Chapter 86: What Happened at That Night

The first day passed without much happening.

It was night time.

Students had dealt with a few monsters here and there, but nothing major. More importantly, Noah’s class had managed to locate where Class B-1 was staying.

Damien had given the order to hold their current position for the night.

There was also no movement from enemies side.

Guards were posted in rotating shifts around the base, twenty students on duty at a time, switching out with a fresh group of twenty-five every two hours. Some were positioned on rooftops.

Others stood on balconies or building terraces, watching from above. A few were posted on the roads at ground level, forming a wide ring around the base.

"Yawn~"

It was Noah’s turn to guard.

He was sitting on a large piece of broken concrete, his eyes heavy, looking out at the empty road ahead of him.

"I’m seriously getting sleepy," he muttered to himself, blinking slowly. "This VR is something else. Even the tiredness feels completely real."

"Tch."

Someone clicked their tongue nearby.

Noah already knew exactly who it was without turning around.

He looked over anyway.

Standing two or three meters away from him, her back leaning against the wall of a broken building, was Ophelia.

His ex-fiancée.

Just the two of them on this stretch of road. How had that worked out? Well, the night guard wasn’t organized by unit. Five people from across the different units had been grouped together for this shift. Noah and Ophelia happened to be two of the five. The other three were posted further along the perimeter, leaving the two of them alone in this particular spot.

Noah didn’t have any feelings about it either way.

Ophelia clearly did.

Her midnight blue hair fell freely around her shoulders. She wasn’t looking at hi, her eyes had flicked his way for a brief moment and then moved off to the side, her expression tight with barely concealed annoyance.

Noah tilted his head slightly with a lazy expression.

"Hey, Ophelia. Why do you look so annoyed?"

She turned to look at him with disbelief written plainly on her face. "Are you seriously asking me that? Of course I’m annoyed. I have to stand guard with you."

Noah shrugged, unbothered. "You should feel lucky. Not many people get to spend the night with someone as handsome as me."

Her expression curdled instantly. "Handsome?" she said flatly. "What’s the point of a handsome face when you’re ugly on the inside?"

That one landed.

Noah felt a flicker of genuine irritation move through him. His eyes sharpened slightly. How could she say something like that when he was one of the most kind human.

"What do you mean by that?" His voice went up a notch. "How can you call me ugly? Tell me exactly what I’ve done to deserve that."

Ophelia raised one eyebrow, looking almost amused by his reaction.

Then she straightened up from the wall and stepped toward him, her own voice rising.

"Are you serious right now?" Her expression hardened. "Why are you acting like you have no idea what you did? You know exactly what I’m talking about. You know exactly what disgusting thing you did!"

Noah held her gaze. He was sitting on the debris with his arms folded, and a slow smirk crossed his face.

"So," he said, his voice calm and deliberate, "you mean the night I tried to assault you. Not just assault but sexually assault."

"Yes, obviously, you bastard." Her voice was sharp with disgust. "You are a truly awful person. And you’re sitting there smirking like you did something worth being proud of."

Noah didn’t drop the smirk. "What? You think what happened that night was entirely on me?" He tilted his head slightly. "But didn’t you want it to happen?"

"What did you just say?!" Her eyes went wide. "Why on earth would I want something like that?"

"Come on, Ophelia. Stop pretending." His tone stayed even, unhurried. "I didn’t remember that night clearly before. But I do now. Every detail."

He continued, his voice steady.

"Yes, it’s true. I tried to do something terrible to you. There was a small gathering at your house. Several noble families were present, including mine. As usual, I had been drinking heavily. Your father told you to take me to a room to rest."

He paused for a moment, then went on.

"And then I was completely drunk saw beautiful you then pushed you down onto the bed. I climbed on top of you, pinned you down, hold your hands on both sides and said..." he recited it without any shame , " ’My dear Ophelia, I really love you. I can’t control myself. Let’s do it, baby.’ Then I tried to kiss you. You screamed loudly. The nobles in your manor heard it and came running. Afterall they were strong...strong enough to hear that scream. They found us exactly like that. You underneath me, my weight on top of you, your face full of terror."

The smirk faded into something more serious.

"That was nearly eight months ago. After that, I was thrown out of my family. Our engagement was broken."

He looked at her directly.

"And that’s exactly what you wanted."

Ophelia said nothing. Her jaw tightened.

The she spoke. But her voice slightly nervous. "So why would I ever want that?"

Noah kept going, his voice quiet but firm.

"Yes, I did that terrible thing. I won’t deny it. But you were completely sober. You were stronger than me at that time. You could have pushed me off without effort. You could have avoided me entirely before it even got that far." He held her gaze. "But you didn’t. You let me pin you down. And then you screamed at exactly the right moment, with exactly the right people close enough to hear."

He leaned forward slightly.

"You wanted a reason to break our engagement. So you let it happen. And then you played the victim."

His expression didn’t waver.

"Even your father and my parents understood what actually happened. But it had occurred in front of other noble families. There was no way to handle it quietly. So the engagement was broken to protect the dignity of both families."

Silence.

Ophelia stood completely still, her eyes fixed on him. She hadn’t said a single word. Her expression was unreadable.