Chapter 54: Crazy Blythe

Declan’s lips parted, but no words came out.

"Refuse the challenge. You’ve never refused one before, have you?"

She continued before he could respond.

"As for the class, you’ll only lose ten points for missing it. If you’re being challenged in the first place, then you must have enough points for that deduction to be meaningless."

Declan remained silent. She was quite right.

"You need rest. A lot of it. At least an entire twenty-four hours."

He was about to stubbornly argue when a familiar panel suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[I would listen to her if I were you.]

Declan’s expression changed.

’It’s... that bad?’

[Yes.]

The curt response immediately erased whatever doubts remained in his mind.

"Fine. I’ll leave in the morning."

He climbed back onto the bed and sank into the mattress.

However, his head soon poked back out from beneath the blanket when he realized Blythe was still sitting beside him.

"Boss Morg called a couple of hours ago..."

Blythe’s brows were furrowed as she stared at him intensely.

"Aaand?"

Declan replied innocently.

"Students of the Academy were never supposed to fuse with Anomalous Grade Cores."

Her voice suddenly carried an edge of anger.

"You lied to me!"

"Lied? About what?"

"You lied about Boss Morg being the one who instructed you to fuse with an Anomalous Grade Core."

Declan raised an eyebrow.

"I never told you Boss Morg instructed me to fuse with an Anomalous Grade Core, did I?"

Blythefell silent.

Declan continued, completely calm.

"All I said was that I was asked to give you this card by a Nexian named Morgaret. Then, when you asked if I wanted to fuse with an Anomalous Grade Core, I simply said, ’Of course.’"

He tilted his head.

"How does either of those things mean Boss Morg instructed me to fuse with a specific type of Core?"

Blythe’s lips opened slightly before closing again eventually leaving her grinding her teeth.

The truth was, Declan had never actually said that.

She had been the one who connected the two statements.

When he had said he wanted to fuse with an Anomalous Core, she had simply assumed Morgaret was the reason he wanted one and that this was why Morgaret had specifically sent him to her.

Even though fusing with an Anomalous Core violated Academy protocols, Blythe had made an exception because the request came through Boss Morg.

If Morg had personally requested it, even the Academy would have given her some leeway.

But she had been wrong.

The boy himself had wanted the Anomalous Core.

And when she had called Morgaret to confirm it, Morgaret had simply told her that she knew nothing about the matter.

’This innocent-looking bastard outsmarted me!’

"I forgot to mention something," Declan suddenly said.

"I am allergic to having someone close to me while I sleep at night, so..."

Blythe scoffed.

"You cheat! I have every right to remain with a student for as long as they remain inside the lab!"

"And you are currently in my personal recuperation room, which I opened to you because of Boss Morg, whose name you’ve abused countless times already!"

She pointed toward him.

"You don’t get to tell me to leave my own recuperation room."

Declan’s gaze slowly dimmed.

"In fact!"

Blythe suddenly rose.

"Hey, what are you—"

Before Declan could finish, an invisible force lifted him a few centimeters into the air and dropped him back onto the bed.

He immediately turned around.

Blythe’s crimson eyes were staring directly down at him.

"I have decided to spend the night here."

Declan’s lips opened and closed before he finally whispered,

"You do know I’m Nineteen, right?"

"Yes, I do."

She raised an eyebrow before suddenly pausing.

Then realization dawned on her face.

"Wait."

Her expression changed.

"You meant..."

"Me... you?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A burst of laughter suddenly filled the room.

Blythe bent forward, laughing so hard that tears eventually formed in the corners of her eyes.

When she finally managed to regain control, she pointed toward Declan’s head.

"You really do have a wild imagination for someone with such an innocent face."

Her smile disappeared, replaced by a frighteningly serious expression.

"Do anything dumb, and I’ll make you regret being born a male."

The fierceness in her crimson eyes sent a chill down Declan’s spine.

He instinctively backed toward the farthest edge of the bed before closing his eyes.

’Just one night. Then I’ll finally be out of this psycho’s grasp.’

He hugged himself awkwardly, his hands brushed against his pocket, but something felt strange.

The trousers he was wearing felt far lighter than usual.

"Huh?"

Declan sat up and pushed the blanket away, looking down at himself.

"What the!?"

These weren’t the trousers he had worn during the surgery. They were patient clothes.

"What happened to my clothes!?"

He turned suspiciously toward Blythe, who answered casually.

"Didn’t you hear? You nearly died during the surgery."

"Of course your trousers and underwear were completely soaked in blood, so..." She paused deliberately. "I took them off."

Declan’s face immediately turned red.

"You! You took them off!?"

"Of course," she replied with a grin. "You’re only Nineteen, after all."

Declan slowly turned away, his teeth grinding together.

’This pervert saw everything.

[It’s the second time now. The first was Morgaret.]

’SHUT THE FUCK UP!’

He roared inwardly, and for a moment, he could swear he heard what sounded suspiciously like mocking laughter inside his head.

’Today’s got to be the worst day of my life.’

He forced his eyes shut again, determined to sleep, and once he woke up the next morning, he’d be alive, hopefully feeling much better, and ready to return to his dorm room and plan out his day.

Maybe he would even be healed enough to fight.

He didn’t want to cancel his first challenge, and he had already missed one class, so the last thing he wanted was to miss another.

"Declan Ezra, huh?"

Blythe’s voice suddenly broke through his thoughts, but he remained still, pretending to be asleep.

"You didn’t enter X Guard through the normal process, did you?"

One of Declan’s eyes slowly opened.

Blythe continued, "There’s no entrance record or score attached to your name, and even your affinity talent only appeared in the Academy’s records a few hours ago."

She turned toward him, her gaze settling on his white hair, the edges of which seemed to glow faintly with an otherworldly blue hue.

At first glance, such a hair color could have been attributed to dye, but Blythe had already checked, and that was simply the natural color of his hair.

"How did you get into X Guard?"

The question lingered heavily within the crimson room, forcing Declan’s other eye open as he finally turned his attention toward her.

"Recommended," He answered curtly.

"Recommended..."

Lady Blythe repeated, her brows drawing together in confusion before, as if something suddenly clicked, her eyes widened and she jerked toward him, grabbing his face and turning it toward her.

"Wait. You got recommended!?"

"Is touching enough to file for sexual assault?"

"Then that means... you’re an X-Guardian!?"

Her grip on Declan’s jaw tightened, and he could practically feel his bones protesting beneath her fingers.

"Let... me go," he forced out.

Blythe finally released him, her expression still filled with disbelief.

"I can’t believe it. You’re an X-Guardian."

She paused, staring at him as another thought crossed her mind.

"But wait. Who recommended you?"

Declan watched her eyes widen until they were almost saucers.

"Don’t tell me..." she whispered. "Don’t tell me you were recommended by Morgaret!?"

She practically screamed the last part, making Declan’s brows crease.

"I’m pretty sure that’s information you don’t want to get yourself entangled in..." he replied calmly.

Instead of answering, Blythe suddenly pulled the collar of her pajamas aside, revealing the tattoo beneath it.

Declan’s eyes widened.

"You’re an X-Guardian too?"

That symbol was identical to the one marked on his neck, as well as the one he had seen on Principal Matilda, and who would have thought this annoying woman was also an X-Guardian?

It suddenly made sense why Morgaret had specifically instructed him to come here.

"But that’s impossible," Blythe muttered, staring at him suspiciously. "Morgaret has never used her recommendation authority before. Not even once."

"There’s no way she would use it on an ordinary D-grade human like you."

Declan scoffed.

"Joke’s on you. She did."

He turned away with a huff, clearly enjoying the disbelief on her face, but unfortunately, he didn’t even get the chance to close his eyes before his face was grabbed again and turned toward Blythe.

"What is your relationship with Morgaret?"

Declan tried to pull his face away, but when he noticed the seriousness in her eyes, a wicked idea suddenly formed in his mind.

"Can’t disclose."

"Why?"

"Because it’s a personal relationship."

He maintained a completely serious expression, but inwardly, he was grinning, and Blythe’s expression twisted into something that looked almost betrayed.

That was when the corner of Declan’s lips twitched, and her eyes immediately narrowed.

"You cheat! You’re fucking around with me again!"

Her hand shot toward his neck, and before Declan could react, she had pinned him against the bed.

"What are... you—ACK!"

Her fingers tightened around his throat.

"I haven’t forgiven you yet for manipulating me back there, you cheat!" she growled. "Try it again, and I’ll get rid of you."

"Trust me, all I’ll be getting as punishment for that is a pat on the back of my hand."

"Got it!?"

"YEEECK!"

Declan could barely force the word out before she finally released him, and he immediately broke into a coughing fit while clutching his throat.

"Hmph!"

Blythe rolled away from him in annoyance, while Declan desperately tried to get his breathing under control.

"That’s it! I’m getting out of here!"