Chapter 188: The Clash of Wanting
Bree reached out her hand, attempting to stop Kai, but she was too slow.
She could only watch him run back to the dormitory with his hands covering his crotch.
Anger struck her almost instantly—but it wasn’t showing clearly. She did not make a sudden snap, nor did her face contort into a hideous one. Bree only lowered her arm—stood completely still for a good second and bent down to take her and Kai’s uniforms from the ground.
"You know," She said lightly—while picking the uniform up from the ground. Her voice was calm as usual, but there was an edge to it now. "You are really starting to get on my nerves. I don’t get why you’re pestering me like this."
Bree hung the uniforms on her forearm and turned to face Matilda.
Her gaze is as sharp as a blade.
"Did you fall for Kai, too? What? Spending time together with him made you develop feelings for him?" Bree questioned and then chuckled incredulously. "Know your place, Matilda. Did you really think you had a chance now because he had forgiven what you did?
"Forgiving doesn’t necessarily equate to starting over, you know."
Even if Kai had forgiven her, the cut from a betrayal would remain for eternity.
One could tell themselves that it was gone, or even hide it, but the wound would still remain.
Kai knew that being closer to someone like Matilda would mean having to look at his back once in a while, in case she decided to betray him again, and that’s exhausting. Nobody would want to live in a restless reality.
And that’s the cold fact.
Matilda clenched her fists harder, but she didn’t let Bree’s words bother her too much.
"I know you’re the one who helped me kill the senior—in the Fire Swamp," She finally voiced the truth, and as expected, Bree’s face changed. More focused. "I also know you’re the one who stopped Ragnar from incentivizing new groups from being formed so that the Ambrosia Pact could be made."
Despite not wanting to confront Bree directly earlier, Matilda decided to do it anyway.
Not because emotions got to her, but because Bree was already alerted.
Confronting Bree hadn’t been driven by emotion—this was calculation. Pure and simple. But stepping in to stop Kai from sleeping with her? That had been an impulse. Her emotions ran high when she realized what was going on.
She stepped into the garden to look around and saw movements.
It was dark and hard to see from her point of view, so she had to get closer.
And when she heard the familiar voice and Kai’s longing gaze, her mind instantly went blank.
And before she could stop herself, her body had already moved on its own.
Now, all Matilda could do was adjust to her own mistake.
Adapt to the new reality she had created.
She really believed Bree would deny these claims.
After all, Matilda didn’t have much proof that it was really Bree who was behind those things.
But to her surprise, Bree didn’t deny it.
"And?" Bree raised a brow in question. "What’s your point? What’s so wrong with doing those things? What’s so wrong about helping Kai? I never told Kai about it because I don’t want him to think about it. All I have for him are good intentions."
"Nothing in this world is free. Nothing. No one helps another in need with such fervor unless they want something in return—something precious, or perhaps something selfish. And more often than not, what they want is never good."
"Isn’t what I want obvious? You’ve just seen me almost getting what I wanted. I’m doing this out of love."
"Really? Did you love him from the start? Love a Lesser Angel with no future?"
"It’s love at first sight. I saw the devastation he felt in his eyes when his sister was killed, and I want someone to cherish me like that."
"I’m not stupid enough to believe that. You’re the daughter of a politician; do you even believe in love?"
"Don’t bring my family into this." Bree grimaced at what Matilda said—the matter regarding her family seemed sensitive for her. "You are crossing a line that you don’t want to cross. You don’t want me to be your enemy."
"Aren’t we already?" Matilda chuckled.
Considering that the two had not been on good terms lately, she already treated Bree as such.
An enemy that might need to be taken out.
Matilda stepped forward and stopped directly before Bree, close enough to feel the tension in the air crackle. She was taller by a small margin, but a deliberate margin, and the way her eyes looked down at Bree seemed to grate against every nerve Bree had.
"I don’t know your real reason for getting close to Kai," Matilda said with a cheeky tone. "But thanks to this, I now know that whatever it is, you can only achieve it by making him really fall for you... Or make him sleep with you.
"You’ve shown your hands, Bree, and that put you in a bad spot." She leaned closer. "Because I’m not going to let that happen. The only way for you to succeed is to kill me first. And know that if you did, I’ll make sure that Kai knows that you’re the one who did it."
"Heh," Bree snorted in contempt. "What can you even do to stop me?"
"Do you think having him do this with you gave you the edge?" Matilda chuckled, finding it funny that Bree thought she was almost in control. Almost had Kai. "I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re too late."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I meant that when he gave the Crystallized Teardrop of Argus to me, he stayed the night."
Matilda turned around and walked away.
She didn’t need to go into the details, letting Bree’s mind fill in the gaps.
Naturally, this was a revelation.
Bree isn’t dense enough not to sense the subtle change in the air between Kai and Matilda.
And now, she realized the reason.
But she still didn’t want to believe it, hoping that this was only a bluff.
"You’re lying!" Bree shouted in anger. "You’re definitely lying! He would never do that!"
Despite the shout, Matilda kept going—ignoring her altogether so that she could shimmer in rage and panic. Matilda’s heart was in pain earlier after seeing the scene. And now, she wanted Bree to feel the same way.
Meanwhile, inside the dormitory, Kai was oblivious to what was happening in the backyard.
He was already trying to put what happened behind him.
But still, it’s hard to forget the embarrassment he felt.
Kai wanted to hole up in the room and forget about the world. He didn’t want to see anyone, not even Talitha. But as much as he wanted to sink into the ground and emerge once everyone forgot what happened, he had responsibilities.
Still needed to mine.
He went out again after changing, yet he had no intention of meeting with Matilda or Bree.
Not a chance.
"I’ll slip out and hope someone can give me a lift." Kai peeked out the door—and scanned the corridor, searching for any trace of Matilda or Bree. Neither could be seen. Satisfied, he closed the door behind him with a soft click and activated the Nigh-phantom imprint.
His presence grew fainter, fading into the darkness.
From the bottom of the stairs, Talitha looked at him in utter confusion.
He came inside running to the bathroom, and then sneaked out without saying anything.
"I hope he’s not in trouble again." Talitha shook her head.
She crossed to Kai’s bed and reached into the narrow gap between the mattress and the wall—the very spot where she had seen him hastily shove something. It appeared to be clothes. Since she planned to wash his uniforms tomorrow anyway, she decided to check.
Once her hand felt something, she pulled it out and realized that it was only his pants.
"Why is he hiding his pants?" Talitha thought aloud.
Confused, she lifted the pants properly and turned them around.
Her eyes were immediately pulled to the wet patch above the zipper, which made her frown even harder. She reached her hand into the pants to feel the wet patch from the inside, thinking that he might’ve spilled something on it.
Talitha realized that his underwear was still in there, and her fingers felt something sticky.
She wiped the sticky substance and pulled out her hand.
As soon as her eyes registered what was on her fingers—a white, sticky evidence that slowly traced down—heat flooded her cheeks. Talitha pulled her gaze away, flustered beyond words. "I guess he’s at that age to start doing these things."
On the Aerial Stable, Kai arrived safely without being found by Matilda or Bree.
It was still early in the night, so there were some students who were still preparing to leave.
"Dorian and Bryan must still be in their rooms," Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure. He did not want to risk being caught by the girls—so he didn’t even check on their rooms and decided to go straight for the Aerial Stable. "Those lazy bums."
Since he had no other choice, Kai had no choice but to try his luck.
The desire to avoid conversation with any other students is strong, but the embarrassment in him right now is stronger. So, Kai sucked it up and approached a lone student preparing the saddle on his Pegasus.
A man with pale marks that traced from the backs of his hands up to his forearms.
Glowing against his skin.
"Hey," Kai greeted before he got too close, announcing his presence.
He did that so that he wouldn’t scare the student, but it scared him anyway.
"Zeus!" The student flinched, whipping around to find Kai already closing the distance behind him. "Just like the rumors say, you come and go like a phantom, Lesser Angel." He exhaled— half-admiring, half-unnerved. "That’s one handy imprint you’ve got there."
Kai chuckled awkwardly, going with the flow.
But he didn’t know how to ease the conversation smoothly, and the student seemed to notice that.
"What do you want? Just say it."
"I need a lift to the Dead Range—a Lesser Angel can’t really get a Pegasus easily. Are you also going there?"
Kai was fully prepared to be rejected.
Nobody would want to risk being seen helping the Lesser Angel, especially when they are not from the Ambrosia Pact. The student gets on the Pegasus, intending to leave. But when Kai was about to turn away, he finally spoke, "Get on."
"Wait... Really?"
"Yes. Really. I’m not going to the Dead Range, but it’s not a long trip, so get on."
Kai’s eyes lit up.
Seems like beating that Matthew dude is a good thing.
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