The faint spring breeze blew through the window of the infirmary room, brushing through a young man who was covered in bandages like a mummy.
Only his hair, eyes, nose, and lips were visible.
He was sleeping peacefully.
In fact, he was sleeping too peacefully.
It had been three days since the Battle Royale had ended, but Alex had still not woken up from his coma. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt
Napping soundly on top of his chest was a little bun who had stayed by his side all the time.
Suddenly, a haze of color entered the room and materialized to form the beautiful fox lady. Lotte, Latifa’s second consciousness, had been visiting Alex daily.
It was subtle and only obvious to those who knew her well, but she was beginning to form her own distinct personality.
Dim Dim sensed her presence and opened one eye to greet the fox lady, who lightly patted its head.
"He still hasn’t woken up?" Lotte asked.
"Your partner sure likes to sleep, huh?"
Lotte smiled tenderly before sitting down on the bed to look at the unconscious man. He was not just wrapped in physical bandages but also bound by spiritual bandages.
Alex had suffered not only physical injuries but also soul injuries.
Although he had received first aid from Dim Dim and Lapiz, the twin nurses—Lin and Rin—had deemed that it would be best to play it safe. They had wrapped Alex’s body with the spiritual bandages to speed up the recovery of his body and soul.
They also believed that the reason why Alex had still not woken up was because his soul hadn’t been healed completely.
"I hope this kid wakes up soon," a young nurse with silver-white hair streaked with blue commented as soon as she saw Lotte. "The infirmary is filled with gossipers who are desperate to see him. They are a pain to deal with."
Her twin, who looked almost identical to her, sighed helplessly.
"There are even people who pretend to be sick or injured themselves because they intend to sneak into this private room after we admit them," Rin complained.
If not for the streaks of violet in her hair, Lotte would not be able to tell her from Lin.
"Our club is also suffering difficulties at the moment." Lotte smiled wryly. "There are too many people applying to Endless Horizon. The members cannot make any decision since Alex is still sleeping.
"Frankly, I hope that we won’t have too many members. I like the tight-knit group we have right now."
"So exclusivity then?" Lin grinned. "Are you going to become like those Crest Clubs who have ridiculous requirements for aspiring club members?"
"I’m not sure," Lotte answered. "Everyone is waiting for Alex to wake up so he can clean up this mess. That’s also our default response whenever anyone asks us about joining. We tell all of them to wait for Alex to wake up."
But there was one person they had allowed to enter the clocktower as a reserve member.
They believed that if Alex was still awake, he would not hesitate to accept her—errr, him to their club.
That person was none other than Vaan Damne.
The same person whom Alex had given his all to save in the Mistral Weave Forest.
Countless preparations and contingency measures had been made to rescue him, so everyone in Endless Horizon believed that among the hopeful applicants, Vaan alone had the right to become a reserve club member even before Alex regained consciousness.
In fact, Nessia had already added Vaan’s name to the list of people who could access the clocktower and enter their club room.
Just as the three ladies were talking, they heard a knock on the door.
"Ugh... I hope that it’s not one of those pesky brats again," Rin mumbled before walking towards the door.
She only opened the door slightly and looked through the gap, wary and annoyed. However, upon seeing who the visitor was, her expression quickly softened, and she opened the door wider, allowing entry.
A soft and soothing voice spread inside the room as a pretty lady—errr boy, entered.
His ponytail was kept in place with a ribbon tied in a bow, and his purple eyes were bright and clear.
Although Lotte had seen him many times, she still struggled to believe that this beautiful creature was actually a boy.
Of course, only the members of Endless Horizon knew his true gender.
The rest of the academy still thought that Vaan was a lady. His number of admirers had even shot through the roof after everyone had seen him weeping beautifully in Alex’s embrace.
In fact, just a glance was enough to tell that the beautiful lady—errr, boy seemed to have undergone a complete glow-up.
His skin had gotten smoother and more radiant. His eyes also sparkled with liveliness.
His long black hair gleamed like silk, while his lips were pinker than the cherries that Fran grew on her farm.
Lotte couldn’t help but smile as she remembered accidentally eavesdropping on Lavinia’s and Nessia’s conversation. The young catkin had asked Nessia to confirm if Vaan was really a boy.
Nessia had giggled in response before telling a pouty Lavinia that all she needed to do to dispel her doubts was to ask Vaan directly.
That had been good advice. When Vaan had visited the clocktower a day ago, Lavinia had seized the opportunity.
"Vaan, are you a boy or a girl?"
That was the question that Lavinia had asked.
And Vaan’s answer had been...
"I’ll leave the answer to your imagination."
His answer had amused everyone. Everyone, of course, except Lavinia, who had only given him a long and hard stare before deciding to drop the subject.
In the end, Vaan’s gender had become "unknown."
It was also Endless Horizon’s first inside joke.
"How is he?" Vaan asked as he approached the sleeping young man.
"Still asleep," Lotte replied.
"I see..." Vaan looked at Alex sadly before sitting down on the bed to hold his hand.
In the eyes of others, she really looked like a girlfriend who was very worried about her boyfriend!
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the academy...
"Why didn’t you do anything to help her?"
An accusing voice of a man reached Evangeline, who was currently inside her room.
"And why should I?" Evangeline retorted. "I already told you that I don’t want to get involved in anything that you guys do while I’m in the academy."
She looked at the crystal ball on top of her table defiantly, as if telling the man reflected on its surface that he shouldn’t blame her for his failure.
The man said after a few minutes of silence had passed.
"However, remember this—you cannot remain as a bystander for a long time. After all, we share the same blood."
The young lady remained calm and stared at the man in the crystal ball coolly.
"Are you done?" Evangeline asked. "If so, we can end this talk now. I still have things to do."
"You’re becoming more stubborn, Eva," the man commented. "You really are your mother’s daughter."
Instead of feeling insulted, Evangeline raised her chin if she was proud to be called her mother’s daughter.
The man stared at her for nearly a minute before ending the call.
Only after she was sure that he was truly gone did she breathe a sigh of relief.
She then returned the crystal ball to her storage ring and left the room.
As she walked down the hallway of the dormitory, she passed by several students giggling as they discussed the handsome knight who had come to save the raven-haired lady from the possession of the Demon Worshipers.
Just like most ladies their age, they fantasized about romance as well as having their very own Prince Charming.
"Fools," Evangeline muttered under her breath after she had walked out of their earshot. "There is no such thing as happy endings."
As someone who had experienced it firsthand, she knew that these fantasies were only something that the inexperienced dream of.
She was too old to believe in romance stories and too jaded to feel love for others.
Those who had been exposed to the harshness of reality and society already knew that true love and true happiness only existed in the fairy tales that most girls her age loved to read.