Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

“By the way, Kyle, can you come help me teach the kiddos tomorrow morning at our training session?” Lionel asked Kyle out of the blue. 

Snapping out of his thoughts, Kyle nodded.

“Sure. I’ll help.”

“Hey, you saved my life. I mean, it’s hard to teach the kids because they won’t listen. They’re always all talking over me.”

“When will Professor Haylon be back from the capital?”

“I don’t think he’ll be back until after the festival, and now I’m in charge of all of Professor Haylon’s classes. It’s killing me.”

Lionel gave Kyle a firm pat on the arm.

“Still, I’m glad you’re here to help. You’re more helpful than I thought you’d be.”

“I don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“No! Who says I don’t want to? It’s just that it’s amazing. You have a way of putting up a wall around people. Don’t tell me you don’t know that.”

Kyle was silent. Because it was all true.

True to his nature, Kyle would not be the kind of person who would go out of his way for others and make sacrifices.

But Kyle’s willingness to grant Lionel and other students’ requests is a testament to the fact that….

‘Kyle, I want you to be nice to other people.’

‘Why?’

‘Because then people will like you better?’

It was all because of Vivian’s words. Words are just words, but sometimes they can be powerful guides.

And for Kyle, Vivian’s words were.

Because she wanted him to. Because she said it was the right thing to do.

It was a simple, clear answer.

He never wanted the affection of people.

He had only to look at his mother, Titania, to see where affection ended up.

In the end, they were all driven by their own greed.

So were most of the people he met at the Academy.

No matter how much of an outcast he was, the fact remained that Kyle was a prince.

They all wanted one thing or another; to rise in the ranks, to gain valuable connections.

But Vivian was not one of them.

She was always the one giving to Kyle. If Kyle wanted something more, she gave it to him, and she was never greedy.

Lionel smirked, “Is this all a demand of your benefactor?”

“…I just thought that if I could be of any use to the Swordsmanship Department, that would be rewarding in itself.”

“Wow, that’s a nice thing to say. So, when are you going to confess to the person who taught you those fancy words?”

Kyle frowned. “You know, mind your own business.”

“Come on. Just talk to me. I’ve been listening to your problems for a while now, you owe me that much,” Lionel giggled amusedly.

Sighing, Kyle lowered Lionel’s arm from around his shoulder. 

“Looks like I’m not going to be able to help out tomorrow.”

“Hey, no! Kyle, you have to come tomorrow! Okay!”

Kyle waved and walked away. Now that he was done training for the day, he thought he’d go find Vivian.

‘She’s probably in the kitchen by this time.’

Vivian would be happy to have a snack with the people in the kitchen.

As he walked across the spacious grounds, Kyle remembered Lionel’s words.

‘So, when are you going to confess to the person who taught you those fancy words?’

‘When will I confess to Vivian?’

It was easy for him to say that because Lionel was not the person involved.

Kyle didn’t want their current relationship to collapse because of his hasty actions.

To him, Vivian was a very precious being that he absolutely could not afford to lose.

He knew he had to approach her slowly, little by little, so that she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable and run away.

Until one day, she would fall for him without realizing it.

But when he got to the kitchen.

“No, why don’t we meet earlier and have dinner together? Around six.”

“Okay, that sounds fun!”

Kyle realized too late that he was being too easygoing.

***

“Kyle?”

“There you are, Vivian.”

I patted my chest in surprise. I thought my heart was going to drop from Kyle’s sudden appearance.

“What are you doing in the kitchen?”

“Came looking for you.”

Despite the casualness of his answer, his eyes were somehow fierce. Kyle’s gaze darted between me and Daniel, whose shoulders were pressed together in the cramped space.

I shifted nervously in my seat.

“Vivi always enjoys tea in the kitchen at this time of day, so I figured she’d do the same today, but….” Kyle’s gaze flickered to Daniel. “I didn’t expect you to be with Daniel.”

Yikes.

Ugh…, this is weird. Why do I feel like a girl who just cheated on her boyfriend?

“Well…, I was with other people, too….”

“Yeah. I know.”

Kyle tilted his head.

“So, I guess that means I can join in, right?”

The corners of Kyle’s eyes folded nicely. 

Kyle usually avoided the kitchen. But here he was, suddenly declaring himself a member of the kitchen’s tea party.

“Stop!”

Luckily, Margaret intervened.

“Take your love fights outside, you two.”

No, Margaret. That’s not right!

“Okay. Time to get ready for dinner, kids.”

“Be careful out there. Come back later if you want a snack.”

And with that, we were shooed out the door.

The three of us, Kyle, Daniel, and I, were left standing in the corridor in a daze.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Kyle. Our eyes met, and he smiled prettily.

“What? Vivi.”

Ugh…, is he pouting?

I could feel a piercing chill coming from Kyle.

Yesterday, Kyle and Daniel had a strange verbal spat, and today, the very next day, Kyle caught me making an appointment with Daniel alone.

What if Kyle thinks he’s the only one getting singled out?

That was definitely not the case. I was going to talk to Daniel about inviting Kyle to come along.

Eager to resolve the situation before it got worse, I opened my mouth.

“Daniel, about going to that tower….”

“I’ll meet you in front of the central fountain at six. Is that okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“Then I’ll see you then. Think about what you want to eat, Vivian.”

Having said his piece, Daniel strolled away before I had the chance to stop him.

I stared after him, feeling like a storm had passed. And in that moment, I felt a hot gaze on my cheek that I couldn’t ignore.

“Vivi.”

“Hmm?”

“Looks like you made some kind of interesting appointment with him.”

Kyle laughed out loud, as if he found it funny. Of course, his eyes weren’t smiling.

Scary…!

A siren went off in my head. I decided to clear up Kyle’s misunderstanding first.

“No, Kyle. I never meant to go anywhere without you.”

“Where were you going?”

“The Tower of Truth. As you know, Kyle, the Tower of Truth is within the grounds of the Department of Magic, so I just happened to mention it.”

“The Tower of Truth?”

I clamped my mouth shut and rolled my eyes away from his when Kyle questioned me like that.

I had originally planned to take Kyle to the Tower of Truth, but now that I’d opened my mouth, I felt a little embarrassed. I don’t think Kyle would ever believe a rumor that he could see his future mate in a mirror.

Plus, Kyle is someone I once had a little crush on, albeit a midsummer night’s dream kind of crush.

If we went to look in the mirror together and I ended up seeing a completely different person than Kyle….

‘I don’t like that.’

I pressed my hand to my heart, feeling unnecessarily frustrated.

When I didn’t answer, Kyle’s mood sank further.

“You’re not going to answer that?”

“Because it’s….”

“Ha.”

I heard him sigh and glanced away. Still looking at me, Kyle opened his mouth.

“Anyway, if you want to go, go with me. Don’t go with Daniel.”

But my mind had already leaned towards not wanting to go with Kyle. 

Yeah, let’s just not go with Daniel either. It’s better that way than causing a scene.

Decided, I turned to Kyle and said, “No, I’m just not going.”

“Why? You wanted to go.”

“I don’t have to. I think I’ll be fine if I don’t go.”

“Vivi, are you sure you don’t want to go with me?” Kyle cut straight to the chase. He was quick on the uptake.

“No, I really don’t have to go.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

I deliberately smiled more brightly. I didn’t want Kyle to get any ideas.

“Okay.”

Thankfully, Kyle relented and moved on.

Phew, I’m glad that ended well.

‘I’ll have to tell Daniel I can’t make it.’

Can I just tell him something else has come up? At the very least, he offered to show me around first…. Still, I couldn’t help it.

I left the conversation with a small amount of regret.

But a few days later.

I became acutely aware that nothing had been resolved.

“Kyle.”

“Kyle, can we talk for a second?”

“Hey! Kyle! You don’t want to talk to me?”

Three times.

A total of three times since that day.

Not by anyone else, but by Kyle.

I thought I’d solved the problem wisely by declaring that I would never visit the Tower of Truth, the source of our discord, but I was mistaken.

Every time we came face to face, Kyle would subtly ignore me and walk away.

“I guess this is what it’s like when your well-reared child starts to sulk….”

To be honest, I was a little shocked. It was the first time Kyle had ever avoided me like this.

Normally, I would have stuck around until he made peace with me, but unfortunately, I was a little busy this time.

The academy’s festival was scheduled for the following week, which meant that all available hands were called to work on the festival preparations.

I decided to give Kyle some space and time to himself. Wouldn’t he feel something if he was alone?

Kyle and I had been together for seven years now, and even though when we were younger, I was afraid our relationship would fall apart, I’d come to trust that our friendship would never be shaken by something like this.

I set a time limit for the last day of the festival.

This was because during the festival, the swordsmanship department holds its own sword festival. It was a very popular event, with all the students in the department participating, and even students from other departments coming to watch.

With Kyle’s skills, he would definitely make it to the finals….

I planned to show up at the final match with a “bam!” and congratulate him on his victory and make amends.

“Great!”

Not a bad plan.

The time passed quickly, and it was the last day of the long-awaited festival.

***

The festival at the Academy of Arene took place over three days. At the Academy, the festival was not just about eating, drinking, and playing.

It was also a day for the students to show off what they had learned so far.

The art department displayed their artwork around the academy, while the magic department created new and improved magical fireworks and released them into the sky.

And the swordsmanship department held a swordsmanship tournament, where they competed in front of the public.

Kyle has been the winner of the competition for five years now.

“I’m selling lemonade! Five silvers a glass!”

“We’ve got delicious, sweet chestnuts! Buy sweet chestnuts!”

Culinary students set up a stall and sold their homemade food. 

‘Wow, that looks delicious, I’ll have to buy some later!’

The area around the stage where the final round of the tournament was about to take place was bustling with people. It was definitely the most popular event of the festival.

I took a seat near the stage.