Chapter 14: That’s why being love-struck is terrifying.

CocoLiss felt her peaceful slacker campus life waving goodbye to her.

Under the gazes of everyone around, the little nun had no choice but to steel herself and take two steps forward.

But at that moment, Noile beside her grabbed her again.

“What are you going up for? Are you going to confess too?”
After saying this, the fox-eared girl herself froze for a second, then spoke again. “Eh, wait, how do you know Lord Hero?”

“Be good and let go first. I’ll tell you when I have time.”
CocoLiss really didn’t have time to fool around with this airhead right now.

The blond Hero wasn’t standing still either. He showed an enthusiasm he didn’t display toward other girls and proactively walked up to the slowly approaching CocoLiss.

“Lord Joshua.”
CocoLiss was already doing her best to suppress her bad mood. “May I ask what important matter brings you to the academy specifically to find me? Weren’t you supposed to train with the knight order today?”

“I came by on the way to give you something and to see if you’re adapting to academy life.”
Joshua looked at CocoLiss, who was still putting on her little white flower act like before, and felt mostly relieved.

“Isn’t it a bit inappropriate for the great Hero to come visit a brand-new student who just entered the academy?”

CocoLiss was reminding the blond Hero in front of her. She suspected Bishop Zain hadn’t coordinated with the youth, so Joshua didn’t know she still didn’t want to expose her Saintess identity within the academy.

“Since we’re old acquaintances from the same small town, there’s nothing wrong with showing a little extra care at a time like this, right?”

It seemed the blond Hero wasn’t stupid. He used the identity of fellow townsfolk to show concern for CocoLiss.

However, CocoLiss didn’t even really want this kind of concern. “I think Lord Joshua’s training is more important.”

“You are important too.”
The blond Hero spoke very directly.

He always seemed to speak straightforwardly.

CocoLiss did know that as the Saintess, she was undoubtedly very important to the empire’s side.

But when these words fell into the ears of the surrounding classmates, they didn’t sound so innocent.

“Alright, alright, Lord Hero.”
CocoLiss felt the big-winged senior sister beside them was glaring at her as if she wanted to split her in half. “If there’s something you need to give me, please do it quickly. You still have training duties.”

Upon hearing this, Joshua took out a heavy pouch from his waist and placed it into CocoLiss’s outstretched hands.

“What is this?”
CocoLiss thought of her own identity. “If it’s inconvenient to say…”

“It’s money.”

“Hm?”

“It’s your living expenses in the royal capital. Don’t mistreat yourself while studying.”
After saying this, he turned to leave.

“Wait a moment.”

She lifted the sides of her long skirt slightly and took two quick steps to catch up with the long-legged blond Hero.

“You came just to give me a bag of money?”

“Living expenses are quite important, aren’t they?”
Joshua glanced around. All the students who met his gaze avoided it, as if out of an invisible fear. “If I come to see you once, it shows that we know each other. You’ll have a more comfortable time in the academy.”

“Hm?”
CocoLiss only felt that, combined with their fellow-townsfolk relationship, the attention she received in the academy had increased even more.

“That seven-ring talent was yours, right?”
The blond Hero suddenly said this to CocoLiss.

His words stirred up quite a ripple among the crowd.

Of course, even if he hadn’t said it, such a spectacular scene would spread to everyone within a couple of days.

After all, it had been that impressive.

“It was mine.”

“Sometimes having talent isn’t necessarily a good thing. If you encounter any situations, you can come talk to me anytime. You should know where I live.”

After all, the two of them lived quite close. Last night, after leaving the Hero’s place, CocoLiss had only walked two blocks to reach her own home.

CocoLiss understood.

This guy was worried that, without knowing she was the Saintess, someone might become jealous of her talent and develop some malicious thoughts against her, since she had no background other than her hidden Saintess identity.

So even other worlds had this kind of scheming and infighting.

“By the way, seven rings appeared twice today.”

“I pressed it twice.”

“Mm.”
The blond Hero remained concise as always.

This time CocoLiss had no reason left to stop the blond Hero. She could only watch as Lord Hero departed.

He didn’t seem very flexible. Even though he didn’t know whether she wanted to stay a small transparent in the academy, he was genuinely concerned about her and cared about her safety. He had even thought of using their relationship to suppress those who might have ill intentions.

She didn’t know whether it was because of her Saintess identity or because he had torn open her scars just last night.

Finally, when the blond Hero had turned halfway, he looked at the circle of students around him as if remembering something.

“When you’re alone with me, you can be more relaxed.”

CocoLiss knew what he meant.

He meant that when she was alone with him, she didn’t need to pretend to be a little white flower like she did in front of others.

After all, their very first meeting had already exposed her true nature.

He seemed unaware of why CocoLiss wanted to pretend to be a harmless little white flower, but he supported it and agreed that she could relax a little and drop the mask in front of him. After all, wearing a mask all the time was tiring too.

CocoLiss was somewhat surprised.

She hadn’t expected the blond Hero to be quite warm.

He was pretty good at taking care of people.

No wonder he had lost a lover.

Of course, she couldn’t say something like that to his face, or she might get chopped into mincemeat by the Hero.

But with that, the blond Hero truly turned and left to participate in training.

Only the students still inside the academy remained on the field.

“What is your relationship with him?”

A somewhat cold voice sounded. The pair of huge white wings trembled irritably with the speaker’s words.

The dignified, gentle expression on CocoLiss’s face stiffened unconsciously.

It came. It still came.

What the blond Hero had thought of was someone becoming jealous of her talent and making things difficult for her—this person with no background except her hidden Saintess identity.

But what she had thought of was that once she got involved with Joshua the Hero, this obviously lovesick chicken wing would come make things difficult for her.

Damn it. Hadn’t the blond Hero’s ex-girlfriend taught him about these things? Didn’t he know that love rivals existed?

“It’s fine, CocoLiss dear. Love should be pursued freely.”
Noile stepped in front of CocoLiss to protect her.

Why did this damn airhead suddenly become sharp at a time like this?

“We were just residents from the same small town. There’s no other relationship. I have no extra thoughts toward Lord Joshua. How could someone like me, who came from the countryside, be compared to the lofty Lord Hero?”

She believed she had said nothing wrong.

“But didn’t he come from the same small town as you? Are you saying he’s also a country bumpkin?”

Damn this silly lovesick brain.

“I didn’t mean that. What I meant is that the one who matches Lord Joshua should have better temperament, more graceful bearing, and greater reputation…”

As she spoke, CocoLiss’s gaze kept drifting toward the feathered senior sister in front of her, who was unconsciously puffing out her chest even more.

“It had better be that way…”

The senior sister finally seemed to let CocoLiss off. Before leaving, she deliberately glanced at the feathered feature on CocoLiss’s body—those small, delicate ear feathers.

Finally, she gave a scornful laugh, fluttered the pure white wings behind her, and walked away from CocoLiss’s side.

“It feels like she’s the type who would block someone in the bathroom after school to teach them a lesson…”

Noile’s mouth was covered by CocoLiss.