I Was Confessed to by the Golden Sun

66 – 66. Empty Can

Prince Huang, Dylan, and I had agreed to leave as soon as Lucia delivered the letter.

It was only natural because attacking quickly before the princess could use any tricks would greatly increase the chances of success.

However, when Lucia delivered the letter and returned, something seemed off about her.

“You said to hurry up, so walk faster!”

“I understand, but don’t pull me so hard. My clothes will tear.”

Ignoring Dylan and the prince, she grabbed my arm without any explanation and started dragging me somewhere.

In that drowsy state, I was forcibly being dragged away, bidding an indefinite farewell to the prince and Dylan.

“Fortunately, those people said they would wait for us to come back.”

I didn’t know what was happening, but I had to hurry and finish whatever it was and go back.

When I looked closely at Lucia, she was holding the half-broken body of Noah in her hand.

I wish she would at least explain what she intends to do with it.

Lucia silently entered the alley, a shortcut that crossed the academy.

“If you brought me here to kiss me, I’ll be mad.”

This is the place where she and I would come to share some affectionate moments after classes.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for that, there wouldn’t be any reason to enter such an alley, so I wondered.

This time, was it really just a route choice for quick transportation without any impure intentions?

Lucia looked at my lips as if it were regrettable, and quickly passed through the alley.

“I guess you didn’t have any secret intentions with me?”

“…That’s not true, I also know that the situation is urgent.”

“Are you telling me that in the midst of being chased on the island, you stick to me and kiss?”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Well, that’s because.. the situation was too romantic..”

She was speaking sensibly after a long time, but it didn’t work because her actions until now were too unreasonable.

Now that I think about it, we were in a situation where our lives could have been on the line, hiding in the bushes and expressing affection, right?

The reactions of Heidi and Raul that we showed on the island were slightly understandable.

They must have seemed like crazy people, yeah.

“So kind, so nice.”

“Hmm?”

Still, Lucia lightly tapped her head with the hand that she didn’t hold onto and got a cute reaction.

Since Lucia’s eye level was right around my chest, I couldn’t help but pat her head as she bounced and ran in front of me.

The movement of her head contained an irresistible charm.

“Don’t touch my head and call it cute like that..!”

“Why? I call it cute because it’s cute.”

“It feels strange, like I’ve become a child or something. Don’t do it if you don’t want to!”

While I kept reprimanding her like that, my hand kept instinctively fondling hers.

Ironically, such a childlike, open-hearted appearance only made her even cuter.

“Lately, Lucia always tells me I’m cute as she pats my head.”

“That’s because you’re too cute, it’s not my fault that you were born cute.”

To tease the cute her, let’s clarify our relationship.

Lucia denied it, shaking her head vigorously, claiming that it’s definitely not her problem.

Smiling at her like that, I opened my mouth with a casual tone and teased her.

“I’m the same, whenever I see Lucia, I can’t resist because you’re so cute..”

“Ah, don’t say stuff like that!”

When she heard that, her face turned completely red and she gestured quickly with her hands.

Seeing that, I thought about patting her head again, but then I realized our footsteps had already stopped and only then did I finally look ahead.

What was in front of me was a large door that I had a vivid memory of.

“..Student Council room? Why are we here?”

Originally, the plan was to give the letter to Grayson and then he and Francis would take care of the principal.

It wasn’t a particularly difficult plan when you only listen to my explanation, but I started to wonder if something went wrong related to that.

If there was a problem before it even started, then it made sense that Lucia had urgently called me and ordered me like this.

“Here’s what happened. I was going to give the letter to Grayson, and since he didn’t know where the Student Council room was, I was going to take him there and come back..”

Sure enough, Lucia said that something other than what I asked had happened.

She cleared her throat and was about to continue the story. It seemed like she remembered something and fixed her expression before speaking again.

“The tone of the voice quickly lowered, making me think that she was finally going to talk about something serious.

“Yeah, that’s right. I only communicated with Grayson through hand gestures because of this treaty ring. I didn’t say a word. You’re the only one.”

“Ah, you did well.”

But what came out of her mouth was not the full story of the incident, but an expression of affection towards me.

Of course, it didn’t feel bad, and in fact, a sincere chuckle burst out unexpectedly, but still, her self-satisfied expression that seemed to ask for praise was a bit annoying.

“Anyway, we had reached a certain point in the conversation. Yes. I heard a loud noise coming from the Student Council President’s office, so unable to contain my curiosity, I turned around and went back in.”

“So, what happened afterwards?”

Just as I was starting to focus on Lucía’s story again.

– Bang!

Someone forcefully pushed open the door of the Student Council President’s office and pulled me and Lucia inside.

Seeing the back of that person, I could tell it was none other than the Student Council President, Francis Watson.

I tried to say something first, but seeing his face that seemed to have a lot to say, I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth and remained silent.

“You see, this thing called Homunculus..”

Francis started looking around the heap of mechanical parts named Noah, which was the corpse of a machine.

He stabbed it all over his body, not only observing but even creating a simple model.

Right now, she didn’t look like a student of the academy, but rather someone closer to a businessperson.

A businessperson who pursued profit through thorough cost and benefit analysis.

“So this is how it works… Hm, as I thought.”

Francis muttered incomprehensible words for a while on his own.

Then he slowly turned his gaze towards me and blinked his eyes, speaking.

“Where did you get this? Did you make it yourself?”

“No, my colleague caught it and brought it.”

“By any chance, do you know who made it?”

Upon hearing my words, Francis seemed curious and shook his head a few times.

With eyes that contained a strange desire, he tightly held my hand and clasped his hands as if praying, as if asking me to tell him everything I knew about this pile of scrap metal.

“Please! It’s important, so tell me everything you know about this pile of scrap metal!”

“Alright, calm down, first let go of my hand!”

I hurriedly pulled my hand away while looking at the side, and saw Lucía trying to force a smile.

Her eyes were still fixed on my hand, and the intensity was so eerie that I involuntarily shrank back, but.

“Huh? How did you meet, and what was its purpose? Quickly, tell me!”

Francis still seemed completely absorbed in his academic fervor, as if such matters were of no concern.

No, you’re really losing your head over this, aren’t you?

“hehehe…”

Sure enough, Lucia, who had been staring at Francis with lifeless, icy eyes, began to fumble with the handle of the bat. Seeing this movement, I forcefully pushed Francis’s hand away.

“J-Jack?”

Holding Lucia tightly, I brought my cheek to her cheek.

Lucia began to caress my face gently, much like a cat displaying its coquettishness. She looked somewhat bewildered with her mouth agape.

‘…Completely floored.’

It was an action fitting of a cat, so I felt a slight sense of embarrassment, but Lucia’s soft, plump cheek made me feel good. I continued to playfully rub my face against hers, thinking it was better than seeing someone being hit by a bat and crumpling.

“hehehe, you’re so cute…”

As this situation continued, Lucia soon shed her annoyed expression and began to enjoy my rare expression of affection, laughing and giggling as usual.

With Lucia cradled in her arms, I was about to relax when Francis gently separated us from each other and asked, “It’s an important matter, so please tell me now. What is this guy up to?”

Unlike before, he inquired about Noah’s identity while maintaining a certain distance from me.

“Well, the thing is…”

After providing a somewhat abbreviated explanation, I looked at Francis, whose face was now filled with great interest. He seemed to carefully choose his words, then fired something like a portable scanner at the wall.

As a result, the ruins that Francis had suggested we investigate together in the past were displayed on the wall.

“Why are these ruins suddenly here?”

When I asked Francis for his reaction, he fumbled with his words while operating the scanner, repeating himself. Instead of answering directly, he showed pictures of those ruins from various locations and angles.

*Click!*

Furthermore, he went so far as to take pictures of Noah and transmitted them to the scanner, displaying them on the wall.

With several pictures illuminated on the wall, Francis stared at them in silence, then began arranging them one by one.

There was no apparent order or pattern, but there was a feeling that something was falling into place somewhere.

“It’s done.”

After a considerable amount of time had passed, the photos of the sprawling ruins, spanning over ten pages, had somehow come together to form a single pattern.

“For now, this is as far as I can figure out.”

And that pattern bore a striking resemblance to the one etched on Noah’s chest.

“There is a connection between the ruins we were heading to and this container.”

It was the moment when the relevance of the seventh and eighth episodes, which had not been clearly depicted in the original work, became apparent.