002 Evelyn

　　...... Where it looks like a knight, it is obviously a small-time gangster.

　　A few magicians around Evelyn tried to talk to him, congratulating him on going to the Imperial Capital tomorrow to receive the recognition of being promoted to 10th Knight of the Empire - the highest level of honor bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor - but the other party was not the least bit impressed. did not appreciate it.

　　Xavier said coldly, "Are you idle? Stay away from me."

　　The scene immediately became awkward. The magi who had surrounded Evelyn left one by one, as if deliberately avoiding this cold-talking knight, and in the end Evelyn and Xavier were the only two people left in the large reading room.

　　When it finally cleared up around them, Evelyn had time to continue writing in the book in her hand, "New Edition of Temple-specific First-Level Light Spells General Knowledge Tutorial.

　　"You're going to be obnoxious," she muttered as she took notes.

　　"Oh, so what am I supposed to do?" Xavier looked at her nonchalantly, "Giggle like you do and then try desperately to answer the idiots?"

　　Evelyn was so used to being mocked by him that instead of looking halfhearted and nervous, she was quite calm and corrected him, "You're wrong, I'm not giggling at all.

　　Evelyn continued, "And they're looking out for me, look, they even sent me a lot of special test notes!"

　　"That kind of crap, I can give you as much as you want," Xavier frowned nicely, "and like I said, that's not your problem here ......"

　　"I know," Evelyn said without hiding her face, "Unlike you, I have no talent for application."

　　Even though she looked and acted like a punk with no manners, not only in the temple, but also in the whole city, there were not a few people who rushed to flatter Xavier, Evelyn and Xavier had grown up together since childhood, but the latter had completely overpowered her in every aspect.

　　At the age of eighteen, Evelyn was still struggling with the basic spell test, but Xavier had already passed the highest level spell test and had been invited by the Royal Chief Archmage to become his disciple, and at the age of sixteen, he had single-handedly challenged a dragon at the Bar Mitzvah, and both his spells and his strength were impeccably perfect, so it was almost as if he could be born as the pride of heaven in this border town.

　　Someone like that would surely be popular if it weren't for his bad temper.

　　Evelyn spoke, "Because I have no talent, I can't understand what Xavier is saying. Even though our relationship isn't considered much better, for the sake of growing up together, is it okay if you think about me more or less? It's simple, right?"

　　Hearing her say that, Xavier froze in a rare moment, even for a while. After he had checked the meaning of Evelyn's words, there was another long moment of silence.

　　"No ......" Xavier moved his lips and whispered, "That's not what I meant."

　　Evelyn gave him a look out of the corner of her eye and stopped the pen in her hand.

　　It wasn't a full apology, but the reaction was good enough. It was adorable.

　　"Ugh, I'm sorry, I should apologize, I was the one who lost my temper," getting a reaction she was satisfied with, Evelyn gently gave the other a step back, despite what she said, she didn't feel it was her fault at all in her heart, "Please forgive me."

　　Xavier turned his face to the side with a lazy look on his face.

　　"You've been a little different lately." Xavier said suddenly.

Evelyn froze for a moment and asked, "In what way?"

"No more sneaking around alone and finding all sorts of reasons to go to places other than the temple, the behavior used to be a bit suspicious, but now it's much more normal." Xavier said.

　　"Wow, that's a lot to know," Evelyn asked curiously as she thought about it, "Have you ever followed me?"

　　Xavier nodded, "Stalked."

　　"...... "The other party acted so righteous instead, Evelyn didn't know what to say, she could only ask, "Did you find anything?"

　　"Nothing was found, that's why I find it strange." With that, Xavier looked straight at Evelyn with his green eyes that had little warmth in them.

　　Evelyn cupped her face and stared at Xavier for a while, both of their gazes met, neither of them looking away first.Evelyn opened her mouth and asked, "Xavier, do you have a favorite person?"

　　At those words, Xavier froze, then knitted his brows, showing a face of impatience without hiding it.

　　"What are you asking?"

　　"I'm just asking," Evelyn continued, "after you die, would you want your favorite person to live happily ever after?"

　　Xavier's eyebrows knitted together, and even the way he looked at Evelyn became strange, "Huh? What? What kind of question is that? Are you off your meds?"

　　Evelyn studied the look on Xavier's face once again, and when she realized that the other party was resisting her question with all his heart, she couldn't help but whisper to herself, "Yeah ...... never mind, just forget I said it."

　　"Normal people would think that even without them, the people they like can be happy."

　　Xavier sheathed his longsword, his green eyes dropping and lifting, clearly reflecting Evelyn's face.

　　"But I won't," Xavier stared at her and sneered, "If I find out that this guy is happy after I die and runs off to live with some wild man I don't know, I'll regret it so much that I'll wish I could live my life over again and kill her myself. "

　　"I would make myself important, very important, so important that one step away from me and her life would be a complete swampy mess."

　　Xavier whispered, "So I will not die. At least until she dies, I'll live."

　　Evelyn blinked, "............"

　　After half a second, she cupped her face and smiled with a happy expression.

　　Xavier paused, then frowned and asked, "What's so funny about that?"

　　"Xavier," Evelyn said slowly, pronouncing his name as if she was reading a short poem, "you're so cute.

　　Xavier: "............"

　　Xavier hangs his head and grips the long sword in his hand a little stiffly.

　　This is the last conversation Xavier has with Evelyn before he leaves the small town. The next day, Xavier leaves for the Imperial Capital, accompanied by several other knights from the Temple; the High Priestess was concerned about his youthfulness and had specially chosen a few elders to follow him.

　　In the days that followed, Evelyn's life continued to be routine, with nothing but prayers and books to munch on in the reading room.

　　It was one night when she remembered Irzey, who had disappeared from sight, Evelyn dreamed of him, with his black hair and eyes, his mediocre, ordinary, almost annihilating look, but Evelyn recognized him at once.

　　He kept walking, not looking back, no matter how much Evelyn called his name, Evelyn saw a long, writhing black shadow from under his feet, and his body became blurred, about to melt away like ink.

　　"I'm tired and don't want to go any further," Evelyn said, holding out her hand, "Do you want to keep going or come back to me?"

　　The other man heard her and turned around. However, as soon as he turned around, his body immediately turned into a puff of black mist.

　　Suddenly, a hand bored out of the floating cloud of black mist and tightly clasped her outstretched wrist - it was not a human hand, each finger was covered in tiny black scales that looked more like claws than fingers or insect limbs.

　　The black mist gradually coalesced into an even taller, hill-like figure, and at the same time, another hand reached out as if to strangle Evelyn.

But in the end, the other party only touched Evelyn's light blonde hair that hung down by her ear, and then gently touched Evelyn's face.

"Irzey?"

　　Evelyn didn't know what this strange and terrifying monster in front of her was, but she subconsciously called out the dark-haired youth's name anyway. She wasn't quite in her right mind anymore, all her senses and perceptions were unfolding like tiny fireworks, and while it was clear that the other person was doing nothing, she wanted to embrace the monster as if tempted and possessed.

　　At the same time that Evelyn reached out her hand, she also opened her eyes.

　　What she saw was not the empty blackness of the night, but the pale face of a woman.

　　Evelyn had just woken up and immediately recognized the woman as Lina, who at that moment was sitting wordlessly across from Evelyn, both hands on Evelyn's neck, moving gently as if caressing her.

　　Lina's eyes were open, staring straight at her from top to bottom. Her eyes were black, the pupils and whites gone.

　　Her mouth was open and foul-smelling liquid was dripping from her mouth onto Evelyn's face.