Thinking about Nyx made her feel fuzzy inside. They’ve been together for so long that she couldn’t imagine life without him. As she reminisced, the faint creaking sound of a door being opened woke her up.

“You’re both dismissed. Go.”

The maids stationed to watch Rose bowed deeply to their master before leaving.

“Hmm, hm, hmmm~”

Brad hummed to himself as he lingered in the room. The gaudy-looking coat he wore matched the room’s vibe. Rose, however, found it quite ridiculous, comparing him to a certain bipedal bird-like monster with colorful feathers. He scoured every square inch of the room and nodded in approval as he saw the extravagant paintings on the wall.

“Don’t you just feel lucky being in a room like this? I’m sure even someone like you can appreciate the effort that was put into decorating this room, right?”

“...Is it time?”

“No, they’re repairing the stage. The last contestants destroyed it."

(“Destroyed?”)

Though she was interested, Rose wasn’t in the mood for small talk. In fact, just looking at Brad demotivated her from doing anything. Fortunately, all they had to do now was follow her script for the match. Since the meeting, she was embroiled in crafting a detailed battle plan to make the match seem believable enough to the crowd. Naturally, this didn’t sit well with Rose as it felt like they were desecrating the event. But for Nyx, she was willing to go so far.

“Here.”

Rose handed Brad the stack of papers she had been keeping in her bag.

“What’s this?”

“That’s what’s going to happen later. Read it thoroughly if you want to seem convincing.”

“Ahh, I see.”

Brad scanned the papers upon receiving them. If nothing else, she was at least thankful that he means to take it seriously. Perhaps he did understand the significance of pulling off a convincing act in front of so many professors of sorcery.

In the next moment, Brad ripped the papers into shreds and littered them on the floor.

“Yeah, no. We’re not doing this.”

“You! If we don’t convince the audience, I’m not the only one who’s getting in trouble, you know? Are you truly that stupid?”

“Don’t call me stupid, you bitch!”

Brad stomped on the papers that Rose had painstakingly put together for the match. So many hours of her effort went into making that plan. Seeing it destroyed and trampled upon rekindled the hatred she harbored for the spoiled, ungrateful boy in front of her. Noticing her intense glare, Brad took a step back.

“O-oh? What? You want to hit me? Go on, why don’t you do it? See what happens, haha!”

(“Bastard…”)

Watching him act so tough just because of his father’s connections was irritating. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything to him that would be frowned upon by the Count and Headmaster. Right now, her best course of action was to contain all of her anger inside and hope that her patience can last. Otherwise, she might turn Brad into a disfigured corpse.

“That’s what I thought. You know, you shouldn’t be so vexed. Right now you should be praising me for my unfathomable generosity.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What are you talking about?”

“Rejoice! You and I won’t have to fight anymore!”

!!

Seeing her so confused, Brad laughed internally.

“In fact, I have a present for you later. Look forward to it. We don’t need you anymore, get out of here!”

Rose left the room without much of a fuss. However, her mind was plagued by what happened earlier. It didn’t make any sense to her for Brad to drop the match. Did he truly grow a conscience? No, even if there was the slightest possibility of it happening, his attitude regarding the matter suggested otherwise. No matter how hard she racked her brain, she wasn’t able to come up with anything that made his change of heart even remotely coherent.

Before she knew it, she was already back at the audience’s seats. What was important right now was to find them and tell Nyx of the current development. Rose waded unto the crowd, retracing her steps as she sought to find the two. Eventually, she spotted Ria and an unfamiliar boy in the seats.

“Ria! Where’s Nyx?”

“Rose!? What are you– I don’t know. When I looked over to him, he was gone!”

Her head turned at every direction like a paranoid individual searching for nonexistent threats. But no matter how hard she searched, he was nowhere to be found.

"I'm sorry... I was too absorbed watching the last match."

"I-I see..."

“Rose, are you okay?”

“Yes… I’m just wondering where he went…”

Rose sat down on Nyx’s seat. There was no point in losing her head over where he was. All she could do now was trust him. Trust that he wouldn’t do anything drastic. A grisly feeling of apprehension firmly grasped her heart, though she didn’t know why.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I am Rosecca Grayle. I was just... looking for a friend of mine."

"No, no, it's ok! I’m Trey Lofit. You can call me Trey. I'm also Jenyx's buddy!"

“Is that so? Well, a friend of Nyx’s is a friend of mine. You can call me Rose.”

Though she was a little astonished to know that Nyx had a friend aside from her, he didn't seem like a bad person, so she welcomed it.

“O-oh, hahaha. Sure."

Trey shyly scratched his head.

“Trey, do you have any idea where Nyx went?”

“Oh, so ya call him Nyx, huh? Err, I have no clue either, sorry. I was also watching the match. It was so crazy."

“Yes, I heard they destroyed a stage.”

Rose’s eyes went towards the stage. Or what was left of it anyway. What especially caught her attention was the lengthy hole that extended from what was presumably the center of the stage, up to a few feet away.

“Yeah… but that wasn’t the most surprising thing that happened.”

“Is there something else?”

“Yup. They tried to kill each other.”

“W-what?”

“They went pretty damn intensely at it that the professors were forced to intervene. And not just any professors too.”

“That seems overly excessive. Nobody died, right?”

“Ah no, don’t worry. I think they came pretty close, but at least no one died.”

Though a bit concerned about the pretty close comment, she was glad that nobody died. Even if they didn’t know each other, they were still schoolmates after all. With that out of the way, the only thing- or rather, person, that occupied her mind was Nyx. As if in cue, the female announcer’s voice rang out across the stadium.

“Thank you for waiting everyone! With the stage repaired, it’s time for the special match of the event! In recognition for these students’ skills, the Headmaster graciously allowed them to participate!”

!!

Rose was so shocked that she stood up. The special match of the event was supposed to be between her and Brad. How was it possible? If she wasn’t fighting, then who is? While Rose was struggling to understand the meaning behind continuing the match, she suddenly turned pale.

(“No, no, no… it’s impossible… I’m just overthinking it.”)

“Welcome our contestants…”

(“Please…”)

“Brad Baruth…”

(“Please…”)

“and…”

(“No…”)

“Jenyx Troan!”

Once again, Rose felt the familiar sensation of being overrun by despair as she heard Nyx’s name be declared as her replacement.