2. Was I Dumped?

When was my first confession, again?

Right—it was to a girl from the same village.

I'd been pushed into it, more or less, and what came back was a rejection.

On top of that, I was the one who should have been crying, but the girl who'd received the confession burst into tears instead, which made the whole thing bizarrely awkward. I still remember that.

Anyway, after that I hadn't really wanted to think about romance—and yet here I was, confessing again.

Maybe I'm just fundamentally... incompatible with love.

Elline stopped.

As if some invisible hand had reached out and seized her mid-step, she simply stopped.

At first, the words had come out tangled.

But telling her *sorry, this is a forfeit, just bear with me* felt like too much of a betrayal—so I'd decided to just say it honestly.

Like I genuinely liked her.

*Well. I went and did it.*

The comparison might be a little crude, but they say when you're desperate to use the bathroom you're frantic with anxiety, and then the moment it's done, you feel completely at ease.

That was exactly me right now.

The deed was done. Whatever she said next, I felt like I could take it.

Objectively speaking, she was one of the top students even within Alpha Class.

I was... a middling student even within Beta Class.

She was a noble from a distinguished family... and I was a noble from some rural backwater where people farmed.

If there was one thing I had over her, it was that I'd made more friends at the academy.

That was it. Literally just that.

Given her personality, she wouldn't get angry. Maybe she'd look at me with contempt.

Actually, I couldn't picture any expression on her face at all.

Not from the second-year final monster-subjugation exam, not from the troll escape incident in first year that had turned the whole academy upside down.

I'd never once seen her wear a different expression.

And then, slowly, she turned her head.

Her silver hair shifted as she turned to face me fully, and the expression I saw was—

*Wow.*

Nothing.

A perfect blankness—every last trace of feeling, however faint, completely erased.

It made me think that if a god had forgotten to give humans expressions before breathing life into them, this was what they'd look like.

She was alive, of course.

Her eyes were still blinking, and I could see the faint movement of her pupils.

I'd said with confidence that I hadn't seen a different expression from her in two years—but this was something new entirely.

And still, those unwavering blue eyes were fixed on me, boring straight through.

Uncomfortably so.

Only a few seconds had passed, but the silence in between pressed down on my chest all the harder.

Why wasn't she saying anything?

Those eyes, still unreadable, were watching me. Her hair swayed in the breeze drifting through the open window.

Just give me a negative reaction. Get angry, even.

"Um, listen—"

I couldn't hold it in any longer, and the moment I opened my mouth, she cut me off again.

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you like me?"

The conversation had abruptly shifted into interview format.

*Why do you like me?* That was a line I'd never come across—not in any play I'd seen, not in any story I'd heard.

*Wait, had I?*

I didn't know.

Either way, I needed to answer.

Hmm...

Why did I like her?

Well, there wasn't really a reason—I'd confessed because of a forfeit, hadn't I?

That was the worst possible answer.

Because she was beautiful? Because her presence was striking? Because she was special? Because of her family name?

None of those were right.

No fitting answer came to mind, so I just stared at her.

You don't need a reason to like someone.

"Just... because."

*Just because*, he says.

I should've paid more attention in rhetoric class instead of slacking off. Even a little more would've helped. Years of only hanging around with guys had left me with no idea how to speak considerately to a woman, and now that was coming back to bite me in the worst way.

Even after saying it, I felt pathetic.

"?"

Just a little.

Her lips moved the tiniest bit, and she bit them—barely, almost imperceptibly.

Her expression was still blank, but maybe because of that, the small way she bit her lip stood out all the more clearly.

Was she displeased?

I felt a pang of guilt.

I'd expected rejection, but actually witnessing that look of displeasure with my own eyes made something ache in a corner of my chest.

*I'm sorry... ugh.*

The first time I confessed, I'd done something similar and made the girl cry.

It was only natural to feel uncomfortable when someone you had no interest in confessed to you—I knew that better than anyone. And yet I'd gone and done it anyway, out of some momentary pride. That thought settled over me.

*I should apologize.*

"Sorry."

I scratched the back of my head.

"You're busy with third year, and this was pretty sudden. Answer however you're comfortable."

I looked at her again, hoping my sincere apology had reached her—but she was still expressionless.

And then, slowly, she opened her mouth.

"Okay."

That was the answer I'd expected.

No—

*Okay* was not the answer I'd expected.

"Hm?"

I asked again, but Elline only blinked, her eyes steady.

"You said to answer."

There wasn't a single lie in those unwavering eyes looking back at me.

She took one step toward me, then another, closing the distance, and that moment felt like it stretched into eternity.

The core of support-branch magic is quick judgment.