depleted and dark.
It was almost frightening.
“Where are you going, Sera?”
Lily asked me again.
“I… was called by the Chairman… I’m just going to see him for a bit…”
“…..”
After that, Lily silently stared at me, and I began to feel a growing pressure that was slowly suffocating me.
After a moment, Lily finally broke the silence.
“Sera, can we talk tonight?”
“At… night?”
“Yeah. I have something I want to tell you.”
“Uh… okay, I understand.”
After hearing my answer, she smiled softly and turned back to her classroom.
‘…..It’ll be alright, right?’
I suppressed the unexplainable anxiety rising in my chest and headed toward the Chairman’s office.
…
“What… what did you say?!”
“It’s as I said. Kain von Barad died four years ago.”
……What?
“Ah… no… that can’t be.”
Kain von Barad.
The villain who appeared in the early chapters of the novel, a threat to countless students.
Unable to contain his ugly jealousy towards the protagonist, he ultimately succumbed to the temptation of power and fell to become a demon—a character not unlike those seen everywhere.
I had warned Darkhan to be careful, knowing this information beforehand.
And now he was dead?
…..Why? No… how?
‘Could it be that my actions somehow affected him…?’
But no matter how I thought about it, I had never done anything that could have influenced Kain.
Of course, the butterfly effect is unpredictable, but…
Still… it shouldn’t have changed this much, right?
“I heard he was a victim of Anima.”
Darkhan said as he floated above his desk.
“Anima?”
…What is that?
“Don’t you know? It’s a pretty well-known story.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Four years ago, mysterious deaths occurred everywhere. The medical community labeled it as a disease and named it Anima.”
I had no idea.
The disease named Anima was never mentioned in the novel.
Was it a disease that appeared before the start of the story?
But one thing was clear—Kain did not die from a disease called Anima.
He was killed by Robin.
“Has the cause of the disease not been identified yet?”
Darkhan shook his head several times.
“We don’t know the cause, but those who died from Anima all shared one common feature.”
“A common feature?”
“They all died suddenly, and their souls had all left their bodies.”
“……Souls…?”
There was certainly a concept of souls in the Indomitable Hero.
There was even a profession called ‘Soul Mage’ that dealt with them.
But had there ever been a novel featuring a disease related to souls…?
I didn’t know. The name Anima felt so unfamiliar.
‘Then again, if it happened four years ago, it shouldn’t involve me.’
Four years ago was around the time I had just been possessed.
It was hard to believe that my actions had caused any repercussions.
Maybe it was something that happened before I possessed this body.
“But anyway, it seems we don’t have to worry about Kain.”
“Um… okay…”
I replied, pressing my throbbing head.
Was this… a good thing?
Of course, it’s good that an incident has been resolved without any repercussions.
But I felt uneasy because things were happening that I didn’t understand.
At least no one was hurt, so it must be a good thing.
It means I have one less thing to worry about.
‘Right… now I need to focus on Lily.’
If I was going to plan to defeat the Demon King, I had to take care of Lily’s condition.
I let out a short sigh and shook off my regrets.
With that, I finished my conversation with Darkhan and headed back to the classroom.
Praying that nothing would happen today either.
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