❦❦❦
BY the time they arrived at the gates of Lagen Magic Academy, the sun was already beginning to disappear beyond the tops of the mountains, which meant their surroundings had grown quite dark. Oriana was at least relieved that they managed to make it back before the gate closed for the day. They stopped briefly to report to security that they had returned, but by the time they made it into the Academy’s main plaza, they found someone unexpected waiting for them.
“Vincent!” Sharon was leaning on the wall by the front gate.
She seriously waited for him until this late hour? Not knowing when he’d come back?
Sharon rushed over to them, in such a hurry that she tripped over her own feet. Vincent caught her in his arms, and she used the opportunity to latch onto his hands and lean into him.
Oriana’s heart seized painfully, and her feet came to a complete stop.
“Sharon?” Vincent’s voice was thick with suspicion.
Sharon glanced up at him before peering over at Oriana. Her beautiful face paled. “I searched everywhere for you. Imagine my surprise when I heard you’d left early this morning. You went out just the two of you? Don’t tell me it was a date?” The sadness bled through her voice, much as she tried to contain her pain.
Oriana jerked her head back and forth. “N-No, that’s not what happened! It was definitely not a date or anything! In fact, we just happened to run into each other by accident a little earlier, so we walked back together. That’s all. Right, Vincent?” Panicked, Oriana blurted out the first thing that popped into her head, glancing at Vincent for backup. Sharon was the last person she wanted to misunderstand and think this really had been a date, if only for Vincent’s sake. She expected him to look relieved and promptly agree with her, but his eyes were ice-cold as he stared down at her.
“…Right.” His tone was completely flat as he spoke.
Oriana suddenly realized that, by virtue of her own words, the enjoyable time they had just spent together was completely ruined. “We just happened to run into each by accident.” She regretted ever saying that. It’s like I completely denied the fun we had today, and after I swore to him that I’d never forget today even if I died…
Vincent was right. She was a liar. And worse yet, she’d made him complicit in her lie to Sharon.
“Miss Beezel,” she said, her mouth feeling extremely dry. “I’m sorry. I denied it on instinct the second you said the word date, but the truth is, we did go out shopping together today.” Oriana hung her head as she spoke, feeling awful that she’d irrevocably crushed the very friendship she’d so painstakingly built brick by brick with Vincent. “But we’re just friends, I swear! There definitely aren’t any romantic feelings between—”
“Oriana.” Vincent’s voice was cold as winter. Her shoulders jumped in surprise. “That’s enough.” Although Vincent was smiling, it didn’t take someone close to him to recognize how insincere it was. Seeing it directed at her, she felt miserable and pathetic. Her heart ached.
“W-Well, I’ll be on my way then,” she said.
Oriana never dreamed that such a fun day would end like this. She hung her head and scurried away.
✦ ✦ ✦
❦❦❦
“SHARON.” Vincent stared after Oriana, watching as her back receded. Anger boiled inside of him, and although he did his best to hold it back, he glared at his cousin. She flinched back, still using his arms for support to keep her upright. “You did this before too. Tell me, what exactly are you after?”
Vincent sounded even colder than he’d meant to, but that was largely because he was irritated at what Oriana had said a few moments ago.
“It was definitely not a date or anything!” Her voice echoed in his head. “But we’re just friends, I swear!” The words were like a bucket of cold water, and it chilled him to the core.
I already knew she didn’t think anything more of me. The only person who got stupidly excited and restlessly anticipated the outing so much they couldn’t sleep…was me. I knew that. Much as he told himself that, he couldn’t tamp down the anger he felt. Had Sharon not shown up like this, the two would have parted ways without issue, and it would have remained a fond, enjoyable memory.
In fact, the more he thought about it, he realized he might have been able to invite her out for another date if not for his cousin’s meddling. That made him so resentful he couldn’t contain it.
“What right do you have to do this?” Vincent demanded, the anger bleeding through his voice.
All the color drained from Sharon’s face. She retreated a step.
“You started this,” he said. “You don’t get to run away now.”
“M-My mother was the one who—”
“My aunt put you up to this?”
“She heard you’d recently made a friend you were really close to, and…”
Vincent was so annoyed he wanted to click his tongue at her. The reason she’d approached him in his previous timeline was likely the same as well. The two hadn’t been particularly close at all during their time at the Academy, but then his big fight with Oriana had marked a turning point; Sharon had suddenly started trying to sidle up to him. No doubt his aunt had been behind that.
“What, she told you to tie me down so I wouldn’t look at anyone else?” Vincent guessed.
“You know what she’s like, don’t you? She won’t listen to me no matter what I say!”
“I have no intention of bearing that particular burden with you,” Vincent said curtly.
Sharon trembled. This was probably the first time he’d ever been so standoffish with her.
There were a handful of students lingering in front of the school’s main gate, and sensing the tension in the air around Sharon and Vincent, they began staring. Vincent grabbed Sharon and dragged her behind the nearest building.
“Vincent, I—”
“Must I spell it out for you, Sharon? I sympathize with your situation with your mother. She has been manipulating you since you were young, so I felt sorry for you, but that was only out of kindness. While we haven’t publicized the falling out between our families, not a soul in my house has forgotten what happened in the past.”
“I-I swear, I…I didn’t know better!”
“That doesn’t absolve you of blame.”
That was exactly why Vincent felt guilty toward Sharon. At the same time, if she threatened his relationship with Oriana any more than she already had, that guilt wouldn’t be enough to make him restrain himself.
“If…if only that hadn’t happened back then,” Sharon lamented.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything regardless. I was never going to pick you.”
Sharon gaped at him.
“The most I’m willing to be for you is a cousin. If you try to pursue me any further, I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
That was the end of the conversation as far as Vincent was concerned. Having said his piece, he spun around to hurry after Oriana.
“Wait, Vincent! If that’s true, then why have you kept all the girls in school at arm’s length this whole time?” Apparently, she thought he’d done so because he intended to find a way to reinstate their annulled engagement. Alas, knowing her feelings did nothing to sway Vincent’s.
“Considering it’s not simply a matter of your mother and her antics, I will answer your question in a show of good faith.” Vincent glanced over his shoulder. Tears were streaming down Sharon’s face, but that didn’t stop him. “I’ve had someone in my heart since long ago.” Though unspoken, the implication was: And that person isn’t you.
Sharon staggered, but Vincent didn’t stop to watch her reaction. He peeled his gaze away and dashed off to search for Oriana.