Bullied but Popular

26 – Please visit the hospital 3

“Aren, are you a high human?”

“… yes?”

When Aren hesitated as if he was embarrassed, Tristan said with a reassuring look.

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of harming you.”

“……”

Aren did not answer right away and looked at Tristan.

He seemed calm on the outside, but a warning bell was ringing in his head.

‘sh*t! Well, this time it was a bit harsh…’

It split a mountain.

Even in front of the academy students.

It was not unusual to find out that Aren was a High Human.

Aren asked, remaining as calm as possible.

“Why are you telling me that?”

“I have a suggestion.

“A suggestion?”

Aren asked, but Tristan didn’t answer right away and just looked at Aren’s face as if he was worried.

Aren did not rush and waited quietly.

how long did you wait

“Aren.”

“yes.”

“Are you thinking of becoming my disciple?”

“…a disciple?”

When Aren didn’t understand what he meant, Tristan explained.

“Aren, you are in a very dangerous situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d like to ask you the opposite, do you think it’s possible for an expert… no, an ordinary High Human to cut down a mountain?”

“……”

When Tristan explained his position in detail, Aren understood his situation.

Aren is an expert.

And at that level, he showed incredible swordsmanship.

Cutting down a mountain is something that can’t be guaranteed whether an Auronite or an Auror Master can do it.

This was nonsense even including that Aren was a High Human.

It is true that ordinary High Humans use magical powers, but it is very rare to have such a great effect.

And now that a high human named Aren has broken the mountain to the level of an expert, the country’s high-ranking nobles will move to embrace Aren the moment they hear this news.

‘Some people must have already noticed that I am a High Human…’

The next step is easy to predict.

It is to lose freedom and become a puppet due to plausible reasons or threats.

However, it was not impossible for Aren at all.

‘It’s a bit uneasy, but there’s a way to get under Frey’s sister.’

If it’s Frey, he can protect himself and his family, and he’s more trustworthy than those who don’t know his face.

‘What should I do?’

The reason why Tristan now wanted to accept him as a disciple was one of two things Aren thought.

The first is to aim for one’s ability or technique.

The second is to protect yourself.

These were the only two that came to mind, but the second didn’t seem to be honest.

Tristan was the former leader of the Royal Palace Knights, so now all the Royal Palace Knights were his disciples or juniors.

As Tristan, he might have enough power to protect Aren, but even though he was a student at Bollywood, Tristan did not have the loyalty to take care of him that much.

‘Then, as expected, my ability…’

While Aren was seriously thinking about it, Tristan spoke first.

“Don’t worry, like I said before, I have no intention of harming you.”

“Then why are you suggesting that to me?”

“Aren’t you also a student at our academy?”

“…Is that all?”

When Aren looked at him suspiciously, Tristan smiled and said,

“I’m interested in your practice, but I won’t touch it, so don’t worry.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Didn’t I just tell you, you’re my student too.”

Tristan said in an honest voice.

As his voice was heard without wavering, Aren’s doubts began to dissipate little by little.

‘I still can’t fully believe it…’

The headmaster of the academy, and the former head of the Royal Palace Knights, thought that he was definitely a trustworthy person.

Aren thought for a moment, then lowered his head and said.

“Excuse me just now, and thank you for your goodwill, Headmaster.”

“hahahahaha, it’s okay, it’s natural to doubt, and if I hadn’t doubted now, I would have fed chestnuts to your head.”

“…? Thank you anyway.”

When Aren bowed his head once more, Tristan smiled happily and looked at Aren.

“The truth is, I didn’t intend to accept any more disciples, but… the situation is such that I can’t help it.”

“Why are you helping me so much? Is there any other reason?”

“If our students are harmed, wouldn’t they feel dirty?”

“… Yes.”

You can feel the sincerity in your voice once again.

Aren was briefly touched by the teacher’s sense of responsibility.

‘This kind of person is the teacher’s model.’

He works hard for his students.

I don’t know who it is, but that disciple is a very happy guy.

When Aren was alone in his delusion, Tristan said.

“So will you be my disciple?”

At Tristan’s words, Aren thought about it once again, but honestly, the current offer wasn’t bad.

No, it was more like luck.

‘You seem to be a trustworthy person…’

Aren ended his worries.

“…if it’s okay with you, teacher, please accept me as your disciple.”

Aren got out of bed this time and bowed his head respectfully.

Looking at Aren like that, Tristan nodded and put his hand on Aren’s shoulder.

“Aren, you are Tristan’s disciple from today.”

“Yes, thank you in advance, sir.”

So Aren became a disciple of Tristan.

***

“ha…”

“……”

“……”

In the women’s dormitory, Tia’s room, the three of them were now gathered.

Tia, Anna, and Cecilia sat in a circle over a letter from the Cloud family.

As Tia sighed with a worried look on her face, Cecilia asked as if she didn’t understand.

“What’s the problem?”

“I told you everything.”

“Yeah, you can take it.”

“…is that like a horse?”

When Tia said annoyedly, Cecilia stood up and said,

“I will tell Aren.”

“for a moment!”

“why?”

Boja Tia said nervously, looking absurd as if Cecilia really didn’t understand.

“Let’s think! Let’s go!”

“You have to break the engagement anyway, right?”

The contents of the letter from the cloud family said that they called Aren’s family to their hometown to formally sign Tia and Aren’s engagement.

“When I go home, Aren’s family will be there. How can I say that I will break off the engagement!”

“Then won’t you?”

“That’s not it!!”

As Tia got more and more excited and raised her voice, Anna, who had been listening quietly, stepped out.

“Turn your voice down a bit, sister, and let me explain.”

“What explanation?”

Anna began to explain Tia’s current situation in detail.

“You know that the relationship between Tia and Aren is better than before, right?”

“huh.”

“That’s right. If Tia breaks off the engagement in front of Aren’s family, won’t it make the atmosphere bad? Then the relationship between Tia and Aren, which has been good at best, will become distant again. Aren also has face, so Tia doesn’t like that. “

“That means you don’t want to be awkward with Aren?”

“That’s it!”

“cute?”

“Exactly! Our Tia is so cute!”

“Aren’t you both quiet!?”

As the story goes to the mountain, Tia exclaimed urgently.

“Uh, anyway… it was awkward because of the engagement before, but it’s kind of hard to talk about it again… yeah…”

“Then what shall we do?”

Cecilia said as if she was genuinely frustrated.

As long as you decide to break off your engagement anyway, no matter how you deliver the news, it won’t create a good atmosphere.

It was Cecilia’s idea that it was better to be beaten first, but Tia didn’t.

“Even if you blindly say that you broke your engagement like your sister, my father wouldn’t approve of it. It might be better to go over it amicably for now and propose breaking up the engagement next time.”

“……”

Cecilia stared at her sister’s face in silence.

This is because it is an unexpected remark given Tia’s personality.

Tia panics when Cecilia looks blatantly.

“Why, why do you look like that?”

“What’s wrong with Tia?”

“So what!”

“If it were Tia, wouldn’t you have cared about that?”

“that…”

When Tia couldn’t speak, Cecilia continued.

“And you have to tell Aren anyway. Aren knows Tia’s situation, so he won’t be offended, and since he decided to break off the engagement, he won’t oppose it.”

“……”

When Cecilia spoke her opinion, Tia kept her mouth shut.

Certainly, if we discuss it here, the story will not proceed without Aren.

Tia knew of this, of course, but was in a situation where she was reluctant to ask Aren for his opinion on the marriage breakup, so she couldn’t go to him.

Anna, who looked at the situation for a while, looked at Tia and said.

“Tia, what you said is also true. I don’t think it would be bad to first listen to Aren’s opinion and then make a decision. If we talk to each other and talk to Aren later, that might make us feel bad.”

Tia pondered for a while at Anna’s words, then looked at Cecilia and asked.

“By the way, sister.”

“huh?”

“Why are you so active?”

“what?”

Cecilia asked with an inclination, but Tia said suspiciously.

“Sister, what are you doing with Aren?”

“… what?”

As expected, she kept her poker face, but Tia didn’t look suspicious.

When something went wrong, Anna intervened.

“Now! Now! Let’s not do this among ourselves and go to Aren quickly. We should also listen to Aren’s opinion.”

“… okay.”

“……”

The two of them broke their nerves at Anna’s words and moved on to Aren.

***

“Ah~~~”

Aren was still lying on the bed in the hospital room, spending a pointless time.

It’s been a day since I became Tristan’s apprentice, but nothing has changed in my life (because I’m a patient).

Tristan was now spreading rumors among his acquaintances that Aren had entered as his disciple.

The reason for the rumor was a warning to the nobles who were targeting Aren.

The moment he touched the disciple, it was a declaration that he would fight against himself and the younger members of the Royal Palace Knights.

This rumor alone would make most of the aristocrats targeting Aren give up on him.

Anyway, because Aren is a patient now, he was spending a meaningless time without any particular change in his life pattern.

“I’m bored~~~”

When he was practicing such meaningless vocalizations, a knock sounded in Aren’s ears.

straight up

“Come on in!”

drooling

“Senior Cecilia?”

When the door opened and Cecilia entered, Aren looked at her with a puzzled look.

Normally, she would have come in as if she hadn’t learned to knock, but today she knocked and came in.

“Hello Aren.”

“hello?”

As Cecilia entered the hospital room, two more female students entered behind her.

“Tia?”

“Hi, are you awake?”

“huh.”

When Tia smiled happily and said, Aren also responded and turned his eyes to the remaining female student.

“… who are you?”

“what!?”

Anna screams in shock at Aren’s question.

“You don’t know who I am!?”

“…? ah!”

Aren paused for a while and then reacted as if he had remembered, but it was a shock to Anna as it was.

‘Come to think of it, is this your first time talking to him?’

No matter how much it was, I didn’t know that I couldn’t remember the face.

Anna is also a beauty who is not pushed anywhere, and was popular in the academy in her own way.

But what about my friend Tia? It’s pushed back, but even so, isn’t this reaction too much?

“How many times have we not met face to face?”

“Sorry, you’re one of the eavesdroppers.”

“…… sorry.”

At Aren’s blow, Anna immediately shut her mouth and stepped back.

However, Aren’s blow was so sharp that even Tia staggered as if in shock.

“Mr. Woo, why are you doing this after receiving an apology?”

“I’m kidding, but I didn’t expect you to visit me in the hospital.”

“How am I?”

“Just say thank you.”

Aren smiled and thanked Cecilia.

“Thank you for the hospital visit, too.”

“……”

“senior?”

Cecilia glared at Aren’s face as if she didn’t like something.

‘Why again?’

I don’t know what the problem was, but I knew from experience that Cecilia wasn’t in a good mood.

Aren was hesitating on what to say when he heard Tia’s voice.

“Aren, read this.”

“huh?”

Tia held out a letter, and Aren received it and began to read it right away.

‘This…’

Briefly summarized, the contents of the letter were about Aren’s family gathering in Cloud Street to formally conclude the betrothal of Aren and Tia.

“Mmm.”

“Hey… what do you want to do?”

Tia asked in a low voice when Aren read the entire letter.

It was because it was awkward to bring up the topic of breaking up marriage.

Hearing Tia’s voice and understanding her feelings, Aren smiled and said,

“Good.”

“uh?”