The Curse of Being Hated Has Been Lifted

26 – Will I just stand still and take it?

Logan Asrian’s life was truly miserable and difficult.

From the day the curse was cast until it was lifted, he rarely had a proper meal, and unless someone had a particularly good nature, just Logan speaking would receive unconditional hatred.

Living through countless days receiving only unconditional hatred without any recognition from others, Logan had thought about death many times, but he bit down on it and endured.

Thinking he had left for good, his teacher, Geomseong, somehow persuaded him to live.

Thanks to his teacher, the curse was lifted, and Logan was leading a somewhat human life, but that didn’t mean all of Logan’s wounds had disappeared.

“It’s been a while.”

Logan’s hidden wounds, somehow managed to keep under wraps while surrounded by good people like Showel, Redrika, Repar, and Hans, burst forth at the words of the woman who spoke as if she were glad to see him.

“I wish I never saw you again.”

Lea Harue.

While Stella’s curse undoubtedly had the greatest impact on Logan, leading him to a miserable life, without Lea Harue, an individual, Logan might not have lived a life so terrible that he would contemplate death countless times.

“I heard a rumor that you were cursed. Came to check if it’s entirely false, perhaps?”

Lea Harue’s attitude was different from those who had come to apologize to Logan so far.

Anna kneeled, and even Aria, once she apologized and returned what was taken from Logan, had a different demeanor.

However, Lea Harue, for some reason, maintained her shameless and arrogant attitude.

“What business do you have here?”

Intentionally timing her visit, there was no one beside Logan.

Showel, who always accompanied him, disappeared as soon as the Academy ended, promising to find the contract location for Logan’s creations.

To Logan, she was a target of hatred, but at the same time, a frightening presence.

Even though she had been healed by divine magic, just the scars left from facing her could fill Logan with dread.

Suppressing the creeping fear, Logan finally spoke, and Harue’s expression became even more relaxed.

Even if the curse was lifted, Logan was still Logan.

A small, fragile being that had no choice but to kneel before him.

“Business? Just came to see your face. Besides that handsome appearance, you’re pretty useless, aren’t you?”

Cursed to be hated by Logan, Harue had been tense only when she first heard about the curse being lifted.

There were some human reasons, perhaps, for her anxiety that Logan might tarnish her reputation.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong, have I? In the end, the curse is the problem.’

If there were no curse, I wouldn’t have thought of Logan as a bad guy, and I wouldn’t have constantly tormented him throughout the year.

Maybe I would have kept him around because he had a decent face, but just to that extent—never resorting to violence.

“Then, you better leave right now. Every time I see you, it feels like my insides are burning. It’s so disgusting that I can’t stand looking at you any longer.”

“Oh, how strange. It’s you, huh? Am I supposed to show respect just because I graduated? I may be your senior, but I’m still your older sister, you know?”

As Haru approached Logan every day, Logan instinctively tensed his body.

It could be partly because of the numerous grudges Haru had accumulated against him so far, but clearly, Haru was emitting mana with the intention of threatening Logan this time.

“Ugh.”

Logan’s mental strength was superior to most people, but when faced with a significantly stronger opponent exuding a formidable aura, he couldn’t just endure it effortlessly.

Twisting his body forcibly to withstand the pressure, Logan found Haru standing right in front of him in no time.

“If it’s because of the curse, it’s not really my responsibility, is it? So let’s just live and let live, okay? If you act recklessly for revenge, you might really end up dead, you know?”

Haru grabbed Logan’s chin and faced him forehead to forehead.

The fierce gaze, as if piercing through the soul, seemed to strike Logan’s heart.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

The hand holding Logan’s chin tightened.

It was the same thing that happened throughout the last year.

If Logan refused Haru’s words here, he would immediately receive a slap, fall, and be trampled countless times.

“Fuck off, you bastard.”

And Logan’s response was always the same.

Even when his body was breaking down from Haru’s violence, Logan’s spirit remained unyielding.

“Sigh… Even if the curse is lifted, the stupidity doesn’t seem to disappear.”

Haru’s hand rose in a daily routine and fell towards Logan’s cheek.

-Thunk!

It wasn’t the sound of flesh meeting flesh.

A sensation of not being able to swing freely, as if hitting a wall.

“What are you doing now?”

A voice familiar to Logan came from behind.

“What else? Just trying to punish a stupid puppy?”

Logan’s face now had a powerful magical barrier made from Anna’s mana.

While it seemed that Haru could break it by wielding mana in his hand again, the intention to attack was too clear, which could leave a flaw in Haru’s life.

“But who are you to interfere between us?”

It was difficult for Anna to continue her words.

Even though Logan didn’t pay much attention to Anna now that she was by his side due to Anna’s persistent efforts, defining the relationship between Logan and Anna was in a difficult and ambiguous territory.

Describing it as friends, like a long time ago, was heartless, and expressions like perpetrator and victim would be appropriate, but that was the same on the other side.

“My bodyguard.”

In a moment of silence, Logan spoke first.

“Bodyguard?”

“Yeah. Unlike the trash that tries to evade responsibility by making excuses like curses, Anna said she would do anything to pay for her sins.”

Logan had refused from his side until now, but the situation was urgent.

“Doesn’t look strong enough to stop me, though, does he?”

The words spoken that day were indeed true.

Both were promising enough to receive praise as one of the best geniuses in their respective fields, but there was a two-year gap between them.

In the different stages of growth each day, two years was a considerable period, unless there was an extraordinary difference in talent.

“Anna is not strong. But her family is not weak. If you dare to provoke me, the Viscount of Velocia will retaliate.”

“What nonsense…”

This was truly absurd.

Was the Viscount of Velocia regretting helping a ruffian like Logan?

It was evident that fear had paralyzed the brain, leading to nonsensical babbling.

“It’s real! If you mess with Logan again, I won’t just stand by as the future head of the Velocia family.”

“Tsk…”

Even if Anna said so, it was hard to believe her words, and even if they were true, there was a high possibility she would change her story later.

But for now, it was not easy to stay by Logan’s side with her saying that.

“Well, I’ll just step back today, but aren’t you essentially doing the same thing as me? You tormented Asrian because of the curse. It’s not like your sins will disappear just because you act different now, right?”

“Even if the sins don’t disappear, we can build a new relationship.”

When Logan strangely whispered behind Anna, Haru sighed deeply, turned around, and walked away carefully.

“Yeah, I’ll go for now. Don’t do anything weird and just live quietly.”

It felt like a storm had come.

Logan felt fear after a long time and also a sense of relief.

“I would have felt worse if even you apologized to me.”

“Logan? Are you okay?”

With a worried expression, as if apologizing like Anna while looking at herself, she would have found it rather difficult to confess that she would repay her sins by sacrificing everything.

Even if Logan pushes her into the abyss of despair, her heart would be at ease if she thought she was settling the debt herself.

It’s because she pities him, actually.

Everything tasted sweeter for her to revenge since she considered everything as the curse’s fault.

‘Am I just going to take it lying down?’

At the moment, she didn’t have the power to revenge against him.

If she had tried to slap Logan when she appeared in front of him earlier, she would have been subdued and beaten.

It was the same socially.

Behind her was the Ha Ru-e family, a noble family of the day. To revenge against her, she had to either bring down the Ha Ru-e family or separate her and the family.

Both were precarious tasks, but fortunately, Logan had something he could do.

*****

“Have you heard the rumor? Logan Asrian, you know. He was assaulted by Ha Ru-e throughout last year. They say it was similar to sexual assault?”

“Wow… by Ha Ru-e? I didn’t see that coming. Isn’t she such garbage?”

Early in the morning, senior knights at the Knights Order directed hot gazes at Ha Ru-e, who had come to work at the Knights Order.

‘What’s going on? What happened?’

No matter how much she searched her memory, she couldn’t understand why they were looking at her with such hostile eyes when she hadn’t done anything wrong to them. She even received the pressure from senior knights, just like other new knights.

Only when the Order Commander scolded her did she learn that the incident between Logan and Ha Ru-e had become a rumor throughout the whole organization.