Chapter 355: Useless Worries
Within a day or two, the visit to the Levaith Duchy would be arranged.
The parasite residing in Diana’s body—
Hm?
Just as I had the thought of the parasite, I could see Diana walking in my direction.
She seemed lost in her thoughts, with her head lowered, while staring at the floor below.
What was she doing here?
Increasing my pace by a bit, I walked closer to Diana, while intentionally clearing my throat.
The sound seemed to have brought her back to reality, as Diana raised her head to meet my eyes.
"Kael?"
"What are you doing here?"
The classes should have already been—
"I heard Victoria was injured in some fight with Noah, so I was on my way to meet her and check on her injuries."
Diana’s eyes were crystal clear, filled with her usual innocence.
I couldn’t help but commend her acting.
As if she was concerned about Victoria.
"Why isn’t Alicia with you?"
It was normal for the both of them to be together, so I found it weird that Diana was meeting Victoria, without bringing the latter’s younger sister along with her.
"Uh... I wasn’t with her when I had heard the news. Maybe I should have brought Alicia with me."
Diana smiled faintly to hide her embarrassment, but the more she acted, the more I felt like the girl was losing her mind.
Was this the result of Nemur’s gaze?
I had never thought the fear of Nemur would make her behave in such a way. Her explanation was filled with loopholes, but making her realize the mistake in her explanation would have been counterproductive.
There was no use in making an enemy out of the parasite.
"Is that so? Be quick with it, and don’t miss the class—"
"I heard that you had fought Noah as well."
Diana interrupted me, before moving closer.
"Yes, it was just a minor—"
"Are you hurt somewhere?"
Interrupting me, Diana’s eyes scanned my body for any traces of injury.
Had the girl really lost her mind?
What was with this delayed response... and her actions were now making me uncomfortable after knowing that the parasite was just pretending to be someone it wasn’t.
Though I had to once again commend the efforts that it had put forth, to be able to perfectly replicate the Veltran princess.
Thinking about Diana... had the soul of the real one been killed by the parasite or was it still locked up somewhere in her body?
I didn’t know the process by which the parasite had taken control over Diana’s body, but judging by its power, it surely would have been thorough in its possession of the body.
I had no attachments with the original Diana, but somewhere, it felt a little unjust for the poor soul to suffer without even knowing about it.
Well... I wasn’t the best person to comment on the morality of someone, but if there was a chance to recover the original Diana’s soul, maybe... I could give it a try, that is if the parasite had no issues with it.
There was no use antagonizing someone of the parasite’s strength over the soul of a girl, that would hardly have been much useful to me.
The only use that Diana had ever had for me was due to the condition put forth by Alfred. Now that the parasite was residing in her body, I could just negotiate some deal with it to complete the condition.
"I am alright. You should check on Victoria, and head back to the class."
Taking a step back, I stopped Diana’s pretense, before motioning her to walk away.
"Yeah... I should check on her."
At first, Diana seemed a little confused by my response, but then nodded her head in acceptance before giving a monotonous reply.
I observed the girl as she walked away from me, her head downcast once again... lost in some thought or the other.
Sigh.
Even the parasite now felt a little pitiful, but I knew better than to judge someone by their outward emotions.
Thinking about it... everyone related to the original Kael had always suffered in some way or the other.
Now that the student council meeting was over, I had no reason to skip the class.
Elsa had already marked me, and if I kept missing the classes—
Just as I took a right turn, I could see a group of students, all of them being from my class... heading towards me—
Or more specifically towards Victoria, as Alicia and Kevin were amongst them.
The moment Alicia noticed my presence, she visibly increased her pace, making me reduce mine.
For some reason, it was beginning to feel like someone had died in the academy and now everyone was out here to pay their respects to me for being related to the deceased.
First Diana, and then... all these people who were now walking towards me.
"Diana is on her way to meet Victoria."
I hinted to the group to not bother me, and move towards their original destination, but Alicia, being the girl she was, didn’t care for any of it.
"You are fine, right—"
"Victoria must be waiting for you. Don’t make her wait longer."
I quickly interrupted Alicia, while raising my hand to pat her head at the same time.
The action earned a collective surprise from the rest of the group, but I had to do it, so as to not be bothered by these useless worries.
With everyone thinking that I would be the one to be the most injured given that Noah’s rank had been higher than me during the fight... for some reason, the thought had now become a heavy weight on my pride.
As if the commoner had the capability to defeat me.
"But—"
"He’s right, Alicia. Let’s visit Victoria."
Kevin, not wanting his sister to talk with me, was quick to hold her by the arm.
I just gave him a short glance, before shifting my attention to John, who looked at me—
Why did he look so happy?