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The Lion King’s Birthday was one of the important anniversaries in the Infractus Empire. Although the empire had fallen, its people placed great significance on honoring the great king who ruled the kingdom that preceded the empire. It wasn’t comparable to the empire’s founding day, but that was just the way the empire’s culture was. Even ordinary commoners never forgot to celebrate the Lion King’s Birthday every year.

The situation was no different at the Demia Empire Academy, where the children of influential noble families gathered. In fact, it would have been strange to treat the imperial anniversaries established by the royal family lightly. Every year, as the anniversary approached, a grand festival was held to honor the brave Lion King. During this time, even the cadets, busy with their academy schedules, took a break to enjoy the festivities.

Over the years, the scale of the festival grew, and it became one of the most prestigious social events in the empire, attended by any noble who wanted to make a name for themselves. However, the Demia Empire Academy’s anniversary event wasn’t exclusively for nobles. During this period, the academy’s doors were also open to commoners, and naturally, it was bustling with merchants smelling profit and people eager to see the famous Demia Empire Academy.

Although it was a bold move for the usually closed-off academy, which had to be wary of spies from enemy nations, it was carried out with the conviction that limiting the event to nobles alone would go against the academy’s founding principles. After all, non-academy personnel were restricted in where they could go, so this decision was made.

For this reason, the Demia Empire Academy’s Lion King’s Birthday Celebration was always included when listing the empire’s grandest festivals.

Currently, the academy was unusually chaotic as the Lion King’s Birthday approached. The excitement from the recent competition tournament had faded, and the upcoming anniversary event seemed to fill that void.

Gilbert, who was in the Physical Training Facility today, looked around the empty room as he worked up a sweat. At his age, it was only natural to get caught up in the joy of the festival. Whether noble or commoner, there was no difference. In the monotonous life of the academy, such events were a ray of light.

But despite the festive atmosphere, Gilbert was focused on his physical training. On the surface, it was because he hadn’t completed his daily routine, but deep down, it was more about preparing for an upcoming attack.

After finishing his grueling workout, he took a deep breath to steady himself. He wiped away the sweat pouring down his face with a towel, but his heated body didn’t cool down easily.

As he rehydrated, Gilbert glanced at the suddenly opened door of the training facility. It was surprising that any cadet would come here at this late hour, given the festival mood. But when he saw who it was, his expression stiffened slightly. It was Lily, with her striking pink hair.

“Ugh,” Lily’s face hardened the moment she saw Gilbert in the training facility. He was the last person she wanted to see at the academy.

Gilbert also couldn’t help but stiffen when he saw Lily, his most awkward acquaintance, enter. From the entrance mock battle to the general assessment and the competition tournament, Gilbert’s interactions with Lily were limited, but their past always seemed to hold them back.

Because of this, Gilbert had no choice but to cut ties with Lily, who he had always tried to recruit as a comrade. If he had thought about it more carefully, there might have been a way to resolve things amicably. But after the general assessment, Gilbert had completely severed their relationship. He had said things that hurt her, things that would make her hate him. His intention was to make her someone who could fully direct her hatred towards him.

But now, he wondered if that had been an arrogant thought. Hurting someone who was already wounded, just to turn their hatred back on himself—it wasn’t a normal way of thinking.

Perhaps it was a lingering effect of the possession he had experienced. Sometimes, he acted in ways that didn’t seem like him. This time, he thought it might have been influenced by the original Gilbert.

“Great, just what I needed to ruin my mood,” Lily muttered, her hostility evident. It seemed there was no way to mend their relationship. But at the very least, Gilbert felt he owed her a sincere apology.

He hadn’t directly done anything bad to Lily, but in creating the character of Gilbert, he had indeed given her an unforgettable wound. Just as he felt dissatisfied with being thrown into this unknown world, he also felt he owed Lily an apology.

If a thoughtless setting had caused someone such deep pain, it was entirely his responsibility.

“Lily,” Gilbert began.

“Do we have anything left to talk about?” Lily snapped, clearly unwilling to engage.

Gilbert couldn’t help but laugh bitterly, but he knew he had to say what he needed to say.

“Do you remember the general assessment?”

“What are you trying to say?” Lily’s voice rose sharply. The mention of the general assessment made her react sensitively. She hadn’t forgotten the shameless words Gilbert had spoken that first night.

“I clearly told you back then that I had no intention of apologizing.”

“Are you bringing this up to pick a fight with me? Am I wrong?”

“Not at all. I have no intention of fighting you.”

“Then why bring it up?”

Gilbert calmly observed Lily, who looked like a bristling cat. Even if he apologized now, nothing would change, but as a person, he felt he had to say it.

“I retract what I said back then. I sincerely apologize for that day.”

“…What?”

Lily was caught off guard by Gilbert’s sudden apology. When had he ever been so shameless, and now he was apologizing?

“Is that what you’re saying now? You said you wouldn’t apologize, and now you’re apologizing? Ha! Are you trying to manage your image now that you’re getting famous? If that’s the case, then you’re truly hopeless trash.”

“Not really. My already terrible reputation isn’t going to change with a few words of apology. I just felt I needed to say this to you.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Do you think anything will change? You despicable jerk.”

Gilbert sighed as he watched Lily grind her teeth and glare at him. Her hostility was greater than he had imagined, and he regretted bringing it up.

“I don’t think anything will change. You can fully hate and despise me. I didn’t apologize expecting your forgiveness. I just felt I had to apologize to you.”

After delivering his apology, Gilbert packed up his things. Lily’s expression was contorted in a way that was hard to describe, but he chose to ignore it. Perhaps this action was also a bit of Gilbert’s selfishness, wanting to ease his own conscience.

“You…!”

“My apology is sincere. I just wanted you, who is so kind, to be able to fully hate me. That’s all.”

With those words, Gilbert walked past Lily, who was clenching her fists, and left the training facility. If he stayed any longer, he would only hear her angry shouts.

But as he left, he reflected on what he had said. While he had expressed his true feelings, it still felt a bit off, likely due to the influence of the original Gilbert.

After Gilbert left, Lily stared at the door he had exited through. There was no spell binding her, but she found it hard to move.

Why had he suddenly said such a thing?

An apology? Now?

It was something she couldn’t just accept. Did he think she would take his retraction of what he said during the general assessment at face value?

Lily’s fists clenched. If that was the case, it was even worse than she had thought. The harsh words Gilbert had spoken that day had once again torn at her heart. After all, it was the perpetrator himself who had finally responded after more than a decade.

Perhaps, deep down, Lily had been waiting for his sincere apology. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so angry at Gilbert, who had already disappointed her so much. The thought of reopening old wounds had crossed her mind.

No, perhaps she had been thinking that way back then. The kind-hearted Lily often remembered people’s kindness.

But on the day of the general assessment, Gilbert had ultimately said something that hurt her, and it had continued to this day. That’s why she had come to the training facility today—to break the hopeless scoundrel.

But why had he said such a thing today?

As someone skilled at discerning others’ sincerity, Lily reluctantly recalled Gilbert’s apology.

He had truly apologized from the heart, adding that he had wanted her to fully hate him during the general assessment.

“I really don’t like this at all.”

Biting her lip, Lily irritably threw her bag into a corner of the training facility. It was a moment when she truly despised Gilbert to the core.

 

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