Dreven Academy: I seduced the Alpha king for revenge.

Chapter 151: 1?1: doubts

”Gamma Derek. You appointed him as the head of the education department yourself, don’t you remember?” I asked, crossing my arms as I tilted my head slightly, waiting for him to explain why he suddenly seemed so interested in the matter.

Kael’s eyebrows rose, and a look of intrigue settled over his face. ”I know that,” he replied. There was something different in his expression now. He didn’t seem surprised that Derek had proposed the change, but rather that Derek had been personally involved in it.

”I just didn’t know he would be so involved in this thing.” He shook his head lightly, as though something had just occurred to him. ”Maybe, given how he is, he must have thought that this stream also needed some reforms.”

”Oh.” I nodded slowly. Then, unable to stop my curiosity, I asked, ”You also think he’s someone who likes to make changes?”

I watched him carefully, genuinely interested in knowing what Kael thought about Derek. Until now, I had mostly heard about Gamma Derek through Rose.

”He is.” Kael let out a small sigh, his expression becoming somewhat thoughtful. ”He has always been the one among us who would suggest something completely out of the box to be implemented. And most of the time, it turns out to be a good suggestion.”

I nodded at that. ”Maybe you’re right.” I thought about the assignment again and how different it was from the examinations students had traditionally been given. ”Even the change of giving us assignments was also done by him, so you saying that he likes to bring change seems valid.”

Kael’s eyes immediately settled on me again. ”How do you know this was proposed by him?”

His question caught me slightly off guard. ”What?”

”It could also be that the teachers changed it,” he pointed out. ”Derek could have simply been there to announce it to all of you.”

I shook my head. ”No, I’m confident that it was suggested by him.” I remembered Gamma Derek standing in front of all of us and explaining the reason behind the changes. His words had been clear enough that I hadn’t thought there was much room for doubt.

”Why would our teachers themselves change something they have been accustomed to doing for so long?” I asked. ”And Gamma Derek was the one who personally told us that he had made these changes to make the examination more effective at grading our real, practical learning of the subject.”

Kael’s expression changed again. ”He told you personally?” His voice had shifted. It was only a slight change, but I noticed it immediately. I looked at him, confused by the sudden sharpness in his tone.

”Did you talk with Derek personally,” he asked, ”or are you talking about the general speech he must have given to all the students?”

I didn’t answer immediately. There was something about the way he had asked the question that made me pause.

Kael was looking directly at me now, not casually or with the mild curiosity he had shown a moment earlier. His eyes seemed to be searching my face as though he was trying to find an answer there before I even gave him one.

I could feel the difference in his demeanor. His voice had become colder, more controlled, and strangely interrogative. It wasn’t the tone he had used with me throughout our conversation.

A moment ago, we had simply been talking about my academy assignment. But now, one name had changed everything.

Derek. Why? What was it about the possibility of me speaking to Gamma Derek personally that had caused such an immediate reaction from him? I studied Kael’s face, trying to understand what I was missing.

”He gave the speech to everyone,” I began carefully, my own voice becoming more cautious as I tried to remember exactly what had happened.

But before I could say anything more, I noticed the way Kael continued watching me. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and although his posture appeared relaxed at first glance, there was a noticeable tension in the way he held himself.

He seemed to want to know exactly what kind of interaction I had had with Derek. And that realization made me even more confused. Why would it matter to him?

”He did talk to the students generally in the beginning,” I said, keeping my voice neutral and deliberately free of any noticeable change. ”But he did talk to me personally after that as well.”

My eyes remained fixed on Kael’s face. I was watching him carefully, trying to catch even the smallest shift in his expression that might give me a clue about what he was thinking or, more importantly, why he was behaving like this.

”How did he talk to you personally?” Kael’s voice changed again. It was subtle, but I noticed it immediately. His tone became slightly more serious, and as he spoke, he took a step toward me.

”Shouldn’t you be treated like every other student in your academy?” he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. ”Did he take the initiative to talk to you, or were you the one who went after him?”

I stared at Kael in shock. What does he mean by I went after him? The question itself sounded strange, but the way he had asked it made it even stranger. Why was he assuming that I had gone looking for Gamma Derek?

And why was he getting so worked up over something as insignificant as me speaking to him? I couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t as though my relationship with Kael was something real enough that he should have any reason to feel jealous over a conversation between me and another man.

There was no genuine relationship between us that should have caused an emotion like that. So what exactly was this? I studied his face for another moment, but his expression gave me nothing.

”Nobody took the initiative,” I finally said. My voice had become slightly strained. I could feel myself getting frustrated by his questions, especially because they seemed to carry an implication I didn’t understand.

”I was among the top students in the entrance examination, so I come first in the roll calls for now.” I paused briefly, making sure he understood what I meant. ”Gamma Derek had to give the first three assignments to the top three students himself. That’s why we talked to each other.”

The explanation seemed to have the effect I wanted. The coldness in Kael’s eyes visibly lessened. His shoulders relaxed slightly, and he took a step back. The strange intensity that had been present in his voice disappeared as well. ”What did you two talk about, then?”

Before I could answer, he turned around and started walking toward the living room, apparently completely confident that I would follow him.

He didn’t even look back to check. It was almost as if he already knew I would continue the conversation.

I stared at his back for a moment. Part of me wanted to stay exactly where I was just to break that confidence of his. Why should I follow him simply because he expected me to?

But I couldn’t. I had to keep being friendly with him. That meant continuing to talk to him in the same manner I always did and making sure I didn’t suddenly allow my irritation to show too clearly. So, after a moment, I followed him.

”Nothing important,” I answered. I walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa adjacent to him. Then, after a brief pause, I elaborated. ”It was just about how he was looking forward to checking my assignment himself and how he thought highly of me.”

I said it with a small smile, trying to make the conversation sound as ordinary as it actually was. There was nothing strange about it. Gamma Derek was the head of the education department, and he had personally handed me my assignment. Naturally, he would be interested in seeing how I performed.

At least, that was what I had initially thought. But as soon as I finished speaking, another memory surfaced in my mind. My smile slowly faded as I remembered the way Gamma Derek had looked at me in the auditorium.

The strange change in his expression when he heard my name. The way he had repeated Athena Moonvel as though he were trying to familiarize himself with it.

And then there was the strange feeling I had gotten while watching him speak with Louis. Something about it hadn’t felt right. At the time, I had dismissed the feeling as nothing more than my own overthinking.

Rose had explained how close Gamma Derek was to Kael, Ryan, and Louis. She had told me that the three of them had practically grown up together, lived together, and gone through school together.

Knowing that had made me think there was probably nothing unusual about the way Derek interacted with Louis. Perhaps I had simply misunderstood the familiarity between them and perhaps I was reading too much into it.

But now, sitting in front of Kael, I found myself thinking about it again. I turned my attention toward him. If Gamma Derek really had been that close to Kael and the others for so long, then surely Kael would know him better than anyone else at the academy.

And suddenly, I became far too curious. I wanted to know what kind of person Gamma Derek really was. More importantly, I wanted to know whether Kael truly had the kind of relationship with him that Rose had described.