Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Endra sat on the restaurant chair, waiting for his food. He leaned onto the handrail and lazily looked upon the students below. All the 2nd year classes were gathered in the city center, enjoying their time together. It was a brief moment of respite from the competitions in the tournament. 

So far, there was a contest of close quarter combat, speed-casting, and improvisation. The top two spots were shared by Ankelite and Arcvallen, while the South and the East were a close 3rd and 4th. Five of the nine classes were disqualifies at this point, only leaving the top four for the semifinals.

As a celebration, a street in Arcvallen was reserved only for the students to enjoy. 

It was a peaceful sight of teenagers enjoying life together. Endra half expected their rivalry to flare up even during breaktime like how most stories went, but the event was rather peaceful. Although Arza was ruthless during the competition, outside it, he was the same old socialite no one could hate. Slowly, the red-haired boy was becoming the most popular student of the whole event. 

Even Decatur was having fun, with a flock of girls following him around, heart-shaped clouds over their head. With how domineering he was during the competition, he seemed to have gotten some fans among the other Academies' female students. 

Thinking about it, it was natural. He was the acting Count of Greater Ankelite and he had a killer face. And with his constant scowl, he was bound to be popular. And before he met Evin and constantly ruined his own image, Decatur was the center of attention everywhere.

And although Endra hated to say this, thanks to him accepting his own inferiority to Evin, the boy was able to mature much quickly. Though he still had some problems with how easy he was to snap. 

'Eh, he should grow out of that phase soon enough…'

"What are you thinking about?" Elise asked from the other end of the table.

The two of them were having the date that Elise mentioned earlier. 

"I'm just jealous of Dec," Endra replied. "Look at how popular he his, despite his shitty attitude."

"Heh," Elise chuckled, looking down. "Girls like confident guys. So, the bad boys who spew insults without giving two shits look more preferable compared to the king and gentle boys who act nice to them."

Endra agreed. Whatever a guy's game was, confidence was key. 

"Is that how it works?"

"Yup. My previous life was rather dull, so I had lots of time to think about stuff like these. Though, in the young Count's case, I suppose politics play a big role too."

"Heeh."

"But that's only when girls look at boys from afar. When it comes to marriage, the kind and gentle boys are much better even if they don't excite your heart so much."

Endra didn't agree with that. A loveless marriage was peaceful, sure, but humans always focused on emotional satisfaction. Those kinds of relationships usually ended up oddly depressing.

"I think love is still important," he said sheepishly.

"Love is great, sure, but it's vastly overrated," Elise said with a sigh. "And besides, it's not like you can't learn to love another person. Especially if you live with them. Actually, love can only bloom through time spent together. Love at first sight is complete bullshit."

When he was a spirit, many people looked interesting to him at first glance. But of course, a few days with them revealed that they weren't really the type of person he liked. 

"Were you married before?"

"Meh," she spat out disinterestedly. 

Endra took the clue and let the subject be. Thankfully, the food they ordered came at the time, so they dug in. Endra, as usual, was idly glancing at the people around him as he ate. His habits as a spirit still hadn't disappeared yet.

He noticed Bella hurriedly pulling away her gaze when their eyes met for a brief moment. He chuckled at that, but soon found another pair of eyes focused on him. It was a student from Elise's class, and from what Endra could tell, a devout fan of the Child of the Empress.

'Maybe the childish conflicts from all those stories could still happen today…' he thought gleefully.

"I remember an old man just like you," Elise said. "He would spend all his day on his balcony, staring at the people on the streets. Randomly, he would chuckle or smile or sigh with lament. I always thought he was a creepy-ass weirdo, but could tolerate it since he was an old man. I'm sure the man was bored. But seeing you, there's only disturbance and no forgiveness in my heart."

Endra sighed, and turned himself invisible. With this, no one should mind his habits.

"Hey, that's worse," Elise said and swatted Endra with a blast of World energies. 

Her core's capacity was at least three times as large as Endra's so nothing was left from his illusions. Even with him absorbing as much Shards as he could find, it was still hard for him to match proper monsters like Elise.

"Seriously, even the teens I'm sometimes forced to date are better than you. Despite what you may think, I'm kind of serious about this date, you know?"

Endra smiled and focused his attention on the woman in front of him. Honestly, she was someone he would've stalked if he was a spirit. 

Even if she didn't turn out to be his type, her status as a Child of the Empress was enough to pull him in. And as she said, through a long time spent together, he would come to love her properly.

But as Endra wasn't a spirit, he knew he wouldn't be able to fully dedicate himself to her. He had his own life to lead after all. 

And he also knew that despite how she was acting, Elise had motives to be spending time with him. In that sense, he couldn't just wholeheartedly believe her.

How sad was it, that only the dead could love others with all their being?