Liyami walked over and sat down beside Lavinia. However, she did not ask anything immediately. Instead, she stared intently at Lavinia’s face.
After watching her for a while, Liyami finally spoke slowly, “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Hmm? What do you mean by that, Liyami?”
Faced with Liyami’s questioning, Lavinia acted completely innocent. Her current expression was exactly like the one Liyami had shown earlier when facing Eleanor and Kolin, which made Liyami furrow her brows.
“Stop playing games. What happened last night — it was your doing, wasn’t it?”
The “last night” Liyami referred to was, naturally, the matter of Kolin suddenly coming to her room.
After Kolin had left last night, Liyami had pondered the situation. ‘How could Kolin suddenly come to find me? Eleanor is always clinging to his side, and she certainly wouldn’t just let him go off to see me.’
Moreover, it happened at that specific time, right after Liyami had finally made up her mind. It was all too convenient. It was so coincidental that Liyami had to doubt whether it was truly an accident.
Thus, after much thought, she turned her suspicious gaze toward Lavinia.
In her estimation, only Lavinia was likely to do such a thing. But if that were the case, a question arose: why would Lavinia do this? Why would she go to such lengths to… help her?
With this doubt in mind, Liyami questioned Lavinia again. However, Lavinia did not answer immediately. Instead, she shifted the topic to what had just happened between Liyami and Eleanor.
“I really didn’t expect it. You were so aggressive that even Eleanor was stunned. If you keep attacking like that, maybe no one will truly be a match for you.”
Although Lavinia’s words sounded like praise, Liyami was not happy at all. She didn’t sense much genuine compliment in the tone. Perhaps Liyami was overthinking it, but she felt that Lavinia seemed both somewhat hostile and yet eager to help her. It left Liyami feeling completely bewildered.
“Fine, it seems you aren’t very interested in this topic. Let’s talk about something else then.”
Lavinia saw that Liyami had no interest in that line of conversation, so she switched to the topic Liyami actually wanted to know about.
“I know what you want to ask. Yes, I was the one behind what happened last night.”
Lavinia’s candidness surprised Liyami slightly. She hadn’t expected the other girl to admit it so bluntly; she had thought Lavinia would beat around the bush more.
Of course, Lavinia did not know Liyami’s inner thoughts. She simply began to explain the details of the previous night.
“After I parted ways with you yesterday, I went to find Eleanor. I lied and said I needed her help with something to keep her away from Kolin for a while. That’s why Kolin had the chance to come find you. Well, didn’t I do a good job?”
Faced with Lavinia’s tone, which seemed to be fishing for praise, Liyami did not compliment her. Instead, she frowned.
“I never asked you to do such a thing.”
“But didn’t you get a good result anyway? From that perspective, you should thank me a little, shouldn’t you?”
Lavinia was right. Although she had acted on her own without Liyami’s permission, Liyami had indeed achieved an excellent outcome.
Under the pressure Kolin had brought, she had finally summoned the courage to confess to him. Kolin’s reaction had also made Liyami feel that she had a great chance. She was no longer hesitant; she had resolved to move forward.
From that perspective, she really did need to thank Lavinia. Yet, Liyami didn’t do so — not because she was ungrateful, and not because she felt thanks were unnecessary. Rather, before she offered her gratitude, she wanted to understand the reason behind Lavinia’s actions.
Liyami did not want to be kept in the dark the whole time, not even knowing if she had won a prize or fallen into a trap. This feeling of being enveloped by the unknown was something Liyami truly did not want to experience any longer.
Therefore, Liyami was not swayed by Lavinia’s words and continued to press her, “I will thank you later. But before that, you have to explain to me why you went out of your way to help me like this.”
“If you really wanted to help me, why didn’t you just tell me directly? Was there any need to hide it from me? And if you didn’t want to help me, why would you do these things? Doesn’t this only benefit me?”
Liyami voiced her confusion, hoping for a straight answer. But the response Lavinia gave still made Liyami raise an eyebrow in surprise.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself.”
Lavinia’s first sentence confused Liyami, but what followed was even more unexpected.
Lavinia looked up at Liyami with an expression that was both puzzled and helpless.
“Clearly, from my position, having one less love rival should be a good thing. However, I also don’t want to see a friend get hurt because of it. That’s why I wanted to help you, at least so you wouldn’t have so many regrets.”
At this point, Lavinia paused and glanced toward the door where Eleanor had left earlier.
“Of course, I don’t want to see Eleanor or Kolin get hurt either. So, I’m actually very conflicted. On one hand, I don’t want everyone to drift apart, but on the other hand, there are my own feelings. I truly can’t choose between the two. But as you can see, I eventually chose to help you because I really didn’t want to see you regret it later.”
Lavinia paused again as if recalling something, her expression turning somewhat melancholy.
“Actually, I’ve experienced something similar before. Back then, I was just like I am now — I didn’t want the group to break up, but I also didn’t want to deny my own feelings. It was because I kept hesitating that I met the Bad Ending I hated most. The people I once cherished still drifted apart, and my feelings never became a reality. In the end, I was left with nothing.”
“So, when I encountered such a similar situation again, I felt like I wanted to help you. Although I hesitated for a long time this time as well and still don’t know if I did the right thing, I felt I had to do it. It almost feels like a way of atoning for my past self… Do you mind?”
Lavinia’s words were completely unexpected. After a brief silence, Liyami spoke softly, “I see… I don’t mind. Truly, thank you so much for choosing to help me.”
As soon as Liyami finished speaking, Lavinia suddenly snapped out of her melancholy and let out a soft laugh.
“But don’t think I’ve given up on my own romance. Don’t forget, I am still your rival. You can’t assume Eleanor is your only enemy! After this, don’t expect me to keep helping you! I have to start giving it my all too!”
With that, Lavinia left with a smile, leaving Liyami standing there, unsure of how to feel.