Unmade Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Late Night talk(9)

Read chapter 48 of Unmade by churro on NovelPedia.

Vale stood frozen near the white door of the locker room, his hand still hovering near the handle. His eyes followed Eskar as the boy stepped out from the shower area, steam curling behind him like a thin ghost. Eskar’s expression was strange, sharp, unsettled, as if he couldn’t decide which negative emotion to settle on. Rage? Envy? Disgust? Vale couldn’t tell. It was all there, simmering. Eskar walked toward him with slow, measured steps before sitting down on the wooden bench directly across from him. Now that they were face-to-face, the differences between them felt sharper. Eskar was slightly taller, with a sculpted build and tanned skin that almost glowed under the locker room lights. His bright red hair fell in wild, deliberate waves, as if chaos itself had been styled into perfection. His eyes, icy blue and utterly focused, held the kind of intensity that usually belonged to nobles or seasoned warriors, not students. For a few long seconds, neither of them spoke. Only the dripping water from the showers filled the silence. Then Eskar finally raised his head and stared directly into Vale’s eyes. “So… you got into the Rose family?” he asked. His tone was low, and strained. A brief pause followed, then his face twisted with a sudden wave of dark emotion. “Even though you’ve just arrived?” Vale blinked at him, already sensing trouble. “Yeah,” he answered carefully. “I did. Somehow.” Eskar inhaled sharply through his nose, his jaw tightening. Then, with surprising restraint, he lowered his head and spoke again. “I apologize,” he muttered. “I must look pathetic right now. But… the truth is, I resent you.” Vale’s eyes grew wide. 'Resent me? You don’t even know me,' he thought, stunned. But Eskar continued, his voice cracking only slightly as the bitterness poured out. “You see… I was born into the great Oceanus dynasty.” His expression twisted, not with pride, but with something closer to anguish. “But fate decided I would be tied to Pyrean, the plane of fire. And my parents, well, you can imagine how they reacted. My father refused to acknowledge me as his child. My mother couldn’t oppose him. He was, and still is the head of the dynasty.” Eskar’s fists trembled in his lap. “When I was twelve, he got tired of me. Tired of my presence, my mistakes, my existence. So he sent me here. My mother made sure it looked like a ‘prestigious assignment,’ but we both knew the truth.” He swallowed, clenching his teeth. “I worked every day to prove myself anyway. If not for my father, then at least for Rosemary Academy. For anyone.” Vale’s expression softened without him noticing. He could feel Eskar’s pain like a heavy weight in the air. “But no matter what I did,” Eskar continued, “all I gained was unwanted admiration from shallow students who only wanted to leech off the Oceanus name. I trained harder. Connected deeper with Pyrean. Tried to build something, to matter.” His voice dropped, thick with humiliation. “And then I met her. Nym.” Vale stiffened. He could already guess where this was going. “She demolished me,” Eskar said flatly. “One strike. One. I trained for months after that, thinking I could close the gap. But no matter how much I grew, the distance between us never changed. She was always ahead. Always unreachable.” His smile twisted into something broken. “And then you appeared.” Vale inhaled sharply. “A boy with no history. No family. No reputation. Nobody knew anything about you.” Eskar’s gaze sharpened into a knife. “And yet you awakened from your first trial already marked by the Rose family. You accomplished in one day what I couldn’t achieve in all those years.” He leaned forward. “You beat Nym,” he whispered. “You surpassed me. You surpassed everyone. And I,” His voice cracked. “I hate that. I hate what it made me feel.” He spread his hands helplessly. “Do you know what that feels like?” Vale looked away, his jaw tightening in sympathy. “I don’t,” he said quietly. It was the only honest answer he had. For a moment,