The Butterfly That Swallowed the Fog
Only now did everything finally make sense.
She had been staring at the sheets for so long, hadn’t she? The realization that he had been terrified of admitting responsibility to her washed over her like a cold wave. The thought that they had both been quietly guarding their fears from one another brought a faint, genuine chuckle to her lips.
Yes. She had not chosen Elex Davenport lightly after all.
Tilia gave her face a bright, satisfied smile and unscrewed the cap of the small bottle. The praise she felt for the older, wiser version of herself poured out unbidden.
Just for a moment she wondered whether the medicine would really suit her, but the doubt vanished as quickly as it had come.
The man who had shared her body was Elex Davenport—the second son of the illustrious Davenport family, the one who had sworn he would never entangle himself with anyone. Thinking about it now, the request for a bath had probably been nothing more than concern for his own cleanliness. After all, he could not possibly have wanted to mix his body with a filthy one.
A man who had never once allowed gossip to stick to him in all his years must be trustworthy, at least when it came to this.
Tilia’s reasoning only grew firmer as the strained expression on his face lingered in her mind.
He must have been terrified that I would throw myself at him if I knew I had a child.
Certain of the pill he had given her, Tilia swallowed the medicine without the slightest hesitation. With a satisfied smile she set the bottle on the bedside table, propped herself up, and stretched.
“You don’t need to say thank you, do you?”
The medicine was for the both of us—and for all of us.
Tilia, now fully dressed in her uniform, gazed at her reflection in the mirror above the table.
The woman who had been lying there in disheveled sheets only moments earlier had vanished.
Only the determined face of Tilia Ambrose remained, brimming with the will to move forward.
“I don’t need to say it, but I will say it anyway.”
She brushed the dust from her skirt, turned, and faced him once more.
Elex Davenport stood frozen exactly as he had been when he had handed her the bottle.
Tilia met his eyes and spoke in a steady voice.
“I hope no one else finds out about today’s events.”
The eyes she had grown so used to now held the same bottomless depth.
Yet no matter how deep those eyes were or what emotions they might contain, they were no longer any of her concern.
“You probably don’t want to be tangled up with me either, right?”
She had already obtained what she wanted.
Tilia lifted the corners of her lips in a soft smile.
Of course she was grateful. He had been the perfect partner, and he had performed his role to perfection.
But that was all. There was nothing more.
She had used him, yet she believed the transaction had been equally unregrettable for him as well.
He had thoroughly enjoyed the body she had offered in return.
And honestly, a decent human being wouldn’t have acted like the victim here.
She had been the one who had bitten and sucked.
At any rate, it seemed her body had been very much to his liking. Tilia turned with a fresh, cheerful expression.
Now that the problem was resolved, her mind was filled to bursting with thoughts of the examination.
I must not fail. Wait, what was the last problem I reviewed?
Just as she was about to leave the room, her academic passion shining in her eyes.
Something seemed to occur to her. She turned back again.
Tilia tilted her head in mild surprise as she saw him still pinned to the wall like a nail.
“You’re not graduating?”
“Get dressed and come out already.”
Seeing the strangest sight she had ever encountered, Tilia turned her back on him completely.
That was the end of it.
With her task complete, Tilia left the room without a trace of lingering regret.
Klang.
The door closed, and the room fell into silence once more.
Elex stood in the empty room for a long time after she had gone, saying nothing.
The clock had already passed three.
At that exact hour she was taking the examination in the main hall.
Ha.
A laugh burst from Elex’s lips while he stood motionless like a statue.
What began as a soft chuckle soon erupted into a full, booming sound that shook his broad shoulders.
Hiding his eyes behind his long, bony fingers, Elex laughed without pause, his shoulders trembling violently.
The laughter echoed wildly through the disordered room, then faded, then swelled again, only to die down once more.
And when the noise finally stopped,
Elex’s dry hand slowly lowered.
…So that’s it.
His steel-grey eyes had changed completely.
So that’s how it turned out.
A cold, razor-sharp gaze flashed with chilling intensity.
***
As the proctor swept the answer sheets away, Tilia stretched her stiff shoulders and let out a deep yawn.
The exam had been straightforward.
Word had circulated that the difficulty would spike for the retake, but the rumor had proved false.
Though she had not yet checked her answers, she was certain she had not failed.
Thank goodness. I can graduate.
Tilia breathed a sigh of relief, staring blankly at the blackboard.
But a number appeared in her vision that did not belong.
Absent: 1
On the green board, the numeral 1 written in clean script stood out unnaturally large.
Tilia slowly turned her head and scanned the classroom.
Among the exhausted students, no face that matched what she sought was visible.
He didn’t come to see me off.
Tilia shifted her neck back to its original position and lowered her eyes in thought.
Why? She had looked in good health.
Was he refusing to graduate? Or…
“Tilia!”
Tilia’s thoughts were instantly shattered.
Judy, her face twisted with anger, came rushing toward her.
“Where the hell have you been?! I was so worried! How could you not show up right before the exam?!”
Ugh.
Tilia’s shoulder swayed as Judy gripped it, and she could not continue her thoughts.
Maybe she had simply not felt like coming. After all, she was the type who had skipped classes before.
Tilia dismissed the matter without further thought and erased the image of Elex Davenport from her mind.
“How many times do you think I had to run back and forth to the bathroom?! I was so anxious you wouldn’t be able to take the exam…!”
For now, the priority was to soothe her roommate, who was clearly on the verge of tears.
***
“It hurts?”
“Yeah. So I was lying in the infirmary for a while and got late.”
Tilia tried to ignore Judy’s worried expression as she continued.
“But luckily the medicine worked well, and I’m fine now. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“Where did it hurt so much? You were okay this morning.”
“Um, the water I drank too quickly must have upset my stomach.”
Tilia quickly fabricated an excuse and forced a natural smile.
“But it’s a miracle I made it out right before the exam. That’s truly lucky.”
“Yeah, but it was really lucky that I made it. I was so tense I even felt sick. I’ve heard stories about how people get nauseous when they’re extremely stressed.”
Judy’s shoulders, which had believed Tilia’s words without question, drooped like those of a scolded puppy.
“I didn’t know that, and I kept going to the bathroom because I thought you weren’t coming. That’s why I wasn’t there.”
Knock, knock.
The guilt prickled sharply. Tilia imagined her friend anxiously running back and forth and let her gaze drift downward.
“But it’s a good thing I took the exam. Ah, now that I think about it, maybe it would have been better if I had gone to the infirmary.”
Judy’s gloomy face had been making Tilia feel guilty, but she clapped her hands together and looked at her.
“The woman you said you were going to meet—her bathroom is right next to where Gregory Myers has been hanging around. You weren’t coming at all, so I got worried and kept peeking into the bathroom. He was laughing creepily and asked if you were there.”
“…Gregory?”
“Yeah. When I told him you weren’t there, he made a super angry face and cursed while he stormed off somewhere.”
Judy’s face wrinkled like crumpled paper as she recalled the moment.
“He was definitely waiting to pick a fight with you. That bastard.”
“…Yeah. Probably.”
Tilia’s face turned cold as she remembered the true villain who had caused all this suffering.
She could not let that stand.
Tilia quickly began planning the most shameful way to have Gregory Myers expelled from the academy.
First, he must have told his friends about me, so I’ll win them over, gather evidence, and then…
“Tilia.”
Her vengeful eyes flashed as she planned her revenge, but the sound of her friend calling her name made her expression change at once.
“Huh? What?”
“You still look like you’re hurting. Your face is terribly pale.”
Judy studied Tilia’s face with concerned, gentle eyes before rising from her seat.
“Let’s go back to the dorm first. You should take some medicine and get plenty of rest.”
Tilia, who had been trying to stand from the chair, opened her mouth with a look of sudden realization.
“Judy, you said you had plans today, right? You were going to have a family dinner to celebrate your brother’s return.”
“Is it that you’re the problem now? You’re so sick.”
“That’s not what I meant. Meeting my family after three years is the real problem.”
Tilia, recalling how much Judy had been looking forward to today, gently pushed her shoulders.
“I’m really fine. As for my complexion, a good night’s sleep after taking the medicine will fix it. I can eat and rest on my own, so just go.”
“But….”
“If you cancel your plans to stay with me, that would make me feel even worse. So just go. Please.”
The word “please” was heartfelt. In truth, Tilia needed the time alone to steady her heart far more than the care of a nurse.
If Judy, a kind soul who knew nothing, stayed beside her, the terrible self-reproach would only grow darker.
“I’m really okay.”
Tilia smiled brightly as best she could, hoping she looked normal.
“If it bothers you, just buy me one chocolate when you come back.”