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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: A Languid Confession
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After being teased by Grantony and Mushika for Seron and my dynamic in the Special Department hallway, I gently reassured Seron and sent her back.
"You're going to soothe one girl and then go meet another, aren't you?"
Seron glared with a venomous look, but to me, it was an absurd thing to say. So I gave her a piece of my mind.
"Yes, I'm going to meet my fiancée."
I heard Seron scream after hearing my reply, but I quickly ran away. That's how I finally came to find Sharin.
Sharin was drawing magic blueprints in the Arcane Arts Lab. But now, she was burying her head into my chest, rubbing it from side to side.
"Why am I the last one? The laaaast?"
Perhaps because I came to get Sharin as the last team member, she was quite miffed.
"Because you're the most important asset, I approached it with caution."
"Hanon, your lies are getting more elaborate. I can see right through you."
It seems she can now see through my lies with Mirinae. Actually, the reason I came to Sharin last was simply because that's just how my route worked out.
It was simply that the First-Year Martial Arts Department was closer, and the Second-Year Special Department was even closer.
I lightly lifted Sharin, who was still burying her head in my chest. I have no idea what she eats or why she's so light.
I carried Sharin and sat her down on Professor Veganon's chair. Sharin sat obediently, then puffed out her cheeks slightly.
Cute. What's with the sudden charm?
"But why this chair?"
"There's a long story behind that."
Sharin seemed to accept it, leaning back in the chair.
"So what kind of trouble is going to erupt this time?"
"You make it sound like I'm constantly causing trouble."
"Aren't you?"
Sharin tilted her head, as if to say, 'Of course not.' As for me, I felt incredibly wronged.
"This time, I'm going to focus entirely on clearing the Magic Labyrinth."
The goal is the 6th floor. There's an item there that I'm targeting to smoothly advance the next scenario. I'm determined to push forward desperately to get it.
Hearing my energetic reply, Sharin gazed at me blankly.
"When are we getting married?"
And she really asked out of nowhere. For a moment, I was speechless and just stared at Sharin.
As always, Sharin wore a languid expression that gave nothing away.
"Are you serious about marrying me?"
"I think it'd be fun to marry my husband."
Sharin was still insistent on calling me 'husband'. It seemed she found it amusing how much I flinched when she called me that.
"But my husband keeps messing around with other women."
"You know how it was with Vinesha, don't you?"
"I wasn't talking about that."
Sharin pulled her knees up slightly, hugging them as she scrunched up her nose.
"I could distinctly smell Seron's perfume."
Before I came to Sharin, Seron had hugged me quite intensely. Perhaps because of that, Seron's perfume seemed to have permeated my clothes.
'Could it be?'
A moment ago, was she rubbing her head against my chest to get rid of that scent? It was a bit of a leap, but lately, seeing Sharin made me ponder many things.
And that aspect seemed to have intensified ever since the fiancée was confirmed.
"Husband, husband."
While I was making a conflicted face, Sharin spread both her hands open towards me.
"When are you going to give me accessories?"
"I was planning to buy them when I go out with Seron soon."
Sharin launched herself at me, burying her head into my chest. I ended up tumbling onto the floor.
Sharin, still on top of me, haphazardly tugged at my cheeks. It felt like my face was going to be torn apart.
"Is that right? Is that riiight?"
"That's the only time I'll have to go out."
"Then you should go with me."
"But I already have plans with Seron."
Sharin then squeezed my cheeks tightly.
"I'm your fiancée."
"That's right."
"Seron's a friend."
"That's also right."
"Who's more important?"
Sharin told me it was a very easy question.
I quietly watched her, then slowly got up. As I did, Sharin slid down with me and ended up sitting on my lap.
My lips parted a few times. But I felt it would be rude to avoid this topic any longer. A conclusion formed in my mind.
"Sharin, can I ask you one thing?"
Sharin blinked her eyes wide and looked at me.
"Do you like me?"
To think that a day would come when I'd ask something like this. For someone like me, who had never had a romantic connection with a woman in my life, it felt incredibly arrogant to ask.
That's because the first thought that came to mind was, 'Why me, of all people?' My romantic self-esteem, shattered long ago, was truly pathetic.
More than anything, I couldn't fathom any reason why Sharin would like me.
In Seron's case, there was the past incident with Vikamon as a catalyst from the very beginning. So her affection is understandable.
In Vinesha's case, it was trouble stemming from her affection deficiency. Though it was short-lived, her affection is also understandable.
Isabelle is a love-hate relationship, and Iris treats me like a comfort doll.
All of these, I can understand.
But Sharin, I simply couldn't comprehend. The affection she showed me clearly transcended the boundaries of friendship.
Sharin didn't realize it, but whenever our eyes met, she would wear a languid smile. It was distinctly different from the uninterested gaze she gave to others.
She didn't even realize that Isabelle and Lina, her friends, often watched this with peculiar eyes.
And recently, that tendency had become even more pronounced. Ever since the fiancée matter, Sharin had been clearly displaying jealousy.
It was undeniable jealousy, a clear possessiveness that didn't want me taken by others.
I couldn't understand it. Perhaps it was because I had lost the ability to comprehend love.
Sharin blinked her large eyes. Her eyes, imbued with Mirinae, gazed steadily at me.
"I guess so."
Sharin grabbed my cheeks tightly with both hands and lifted them. Then she kneaded them this way and that, as if they were steamed buns.
She seemed to be slowly replaying the past in her mind. Soon after, as if she had replayed all her past memories, Sharin grinned.
The sunset streaming through the classroom window bathed her in its colors. Her indigo hair, imbued with starlight, shimmered in the sunset.
The smile she wore, framed by her hair, was so captivating that anyone who saw it would find it undeniably beautiful.
Mirinae shimmered, laying down a galaxy. Her eyes shone brightly, as if she had finally realized a problem she had been pondering all this time.
"I think I like my husband."
And even that languid remark was so utterly Sharin. I looked up at Sharin with a dumbfounded expression.
"...Since when?"
"I don't know."
Sharin's hand was now gently caressing my cheek.
"Not knowing is the problem."
A love that even Sharin herself hadn't realized. That love had already taken root and blossomed in her heart long ago.
The flower emitted a sweet fragrance. All the emotions I had glimpsed from Sharin originated from the fragrance of that flower.
"That's why I didn't realize."
Sharin pulled my face closer. Instantly, our faces were inches apart.
"That I have an incredibly strong possessiveness."
Sharin, who had never liked another person, not even once. That's why she hadn't even realized her own possessiveness until now.
Jealousy, by nature, stems from possessiveness. It begins with the desire not to have what is one's own taken by others.
"So, husband."
Sharin's eyes, imbued with Mirinae, sparkled with the light of the Milky Way.
"I, I have no intention of letting my husband be taken."
Sharin's ring finger had somehow wrapped around my ring finger.
"So if you keep making me angry, I'll lock you up."
She uttered chilling words so casually.
…She's not serious, right?
***
After Seron, now even Sharin was saying she liked me. Perhaps because this was popularity reaching its absolute peak in my life, I felt utterly bewildered.
'At this point, isn't Hanon's face just a cheat code?' I looked in the dormitory bathroom mirror and posed, highlighting my jawline.
Hanon also possessed a rather handsome appearance. Looking at it this way, the plausibility of his attractiveness became understandable.
"Wangnon, my stomach hurts."
"Card, do you think I'm good-looking?"
Card scratched his stomach vigorously as he looked at me.
"It's a face that women who prefer younger men would find appealing."
Yet, I'm older than both of them.
"You're saying that because of Sharin, aren't you?"
I turned to Card. How on earth did this guy hear everything?
Then Card looked at me with a listless expression and plopped down in front of the toilet.
"Wangnon, listen. How many girls do you think I've made cry in my life?"
"You really just casually say such trashy things."
"Thanks. So, what I'm saying is, you can tell Sharin likes you just by looking, without having to hear it from anyone."
Card had an exceptional eye for understanding women's hearts. Perhaps because of that, he had already seen through Sharin's feelings long ago.
"Even if they themselves are unsure, those who can see will see it. At least, there's never been a guy around Sharin who treated her like you do."
Card, on the contrary, reacted as if it was about time this happened.
"In the first place, do you think any girl, even if she became a fiancée due to circumstances, would follow you around calling you 'husband'?"
"It's Sharin."
"Sharin's a girl too."
Card clicked his tongue, saying I was slow to catch on.
"Anyway, from the looks of it, Sharin seems to have realized her own feelings now."
It seems so.
"In that case, Wangnon, I'll tell you one valuable fact."
Card said it was an important hint.
"Sharin can barely distinguish people's faces."
"Huh?"
"More precisely, she chooses not to. Mirinae can make a person see only the essence of mana within a body. Sharin lives almost constantly in that state. She probably doesn't feel any discomfort with it."
That was something I didn't know. It was never described in the game.
Furthermore, I understood why Sharin could see through the Veil Bandages with Mirinae. Seeing the essence of mana, she must have detected something overlaid on top of it.
"Of course, if she wanted to see faces, she could, but she probably doesn't bother because it's too much effort."
I realized why Card had told me this.
"Then, Sharin…"
"You're saying that appearance, from the very beginning, held no value to her."
The plausibility of my attractiveness had crumbled.
"Anyway, can you stop looking in the mirror and get out now? I'm at my limit here."
At Card's most serious words all day, I stepped outside. My eyes, filled with a myriad of complex emotions, stared out the window.
Currently, Seron and Sharin are both on my team.
The Autumn Magic Labyrinth Battle today.
Would it really be okay?
I began to feel worried on many fronts.