Following the snap of his fingers, the sound of something rumbling deep in the ground rang out.

“Did you know? Compared to an expert mage, your rare light-element magic is nothing!”

Andrew had casted a spell. The grumbling of the earth suggested that he had casted an earth spell to harm Geo.

“Get away!”

She didn’t know whether the ground would split or spikes would rise—she didn’t, but she had to protect Geo from the direction of the sound!

Lithia leaped at Geo, trying to shield him. The next moment, the ground cracked and the sharp root of a tree emerged.

“Huh…?”

She saw the root in the corner of her vision about to pierce her shoulder, and braced herself for the pain—but it never came.

Instead, she found herself in a protective embrace.

“—A smart move, I’ll have to give you that. Of course, since your skill is just for show, you’ll need to compensate for it somehow.”

While Lithia was still unable to comprehend what had happened, Andrew charged at Geo.

Wanting to scream at him, Lithia spun around, only to be prevented by said embrace.

“…Witch, right now, some obstacles are still in the way. But soon, it won’t matter anymore. Mark my words.”

Andrew left them an incomprehensible throwaway line.

“…He’s gone.”

After the sounds of his footsteps had receded, the embrace suddenly loosened.

“Oh, right, Geo, are you hurt—”

For a moment, she was filled with remorse, but then she remembered why they were in that position in the first place.

The sharp root of tree that she saw before she leaped at Geo—

—What happened to it?

Did Geo shield her from it?

“I’m alright, it’s just a scratch. There’s no need to heal it.”

She immediately checked Geo’s arm and discovered that the sleeve covering his forearm was torn.

When Lithia paled, Geo waved his right arm in an exaggerated manner.

“Thankfully, it wasn’t a clod of dirt, but a plant instead. After all, that’s still affected by the flow of time.”

Then, Geo pointed at a certain direction. Lithia turned her gaze towards said location and found that the root had stopped growing halfway, albeit still there.

“I negated the flow of time for that plant. While it did graze my arm, I was able to stop it before it grew any further.”

She recalled the speed at which the ferociously sharp root thrusted at him.

Even if Geo’s light magic could restore any injury, the pain would still be unimaginable.

“Perhaps, His Highness concluded that light magic boosts the growth rate of plants. Hence, he wanted to show that he could do the same with advanced earth magic. After all, earth magic allows you to arbitrarily grow and manipulate plant life.”

Lithia’s agreed with Geo’s conjecture.

…I see, that’s why Prince Andrew used an earth spell instead of air, which is his forte.

“…I’m sorry, it’s because you protected me. Because of me, he’s now targeting you…”

“Why are you apologizing? I only got involved because that prince mistook me for someone else again. If something’s at fault, then it’s his head, not you.”

—Geo never lied. Hence why she felt so frustrated for letting him say that.

He always took her side, and even protected her. While it wasn’t a bad feeling on its own, the fact remained that she had burdened him.

“Still—! It’s my fault for being so weak… I want to be strong enough to protect you!”

“Huh? There’s no need, though? You’ve already protected me often.”

“Eh?”

It was easy to dismiss his words as flattery, until she recalled that Geo didn’t lie.

At the same time, she had no recollections of ever protecting Geo…

“When that prince confronted me in dance class, I had no choice but to answer him honestly, but you helped me with your follow-up. During that incident with Harrison, that possessed male student, didn’t it get to the point where he was about to throw a punch? Yet you used his own words against him and pacified the situation. Just a while ago, you shielded me from that tree’s root.”

“That’s… But everything happened because of me…”

“Nevertheless, I was the one who frustrated the other party, and the one who protected me was Lithia. Are any of those facts mistaken?”

“…!”

—Is it really okay?

Could she truly believe she had helped him the same way he did her?

“You keep saying that you’re weak, but I don’t think that. After all, despite what the prince and his entourage said, you made it this far on your own.”

Just like a knight pledging allegiance, Geo gently took Lithia’s hand.

“No matter how difficult it gets, you still think about how to overcome it instead of how to escape. Even when the teachers gave you unreasonable exams, you didn’t stop trying until the end.”

A masculine and slightly husky voice.

She didn’t know hearing such a voice could feel so reassuring.

“—Even when you bow your head, you’re like an unbending lily. Ever since we’ve met, you’ve always been strong, kind, and mesmerizingly beautiful.”

—I love him.

Until now, she had always suspected that to be the case.

But right now—right at that moment—there was a conviction in her heart.

“…Geo.”

—How strange.

As soon as that feeling was given a name, everything suddenly became clear.

“From now on, at any time, even if someone else calls me ugly, will you still call me beautiful…?”

“Yes, because I don’t lie.”

In her brightened world, this man shone the brightest.

…Thus, she began to think.

No matter how ugly I looked in the eyes of others, as long as I’m beautiful in his eyes, I don’t want anything else.

---

***T/N:

“No matter how difficult it gets, you still think about how to overcome it instead of how to escape. Even when the teachers gave you unreasonable exams, you didn’t stop trying until the end.”

“—Even when you bow your head, you’re like an unbending lily. Ever since we’ve met, you’ve always been strong, kind, and mesmerizingly beautiful.”

I legit sobbed at this NGL. His words really resonated with me. I’m sure there are times where we feel like giving up and “it’s impossible anyway, so why should I even attempt to do it.” But we still did anyway and in the end, things worked out. And it feels like Geo is, in the most straightforward yet kindest way possible, acknowledging our hardships.

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