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At the dead of night, all the members of the Blue Knight Order were summoned.
The one who summoned them, Orion Miller, brought up the agenda with a serious face.
“I believe everyone here knows that today, Marianne returned from the academy with a very dark face.”
The knights who looked at each other nodded their heads.
The atmosphere turned serious and heavy.
Orion looked at them with a serious face as he told them the trouble he heard from Marianne.
A knight slowly raised his hand and presented his opinion.
“That, isn’t that one hundred percent that situation?”
“What do you mean?”
The knight scratched his head, then explained with an awkward face.
“You said they were fine, but suddenly that friend changed. They suddenly had a secret when there were no secrets between them, and also avoided her call. The next thing will naturally be . . .”
“Will be?”
“That friend gets caught communicating with someone else.”
Orion’s forehead screased.
The knight who brought up his opinion concluded.
“It’s a one hundred percent affair, sir.”
A few of those who were seriously listening to him nodded their heads and a few others tilted their heads.
Orion criticized the knight who said his opinion.
“What do you mean by affair? This is about Marianne and her friend.”
“Captain, everyone says it’s about their friend, but turns out, most of them are not friends.”
“I told you no. This is about a pure friendship.”
The knights who questioned his overconfident attitude remained silent.
For now, they gathered and racked their heads together, but it was really difficult to gauge the minds of an adolescent female student through the experiences of the knights.
Everyone only looked at each other because they were worried if they would get criticized if they made a wrong guess.
Orion Miller, who firmly believed that his sister was suffering from the complications of a pure friendship, was in agony, holding his temple.
“Well, of course I believe that my Marianne will reconcile with her friend on her own accord. But still, it’s hard for me to just stay still looking at how she’s in agony like that.”
The rough idea was settled as ‘Marianne fought with her friend, and she wants to reconcile with that friend.’
Rather than because they believed that idea was right, it was because Orion’s conviction was too strong.
Now that the silly situation had been identified, everyone moved to a new agenda.
“And so, what should my Marianne do for her to be on good terms again with her friend?”
The agenda had narrowed down, but everyone hardly expressed their opinion.
The knights with troubled expressions exchanged glances.
When we have a quarrel, don’t we just solve it with a fistfight?
If that doesn’t work, then we’ll ask for a duel, and we’ll obey the one who wins.
However, they couldn’t tell Marianne to do an honorary duel with her friend, nor to have a fistfight.
Everyone’s gaze swarmed to Lloyd, the youngest of the knight order who had a little sister.
“How does your sister make up with her friend?”
“My sister . . .”
Lloyd shook his head with a troubled face.
He was treated as a strange man by his little sister.
There was no way she would just answer him if he asked her ‘the way to make up with a friend after fighting’.
Bayhan, who looked at the new recruit looking around in trouble, turned his head.
While crossing his arms, he decided to watch the thoughts of those who were going in the very wrong direction.
Once again, the truth quietly hid its trace before Orion’s wild guess.
* * *
Late at night, my dream was particularly fierce.
I, who rarely had a nightmare, quickly woke up dripping with cold sweat.
My senses only returned after I felt the texture of the soft blanket clutched in my hand.
When I saw the place wet with sweat, I felt uneasy again.
I acknowledge that the communication method between him and I was quite one-sided through this pendant that still gave no answer.
“It’s a dead end if that side doesn’t accept my call.”
It was heartless of him to not even explain anything after that.
I tapped on the pendant, then I put it next to me.
“Aren’t you being mean? At least I apologize and explain after I cause a problem.”
A sigh flowed out through my lips without my knowing.
The thirst didn’t go away even after I drank a glass of water on the table.
Perhaps it was because I had sweat so much.
As I couldn’t win against the thirst, I got off my bed and opened the door.
Then, on my way back to my room while holding a bottle of water . . .
I saw a faint light come out from a room.
As I questioned who was still awake at this late hour, I realized that was Jeremy’s room.
Come to think of it, he too, must be disturbed with what happened today just like me.
Because not only Young Duke Bolton, but also Zen came out of nowhere.
After thinking about it, I knocked on the door, and he calmly answered, yes.
When I opened the door, Jeremy with a book in his hands entered my sight.
His complexion wasn’t as dark as I had thought it would be.
The plant illustrated book in his hand was familiar.
“Is it okay for you to stay up so late?”
“I can’t go to sleep. I thought I might be sleepier if I read a book.”
“Well, that’s true.”
I sat carefully on the chair near him, and he examined me.
“You’re the one who doesn’t look good, Marianne.”
“I had a nightmare.”
Jeremy, surprised with my honest answer, opened his eyes wide, and then asked in a low voice.
“Can I ask you what kind of nightmare that was?”
“Erm, I dreamed about bad things that I experienced in the past.”
His expression turned cloudy only for a second.
“That, I don’t think that would feel good.”
“All nightmares are like that.”
I poured the water bottle I brought along, and I gave a glass to him, and also a glass for me to drink.
The boy emptied the glass I gave to him as if he was thirsty just in time.