She had thought there must be some grand reason.

Something like an ambitious goal that could only be achieved by destroying this relationship, or a value he could never afford to give up.

They had spent more than ten years together.

Even if Olivia had not been Aiden’s fiancée and Aiden had not been Olivia’s fiancé, they were childhood friends and companions who had spent more than half their lives together.

If he had thrown away all that history, all the relationship they had built over the years, then there had to be at least that much of a reason.

But what did he say?

“Because I’m your friend’s little sister?”

Her voice naturally sank into a calm tone.

As though he could not see Olivia’s eyes, which had grown as cold as if winter had suddenly descended, Aiden continued to speak freely.

“Olive. You’re Cesare’s little sister. He’s my one and only best friend. That means you’re also a very precious person to me.”

“So you give precious people divorce papers?”

“I can’t see my friend’s little sister as a woman, for one thing—and sigh. No. I told you, I don’t believe in love in the first place.”

He couldn’t see his friend’s little sister as a woman? He didn’t believe in love?

Olivia stared at Aiden with her eyes wide open.

The sunlight was dazzling, but beneath the shade created by his hand, she had no chance to feel its glare. The chill rising from the cold ground was blocked by the uniform Aiden had spread beneath her, keeping it from bothering her.

That was love.

It didn’t require anything particularly special. It was simply the feeling of carefully observing someone and wanting to do things for them, even things they didn’t necessarily need.

That was what love was supposed to be.

Olivia bit down firmly on her lip.

“I did intend to get engaged. I needed to. After we got engaged, I planned for us to fulfill only the minimum obligations we owed each other, and even if we eventually married, I’m sure it would have been the same. That’s all an engagement or marriage means to me.”

“Hah.”

“But what meaning does any of that have now? I couldn’t break off the engagement, so that discussion about getting engaged became something that never happened.”

Aiden still seemed not to understand that this wasn’t the important part.

Idiot.

Olivia muttered it under her breath.

Apparently unable to hear her properly, Aiden asked, “What did you say?”

“So what you’re saying is this.”

“Olive. I…”

“You could easily get engaged or married to anyone passing by, as long as they met your conditions.”

“……Olivia.”

“You said it was nothing more than signing the same documents and fulfilling the minimum obligations. Something that light and easy. Yet you could never do even that with me.”

“Of course not. You’re—”

“Because I’m your friend’s little sister? That’s ridiculous.”

She didn’t need to hear any more.

Olivia sharply slapped Aiden’s hand away and stood up.

“That ring will come off in three days.”

“I know. You told me.”

“I’m going to successfully complete this training, and no matter what happens, I’m going to join the Lux Knights.”

“What? Olive! No, you’re not. I don’t care how much you hate me, how can you make such a dangerous and reckless choice?”

Olivia froze.

She had just stood up and taken one step toward the dormitory when her footsteps came to a halt.

“Olive?”

Olivia slowly turned back toward Aiden.

Only moments ago, anger had dripped from her every word and movement, but now her expression was the complete opposite.

A radiant smile, as though spring flowers had bloomed, and cheeks slightly flushed, perhaps from the sunlight.

A faint shadow rested in the small dimple in her cheek.

Aiden stopped moving as though he had completely forgotten everything he had been about to say, staring at Olivia.

“Who said I hate you?”

No, actually, she did hate him.

But—

“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully. I don’t hate you.”

“W-What?”

There was an old saying about giving someone you hated one more piece of pie.

Taking that old saying as her guide, Olivia decided to endure and make one more effort for the sake of her idiotic first love.

“I like you.”

“You…”

Aiden was terribly mistaken.

He believed that only something fierce and overwhelming could be called love, and that what he felt was not love at all, but merely affection for someone close to him.

So Olivia intended to keep trying until Aiden realized his own feelings. Only then could there be an answer, one way or another.

“So let’s start from the beginning, slowly. From our first meeting all the way to marriage. Okay?”

Then she prepared to run.

Thinking of the Aiden she had seen in Professor Seton’s office earlier, she felt that running away first was probably the best option.

“Our second beginning should be at the Lux Knights. Then I’ll be going now. See you next time!”

“……What? Wait. Olive! Stop right there! That’s a different matter. Just talk to me for a moment!”

“No!”

Olivia shouted sharply and took off running, dodging Aiden as he tried to catch her.

Olivia was the fastest among the students in the Department of Knights.

Her light and agile body was one of her greatest strengths.

Thanks to that, she was able to gradually increase the distance between herself and Aiden without being caught.

Of course, Aiden was relentlessly persistent himself, and he chased after Olivia with all his might.

“Olive! Stop right there! Think about this again! This isn’t right!”

“I said no! You should break up with my brother! How about you stop with that ‘friend’s little sister’ nonsense already?”

“What? Y-You! What are you talking about?! Why would I break up with him?!”

“Why can’t you?! You told me to break off our engagement, so why can’t you break up with my brother?!”

The two of them disappeared in a blur, shouting loudly as they ran.

The problem was that the person who witnessed the entire scene was Bennett, the most notorious gossip in the Department of Knights.

“……What was that just now? Olivia and… who was the other person?”

Bennett tilted his head while stuffing the bread he was holding into his mouth.

“Could he be her fiancé?”

But… he had been chasing Olivia.

He hadn’t seen much else, but there was one thing he was absolutely certain of: the man chasing after her had striking blond hair.

Bennett’s sharp instincts were telling him.

This was an extremely suspicious scene.

He hurried toward the dormitory, engraving what he had just witnessed into his mind.

He had to share this incredible news with everyone as soon as possible.

If Olivia had heard about what he was doing, she probably would have challenged him to a duel at least ten more times.

And starting that night, a new rumor began spreading throughout Veritas.

“Did you hear? About Olivia’s mysterious fiancé? Apparently, he’s no ordinary person either.”

“What?”

“Bennett saw them yesterday. He said Olivia was running away from that guy ‘like crazy.’ But there’s more—”

“More?”

“Apparently, he’s involved with Olivia’s brother somehow.”

“……Oh my goodness!”

The rumor was that Olivia’s fiancé was every bit as formidable as she was, meaning there was no need to feel sorry for either side.

And, on top of that, he supposedly had some sort of suspicious relationship with Olivia’s brother.

The day of training dawned.

Starting today, the graduating students of Veritas Academy were scheduled to be put through the wringer by their training instructors for three months.

Even though they had endured the entire curriculum, there were always one or two students every few years who dropped out because they couldn’t survive this training.

There was no guarantee Olivia wouldn’t become one of them.

“All right. Let’s do this, Olivia.”

Standing in front of the mirror, Olivia raised her tightly clenched fists in front of her chest and struck a fighting pose.

“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.”

Then she recited the little mantra she had never once skipped since transferring to the Department of Knights.

Today, Olivia would begin the great first journey toward joining the Lux Knights.

The training instructor would probably be Aiden.

Starting today, Olivia would be able to spend time with Aiden ‘legally.’

Everything was perfect.

There had been the unfortunate incident of Aiden chasing her all the way to the women’s dormitory yesterday, but he seemed to have listened to the dorm supervisor’s scolding and returned without further trouble.

Since a day has passed, maybe he’s had some time to calm down?

……At least, that was what Olivia had thought at the time.

The moment she arrived at the training grounds, she realized just how naïve that thought had been.

“Olivia. You know that instructor over there? He looks like he has a really nasty temper.”

Yeah. He looks that way to me, too.

“But he seems to be staring only at you. You didn’t really do something to him, did you?”

Well, I did do something.

Thinking about it carefully, Olivia realized she might have provoked Aiden quite enthusiastically because she had been unable to control her anger.

Only then did Olivia regret it.

She should have realized a little sooner that Aiden was going to be her training instructor!

But it was too late.

They say the hotter a flame burns, the bluer it becomes.

Aiden’s eyes were exactly like that.

His blue eyes were blazing as though they had caught fire.

Thud.

His footsteps sounded as loud as thunder.

Aiden smiled broadly, just as Olivia had the day before, and said,

“Welcome to hell, cadets.”

This isn’t the army.

Olivia’s timid protest was drowned out by the murmuring of the students, who had all gone pale.