Under the Veil of Night

They only returned back when the students finally felt satisfied with taking in the sight of the waterfall. By the time they returned, it was already past the time for breakfast. Still, the students quickly gulped down the food as they were feeling incredibly hungry.

"I'll divide them into the groups first," Mike gathered the students and read the groups. Because there were more than 400 people here, it took him a long time to read their groups.

"Each group consists of three to four people. You will journey with your teammates and follow the trail that we marked out. The first ten groups that arrive the earliest will receive a reward."

Kanae listened in wonder to the division of the groups. "Did you purposely plan for the student couples to be in the same group?"

"Perhaps," Kevin answered ambiguously. He clearly didn't want to answer.

Kanae's lips curled up slightly. This was quite a thoughtful way to make the groups. Although not all of them were in the same group, many of them were. This would make the students pay not much heed to be the fastest and merely spend more time with those whom they fancied.

She chuckled inside her mind as she thought that this should be a couples' trip rather than a school trip. Still, as long as the students have fun, there was nothing wrong with how Kevin organized this event.

Misae approached the two of them when Mike finished reading the groups and Neo finished giving out instructions.

"Kanae, will you participate in the event?"

"No, I'm going to stay at the inn with President," Kanae answered. They had to prepare the next event after the game, so they would stay here. Besides, the two of them already walked on the route last night. They would stay here and oversee the game.

Misae nodded her head. "I'll eat first and then depart with my group."

"Who's in your group?"

"Mike and Alice," Misae answered.

Kanae blinked before smiling knowingly. They waited until it was lunch time and the students immediately crowded the area where they were serving food. They wanted to eat as fast as possible to start the game with their group. Before long, most of them departed towards the trail.

In the end, only three people were inside the inn's courtyard while the rest were busy following the trail that Kevin and Kanae set up.

Neo sat down and looked towards the two people in front of him. When Kanae walked away to bring them drinks, he spoke up. "Boss, is it fine to let Mike away from your side? He's your guard, right?"

"He ought to have some fun too. I don't want him to lose his chance to live normally because of me," Kevin answered calmly. It was not like they were on a mission, and they had cleared up this area before coming here. There was barely any danger here.

"But if something happens to you…" Neo stopped speaking as Kevin glared towards him. It was an ominous thing, and there was no need for him to say it out loudly. He sighed internally as he knew that Kevin didn't want to talk about it or even imagine it.

In this place, there was barely any chance of anything happening. Even though he held a prestigious position, he has been staying low-key to avoid people from targeting him. Besides, he was pretty good at martial arts.

"Be careful Boss, I'm going to monitor the area," he stood up and walked away.

Kevin stayed behind and leaned back on his chair. As the Clan Head, he knew very well that he was in constant danger. The only time he could relax was in school because he was still underage. There were only a few months left until he formally became the Clan Head. He wanted to use this time to enjoy his normal school life that would only last for a short while longer.

His eyes darted towards Kanae. He knew he liked her and this feeling grew stronger as time passed by. At the same time, he didn't dare to let this feeling show on the surface as he didn't want to place her in any danger. Staying with him would only bring her danger.

He could only stay close to her when she was merely his secretary or a schoolmate.

Kanae noticed that Kevin was staring at her as she returned. She looked towards him quizzically. "Is there anything on my face, President?"

"No," Kevin answered immediately. "I'm thirsty."

"Here's your drink," Kanae chuckled and handed the glass she brought to Kevin. "Where's Neo?"

"He's checking the progress of the game."

"I see."

Kevin watched Kanae silently. He liked her, but what about her? Did she have any sort of special feeling for him? Somehow, he felt like he wanted to hear it from her mouth, saying to him what she genuinely felt.

At this moment, he suddenly felt like he was truly foolish. Why should he ask her this when he knew that he could not pursue her because of his position? It was incredibly pointless.

"President, do I look weird to you today?" Kanae started to feel uncomfortable under Kevin's continuous gaze. She was pretty sure that she wore her usual clothes. They were indeed not expensive and already slightly worn out, but they were not that bad.

"It's not that."

Seeing that Kevin didn't try to explain his actions, Kanae didn't press further. Her gaze arrived at the mess in the field as she sighed. "What were they doing when we were away this morning? There is a lot of trash there."

"Let's make an announcement that whoever doesn't put their trash in the trash bin has to clean up the school."

"I agree," Kanae giggled at the thought of the students complaining again.

Kevin looked at her smile as he hesitantly spoke out. "If… If I turn out to be someone very different, will you hate me?"

"No," Kanae immediately answered.

"Why?"

Kanae looked back at him with a confused expression. "Why should I hate you? It's not like you are a psychopath who likes to torture people."

"…"

Seeing Kevin staying silent, Kanae looked back. "You are?"

"No, I'm not."

It would be a joke if he had that kind of personality. Even if he was the Clan Head, there was no way he liked to torture people. That was insane.

"Do you think that the worst kind of person is a psychopath who likes violence?"

"Yes, is there anything worse than that?" Kanae was confused. She didn't like psychopathic people who liked violence the most. They were people who didn't care for others at all and used violence too much. Towards this kind of people, she felt a slight fear and hate.

Even though many of them suffered from different conditions, she didn't really like someone who loved murder. Not all psychopaths were like that because it was only a personality disorder, but if they had violent tendencies, she would prefer to stay away.

Kevin didn't answer. Normally, people here would hate those who came from the underworld, but Kanae has always been different. Even when facing those from the underworld, she didn't say anything negative. Was it because she also part of the underworld?

From her files, she was not part of a clan, group, or gang. Of course, he would need a detailed check if he wanted to know more. From the simple background check they did, he didn't find anything weird.

Kanae leaned back on her chair as she wondered what made Kevin behave weirdly today. There shouldn't be anything different from usual that happened.

"Everyone has their own secret here, I won't hate you because of that," Kanae added.

Kevin nodded his head. His eyes turned warmer. "Thank you."

The two of them looked towards each other for a moment before they started moving to clean up the mess.. The inn owner was going to be angry if they left things like that.