The Butterfly That Swallowed the Fog 2
Tilia Ambrose, who knew she wouldn’t accept something like this, had still opened the envelope in the corner of the corridor. The fog that had slipped through the cracks of the tall windows of the Academy’s fourth-floor staircase was thick enough to hide her face.
She stared at the palm-sized summary notebook in her hand, then turned her head at the sound coming from beyond the wall. The staircase of the Cultural Hall, on the fourth floor, was almost deserted. In the chill air that clung to the stone building, the two figures standing there were a young woman and a man with his back to her.
Tilia, who looked barely out of her teens despite having been pampered, had turned her gaze away from the woman and toward the man standing beside her. Through the north-facing window, the sunlight that had filtered through the fog shone brightly on the man’s golden-blonde hair.
“I, I left a key inside the letter!”
“This kind of confession again.”
Tilia muttered as she turned to go, but the woman’s urgent voice stopped her.
“It’s my dorm-room key. I didn’t care about the confession, but I figured you’d accept it anyway…”
Tilia tilted her head slightly at the upperclassman’s desperate tone. Of course. The man she had just glanced at, the one whose arrogant face she had memorized in an instant, was Elex Davenport.
The second son of the Davenport ducal family. The notorious playboy. The one who had turned her away again and again, yet always left a key behind.
Tilia gave a faint, sarcastic smile and walked away down the stairs without another word.
“So, it really is Tilia Ambrose.”
She had only just reached the second floor when the voice calling her name brought her to a stop. The group gathered in front of the men’s restroom was clearly upperclassmen—those who had passed the entrance exam but failed to graduate in time and were still on probation.
“I don’t care who it is. No matter how much I think about it, Gregory Myers is the one.”
Gregory Myers, the man who had been bragging about how perfect Tilia was to eat, had just spat on the ground when he heard Elex’s voice.
“Who is this? Another nobleman who’s been rejected again?”
Gregory, who had come down the opposite staircase, greeted Elex with a bright smile.
“Whoa, this is the… what, number whatever? Are you giving me a key again?”
Elex tossed a small red box at him with the same indifference he might show a fly. The box the new student had shyly presented to him earlier.
“Is this a gift from me?”
Tilia, who had watched Myers’s face twist in disbelief as he accepted the unexpected present, let out a short laugh.
The men always went far beyond her expectations. She had thought they would at least ignore her heart and just let her body pass, but this—sharing it?
Group of animals that wanted to become trash.
Her laughter had been loud enough that the group, who had been gossiping at the exact spot where she stood, all turned their heads.
“A-ah, Tilia…”
Gregory’s face went white as the words he had just spoken echoed in his ears.
“Hello, Gregory Myers.”
“A-ah, hello, Tili…”
“But, Gregory.”
Tilia spoke gently to the relieved expression on Gregory’s face, as if she hadn’t heard what she had said just moments ago.
“I’ll die before I sleep with you.”
“…Eh?”
“I can sleep with every man in the world, but not with you.”
Tilia smiled as Gregory’s face turned purple with rage.
“If I dig through a trash can and it turns out to be garbage, I’ll sleep with it. But never with a toilet.”
She turned her back on the frog-like Gregory and continued down the corridor. As she passed Elex, whose face was expressionless, their eyes briefly met. It was nothing more than a coincidence.
Tilia never looked back at those trash-like men again.
Before the mandatory liberal arts class, in front of the white lecture hall, stood a bronze fountain depicting three men supporting a large globe.
As she walked past the fountain wrapped in linden trees, the path lined with ancient cypress trees leading toward the central library appeared.
Tilia, walking with Judy along this quiet path, turned her head at a sudden noise.
In the vast courtyard bathed in harsh sunlight behind the enormous wooden pillars, two men were engaged in a duel.
“It’s Elex Davenport.”
Judy lifted her thick glasses and whispered excitedly.
“Let’s see… hmm, he’s decent. His movements are rough, but his fundamentals are solid. No wasted motions when he swings the sword.”
As the daughter of the Wells family, which had produced countless outstanding knights, Judy continued her enthusiastic commentary.
“Who is his opponent? That build… it must be—”
“He’s got plenty of time. Exams are coming soon.”
Judy, who had raised her heels in excitement, while Tilia merely gave a lukewarm response.
“There are so many spectators, the library should have plenty of seats.”
“I really don’t care about that kind of place.”
Judy laughed softly and turned toward Tilia.
“But you have to admit he’s handsome, right?”
Tilia, with her jet-black hair and vivid green eyes, didn’t answer and quickened her pace.
“Why? It’s worth admitting for someone like Elex Davenport.”
Judy kept chattering as they walked at a leisurely pace behind her friend.
“That face isn’t ordinary. On top of that, he’s the top student and from a noble family. Ah, it’s almost creepy how much he knows about himself.”
She whispered to Tilia as if revealing a secret.
“Elex Davenport brought a woman into the dorm yesterday again. What was her name? A freshman, he said.”
Luckily, the freshman had been at least pretty enough to be kept.
Tilia replied casually, hiding her cynicism.
“Her stamina must be good. Doesn’t she get tired every day?”
“Exactly! Some people are so worried about failing classes despite studying every day, but Davenport just… women and swordsmanship every single day…”
Tilia, standing beside Judy who had let out a sigh, remained expressionless even as she heard the gossip.
“…So.”
Yet there was a faint hint of emotion in her voice.
“The world really is unfair, isn’t it?”
Archasis’s trash. Tilia muttered the nickname she had earned and looked toward the man who had become the topic of conversation.
Elex Davenport. The second son of the Davenport ducal family, the one who would be the second-most powerful in the kingdom in terms of wealth and prestige.
His bright golden hair shone even under the dust of the grand courtyard, and his balanced, muscular body moved lightly, as if mocking his opponent.
His flawless appearance, far beyond the ordinary men surrounding him, sparkled on the snowy white uniform of the honor guard.
Yet Tilia raised one corner of her mouth in a smirk and frowned.
What meaning did using one’s body have at the Royal Academy?
For noble sons who would never become knights, sword duels held no significance.
But instinct always chose the other sex over reason.
Tilia watched the students gathering like sparrows, pretending not to look but unable to tear their eyes from Elex.
Instinctively, they knew what could be exploited.
Tilia watched the man who was receiving the envious gaze of the girls with a sidelong, cynical look in her own eyes.
Elex didn’t seem to notice the glances aimed at him, but of course he did.
If he hadn’t wanted attention, he wouldn’t have held a duel in the courtyard. There were so many hidden dueling grounds.
Was he gathering keys this way?
Tilia continued her cynical thoughts and cursed inwardly.
Just fall and fall hard. Fall so shamefully that you lose your keys, your grades, and everything else.
The reason Tilia harbored such hatred for Elex among the countless trash at the Academy was clear.
She knew it herself. The deep inferiority complex she hid behind the mask of despising a reckless playboy.
Tilia Ambrose hated Elex Davenport.
It wasn’t just because of the rumors or the key incident she had witnessed herself.
Ever since the entrance ceremony, when she had looked up at him on the platform, he had not sat well with her.
A man like proof of an unfair world. One who easily and contemptuously took everything she desperately wanted.
She knew the bitterness of a loser’s jealousy and defeat toward the winner. Yet evil that one could never escape from existed in this world anyway.
If only he had been injured and broken his leg.
Just as Tilia fervently prayed in her heart.
Was Elex finally about to finish it off and force his opponent into a corner?
As the noisy cheers echoed, the two men’s eyes met—Tilia’s and Elex’s.