Chapter 201: Sefira
The three men bowed once more before silently turning around. Their footsteps gradually faded into the distance until the enormous hall became silent once again.
Only Sefira remained. She quietly rested her cheek against one hand. For reasons she couldn’t understand.
Her thoughts once again drifted toward Noah Eldritch.
She unconsciously pressed her lips into a thin line. "...Why am I thinking about him so often?"
She couldn’t understand it. "He was merely a frivolous young man. A shameless flirt. Just like countless other men. He even flirted with me. There was nothing special about that."
She slowly closed her eyes.
"But... When I disguised myself. I wasn’t beautiful."
"I deliberately appeared plain. An average, nerdy girl that no man would notice."
"No one approached me. No one even looked twice."
She slowly opened her eyes again.
"So...why did he? He even call me cute so many times."
That single question continued lingering inside her mind. The more she thought about it...
The stranger it seemed.
She quietly recalled the past several weeks.
"...Now that I think about it...Other than me, he only ever flirt with Arisha and Lyria."
Her fingers lightly tapped against the armrest of the throne.
A displeased expression appeared on her face when she thought of him flirting with Arisha and Lyria.
Though his behavior hadn’t resembled that of a smooth flirt at all. Most of his pickup lines had been embarrassingly cheesy and cringe.
Some had even been downright ridiculous. None of them had sounded like the words of a man who truly knew how to win a woman’s heart.
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"...Perhaps he wasn’t serious."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Perhaps he was only teasing me."
Then another memory surfaced. She remembered the awkward smile on Noah’s face after she had questioned him.
He had scratched the back of his head and admitted that he had only been joking.
"...Or..."
Her brows knitted together.
"...Was he actually trying to make someone fall for him... perhaps even me?"
She immediately shook her head.
"No... that doesn’t make any sense."
Yet another memory rose to the surface before she could dismiss it.
She remembered the sincerity in his glacier-blue eyes whenever he had called her cute and adorable.
There had been no hesitation.
He had genuinely seemed honest each time he call her that.
"...Was he truly serious?"
The question escaped her lips before she realized it. Her hand, which had been resting on the throne’s armrest, unconsciously tightened into a fist.
Crack.
Thin fractures spread across the ancient stone beneath her fingers.
She didn’t even notice. A faint blush slowly crept across her porcelain-white cheeks.
It was so subtle that almost no one would have noticed it.
’H-He didn’t actually... love me... right?’
Her flame like eyes widened slightly.
’No... What am I thinking...?’
She quickly shook her head, as though trying to drive the absurd thought from her mind.
’Impossible. Sefira... what’s wrong with you?’
’He was merely teasing you. Besides... I wasn’t even using my real appearance.’
She slowly leaned back against the throne.
Yet no matter how many times she tried to dismiss the thought...The image of Noah Eldritch refused to leave her mind.
She remembered the very first time she had met him.
It had been near the academy washroom. He had been cleaning the entire place as punishment after getting into a fight with another student. While he was getting out of the washroom she met him.
At the time she acted like young normal woman who felt afraid after hearing his name.
Then another memory surfaced.
She remembered his duel against Edward.
After the fight, while talking with Damien, he called her cute for first time. Then he had suddenly turned toward her with that familiar carefree smile.
Then, before leaving, he had said, ’I beat the hell out of Edward. If he ever comes back to you... just tell me.’
At the time, she had dismissed those words as nothing more than another one of his ridiculous attempts at flirting.
Another scene flashed before her eyes.
She had been quietly drinking coffee at a café when Noah had unexpectedly walked over and sat across from her.
Without any hesitation, he had asked if they could become friends.
That alone had shocked her.
She had never expected someone to approach her so naturally while she was disguised as nothing more than an ordinary girl.
In the end she had even exchanged communication numbers with him while acting like a shy, nervous girl.
Then, as if that wasn’t surprising enough, he had casually invited her to spend the weekend together.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
’...Was he really asking me out on a date?’
She quietly wondered. Unfortunately, too many incidents had followed afterward. Neither of them had ever gotten the chance to go on date.
She slowly shook her head.
’...What are you even thinking?’
Her thoughts drifted to another memory. It had been the incident involving the weakest form of a Monarch that was summoned by demon name Marbas.
That battle had nearly claimed lives of every students who were involved.
She had secretly interfered by freezing Marbas’s mind for a brief moment.
Those few precious seconds had given Noah the opening he needed to land the killing blow.
Afterward, she had immediately discovered the hidden exit.
As they ran, she had even formed an invisible barrier between Noah and the incoming attack from that terrifying creature.
Unfortunately the attack had been far too powerful.
Because her strength had been heavily suppressed by the artifact she wore, the barrier hadn’t lasted long.
Yet before the attack could reach her. Noah had pulled her into his arms without hesitation.
He had shielded her with his own body. They both were thrown out. After that she left that place to check the surrounding and came back when she sense Morgana running in that direction.
During that incident, it had been the first time something within her heart had changed.
For the first time she had felt that perhaps his words about wanting to become close to her... about wanting to be good friends hadn’t been lies after all.
From that day onward she had gradually begun feeling closer to him.
No matter how much she tried to deny it. She let out a long, helpless sigh.
’...My mind is being thrown into chaos by a nineteen-year-old boy?’
The thought alone filled her with embarrassment.
Perhaps... It was because she had spent so much time living as an ordinary nineteen-year-old academy student.
For the first time in a very long while she had experienced what it felt like to live a normal life.
Perhaps... She had simply become too immersed in it.
She didn’t know. Slowly, she bit her lower lip while recalling everything that had happened between them.
After remaining silent for a long while, she quietly muttered,
"...Should I recruit him into my organization after he graduates from the academy?"
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[A/N: Hope u guys r happy seeing Mary alive. I have uploaded her image in comment section.]
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