TPCF 52

Chapter 52

“Are you attending the freshman welcome party too, senpai?”

“Me? Isn’t that obvious? What else would the student council president even do? Just give a speech or something.”

He gave a small chuckle and closed the book he had been reading.

“Ahem.”

Anita, who had been lying face-down on the table, flinched. Had she imagined it, or did she just hear something behind her? A prickly gaze seemed to be burning into her. Slowly, Anita lifted her head.

“Is… is there something behind me?”

With a grin tugging at his lips, Edmund nodded. Anita turned her head.

“Did you not learn the rule that one must remain silent in the library?”

Anita froze stiff when she saw the woman standing behind her. The woman’s voice was gentle, as if scolding a child, and she gestured toward the notes Anita and Edmund had been passing back and forth.

“Even the sound of paper tearing is surprisingly loud.”

Anita’s face turned scarlet as she looked at the scraps of paper scattered across the table.

The two of them were promptly thrown out of the library.

“That was my first time getting kicked out of a library.”

Anita muttered in disbelief, her tone hollow.

“I’ve even been chased away by the police before. Life really does throw everything at you.”

Hearing Anita speak like some old person who had seen it all, Edmund couldn’t help but let out another laugh.

“It’s actually kind of a serious thing for me, you know.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Recently I even hurt my ankle… But none of those experiences were all that—”

“You hurt your ankle?”

Unlike Anita, who had been talking with a grave expression, Edmund looked completely carefree. But suddenly, he cut her off.

Anita’s lips stiffened slightly at his reaction, as if he truly had no idea about her injury.

“Don’t you remember treating my ankle?”

“Oh. Of course I remember.”

He didn’t really know why, but it felt like if he admitted he didn’t, Anita would be very disappointed. So he lied, feigning nonchalance. But immediately, regret washed over him. Not only did his conscience prickle, but if he kept pretending to remember, he wouldn’t even be able to ask how her ankle was doing.

Since he was genuinely worried about her condition, Edmund decided to retract the lie he’d just told five seconds ago.

“No, actually—I don’t remember.”

“What?”

“When I drink, all my memories vanish. So what about your ankle?”

The moment his words ended, Anita’s face turned deathly pale. Her lips trembled as though she were on the verge of a seizure.

“Th-then that coat…”

“I don’t know. Not mine, I think.”

“……”

“When I came to, it was already morning.”

Anita opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out.

So it really had been Rutger who treated her ankle. The coat had been his as well.

She had definitely drunk herself into a stupor and collapsed on the street. And Rutger had seen her in that disgraceful state with his own eyes.

Had she babbled nonsense while drunk?

He was the one who had carefully wrapped the bandages around her ankle, and yet she had tried so hard in front of him to act unhurt, to pretend she was fine. What must he have thought?

Could it have been someone else from the dorm? Anita desperately tried to think positively, but it was useless. No one but that curt Rutger would have awkwardly gone so far as to offer to carry her bag.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Give me your bag, I’ll carry it.”

Only now did Rutger’s strange behavior start to make sense.

Anita buried her face in her hands. She felt like dying of embarrassment.

“I… I’ll be going now.”

Her voice was so small it nearly disappeared as she turned away. Her slumped shoulders and limping steps looked utterly pitiful.

Edmund hesitated for a moment. There was an upcoming event, and a student council meeting was scheduled soon. Normally, he would’ve skipped such a hassle, but this time it was important for the school’s reputation, so he had to attend.

The hesitation didn’t last long. He decided to walk Anita home. It didn’t sit right with him to let an injured junior hobble away on her own. Besides, if he explained he was helping someone hurt, even Liche would probably understand.

“Wait. I’ll go with you.”

“Go on ahead. I can walk by myself.”

She said this in a state that looked anything but fine.

“You said your ankle’s injured.”

“My ankle’s injured, not my head. Actually, if I had hurt my head instead… at least I wouldn’t remember any of this.”

She spoke as though bearing the entire weight of the world’s sorrows.

Now Edmund understood why Rutger hadn’t mentioned anything about that night. Anita must have made a complete scene. He must have kept silent because he knew it would only make things unbearably awkward between them.

“There you are.”

Anita’s slow steps came to an abrupt halt.

The moment she recognized the voice, she darted—despite her injury—behind Edmund’s back. With no hiding place in the library corridor, it was the only choice she had.