Marilyn's Secret

He was called Titan Mayo, eighth place in the class. However, many people were scared of him due to his build. He stood at 6'5 feet, and he had a large frame thanks to his overly bulging muscles. His head lacked strands of hair, and people always thought that made his expression sour every time. They misunderstood. He was just born with a sour expression. To add a scary point to his face, there were lines of scars running from his forehead to his cheeks, and he had got them from a cat.

People misunderstood him. He wasn't really a scary person. He was just a socially awkward boy.

When everyone visited Jake and Misael, Titan wanted to follow too, but he was too shy. He thought his appearance would be a huge turn off for people, so instead of visiting the infirmary, he hid himself in the alley between the classroom buildings. This was a place he wanted to visit. Not many people wanted to pass by this place because it was dark and dirty.

Titan cleared a spot so he could sit down. He was hugging his knees while crying. "I want to visit them too. Why can't I have the courage to do it? Damn it. It is useless to have this big body, but with a little courage," he complained, tears flowing down his face.

"Even Misael is starting to get accepted. Why can't I do it? No, I already know the answer, but I am too scared to have a conversation."

As he blamed himself, Titan partially blamed other people too. If they didn't have prejudice against his appearance, he wouldn't develop an inferiority complex. Sometimes, he thought it wasn't his fault.

But most of the time, Titan blamed his cowardly nature. Even Jake was confident in himself, even though he was the son of a demon. After people heard he was hurt, they wanted to visit him. People didn't care about Jake's blood.

"I want to visit Jake too. I hope he is okay," Titan muttered. He never said it, but he admired Jake very much. Not only did the man have great social skills, he had a kind heart too. Titan wanted to befriend Jake.

"I have decided. I will visit Jake... And Misael too since he is my desk mate." Titan encouraged himself and stood up. As he was about to leave the alley, he saw two people having a conversation. Due to his awkward nature, he instinctively hid himself. He was about to leave quietly, but he stopped when he overheard an interesting conversation between them.

"The mission failed. We couldn't get Jake and Misael," said the first person.

"It's fine. Those lackeys were a distraction anyway. Thanks to them, the securities were moving. As a result, we have successfully placed the uncontrollable gate seed in the first year's dormitory. As of now, it is in the process of an outbreak," said the second person.

Titan encouraged himself to take a peek. He saw two grown-men in black robes. Those were not the outfits of the school's staff. They were intruders!

"But they have been suspicious of us. Wouldn't they expect our hidden agenda?" The first person asked.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it. The gate seed is low level, and the highest monster is level 19, so it emits little to no mana leak. Furthermore, I have cast a few spells on it to hide its presence. Even if the Magic Empress is nearby, she can't detect it unless she sees it directly."

"Are you sure you hid it in a safe place?"

The second person laughed wickedly. "You won't believe where I placed it."

"Where?"

"Somewhere in the female toilet."

They laughed together and left without noticing Titan's presence. Meanwhile, Titan widened his eyes after finding out a secret evil plot. He was lucky he wasn't caught, so he needed to get rid of the gate seed as soon as possible.

In this world, something called gates existed everywhere. These gates connected the world to another dimension where otherworldly beings lived. Most of them were hostile, so heroes would always attempt to destroy the gates in order to prevent disaster.

Titan knew well how dangerous gates were. After all, the Demon King of Gluttony, the main villain of the Holy War twenty years ago was someone from another dimension. He also heard the incident of the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox one year ago, and the very demonic creature came from a gate too.

Even though the gate seed those people had placed was a weak one, it possessed threats for the first year students. He needed to find it and destroy it. After that, maybe people would start to recognize him.

Titan made sure those people had left before rushing out of the alley. He immediately rushed toward the dormitory.

As he arrived at the dormitory, Titan went toward the female toilet. He didn't immediately enter it. As he stood in front of the toilet, he suddenly realized he was doing a stupid thing. He couldn't barge into the female toilet, or people would hate him more.

"On second thought, I will report it to the teachers."

Titan was about to leave, but the door creaked open, and a girl came out of the toilet. She widened her eyes and screamed. "No! Help me! There is a pervert!"

"No, wait. You misunderstand me!"

Before he could explain himself, more female students arrived and started to attack him. Titan could only endure the attacks with a bitter heart.

---

Jake was having a conversation with his classmates in the infirmary. Misael had woken up too, and he actually took part in the conversation.

Jake smiled as he looked at them. He felt really good to bring his classmates together as one. Having kidnapped wasn't that bad. Though, it was a pity Titan Mayo didn't visit, even though Misael was his desk mate.

As he was pondering about that big bald guy, a blonde-haired girl entered the infirmary. Everyone was quiet when they saw the blindfolded girl. They stood up and slightly bowed. "Greetings, your highness," they said I'm unison.

Marilyn waved her hand, signaling them to stop. She slowly approached Jake and stood in front of him.

"Hey?" Jake greeted when Marilyn only stared at him in silence. He was about to pat her head, but she suddenly threw herself at him and hugged him tightly.

"I am glad you are okay," Marilyn said in relief.

Jake felt embarrassed when she did it in front of his classmates, but for some reason, he liked it. He liked the way she wrapped her thin arms around him. He could hear her racing heartbeat, and his own started to match her heart too.

It was a good feeling, but Jake still could think logically. He coughed and said, "Let's have a walk, Marilyn."

Jake pulled her outside, and she followed obediently. They went to the garden near the infirmary and sat on a bench side by side.

"Jake, I am sorry. They targeted you because of me," Marilyn said.

Jake smiled and patted her head. "What are you talking about? They want to dethrone Aunty, so it is my problem too. I will gladly annihilate them to the root if I have the power."

Marilyn shook her head. "No, they targeted you because they want me dead."

Jake looked at her with a serious expression. He suddenly recalled they wanted to kill the demon under the Empress's protection. It couldn't be that they were talking about Marilyn.

Jake immediately shook his head. It was impossible because Marilyn was a human.

While Jake was having doubts, Marilyn pulled her blindfold, revealing a pair of orange eyes with animal-like pupils.

"Y-you, your eyes?" Jake asked in confusion.

"Jake, use your Akashic Eyes to me, and you will find out."

Jake nodded weakly and activated his [Akashic Eyes]. As her status window appeared in front of him, he read it carefully.

[Name: Marilyn Norrington von Beryl

Species: Elder Thing

Level: 1

Talent: Magic Eyes (E), Elder Eyes (S)

Strength: D || Endurance: C

Agility: C || Perception: A

Intelligent: S || Wisdom: S]

[Magic Eyes: instantly master a spell after knowing the principle. Enhance eyesight. Boos the efficiency of spell usage by 100%. Lower the spell usage cost by 50%.]

[Elder Eyes: allow the user to use the ancient power of chaos. The users are treated as the Elder Thing. Every user is interconnected with each other. Special property: Death Stigma.]

[Death Stigma: An Elder Thing has placed a powerful curse upon this user, decreasing her life force. Lifespan: 2 years, 11 months, 9 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes, 16 seconds.]

"M-Marilyn... What are these Elder Eyes? And what is this Death Stigma?" Jake asked in confusion. He knew well his [Akashic Eyes] always told the truth, but he still didn't want to accept it. Marilyn looked healthy, and she recently was determined to change her life. Suddenly, she actually bore a great curse that would take her life. He refused to believe it! Not when he started to recognize his feelings toward her!

Tears flowed down her eyes as she said, "As you can see, Jake. I only have 3 years to live."