Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma - Chapter 28.1
Remember when you said you’d try to be obedient for once?
I looked back at Acteon, who didn’t show the slightest intention of shaking off my hand.
The Transcendent who nearly tore the entire academy apart just a few days ago had been nowhere to be seen. But now, he was following right behind me like nothing but a big dog, quietly trailing after me.
‘…It’s a relief no one ran into us.’
There’s absolutely no way I could cross the main training field in front of the main building with him in tow.
‘With all sorts of rumors already flying around, I can’t throw them any more fodder.’
This adjacent building is only used for internal management, so it’s sparsely populated.
Only a handful of staff come and go, so the odds of running into anyone are low.
“It’s quiet here.”
“I brought us somewhere quiet on purpose. We need to finish our earlier conversation.”
“I don’t really remember. Could you explain it again?”
“Don’t bother trying to pull a fast one. Just sit down for now.”
Practically forcing him, I made Acteon sit on a bench.
‘This way, he won’t pull anything like earlier.’
Away from the main building, where students come and go, this area was lined with ornamental trees around an artificial lake made for staff aesthetics.
Even if we ran into someone, we could hide and slip away. Perfect.
But my assumption that no one would come was wrong.
And if someone did show up, I certainly didn’t expect it to be a student.
As soon as Acteon sat down, I heard the light footsteps of someone approaching.
And then, someone recognized me and called out.
“Um, is that you, Senior?”
Apparently, she’d also come here looking for somewhere away from people, like me.
But the fact that the person I ran into was Millia Ernst genuinely surprised me.
Millia, her softly-colored hair neatly tied up, blinked her big round eyes and looked around.
“What are you doing here…?”
“I just needed to clear my head. How did you find this place?”
“Ah… I’ve been exploring the campus lately. Sometimes I just want to be alone….”
I placed my finger in front of Acteon’s lips, signaling him to stay quiet for a moment.
Thanks to a nearby tree blocking the view, Millia hadn’t noticed Acteon was there.
After quieting him, I approached Millia.
When I got close, Millia flinched in surprise, suddenly flustered.
“S-Sorry! If I’m bothering you, I’ll just—”
“Wait, I have something I want to ask you.”
“Yes?”
Maybe it was just my imagination, but she seemed to be hurrying to leave, so I stopped her.
She dropped the books she was carrying with a thud.
“What… do you want to know?”
I picked up the dropped books for her, and a moment later, Millia sat down on the grass and accepted them from me.
“On the day of the entrance ceremony.”
“……”
“Weren’t you curious how I knew your name?”
For a moment, Millia’s face went sheet white as she took the books from me.
Rather than frightened, it was more like…
‘…She overlooked it herself.’
She’s not usually this careless, so maybe she really let it slip without realizing.
It seemed that, when I called her by name, she’d simply accepted it without thinking and got caught out.
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Had I met Millia before?
‘And the crown prince’s side, too… What is going on here?’
Our first meeting.
Even back then, there were plenty of suspicious things about Millia.
Like how she didn’t question me knowing the name of a new student I was meeting for the first time.
‘She also knew the control stones weren’t properly prepared.’
Even if I hadn’t taken Acteon to the Garden of Oaths, my convincing the researchers to hurry the replacement of the control stone wasn’t wasted.
Thanks to that, the staff at the Garden of Oaths were able to respond more quickly to a potential disaster.
Even if I’d died as in the original, at least the damage would have been minimized.
With the control stone prepared ahead of time, they would have been able to subdue Acteon until a high-ranking guide could arrive.
‘How did she know all that?’
Millia’s hand gripped the book tightly as her lips parted.
She looked like she had a lot to say, but the determined look on her face made it clear she wouldn’t speak.
“Um, I don’t want to lie to you, Senior. But… it’s hard to tell you right now….”
So she really does have her reasons.
I was suspicious, but I didn’t want to press her.
After all, the information she’d given me was to prevent serious accidents from leading to the worst possible outcomes.
That’s why I only asked about her name, without pushing for more.
I straightened up from where I’d been leaning and helped Millia to her feet.
“Thanks for saying so. I wasn’t trying to scare you, sorry if I did.”
Millia, who had grabbed my hand as she stood, blushed.
She seemed to let out a relieved sigh, as if she’d been tense this whole time.
“No, I’m the one who should apologize… and thank you.”
I didn’t know exactly what she was apologizing for, but I figured if I pressed her further, she might just run off.
‘She’d probably avoid me for the rest of the semester.’
Instead, it’d be easier to get to know her bit by bit and figure out what she knows, and why she’s acting this way.
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