As Alex reached the academy, Scarlett was already at the entrance waiting for him — nervous, tense, and visibly shaken.
She couldn't believe that after Alex had finally begun to brighten a little after the midterms, fate had struck again, taking someone precious from him.
The guards hadn't told her who the culprit was. That silence alone said enough.
'They said they had a suspect but couldn't tell me who.' That's basically saying a noble did it.
If a commoner had been responsible, they would have told her immediately — and assured her that the man would be apprehended shortly.But evasive answers only confirmed what she already suspected.
Her thoughts were cut short when she saw a young man approaching the academy — drenched in dried blood.
He looked like a walking corpse. Hollow eyes. Unfocused gaze. Mechanical footsteps, as if he were moving through instinct rather than will.
That was Alex.
Tessa walked beside him. Her head was lowered, her expression heavy with grief. She stayed close, but Alex gave no reaction to her presence, not even a glance.
Scarlett's heart clenched at the sight. She had always held a soft spot for Alex — his brilliance, his potential, and the quiet kindness hidden beneath all the bitterness he carried.But destiny seemed determined to carve tragedy into his life, hardship after hardship, without giving him a moment's peace.
As they drew near, Scarlett opened her mouth to speak to him, but Alex simply walked past her as though she were invisible.
Tessa paused and looked up at Scarlett.
"Hello, teacher," she said quietly, her voice tight as she held back her emotions.
"Tessa… could you tell me what happened?" Scarlett asked softly. She wanted to comfort her, but she also needed to understand everything.
Tessa took a breath and explained the events in detail — from the moment they heard a commotion, to Marc stepping in to help a girl, to the search, to the scream… and then to how they found the body.
She ended by telling Scarlett who the perpetrator was.
Scarlett froze, disbelief mixing with dread.
'Everything has gone to shit.'Now that Alex knew a noble had taken the life of his closest friend — and for something as trivial as helping a girl escape a creep — she knew Alex's quiet disgust toward nobles would twist into something much darker.
"There's… one more thing," Tessa said, tightening her fists. "He swore he would take revenge on all nobles."
Scarlett's breath caught."Fuck…" The word slipped out before she could stop it — the first time she had ever cursed in front of a student, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
She had once believed Alex could become the greatest champion of commoners… or one of humanity's worst enemies.Now it seemed he was truly stepping toward the second path — and she wasn't sure there was anything she could do to stop him.
As the girls spoke, Alex returned — now cleaned up and wearing a backpack. He stopped directly in front of Scarlett.
His eyes were empty and soulless.
"I'll be taking a leave of absence," he said, his voice flat and mechanical.
"How long?" Scarlett asked gently. Tessa had already mentioned he intended to bury Marc personally.
"Don't know."He turned and walked away without waiting for her response.
Scarlett didn't stop him. She couldn't. Her words wouldn't reach him now.All she could do was wonder if he would ever return.
As his silhouette faded down the path, she exhaled a long, weary sigh.
'Will he ever be able to pick up the pieces of himself?'Everyone experiences losing someone… but there were ways to lose someone.If Marc had died fighting a monster in the wilds — the risk every adventurer accepts — Alex might not have broken like this.
But torture and death during a celebration, all for the simple act of helping a girl escape a predator?That was the cruelest blow fate could have dealt him.
Some time later…
Alex reached the caravan and climbed inside. He had washed himself, changed clothes, and gathered everything he needed for the journey.
"You can set travel," he told the coachman, his voice cold and drained of life.
He placed all his belongings beside Marc's.
As the carriage rattled forward, a single, suffocating thought kept circling in his mind —Would he ever return to the academy?
When he sat down, his gaze fell on the cloth-covered shape in the corner.
Marc's body.
Tears streamed again, silently. He couldn't stop them.
His mind was a storm — scattered and unable to think clearly. The way he found Marc echoed the image of that girl who haunted him still.And knowing Marc hadn't simply been killed, but tortured… that the slash to his neck condemned him to bleed out slowly, painfully…
A martial artist's endurance had become his curse.
Alex's chest tightened as he imagined Marc's final thoughts.Dying alone, discarded in a filthy alley, surrounded by rats and trash — while Alex had been chatting with a girl he liked, relaxed and carefree.
The guilt was unbearable.He kept thinking that if he'd been with Marc, none of this would have happened.
The trip home felt endless — two days of frozen silence, of staring at the shrouded body that thawed little by little as time passed.
They finally reached Perrin's Gate. Alex asked the coachman to continue driving, guiding him to the opposite end of town, closer to Susan's home.
When they arrived, he handed the coachman an additional five gold coins.
Carrying the body in his arms, he walked toward the riverside — the very place Susan had found him long ago, where he would have died if she hadn't stepped in.
Now, that place would become a tomb.
Marc — his first real family.And with him, the last bright part of Alex would be buried too.
As he climbed the hill, Susan was finishing the laundry. She hummed softly as she hung the last piece of cloth to dry.
She turned around — and the basket fell from her hands instantly.
Her eyes widened. Her hand flew to her mouth.