I Was Confessed to by the Golden Sun

7 – 7. Holding Hands with Kim Taeyang

[Our train will arrive at Campbell Academy shortly. Please prepare in advance. Thank you.]

I had already seen this announcement message in the novel’s description.

I must have made this announcement several times before arriving at the academy.

‘..Why didn’t I hear a single one?’

After receiving a genuine scolding from Lucia, something must have gone wrong.

When I came to my senses, all the students had already gotten off, leaving only me and Lucia on the train.

It felt like time had been completely severed.

“Oh, my focus is back. Are you awake now?”

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Looking at Lucia in front of me, the embarrassing situation from earlier came to mind again, and my face turned red for no reason.

I must be truly insane, to be fluttering over Kim Taeyang even though I’m hungry.

“hehehe, your face turned red.”

I’m really embarrassed, I might go crazy.

This guy knows how to irritate me while being well aware of it. I might need to give him another lesson later.

As I contemplated how to handle this demanding fellow seriously,

“Eutcha!”

Lucia, sitting beside me, handed me a candy.

This time, it wasn’t just any candy but a lollipop with a stick attached to it.

Naturally, the fragrance emanating from it was the scent of lemons.

Did I die without ever having tasted lemons in my past life? Why on earth do I like lemons so much?

“Well, give it a try.”

Who am I trying to act tough for? I took the candy from Lucia’s hand, even though it hurt my pride.

Come to think of it, why am I eating this so naturally?

I briefly considered spitting it out, but the taste was too good, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

It seems like I genuinely like lemons.

“Delicious, isn’t it? I knew you’d like lemons from the moment I saw you.”

But hearing that from Lucia’s mouth is another story.

As I sat there in a daze after hearing her words, Lucia leaned in towards me, her face close to mine.

Wow, she even closed the gap with a fist bump.

“…”

You quickly pulled your arm away, but she didn’t seem to mind and added nonchalantly, “Anyway, it will take a while to manage the situation over there since the line is long. How about the two of us have some fun for a while?”

To be honest, the train station is right in front of the academy, and the students are so excited that it’s hard to coNT*Rol them. I heard that it takes about 20 minutes just to organize the 300 people boarding the train.

“No, but if we stay here, who knows what that guy might do. After what happened earlier, I feel weird and uncomfortable being alone with Lucia.”

“Alright, let’s go quickly then!”

With that response, Lucia grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her body firmly pressed against mine.

She didn’t even ask for permission to hold my hand. This is practically a crime.

My body seems to have stiffened, and I’m annoyed that I can’t shake her hand off.

“…Am I really such an easy guy?”

Upon reflection, it’s absurd.

“To think I’m so shaken by a trivial breeze that didn’t even lead to a kiss.

‘This wretched woman…’

She must have used some aphrodisiac or a drug of sorts.

Otherwise, there’s no way I’d be reduced to this, acting like a lovesick fool over a woman that no one in the world could possibly like just because she brought her face close once. It’s absurd.

She must have used a love potion. That’s the only explanation.

“Now you don’t rebel anymore, be good…!”

Now, Kim Tae-young, this presumptuous person, is even patting my head. I’m not a dog, and even if I reluctantly allow her to touch my hand, I can’t permit this.

When I roughly shook my head and removed her hand, she smiled, held my hand even tighter, and led me out of the train.

…It seems that the aphrodisiac this person uses has a lemon scent. Whenever the lemon scent wafts, and I can’t resist properly, it’s probably working.

“Then, see you later!”

Let’s never meet again, aspiring pharmacist Kim Tae-young.

Whether she knows that I’m making a disgusted face at her farewell or not.

Lucia is happily skipping away and soon disappears from my view.

In the moment I’m sighing deeply at my thoroughly ridiculed state, another familiar face appears in front of me.

“Jack!”

“…Heidi? Why are you here?”

“Because you looked lonely without any friends.”

It seems this guy just came here out of boredom.

It worked out well since I was feeling awkward thanks to Lucia.

“Did you get your ticket number?”

We now have to take the half-assignment test. The ticket number is, of course, a kind of order for that.

“Of course, I got it a long time ago. Are you going to get it now?”

“Well, yeah.”

I didn’t bother to mention that we were delayed because of someone who stuck to me. If Heidi finds out that I did something like that with Lucia, it won’t end well.

Fortunately, Heidi seems completely unaware of what we did in the morning and just laughed merrily.

“Ah, I hope Lucia would be my opponent. I’d crush her for sure.”

The Academy class assignment test is a one-on-one match.

There are no special rules or specific requirements; it’s all about showcasing your individual abilities.

Based on those abilities, the examiners grade you and assign you to a class.

“I have to get into Class A one way or another.”

Even though Heidi is overshadowed by the main characters, her talent is top-tier in the novel.

If she didn’t have exceptional skills, she wouldn’t even have a chance to meet those main characters.

“But in the original work, Jack was in the lower-ranked Class B.”

As a result, his role in the story significantly diminished, and he had fewer opportunities to interact with Heidi.

It’s not so bad that they won’t cross paths, is it?

“That’s utter nonsense…”

Do you know how Jack died in the original story?

In the later part of the story, he suddenly becomes a mystery casualty.

“And the only person who can easily make someone a mystery casualty is none other than the Crown Prince.”

Ethical concerns aside, others maintain appropriate boundaries while being friends with Heidi.

But this insane Crown Prince disposes of people simply because he was childhood friends with Heidi.

He does it for his own satisfaction, even though he knows Heidi will be sad.

“So, no matter what, I have to prevent the Crown Prince from getting close to Heidi.”

To survive, I must ensure the Crown Prince never takes an interest in Heidi.

If I get into Class B, there’s virtually no chance of interacting with Heidi.

Since the exams are strictly individual, there’s no way to sabotage Heidi’s class assignment test.

So, there’s only one option.

“Whatever it takes, I’ll get into Class A, where the most outstanding students gather, to make sure the main characters don’t pay any attention to her.”

That way, I can keep all those crazies away and peacefully graduate, with no one left to hold Heidi back.

I won’t have those guys who restrain her as her childhood friend, so it’s only natural.

So, what I’m doing right now is the first step towards a happy retirement.

“Come to think of it, it’s ridiculous.”

There are a total of seven main characters I need to prevent from approaching Heidi.

Among them, one has already sent his wife to the United States to find her, so now there are six left.

Unfortunately, most of them are hopeless trash.

Honestly, by this point, you’ll have one question.

“If the male lead is nothing but a trashy stalker, how is this even considered a romance?” is the question.

That statement is correct, I didn’t explain it properly.

In the beginning, it’s all romance, but the latter half is almost like a wasteland.

The male leads obsessively pursue the female lead, and what started as a sweet reverse harem romance story suddenly begins to take on a darker atmosphere.

Even the male lead who tries to kidnap and imprison the main character appears.

“…And I dropped it there.”

It’s not because it wasn’t enjoyable; I just got distracted by other web novels to read.

If I had known, I would have finished it all the way.

“Could you end up in the same class as me?”

Heidi responds with a light laugh, “You still have a long way to go if you want to follow Big Sis.”

She says it that way, but the thumbs-up she gives me with her hand puts my mind at ease, as if she’s saying it’s possible.

Yeah, objectively speaking, I’ve been training relentlessly for years without taking a day off, so my grades are probably very good within my year. Top-tier, in fact.

Whether it’s theory or practical, I trained like crazy every day to avoid dying.

The words may sound grand, but in reality, there’s not much point to these worries.

Unless I meet an opponent in the competition who’s significantly stronger and defeats me in one blow, it’s almost certain that I’ll make it to Class A.

Among the incoming freshmen, there are probably only about five people stronger than me out of the 600 who are enrolling.

Do I really have to meet those people?

***

There was a time when I thought like that too.

No, I didn’t know that I would meet one of those five people who were stronger than me.

Moreover, I would meet the strongest one among them.

“Damn it.”

Looking at the person brandishing twin swords and emitting a sinister aura, I wanted to run away immediately.

Even though I knew I wouldn’t get hurt in the training grounds due to the special facilities, my body still trembled involuntarily.

“Come on.”

There was no other option.

The opponent I met in this competition is the man who kills Jack in the novel and the next emperor of the empire.

A character akin to the embodiment of possessiveness and obsession, Crown Prince Theo Calix.