But still... I can't make excuses for my shortcomings.
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After the results of the race, Aiden exited the hall through a door that appeared out of nowhere.
Upon returning outside the hall, Aiden noticed that his ankle was already healed and most of his fatigue had vanished — only mental fatigue remained. Upon checking his surroundings, he found out that he had teleported near his dormitory.
He had nothing better to do, so he decided to take a walk. After walking for some time, he came near the garden. He saw Calista sitting on a bench in the garden, seemingly lost in thought.
Aiden remembered his previous conversation about not ignoring her. So, after some contemplation, Aiden went near Calista and said, "Are you okay?"
Calista, who was in reverie, was startled by his voice and responded with a bit of fluster, "Yes? Yes... I'm okay."
Aiden didn't have any other words to say, so he began contemplating what he should say next — the same for Calista, who didn't have a topic either.
They stared at each other silently for an unknown period of time until Aiden broke the awkward silence with a bit of hesitation, saying, "Well! See you later."
Calista, still flustered, replied, "Y..yes, see you later," in a voice that sounded almost mechanical.
Then Aiden left the garden and planned to walk a bit more.
After a while of walking, he reached the back side of the academy. After that, he turned around to go back but heard a sound, so he looked back.
He noticed that a tall man was coming from the back door of the academy.
He was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes, a sharp jawline, and he wore a custom-made knight suit without armor. He looked like a legendary hero often mentioned in various adventure novels.
Although Aiden didn't recognize him, he found him slightly familiar — but he could tell he had never met the man.
After that, a beautiful woman walked in and hugged the handsome man very affectionately.
And he recognized that woman — none other than the beautiful healer, Nysira Green Duskwind.
At that moment, his mind jolted as he connected the dots and realized where the familiarity had come from — because that man was the one Nysira often bragged about. That was her fiancé, Noah Rain Wilburn.
When Aiden realized this, he decided to observe them a little longer for Knowledgeable Purpose.
Aiden saw that after hugging, they began to walk while holding each other's hands. After some small talk, Noah gave her a gift — a hairclip.
Aiden was stunned by their unique behavior because he only knew of this tradition from a romance novel that he had read without much thought, and this was his first time seeing something like it in real life. So he began to watch more intently for Knowledgeable Purpose.
Although Aiden couldn't hear them, he could tell Noah was saying something like 'I have to go, I have some important business to attend to' — something like that — because Nysira looked clearly a little sad.
Then Aiden saw them stand up, seemingly saying farewell or something like that, and hug each other again as they moved closer.
A light breeze blew as their hair fluttered in the wind, and it felt like the mood in the area shifted. As both their faces drew closer, Noah wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her effortlessly into the air. Their eyes met for a brief moment before their lips drew closer and finally met in a tender, breath-stealing kiss in broad daylight.
When Aiden saw this, he was dumbfounded. He was never expecting that he would witness something like that.
As his heart pounded faster with each second, he turned around and began to run in the opposite direction.
At this moment, he wanted to be nowhere near them, and while running, his mind was a mess. He thought while running, 'What did I just see? How can they kiss in broad daylight?'
As his thoughts churned, he reached his dormitory and shut his room door. After calming down, he thought of a problem and reflected, 'If I remember correctly, Mr. Noah is a Nine-Circle Knight — a Celestial Knight — so how can he not notice if someone is watching? And Miss Nysira seems to be a high-ranking mage... so it doesn't make sense that she too wouldn't notice. And they don't seem to have that kind of hobby.'
And then he realized he had overlooked a very important trait of himself.
'If my theory is correct, then this is going to be a very big opportunity for me.'
Then, after some time, it was already dinner time, so he took a shower and prepared his dinner. While eating, he thought, 'Sigh... what a disaster. I don't want to be near any unmarried couple... they don't have shame.'
After finishing his dinner, he prepared for his general subject exam scheduled for tomorrow and went to bed.
What happened after that — he should not blame Miss Nysira and Mr. Noah for being shameless.