Chapter 7
A sharp, pungent smell tickled her nose.
The school nurse, who had handed the medicine to Haerang, stepped aside, saying she should rest comfortably during lunchtime, even though it wasn’t really necessary.
Jihyo couldn’t forget the strange look in the nurse’s eyes as she glanced back and forth between her and Haerang. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand why the nurse had looked at them that way.
Regardless, thanks to the nurse’s unnecessary consideration, she and Haerang were left alone in the nurse’s office.
As if trying to keep his promise to show her around the school, Haerang had guided her through the school on the way to the nurse’s office.
So now she at least knew roughly what was on each floor of the main building. The chairman’s office was in the new building connected to the main one.
“Sorry, Jihyo. I’ll definitely give you a proper tour tomorrow.”
Haerang apologized to Jihyo, who was leisurely looking around the nurse’s office.
Jihyo had unexpectedly received an apology from a princess, but she answered calmly.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
It’s not like we’ll be doing any sightseeing tomorrow anyway. Jihyo swallowed the rest of her words.
Haerang looked at Jihyo silently, then smiled softly and took her hand.
“Then, like the teacher said, shall we rest comfortably and then go?”
“Huh?”
Unable to pull her hand away from Haerang, Jihyo was reluctantly led by him. She was then gently laid down on a bed.
Feeling the soft mattress against her back, Jihyo blinked blankly. She could see Haerang’s face smiling warmly.
“You’ve been tired since this morning, right? Get some rest, Jihyo.”
His voice was as gentle as his warm smile.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jihyo.
Why did Haerang look at her with such eyes? They had only just seen each other after a long time, so why was he so kind?
Because of their childhood?
What had that brief time, so short it could be counted in moments, meant to the princess?
Many words swirled in her mouth, but unable to utter any of them, Jihyo simply closed her eyes quietly.
The breeze coming in through the open window brushed past her gently.
It was a wind as kind as Haerang’s voice.
Having been eating lunch leisurely, Yuhwa let out a hollow laugh after checking the message from Haerang.
The only person in this school who could so freely wield the chairman’s power, which she herself possessed, was probably Cheon Haerang. And for such an absurd reason, at that.
Noona. Jihyo’s tired since this morning, so I’ll let her skip afternoon classes. Me too.
The one who was tired was Ryu Jihyo, so why was Cheon Haerang saying he would also skip?
Yuhwa was dumbfounded. However, she did admit that Jihyo was tired. She had been through a lot since morning. Haerang had also put in considerable effort… even if it wasn’t quite as much as Jihyo.
‘There might be many more losses from now on.’
The one who had noticed Ryu Jihyo’s existence and set a trap in this school would now begin to move in earnest.
Seonhwa High School.
This school had existed since the fierce battles of the Peninsular period, when the land was divided into three kingdoms, before it was unified into one.
Through countless changes over the long years, the school had always remained here.
This school was also part of the barrier that protected this place.
The barrier that she, who descended to the earth by the command of the Supreme God, had protected all this time.
The barrier, which had remained steadfast for over 1,500 years, had been broken.
That being wanted the entity sleeping here. He, who wished to break the balance of the earth, was also the sinner who had broken the peace of the Heavenly Realm.
Had her father truly not known this outcome would come?
She, the first to be born inheriting the Supreme God’s blood, had observed the Supreme God by his side for a long time, but she could not fathom all of his intentions.
‘Well… not that I particularly want to know.’
Even if she knew, it wouldn’t particularly help her. Rather, the priority was to reorganize the barrier and prepare for that being’s intrusion.
To do that, she had to eat well. Though not human, even a heavenly maiden runs on a full stomach. Yuhwa immediately focused back on her lunch.
Tak. Tak.
The blinds, swaying in the wind blowing through the window, hit against the window frame.
Before she knew it, Jihyo had fallen into a deep sleep, breathing softly.
Worried that the sound of the blinds might wake Jihyo, Haerang closed the window. Now, complete silence fell over the nurse’s office.
Sitting in a chair, Haerang quietly gazed at the sleeping Jihyo. Her small, delicate face, still retaining traces of her childhood, was as cute and pretty as ever.
Haerang reached out and carefully stroked Jihyo’s cheek. It was soft and supple.
He soon took his hand away, but his gaze did not leave her.
Just looking at Jihyo like this made him happy. Haerang always realized that he had such feelings within him when he saw Jihyo.
The child of the Baekho (White Tiger) family who stayed at Seowangmo’s palace, Cheongokgyeong (Jade Capital).
He had never imagined that the girl who was initially just an irritation would grow so large in his heart.
Recalling the past he shared with Jihyo, Haerang pictured the future while thinking of the young Jihyo’s face. A future that could be considered so far away – him and Jihyo, and their child.
‘I hope it’s a girl who looks like Jihyo. Well, a boy would be fine too. If the child looks like Jihyo, whether boy or girl, it will be adorable.’
Haerang was counting his chickens before they hatched. Even though only a single day had passed since he met Jihyo again, Haerang had already made future plans with her, plans that felt like they’d been set long ago.
Jihyo, who had no way of knowing what Haerang was thinking, was simply sound asleep, breathing peacefully.
Jihyo blinked blankly. She saw a ceiling tinged with red.
‘Red…?’
“……!”
Her mind snapped awake. Jihyo sat up abruptly and looked around.
Unless her eyes were deceiving her, this was definitely the nurse’s office. The softness beneath her bottom confirmed it.
She had definitely fallen asleep during lunchtime. Jihyo hurriedly took out her phone from her pocket and checked the time.
Unless her eyes were mistaken, it was definitely past 6 o’clock. Past 6.
‘How long did I sleep?’
She had long since slept through the entire afternoon of classes.
Even if it ended like this, from the very first day of her transfer, she had become a delinquent student who played hooky.
‘No, why didn’t the princess wake me up?’
Jihyo looked for Haerang. He was very close to her.
She found Haerang sitting on the chair right next to the bed, asleep with his head slightly bowed. Jihyo opened her mouth to wake him, but then closed it again.
A long, red sunset glow stretched across his peacefully sleeping face.
For a moment, Jihyo felt as if her heart stopped. He was, as expected, excessively handsome.
By now, she couldn’t deny it. Then and now, she liked the princess’s face.
When she was young, she had also been captivated by the princess’s face and loitered around him like that.
Back then, the princess had been quite prickly. Although, from some point on, he would smile in front of her.
The princess probably didn’t know how touched she had been when he first smiled at her.
After that, he smiled often. He still smiles often.
‘…From now on, he probably won’t smile.’
Thinking that, her mouth felt bitter. At that moment, his long eyelashes fluttered.
Soon, she met his brilliantly shining golden eyes.
It was a gaze she had never seen from Yeonhwa, who was just an ordinary heavenly maiden in Cheongokgyeong.
Jihyo felt as if she might be drawn into those radiant golden eyes.
“Ah. Jihyo, did you sleep well?”
His eyes curved gently, and his soft voice pierced Jihyo’s ears. Jihyo nodded blankly.
“Yeah…”
“That’s good. I told the teachers about the afternoon classes in advance, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“Yeah…”
“Then let’s go now, Jihyo. I’ll walk you.”
“Yeah… Huh? Where?”
“Time to go home now.”
“You’re going to walk me all the way to my house?”
“Why? Is that not okay? With what happened this morning, I’m worried…”
“Well…”
Jihyo’s eyes rolled.
It was sudden. She couldn’t clearly decide whether it was okay to reveal that house to Haerang.
‘…Should I just let Yerim, the heavenly maiden, see him instead?’
Then, since it wouldn’t be her telling him directly, the arrows of blame might be directed at Yerim, not her.
Jihyo calculated Yerim’s quitting time and the time it took to get home from school in her head, then suddenly thought.
‘But would the heavenly maiden even recognize the princess?’
She only remembered his childhood face and his face in the photo, and because the princess’s current appearance was male, she hadn’t recognized him at first glance.
‘What if Yerim, the heavenly maiden, doesn’t recognize him?’
Jihyo grew more troubled.
Her desire to find out the princess’s whereabouts and return to the Heavenly Realm as soon as possible clashed with her unwillingness to say with her own mouth that she had found him. As a servant of the Supreme God, reporting it was the right thing to do. They weren’t friends anymore, after all…
“Jihyo?”
She felt as if her heart was being squeezed. Jihyo forced herself to speak.
“…Alright, then. Let’s go together.”
At her answer, Haerang smiled brighter than ever. Seeing his smile, Jihyo swallowed hard against something rising in her throat.
