After Yuki called, she rushed to the infirmary. She hoped that Lucian didn't do anything to her little sister. As she opened the infirmary's door, she saw Lucian gripping his head in pain. The nurse beside him tried calming him down and told him to lie down on the bed.
"Get away from me!" he yelled, holding his head even tighter. He felt that his head was splitting in half. He had the urge to flip everything upside down. An eerie voice inside his head kept repeating, "She's mine, mine!"
Covered in sweat, he tried to calm down. He sat on the bed with his back facing the other people in the room. He breathed in and out, trying to get rid of the voice in his head. With his blurry vision, everything was spinning.
When he saw Grace upon waking up, a wave of obsession hit him. He wanted to grip that fragile neck in his palms so she would never escape him.
Feeling that he was in a dangerous condition, he pleaded, "Please, can you guys leave the room? I don't feel good."
Seeing that Grace was still on the bed, sleeping, Selena sighed in relief.
"Is Grace alright?" she asked the nurse.
"Yes, there's no problem with her."
"Is it possible to move her into another room? I think Lucian needs some private space."
"Yes, of course."
With the help of Yuki, they moved Grace's bed to another room.
As she was about to leave the infirmary, a voice called from behind, "Wait. Can you stay here with me?"
Puzzled, Selena replied, "Didn't you say you wanted to be alone?"
"Please," Lucian pleaded. He didn't know why, but after hearing her voice, the fog in his head lifted a little.
Pulling a chair beside his bed, she observed his condition. It didn't seem to be an aftereffect of the drug.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Not really." He smiled bitterly.
"Can I hug you?" he asked hesitantly.
A number of question marks appeared on her head. Wait, what was going on? Why is the male lead, who dislikes the villainess, asking for a hug? Without thinking further, she nodded to not act out of character. The villainess would've agreed without hesitation.
Lucian wrapped his strong arms around her waist. The proximity caused Selena to catch a whiff of his shampoo. She instinctively dodged her head to the right to create some space between them.
Suddenly, a bar appeared on top of Lucian's head. It was similar to the bars that show the affection percentage in those dating sims. But why was it black instead of pink? Selena moved closer to make sure it wasn't her imagination. The bar indicated a percentage of 60%, and it was slowly dropping. Did it have something to do with the condition the male lead was in?
After a long time, Lucian finally released her when the percentage reached 20%.
"Are you feeling better now?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you."
"Why are you thanking me?"
Lucian laughed awkwardly and said, "I don't know if you are going to believe me, but after hugging you, I feel much better."
He wanted to add that it calmed down the voice inside his head, but he didn't want her to think he was a psychopath.
From her observations, the bar on top of his head seemed to be measuring something.
Suddenly, the system window popped up in front of her.
[Ding!
You are correct. It is a bar that shows his blackening. In other words, his anger, rage, etc. If his blackening percentage is too high, it could lead him to hurt the female lead.]
So that's what it was. Wait, so if she didn't come to the infirmary, he might have hurt Grace.
'System, do you know why the blackening percentage dropped when he hugged me earlier?'
[It must have been because Grace wasn't in the room anymore.]
'Does that mean that being near Grace activates his blackening?'
[Yes, but it could be caused by other factors too.]
Selena felt that something was wrong. If she understood well, in the novel, the male lead was still pursuing the female lead even if he was becoming corrupted. But now, it seemed like Lucian was resisting blackening.
"Do you know who drugged me?" Lucian asked.
"I don't, but it's not the ones who planned to mess with Grace," Selena replied.
Lucian held his forehead and ruffled through his black hair. His red eyes glinted dangerously. "They must have put the drug in my water bottle."
Honestly, the person who did that must have had a death wish. The use of drugs was prohibited at school. The person must be crazy trying to drug the son of one of the richest families. With the number of cameras in the school, the suspect would be easily caught. Why would they do that? More importantly, it wasn't mentioned in the novel that Lucian was drugged during this scene. He was supposed to be here to save Grace. Why was the story getting more and more out of hand? How was she supposed to ensure her sister's safety when the novel she used to know isn't 100% accurate?
Lucian observed Selena from the moment she stepped into the classroom to when she came to the infirmary. Honestly, the biggest suspect would be Selena. She could do it and get out without consequences since her family would cover it up for her. He glanced at her again and noticed her change in behaviour this past month. She was more mature, more distant and hard to decipher. Sometimes she would still smile at him and hold him in his arms like always, but it felt different.
"Honestly, when you came into the classroom, I thought that you were the one who drugged me. But I'm certain you wouldn't do something foolish like that anymore. Thank you for getting me out of trouble," Lucian said.
He stepped away from the bed, put on his cardigan, and left the infirmary after saying goodbye to Selena.
For the next few days, Lucian would sometimes appear in her field of vision. He would follow her closely, hoping that she wouldn't notice and disappear after he was satisfied with something. The blackening percentage fluctuated when he was following her. After a few minutes, his percentage would lower a bit.
Selena had a bad feeling about this. Why did the blackening percentage seem to drop when he was near her? It didn't make sense.
'Whatever, I might be a good thing since it would lower the chances of the male lead hurting my sister,' she thought.
It was still weird that Lucian was conscious of his blackening, seeing that he had followed her several times within a few days. As long as it helps him. How did the male lead from the novel get corrupted to the point of imprisoning the female lead and murdering people?
There was too much for her to do and think about. Most importantly, she had to prepare for the future serial kidnapping case, which could endanger her sister's safety.