Chapter 33

As soon as she heard those words, Elena’s first thought was, ‘Why me?’ She immediately refused bluntly.

“No thanks. Why should I take this?”

“Just take it if I say so.”

She squinted at him.

“Why should I take chocolates that other girls gave you? No way. If you don’t want to eat it, just throw it away.”

“…It’s not that.”

Felix muttered softly. She couldn’t hear him clearly.

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t get it from someone else.”

“Then?”

“I bought it.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

He glared at her and forcefully placed the box in her hand.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, and I figured you wouldn’t have gotten any chocolates. I prepared this just for you.”

“Oh…”

Did he prepare it just for me? But…

“I already got chocolates, though.”

“Not those weird ones.”

Felix glared at the chocolate Ron Fessy had given her.

“I mean, I got others besides those.”

Felix’s eyebrows furrowed.

“From who?”

“Cedric.”

“Why would he give you that?”

“Didn’t you know? On Valentine’s Day, people also give chocolates to friends. As a token of friendship. Isn’t that why you gave me this chocolate?”

Instead of agreeing, Felix asked another question.

“Who told you that?”

“Alice and Cedric. Oh, right.”

Elena suddenly remembered the chocolates she had forgotten about in the midst of the love potion chaos. She took them out. Luckily, they hadn’t melted in her bag.

“Here, take this.”

Felix looked at the chocolate box she handed him as if it were a cup of poison. In other words, he frowned deeply.

She understood his reaction. Even to her, the chocolates she made looked… very suspicious.

“What’s this?”

“Don’t look at it like that. It may look strange, but it tastes pretty good.”

“So, this is…”

“Yes, I made it. Don’t ask. And don’t misunderstand. I’m giving it to you as a token of friendship, too.”

“….”

Felix stared at the chocolate box as if he were in a staring contest with it. Elena shoved the box into his hands.

“Anyway, since you look fine now, I’ll be leaving. But just in case, go back to your room and rest.”

Without waiting for his response, Elena quickly left the training grounds.

‘It’s just friendship chocolate.’

The chocolates were leftovers anyway, and she had shared them with others as tokens of friendship.

She gave them to Felix not because she had special feelings for him.

But then, why did her face feel so hot?

***

After Elena left, Felix muttered quietly.

“Damn it.”

Although he had told her he didn’t remember, Felix actually recalled everything he had said to her.

Telling her not to leave, asking her to stay by his side.

It seemed he had lost his mind after consuming whatever potion was in that chocolate, just as Elena had suggested.

He hadn’t meant to say those things, but the words had come out on their own.

The only relief was that Elena hadn’t taken his words seriously.

If she had, it could have been disastrous. Even he didn’t know why he had said such things, and if Elena had misunderstood…

‘Anyway…’

Felix felt a surge of anger toward the nameless boy who had given Elena the chocolate.

How dare he, of all people, give Elena something like that.

He didn’t know who it was yet, but with a little investigation, he could quickly find out.

What was stranger, though, was that he felt even angrier toward Cedric than toward the boy.

Once again, he didn’t know why. Ever since hearing that Cedric had given Elena chocolates, it felt like sparks were flying in front of his eyes.

Friendship? Friendship, my foot. Elena might believe it was friendship chocolate, but did Cedric really think so too?

There was no way.

What made him even angrier was the thought that Elena, with her personality, had probably given Cedric chocolates as friendship chocolate as well.

Even if it was just friendship chocolate, the fact that Elena had given Cedric chocolates irritated him to no end.

If he had known in advance, he would have demanded those chocolates for himself.

Realizing where his thoughts were heading, Felix felt a wave of disgust with himself.

After lying still for a while to organize his thoughts, he got up and left the bushes.

Cedric could wait. For now, finding the person who truly had ulterior motives toward Elena was the priority.

***

The love potion incident caused quite a stir at the academy.

Of course, Elena threw away the chocolates she had received from Ron Fessy without hesitation. They were the first chocolates she had ever received from a boy, but she didn’t feel regretful at all.

On the other hand, she thoroughly enjoyed the chocolates Felix had given her. Despite his gruff demeanor, she couldn’t blame the chocolates themselves.

Besides, they were delicious.

She also enjoyed the chocolates Cedric had given her.

Throughout her academy life, the only chocolates she had received from boys were friendship chocolates. It was a bit sad, but what could she do?

‘At least everything worked out in the end.’

Later, she heard that Senior Jonathan had been punished with demerit points and tasked with copying twenty ancient poems.

Considering that each poem took up about one sheet of parchment due to their length, it was quite a harsh punishment.

‘Thank goodness the teacher kept it a secret that I reported him.’

Several others who had purchased potions from him were also punished by being made to copy five ancient poems.

Penny was one of them.

“Ugh, my arm hurts.”

As Penny rotated her wrist with a pained expression, Alice commented.

“Well, you should be glad it ended with just that. Neville let it slide, didn’t he?”

Through this incident, Neville learned that Penny had tried to use a love potion on him.

Penny had worried he might explode in anger, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, Neville was happy to learn that Penny liked him enough to go to such lengths.

Elena didn’t understand how they reached that conclusion, but as long as they were happy, it was a happy ending.

Oh, and Ron Fessy, whom Elena had openly reported to the infirmary teacher, didn’t get punished.

Or rather, he couldn’t be punished.

A few days ago, while sparring with Felix, Ron had broken his right arm. Although magic had mended the bone, the pain would persist for a while.

Naturally, copying five poems was out of the question.

“Elenaaa, Aliceee. Can’t you help me?”

“No way. You have to do it yourself.”

“You’re so mean.”

Despite her whining, Penny continued copying the poems.

Elena smiled faintly as she watched the two bicker.

Perhaps because so much had happened, this peaceful moment of doing nothing felt especially precious.

And so, their 7th year at the academy was coming to an end.