Chapter 39: He Knows
39 Chapter 39: He Knows
Yuki knocked on Isabelle's door. Isabelle, still half-asleep, opened it with her hair tangled and disheveled.
"Yuki? What is it?" Isabelle asked, her eyes barely open.
"He's not in his room," Yuki replied.
"Mmm, what? Oh, he must be training late... Go back to sleep; we'll talk in the morning," Isabelle said in a sleepy voice.
"Hmm..." Yuki nodded, not thinking much of it.
Training a little longer didn't seem out of the ordinary for Sam.
But then they heard someone ringing the doorbell.
Yuki and Isabelle exchanged glances, wondering who could be at the door at this hour. They knew it wasn't Sam because it was his house, and he had a key. He wouldn't knock; he would just come in.
"I'll see who it is," Yuki said, heading to the door. Isabelle sighed deeply and followed her.
When they opened the door, they found a girl with short dark hair and dark eyes standing there. This was the first time they were officially meeting Lucy, Sam's senior, who had tried to recruit him into the Student Council. Lucy seemed to be ignoring Yuki and Isabelle for some reason.
"You..." Yuki immediately understood why she was ignoring them. It wasn't because she hated them or was jealous of them; it was because she was one of them.
"You're like us," Yuki muttered, her expression confused.
"I'm awake. I'm fully awake. I hope I'm not dreaming. Say that again," Isabelle thought. She was convinced she was not just half-asleep but also dreaming because she thought Yuki said Lucy was a saintess.
"Focus, Isabelle. You can sense it too," Yuki said, pinching her arm.
"Yes, I'm a saintess... like you," Lucy confirmed, not waiting for Isabelle to fully wake up. "I'm the third Saintess."
"You were in the academy the whole time? How do you know about us? Do you know about him?" Isabelle asked.
Lucy sighed heavily. This was one reason she hadn't introduced herself earlier; explaining everything from the start was a drag.
"That's not important," Lucy said as she entered Sam's room with an air of entitlement, casually sitting on his bed.
"Um... Why are you here?" Isabelle asked.
"Why can't I be here? I have the right to be here, the same as you," Lucy replied, narrowing her eyes.
"She didn't mean that," Yuki said, also taking a seat on his bed, tacitly acknowledging Lucy's earlier statement and asserting her own right to be there.
"Oh," Lucy smiled, seemingly impressed, before her expression turned sour as she remembered why she had come. "I messed up," Lucy said blankly.
"What did you do?" Isabelle asked, a bad premonition dawning on her. If Lucy had messed up something that only affected her, she wouldn't have come to them. Since she was here, whatever she messed up likely affected them too, and was probably related to Sam.
"He knows everything." Those words were enough to make Yuki and Isabelle understand, then she explained everything that had happened between her and Sam.
"He has the ability to sense emotions, so he probably knew all along that we were hiding something from him."
"You know, I'm still having a hard time digesting the fact that you are a saintess, and now you're dropping another bomb... he knows... What are we going to do?" Isabelle sighed and held her head as if she had a massive headache.
"He didn't come home, did he?" Lucy asked, her eyes wandering around the room. This was the first time she had been in his room, and he was the man she liked, so of course she was curious.
"Well, you did reveal what is probably the biggest truth about his life. I would expect this reaction from him," Isabelle said, her expression turning sour. She also hated that Sam had to find out about them this way.
"Do you guys have any idea where he could be?" Lucy asked in a low voice.
"No. Why? Do you want to ask for his forgiveness or something?" Isabelle asked, scoffing. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
She was still pretty disappointed that Lucy was the one to tell him and not her or Yuki.
"Yes," Lucy replied, nodding her head. "And I think you should too."
...
15:43
After his little outburst with Lucy, Sam didn't go back home. He knew Yuki and Isabelle would be there, leaving him with nowhere to go. So, he aimlessly wandered around the academy.
Eventually, he ended up in the Academy garden, a sprawling area as large as a park. The garden was home to all kinds of herbs and weeds, carefully tended by the alchemy department. It wasn't open to everyone since some students had a tendency to damage the plants while fooling around.
Sam, however, was allowed inside because he was one of the best students in the alchemy department and had earned that privilege.
"What are you doing here this early in the morning? You don't have classes today," Trainer Roman asked, noticing Sam standing there at an unusual hour.
Sam glanced at him and managed a small smile. "I just have a lot going on... I just learned that everybody but me knows about the prophecy, which includes you, I guess."
"...so you know," Trainer Roman sighed.
"Yes, I do... but the thing is, I don't know what I'm going to do with this," Sam sighed again.
"There's nothing I can say that's going to make you feel better," Trainer Roman said before he turned his attention back to the herbs. Some of them were difficult to grow and required constant care.
Sam didn't expect anything from him. He was just there to divert his thoughts. He began to tend to the herbs, plucking out unwanted weeds, adding natural fertilizers, and checking for any infected leaves.
"Do you know what these are?" Trainer Roman asked, pointing to a particular herb in the garden. The plant was unique, with crescent moon-shaped leaves that were dark green with blue zigzag patterns.
"Geist Ferns. They say it can heal the soul, and it takes dozens of years for them to reach maturity," Sam replied, looking at the plant.
"Hmm... they're a lot like you." "They don't need any help to grow, aren't specific in their growth requirements, and thrive in all kinds of environments. They adapt to any changes, be it environmental or otherwise."
" No matter how many weeds surround them, even in the darkest conditions, they stand out the brightest."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Sam asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"No, I'm just saying you remind me of that herb," Trainer Roman replied, noticing a Geist Fern that appeared to be dying. "Sometimes even the brightest ones can falter, like this little Geist Fern."
Sam glanced at the dying plant in Roman's hand. He activated his Rune Pulse, his eyes glowing faintly as he observed that the elemental particles weren't flowing as they should. With a wave of his hand, the particles were forcefully redirected into the plant, which rapidly regained its health. "Even the brightest ones need help sometimes."
"Hehe," Trainer Roman chuckled and said nothing more.
Sam also smiled in response, then noticed a figure arriving in a flash.
"So you were here," Principal Agor said with a relieved sigh. "I heard you had a very nice chat with my granddaughter."
"Heh, Lucy is your GRANDDAUGHTER? I honestly didn't see that coming," Sam shook his head.
.
.
.
[A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones. And if you absolutely loved it, you can even contribute a Golden Ticket. Your support means a lot to me! Thank you very much! - Arigato! 🙏]