Seeing his expression, a somewhat disappointed smile appeared on her face. At the same time, the light in her eyes seemed to dim down even more.
Without saying anything anymore, she stepped to the side and walked past him.
Before she had encountered that horrifying beast in the forest and got the injury that left this ugly scar on her face, everyone, especially males were desperate to get close or even talk to her.
However, after she lost her beauty, they stopped treating her nicely and kept their distance from her.
Although she already knew that everyone was after her because she was beautiful and they couldn't suppress their lust for her, she still felt that this world was twisted.
If someone were to hear her thoughts, they would laugh at her and say that she was too naïve.
However, this situation didn't make her sad because to begin with, others' opinions never bothered her thanks to her indifferent personality.
Moreover, this situation wasn't all that bad since she wouldn't receive those lustful gazes anymore or at least she found some medicine to heal this scar completely.
Although, she didn't feel sad because of others disgusted, pitying expressions when looking at her, Max's expression saddened her a lot and made her disappointed. It was because Max wasn't like everyone else.
He had become one of the few people, who she considered close to her. Unknowingly, she had started to develop some feelings for him. Therefore, the disappointment and sadness she felt were magnified many times.
…
Shua!
It took Max some time to come out of the shock after seeing her face, he suddenly moved and appeared in front of her again.
Flavia was surprised but her expression softened considerable because, even after seeing her 'ugly' face, he didn't avoid her like others instead, came in front of her again.
Just as she wanted to say something, Max hugged her out of nowhere.
Flavia was stunned for a moment before she felt a surge of emotions in her heart, and her eyes became watery.
When was the last time she felt such warmth? She couldn't remember and didn't have time to remember because she realized that there were many people watching them and they didn't have a relationship where they could be intimate like this.
She hurriedly said "Max, it's okay. You don't need to c-comfort me."
"I know." Max said and continued to embrace her.
"Re-… release me. There many people watching." She said weakly and her face started to turn red.
"I know."
She panicked even more seeing that he had no intention to let go of her and said whatever came to her mind "W-Why would you want to hug me? I'm ugly now."
"No, you're not." Max said softly and tightened his hug.
"I-I…" She didn't know what to say anymore. Suddenly, her emotions started overflowing feeling the warmth in his embrace and crystal like tears started to fall down her cheeks.
"It's okay. I'm here." Max gently patted her back.
***
Whenever there was some kind of gathering or event somewhere in the academy, 'The Disciplinary Hall' would be responsible for making sure that disciples didn't cause any commotion or broke the discipline.
Since today was the day when all of the new disciple were going to come back from outing, and gather here, the disciplinary hall had sent some people who were in the three-star realm to maintain decorum.
Seeing Max suddenly run out to meet someone when everyone was required to stay in their place, the disciplinary hall disciples frowned.
One D.H. (Disciplinary hall) disciple, who was standing near Max, was about to go and teach him a lesson. But he stopped after seeing Flavia's face and felt pity.
When Flavia walked past Max, he was about to go towards him but he didn't expect him to suddenly hug her in front of everyone.
All Elders frowned in displeasure. Although they also felt that it was pity that her face was ruined, it didn't mean that they would allow them to act however, they wanted in public place.
"Woah! This guy is bold. He doesn't even fear the D.H. I wonder what punishment he will receive."
"At least we won't get bored anymore waiting here."
"Yeah.."
"…"
The disciples broke out in discussion.
Meanwhile, Belen and other had wry smiles on their faces when they saw Max going to meet her. They knew that he was very close to her since they had seen them together in the recruitment.
After seeing Flavia's condition, they felt sad for her. However, they hadn't expected Max to suddenly embrace her in public.
This made them panic for her. They had heard that the D.H. was very strict and would punish offenders heavily.
"Don't you put the rules of academy in your eyes?" The D.H. disciple shouted and released his aura towards Max.
Max glanced at him coldly and didn't seem to feel his aura.
The D.H. disciple frowned seeing this. 'This brat.'
Flavia panicked and used all her strength to push Max away and hurriedly bowed towards the D.H. disciple "Senior please forgive us."
Before, the D.H. disciple could say anything, an indifferent voice sounded.
"It's okay. Hurry up and move to your place. The headmaster is about to arrive."
The D.H. disciple turned around to see who dared to interfere in the proceedings of the D.H.
However, seeing that it was Elder Hailey who spoke just now, he hurriedly nodded and went back to his position while Max and Flavia went to their respective groups.
Many disciples were disappointed by the result. But hearing that the Headmaster was coming, they broke out in discussion, forgetting the scene from before.
"Did I hear correctly? The headmaster is coming?"
"No, you heard it right. However, it's strange for headmaster to show up for the returning inner disciples."
"It's indeed strange. I heard that for the past few years he hadn't showed up at all."
"…"
Everyone was excited to see this headmaster that had reached the four-star realm and was very close to breaking through the mortal boundary.
Swoosh!
"Silence." Suddenly, a dominant voice sounded a few figures appeared on the stage.
