Academy’s Pure Love Dark Knight - Chapter 107

WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 107

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Episode 107. The Wolf's Love Is Surprisingly Heavy.

* * *

Phine Gransia woke up in her bedroom, still dressed in her nightgown,

"Ngh... my head... it hurts..."

She clutched at her head, still suffering the aftereffects of last night's drinking, and found herself recalling what had happened.

"...What a shame."

The white-haired woman looked at her reflection in the mirror and thought, 'I suppose I still fall far short of that so-called saintess, looks-wise.'

"I really thought Licht was about to fall for me."

Back when she'd lived without wearing the Masterpiece, the nobles around her used to look at her with greedy, lustful eyes,

"I guess he really is different from the male leads in novels."

More than anything, she'd thought her fierce, striking figure would work to her advantage. She had no experience with men, but in the novels she'd read, that was how it usually went.

A confirmation bias born from distorted, limited information.

Drunk as she'd been, every move had actually been calculated on her part. The reason was simple.

"Well, the Heavenly Demon gave me advice... I just tried it exactly like she said. And it worked."

Baek-Mokryeon, teacher to the hero who wore the Black Knight's helmet and one of the Ten Greats, had egged Phine on.

"...He really does have zero immunity to women. Licht."

Phine had felt jealous of the Nameless Saintess and drunk to make it look like an impulse, and it had almost worked.

"If only the Imperial Guard hadn't shown up... I could have made Licht notice me."

She let out a small sigh of regret.

* * *

Looking back on how things had unfolded the day before, this was how it had gone.

"This one has no intention of taking my disciple for herself, girl."

"How am I supposed to believe that?"

"Khahaha! Now this is quite the character!"

Baek-Mokryeon laughed, baring her fangs, watching the girl refuse to believe the truth even after hearing it.

Maybe it was because she could sense that fresh, first-love kind of air about her.

"Then would you believe this one if she gave you a piece of advice?"

From where she stood, this girl, who hadn't even realized her own feelings and was flinging jealousy around so carelessly, seemed bound to end up hated by the very man she liked, plain as day.

"That fool has no fate with women. This one can tell just by looking."

So Baek-Mokryeon gave Phine some advice, and at that, Phine's wolf ears and tail perked up with interest.

"Really?"

Her tone shifted instantly into polite speech. Hearing it, the Heavenly Demon found it almost absurd, that her feelings had ripened this far already.

"What this one means is, that so-called saintess never actually shared love with Licht either."

That thick-headed disciple of hers had somehow reeled in two women without saying a single word about it. Still, if there was one thing that put her at ease, it was this,

"This one likes you better, girl."

"...Why is that?"

"This one has heard how devotedly you worked to save my disciple's life."

Compared to the Nameless Saintess Licht kept bringing up during training, the very wellspring from which he'd forged his Heart Sword, the princess standing in front of her looked like the better choice.

No matter how she turned it over, Baek-Mokryeon felt there was some kind of gap between her disciple and the saintess he spoke of, as if he were pining for someone he could never see again.

Or else it felt like feelings running one way only, and he seemed afraid to even approach her.

After all, until he'd drawn his first Heart Sword, Giyu, he'd been a pitiful disciple running from his own heart.

"A companion made in poverty and lowliness, in the end, the one who stays beside you when times are hardest is the finest person there is."

"..."

"So this one hopes you will go on standing beside my disciple from here on."

"And who knows? A friend from hardship might yet become the wife who endured the hard years at his side."

The Heavenly Demon closed her eyes slowly. She thought of how Ache's Erasure of knowledge had kept her from being at Dennis's side when he needed her most, and regretting it, she hoped nothing like that would ever happen again.

"All right. I'll believe you."

Only then did Phine Gransia let go of her jealousy toward the Heavenly Demon. The Licht she knew had always seemed hopelessly distant from women anyway.

"Khahaha! My disciple, you really are a wicked one with the ladies!"

He seemed to treasure the Nameless Saintess, sure, but that was as far as it went.

The two of them never sounded like lovers. This was a man who turned red with embarrassment just from seeing her own figure, after all.

Phine was curious. What kind of person was she, that he'd risked his own life fighting Magic Hat and still tried to look out for her until the very end,

that he saw her overlapping even within his own trauma, that he'd shouldered the disgrace of placing second just to obtain a Mana Rose for her.

And why he grew so tight-lipped whenever the Nameless Saintess came up.

She was dying of curiosity over all of it.

A beautiful woman with white hair. Anyone who heard the description would say she looked like Phine Gransia's spitting image.

'I'm jealous.'

On top of that, she could tell now, physically. Their mana circuits were linked, so she could feel his heartbeat,

and it raced faster when he was with her than with anyone else. It was a slightly underhanded way to know, but it meant Phine still had hope.

Hope that she could become someone precious to Licht, just as the Nameless Saintess was.

She'd risked her own life to save him. Wouldn't it sting a little if he kept saying he'd sacrificed everything only for the saintess's sake?

"Fufu, so sweet..."

He'd been so warm and gentle, handing a lightly frozen chocolate drink to her when she was drunk.

It was cool enough to clear her head, and at the same time, the thought crossed Phine's mind that this man was surprisingly sharp.

He'd even draped his own coat over her shoulders when they went outside, worried she might catch a chill, and this in early summer, no less.

At the time, Phine had also thought that a man this oblivious and this hopelessly kind was bound to get tangled up with the wrong woman and lose out in life for it.

"She was a first love I could never forget."

But the moment his drunken honesty confirmed that he'd been carrying a one-sided love for the Nameless Saintess, her chest went numb.

'Why... am I like this...?'

A tightening pain. Her heart turning cold as if ice had lodged inside it. Stung by a sharp sensation like being stabbed with a blade, she lashed out on impulse.

"Next time... tell that saintess to come fix you herself... I'm not gonna fix you..."

The words hadn't been part of any plan, and her tongue was completely tangled, but she breathed out hot air and choked back tears.

And then, the moment she heard, in the conversation that followed, that he'd been this kind to her simply because they were 'friends,'

'Just friends, and he's like this...? If Licht ever thought of me as precious the way he does the Nameless Saintess...'

In that instant, a spark of jealousy caught inside Phine's cold, quiet glass heart.

Maybe it was because she was completely drunk on Lumen's Sleeptalk, or maybe it was his heartbeat, or her own, she couldn't tell,

"Phine. Wait, you're too drunk."

Maybe it was because her heart was pounding so hard.

"...If I do this, will you start treating me like someone precious, the way I feel about you? Licht."

She tried to kiss him, just like she'd seen in books. The male leads in romance novels were always the type to go weak in the knees over a single kiss from the heroine.

She'd even read scenes where a man with a fiancée already turned his eyes to another woman,

and though Phine herself hadn't noticed it, there had also been an impulse, seeing Licht's lips that day, to leave her own mark on them.

Pure possessiveness. The sense of wanting to make him hers.

Burn scar or not, she wanted to try it regardless.

"You're already someone precious to me, Phine."

"I know it's true, but I can't believe it. Licht."

If there was one thing most people didn't know, it was that wolves were born hunters.

And highly intelligent, clever ones at that. Not stupid, and not philanderers, unlike the villains in fairy tales.

Monogamous. A romantic creature that gave body and soul entirely to love.

"I want to become more special to you. Like that saintess..."

Even though her innately sharp eyes told her that his words about her being precious were true, Phine tried not to stop advancing.

Even if it meant losing the empire's one and only princess's first kiss, it was fine, so long as it went to the Black Knight.

She wanted, more than anything, to become someone precious to the man named Lee Suhyun.

More precious than the Nameless Saintess.

Watching Licht's face turn red as he weakly resisted being kissed, looking so endearing,

"Uuu... Licht... the books said men fall for it when you do this..."

a predator's thought rose in her: she wanted to make him think of no one but her.

"Princess Gransia!! His Majesty Rook summons you!!"

That was the moment. Phine Gransia's perfect plan fell apart, all because of a sudden summons from her own father.

One breath more and their lips would have touched. Their noses had nearly bumped, and still she failed. The man put distance between them and fled at once.

Even that looked like a frightened puppy to Phine, and somehow it was adorable.

'...Should I have the Imperial Guard dismissed?'

With regret and irritation tangled together, the drunk Phine of the night before had bitten her lower lip, without Licht noticing.

* * *

After bathing with rose bath salts, Phine was getting ready to head to the Academy as usual.

"...Mana Rose."

Her eyes fell, almost by chance, on the blue rose sitting in its vase, the medium Licht had used to save her life.

"Now that I think about it, this looked like something meant for the saintess."

Her eyes narrowed. It was something he'd obtained by deliberately faking a loss in the grade exam, and he'd used it to save her.

"I won. Against the saintess."

Recalling how he'd let the thorns dig into his own palm just to cast healing magic on her, she lifted the flower out of the vase.

"...This was the first thing Licht ever gave me."

She remembered what he'd said when he woke up at the infirmary, that she could keep the Mana Rose.

Its blue had faded slightly from the mana spent, and the petals were even a little worn from how tightly he'd gripped it. Looking at it, the corner of her mouth curled up.

As a gift flower for a woman, it was thoroughly unimpressive, but Phine didn't care.

Just the fact that he was the one who'd given it made it look more beautiful to her than any flower in the world.

"I want to treasure this."

Glass magic bloomed from the princess's hand as she held the rose.

In an instant, the Mana Rose's stem was trimmed and its surface coated over, transforming it into something like a hair ornament.

"Fufu, not bad."

With the blue rose now tucked into her white hair, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror, curious how Licht would react.

"Once classes end today... we're supposed to go to the palace together. Licht."

There was the matter of having to meet her father, Emperor Rook, but surely nothing serious would come of it.

To her, he was a kind father who cherished his family more than anything.

"I'm sure Father will... like Licht too... right...?"

After all, he was the man who'd brought her mother, Bellin Gransia, back to her, and who'd even saved Phine's own life.