My hands shook and my voice trembled.

It must have sounded unworthy.

“It’s strange, really. I’ve been doing that for a long time. Nocton, I’m nothing to you. There’s nothing to be regrettable about if I disappear, and it’s nothing special. Even if you call me a friend in words, you’ve never thought about me that way.”

“….Valrose.”

“Let me ask. I was vaguely guessing, but I couldn’t be sure because my pride was hurt.”

Starting from what I heard from Alice, the fear of Nocton grew day by day.

I may have been soothed myself by saying that I shouldn’t be suspicious in advance until I confirmed it with Memoria’s Seal, but my suspicions have grown over time.

Compared to the years I’ve accumulated, my trust in Nocton is so great that I think I should be afraid of him unconsciously.

I have to keep avoiding, I have to be afraid, that’s how I can avoid danger.

But ironically, at a time when the fear of Nocton Edgar was confirmed, I tried to think differently.

You don’t have to be scared, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Nothing will happen.

If I don’t repeat that lie, I won’t be able to see him in the eye.

“Nocton, do you think I love you?”

It was really shaky self-indoctrination, but it wasn’t meaningless though, I was able to gradually unravel the thoughts in my mind step by step.

Perhaps, with too much fear, my reason is paralyzed and my mouth is yammering.

“If you don’t think so, I don’t understand every word you say. You’re testing me, then you’re making me feel special. And when you see me choosing other person, you act like a twisted person.”

“What the hell are you talking about—”

“Did you think that I love you? So no matter what you do, I’m still stuck next to you and get a little angry and a little irritated, and if you talked to me soothingly, I will let it go and be your toy forever?”

“Stop it, Valrose.”

“But later, I didn’t understand that either. I just thought you were playing with me, but 10 years is enough.”

Ignoring many times the request of Nocton to cut off the words I told a self-destructive story.

Perhaps because of the nervousness, the words became increasingly strange, and it became impossible to know whether I was simply trying not to hide behind Aaron or to unravel the deep resentment.

“If I’m losing my pride, not you—”

“I wish it was that important!”

The edge of the table that Nocton was grabbing was torn apart as if he were holding back his anger.

The sound was so loud that I paused and jumped up.

Did he just … use magic?

No, there was no such sign.

It wasn’t a matter for me, a total stranger to magic, to judge perfectly, but there wouldn’t be an idiot who uses strength-enhancing magic to tear the table off.

How can you tear a table with your bare hands when you are not skilled enough to handle swords as a hobby or properly received the training to get a knighthood?”

When I got up, Aaron, who stood up in unison, looked at him with a hard face.

As if to protect me, Aaron turned me around behind his back.

Nocton was also contemplating, and his eyes were widened with uneasiness.

Soon, however, the surprise disappeared and cold anger lurked in his face.

His jaw was tightly closed, as if he had bitten his teeth.

“Everything should have ended before, Valrose.”

Speaking in a suppressed voice, he breathed his breath thinly and slowly.

Even though there was some distance, it felt like the heat mixed with his breath reached here.

“Did I mistake you for loving me? It can’t be true.”

Looking at us still standing up, Nocton raised himself slowly.

The backlit shape lengthens long.

Aaron Claymore was quite tall, perhaps because of his physical fitness from an early age, but Nocton’s head was also in a similar position.

The physique was also similar, so it visually stimulated the tension.

Nocton Edgar laughed as if he had no intention of hiding his twisted inner thoughts.

“It can’t be, Valrose. Valrose, damn Valrose.”

“Stand back, Lord Edgar.”

“Aaron Claymore is important to you? How precious is your fiancé who loves another woman, seriously?”

Aaron’s expression hardened at the words he vomited over the warning.

I was also confused.

Aaron and I were the only ones who knew that Aaron Claymore had a loved one.

Don’t tell me he knows this person is Alice.

There was a question, but now I can’t confirm the answer.

I swallowed a dry saliva to keep my composure.

“I’m going to tell Roa—”

“Don’t pretend to tell me something great, I know.”

“You know?”

“Yeah, don’t be mistaken that love for a lover is the only precious feeling, Nocton. I didn’t mean that when I said Aaron is important. And even so, you know best how devoted I can be to an unrequited love. Right?”

Perhaps because of the coming that I don’t want to lose in fear, I said more sarcastically than usual.

Maybe that was something wrong, the expression disappeared from Nocton’s face.

Oh, really?

It was a small voice that didn’t know if I was talking to myself or asking me.

I couldn’t see the sound in color, but if possible, it was clear that the white would be unmixed black.

“It’s precious … for Aaron Claymore, you’re going to keep your distance.”

“The direct trigger for the decision is Aaron, but I’ve been thinking about it before. Nocton, I’m now—”

I’m tired of your test.

I tried to put the last word I wanted to say to him, Nocton seemed to have heard nothing.

“You shouldn’t have said that. You shouldn’t have said you’d abandon me for love, not because of your will, but because of someone else.”

“Nocton…..?”

“I get upset when I hear those words.”

I didn’t know until late because I was only looking at his expression.

There was no reason in the light purple eyes.

There is a short silence like a white silence before the tsunami comes.

The atmosphere has changed.

So far, I thought it was a harsh enough atmosphere, but the current air was different.

I was an ordinary person who didn’t know magic and didn’t know what mana was, but I felt the air flowing heavy and strangely.

Aaron’s shoulders, which stood guard against me, were clearly tense.

And the next moment.

Nocton vomited blood.

Something’s happened right now.

There was no sense of reality in the sight in front of me.

His pale face, whose complexion wasn’t better than others, had dark red blood flowing under his sharp chin.

Nocton’s face is so white, and his fingers covering his mouth are so white that the blood looks darker and redder….

“Nocton!”

I had no choice but to shout like a scream.

My head was killing me.

Aaron’s voice calling for me, I released myself from his grasp and ran to Nocton.

“Why, why bleed … why your blood….’

But as I approached, I could not figure out what to say or where to look at.

I couldn’t understand.

Just a moment ago, he talked with a fine face, talking, threatening, and considering everything he could do as a villain, but why is he bleeding now?

I was anxious and I couldn’t bear it, even though I thought there was nothing but hatred and fear left about the Nocton Edgar.

It was more surprising than I thought to see a childhood friend bleeding close.

Even in this situation where I learned his secret and are afraid of the threats, I still approached him to look at his safety.

From every corner of his body where blood was flowing, my heart was beating strongly as it was dropped.

The reason I was able to take care of my reason belatedly was when I felt a rather tenacious gaze.

Nocton was looking at me.

Our eyes met.

I tried to backtrack in a moment of embarrassment, but I couldn’t because my arms were held.

His left hand was grasping my arm, while his main right hand is covering his mouth.

It was not painful, but it was quite strong so that it could not be easily taken out.

Is he sick? It must be painful.

I could not help but feel the urge to do something, even with my fear of avoiding him.

“I thought I’d let you go. It must be hard.”

“What….?”

“Of course, the greedy blood cannot go anywhere.”

I don’t know what he’s talking about.

I couldn’t understand the meaning of the weak sound.

Nocton pulled closer to my arm he was holding.

With my weak legs, I was dragged as he pulled.

“Let me give you a word of advice, Valrose.”

I turned my head at his angle and Nocton whispered in my ear.

Don’t make it obvious that you’re scared.

“Roa!”

Aaron called me by my name, perhaps it seemed to be a threat to me that he came near.

I was nervous about another confrontation, but Nocton fell off me unexpectedly easily.

Nevertheless, Aaron wrapped me around him, as if he were wary of Nocton.

With a step back, Nocton moved his gaze.

The bloody sleeves, the hands that covered the mouth, the blood that fell on the floor, and the table that had been destroyed.

Nocton’s eyes shone like glass beads.

The silver-colored eyes rolled one after another, and finally turned to Aaron and the me he was shielding.

With an unreadable face, he looked at us for a moment and swept up his bloody hair.

“It’s so pathetic.”

And the next moment, Nocton disappeared.

Not only that. All the tables, chairs, and carpets were clean, just as the bloodstains left by Nocton Edgar had never been there before.

In addition, Nocton’s escort knight, who existed, but had a dim presence, were not seen.

Strictly speaking, I wasn’t sure that this one had just disappeared.

Neither I nor Aaron could do what had happened, so I slowly blinked.

I asked rather sourly, as if I had vomited what had been strangling my throat.

“….is it a teleport?”

“I think so. I didn’t know it was a magic that could be used simply like this—”

As his words stopped, Aaron hurriedly lowered his head.

A wail, red blood poured out.

“Aaron!”

It was a little better than before, but in the same way I called his name like a scream.

What, is today vomiting blood day?

As I approached, Aaron smiled awkwardly, as if in trouble and embarrassment.

A smiling face with blood on its mouth won’t make you look okay.

“It’s all right, Roa. I’m just feeling a little sick.”

“Who do you think you’re fooling? If you’re not feeling well, you throw up your food, not your blood.”

“That’s true. I only got some internal injuries. It’s not a big deal.”

From a normal person’s point of view, I couldn’t understand why vomiting blood wasn’t such a big deal.

However, Aaron seemed genuinely, only embarrassed, not sick or distressed.