Chapter 213

Chapter 213 – It Must Have Been… Really Tough?

The campus grounds buzzed with the energetic vibe typical of the midday lunch hour.

Filtering through the emerald canopy above, brilliant rays of sunlight warmed the air, while a gentle, refreshing gust swept across the courtyard.

Evelyn paused to appreciate the view, letting the pleasant draft brush through her hair.

There was no deep meaning to her pause. Having just released a torrent of pent-up feelings, a sudden, peaceful emptiness had settled over her mind, leaving her entirely devoid of thought.

That was the moment a nearby voice drifted over.

“Managed to cool down a bit?”

“…Oh.”

The words instantly snapped Evelyn back to the present.

A wave of self-consciousness washed over her.

Too self-conscious to look him in the eye, she kept her gaze fixed downward, nervously tweaking her fringe while a sudden flush heated her cheeks.

‘What was I thinking… God, how mortifying.’

She had actually broken down.

A few stray droplets had rapidly escalated into an uncontrollable downpour as her dammed-up emotions finally burst.

How many years had it been since she last wept like that?

It had certainly not happened since she reached adulthood.

As a merchant, she had conditioned herself to remain detached, trained to meticulously calculate every smile, tear, and flash of irritation.

Yet, there she had been, right in the center of the dining hall… with the entire student body watching.

…No, there was an even more humiliating detail.

Evelyn cast a surreptitious glance through the strands of her hair at the young man beside her.

‘…Aster.’

The street rat from the Black-White Slums.

Truthfully, their dynamic was incredibly strained.

She had previously found herself intrigued by the rumor that he had forced the second son of the Doranpega Family to his knees, but her interest had ended there.

Their only real interaction… had that been back during the Pistinike Festival?

They had merely shared the stage to accept an accolade together. Nothing more.

They were basic acquaintances who scarcely occupied each other’s thoughts.

Furthermore, his reputation left much to be desired.

He came across as a typical, low-tier opportunist clinging to the coattails of the Blandoga Family’s young heir, plotting some petty social climb.

He wasn’t exactly known for his work ethic, either.

He approached life with a detached carelessness, acting as though his mind was permanently elsewhere, and had flat-out skipped the practical dueling assessment that served as the final exam.

And yet…

‘…He really is bizarre.’

Perhaps she had simply reached her breaking point.

Even as he guided her by the hand toward a quiet retreat, she had wept like a toddler, laying bare every grievance that had plagued her over the past several days.

She had babbled about everything from the sting of betrayal by her trusted confidant and advisor, Bitin, to the icy shift in how the academy students treated her.

It lacked her usual logical structure and precision.

She had merely sobbed, disgorging every bit of resentment that surfaced.

The one silver lining—if it could be called that—was that the young heir of the Blandoga Family and Zhenbi, who had been accompanying them, had discreetly slipped away.

Though that hardly made her feel less exposed.

While Evelyn continued to steal mortified glances at Aster, he kept his steady, unblinking gaze on her before finally speaking.

“Why are you staring so wide-eyed?”

“…What?”

“Never mind. Just an observation.”

“…”

An uncomfortable quiet settled over them.

Aster was the one to break the silence.

“I caught the basic summary of your situation.”

“…Right, yes.”

“It must have been… incredibly difficult?”

“Excuse me?”

Evelyn tilted her head in confusion.

‘Incredibly difficult’—so why did his tone shift into a question at the end?

“I mean, you look completely wiped out. Just making an observation. If it wasn’t that big of a deal, ignore me.”

“…”

A sudden realization struck her.

Was he attempting to offer solace, or just practicing vocal exercises?

His brow was slightly knit, his eyes narrowed into slits. The way his gaze shifted up and down indicated he was actually putting effort into this…

While Evelyn attempted to decipher his demeanor, Aster spoke up again.

“Tch.”

…Did he just click his tongue?

“Look, my bad. Truthfully, I don’t really get it. Which means I have zero clue how to actually comfort someone.”

“…Ah, I see.”

At the very least, he had attempted to console her.

It was clumsy, but oddly enough, it didn’t grate on her. She could clearly see the genuine effort behind it.

Appreciative of the gesture, Evelyn offered a gentle smile. Or rather, she intended to, until Aster kept talking.

“It’s fine. I—”

“But here’s the thing.”

“…?”

Evelyn paused as she began to look away, turning her attention back to Aster. Her head tilted once more.

Somehow, the energy radiating from Aster had shifted entirely.

‘What is this…’

The clumsy, hesitant awkwardness had dissolved, replaced by a gaze from Aster that felt incredibly deep and weighted.

Those eyes carried a striking intensity.

Aster leaned his weight forward, shifting his gaze out toward the open view.

“Like I remarked, comforting people isn’t my strength. But you’re in the thick of a real nightmare right now, aren’t you?”

Evelyn remained quiet.

She found herself unable to speak.

For a fleeting second, it felt as though time itself had paused.

In that quiet vacuum, Aster’s words were the only thing filtering into her consciousness.

“When you’re stuck in a rut like this, try visualizing a decade from now. A decade later… feels pretty far off, doesn’t it? Do you honestly think you’ll still be this miserable? Well, maybe you will be.”

“…”

“So instead, visualize the absolute best outcome. A version of yourself a decade from now where everything currently making you miserable has dissolved. What does your day look like? What are you having for your meals? Who are you spending your evenings with? What kind of trade are you running?”

Evelyn weighed the thought silently.

What would her life look like in a decade?

It was nearly impossible to conceptualize amidst her current despair, but once all this agony finally cleared?

“That future version of you suddenly casts a mind back to this exact day. What do you think that future self would say, looking back at your current mess?”

She truly didn’t know.

Such a perspective had never occurred to her.

Evelyn sank deep into contemplation.

Yet, why was it that just steering her thoughts in that direction made her feel slightly detached from her immediate anxieties? The massive, suffocating barrier that had blocked her path began to lose its terrifying scale.

Aster threw a quick glance her way, then redirected his attention forward, continuing in a level tone.

“Ah, I remember that rough patch back then.”

“…”

“Looking back, it really wasn’t that monumental.”

“…”

True, that resonated with her.

The version of herself a decade down the line, having triumphed over these hurdles, would look back with a wry smile and declare…

“To hell with them.”

“…?”

Pardon? To hell with who?

Evelyn blinked, utterly bewildered. So, she was supposed to tell her future self to say what to her present self?

Was this some kind of joke?

As Evelyn gaped at Aster with wide, bewildered eyes, he let out a heavy breath and reverted to his casual cadence.

“Man, I tried the whole inspirational speech thing, but it’s just not me. A decade from now—who gives a damn about the future when you’re drowning in the present? If that mental trick helps you, great, but I can’t buy into it. When you feel like you’re on the verge of collapsing, what good is a decade? Am I right? You aren’t buying it either, are you?”

Actually, the original piece of advice had genuinely started to soothe her.

“Let’s look at it from this angle instead.”

Aster resolved to share what he viewed as the absolute most practical perspective with Evelyn.

And what exactly was that?

It all came down to managing expectations.

“Your sibling… Halon, was it?”

“…What? No, it’s Vasilin.”

“Right, close enough.”

“I don’t recall ever sharing his name with you…”

“Tch, details don’t matter. Regardless, picture Vasilin and that miserable snake of a secretary, Bitin. What’s the vibe? Intimidating, right?”

Unquestionably, it was.

At this very moment, those two individuals represented insurmountable mountains for Evelyn. Massive walls obstructing her future.

“I’m out of the loop regarding your family drama, but consider what transpired with Bitin. Don’t you feel like an absolute fool? Just completely naive. Like you want to shove your face in a bucket of filth and call it quits?”

“No, I wouldn’t take it quite that far…”

Evelyn attempted to push back against Aster’s harsh phrasing, but he pushed forward, entirely unfazed by her objection.

Because the core lesson was about to drop.

“In crises like this, keep exactly one rule in mind.”

“Which is…”

“If you crack anyone’s skull open, they die.”

“…”

Evelyn gaped at Aster, completely speechless for a beat.

Aster met her gaze, delivering each subsequent word with an intensity he hadn’t shown before.

“It makes zero difference if we’re talking about Vasilin or Bitin. The successor to the Goldrin Merchant Group? Your parasitic assistant? None of those titles mean a damn thing. A broken skull requires the exact same plot of dirt. See what I mean?”

“…”

…See what he means?

“Doesn’t that make the whole problem a lot less complicated?”

“It certainly simplifies it, but…”

Evelyn was at a total loss for words.

In all honesty, his previous attempt at comfort had hit closer to home. It had actually begun to bring a genuine sense of peace to her mind.

Suddenly, she felt as though she had been yanked out of a serene meadow and dropped straight onto a violent battlefield.

Yet, whether he noticed her whiplash or not, Aster drove his point home.

“From where I’m standing, you only lack one thing in a situation like this.”

“And what… would that be?”

“Power.”

“…”

“Absolute, crushing might.”

“…”

“To be precise, the kind of overwhelming force required to bash your brother’s and Bitin’s heads together and walk away without a scratch.”

“No, wait, what…”

In a twisted sense, he wasn’t wrong.

Had she possessed that degree of authority, she would never have been backed into this corner to begin with.

Even within the mercantile realm governed by currency and strategy, raw power remained the ultimate leverage.

And yet.

‘Is this… supposed to be reassurment?’

Feeling a headache coming on, Evelyn pressed a hand to her forehead, massaging her temples with her fingers.

“…I’m putting you on.”

It certainly hadn’t sounded like a joke.

“Though I’m halfway serious, too.”

“…”

Was this even a real dialogue?

She couldn’t tell anymore.

Evelyn had never experienced a conversation quite like this in her entire life.

As she deeply evaluated the enigma that was Aster, his voice cut through her internal monologue once again.

“Still, looking at it that way makes you feel a bit lighter, doesn’t it?”

“It does lift the weight somewhat, but…”

“Then the mission is accomplished.”

“…”

Evelyn reached a conclusion.

It was time to stop trying to make sense of him.

On the flip side, she felt she was gaining a clearer understanding of Aster’s character.

She had initially labeled him as exceptionally arrogant, but observing the self-satisfied grin on his face after delivering such absurdity, it wasn’t arrogance at all… rather, his brain simply operated on a completely different frequency.

Furthermore, a quiet question she had kept to herself was finally answered.

The street rat from the Black-White Slums and the noble heir of the Blandoga Family. How could they possibly maintain a friendship given the vast societal divide?

When you stripped away the titles, the young heir’s skull would crack open and he would perish just like anyone else.

In Aster’s worldview, humanity was entirely level.

Only a single query remained.

‘What happens if you aren’t strong enough to crack their skull?’

The inquiry nearly escaped her lips, but she held it back.

Aster anticipated her.

“Feeling better now?”

“…What makes you say that?”

“The corners of your mouth are twitching upward.”

“…Oh.”

Were they?

Evelyn instinctively mirrored the gesture, touching her cheek, while Aster offered a quiet laugh, dusting off his uniform as he rose to his feet.

“Time to move. Lecture has already commenced.”

“Ah… right.”

Had the hour slipped away that rapidly?

She rose in a slight daze, and Aster, tracing his steps ahead, abruptly paused to look back over his shoulder at her.

“By the way, mind if I blame you for my tardiness?”

“…What?”

“Hey, I actually need to protect my academic standing this term.”

“No, wait…”

Once again, the realization washed over Evelyn.

‘He really is… cut from a completely different cloth.’

Yet, curious as it was?

…She didn’t find herself minding it one bit.