Su Hong agreed without much concern. After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Right, weren’t you planning to go to the Spirit Card Academy in the Imperial Capital? Are you still short on the application fee?”
Lia had looked happy when she was about to leave, but the moment she heard Spirit Card Academy, she immediately grew a little downcast and slowly lowered her head.
“The application fee is enough, but I...”
Lia paused, her cherry lips pressing together slightly.
“It takes at least six days to get from here to the Imperial Capital. And yesterday was already the last day of the entrance test. Admissions are over. Even if I could reach the Imperial Capital today, it’d still be too late.”
“Then why didn’t you go earlier—”
Su Hong stopped mid-sentence.
Because if he counted backward, seven or eight days ago was exactly when he was still in prison, when he and Lia had started getting familiar, and when he was close to being released.
He remembered worrying, when he got out, whether his luck had affected Lia somehow. Turns out, without him even noticing, that luck had already caused her a huge loss.
Su Hong took a deep breath and looked at Lia in confusion.
“Was it because of me that you didn’t have time to go?”
Lia instinctively started to nod, then hurriedly waved her hands. “No, no, that’s not it. I-I... I was just like everyone said. I couldn’t scrape together the application fee anyway, and making the trip back and forth would’ve just wasted time and money.”
Su Hong stared at Lia without saying a word.
“Um... also, every year I end up troubling the teachers and senior girls at the Spirit Card Academy. A lot of them already know me. Even for me... it’s really embarrassing.”
Su Hong still stared at Lia without speaking.
“A-and Grandpa’s at home, so I can’t stop worrying. The little restaurant also needs to keep running.”
“What else?”
Su Hong suddenly asked. Lia stammered, but couldn’t come up with any more excuses.
Su Hong understood that Lia was trying to keep him from feeling guilty. But what he truly couldn’t understand was this:
“Lia, I’m just a prisoner whose identity isn’t even clear. Why would you give up so much for me?”
Lia’s pale fingers clasped tightly together, so hard that even her fingertips were turning a little blue.
Only after a long while did she speak in a low voice.
“Because you’re pitiful.”
Pitiful?
Su Hong froze for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, no. I’ve explained it a few times these past days. I’m really not suffering from amnesia, and it’s really not like what you imagined, like I was persecuted by other people or anything.”
He had thought that would clear things up, but instead, Lia’s eyes started to redden slightly.
“Doesn’t that make it even more pitiful?! Other things don’t matter, but I saw your expression with my own eyes! Loneliness, desolation, exhaustion—those expressions were wrapped around you every single day! Sometimes, even when you were standing right beside me, there was still this awful sense of distance, like you were trapped in a world that only belonged to you! I might misunderstand other things, but someone who looks like that must be suffering. That’s one thing I can’t be wrong about!”
Su Hong had no rebuttal, and no idea what to say.
He was just used to keeping people at a distance, used to fighting against his luck. He had never even noticed what kind of expression he wore.
And besides, he had never met someone as kind as Lia—so kind it was almost foolish. Everyone else avoided disaster. Whether consciously or not, they all kept their distance from him. But Lia had done the exact opposite. She had taken disaster onto herself and still wanted to help him.
“Lia, thank you. Of all the people still alive, you’re the cutest one I know.”
“Cute?”
Lia’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she was clearly confused. She had no idea why Su Hong had suddenly said something like that.
Seeing her shy, awkward look, Su Hong smiled and nodded. At the same time, a decision quietly formed in his heart.
He would never let entering Spirit Card Academy become Lia’s regret.
He had already decided to use the method of kicking down doors to find someone who could control luck, so why not kick down a bigger door?
In a few days, he’d take Lia to the Imperial Capital and kick open the gates of Spirit Card Academy!
“Lia, keep practicing how to use Spirit Cards. In a few days, maybe something good will happen.”
“Huh? Really? I remember the last time you said that, the shop suddenly got a ton of customers...”
As Su Hong and Lia chatted, they started practicing Spirit Cards again.
Inside the manor’s living room, Lia’s grandpa stood behind the door, secretly peeking through with one eye |ω・）
After watching for a while, Lia’s grandpa clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“That little brat really does have an improper relationship with Lia! I’ve got to do something. Need to scare that boy a little... hmm...”
Stroking his beard, Lia’s grandpa seemed to think of something and snickered to himself behind the door.
And outside the manor, by the wall, there was another pair of eyes spying as well.
A steward from the Chris Guild clung to the wall, a brick balanced on his head, leaving only a narrow slit in front of his eyes. He frowned slightly.
“According to the Guildmaster, a Spirit Cardmaster should’ve come to kill him by now. But the copied Spirit Cards the guild stole are already being sold, so why hasn’t anyone made a move? Per the Guildmaster’s orders, if no one kills him, do we do it ourselves?”
The steward hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he cautiously chose to give up.
“If I accidentally provoke some powerful Spirit Cardmaster, that won’t be a joke. I’ll wait one more day! If there’s still no movement tomorrow, then I’ll do it myself!”
