Sophia was on the verge of breaking down.

In her mind, Felyn’s image had become blurry. She could no longer see him clearly.

At first, Sophia had thought Felyn was just a devoted boy—Viloti’s loyal lapdog.

And after the graduation banquet, she had assumed, with her help, that Viloti and Felyn’s relationship was blossoming, heading toward something more. Everything made sense up to that point.

She had seen Adelina and Felyn together a few times during that period, but she’d always believed it was just Adelina protecting Viloti or, as Adelina once claimed, helping keep Viloti’s secrets.

But after hearing what Linda and Adelina said today, Sophia began to suspect something was off.

The eldest daughter of the Claude family, the most brilliant star of Lanchester Academy—Adelina—had shown up first thing in the morning just to return a notebook to Felyn?

What was in the notebook, a treasure map? Did it really require a morning delivery?

And based on what Linda hinted at, it seemed Felyn had been with Adelina the night before.

A boy and girl alone in the same house… it didn’t take much imagination to guess what might’ve happened.

Judging by Viloti’s expression, she clearly didn’t know what had gone on between Felyn and Adelina last night.

Could it be… Felyn was two-timing?

And not just with any girls—he was two-timing on luxury yachts!

Felyn, just who are you?!

Sophia suddenly felt ancient.

She could no longer make sense of the world—especially not the minds of boys today.

Back when she was in school… well, even her judgment had been a bit off back then.

Linda gently pulled the near-fossilized Sophia away, leaving only Adelina, Viloti, and the masked girl quietly hiding behind them.

Adelina hadn’t meant to say anything about spending the night with Felyn, but Linda had hit the nail on the head immediately.

She saw Viloti’s reaction as well—it wasn’t hard to tell that the girl wasn’t happy.

Adelina could only rely on Viloti’s already-limited expressions to guess her emotional state.

Judging from what she could see, it looked like Viloti was on the verge of erupting.

“Lady Viloti, it’s not what you think. Last night between Felyn and me—it wasn’t like that,” Adelina said, wanting to clear the air. She didn’t want to rely on fake interactions under the contract to provoke Viloti.

She wanted a clean victory—honest and true—not some hollow, ill-gotten glory.

Viloti shook her head. Even the way her soft pink braids moved looked beautiful.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Lady Adelina.”

“Huh?”

“Felyn… he has his own life. So, you don’t need to explain it to me,” Viloti said, biting her lip, the words barely making it out.

Hearing that, Adelina suddenly wondered if she’d become the bad woman in this story.

Had she stolen the man Viloti cared for? And now she showed up every other day, parading it?

But… I like Felyn too! And I didn’t even do anything to him last night!

Just as Adelina was about to explain herself again, the person they’d both been waiting for finally appeared.

In the distance, they spotted a figure dashing toward them.

Five minutes left before class.

Felyn was—yet again—almost late.

The two girls saw him at the same time. Viloti’s cold expression began to melt, tinged with rosy warmth.

Adelina clutched her skirt tightly. Her gray-blue eyes shone with sudden brightness.

She hadn’t told Felyn she was coming. Would he be upset?

She had asked herself that question countless times on the way here, but kept comforting herself—it’ll be fine, he won’t mind.

But now that he was in front of her, she couldn’t help but worry. When a girl was secretly in love, she always feared doing something that might make the boy unhappy.

“Viloti… just now you said Felyn likes his space, right? Does that mean he really doesn’t like being disturbed?” Adelina asked nervously as Felyn got closer.

“I think so,” Viloti replied honestly.

Only Viloti knew how much effort she’d put in just to get close to Felyn. Only she knew how hard he had tried to keep his distance at first.

Sometimes, Viloti even wondered… did Felyn actually dislike her?

Even after Adelina had confessed, Felyn hadn’t shown much joy. And despite spending the night together, there wasn’t anything special between them now either.

Felyn, for his part, had no idea what the two girls were thinking.

He didn’t even have time to wonder.

I’m gonna be late!

This morning, Daiyi had been playing with Hermie, and Felyn had gotten a little too caught up watching them. It wasn’t until Daiyi reminded him—

“I’m not going anywhere. You can stare at me all you want after school. But right now, you’re gonna be late.”

Only then had Felyn realized how little time he had left. Without a second thought, he sprinted toward the school gate.

By the time he arrived, there were barely any students left at the entrance.

But there was one familiar face.

Lady Viloti was still there.

She stood under a tree, holding her schoolbag in both hands.

The autumn breeze stirred the golden leaves above, a few of them drifting down onto her shoulders.

Viloti gently brushed her hair behind her ear. Her amber eyes sparkled in the soft light.

“Viloti, don’t wait for me! Run!” Felyn called out.

He charged into that picture-perfect scene, shattering the stillness.

He grabbed Viloti’s hand and pulled her toward the gate.

Viloti’s cheeks turned a bright pink. Her eyes drifted to their interlocked fingers.

“So… he really did make it in time after all.”

After they dashed through the gate, Felyn leaned forward, hands on his knees, panting hard.

Viloti gently patted his back, then pulled a notebook out of her bag.

“Felyn, Lady Adelina asked me to return this to you.”

“Adelina? She was here?” Felyn blinked in surprise.

“She left just before you arrived.”

Watching him tuck the notebook away, Viloti reached out and tugged lightly on his sleeve.

“Felyn… I’m free to tutor you tonight, too. I’ve got the whole day open.”

As their figures disappeared into the school, the front gate returned to its usual calm.

As if nothing had happened at all.

“Adelina… was this really okay?” Linda asked gently, looking at Adelina, who was hiding behind the tree.

Adelina had chosen to leave before Felyn showed up.

After what Viloti said, she became even more worried she might have ruined things.

Would her actions today only make Felyn dislike her?

So even though she’d woken up early, even though she’d waited all morning just to see him—Adelina still chose to walk away.

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t interfere with Felyn’s life.”

Linda placed her hands on her hips, staring at the eldest daughter of the Claude family.

She couldn’t help but mutter a little protest.

“I honestly don’t get what’s so great about Felyn…”

But her words hadn’t even finished when she remembered something unpleasant.

Back then, she had once spoken badly about Felyn to Viloti, thinking she was helping.

But Viloti had told her firmly: “Don’t speak badly about Felyn.”

And now… the exact same look had appeared on Adelina’s face.

“W-Wait, Adelina! I was wrong! Don’t say it! Please, don’t say it—”

“If you say that line, I’m really going to break!”