Chương 161: Chapter : 161

Elma took another deep breath, forcing herself to stand up straight. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, gathering her courage, before looking directly at Ken again. The intense, tsundere-like tension radiating off her was practically visible.

"I came here because I hate leaving debts unpaid," Elma declared, her voice rising just a little bit to sound more confident, though her bright red cheeks completely ruined the tough act.

"And unfortunately, I owe a massive debt to you."

Ken casually popped a potato chip into his mouth and chewed loudly. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. He tilted his head to the side, looking at the blushing, nervous girl standing in the gateway.

"A debt?" Ken mumbled with his mouth full. He swallowed and gave her a lazy, goofy smile.

"I seriously don't know what you are talking about. Did I lend you a pencil during a meeting or something? Because if I did, you can keep it. It was probably broken anyway." Elma let out a highly frustrated, totally embarrassed groan. She stomped her polished boot on the stone pavement.

"Stop acting like a complete idiot for five seconds!" Elma snapped, though the fierce edge of her voice was ruined by how much she was avoiding his gaze.

"I am talking about what happened yesterday! In the underground bunker! When we were fighting that terrifying, mutated centipede monster in the metal corridor!" The girls of the 13th Unit went perfectly still. Naomi's eyes widened as the memory of that horrifying battle rushed back into her mind.

"I was careless," Elma admitted, her voice dropping into a quiet, reluctant whisper. It was incredibly hard for her to say the words out loud. Her pride was taking a massive beating.

"I let my anger blind me. I jumped into the air, and I left myself completely exposed. That monster swung its venomous tail right at my spine. I couldn't dodge. I couldn't block. I was going to die right there on the metal floor." Elma finally forced herself to look Ken directly in the eyes. Her face was flushed, but her expression was intensely sincere.

"But you pushed me," Elma said softly.

"You threw yourself into the air and shoved me out of the way. You took the absolute full force of that monster's attack, and it knocked you down an endless, pitch-black elevator shaft. You do not have any weapons. You do not have any defensive magic. But you still risked your own life to save mine. And I spent the entire afternoon treating you like a piece of garbage." The courtyard was dead quiet. Laxmi, Zinia, and Sayma stared at Ken with a renewed sense of profound respect.

Even Ira gave a very small, crisp nod of approval. They already knew what he had done, but hearing an arrogant rival servant admit it out loud was a totally different experience. Ken just scratched the back of his messy black hair, looking incredibly awkward. He hated being the center of attention, especially when people were trying to make him sound like a hero. He just wanted to go back to eating his chips. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Look, it really wasn't a big deal," Ken lied smoothly, slouching his shoulders and waving his free hand in the air.

"I totally just tripped. The floor in that hallway was incredibly slippery. Someone should definitely call the janitor. I just accidentally bumped into you on my way down. Pure coincidence."

"Do not insult my intelligence," Elma huffed, though a tiny, almost invisible smile touched the corner of her lips. She knew he was lying to cover up his bravery, and it only made her heart flutter even more.

"I know exactly what you did. And I refuse to let a debt like that go unanswered. I am a proud servant of the 16th Princess. I pay what I owe." With a sudden, jerky movement, Elma pulled her hands out from behind her back. She walked quickly across the courtyard, marching straight up to Ken. She stopped right in front of him, her face burning brighter than a blazing fire. She practically shoved a large, beautifully wrapped box directly into his chest.

Ken quickly dropped his bag of chips onto the bench and caught the box before it could fall. He looked down at it. It was an incredibly fancy, highly expensive pastry box. The cardboard was a pristine, glossy white, tied together with a perfect, elegant gold silk ribbon. The logo of the absolute most exclusive, expensive bakery in the Inner City was stamped on the top in shining silver letters.

"What is this?" Ken asked, blinking his sleepy eyes in total surprise.

"It is a cake!" Elma said loudly, crossing her arms and turning her head away so he couldn't see her blushing face.

"A triple-layered chocolate fudge cake with fresh strawberries and imported vanilla cream. The line at the bakery took an hour, so you better appreciate it!" Naomi stared at the fancy box, completely flabbergasted.

"You bought him a cake? An expensive Inner City cake? Just to say thank you?"

"It is just a repayment for a debt!" Elma said defensively, her voice raising in pitch as she tried to maintain her haughty, arrogant attitude.

"Do not get the wrong idea! I still think you are all a bunch of messy, unorganized losers! And I still think Ken is a ridiculous, lazy fool who cannot even dress himself properly!" She pointed a shaking, perfectly manicured finger at Ken, keeping her eyes glued to the stone wall next to him.

"Do not think this means I like you!" Elma declared, delivering the absolute classic, textbook definition of a tsundere speech.

"This changes absolutely nothing! We are still rivals! If we meet on the battlefield again, I will not hesitate to defeat you! Just eat the cake and consider my debt officially cleared!" Without waiting for him to respond, and completely unable to handle the intense embarrassment for a single second longer, Elma spun around on her heel. She marched back toward the front gates as fast as her polished boots could carry her. She didn't look back.

She practically ran out of the courtyard, disappearing down the cobblestone street and leaving the 13th Unit standing in stunned, absolute disbelief. The silence stretched on for a long time. Laxmi's jaw was literally hanging open. She looked from the empty gateway to the fancy box in Ken's hands.

"Did that actually just happen? Did Princess Hestia's meanest, snobbiest servant just sneak over here, blush like a tomato, and give our farm boy a romantic cake?" Sayma pushed her glasses up, trying to compute the social dynamics of the situation.

"It appears she has developed a rather significant crush on him. The psychological shift from intense rivalry to romantic admiration is actually quite common after a life-saving event." Naomi stood frozen in place. She stared at the spot where Elma had just been standing. A very weird, highly confusing knot twisted right in the center of her chest. It wasn't exactly anger, but it definitely wasn't happiness.

She didn't understand why the idea of another girl buying Ken a fancy gift made her feel so incredibly irritated.