* * *
The sound was so clear that both of them turned their heads at the same time.
‘Could it be a ghost?’
Ruite’s eyes sparkled for a moment.
But at the same time, he was worried about Chester.
‘What if he gets so scared he passes out?’
As Ruite tried to sneak a look at Chester’s condition, he saw him staring intensely at the source of the noise with a serious expression.
Then, without warning, Chester grabbed Ruite’s hand and pulled him behind a tree.
“Hey, why…”
“Be quiet.”
Chester put his index finger to his lips and shook his head.
He pointed toward the back.
Ruite, still looking confused, poked his head out just a little.
He stared in the direction Chester indicated and reflexively clamped his hand over his own mouth.
Ruite instinctively lowered his body and crouched down.
Chester, who was still holding Ruite’s hand, did the same.
The two were now hidden behind the tree.
Chester had his back against the trunk, while Ruite was positioned in front of him so they couldn’t be seen from the other side.
There was a reason they had to do this.
If it were a ghost, they wouldn’t have needed to hide, but if the people appearing here were members of the Knights, the story changed.
Ruite held his breath and peeked out.
Two men were visible near the bushes where the noise had come from.
It was Evan, the Vice-Captain who managed the camp alongside Marcus, and Connor, who had helped Ruite with his individual training earlier.
“What are those two doing here?” Ruite whispered softly.
“I don’t know. For now, it’s best to stay quiet until they leave.”
If they were caught, there was no telling what the consequences would be.
If the knights—and the professors—found out they had planned such an event and snuck out in the middle of the night, it wouldn’t be ignored.
However, the combination of people was quite surprising.
Earlier, Evan’s face had looked quite terrifying as he scolded Connor, leading Ruite to vaguely assume they didn’t get along well…
“So, why did you call me all the way out here?”
Evan’s voice drifted over.
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
The atmosphere was unusual.
Did Connor call Evan here to give him a piece of his mind because he was upset about earlier?
But wasn’t Evan higher in rank?
Was this a case of insubordination?
Chester had also turned his head to watch the two of them converse.
“This place is perfect. No people. Quiet.”
Ruite bit his lip. It was certainly a good place for a fight.
Anyway, were they really going to come to blows?
Evan just stood there leaning against a tree with a calm face, saying nothing.
“Senior, why did you hit me on the head earlier?”
“…”
‘Oh no.’
It seemed Connor really was quite upset about that incident.
While Ruite was feeling anxious, Connor suddenly took a large step toward Evan.
He was clearly going to make the first move.
Ruite unconsciously clenched his fists, but then something felt strange.
Instead of clenching a fist, Connor grabbed Evan by the waist and pulled him close.
“You were jealous, weren’t you? Because I was laughing and chatting with that pretty student earlier.”
“…Stop messing around. Why would I be jealous of a student?”
‘Jealous?’
The conversation was heading in a completely different direction than Ruite had expected.
Ruite stole a glance at Chester.
Chester seemed to be sensing something similar, as a slight furrow appeared between his brows.
Just as they were questioning the situation, Connor suddenly kissed Evan.
“…”
Ruite’s mouth dropped open.
Evan struggled as if trying to resist, but soon became quiet.
Before long, the sound of conversation disappeared between them.
Chester unconsciously clenched his fist.
He had wondered why they would come all the way into the forest to talk, but now everything made sense.
That sight explained exactly what their relationship was and what the situation was.
However, there was something else bothering him more than the surprising relationship between those two.
“…”
Ruite was staring intensely at the two with a flushed face, looking very flustered.
Chester was maddeningly conscious of the fact that Ruite was right in front of him—so close he could reach him just by stretching out his hand.
What he understood even less was his heart, which had been thumping loudly for a while now.
His heart was pounding faster than it did when he ran three laps during the Academy’s practical training recently.
Why?
Was he startled because he accidentally witnessed an intimate scene between those knights?
If that were truly the reason, his heart should have calmed down now that he had looked away from them and was focused entirely on Ruite.
Just then, Ruite looked up.
His cheeks were slightly flushed.
Why on earth did Chester’s gaze head toward Ruite’s lips?
He felt like all the blood in his body was rushing to his face and head.
“Uh…”
Realizing he couldn’t take it anymore, Chester covered Ruite’s eyes with his palm.
He didn’t want to think about what his own face looked like right now, but he could guess.
He didn’t want to show Ruite such a ridiculous sight.
“Hey, hey, why are you covering them?”
Ruite whispered softly and grabbed Chester’s wrist, but Chester didn’t move his hand.
The sight of Ruite’s lips moving as he chattered in a low voice kept catching his eye, making him look up at the empty air instead.
Then, the voices of the two men could be heard again.
“You’ve gone mad. What if someone saw us?”
“Are you pointing that out only after we’re done? And you don’t need to worry about that. You know as well as I do that no one comes here because it’s the ‘ghost area’ or whatever.”
Evan hit the top of the playful Connor’s head once more and started walking toward the entrance.
Connor followed right behind him, saying, “Senior, wait for me!”
Once the two were out of sight, Chester let out the breath he had been holding.
Ruite, who must have heard the conversation as well, pulled Chester’s hand away from his eyes and looked around.
“Are they gone?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow… I was really surprised.”
Chester awkwardly touched his own face.
Fortunately, blocking Ruite’s gaze had helped, and his heated temperature had cooled down a bit.
“To think those two were in that kind of relationship…”
“Do you know them well?”
“Not really. That person named Connor was the knight who watched over me during voluntary training.”
Ruite took the opportunity to tell the story of how Evan had scolded him terrifyingly earlier.
Chester fell into thought for a moment.
Come to think of it, hadn’t that knight named Connor mentioned a “pretty student” while talking about jealousy?
So, was he referring to Ruite?
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Chester didn’t feel very good.
Why did it bother him so much that someone else called that stupid face “pretty”?
“Chester, but why did you cover my eyes earlier?”
Ruite looked at him with a reproachful gaze, as if he was disappointed he couldn’t keep watching.
“…Because you were looking like a total pervert.”
Chester stood up, dusting off his clothes.
“You were staring intensely too, so why am I the only pervert?”
“Be quiet and let’s go back quickly. The others probably went to the dorms already anyway.”
The fact that Connor and Evan had entered this area meant they had passed the place where Magnus, Colin, and the others were waiting.
However, since those two had entered the so-called ghost area as if it were nothing, it could be inferred that their classmates had avoided the suddenly appearing knights and returned without being caught.
Sure enough, when they reached the entrance, there was no sign of their classmates.
Just as they were about to return to the dormitory, they heard footsteps from ahead.
“Ruite! Chester!”
It was none other than Magnus.
“Magnus? I thought you went back to the dorm.”
“The others made it back safe while avoiding the knights, but I was hiding near here waiting for you guys. Come on, let’s get to the dorm.”
Magnus grinned, curling up the corners of his mouth.
‘Was he always this loyal?’
Ruite saw his friend in a new light.
Magnus led the way, saying they should get back quickly before being caught.
“Hey, Chester.”
“What.”
“Let’s keep what we saw a secret. Don’t tell the others.”
“I was planning to.”
“But those two must be dating, right?”
It was a combination Ruite had never expected, but seeing them close together earlier, they seemed like a well-matched pair.
Chester glanced at Ruite at the offhand question.
“Probably. That’s why they’d do something like that.”
The two managed to arrive at the front of the dormitory without being caught by anyone.
Curiously, however, Magnus, who had been walking ahead of them, was nowhere to be seen.
“What? Did he go in already?”
Ruite tilted his head.
As he climbed the dormitory stairs with Chester, keeping their footsteps quiet, they ran into Colin, who was waiting at the landing.
“Oh! You’re here. Thank goodness. I was just about to go looking for you because you hadn’t come back. Let’s go to room 301. Everyone is gathered there.”
It seemed they had been waiting there for him and Chester to return.
As they walked to the room, Colin briefly explained the situation from earlier—how they had each hidden to avoid being caught by the unexpectedly appearing Connor and Evan before returning immediately to the dorm.
When they entered room 301, their classmates all looked at them with relieved faces and let out sighs of air.
“I’m so glad. Do you know how nervous I was that you guys would get caught?”
Magnus let out a huge sigh of relief. But those words sounded very strange.
“Huh? You waited for me and Chester at the forest entrance until we came out. How did you get back first?”
“Eh? What are you talking about? I came straight here with the others as soon as I saw the knights…?”
“No. You definitely came back to the dorm with us…”
‘Then who was the Magnus I saw when coming out of the forest? Does that mean the Magnus who grinned at me and Chester wasn’t real?’
“…”
The room suddenly fell silent.
The faces of the classmates who were listening to the conflicting conversation between Magnus and Ruite all turned as cold as ice.
That night, Ruite and the students of Class 3 learned exactly why that place was called the ghost area.
* * *
