Reincarnated with an SSS-rank Tamer System: My Harem of Villainesses-Chapter 44 – Mini Tournament (Part 3)

Adam and Evelyne decided to skip the fourth match to go look for Piers.

Neither of them was particularly interested in watching two random students fight, and frankly both were more concerned about how their friend would be after the public humiliation he had just suffered.

They found him in one of the outer corridors of the coliseum, sitting on a bench with his head lowered and his elbows resting on his knees. His practice sword lay at his side and his uniform was still stained with dirt from the fight.

He looked... defeated.

Evelyne approached first with a worried expression as she sat down beside him without asking permission. "Piers, are you okay?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Obviously not," he replied without lifting his head, his voice sounding flatter than usual.

Adam remained standing in front of them with his arms crossed, watching his friend for several seconds before speaking. "You did excellent."

That made Piers lift his head abruptly to look at him with a mix of disbelief and frustration. "Excellent? Did you watch the same fight I did? He humiliated me! He couldn’t even take me seriously!"

His voice had risen with every word until he was practically shouting by the end.

There was an awkward silence for several seconds before Piers let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand over his face. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you."

"It’s fine," Adam replied in a calm tone as he sat down on the other side of the bench. "I understand your frustration."

Evelyne looked at both of them for a moment before trying once more to encourage Piers. "You really did well. You applied everything Adam taught you and you didn’t give up until the end."

"But I lost," Piers muttered as he lowered his gaze again. "And not only did I lose... he made me look like a complete idiot out there."

"You lost to someone who is clearly on another level," Adam pointed out. "Anyone would’ve lost to him under the same conditions. The fact that you lasted that long without panicking is already more than most could manage."

Piers glanced at him from the corner of his eye, not entirely convinced, but at least he seemed to be listening.

There was a more comfortable silence this time before Piers noticed something and a small smile appeared on his face despite his mood. "Wait... did you two make up?"

Both Adam and Evelyne looked at him in confusion.

"You’re sitting pretty close together," Piers continued in a tone that tried to be teasing despite everything. "Are you not mad at him anymore, Evelyne?"

Evelyne blinked at that before glancing briefly at Adam and then back at Piers. "More or less."

"More or less," Adam confirmed.

That drew a genuine laugh from Piers, the first since his defeat. "Well, I guess that’s progress."

***

Piers eventually left to shower and rest in his room, leaving Adam and Evelyne walking together through the academy’s outer corridors in a silence that wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but not completely relaxed either.

The afternoon sun was beginning to descend slowly, tinting the sky in shades of orange and pink as they walked without any particular destination in mind.

It was Evelyne who finally broke the silence. "About what happened..."

"If this is about Alice and the insult toward my ex-fiancée," Adam began, turning his head slightly toward her, "I didn’t intend to—"

"It’s not about that," Evelyne interrupted in a soft but firm tone.

Adam stopped short, looking at her with a genuinely confused expression. "Then what?"

Evelyne stopped as well and looked directly into his eyes for several seconds before letting out a light sigh as if gathering the courage to say something difficult.

"Ever since I met you in the village after your ambush, you’ve always acted... distant with me. Cold," she began as she crossed her arms defensively. "At first I thought you were just like that with everyone and I let it go."

Adam listened without interrupting, taking in every word.

"But then I saw you with Piers," Evelyne continued, her voice growing slightly tenser. "And you were different. More friendly. More... human, I guess."

She paused before continuing.

"And then Alice showed up," she said the name in a tone that made it clear it still bothered her, even if not for the reasons Adam had assumed. "A girl you had just met and practically slept with as soon as you arrived at the academy."

Adam opened his mouth to respond, but Evelyne raised a hand to stop him.

"What bothered me wasn’t that you slept with her or that you insulted Valeria," she explained, looking at him directly with a mix of frustration and vulnerability in her eyes. "What bothered me was that you acted better with people you just met than with me, who helped you when you needed it most."

There was absolute silence after those words.

Adam processed what he had just heard for several seconds before finally understanding what had really happened.

It wasn’t about Alice. It wasn’t about Valeria. It was about him and how he had treated her from the beginning.

"Evelyne," Adam murmured in a softer tone than usual, "it wasn’t intentional."

"I know," she replied with a sigh. "That’s why I said that at first I thought you were like that with everyone. But when I saw that you weren’t... it hurt, I guess."

Adam ran a hand through his hair as he searched for the right words. "I’m... bad with people. I always have been. I don’t know how to act when someone helps me without asking for anything in return."

"And with Piers? With Alice?" Evelyne asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Piers followed me around like a puppy from day one without caring about my attitude," Adam explained with an involuntary smile. "Eventually I got used to him. And Alice... Alice is different. She just doesn’t care how I treat her and does whatever she wants anyway."

Evelyne watched him for a moment longer before letting out a short laugh. "So basically I’m too normal for you?"

"I didn’t say that."

"But that’s what it implies."

Adam couldn’t help but smile slightly at that. "Maybe."

There was a more comfortable silence now as they both resumed walking slowly.

"For the record," Adam said after several seconds, "I do appreciate what you did for me. Everything. From taking me to the capital to being there when no one else was."

Evelyne glanced at him with a small smile. "Was that a ’thank you’ from Adam Shadowend?"

"Don’t get used to it."

She laughed genuinely at that as they continued walking.

"So we’re good then?" Adam asked after a moment.

Evelyne considered the question for several seconds before nodding. "We’re good. Just... try not to be so cold all the time, okay?"

"I’ll see what I can do."

It wasn’t an absolute promise, but it was enough for now.

They kept walking in silence until they eventually reached an intersection where their paths naturally separated.

"See you tomorrow," Evelyne said as she turned to head toward the lower nobles’ dormitories.

"Tomorrow," Adam confirmed.

***

That night, as Adam lay in his bed with Nox sleeping on his chest, he mentally processed everything that had happened that day.

Tomorrow the other four rounds of the tournament would begin. Rounds five, six, seven, and eight.

He would fight in the seventh round. The third of the second day.

Against Kael Duskrin.

And he had to kill him or lose everything he had gained since arriving in this world.

’One more day,’ he thought as he slowly closed his eyes. ’Just one more day to prepare myself mentally for what I have to do.’

Nox shifted slightly on his chest but did not wake up.

Adam let sleep gradually overtake him, knowing that tomorrow would be the most important day since his arrival at the academy.

For better or for worse.