Leci still couldn't understand why Norris always — always — showed up at the worst possible moments of her life. It was as if fate enjoyed tossing him into every disaster she stumbled into. At this point, she was running out of words to even try clearing his endless misunderstandings. And now that things had escalated this far… how on earth was she supposed to explain any of this?
Meanwhile, on his side, Norris had reached the peak of his fury. No matter what Leci said, he wasn't going to believe her. Especially after what happened at school — he had just caught her with Kieron, and now he walked into a scene where Amanda was crying in front of her.
It was as though the universe was deliberately framing Leci as the villain. Her reputation as a 'good kid' was already hanging by a thread in Norris's eyes.
Norris's garnet eyes blazed, fire swirling inside them. He marched toward Leci, each step hitting the ground with force.
"Leci, have you gone mad?" His voice was icy enough to cut through her skin.
Leci could roughly guess what he was thinking. Quickly, she spoke, "Norris, I didn't hurt her," she insisted, pointing at Amanda, who was still sobbing in agony.
Before Norris could open his mouth to accuse her again, Leci continued firmly, "I'm the victim here. Amanda Hayes made a deal with this ghost to attack me."
Norris's expression twisted. For several seconds he narrowed his eyes at Leci, completely unconvinced. But when Leci dragged him behind the Female Ghost and pointed at the hairpin wrapped with spell paper sticking out of the ghost's neck, Norris finally — just barely — began to believe.
"So you're not a crazy girl trying to steal someone else's boyfriend and bullying the victim?" Norris asked bluntly, voicing exactly the accusation Leci had already expected.
Maybe in his eyes, Leci really did look like some obsessive maniac who had fallen too deeply for Kieron — bullying Amanda to take him away. A ridiculous misunderstanding… depending on the angle.
Had six years of growing up with Leci not been enough for Norris to understand his own cousin? He should've known a person couldn't change that drastically in such a short time. Unless… that person was Kieron, whose mood could flip one hundred eighty degrees in a matter of seconds.
"I didn't do anything evil, Norris. I was only explaining the consequences of Amanda's actions. That's why she's crying — because she realized her mistake."
Leci spoke with visible exhaustion. She had already been patient enough. If Norris hadn't walked in on her with Kieron and Amanda earlier, none of this would've happened.
Norris stared at Leci for a long moment, searching for something — truth, justification, anything. Then his gaze shifted to Amanda, still curled on the ground.
"Why did you attack my cousin? Did she do something wrong to you?"
Amanda cried even harder. The poor girl was regretting everything, yet Norris was asking her the worst possible question. As expected, her sobbing only intensified until she could barely breathe.
Leci covered her ears and shook her head, exhausted. She told Norris flatly, "Don't ask anything else. I'll deal with the Female Ghost. You take her home."
Norris instantly frowned. Why should he clean up Leci's mess? He shook his head aggressively.
"No! What will people think if they see me escorting a crying girl home?" He protested dramatically.
"They'll think I did something to her!" Norris added, horrified by his own imagination. He refused. Absolutely refused. No way was he getting dragged into something troublesome.
Leci's brows twitched. She folded her arms, looking more annoyed than angry.
"That's exactly how I feel. I didn't do anything, yet you jumped to conclusions so easily."
Norris opened his mouth — then closed it again. He wanted to argue, but no words came out. After thinking hard, he finally managed to spit out a weak protest:
"Well… it's your fault too for acting suspicious!"
Leci rolled her eyes. She was absolutely not in the mood to deal with Norris right now.
So she stepped closer to Amanda — who was still sitting helplessly — and casually began unbuttoning the top of Amanda's white shirt. Deliberately, she lifted a portion of Amanda's skirt, revealing her smooth thigh.
A horrible premonition flashed across Norris's mind. Seeing Leci preparing to scream, he panicked and rushed forward.
"H-hey! Don't do that!!"
His cousin responded with a mischievous smirk. "So? You choose. Either take Amanda home, or become the prime suspect for harassment."
Pure villain energy radiated from her expression.
Norris wanted to scream. He wanted to curse. He wanted to drag Leci into the nearest trash can.
But instead, he exhaled sharply in her ear as protest, then reluctantly helped Amanda stand. "I'll take her home," he grumbled at last.
He shot Leci a glare while she smiled smugly. "Happy now?"
Before leaving, Norris told Amanda to fix her appearance so he wouldn't be accused of anything ridiculous on the way home. Only after she tidied herself up did the two of them finally walk away.
Leci clapped her hands lightly, brushing away the dust as if wiping off the remnants of the chaos. She then shook her head, thinking of Norris's absurdity.
"This was literally a golden chance for him to get close to the school's idol… so why was he that disgusted just because I asked him to walk her home? Does that boy have some kind of… unusual malfunction?"
But thinking about it again, Norris was honestly not much different than she was. He had never been seen getting close to any girl. In fact, the only female friend he had was Taryn — the one and only Taryn Fidelma.
Leci once suspected that Norris might like Taryn. But she still wasn't sure. And if it were true, Leci had absolutely zero intention to help. Let that clueless, misunderstanding machine figure it out himself.
"Now then, what was I—oh!" Leci flinched, nearly forgetting the ghost entirely.
She approached the Female Ghost, who was still frozen like a statue. Because she'd been too busy thinking about her cousin's nonsense, she had nearly overlooked the unfinished business.
As usual, Leci wrote the Soul Lock Spell, then pressed the spell paper onto the ghost's forehead. The moment it stuck, the paper elongated, unraveling itself like a ribbon of light that wrapped around the ghost's entire body like a mummy. Since her hairpin had already pierced the ghost's neck, its body immediately dissolved — crumbling into fragments of soulstone.
"Ghost extermination complete," She murmured, picking up the soulstone. As she examined the faint glow in her hand, her eyes wandered upward.
"It's already night…? One moment of distraction and the sky changes on me."
There was no point meeting Kieron now. She had already obtained the soulstone he wanted. So she sent him a message: their meeting for today was canceled.
Leci suspected Kieron would be angry. He might even threaten her again for her soul. But she was far too exhausted to care. Dealing with Amanda had drained her emotionally — left her oddly sensitive.
No matter how close she was with Kieron, Amanda was still his girlfriend. Ever since the incident at the infirmary, Leci never once heard rumors of them breaking up. That alone lightly poked at her chest.
Not that she was heartbroken — never. She knew from the beginning that Kieron was never serious. He was just playing around. Which was exactly why she never entertained any expectations.
What irritated her wasn't heartbreak. It was simply…
Yeah, she was annoyed that Amanda poured her frustrations on her. Amanda should've yelled at Kieron — the one getting too close to other girls despite still having a girlfriend. And she was annoyed at all the students who immediately bullied her just because she accidentally caught Kieron's attention.
In short, Leci was annoyed at Kieron. Period. Nothing deeper. No need to overthink it.
Since it was already late, Leci decided to go home. She stared blankly out the bus window on the way, while a couple sitting in front of her whispered sweet nothings to each other. They were her schoolmates — just like her. Their worlds, however, were clearly different.
Indeed. Because Leci's world was nothing like theirs. While girls her age were busy socializing and dating, she was busy exterminating ghosts and studying dozens of complex spells.
She wasn't jealous. She enjoyed helping others. But for some reason, a quiet emptiness clung to her chest. She couldn't remember when her life began feeling so hollow.
Arriving at the bus stop, Leci stepped down. Her house was still a full kilometer away. A glance at her phone showed it was half past eight.
No wonder the road was so deserted. Her home was isolated, far from the residential area — hardly anyone passed through this route.
So she walked alone through the dark and silent road. Even if she encountered a ghost, she'd simply fight it. What was there to fear? It was the world that feared her, not the other way around.
Tap, tap, tap.
Crick, crick, crick.
Only her footsteps and the chirping of crickets accompanied her through the dim grass fields. The night was so still that her eyes immediately caught the silhouette of someone standing beneath the streetlamp up ahead.
As she drew closer, she began recognizing the figure — the posture, the outline of the face. He happened to turn his head just when Leci was seven meters away.
No expression. No warmth. A blank, cold face.
Leci opened her mouth, ready to explain herself before Kieron could scold her for canceling their meeting so abruptly. But he said nothing. His lips were sealed, his gaze unreadable.
Instead of getting angry, Kieron walked toward her. Then, without warning, he wrapped his arms around her — tightly, firmly.
Sweetly.
As though they were lovers who hadn't seen each other in years.