Chapter 2

“Lea, do you have any lemon scented perfume?”  

Spraying lemon scented perfume. Harensys couldn’t eat sour things, so he hated lemons. Once, she accidentally spilled lemon juice on her clothes, and when he saw her, he immediately frowned and left quickly.  

Lea, who had followed her into the classroom, answered.  

“I bought some but didn’t like it, so I never use it. Why? Want it?”  

“That’d be great.”  

She’d planned to borrow it, but what luck! Now she could easily annoy Harensys every day.  

Lea rummaged in her uniform pocket and handed her a small bottle of lemon scented perfume.  

“Here.”  

Lea was truly unique. She carried it around even though she didn’t use it.  

‘Well, it works for me.’  

She took the lemon perfume and sprayed it generously. Three times, five times, even into the air.  

“Cough, cough!”  

Ah, she sprayed too much. The strong sour scent made her cough repeatedly.  

Even poor Lea was affected and coughed, waving her hand in the air and frowning.

“Hey, you should spray it moderately. Didn’t you say the person you like hates this smell? Why are you spraying it? Did you already forget?”  

“Ah, it’s because I don’t like him anymore. I realized it’s really foolish to keep chasing after someone who clearly doesn’t like me.”  

She knew it was a foolish thing to do, so there was no need to keep liking him. If she did, it would only lead to her own downfall.

She spoke nonchalantly and sniffed at her sleeve, checking how strong the scent was.  

‘Hmm, good.’  

The sharp scent tingled at her nose. Harensys was sure to scrunch up his face like crumpled paper.  

Imagining his face crumpling, she smiled faintly, but then Lea grabbed both her cheeks. Their eyes met, filled with Lea’s concern.  

“Did you eat something wrong?”  

“What?”  

“There’s no way you’d suddenly hate Harensys like this. You even went as far as to spray lemon scented perfume—looks like you’re really set on it, but you’re not the type. You must have eaten something weird. Let’s tell the teacher and go to the infirmary.”  

Lea released her cheeks and grabbed her wrist, actually trying to drag her out of the classroom. Not wanting to run into Harensys outside, she quickly corrected Lea’s misunderstanding.  

“No, I’m totally fine. I didn’t eat anything weird, and I just don’t like Harensys anymore.”  

“Liar! Even when Harensys rejected you harshly, you shamelessly tried again! You even tried yesterday! How am I supposed to believe this?”  

“Then don’t believe it.”  

It seemed pointless to say more. With her past behavior, Lea would never believe her, and it would just be a tiring conversation. Speaking curtly, she sat at her usual window seat. Lea sat next to her.

She waited for Harensys to arrive. She’d sprayed so much perfume, the scent would fill the classroom no matter where he was.  

“See you, I’m heading in now.”  

Harensys finally finished talking with his friend. Having spent her life listening only for his voice before she died, she could still pick it out easily.  

As Harensys stepped into the classroom, she instinctively turned her head toward the door.  

“Ugh.”  

Harensys’s brows furrowed as he smelled the scent.  

“I was wondering where that nice smell was coming from, turns out it was you.”  

“What?”  

What kind of new reverse psychology was this?  

“Hey! What’s with you? Didn’t you say you hate the smell of lemon?”  

Without thinking, she spoke to Harensys. He shrugged and sat in front of her.  

“Huh? What are you talking about? I like the smell of lemon.”  

“You’re crazy.”  

Harensys really seemed to have lost it. Otherwise, why would he speak to her in full sentences and claim to like a scent he hated?  

Just look at his brow—it kept twitching. His lips were pressed tightly together, as if he was holding his breath.  

‘I don’t know why, but he must be up to something weird.’  

As she guessed, Lea tapped her shoulder, apparently wanting to say something. Turning slightly toward Lea, she whispered in her ear.  

“You know, I think he’s gone crazy. Maybe he ate something weird just like you.”  

Hey, she could hear everything. Well, it was a plausible theory.  

Lea knew exactly how Harensys had treated her—she could fill a page with it.  

“I’m fine, but he definitely ate something wrong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t act like this toward me.”  

So she half-agreed with Lea. Maybe Harensys really did eat something weird and was acting crazy.  

There were kids at the Academy who experimented with strange potions in the name of research.  

And Harensys was friends with those kids.  

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed likely.  

‘It’ll probably just be like this today.’  

So she decided to avoid him for today. If he wasn’t giving short replies and was smiling, she might forget that Harensys had killed her.  

‘Love is the scariest thing.’  

Once you fall in love, you can’t see anything else. Even revenge might slip away.

She packed her things and stood up, since Harensys had unpacked his.  

‘If you’re going to sit here, I’ll sit somewhere else.’  

She regretted giving up the prime window seat, but there was no helping it. She’d have to wait for another chance. She wasn’t sure exactly what time it was, but judging from how freely Lea sat, it must be the time when students could pick their seats.  

“Hey, where are you going!”  

Lea called after her. She waved silently for Lea to follow.  

Confident Lea would come, she sat at the end of a middle row in the hallway. Other students were already seated front and back, so no one could sit too close.

At least Harensys wouldn’t talk to her here, she thought, unpacking her things.  

“I’m here.”  

Right next to her, Harensys’s smooth voice sounded. She turned her head—he was sitting beside her, unpacked and settled.  

“Crazy, why are you here? I didn’t wave for you.”  

Sigh. Saying anything was pointless and only hurt her.  

She decided to go back to where Lea was. She repacked her things and tried to stand up from her chair.  

“Don’t go.”  

“Ha, why should I listen to you?”  

“If you leave, I’ll tell everyone how you sang and danced in front of me, tripped over a stone, fell backwards and got a nosebleed, and how you cried because I saw you wearing teddy bear underwear.”  

She quietly put her things down and stuck her butt to the chair.  

‘That story must never get out.’  

If even one more person found out, she’d never be able to attend the Academy again. She’d hide in her room for days.  

“Fine, fine. Let’s be partners.”  

Tomorrow, she would definitely avoid sitting next to him. She promised herself she would, but her resolve quickly faded.

“Alright, this will be permanent partners. It’ll be fun, right?”  

As the teacher entered, she said something that made Prezia’s heart drop.  

‘No! Absolutely not!’  

She desperately protested in her mind, but the teacher, unaware, smiled brightly, saying it would be fun. Prezia pressed her forehead in despair.  

‘No, we usually change partners all the time… Why, why today?’  

Did she get the timing wrong?  

She tapped the girl sitting in front of her. The girl turned around.  

“What’s the date today?”  

“It’s July 8th.”  

July 8th. She didn’t remember exactly, but from the situation, she must have gotten it wrong.  

‘Ruined.’  

She should have checked carefully.  

Because of her mistake, she was preparing to dig her own grave.

Overwhelmed by despair, she slumped over her desk, unable to lift herself.  

But she kept feeling a burdensome gaze, right from beside her. Who was staring at her?  

She looked up at the teacher, but caught Harensys staring intently at her from the corner of her eye.  

‘Stop staring already…’  

Why was he looking at her like that?  

Could it be… he liked her now?  

Smack!  

She slapped her own cheeks. She must be going crazy.

She needed to stay sharp—not let Harensys toy with her!  

There had to be a reason why Harensys, who’d always been cold and even killed her, was acting this way.  

There had to be a reason other than liking her…  

She needed to figure it out, but she couldn’t.

“Today, you’ll be doing a class activity with your partner.”  

With her partner?  

She was startled again by the teacher’s words. They almost never did partner activities.  

Why did it have to be today?

She pressed her forehead and sighed deeply. She was already tired and her head ached, and class hadn’t even started.  

“Why are you sighing?”  

“Why do you think? Because I don’t want to do this with you.”  

She answered without even looking at Harensys. There was no point in answering someone who’d killed her.  

“I’m glad I get to do it with you.”  

Somehow, his gaze felt even heavier. His words were annoyingly sweet.  

He killed her, and yet he was glad to be with her—what nonsense.  

Hopefully, whatever weird thing he ate would wear off soon.

He kept making her heart ache, and it was annoying and unpleasant to listen to.  

She didn’t even want to answer, so she listened to the teacher in silence.