Chapter 120: Motives

“Don’t bet your entire attack on a single move.”

From my observation, Diana was being impatient. Instead of executing multiple moves to defeat the opponent, she was trying to finish the fight with a single attack.

Each of her strikes had tremendous power behind them, and according to me… that was a pathetic waste of mana reserves.

“Aahh.”

Diana slumped down on the ground after her failed strike.

“So how should I defeat someone?”

Raising her voice, Diana let her body relax against the cold floor.

“Use every attack as a distraction before dealing the final blow.”

The sound of my footsteps echoed as I made my way towards the viewing area. The chair squeaked under my weight.

“Is that even possible? How will I even know which attack is the final one? And what if one of my attacks that was meant to be a distraction goes on to become the real strike?”

Haa…

“That’s up to you to find out.”

My response was short.

Glancing at the watch, it was time for dinner. Giving Diana a final glance, I headed towards the changing room.

“Is it over?”

“…”

“Kael?”

Closing her eyes for a moment, Diana stood up and headed to change her clothes too.

***

“Why is she not here yet?”

For the last ten minutes, Alicia was pacing back and forth across her room, waiting for Diana to arrive.

Despite her reluctance, Diana had gone to train with ’him’…

Alicia couldn’t understand the logic behind everything that Diana was getting herself into.

First that stupid dinner, and now the girl was just hovering around him.

Even during the classes, Alicia had always observed Diana turning back to take a glimpse of Kael.

Thinking about that guy brought unpleasant memories, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

Diana too had suffered due to him, still she was behaving like nothing had happened in the past and was talking to Kael like it was an everyday thing.

“What’s up?”

Noah’s voice brought Alicia back from her thoughts.

“Nothing, just—”

“Is it about Diana?”

Noah sat across on a chair, his legs crossed, looking at her.

“Yes.”

After a long pause, Alicia muttered the words.

“Why are you worrying so much? Isn’t he your brother?”

Noah asked in an innocent voice.

As Alicia raised her head to look at him, she stopped for a moment as Noah’s hair caught her attention.

Alicia had grown to like his hair.

A mixed shade of black and white was the perfect match for his innocent face.

Looking at him again, Noah indeed looked a little charming…

“Cough…”

Noah coughed under the intense gaze that was directed at him.

Alicia, as if realizing her mistake, shifted her focus elsewhere, pretending as if nothing had happened.

“He is indeed my brother, but… things are complicated.”

Alicia gave up on elaborating on the topic. Though she didn’t have a good impression left of her brother, he was still, at the end of the day, a Frost.

And even if Noah was now closer to her, that didn’t mean she would tell him anything that could result in the image of the Frosts degrading in any way.

It was not that she didn’t trust him. But it was something that had been ingrained in her since childhood.

Noah too, getting the message, didn’t press further.

This was one of the many things that Alicia liked about him.

Noah would somehow know when to speak to her, what to ask her, and how to console her, without her even telling him anything about her problems.

It hadn’t even been a month since the academy began, and Alicia had grown to become fond of him.

It was around eight in the night, and Diana had promised to come over to eat dinner with them.

But seeing no sign of her, Alicia decided to head towards the cafeteria herself.

She had a strong feeling that the girl would be eating out with Kael.

Just as Alicia moved towards the door, it opened from the outside.

Diana peeked from the narrow gap, giving a wave to both of them.

“You sure are late! I thought we would be dying of hunger waiting for you.”

Noah’s cheerful voice made Diana chuckle lightly.

“Seems like you enjoyed the training quite a bit. I don’t think you had to grace us—”

“Umm… I am hungry too. Let’s go.”

Diana quickly retreated out of the room, seeing the stern expression on Alicia’s face.

Alicia took a deep breath to calm the raging emotions in her heart.

If looks could kill, Diana would have already died a million times.

“So what did you train?”

Before Alicia could close the door, Noah had joined Diana as they walked towards the cafeteria without waiting for her.

Clenching her fist, Alicia locked the door before following her two stupid friends.

As she matched her steps with Diana, Alicia noticed the carefree smile on her friend’s face.

Diana right now… looked a lot younger than before.

All the words that Alicia had wanted to say were stuck in her throat as she couldn’t bring herself to ruin the pretty smile before her.

Kael…

Alicia’s thoughts once again shifted towards her brother.

Just what was he up to?

Alicia had tried to avoid thinking about him since the day she had first seen him in the academy.

But one after the other, different circumstances made it impossible for her to ignore him.

And now Diana had once again become entangled with him.

It wasn’t like Alicia didn’t want her friend to be happy, but…

She had lost all hope in her brother a long time ago. Now even if there had been dramatic changes, Alicia didn’t believe for a second that he had truly changed.

Some people never changed no matter the situations, and Kael was the same.

He had always been.

Though Alicia didn’t want to have anything to do with it, she knew things couldn’t continue to proceed like this.

For her friend… for Diana’s happiness—

To prevent her from falling down again, Alicia had to confront him.

She needed to get a read on Kael’s motives before he could cause any harm to her friend.

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