Legacy World 2.7 Why Do I Feel This Way?

After another hour of non-stop sparring was almost up, Ethan noticed Alice's rugged breathing and sluggish movement. He dodged her water sprouts and suddenly advanced towards Alice at a high speed. She instinctively raised her hands to form an ice wall but he reached before anything could form. He took her hands in his and lowered it back down gently while saying, "That's enough for today."

Alice was covered in sweat and panting. She did not have the energy to refute. She just nodded briefly, thanked him, and left immediately to rest in her room. In her previous life, she could last 3 hours of martial arts practice with Zhang Yong but that was when she had the spiritual cultivation to extend her stamina. In this world, there was no such thing.

As their plan was to spar for three hours, the other two were surprised when they noticed Alice leaving the battle hall.

They ran up to Ethan who was already making his way to the entrance of the battle hall.

"Does Alice have something on?" Violet asked.

"Today's training was enough for her for today." Ethan answered truthfully.

Violet nodded and the trio followed behind her secretly like before. Alice's steps were imperceptibly wobbly. Only Ethan who paid her a lot of attention could notice it. He secretly used his wind ability to support her weight without anyone noticing.

Alice could feel a slight breeze blowing. If not for the fact she felt that it was easier to walk now, she would have thought that it was just a normal windy night. /He really is skillful./

The moment her room was in range of BaoBao's surveillance, he appeared in her room to get the bath tub ready for Alice to soak in and relax her weary body after her shower. What the both of them did not expect was for Alice to knock out after she did relax in the bathtub. BaoBao had to help dry and dress her before tucking her into bed. Not that he has a single complaint about it though. BaoBao smiled as he wondered if other systems were enjoying being with their host as much as he is.

When Ethan returned back to his room, he did not sleep. He reflected on his feelings and new sensations he experienced when he was around Alice.

He thought back to when he first felt naturally drawn in by the shine in her eyes. There was a strange sense of familiarity, which helped him read her determination, strong will, and independence from the look in her eyes. He still found it strange that his feelings were this strong when he had only known her for a short time. /It must be some sort of infatuation./

Nonetheless, he could not deny that the longer he knew her, the more he admired and liked her. Her drive and hard work amazed him. He really had not seen or met another person quite like her. She may not have the best looks but she stood out to him in every aspect. /She's precious and should be cherished./

He had noticed how no one else seemed to notice Alice's true value. Although Violet shared similar sentiments and wanted to protect her, he felt that the way to truly support Alice was to help her shine further instead which was not something Violet knew how to do. Stephan could not even be considered.

Dawn broke by the time he settled his feelings and made his decision to be the one to support her.

Another month passed with everything largely the same, except for Leah's advances.

During every class when they were practicing in the battle hall, Leah would come to try and strike up a conversation with Alice. It usually ended up with her simply practicing beside Alice though because Alice would not respond to her.

Alice felt that surrounding herself with freezing cold air did not work as an effective deterrent against Leah. She guessed that it may have to do with Leah being an ice user as well. However, Leah continued to stick around even when Alice made it stifling and uncomfortable for anyone to be around by making it intensely humid around her.

/This second female lead has quite an impressive determination./ Alice gave her some recognition that she felt was deserving.

As for night practices, Ethan would often be the first one to call Alice out to spar with her then hog her for the rest of the time. During such nights, their meetup would only last for two hours at the most. Sparring with Ethan was always intense and required her full concentration and all her effort. Under his instruction, Alice found herself improving at a considerable pace and she could hold her ground increasingly well when pitted against Violet and Stephan.

Sometimes, Violet would grab onto Alice first and pull her away to spar with her. After which, Ethan would always be ready to be the next one after Violet.

Stephan gradually caught on that Ethan would be especially difficult to deal with when it was closer to the end of the hour then slip away when he was distracted. So on the rare occasion that he managed to slip away before Ethan, Ethan would insist to make it a doubles match where he would pair with Alice and Violet will be paired with Stephan. Stephan did not care as long as he got to experience fighting against Alice's special ability. During the doubles match, Ethan would always keep an eye out for Alice's safety, target all his attacks towards Stephan, and not touch Violet.

One day, during lunch, they were under the plum blossom tree as usual.

Leah passed by and called out to Alice in surprise, "Oh! Hi Alice! Fancy meeting you here!"

Alice glanced at her with cold eyes for less than a second then returned to eating her ham sandwich. Nobody passes by here normally. It was obvious that she intentionally came here. Ethan had a similar thought and looked at Leah with his guard up. Stephan was confident in his abilities to react to anything bad that could happen to Violet or him, so he was relaxed. Violet has always been trusting so she easily believed in the chance encounter.

"Who is she?" Violet asked.

Alice shrugged.

"How cold." Leah awkwardly laughed. "We've been practicing beside each other in class for the past month, haven't we?"

When Violet looked at Alice for a confirmation, Alice shrugged again.

Leah hunched her shoulders and looked pitiful. Violet took pity on her. "Don't mind Alice, she's like that. She bears no ill will though." Violet saw the food in Leah's hands so she continued, "You don't eat in the canteen either?"

Leah smiled wryly and replied in a soft voice, "Being alone in a large crowd makes me feel more lonely than I already am. So I eat in my room."

Her reply tugged at Violet's heart strings. "Would you like to join us for lunch?"

"I wouldn't want to intrude..." Leah said hesitantly.

"You won't be! Come!" Violet naturally shifted towards Stephan to create more space between her and Ethan.

Leah smiled gratefully and took her spot with thanks.

BaoBao sighed. [Even though you managed to avoid pulling her into the group, the female lead invited her in by herself.]

/At least it has nothing to do with me. The original soul should be appeased./ Alice remained unbothered and continued eating her meal like she was alone. Ethan has been paying attention to Alice so he also began to ignore Leah's presence from when she was still talking to Violet.

Leah's soft personality clicked well with Violet's friendly and protective nature. They immediately hit off well and spent the entire meal time conversing with each other. Ethan noticed Alice's cold reactions to Leah throughout their meal and decided that Leah must not be a good person.

After they finished lunch and parted ways, Ethan walked beside Violet and said in a hushed voice, "Violet, don't get too close to Leah."

"Why not?" Violet stopped walking and cocked her head feeling genuinely puzzled.

"Something is fishy about her." Ethan said truthfully.

"Don't be paranoid. She looks perfectly fine and normal to me." Violet pouted a little then walked off. Normally she would trust Ethan's judgement about things, but he would get unnecessarily worried whenever it came to girls.

Ethan sighed softly while Steohan quietly followed Violet. When he passed by Ethan, he patted Ethan on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. He agreed with Ethan and knew that Ethan had always secretly handled the little troubles that prissy little girls had cooked up behind Violet's back.

Over the next few days, Leah kept joining them for lunch under the plum blossom tree. She assimilated perfectly into the group and chatted not only with Violet but with the boys as well. Ethan remained the coldest towards her. He really disliked how she subtly pushed Alice into her shadow. He did not understand how he was the only one who noticed how she hogged everyone's attention away from Alice such that Alice would not have to speak up even once.

He also grew dissatisfied with Violet's behaviour. If Alice had not requested from Violet to keep their night practice a secret even from Leah on the night of their first meeting with Leah, Violet would have easily spilled the beans about their night practice and Alice's special ability.

His dislike for Leah contrasted Violet's like for her, so it caused a slight strain in their relationship. This gave Stephan a chance to grow closer to Violet. This became apparent when Leah started to make plans with Violet to practice their abilities together or go out of school to have fun.

Ethan would follow Violet wherever she went as he would before, but now it was done with reluctance. Whereas, Stephan would remind Ethan to relax because Violet had the both of them. Stephan's confidence increased Violet's trust and like for him.

Another month passed and the day came when Leah asked for Violet's time at night as well.

"I'm so sorry Alice, Leah has asked to study with me at night. So I will no longer be free in the night." Violet apologised while putting her palms together in front of her lips. She looked sincere.

"So this will be the last night we will be sparring together then?"

Violet nodded.

Ethan felt his heart sink a little. He felt the compulsion to follow Violet wherever she went, this meant that he would have to stop sparring with Alice. He had a lot of fun refining her ability with her and felt immense pride whenever she made significant improvements. He could focus fully in the moment whenever he was with Alice and he really liked it.

"Oh, Ethan, you don't have to follow me and study with Leah." Violet added.

"I don't trust Leah. I have to be there." Ethan's eyes had worry in them.

Violet sighed. "I really don't get what about her is untrustworthy. She even has the same belief as me!"

"There's nothing to worry about. I'll be there with her." Stephan spoke up. He looked at Violet before he continued, "I'll keep Violet safe. No one will be able to hurt her."

Violet's cheeks turned a little red. "Anyway... You just stay here and keep up the practice with Alice, okay?" She continued to talk to Ethan instead.

Ethan looked at the pair and felt his heart wrench a little. However, a sense of relief gushed over him stronger than that painful feeling. It felt so contradictory that it made him frown while he nodded his head.

Alice looked at Ethan frowning. After all that he has helped her with, she was not the sort of person to not give back something. She told him, "If you feel better going with her, just go and keep her safe yourself. I've already improved quite a lot thanks to you."

"It's okay, she already said that it's fine." Ethan reassured Alice. /Besides, I'm more than happy to stay with you too./

Ethan still did not dare to voice his true feelings in fear of ruining anything. "You still have much to work on even though your control and power has increased significantly."

Alice nodded. "Alright then."