Chapter 5

Harensys squatted in front of her and took off his school jacket, draping it over her shoulders.  

“You ran out looking pale, so I followed you.”  

Was he planning to k*ll her after seeing her pale face?  

His expression was calm, his eyes softer than before. He didn’t look murderous anymore.  

Maybe he didn’t intend to harm her right now.  

For the moment, she watched him warily, like a cautious cat. Harensys looked her up and down, focusing on her injured knee and ankle, then frowned.  

She didn’t know why he was frowning.

“You’re hurt, so let’s go quickly.”  

“It’s dangerous to go down a mountain path in the rain!”  

So he was trying to k*ll her naturally, wasn’t he? Did he think she wouldn’t notice?  

“Don’t worry. At least I won’t let you get hurt.”  

“What?”  

His frown and worried face looked sincere. If he wasn’t lying….

…Had his personality changed again?  

Why did his personality keep changing? Was he doing it on purpose, or did he really have multiple personalities? She was suspicious.  

Thinking back, there was one time, when she liked Harensys, that he blushed when she spoke to him.  

She thought she’d imagined it, but maybe he was a multiple personality type, and that time he’d blushed out of embarrassment?  

It made sense. Remembering his behavior, she was convinced he was a multiple personality case.  

She disliked that even more. What if he suddenly turned into a psychopath and threw her off the mountain?  

Nothing was scarier than someone with multiple personalities—you never knew when they’d change.

Lost in thought, she was startled when Harensys pressed a kiss to her damp hair.  

“No matter what happens, I won’t let you get hurt. And if we don’t get down quickly, you’ll be in real trouble.”  

Harensys laid his hand on her forehead. His hand was cold. Her forehead had been hot ever since she got caught in the rain—she must have a fever.  

Her mind grew hazy. She felt she might pass out at any moment. Her vision blurred.

‘This won’t do. I don’t trust him, but I have no choice.’  

She felt like she might die, so for survival, she reached out both arms toward Harensys.  

“Fine, just hurry up and help me.”  

She didn’t want to lose consciousness in front of him, so quickly, please.  

At her urgency, Harensys supported her shoulders and thighs, lifting her in a princess carry.  

He moved through the rainy mountain path like a wild animal, swift and sure. He held her tightly, as if determined not to drop her.  

She decided not to look, afraid she’d waver if she saw his face, sweating and focused on getting her down as quickly as possible.

They reached the bottom of the mountain already. Harensys rushed toward the infirmary. He kicked open the infirmary door and shouted to the teacher inside.  

“There’s a patient! Please help!”  

She faintly saw the surprised infirmary teacher. Relieved that she wasn’t alone with Harensys, she finally let go of her fading consciousness. Darkness closed in.

***

The teacher told Harensys to lay Prezia down, then rummaged for medicine.  

She pried open unconscious Prezia’s mouth and carefully gave her fever medicine. That was all she could do.  

She explained to worried Harensys, sitting by Prezia’s side, what to do when she woke up and how to help her recover.

“She has a high fever. It must be from the rain. She’s also very stressed, so when she wakes, help her relax with meditation and gentle walks.”  

“Yes.”  

“The fever medicine will help soon. I have to go, so please take care of Prezia. If her fever doesn’t go down, put a wet towel on her forehead and give her more medicine.”  

“Yes, don’t worry.”  

The teacher left for her other duties.

Harensys’s world shrank until only Prezia remained. He hardly noticed the teacher leaving. Prezia, groaning and struggling to breathe, looked so small to him.

‘If only I could be sick instead of her.’

Harensys liked Prezia. He had loved her deeply ever since before time turned back. He was just awkward at expressing it, so she misunderstood.

Prezia probably had no idea.

—Harensys, this is the second time I’ve seen you today! Is it fate?  

Whenever Prezia ran up to him from afar, smiling brightly, Harensys wondered if seeing someone three times meant marriage.  

—Can I eat with you?  

When she invited him to eat with a smile, he worried about eating too messily and tried to be careful. He ate every side dish so she wouldn’t see him being picky, watching to see which foods she reached for or ignored.

Harensys liked Prezia and knew she liked him too. But he couldn’t confess, give a good answer, say kind words, or approach her.

‘I’m not kind, athletic, top of the class, funny, or wealthy.’

Prezia’s ideal type had spread far and wide, and he didn’t match it at all—people wondered why she liked him.  

Of course, Prezia’s ideal had changed to Harensys, but she never said so. She just went around saying she liked him.

Harensys wasn’t top of the class, wasn’t funny, and his family was average. He was kind, but didn’t think so himself, and he was only slightly better at sports than most.

So Harensys, not fitting her ideal, acted cold to avoid disappointing her. He wanted her to date someone who matched her ideal, not a loser like him.

He wondered if he could change to fit her ideal, so he tried hard. He studied until his nose bled, practiced jokes and funny stories, even saved all his allowance and planned to work during breaks.

But there were limits to part-time jobs, and despite his hard work, he couldn’t become top of the class or funny.

In the end, he couldn’t express his feelings. Harensys stayed cold.

Then, Prezia offered to help the teacher with a task, and they worked together. When they went looking for chairs, voices outside made him frown and go out. He dealt with the annoying voices, then met a friend and chatted.

—Ah, there was a weird kid. He was bothering me, so I beat that weird kid up to death. How dare he harass Prezia—I couldn’t stand it.

That was it. The last thing Prezia heard before dying was a misunderstanding. The “weird kid” was a boy making creepy comments about Prezia’s looks and body, and “beat him up” meant he’d punched him silly.

That day, Prezia got crushed under a desk purely by bad luck. It wasn’t anyone’s plan or a cruel murder.

Prezia had mistaken a tragic accident for a planned killing.

Bad luck had blocked their love.

“Her fever just won’t go down.”

He checked her forehead, but it was still hot, even hotter than before. Remembering the teacher’s advice, Harensys got up and found a towel, soaked it in cold water, and wrung it out.

He placed the wet towel on Prezia’s forehead, hoping desperately for her fever to break.

‘Even if I do all this, she’ll still hate me, won’t she?’

Harensys knew Prezia hated him and couldn’t hide his bitter feelings.

‘And my personality keeps changing… It’s all because of those guys.’

He’d visited some friends who were studying magic and accidentally stepped on a magic circle that changed people’s personalities. It was incomplete, so he needed a cure—and no one knew when his personality would change next.

His friends, panicked, had promised to develop a cure, but progress was slow.

“Ugh…”

When he touched Prezia’s forehead, her fever had dropped. Her complexion looked much better—the medicine and towel had worked.

She’d been sick for two full days because of the rain. The teacher had visited once, scolding her not to run off again.

She admitted it was her fault.

Today was dodgeball day in gym class. She could legally hit Harensys in the head with a dodgeball.

“Today we’re playing pairs dodgeball. Boys and girls team up with whoever you want.”

Pairs dodgeball—perfect. Boys don’t get out easily, so she could keep hitting them.

She decided to pair up with a tall, athletic boy to keep the ball in play longer.

“Elmo, let’s pair up.”

“Why me? Not Harensys? Oh, is it because you two fought?”

“Yeah, so let’s do it together.”

“Alright.”

She was about to tell the teacher she’d paired with Elmo when Harensys blocked her path. She tried to sidestep, but he blocked her again.

“Sorry, but Prezia’s going to pair with me.”

“Oh, then I’ll go.”

“Wait!”

Before she could grab him, Elmo dashed off and paired with another girl.

“I’m not pairing with you.”

“Did you forget I saved you in the rain? Don’t you owe me?”

“…….”

Owe him? Sure, Harensys was her savior. But he was also the one who killed her.

It was ironic, but if she refused, he’d keep bringing up the debt. She sighed deeply.

“Fine, consider the debt repaid.”

“Okay.”

Harensys nodded in understanding.

Since she had no choice but to pair with him, the other students also found partners and gathered before the teacher.

“Boys, protect your partners for as long as you can! Alright, begin!”

The game started.