Chapter 34

Judith fiddled with her skirt hem, keeping her mouth shut.

She thought they had become quite close, but suddenly saying she came to see him might be burdensome.

Bang.

At that moment, just like before, a loud noise echoed as the door slammed shut. Chase leaned against the door and spoke slowly.

“Or is there perhaps a favor you need?”

A favor?

As soon as she heard that word, a good excuse popped into Judith’s head.

Anyway, if Axel kept coming to the library under the pretense of reading club activities, she might have to keep avoiding the place like this, so maybe…

“Well… I’m teaching you accounting, right? I thought of something I want to learn from you.”

“From me?”

Chase opened his eyes wide. As if he couldn’t believe it, he even gestured to himself with his finger.

Judith felt somewhat embarrassed. She averted her gaze from Chase and blurted out the excuse she had just thought of.

“Yeah, I’m thinking of learning swordsmanship.”

“…”

Despite her courageous words, Chase remained silent for a long time.

Waiting for his response made Judith feel like her blood was drying up.

Her lips actually felt dry, so she moistened them with her tongue.

Was it too much of a request?

In truth, Judith had never been involved in sports, let alone swordsmanship, in her life. It was obvious to anyone that it was a lie, even though she said it casually.

So perhaps Chase thought it was a difficult request and couldn’t answer.

Feeling a bit discouraged, Judith asked.

“Is it not possible?”

“It is possible.”

Chase affirmed with a voice as faint as mist. Just as Judith was about to sigh in relief, he stepped closer.

Chase began examining Judith from head to toe with slightly furrowed eyes. For some reason, his expression had suddenly turned serious.

“But why swordsmanship all of a sudden? Is there something you need it for?”

“…”

“Is someone bothering you? Bullying you?”

Chase’s voice, as he said this, was lower, as if imagining something serious.

Startled by the darkly flickering eyes, Judith quickly waved her hand.

“It’s not that! I just want to learn it as self-defense.”

“Really?”

Chase relaxed his furrowed brows.

As he raised his hand to brush back his sweat-drenched hair, his neat forehead was revealed. Soon, he lifted one corner of his mouth and spoke.

“Well, it would be ridiculous for anyone to bother you knowing I’m your fiancé.”

He continued without stopping.

“Judith, if anyone does bother you, just mention my name. They’ll run away with their tails between their legs.”

Judith stood frozen for a moment at his confident tone.

Normally, she would have laughed at his boastful words, but today, Chase seemed genuinely concerned for her.

For some reason, her cheeks felt hot.

How could Chase be so confident? It must be because of his swordsmanship skills.

He was an outstanding swordsman, winning martial arts competitions every time…

Chase brought Judith out of her thoughts.

“But why are you here during club activity time?”

“…”

Judith clamped her mouth shut and shifted her eyes. After a moment of silence, she spoke in a small voice with a flushed face.

“I actually skipped.”

Even though she spoke in a barely audible voice, Chase seemed to understand clearly. He asked back, dumbfounded.

“Skipped?”

“Don’t say it out loud. Someone might hear.”

As Judith hurriedly covered Chase’s mouth with her hand, she noticed his face turning even redder than hers.

After a moment, he gently pushed her hand away.

“…Okay, but please move your hand.”

An awkward silence passed between them. But soon, Chase cleared his throat and asked.

“But why skip all of a sudden? Did something change your mind?”

“The weather was just nice.”

Judith, who had skipped for reasons entirely unrelated to the sunny weather, couldn’t answer truthfully.

Fortunately, Chase believed her words without much suspicion.

“The weather is indeed quite nice today.”

“Yeah.”

Another silence followed.

The quietness, which she wouldn’t normally care about, felt strangely uncomfortable and awkward today.

Judith, staring at her toes, spoke again to break the silence.

“Then why did you leave the swordsmanship club instead of practicing more? Did you skip like me?”

“That’s because you came…”

Chase, who was saying this, blinked a few times and asked back.

“Come to think of it… how did you know I was here? Did you know I was in the swordsmanship club?”

Oops, that was a mistake.

Judith bit her tongue.

Because when Chase reacted like this, the result was very predictable.

No matter how she explained, he would surely respond with something like, “You must really like me to know even that.”

But Judith felt somewhat wronged. Who didn’t know that Chase practically lived in the training hall?

Students gathered there regardless of class time or break time.

Of course, she only realized he was in the swordsmanship club after visiting the training hall today.

“…Of course. You knew what my major was even though you didn’t attend accounting classes.”

“That’s because you’re so famous for being the only student to get a perfect score on Professor Karel’s exam—”

Chase, who was speaking up to that point, suddenly closed his mouth as if realizing something. Then he turned his head and smiled brightly.

“Well, we’re engaged now, so it doesn’t matter. It’s only natural to know each other well.”

“That’s true…”

Normally, she would have expected a self-satisfied reply telling her not to like him too much, but his reaction was unexpectedly mild.

At first, he had been so wary, but now he seemed quite relaxed.

It seemed he was quite grateful for the help she gave him during his near-failing crisis.

Judith, relieved that Chase wasn’t being clingy as usual, quickly changed the subject.

“Anyway, I’m actually interested in the swordsmanship club.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so I thought I’d ask you to teach me swordsmanship. I thought it might help me join the club.”

Since she had met Chase, Judith wanted to change clubs if she could.

She didn’t want to live in constant anxiety about running into Axel again.

Besides, Axel wasn’t particularly involved in swordsmanship, so she figured she wouldn’t run into him around here.

Of course, changing clubs at this point wouldn’t be easy, but with the help of an outstanding swordsman like Chase, it might work out.

Chase, who had been watching Judith intently, nodded.

“Sure, join. I’ll allow it.”

“…Huh?”

Judith blinked without saying more. But Chase, as if knowing what she was asking, casually explained.

“I’m the head of the swordsmanship club.”

This was unexpected. Chase, who seemed to dislike bothersome tasks, had taken on such a position.

Noticing the meaning in her eyes, he added an explanation.

“Actually, I missed the club application period. So I had to join a club with fewer members, and the only one was the reading club.”

“…”

“But then the swordsmanship club offered to let me join even if they were full if I became the club head. I figured it was better than joining the dull and boring reading club, so I reluctantly took the position.”

He shrugged as he said this. Judith, who had been watching him for a while, spoke up.

“I’m actually in the reading club.”

“Oh…”

“I’ve been active in the reading club for the past four years.”

Chase covered his mouth with his hand. His red eyes trembled, unable to find their place.

Seeing his expression, which seemed to say, “I made a mistake!” Judith began to defend him instead.

“It’s okay. I think it’s understandable that you might find it boring and dull. I like reading, but not everyone has to feel the same.”

But strangely, the more Judith spoke, the paler Chase’s face became. He flapped his hands as if trying to recover.

“Come to think of it, it’s not particularly boring or dull. It’s just that I love swordsmanship so much that, compared to that, it seems a bit less exciting.”

Chase hurriedly finished his words to the unresponsive Judith.

“What I mean is, it’s good to engage in static activities sometimes. I’ve led too dynamic a life so far.”

Watching Chase closely, Judith found it odd. 

Why was he so desperate?

Surely, the old Chase would have bluntly said, “You must be unfortunate to choose such a boring club,” regardless of her feelings.

Thinking how unexpected it was to see him being considerate, Judith chuckled softly.