“Eh, Classmate Vinny, that’s exactly the point,” Aesphyra said with a squinting smile.

“Hm? What point?” Vinny frowned, not understanding.

“I was going to visit Classmate Isatia earlier, but Classmate Isatia is just too popular. There were way, way too many people visiting her. Aside from the students of the Imperial faction going to see her, a bunch of boys and girls who think they ‘know’ Classmate Isatia also went to visit her.”

Aesphyra’s tone was light and drawn-out.

Mm, it was one thing for the Imperial-faction students to visit Isatia. She was, after all, their future superior, so they had reason and motivation to visit her, no matter what their actual intentions were.

But those students who weren’t even part of the Imperial faction going to visit her just on the basis of “we know each other” — what they were after was a bit too obvious.

None of the young people still at the Academy were experienced players in love. Basically, all of them had a hard time hiding their thoughts, especially when they were harboring those first budding feelings for a fellow student. The admiration and worship in their eyes was absolutely impossible to conceal.

Ah, worthy of being an Academy — the sour stench of romance hung in the air everywhere.

The number of love letters Isatia received might not match Aesphyra’s, but if you were talking variety, Isatia won hands down. After all, Aesphyra couldn’t get nearly as many love letters from girls.

“So? Then what?” Vinny had a bad premonition. He felt like this white-haired nutball had seen he was mostly fine, her mouth was itching again, and she’d come to bicker with him.

“Think about it. With that many people using this as an excuse to visit Classmate Isatia, I went to take a look. I couldn’t even find a place to stand with just a fruit basket in hand. The gifts they were bringing came in all sorts of styles. I didn’t even know what I should bring. She’s a princess of the Tyrel Empire, after all. If she gets sick, the people bringing gifts will be endless, and plenty of them are expensive. She might not even look twice at a tiny token like mine.”

As she spoke, Aesphyra squint-smiled as she displayed the fruit basket she was carrying.

“So I came to visit Classmate Vinny instead. Much more cost-effective~”

“You really are something, you know that??” Vinny laughed in exasperation.

This damn white-haired nutball, as expected, was incorrigible and had come specifically to blow up his Virtue again.

“Get lost, get lost, nutball, roll back to wherever you came from! Nuts of all kinds are not welcome here! Blah blah, I don’t need you visiting me! So basically, the fruit basket you felt would cheapen you if you gave it to someone else, that you thought you couldn’t give away because it lowered your value, you brought it to me instead, huh?? What the hell do you take me for? A garbage collector? Or some beggar you can fob scraps off on??” Vinny said irritably. Only after he finished did he realize Mirexia was still right there and had heard everything, so he shot another glare at Aesphyra.

This white-haired nutball really was his nemesis, in every sense.

But after thinking it over, Vinny felt there was something weird about what Aesphyra had said. She was the young lady of House Galathus. With the financial power of House Galathus, was she really incapable of giving a decent gift??

If she really wanted to, whose gift could possibly out-class hers?

Not to mention, her hidden identity was that of a direct descendant of House Carillian, a legitimate heir to the bloodline of the ancient Tyrelis Empire’s royal family. On top of that, she was Carillian Academy’s top-ranked campus belle. Was she really going to feel so inferior in front of Isatia that she couldn’t lift her head?

Impossible. Aesphyra was always this confident, confident and elegant. She would never show a low posture in front of anyone.

Mm, her height was the only hard limitation.

So… had she said all that just to get under his skin? Had she actually not gone to visit Isatia at all??

Come on, how could he think that? Why would this stinky green-eyed girl skip visiting Isatia to visit him, a random guy? What would her motive even be??

And besides, who she visited had nothing to do with him, all right??

As the two bickered, Mirexia, caught between them, felt something strange she couldn’t quite name.

Maybe it was a woman’s sixth sense. She kept feeling that she had clearly been the very first person to come visit Vinny, but once these two opened their mouths, she suddenly felt as if she couldn’t get a word in at all — as if in their eyes there was only each other, even when they were just arguing.

“Pff pff. Classmate Vinny, why is it only President Mirexia here with you?”

Aesphyra ignored Vinny telling her to get lost. After being around him for this long, she’d more or less figured out what kind of person he was.

She knew very well that you often had to take Vinny’s words in reverse. Sometimes Aesphyra even thought that if Vinny really were a girl, he would definitely be the kind who yelled “I hate you more than anyone in the world!” at you while blushing bright red — a tsundere, foul-mouthed type.

“What, you don’t count as a person now?” Vinny said sourly.

“I mean, is it because of your popularity? Classmate Vinny, your situation is the complete opposite of Classmate Isatia’s. There are so many people at Isatia’s room that you can’t even squeeze in, but your room is so quiet I almost thought I’d gone to the wrong ward.”

Aesphyra spoke with a cheerful grin.

“Tch! Popularity my ass, you nutball! You can’t squeeze into one room, so you won’t go there. Another room has no one, and you dislike that, too. Why are you so hard to please??”

Vinny just knew this white-haired nutball had come here full of bad intentions.

“Besides, is my popularity really that bad?” Vinny said, unconvinced.

“Oh? So Classmate Vinny, your popularity is actually great?” Aesphyra squint-smiled and threw the question back.

“Of course it is! I have tons of friends. You just haven’t seen them, that’s all,” Vinny said irritably. “I’m telling you, they’ll be here soon — any minute now. You’d better clear a spot while you can. As soon as they hear I’ve been hospitalized, they’ll come visit me right away!”

“Oh, really? I’ll be waiting and watching, then.”

Aesphyra’s gaze couldn’t help drifting toward the doorway. Other than the sound of the wind, there was nothing.

“……”

An awkward silence fell over Vinny.

Uh, where the hell were his card buddies??

Day in and day out, they called each other brothers, always going on about this great ‘bond between card players,’ and now he couldn’t even see their shadows??

Tch. Those bastards had better be ready when he got his hands on them!

Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door, and Vinny saw a somewhat clumsy streak of white barge in.

“V-Vinny! Are you all right?? I just heard the teacher say you were trapped in the Deeply Buried Secret Realm and only just came out, and then you were brought to the sanatorium!”

Shicodale was panting heavily, holding a basket that was a bit old but washed very clean.

“Ah, Dale, you’re here?” Vinny froze for a moment.

Well, the news had spread fast. It was only a matter of time before Shicodale heard about it.

“Vinny, are you really all right?”

Shicodale’s entire attention was on Vinny. He was so focused he hadn’t even noticed that Aesphyra and Mirexia were in the room. He came right up to the bed, asking anxiously.

“Do I look like I’m not? It’s nothing, nothing. Don’t get so flustered, Dale. How many times have I told you this? The most important thing for a man is to be magnanimous, to stay calm and composed. Do you get that or not?”

Vinny frowned, putting on the air of a veteran lecturing a youngster.

“But… you were trapped in the Deeply Buried Secret Realm, weren’t you? The Deeply Buried Secret Realm is really dangerous, isn’t it? It’s the Deeply Buried Secret Realm of Marsmo civilization!” Shicodale said worriedly. “If something goes wrong, you could end up being a living sacrifice to those ancient undying monsters in there!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Look at me, don’t I seem perfectly safe and sound now? No big deal.”

“Then, Vinny… you must have run into danger inside the Secret Realm, right?”

“Mm, I did run into some. But obviously they weren’t as tough as I am. We bumped into each other, and they all shattered. They couldn’t withstand a single hit.”

Vinny glanced at Aesphyra, the corner of his lips curling suddenly as he began boasting.

“Eh, eh?! Vinny, you really ran into Marsmo people who disappeared a thousand years ago?” Shicodale said in surprise.

“Yeah, I did. They even tried to use me as a slave and bury me alive in there. Unfortunately for them, I was the better one in the end. Those backward primitives were no match for me at all. I beat them so badly they scattered and ran, pissing themselves as they fled.”

As he spoke, Vinny even pouted in Aesphyra’s direction.

“Hehe.”

Aesphyra simply laughed without commenting.

“Aesphyra, what are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. I’m just curious how the awe-inspiring Classmate Vinny in the Deeply Buried Secret Realm could only manage to make it out because ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) a girl was carrying him.”

“What? C-carried by a girl??”

It was only then that Shicodale realized there was more than just him and Vinny in the room — Mirexia and Aesphyra were both there.

[Virtue +120].

[Current Virtue: 4424].

On hearing this, Shicodale stared at Aesphyra in shock. “Aesphyra, when Vinny came out, he was being carried by a girl?”

“That’s right. Classmate Vinny really has no shortage of blessings. Wherever he goes, he’s in contact with girls.”

Aesphyra’s tone was thick with teasing.

“Tch, what are you even saying? I think you’re just jealous, aren’t you? Not only jealous of me, but jealous of Classmate Isatia, too. She’s got so many love letters from girls her hands must be tired from reading them. You don’t get nearly as much attention from girls as she does!”

Vinny fired back without showing weakness.

“W-wait, what…?”

“And don’t frame me like that. I only let her carry me because I had no strength left. Don’t go misunderstanding things in weird directions. I think it’s people like you, whose minds are always in the gutter, who see problems everywhere. The situation was that urgent — how would we have had time to think about anything else??” Vinny continued, explaining.

“Oh? You had no strength left, so she picked you up. Then why didn’t she carry you on her back? Why did she have to hold you in her arms?”

Aesphyra, looking totally nonchalant, kept smiling as she asked.

“Th-that was…”

Vinny was at a loss for words.

Not only that, but he could feel the atmosphere change the moment Aesphyra asked that question.

They had clearly moved past this topic already, but that one line instantly drew Mirexia’s and Shicodale’s attention back to it. One of them stared straight at him, eyes filled with hope, clearly wanting to hear his explanation. The other pretended not to care, maintaining a bit of reserved decorum, but kept sneaking glances his way all the same. Their interest and curiosity were far from subtle.

Holy shit?!

White-haired nutball, was this also part of your plan??

Just one line had put him in a dilemma. It was hard for Vinny not to imagine that she had planned this in advance, that all her previous lines had just been setup so this question would slide out smoothly.

Great. The topic had been buried already, and somehow Aesphyra had cleverly used the fact that the other two people in the room also wanted to know to her advantage and raised this question.

Now there was no way for him to dodge it.

She’d definitely done this on purpose, right?!

“Well? Aren’t you going to tell us, Classmate Vinny?” Aesphyra’s lips curled further. “How come the moment it’s time to answer, you’re suddenly speechless?”

“Who’s speechless? Things were so tense at the time — who would have the spare energy to care about posture? Obviously we just used whatever was convenient at the moment!” Vinny pressed his lips together.

“Really? But why would a girl voluntarily choose to hold you in that particular posture?” Aesphyra went on with her impish questioning. “What exactly were the two of you saying to each other back then? Can’t you tell us a bit about it~?”

The other two girls present stayed silent.

Only girls really understood girls. As girls, they both knew that a girl would almost never choose that way of holding a boy of the opposite sex.

“Come to think of it, when Classmate Isatia came out earlier, she seemed to whisper a few words in your ear, didn’t she?”

Aesphyra narrowed her beautiful eyes, a charming smile on her lips. “What did she say? Can you share it with us?”

“Of course, if Classmate Vinny feels this touches on your privacy and you don’t want to say, that’s fine too~”

What she’d just said basically meant that if Vinny didn’t want to say it, then everyone would definitely assume there was some unspeakable secret between him and Isatia.

For fuck’s sake, can you not steer the topic like this??

Vinny couldn’t help complaining inwardly.

“What privacy? It was just… a few very ordinary lines.”

“Mm, very ordinary. Ordinary enough that Classmate Vinny’s face went red at the time?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

Ah ah?!

Vinny jolted.

Holy shit?! This white-haired nutball’s observations were that detailed? She’d even noticed him blushing back then.

Wait, did he really blush back then?? No way, right??

What he didn’t know was that Mirexia’s expression had gone a little odd.

Had Vinny really blushed back then?

Mirexia honestly couldn’t remember.

“I— hey, you, don’t talk nonsense. I definitely didn’t…”

“Ah~ my mistake. It seems Classmate Vinny didn’t blush at the time, huh?”

Before he could finish, Aesphyra stuck out her tongue playfully.

“But, Classmate Vinny, if nothing at all is going on between you and Classmate Isatia and you didn’t blush, then why are you answering so nervously? Why are you hemming and hawing like someone whose soft spot has just been poked, trying to keep playing tough~?”

Aesphyra’s smile was playful, but there was no warmth in it.

Crap, busted!

By the time Vinny reacted, he realized he had once again fallen into one of Aesphyra’s verbal traps.

Because he himself wasn’t sure whether he’d blushed or not back then. And if there really were something off about his relationship with Isatia, then of course he’d panic the moment he wasn’t sure whether he’d blushed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep