Chapter 29 – What, Did You Think I Was Spying on You?

Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to ruin the cheerful mood of the student council gathering, so in the end, she dragged her fiancé outside to a café.

As soon as they slipped out between the buildings, she pressed Axion against a wall.

“How did you even know I was here?”

Her eyes narrowed as she questioned him, but he just shrugged his shoulders lazily as if the answer was obvious.

“What, did you think I was spying on you?”

‘You’re absolutely the type to do that!’

In the original story, Axion had done everything imaginable to win over the female lead, Dahlia. Getting rid of any man who came near her was just the beginning. Driven by the fear of being abandoned, he pursued her obsessively, every single day.

‘Later on, his obsession escalated to the point of trying to confine her…’

Memories of the things in the original story rose in her throat, but Evelyn swallowed her words.

“So, seriously, how did you find me?”

Now that her tone had softened a little, Axion answered easily as if it were no secret at all.

“The Young Lord told me.”

“What? Viaton?”

‘That damn brother of mine…!’

“Okay, forget about my brother. Why did you come looking for me?”

The words came out a bit awkward, but she couldn’t imagine Axion would come to see her without a reason.

Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, he let out a short sigh. Then, with a lazy smirk tugging at his lips, he pulled a small case from his coat.

“I came to return something.”

She already knew what was inside.

It was the hairpin she had received as a gift from the Duchess Valentino not long ago.

‘Wait, why would he bring back something I already returned?!’

Looking clearly dismayed, she rubbed her forehead. Meanwhile, without hesitation, Axion took the hairpin from the case.

“W-What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, he gently swept aside her rose-pink hair and, a bit clumsily, pinned the hairpin in for her. Evelyn, caught off guard by his sudden action, just stared at him, stunned.

Axion watched her with an amused glint in his eyes, a sly smile curling on his lips.

“There’s a party on a ship soon, right? You can wear it then.”

“Why would I—!”

But before she could even finish, he snapped his fingers and vanished without a trace.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

It was already late in the evening when Evelyn finally returned to the mansion, staring absentmindedly into space. Showing off her skills in front of the juniors for the first time in a while had worn her out, and the unexpected encounter with her fiancé didn’t help either.

Her fingers lightly traced the small box she had received from him. A slight frown formed between her brows.

“Axion, what on earth are you thinking?”

First, he showed up out of the blue with a custom-made brooch, and now he was pinning a hairpin on her himself. Despite having known him for so long, he’d been acting out of character lately.

“I’m just trying to match your tastes.”

She remembered his offhand comment at the coming-of-age ceremony and shook her head. There was no way Axion saw her as a romantic interest. There had to be another reason behind his behavior.

Evelyn let out a deep sigh, feeling a strange heaviness settle in her chest.

‘He must really be desperate for an imprint.’

Thinking of her fiancé, who would spend his whole life in agony if he failed to find his imprinted partner, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The original story had made it clear just how much he had suffered. His body would burn as if engulfed in flames, leaving him bedridden for days afterward.

Of course, Axion would never show that pain to anyone.

“Ugh, I can’t help but worry about him, after all.”

Even though it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t help feeling a wave of needless guilt, and she let out a heavy sigh.

‘Was it about two years ago that Axion first experienced his magic rampage?’

As the memory of that time came to mind, her green eyes grew calm.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

The chime of a bell echoed through the classroom. 

As soon as class ended, Evelyn quickly stood up from her seat. Worried the professor would leave before she could catch him, she grabbed her bag and hurried to the front.

“Professor, is Axion absent again today?”