Meanwhile, at the very place where the commotion took place last night, Bentley applied medicine on his body alone.
Blisters and cuts filled every portion of his body. Most notable was the injury on his head which was dealt by a suspicious woman who smashed his head with a vase last night.
However, all his other remaining bruises and injuries were made by another person.
And that was, Lycan Jellinus.
He was Lariensaâs brother, the brother of Bentleyâs recipient of affection.
This morning Bentley decided to go to work despite the injury on his head because thatâs the only he could do to find and identify his assailant.
However, on his way to the faculty room, someone suddenly covered Bentleyâs mouth from behind and kidnapped him.
Bentley, who was taken to a secluded forest inside the academy, was flustered to find out who had kidnapped him.
âL-Lycan?! What do you think youâre doing? No matter how well-recognized you are as an outstanding student, you cannot do this to me!â
Wham!
The blow to his face left Professor Bentley speechless.
âEven you will get expelled from school for this⌠Ugh!â
There was no time to talk.
âLetâs calm down firstâŚ!â
He was beaten without even having a chance to talk.
âYou know⌠there are two kinds of people that I hate the most in this world, professor.â
Lycan sat down with his knees bent and made eye contact with Bentley who was lying on the ground.
âFirst are those people who use their power against the weak, and second⌠are those people who dare hurt my sister. But professor⌠you did both. Even in the former case, your target is my sister.â
âY-you mustâve misunderstood! Lariensa and I love each other!â
At those words, Lycanâs eyes flashed in anger and hit Professor Bentley a few more times. However, he did not stop there. Lycan even pulled out his sword.
âHiik!â
Wham!
The sword stuck between Bentleyâs legs.
âIf this happens again, this sword wonât then miss as it did now.â
ââŚâŚâ
âSo donât be so delusional, and⌠donât bother my sister anymore.â
ââŚâŚâ
âOr I will kill you for real.â
âUh, uh, u-uhâŚ!â
Bentley eventually roared in anger.
âAHHHHH!â
âShe loves me, too! We are meant to be! I recognized her the moment I saw her, but why doesnât she recognize me?â
Professor Bentley then recalled what happened last night.
Lycan and Sibel. Both of these guys who approached him in rage and in broad moonlight were all men.
But the assailant who broke into his place last night were women.
âWho were they?â
He had to find out. Bentley couldnât afford to miss his last love just like what happened to his first love.
âIn order to get Lariensa, I will destroy everything that hinders our love!â
âFirst things first, those two girls seem to be the easiest.â
Bentley focused on remembering what happened last night.
Both of them were covering their faces. One had a common hair color, and the other one wasâŚ
ââŚGingerâ
A red-haired woman.
âWhy didnât I notice earlier?â
He definitely saw her hair when he tore the paper bag!
âThat damn girl againâŚ!â
Finally, he had found one of the two criminals.
Now, itâs time for payback.
Bentley clenched his fist so hard that his veins sprang out.
ďź ďź ďź
Today, everyone in the class was noisy and they didnât focus on the lesson.
And it was also the same for us.
âGuys, you know itâs today, right?â
We all nodded as Natalie whispered in class.
Today is finally the day we are given free time to go out. Oh yeah!
Usually, everyone would be excited to go out to buy clothes and food and have fun, but we were a little nervous as we have a different reason to go out.
âWhat time was it again?â
âFive oâclock.â
âAfter this class, weâll then be free to go.â
On days like today, where we have free time, class ends a little after lunch. And now, there are only 10 minutes before the class is overâŚ
I hope the professor will let us go now already. Although Bentley has been quiet lately, Iâm still worried knowing that heâs still freely walking around the campus!
âAlright, class is over. You all know whenâs the curfew, right? Try not to come back too late.â
After the class was over, I immediately gave my bag to Emily which contained all of Bentleyâs diaries. Although we had the free time all to ourselves, I was in a hurry to leave because as long as Bentley is here, I canât help but feel burdened holding onto his diaries.
âLariensa!â
Suddenly, somebody called out to Lariensa.
âThe homeroom professor said he has something to talk to you about.â
âAh, really?â
Although weâve always been together, I stuck to her much more this time because of the recent incident.
âItâs alright, Marin. Sheâs also with me.â
âButâŚâ
âI know you had a hard time protecting me every day. Professor Bentley called in sick today anyways. Also, we just have to endure up until today, right? Do you still think something bad is going to happen?â
Thatâs true, but Iâm still worried.
However, since I know that Lariensa has been feeling bad about me following her all day just to protect her, I decided to follow her will this time without saying anything.
âThen weâll be waiting at the entrance of the main building.â
âOkay, Iâll be back as soon as possible.â
I was just relieved thinking that after this day, Lariensa would now be safe from that bastard.
But I never knew that that decision would be something that I would regret for the rest of my life.
ďź ďź ďź
âWhy hasnât Lariensa arrived yet?â
âDidnât she say she was going to the faculty room?â
Violet nervously checked her watch.
âItâs already four. We have to hurry outâŚâ
âNothing bad happened, right?â
Natalie was also anxious as she bit her nails and hit the back of her hand.
âWhy donât you guys go ahead and talk to the publisher first. Donât give them the diaries easily.â
âMarilyn, what about you?â
âIâll look for Lariensa in the meantime.â
âBut, what if something will happen to youâŚâ
As Natalie murmured anxiously, Violet criticized her for saying such a curse.
âAll the more so that you have to keep these diaries.â
If that bastard gets ahold of his diaries again, weâll have nothing as proof anymore.
After I instructed my friends on what to do, I quickly headed to the faculty room to find Lariensa.
âLariensa isnât here.â
âWhat? Didnât you call her here, professor?â
âWhat do you mean? I never called Lariensa.â
âŚThat canât be.
âAre you⌠sure, professor?â
âI havenât even met her this day, so if you donât have any more businesses with me, please leave. As you can see, the teachersâ office is a very busy place.â
The homeroom professor seemed to find me very troublesome, but I just stood there, frozen. I felt like my head was turning white.
So, where is she now?
âThe homeroom professor said he has something to talk to you about..â
Yeah, she didnât say the professor called her to the faculty room.
But, the professor never even called her.
No way, no, no, noâŚ
I stormed out of the faculty room after realizing something. At that time, I saw the student who called Lariensa and took her.
âGood to see you!â
Running towards that student, I immediately grabbed her shoulders and began asking her.
âWhereâs Lariensa?â
âHuh? Ah, what are you doing?!â
âCome on, tell me. Youâre the one who took her!â
âThatâs because the homeroom professor asked meâŚâ
âDonât lie to me! The professor said he never even called Lara.â
âThat canât be⌠he definitely asked me to bring her to himâŚâ
âWho told you that?â
From the studentâs lips came a name that I hope it wasnât.
âProfessor Bentleyâ
ââŚâŚâ
âHe said the homeroom professor asked him to call Lariensa for him.â
âT-to whereâŚ?â
âTo the classroom on the fifth floorâŚ!â
I instantly knew where it was after hearing that much. Surely, itâs the empty classroom where weâre being mentored by Professor Bentley!
After letting go of her, I ran straight up to the fifth floor.
However, Lara was not in there.
Instead, a note was left on a desk.
â Bring the diaries to me at the entrance hall by 5:00 PM. Iâll kill you if you call another person and if you donât bring the diaries. â
You have now gone all the way, huh. In the end, youâre kidnapping her?!
What a complete psycho. No, heâs always been this crazy.
Itâs my fault that I was careless.
But, I have to give the diaries to him by 5? The diaries are with Emily and the others, and it will take too much time even if I tried to get it back. Also, we never know, if I really give it to him directly, he might not easily hand over Lariensa to me.
I think his diary had a common design. And according to the original story, he was an oddly constrained man, so maybeâŚ
I went back down to the faculty room.
âMarilyn, what are you doing?!â
Naturally, the other professors yelled at me as I suddenly burst inside and searched at Professor Bentleyâs desk. Regardless of them yelling at me, I didnât stop moving.
ââŚFound it.â
There were notebooks similar in design and color on his desk with only some slight differences. Technically, he wouldnât be able to identify those from afar unless he looked at it closely.
So, after collecting three similar-looking notebooks to his diaries, I quickly left the faculty room, not minding the other professors yelling at me.
The academy was so large that it took a considerable amount of time to get from the main building to the entrance hall.
It would be nice to ask Lycan for help, but right now, I donât have the time to look for him.
After arriving at that place alone, I found another note.
Written in it was simple instruction to go to another place.
âYou seem to be getting cocky now that you have the upper hand, but you will never see this coming.â
Furious, I headed to the music room at the end of the hall on the first floor, following the note left by Bentley.
I swallowed my saliva then opened the door carefully.
âYou really took your time coming here, Ginger.â
Ginger, Ginger, arenât you being too familiar with me?
Maybe heâs actually not obsessed with blondes, but those with red hair.
âWhereâs Lariensa?â
âThe diary first.â
âNo, Lariensa comes first.â
As I remained firm, Bentleyâs first hit the old piano inside the room. The piano keys created a strange noise, not a beautiful melody.
âYou must be mistaken now, girl. You do not get to choose.â
âSo are you going to threaten Lariensa by saying you love her?â
Nothing good will come if I provoke him here. Since I didnât have the time to ask for help earlier, and thereâs no one who would come to my rescue now, I have to take time as long as I can until I can think of another way.
âAh, of course, I love her very much. But she doesnât love me back! Why? How come!â
All right, letâs induce the conversation in this way.
âSo what did Lariensa say to you?â
Professor Bentley was completely absorbed in his emotions that he was unable to make rational decisions.
Even now⌠look at him being excited as he recalls what happened with him and Lariensa earlier.
âI said I love her, but she doesnât! She said it was unpleasant! How could that be?â
Lara said that? How crazy are you that you said those things to her?
Seeing that he was now showing his true colors, I was more worried about Lariensa.
âSo what did you do next, professor?â
âThen, I screamed at her a few times. She was shaking like a leaf. Afterwards, she passed out.â
âS-âŚ!â
ââŚâŚâ
ââŚShe passed out?â
I barely managed to hold myself back. How scared must she have been that she fainted?
âProfessor, why donât we calm down first and try to make up with each other. I think there has been a lot of misunderstanding between us.â
âMisunderstanding?â
âYes, a misunderstanding. Why donât we talk calmly about this first and reconcile with each other, hmm?â
As I approached him carefully, Professor Bentley, who had a look like a gentle sheep earlier, suddenly changed attitude as soon as he heard my words.
âBecause of you⌠Itâs all your fault! What misunderstanding?â
Professor Bentley then strangled my neck.
âE-euk!â
âIf you just disappear, then Lariensa will know how I feel.â
ââŚHeok!â
âIf I can prove my love for her by getting rid of you, then I will gladly do it!â
I was suffocating. Tears filled my eyes as I struggled to resist and then I fell on the floor.
I managed to find something that could be a weapon, but⌠I couldnât reach it.