Sylvia responded with the mechanical smile she had always used since childhood, as if she were talking to someone who had nothing to do with her.
In Sylvia's eyes, Yun Siwoo's figure appeared as he opened the door and entered.
But the heartbeat that used to flutter pleasantly at the sight of his face was now nowhere to be found.
Her heart felt frozen, filled with cold, dead emotions.
She wished she had never felt such emotions in the first place.
The loss of something she had once known felt even more profound now that it was gone.
Astra had flown out of the cage, but she was still alone.
It was a little sad, but despite receiving countless educations to become Astra's successor since childhood, Sylvia had never learned how to resolve such sadness.
She could only hide it behind a mask of aloofness, just as she had always done.
During lunch, Sylvia sat next to Yun Siwoo and ate, but it couldn't be called eating together.
It was a lonely meal, lacking any consideration like trying to match eating speeds.
Even when Yun Siwoo finished eating and got up, she didn't look back and continued eating slowly.
Thinking that eating something sweet might improve her mood, she considered going to the snack shop after finishing her meal, but then she saw Scarlett standing there, hesitantly holding a macaron.
Suppressing the urge to bite her lip, she firmly said to Scarlett, who was offering the macaron:
"As I said yesterday, you don't need to buy me anything anymore. We're not friends anymore, right?"
We're not friends anymore.
To avoid revealing her wavering heart to Scarlett, who seemed to read her mind so well, Sylvia kept repeating this to herself.
*
The next day, as soon as she arrived at school, Scarlett was smiling in the morning.
Seeing her smile, after almost always being expressionless, made Sylvia feel a mix of emotions.
She had been worried that she might have hurt Scarlett when she saw her face contort when she said they weren't friends anymore, but seeing her smile now made her feel a bit relieved.
However, on the other hand, she felt a bit hurt, thinking that she wasn't that important to Scarlett.
It was a ridiculous thought, even to herself, to feel hurt after rejecting her and saying they weren't friends.
During the sparring class, Sylvia mercilessly pinned down her sparring partner and then quietly watched the other students' matches from her seat.
"Evande's opponent is Siwoo! Show us a great match worth 200 points!"
As Evande called out, the students' attention focused on the two who stepped forward.
Sylvia also watched them.
It was then that she noticed something strange.
Scarlett's expression, as she prepared for the match, was exactly the same as it had been in the morning.
An unnatural lack of change.
And as the match began, the suspicion that had seemed like a mere illusion became a certainty.
Scarlett, as if her mind was elsewhere, tried to block the sword with her hand.
Blood splattered as the sword pierced her hand.
Seeing the blood on Scarlett's face, Sylvia was shocked.
Her smiling face showed no change, not even a hint of pain.
Her face looked like a mask, as if she didn't feel any pain at all.
Sylvia felt that Scarlett, like herself, was hiding something behind that mask.
If what she was hiding was causing her so much pain that she could block a sword with her hand without flinching, then it must be something deeply troubling her.
That would explain everything.
A memory flashed through Sylvia's mind.
The moment when Scarlett, whose face had shown no change despite her hand being injured, had looked at her with a shocked expression.
'Maybe it was because of what I said......'
Unconsciously biting her lip, she tasted blood.
She winced at the belated pain and then her face contorted with the emotions that followed.
To show no change in expression despite such an injury, how great must the pain she had inflicted on Scarlett be?
She, who winced at a mere split lip, had done something far worse......
After treating her hand in the infirmary, Scarlett returned to her usual expressionless self, but Sylvia's heart remained in turmoil.
*
Sunday.
It was a holiday, but as the successor of Astra, she couldn't afford to waste time even on a holiday.
Following the family elders' advice that since she was in Aegis, she should never skip combat training, she continued her elemental magic training even on holidays.
However, Sylvia couldn't concentrate that day.
One of the most important aspects of elemental magic was mental focus.
But how could she focus with her mind full of turmoil?
Sylvia sighed.
If the family elders saw her, they would scold her for lacking grace.
Fortunately, there was no one to scold her in the training area, but her frustration remained.
As she tried to calm her troubled mind and stop her training, she heard her phone, which she had left far away, ringing.
She usually set it to not ring during training, but she must have forgotten to change the settings in her distracted state.
Picking up her phone, she saw that the caller was Leonor Lionel.
They had known each other since childhood, but they only occasionally exchanged greetings, so she was curious about what had prompted this call.
"Sylvia Astra speaking. What is it?"
[Oh, Miss. H... How are you doing lately?]
"Nothing much, but may I ask why you're calling?"
After a brief pause, Sylvia asked about the reason for the call, responding to the "How are you?" question.
Leonor, who usually didn't like beating around the bush, seemed unusually hesitant today.
[Well... You know the girl who was with me in the infirmary the other day, the one in your class?]
"Scarlett, you mean?"
The person who had been troubling her mind suddenly came up in conversation, making her a bit flustered.
When Sylvia mentioned Scarlett's name, Leonor continued cautiously.
[Yes. Well... She seems to really want to be friends with you. From what I've seen, she seems like a really nice and kind girl, and I thought it would be good if you two became friends...]
Leonor, who seemed embarrassed, hesitated as he spoke.
It felt like Scarlett had asked him to say something nice about her, but given Leonor's personality, he wouldn't have said this unless he genuinely felt it.
[It might be a bit sudden to call and talk about this, but I just wanted to tell you. Try talking to her tomorrow... Miss, I feel embarrassed. Sorry, have a good weekend!]
He hung up abruptly after saying that.
Leonor must have been so impressed by Scarlett to make such a call despite his embarrassment.
A kind and good girl.
Scarlett must be such a person, as Leonor said.
She, who had hurt Scarlett, had done something wrong.
Sylvia took a deep breath and thought.
Since she had done something wrong, she would apologize to her tomorrow.
She would accept any scolding or slap, but she had to do it.
Her troubled mind felt a bit calmer.
*
Opening the classroom door, she saw Scarlett sitting at her desk.
Sitting down, Sylvia's mind became complicated about how to start the conversation.
Before she could figure it out, the class started, and before she knew it, it was lunchtime.
After finishing her meal in the cafeteria, feeling frustrated, she went outside the building and stood in a quiet spot, closing her eyes and sighing.
Her head ached from too much thinking.
I want a macaron.
As soon as she thought that, Scarlett appeared in front of her, as if she knew.
Sylvia was taken aback.
Scarlett silently offered her something.
After causing her so much pain, why?
Feeling flustered, Sylvia closed her eyes tightly and said:
"I told you, you don't need to buy me anything anymore."
Only after finishing her sentence did she realize she had taken a breath.
That wasn't what she wanted to say.
She wanted to apologize...
"It's not something I bought..."
Her thoughts were interrupted by Scarlett's voice.
She slowly opened her eyes.
On Scarlett's outstretched hands was something wrapped in paper.
Sylvia stared at it blankly.
"It's something I made..."
Scarlett unwrapped the paper.
Inside was a macaron.
The size, the shape.
A macaron that clearly didn't look store-bought.
Sylvia asked in a trembling voice:
"...You made it?"
She nodded.
"For me...?"
She nodded vigorously.
Sylvia saw the bandage on her hand.
The bandage, not fully healed, had a bit of blood seeping through.
She had made the macaron for her with those hands.
Despite giving her nothing but pain.
"...Why go to such lengths for me..."
Sylvia asked in a trembling voice, and Scarlett, as always, quietly replied:
"Because I want to be friends."
Hearing her answer, Sylvia slowly extended her hand.
Carefully, as if it might break, she took the macaron from Scarlett's hand.
Words that had been swirling in her mind spilled out:
"...I'm sorry. I was just being jealous and spiteful..."
Scarlett listened quietly to her apology.
"I never thought of you as a friend, and I only caused you pain..."
She had thought it was impossible to like someone who only looked at her.
After realizing she had hurt her, she thought she shouldn't be friends with her.
Today, she had planned to apologize and accept however Scarlett treated her.
"I'm greedy and have a bad temper, but I'm an elf..."