- Enough. This so-called coincidence that you mentioned, I hope will not happen again.
Even if it was a leisurely time, Tilia had no intention of joking with him. She warned him firmly, her face determined.
“I don’t have the slightest desire to get involved with you any more.” My goal is to complete my studies safely.
Hearing Tilia's serious words, Ilex wiped the faint smile from his face.
- Forward. Who is stopping you from finishing your studies?
However, his characteristic relaxedness still radiated from his entire being.
- Tilia. As you said, I also have no intention of detaining you.
His gaze slid coldly over her face again.
- So don't give it too much importance.
-...Am I giving too much importance?
- Yes. I was simply demonstrating the basics of good manners.
Ilex looked down for a moment, as if wondering why he needed to explain anything at all, then raised his head again.
- After something is done, it is considered an elementary rule of good manners to tidy up.
-……
- There are people who don’t understand this, but I’m not that bad.
With a bored expression on his face, he explained in a low voice:
- You were hurt. I went too deep. I lost control that day and there must have been marks everywhere. Am I wrong?
Despite the harsh words, Ilex's indifferent eyes looked at Tilia, as if piercing right through her.
Through his gaze, Tilia remembered the past.
The mirror in which she looked after barely having time to wash herself, on trembling legs, left alone in the room.
In the reflection, she saw herself covered in red marks and bruises.
Her body, marked with red handprints and bite marks, looked as if she had rolled down a steep slope. When she turned slightly to look at the back, she saw that there were also bite marks there.
“I thought it was supposed to be that way, but it looks like it’s not.”
Nothing surprising. She thought it was too much, and now she finally understood why.
While Tilia was dissatisfied with the belated truth, Ilex added:
“So I was going to bring a tactful doctor, but you ran out, saying that you need to pass the exam before I have the opportunity.”
He talked about the past with casual indifference.
- It would be strange to wait until the end of the exam to invite a doctor, right? Like you said, we're really nothing to each other.
Hearing his cynical answer, Tilia raised her eyes and glared at Ilex.
- So I just sent a box of medicine.
Cold gray-blue eyes met suspicious green ones.
“What I did was just what needed to be done.” So don't be scared and don't hiss like a stray cat.
The look on Ilex Davenport's face showed how boring he was having to explain all this.
Tilia looked silently into his expressionless eyes, then slowly admitted it.
She was wrong.
Her suspicions that there was something hidden in his eyes - some emotions that she could not understand, turned out to be groundless.
Those doll-like, beautiful gray-blue eyes held nothing.
And his words were true.
The statement that his action should not be overinterpreted was also correct.
- Fine.
Tilia calmly looked at Ilex and smiled at him for the first time that day.
- You are right.
Her smile wasn't as carefree as the one Ilex showed earlier. But she was much more free.
What Tilia felt when she saw the cold gaze of the man she shared the bed with was not contempt, but relief.
With a calm expression on her face, Tilia corrected her previous thoughts.
- I misunderstood. Sorry.
It was a mistake to let out her disappointment that she had chosen the wrong person.
In fact, no matter what anyone says, she picked the right trash.
- Thank you, Ilex Davenport.
With a feather-light heart, Tilia expressed her gratitude.
- As you said, I hope that the coincidence will not happen again.
She showed her true feelings with a bright smile and walked past him without hesitation.
As she passed by, her long hair touched Ilex Davenport's shoulder.
The sound of her light shoes quickly died down, and the space where Tilia had just been was filled with noise and dust from a large construction site.
However, even long after she left, Ilex Davenport could not take his eyes off the place where Tilia stood.
***
“Finished!”
Closing the thick book, Tilia stretched.
After finishing her conversation with Ilex, she went straight to the library, picked up the Introduction to Theological Ethics he was reading, and returned to her dorm, where she had just finished studying.
“I outlined all possible topics for discussion so that during the holidays I could calmly think about the answers.”
The period for adjusting grades for each subject was also coming to an end. Remembering the final grade announcements posted this afternoon, Tilia smiled bitterly.
“Well, it’s a little disappointing not to be first again this time...”
She shrugged slightly, remembering her name, which always came second.
“And yet being second is something.”
Belatedly realizing the comfort in the phrase “as always,” Tilia began to tidy up her desk.
Tilia's attitude has changed from before, as she almost found herself in a situation where graduating from the academy became impossible.
She was grateful simply to be able to finish her studies safely. Even the second position, which she had always considered insufficient, now seemed precious.
“Yes, being second is still good. Especially considering that I managed to maintain this position after everything I went through.”
Well done, Tilia Ambrose.
Since Tilia rarely praised herself, her face quickly became mischievous.
"Ilex Davenport...What the hell did he do?"
A name came to mind that was above her name at the top of the list.
In an instant, the gratitude in my heart turned into suspicion.
“Be the first even after retaking the exam.”
Tilia's eyes narrowed in irritation.
Apparently Ilex, who she thought hadn't taken the test at all, had somehow managed to take the retest while being released on medical grounds. He scored full marks in the supplementary exam of which only 80% counted, again securing him first place.
It has also reportedly created a huge gap in other subjects. It wasn't just rhetoric where he got a perfect score.
"He really is a monster."
Tilia shuddered as if she had seen a ghost.
Such a brilliant mind sitting on the shoulders of a man who found exams so tedious that he even skipped them - it almost seemed like a loss.
But she wasn't as upset as before, and she didn't cry about it.
“In the end, it was thanks to Ilex that I solved my problem.”
Recalling the conversation she had earlier at the construction site with her first intimate partner, Tilia tapped her nails on the table.
"Basic manners, yes..."
He claimed that he was not the worst person. He's just doing what needs to be done and that she shouldn't make too much of it.
The indifference in his eyes that made her breathe a sigh of relief came back to her memory.
Remembering those eyes, Tilia naturally lowered her gaze.
She saw the box deep under the table, out of reach of her feet. The box of medicines remained untouched.
Well, then. Tilia looked over her shoulder to check on her roommate. Judy, as usual, was sleeping so soundly that she wouldn't have noticed if someone had carried her away.
"Fine. Let's see."
Feeling partly at ease and partly filled with curiosity, Tilia took out the box she had previously casually tossed aside.
Chick. The luxurious packaging opened smoothly, just like the first time.
When she opened the lid, there was a faint smell of medicine.
The box contained medicines for deep wounds, bruises and even headaches. It was like a little pharmacy in a box.
Hm.
Tilia took out each item for the first time and examined them one by one with a curious expression on her face.
“Is this really the basis of good manners?”
Do they usually include all of this?
Although it seemed a little strange to her, she consoled herself with the thought that this was just a desperate act of the young master who wanted to properly restore order.
"Well, I guess it's kind of an enrollment gift bag."
Come to think of it, he also gave her contraception as soon as she woke up. Like he said, maybe he's not the worst person.
If he really was the worst, he wouldn't care whether she got pregnant or not.
“Although it can also be a survival strategy for a person who has something to lose.”
Thinking indifferently, Tilia continued to take out endless supplies of medicine from the box until she found something unexpected that made her frown.
"...Bandages?"
The box contained a roll of white bandages, covered at the end with duct tape to secure them on their own.
Why include this? She wasn't bleeding.
Tilia shrugged slightly, confused.
Perhaps the employee in charge of packaging the medications just tossed it in there.
Tilia, looking indifferent, continued to pull out a seemingly endless supply of medicine.
She thought that in this situation she could survive even in the midst of war.
When she was almost tired of the endless series of drugs, the bottom of the box finally began to be exposed.
Thinking she was finally done, Tilia looked inside the box.
But there was something else inside that changed her expression.
What is this?
As she pulled out a pile of medicine, she noticed something else lying there - a foreign object left alone in the middle of nowhere. Her eyebrows rose as she stared at him.