Vol 5. Chapter 13: Jealous??
“Was I not clear enough before? I said, I’m his little admirer~?” A meaningful, radiant smile hung at the corner of Aesphyra’s mouth. The teasing lilt in her voice made it impossible to tell whether she was deliberately joking or not.
“Ah, huh??” Margaret’s eyes widened slightly.
“See you later, Miss Margaret. It was lovely to meet you. You should hurry back to class too. It takes quite a bit of effort to get from here to the first-year teaching area. Be careful you don’t end up late when school has only just started,” Aesphyra reminded her with great consideration. With that, she vanished from the classroom doorway.
Mad.
Mad-mad.
So mad.
He really was mad-mad!
This had Vinny so angry he had started using cutesy doubled words.
This class was already nearly halfway through, but Vinny, sitting in his seat, had not heard a single word.
Oh, man! Guys, my stomach hurt from how angry I was!
Who understood? He had just been enraged by a nut ball covered in white mold until his blood surged upward. He had never suffered this kind of grievance before!
The more Vinny thought about it, the angrier he became. The angrier he became, the more he thought about it. It was like some stubborn one-track muscle refusing to believe in evil; he clearly knew thinking about it any further would produce no result and would only send him spiraling into internal self-torment, yet he could not help thinking about it anyway.
Tch. That rotten player queen really was still the same rotten player queen. The moment she saw a girl pretty enough, she stuck herself right to her.
“Student Vinny, are you all right?” Shicodale, who was sitting beside him, had been paying attention to Vinny for half the class already. He had noticed Vinny’s abnormal state long ago too, but he had been completely baffled the whole time and had no idea what exactly had happened.
Before this, Vinny had told him and Student Isatia to go into the classroom first while he went to the restroom. He had taken a little too long. After the class bell rang, he came back, and then he had become like this, distracted all through class.
The teacher on the platform had probably noticed too, but fortunately, this class’s subject was one Vinny usually did fairly well in, so the teacher turned a blind eye. Otherwise, Vinny might already have been called on to answer a question.
Shicodale truly did not understand what had happened.
Speaking of which, when Student Vinny had entered the classroom earlier, his expression had already looked off. That expression left Shicodale at a loss for words. It was like he had eaten a fly in the restroom.
Immediately afterward, Student Aesphyra had followed him into the classroom too. Looking at the order in which the two of them had entered, plus Vinny’s expression, it did not seem like a simple coincidence.
After that, Vinny had just sat there gloomily without saying a word.
“It’s nothing.” Even when answering Shicodale’s question, Vinny was absentminded.
Meanwhile, Isatia, who sat beside Vinny, was still listening seriously to the teacher’s lecture as usual, though she had already mastered all of it.
As for Vinny’s current distraction, of course she had noticed it. That way, if Vinny had any questions after class, he could ask her.
As for why Isatia was sitting beside him, that went back to after Isatia entered the classroom. She had sat with one seat between herself and Shicodale, as if she had naturally assumed the seat beside her was being left open for Vinny.
Vinny propped his cheek with one hand. With the other, he held a pen and kept drawing disorderly circles across a blank sheet of paper. Those black lines tangled and crisscrossed together, just like the inner time of his heart at this moment: chaotic and muddled.
That kind of time was torment for Vinny. He felt that time was not passing quickly, but not passing slowly either. It just cut at a person’s flesh, light and heavy all at once, like a dull knife.
“Ding-a-ling.”
Who knew how much time had passed, but at last, he had endured until class ended.
Maybe because he had been holding it in until he felt stifled, Vinny wanted to go out for a walk.
Perhaps because today was Monday, one class was stronger than six. After finishing one class, Vinny felt as though he had been in class for the whole morning.
Vinny let out a breath, set the paper he had scribbled black to one side, put down the pen, and was just about to stand when a playful voice drifted over lightly.
“Student Vinny, is it really all right to treat the self-portrait you worked so hard drawing for an entire class like that?”
Hearing this, Vinny fell silent for a moment, then looked with a resentful expression at the white-haired nut ball who had spawned beside him at some unknown point.
“Are you really not considering taking it back, framing it, and hanging it up?” Aesphyra propped her chin with one hand and gazed at Vinny with a flower-bright smile.
“When did you even get here??” Vinny glanced toward Shicodale’s direction. If he remembered correctly, the person sitting on his other side had clearly been Shicodale. How had that turned into a mini nut ball??
“Student Dale, did you let her in?” Vinny looked toward Shicodale, who had moved to the edge.
“Huh? But when class ended just now, Student Aesphyra came over on her own and said she had a way to improve Student Vinny’s mood,” Shicodale said, shrinking his neck.
He really did hope Vinny could be in a good mood every day.
Vinny was very helpless about this. Then he glared at Aesphyra. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me this time that your book was originally placed here or something, unless your book grew wings on its spine.”
“If I remember correctly, this class is a subject Student Vinny is fairly good at, isn’t it? But Student Vinny used the time for listening to class to draw a self-portrait for an entire lesson. In that case, I imagine this self-portrait must be very important to Student Vinny, so I came over to take a look.” Aesphyra propped her cheek with one hand, letting her silk-like silver hair spill down along her shoulder onto her black stockings, where it gleamed under the light.
“Oh. Then you’ve seen it now, right? Has your curiosity been satisfied? If it has, then get out. What are you squeezing in here for? It’s not the dead of winter. Are you squeezing in to get warm? If you squeeze my Student Dale out of place, this young master won’t let you off, got it?” Vinny glanced at Aesphyra and said.
“Huh, huh??” The moment Vinny mentioned him, and even called him “my Student Dale,” Shicodale’s expression changed at once. The temperature in his cheeks rose rapidly.
[Virtue +80.]
[Current Virtue: 10689.]
That said, Vinny and Aesphyra’s attention was on each other right now, so neither of them noticed.
Isatia had also noticed the commotion here very early on and looked over.
“So what Student Vinny was fussing over really is his own self-portrait?”
“Self-portrait? Yes, it’s a drawing of a person, but not of this young master. It’s of you.” Vinny chuckled. “Don’t you think this sheet of paper would suit your face perfectly? It’s as messy as your rich emotional entanglements.”
“Oh? In other words, can I understand this as Student Vinny thinking about me for this entire class, thinking about me so much he couldn’t help using his pen to sketch my appearance on paper?~” Aesphyra curved her lips.
“Guh!” Vinny held his breath all at once, once again retorted into speechlessness by Aesphyra.
He considered his verbal skills pretty decent, but just as every animal had its own natural enemy, Vinny felt that his natural enemy was this white-haired nut ball in front of him. Once he ran into her, he would get reverse-farmed for Virtue like mad.
“N-No I wasn’t!” Vinny argued. Yet at this moment, to outsiders, his rebuttal sounded like sulking.
[Virtue +60.]
[Current Virtue: 10749.]
No, what? This hateful white-haired little bun had even burst Virtue out of him?
As expected, this creature really was smug. She was enjoying this, wasn’t she?
“Oh my, all right, all right. I understand~ Student Vinny absolutely did not spend an entire class thinking about me, thinking so hard he scribbled all over the paper and failed to hear a single word of the lesson.” Aesphyra laughed softly in a tone used to coax children.
“You—don’t make it sound so weird, all right? I wasn’t!”
“You weren’t? So did you or didn’t you? I was speaking up for Student Vinny. Why is Student Vinny refuting me? How strange~” Aesphyra tilted her head, her fingertips twining around a lock of her own hair.
Beside them, Isatia saw the atmosphere between the two of them and quietly closed her book.
With the aura between these two right now, any sound made by anyone else probably could not reach inside. Put simply, it was impossible to interrupt.
“Ah, ah, forget it. I’m not arguing with you. This young master isn’t petty enough to sulk at a nut ball.” This time was the same as usual. Vinny could not win an argument against her, so he could only unilaterally declare that he did not want to lower himself to her level and withdraw from battle.
“Move. This young master is going out to use the restroom.” Vinny crossed his arms irritably and spoke to Aesphyra.
“How strange. Student Vinny didn’t drink any water this class, did you? And didn’t you only just use the restroom before class?” Aesphyra covered her mouth and laughed softly. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m only worrying about Student Vinny’s health.”
“Worry about your nut ball!” Vinny felt that if he kept talking with her, he was going to die of rage. “Are you moving or not??”
Aesphyra smiled and rose from her seat.
“Student Dale, may I trouble you to move aside?” Aesphyra said politely.
“Oh, oh.” Shicodale nodded obediently and stood up to make way.
“Hmph!” When Vinny walked past Aesphyra, he even deliberately rewarded her with a huge eye roll. Then he straightened his collar and strode out of the classroom with his head high.
[Virtue +60.]
[Current Virtue: 10809.]
No, what? Was this creature actually a masochist? She had been given attitude by him and was actually quite happy?
In any case, Vinny secretly glanced back at her expression, and that expression definitely was not one that had smiled out of anger because of his behavior.
Damn it!
Vinny was furious. The last time he had made Aesphyra suffer defeat was the last time—one year ago.
How had this girl, ever since that classic battle during the opening tournament, become desensitized and then stacked up a thick layer of skin? No matter how he attacked, he could not break through at all.
Vinny walked alone down the classroom corridor with his hands in his pockets. Break time was not exactly long, but it was not short either. It was enough for him to calm down a little.
Mm. He could calm down a little, but not much.
Why? Because he was not alone anymore.
Sometimes Vinny really suspected whether he had been unlucky for too long and had started going moldy himself, causing white-haired nuts to spawn around him all the time.
“What?” Vinny clicked his tongue. “Are you going to follow this young master to the restroom?”
“I have no objections, if Student Vinny can obtain permission from the school for me to enter the men’s restroom.” Aesphyra walked beside Vinny with her hands behind her back, like a silver-haired fairy he could not shake off.
“Tch! It’s been so long. Do you think I don’t know you by now? All that iron-blooded, green-eyed bravado of yours is just talk. You only dare tease me and amuse yourself with me. You don’t dare do anything else at all.” Vinny looked at Aesphyra in disdain, then muttered very quietly, full of resentment, “Flirtatious player queen.”
“Which part? Which specific part is Student Vinny talking about?”
“All of it.” Vinny snorted. Just as he was about to quicken his steps and shake Aesphyra off, he found an exquisitely wrapped lollipop being offered to him.
“? What does this mean?” Vinny’s expression turned odd.
“Student Vinny, you should bite on something instead. Otherwise, I’m worried you’ll bite your own lip bloody.” Aesphyra’s lips curved slightly. “After all, you’ve been biting it for a whole class.”
“Who asked you to care? Even if I bite it bloody, it has nothing to do with you. Hm? Wait, how do you know?? You couldn’t have been staring at me for the entire class, could you? Tch! Are you a peeping tom? And peeping at a man, no less??” Vinny’s expression instantly turned vulgar.
“Oh? So it was true?” Aesphyra wore the expression of someone whose probe had succeeded, then lightly covered the corner of her mouth with her jade-like fingers. “So you really did bite your lip for an entire class~?”
“......” Vinny, realizing he had once again been toyed with by Aesphyra, pressed his lips together. He snatched the lollipop from Aesphyra’s hand, tore open the wrapper, threw it into his mouth, and bit the candy with such ferocity that it seemed as though he were biting a certain someone instead.
It looked like venting, but in reality, he truly had no moves left. He was not as strong as her, his luck was not as good as hers, even his verbal skills were not as good as hers, and she kept teasing him until he could not say a word.
Thanks for asking. The person in question had already died of rage.
“Bite gently, Student Vinny~ Don’t use so much force. No one is fighting you for the candy in your mouth. The stick is very fragile. If you bite it apart, the candy might fall into your throat, you know?” Aesphyra even gave what seemed like a considerate reminder.
“That’s still better than you!” Vinny did not even look at Aesphyra. “What’s wrong with me biting a candy stick? Someone was practically dying to perform a hand-kissing ceremony in public earlier and kiss someone else’s hand. So what if I bite a candy stick??”
“Hmph!” As he spoke, Vinny turned away.
“Oh my~?” Hearing this, Aesphyra’s smile deepened. “So that’s how it is. Student Vinny has been angry for an entire class because of that?~”
“N-No I haven’t!” Hearing this, Vinny’s cheeks flushed. He jumped up like a balloon that had been popped. “You—you nut ball, you really are as narcissistic as ever. Be narcissistic to death! Who cares about you, you rotten player queen??”
As he spoke, Vinny quickened his pace. Yet no matter how he sped up, even when he was almost running, he had no way to shake Aesphyra off.
“So, may I understand this as Student Vinny getting jealous because of me~?”
“Jea...lous??” Vinny murmured the two words blankly, even forgetting his instinctive rebuttal.
In an instant, he felt as though he understood something.
That was right. Even he himself did not know why he had become like this. He had been troubled by it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° for quite a while.
But if all his behavior was explained that way, then did that mean...
Ah, no, no, no!
What even was this?! How could he explain it that way?!
He must really have gone crazy, right?? His brain had broken, right??
He, the Royal Capital’s notorious young master of Camella, the original story’s number-one nemesis of the Hero and great protagonist Aesphyra—self-proclaimed—would get jealous over her?!
Wh-What kind of joke was that??
“You! You idiot, what nonsense are you saying?!” Vinny stammered. If there had not been other people watching nearby, he would have let out a piercing shriek to cover up the embarrassment he felt right now.