Power of Runes Chapter 529: The Terrifying Mind of a Woman

[Eva POV]

Only a few days had passed since Eva entered the Eden Realm Academy, yet those few days had already felt strangely different from everything she had experienced before, because every morning brought something new to see and every small interaction exposed her to things that other students treated as so ordinary that they barely noticed them themselves.

The Academy was noisy in a way Eva had never experienced before, with students constantly filling the corridors, laughing with friends, arguing over training results, complaining about teachers, whispering about the latest rumors, and occasionally rushing past everyone because they had remembered an assignment only moments before it was due.

Eva found herself quietly watching all of it whenever she had nothing else to do, simply because there was always something new happening around her.

She had spent most of her existence inside Ash’s Soul Space, where there were rarely any people besides those she already knew, and even when she travelled outside through Ash’s body, she was still experiencing the world through someone else.

Being able to walk through a crowded hallway while controlling a body entirely on her own therefore felt far more rewarding than she had ever imagined.

Perhaps that was why she had started talking with a few girls from her class, although their relationship was still new enough that they were more like classmates who had happened to begin spending time together than actual close friends.

Eva was perfectly content with that, because she had no desire to rush something she had only just begun experiencing.

"So you’re really going to the library again?"

One of the girls asked as the three of them walked together after class, her eyes dropping toward the book tucked beneath Eva’s arm as though she had already caught her in the act.

Eva glanced at the book before giving her a small smile.

"I was planning to, but I changed my mind after you mentioned that there was a good restaurant nearby that I haven’t eaten yet."

The girl immediately looked pleased with herself.

"Good, because ever since you came to the Academy, you’ve somehow managed to explore only the classrooms, the dining hall, the training area and the library."

"I was still new to this kind of place...what can I do?"

Eva said with a embarrassed tone.

"Seriously, I still can’t believe you were homeschooled, and this is actually your first time entering an Academy," one of the girls said as the three of them walked down the corridor after class, shaking her head with exaggerated pity before giving Eva a look that suggested she had just discovered an incredibly serious social problem.

"I didn’t realize there was something wrong with being homeschooled," Eva replied, glancing between the two girls with genuine confusion.

"There isn’t," the second girl said, "but it does explain why you know absolutely nothing about what is going on around here."

Eva raised an eyebrow.

"What am I supposed to know?"

The two girls exchanged a look.

That single look was enough to make Eva suspicious.

"You don’t know, do you?"

"Know what?"

The first girl sighed as though she had been given the difficult responsibility of educating someone who had somehow lived without the most basic information.

"Forget classes for a moment, because there are far more important things you need to understand, like which senior is handsome, which one is actually worth talking to, which one has a girlfriend, which one claims he doesn’t have a girlfriend but definitely does, and which couple broke up yesterday even though they were still holding hands three days ago."

Eva blinked.

"How do you know all of that?"

"Because we have our ways."

The answer came so naturally that Eva almost laughed, especially when the second girl immediately leaned closer and whispered, "Actually, Liana from the Alchemy Department knows everything, and I mean everything, because her roommate knows someone from the dormitory across from the combat students, and her cousin is friends with a senior who once attended the same training group as that silver-haired boy, so by the time something happens in the morning, half the Academy knows by lunch."

Eva stared at her.

"That is... terrifying."

"It should be," the girl replied with complete seriousness. "Never say anything near a girl if you aren’t prepared for it to become common knowledge before dinner."

The first girl nodded gravely.

"Especially if it involves a boy, because the moment someone starts liking someone, that information spreads faster than any official announcement ever could."

Eva couldn’t help but giggle as they continued walking, although she was beginning to realize that the Academy had an entirely separate information network that had absolutely nothing to do with official communications.

"What about boys?" Eva asked curiously. "Do they know this much?"

Both girls looked at her.

"No. They are dumb"

The answer came so quickly that Eva laughed again.

"They don’t?"

"Of course not, because boys can watch the same two people sitting together every day and still ask whether they are dating, while a girl can see them exchange one glance from fifty meters away and already know which one fell first, how long they’ve been talking, and whether the relationship is going to end badly."

"That’s terrifying."

"It is," the second girl said, "but it is what it is, and honestly, that is probably why girls end up hearing about every handsome boy in the Academy sooner or later."

Their conversation naturally drifted toward the students they found attractive, which immediately became far more complicated than Eva had expected.

"Senior Adam from the Weapon Department is handsome, but I wouldn’t date him," the first girl said casually.

"Why not?" Eva asked, genuinely curious.

"Because he smiles too much, and I know that sounds strange, but he smiles at everyone, so even if he smiled at me, I would probably spend half my time wondering whether he actually liked me or was simply being friendly."

Eva looked at her in confusion. "But you just called him handsome."

"I can admit that someone is handsome without wanting to spend my life with him, because looks are one thing, but actually liking someone is completely different."

"Then what kind of boy would you actually like?"

The girl opened her mouth, hesitated, and then looked away.

"I don’t know."

The second girl immediately started laughing.

"You spent three days describing your ideal husband to me that day."

"I was speaking hypothetically."

"You said he needed to remember what drink you liked, notice when you changed your hairstyle without being told, defend you when someone insulted you, and somehow know when you were upset even if you said you were fine."

The girl’s face slowly turned red.

"That was... common sense. Every boy should be able to do that."

Eva stared at her.

"You expect someone to know what you’re thinking without telling him?"

The girl folded her arms.

"Not exactly."

Then, after a brief pause, she muttered, "But if he really liked me, he should probably notice, shouldn’t he?"

The second girl looked at Eva with an expression that practically screamed

Eva covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

"So you want him to know what you want without you ever having to tell him what you want, and you’re somehow expecting him to understand all of that on his own?"

"When you put it like that, it sounds a little unreasonable, but isn’t it normal to expect someone who genuinely likes you to notice the little things without needing everything explained to him?"

"Because it is."

"You’re siding with her already?"

"I’m not siding with anyone, I’m just trying to understand how you managed to turn liking someone into a test they have to pass without even knowing they’re being tested."

The three of them laughed, and the conversation naturally moved toward the sort of situations girls apparently imagined long before the boys involved even knew they had become part of someone’s thoughts.

Before the conversation could go any further, the first girl suddenly groaned and placed a hand over her lower stomach.

"What happened?" Eva asked, noticing the change in her expression.

"Nothing, I’m just annoyed because my period is coming soon, and I can already feel it starting."

Eva paused for a moment.

"Oh..."

S

She had heard of periods before, but she had never experienced one herself, as her race was vastly different from that of a normal human, so hearing someone complain about it so casually still caught her attention.

The second girl immediately nodded in sympathy.

"Mine started yesterday, so I completely understand your pain, although I still don’t know how you managed to stay around everyone without losing your temper."

"I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was just in pain, and you kept coming over every few minutes asking whether I needed something."

"Because you looked miserable, and I was trying to help you."

"I know you were trying to help, but you asked me about tea three times even after I told you I didn’t want anything."

"Because you changed your answer every time I asked, and then you threw a pillow at me when I came back with it."

"You kept annoying me when I was already irritated, so what exactly did you expect me to do?"

"Maybe not attack the person who was trying to take care of you?"

"Then maybe stop talking so much when I’m in pain."

The second girl stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"Fine, I’ll remember that next time, but don’t blame me when you start feeling terrible and suddenly decide that I’m the only person you want around."

The first girl immediately looked away.

"...I never said that."

"You didn’t have to."

The argument continued for another moment before the first girl finally looked toward Eva with a strange expression, as though she had suddenly remembered that someone else had been silently watching the entire thing.

Eva found herself enjoying it more than she expected, because there was no deeper purpose behind most of what they were discussing, and perhaps that was exactly why she liked it.

They were simply talking, laughing, embarrassing themselves over boys who probably didn’t even know they existed, arguing over things that would probably be forgotten by tomorrow, and somehow, without either side deliberately deciding it, Eva was becoming part of it.

"Wait, weren’t we supposed to visit the garden tomorrow?" Eva suddenly asked, remembering the plan that had been mentioned earlier.

"Yes, we were," one of the girls replied, before narrowing her eyes at the other. "Didn’t you say you wanted to show her something there?"

"I did, but somehow we spent the entire afternoon discussing boys instead."

The two girls looked at one another.

"...We got distracted."

"That’s because boys are complicated."

Eva smiled.

"After listening to you two, I’m starting to think the girls are the complicated ones."

Both girls immediately protested at the same time, their voices overlapping as they began arguing that Eva had misunderstood everything, and as the three of them disappeared farther into the Academy while continuing their pointless argument, Eva found herself smiling without even realizing it.

It had only been a few days, yet somewhere between the gossip, the embarrassment, the strange expectations, and the completely unpredictable direction their conversations took, she had already started experiencing something she had never known before.

A life that belonged to her.

What she didn’t know was that the life she had only just begun to grow fond of was about to come to an end very soon.

***