The Author's POV

The air around the room was tense. It felt suffocating. Almost as if I was stuck inside of a cramped room with no room to breathe.

The reason for such atmosphere?

Quietly sitting on my chair, a stunningly beautiful young girl with glossy black hair and porcelain white skin devoid of any imperfections, was curiously looking around my room.

Amanda stern.

Someone who I had never thought of interacting with privately.

Seeing her sit on my seat as if it was the most natural thing to do, my eyebrows twitched.

Just what did I do to deserve this?

...no, I knew why, I just wanted to deny reality.

Sighing, I spoke up to try to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Would you like green tea or water?"

Hearing my voice, Amanda's eyes paused on my face for a couple of seconds and after a short pause she said

"...green tea"

"Alright"

Heading to where my teapot was stashed, I took it out and poured steaming hot water into the pot.

After a couple of seconds, I took a bag filled with tea leaves and gently threw them into the pot.

While waiting for the tea to be ready, I turned around and noticed Amanda's obsidian black eyes staring at me.

Taken aback by her odd behavior, I asked

"...Need something?"

Hearing my voice and seeing that I had caught her red-handed, Amanda looked to the side and acted as if nothing happened as she lightly murmured.

"...Nothing"

Smiling, I looked back at the teapot.

What do you mean nothing? You were obviously staring at me!

Even a blind person could tell you were looking at me.

Pinching my brows, I decided to think about this in a positive way.

From the looks of things, it at least seemed that she had no hard feelings against me. Since I knew her personality well, I knew that if she were to have had a grudge against me, she would've avoided me at all costs.

Treating me as if I was nonexistent.

Seeing how she had actively come looking for me, I knew that she didn't hold what happened against me.

...so what did she come here for?

There was definitely a reason for her visit. I sort of had a hunch on what it was, but I wasn't too sure.

Most likely, she came to express her gratitude for saving her.

If so, I better get this over with fast. If someone found out 'the Amanda Stern' who was the talk of the academy was having a private meeting with a boy in his own room, I wouldn't even know how I died.

The fact that she was in my room meant that my life was in danger.

Sigh.

Just when I thought things weren't going to become more troublesome suddenly a new troublesome situation arose.

Looking at the water in the teapot that had started turning murky brown, I carefully removed the teapot from the heater and poured the tea into two porcelain teacups.

Walking back to where Amanda was seated, I handed the steaming hot teacup to her and sat in front of her.

"Thank you"

Taking the teacup with both hands, Amanda gently blew on the cup and took a sip.

Closing her eyes and savoring the taste of the tea, Amanda nodded slightly said

"...it's good"

"Thank you"

in front of her, I also took a sip of the tea. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste that even after a couple of seconds lingered at the tip of my tongue.

you want to

spend all the time drinking tea, I decided to

Amanda's indifferent face stared at me. After a

"...Thank you"

Frowning slightly, I said

"For what?"

"For saving me"

my head, I leaned back on my chair

ever recall helping

"Yo-.."

she was about to answer, I cut her

like you forgot what I had told you

'..forget what you saw'

quiet for a little bit. Her brows continuously knit and relaxed, and after a while, she shook her head and apologetically

"I can't do that..."

teacup down. Her response

looking back at me, I thought

sorry then give

my reply, Amanda sighed

relieved by

"Okay"

phone, she quickly went to her

this, I couldn't help but bitterly

was just

disliked owing

No, it was more like she only trusted herself and herself

to pay back every single favor she owed so that she wouldn't build any unrealistic expectations of

5 million U

U?

soon as I processed what she had said, I almost spat all my tea on her

did

who had just stood up and

million, not

you mean that's

I immediately shut

kids treating money as if it was

"...so 5 million okay?"

"Sigh, hold on"

back on my chair,

money, I could pretty

Amanda, an idea suddenly came

something else instead

the room temperature dropped and Amanda's demeanor became increasingly

misunderstanding something,

dates or anything that is remotely close

Amanda's brows

"...Okay"

relief,

get me a

"A sword art?"

aback by my request, Amanda looked

remembering what had happened a few nights ago

looking for something to disguise my

"oh"

understood something, Amanda

like that, I knew she still had a misconception about my strength. In the end, I said nothing. I was honestly too tired to

to solve the

if she misunderstood or not. At the end of the day, she wasn't the type of person to treat

she wasn't a blabbermouth. Meaning

type of sword art would

for a bit, I

would like a sword art that primarily

Amanda pondered

"How many stars?"

were previously offering me around 5 million U,

scrolled through her phone for a couple of

me

on the phone, a long list

got from the criteria that

mouth twitched. If I

expected of the daughter of the guild master of the number one guild in the

amount of resources and manuals that would cause anyone to turn