Hero, Go To School! - Chapter 11

“I’ll try to convince Ian.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Lilian.”

“For now, please leave the two of us alone so Ian can calm down. And until I call for you, don’t let anyone else in.”

“Very well. Should we bring you some tea?”

“No, that’s fine.”

At the duke and duchess’s command, the servants quickly tidied up and left the room, dragging the unconscious doctors with them.

Josefina’s gaze stayed locked on Ian, as if she couldn’t bear to look away even for a moment. It was only after Helith gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders that she reluctantly stepped out of the room.

As soon as the door closed, I let out a long breath and smoothed out my lopsided eyebrow.

I rolled up the bothersome long sleeves past my elbows, then tossed the blanket over Ian’s lower half.

Finally, that distracting, dangling thing was out of my sight.

Now my eyes could finally rest a bit.

I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin.

Ian—no, Ares Balthazar—showed no signs of exhaustion, even though he’d been tightly bound for so long. He just glared at me with unbroken hostility.

He really does have some energy.

The blue of his eyes had deepened as the blood vessels burst, and the air that hissed out from behind the gag was low and rough. It looked like he could break his restraints and leap at me at any second.

But I didn’t let his ferocity shake me. I slowly opened my mouth.

“Ares Balthazar.”

Ian didn’t answer, his only response a heavy, ragged breath.

“Whether I let you live or not depends on your answer.”

Even though I hadn’t meant it that way, my voice came out sounding like a threat. I wasn’t trying to pressure him, but given the situation, it probably did make me sound like some kind of villain.

“If you’re someone I can actually use, I’ll let you out of this. But if not…”

I paused for a moment, holding his gaze, then added slowly.

“You’ll stay here forever, bound like a clown, until you destroy yourself.”

I didn’t look away from Ian’s face.

“So I hope you don’t make a stupid choice.”

“Mmmph, mmph!”

“There’s no sorcerer here to bewitch you, and no barbarian tribe trying to use you for some great cause. Right now, you’re not Ares Balthazar, you’re Ian Zenor. Whatever’s happened, your soul has ended up in the body of the Zenor family’s only son.”

“……”

“And only you and I know that.”

The murderous glint in his eyes began to waver. For the first time, the harsh tension in his facial muscles slowly began to loosen, as if he was finally coming to grips with the situation. I bent my knees to meet his eyes at the same level.

“Just like you, I was living my life in another world when I suddenly woke up in someone else’s body. We’re in the same boat. I don’t know who did this to us, but I do know how to get us back.”

“……”

“If you’ll just stay calm and help me, I’ll make sure you can leave that body too. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life stuck here, right?”

Ian didn’t react, only stared at me in silence. At least he seemed calmer now. I kept my guard up and reached for the gag in his mouth.

I slowly undid the knot, praying he wouldn’t go wild again. When the gag was finally loose, I carefully pulled it from his mouth.

At that moment, before the gag even fell onto his thigh, Ian moved like lightning. His massive body lunged at me, and his mouth shot straight for my neck.

Crash-!

In an instant, my body flipped back onto the bed, and he crashed on top of me completely.

I had no time to even catch a breath before he pinned me down.

But Ian didn’t bite my neck.

He paused for a brief moment, then instead of baring his teeth, he just lightly pressed his lips against my throat.

Tension coiled tight in my chest at the faint brush of his lips, but at the same time, I felt a wave of relief wash over me at the fact that he had stopped. As his breath skimmed the skin of my neck, the air in the room felt thick with tension.

<Helpers> cannot attack <Players>.