Chapter 3
How to End a One-Sided Love
Theology is a subject that doesn’t have exams. Because of that, even during regular days, few students pay attention in class, and when exam period comes, students don’t even bother opening the textbook and instead study other subjects.
In such a situation, while most students would normally doze off or study something else, I had opened the textbook and was paying attention with some enthusiasm. Seeing this, the thin middle-aged professor who taught theology became excited and began teaching with more energy than usual. Though, in reality, I was the only one listening.
After passing the basic doctrines, the lecture moved on to the history of the temple.
While scanning through the textbook for anything related to that topic, my eyes stopped at a paragraph about prophetic texts.
“A mysterious book that contained the future. People called it a book of prophecy.”
The content in the textbook overlapped with the professor’s voice.
Only then did I lift my head and listen carefully to the lecture.
The Second Era was a time of chaos, when monsters appeared across the continent and demons ran rampant.
It was said that during that time, the temple possessed something called a prophetic book that contained the future.
Many desired the prophetic book, as it allowed one to know the future, but only the chosen ones could read it.
Those called prophets foretold and prevented many disasters through the prophetic book, such as the appearance of the dragon calamity and invasions from the demon realm.
However, after nations became more organized following the Second Era and the number of monsters drastically decreased, a long period of peace followed. As prophecy was no longer needed, both the prophetic books and the chosen prophets eventually disappeared.
…That was the main content of the professor’s lecture. I had vaguely known it as general knowledge, but today it sounded different.
And a reasonable suspicion arose.
Could this… be…?
I stopped taking notes and glanced at the vivid red book tucked between my notebooks.
With a reluctant expression, I frowned while looking down at the book.
I didn’t want to believe it. For two reasons.
First, when people think of prophecies, don’t they usually predict major events like monster outbreaks or wars? But this book only told me when and where two seniors would kiss.
Second, if this really was a prophetic book, then everything written in it would be events that would actually happen in the future. In that case, that would mean that senior Noah Noah and senior Flora Flora would actually…
Bang.
I slammed my head onto the desk.
I want to die. How cruel. I’ve ended up learning every single detail of the romance between the person I like and someone else.
Why me, of all people? Out of all the people in the empire, why me?
So… are they really dating? Do they even kiss in the classroom?
Seeing that I seemed unfocused and was pulling at my hair, the slightly dejected professor adjusted his glasses and spoke up.
“Ah… also, prophetic books imbued with divine power could not be destroyed by any means.”
“…!”
Bang!
I slammed my head onto the desk again.
The contents of the book began to increasingly match reality.
When I overheard a conversation between senior Flora Flora and senior Noah Noah in the hallway and it matched the book word for word, I truly doubted my ears. And when the school cafeteria served the exact same menu as described in the book, I almost choked while eating.
It was hard to believe, but it seemed I had been chosen by a goddess. And this strange book turned out to be none other than a prophetic book from history.
No, why? I thought prophetic books had disappeared long ago.
And why is the content like this? Just romance stories about those two seniors—nothing particularly valuable.
What is the reason the goddess is showing this to me? Is she personally trying to crush my one-sided love?
What a terrible god. So what if a person skips a few services? Is this how she retaliates?
Suppressing thoughts that would surely be labeled blasphemous if heard by others, I bit my lip and swallowed hard.
I was not some wealthy noble lady or the daughter of a high-ranking aristocrat, but merely a daughter of a modest viscount from a provincial territory.
If I went around claiming I could see a prophetic book that had long disappeared, I’d be treated as either insane or a fraud—if I was lucky.
So, I decided to keep this fact to myself for now.
It wasn’t like it contained some secret to saving the world—it was just a romance story, after all.
More important than the existence of the prophetic book was its contents.
After devouring the entire book instead of studying, I came to the conclusion that my one-sided love, which I had hoped might not be hopeless, truly had no future.
If this were a novel, I would be nothing more than a minor villain with no real importance.
As in reality, later in the book, upon seeing senior Flora Flora dating senior Noah Noah, I would lose my mind and begin harassing her.
Spilling ink on her shirt, tripping her—things like that. I was portrayed as a foolish and cruel character blinded by love.
Somewhat frustrating, but in the end, my fate after tormenting senior Flora was—
“Expelled?!”
I shouted a curse and threw the book.
It was real. I would end up getting dumped harshly by an angry senior Noah Noah and receive an expulsion notice.
I had studied so hard to get into this place. I wasn’t a genius, but I ranked within the top 10 and was considered a top student!
My dream was to graduate smoothly and get a job at the magic tower.
I did like senior Noah Noah, but I had no intention of giving up my future for love alone, nor did I want to intrude on a happy couple.
“I must be crazy.”
I tore at my hair and collapsed face-down on the bed.
After lying there and counting to ten, the shock from the expulsion had subsided somewhat.
But when I got up again and looked at the open book, another wave of despair hit me. It showed a sweet kiss between the two seniors.
The senior I liked was sharing sweet love with another senior. In classrooms, dorms, and behind buildings—doing all sorts of things.
Tears suddenly welled up.
It was heartbreaking. No matter how long I had liked him, in the future described by the book, I wasn’t even the protagonist—just an extra appearing in a few pages to highlight their love.
It was upsetting, but the answer was simple and already clear: I should just give up on him.
“Sniff…”
Still, having liked him for two years, those feelings couldn’t just disappear so easily.
“Waaah… sniff… sob…”
Tears flowed uncontrollably. It wasn’t a blazing, passionate love, nor had we ever been especially close, and I had always known it was a hopeless love—but erasing long-held emotions hurt like losing a part of myself.
“You got rejected, huh.”
From the neighboring bed, Dora Dora clicked her tongue.
I wiped my wet eyes and sniffled in a hoarse voice.
“Shut up… sob…”
And the next day, with my eyes swollen from crying all night, I had to take an exam.
My head was dizzy, my vision spun, and my stomach churned so badly that I barely knew what I was writing.
There was no way I could get a good score in that condition.
Haha… I was doomed.
“Kate Kate, you’ve always been within the top 10. Is there a reason your ranking suddenly dropped below 20?”
The professor pushed up his glasses with a serious expression.
I bit my lip with a bitter expression and lowered my head. My neatly tied hair fell loose again.
“This exam wasn’t particularly difficult. Many students improved their scores, but only yours dropped significantly.”
“Well… um…”
I muttered while glancing around.
“I can see prophetic books. I got dumped by the person I like and will be expelled.”
If I said that, they’d probably write me a permission slip to visit the infirmary.
After hesitating for a long while, I finally spoke.
“It’s nothing serious. I wasn’t feeling well. I’ll definitely improve next time, professor.”
“Oh? I see. Do you want to go to the infirmary now?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“I see. Well, that’s good. Still, don’t push yourself too hard. Have a good break.”
The professor removed his glasses and wiped them with his collar.
I let out a small sigh and shuffled out of the office.
“22nd…”
The report card in my hand crumpled. It was the worst ranking I had ever received since entering the academy.
“Hoo…”
Suddenly, I felt wronged.
Why am I going through this?
Because of that cursed book, my grades dropped too—what is this?
If I hadn’t picked up that book in the library, none of this would have happened.
Tears threatened to fall again. I squinted slightly to hold them back when a flash of red hair appeared in front of me.
“Kate Kate noona?”
I quickly wiped my eyes and turned my head. My nose sniffled slightly.
“Oh… hey, long time no see.”
Standing in front of me was Arhan Arhan, the son of the marquis family of the neighboring territory.
We had known each other since childhood, but he hadn’t been studying seriously, which worried me. I also didn’t understand why he had recently been so clingy.
Still, I didn’t want him to see me crying, so I blinked a few times and put on a calm face.
“Hi. Come to think of it, you must’ve gotten your results too.”
Arhan Arhan curved his red eyes gently.
I straightened my messy hair and put on a serious expression.
“Yeah. And you? Did you improve from midterms—”
“22nd? Wow, nice.”
When did he even check that?
I became wary and pulled my report card close to my chest.
Arhan Arhan covered his mouth, smiling brightly.
“You did well, so why are you making such a gloomy face?”
“…And what about your ranking?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me.”
Must be a rank they couldn’t reveal.
I patted his back with a complicated expression.
Right. He’ll figure it out eventually. And besides, he’s good at swordsmanship.
“It’s okay. You can do better from now on.”
“I’m fine though.”
“Good, that’s a relief. I messed up, so I need to go review. I’ll treat you to something from the cafeteria next time we meet.”
Goodbye, take care.
I patted Arhan Arhan on the head as he looked slightly reluctant, then turned to leave—but suddenly stopped and inhaled sharply.
Silver hair fluttered in front of me. My heart dropped the moment I realized whose it was.
I swallowed hard and hurriedly greeted him.
“Ah… h-hello, senior.”
Senior Noah Noah, who was walking down the hallway, noticed me, moved his lips slightly, and greeted me in a low voice.
“Hello.”
“What—ugh.”
I pressed down on the back of Arhan Arhan’s head and forced him to greet as well.
“Hah… haha.”
Normally, I would have stammered and tried to say something, but I just stood there smiling quietly, which seemed to puzzle the senior a bit.
An awkward silence followed for a moment before Noah Noah spoke.
“Did you do well on the exam?”
“Ah… uh… well… no.”
I dropped more than ten ranks.
I couldn’t bring myself to say that and just smiled awkwardly.
“I see.”
With a sigh-like sound, Noah Noah said comfortingly,
“You can do better next time.”
Hearing that from the top student himself felt almost ironic.
Pat.
While I smiled awkwardly, his large hand landed on my head. Gently, he slowly patted my hair.
?
Did he just pat my head?
“…?”
I stiffened without realizing it, and the hand was quickly withdrawn.
“See you at the club next week.”
After saying goodbye, he turned and walked away, but I stood there with my mouth slightly open, unable to respond.
Arhan Arhan rubbed his tousled hair and frowned.
“Is that the guy from House Yuriel, the marquis family?”
Ignoring Arhan Arhan, I stared ahead, touching my own head and furrowing my brow.
I kept looking at the spot where Noah Noah had disappeared.
Only after calming my racing heart could I think properly again.
Right. Now that I think about it, he had always been that kind of kind person. That’s partly why I liked him.
It seems that after reading that book, I had become more conscious of him than usual without realizing it. That must be why everything felt different.
Facing reality left a bitter taste in my mouth
