Alia quietly nodded after hearing his answer.
Noah’s mind, however, was already turning.
Since she had already found out, there really wasn’t any point trying to hide it anymore.
Alia would eventually tell their mother anyway.
And even if she didn’t, the truth would co out sooner or later.
Noah exhaled slowly.
’I’ll just have to co clean to both her and mum.’ he thought.
There was no avoiding it now.
The suspension from the academy wasn’t sothing he could pretend hadn’t happened.
They walked in silence for a while after that.
Alia didn’t speak again imdiately.
Her mind was still processing everything that had happened.
After several more steps, however, curiosity got the better of her again.
She glanced at him once more.
"How... are you so strong then?" she asked.
Her voice carried genuine confusion.
"You’re only an apprentice magus... but you made Tou look like such a fool."
She had seen Tou fight before.
He was an adept magus.
Soone far stronger than ordinary apprentice students.
Yet Noah had beaten him so easily that it almost looked unfair.
Noah chuckled softly after hearing her question.
The sound carried a hint of amusent.
"I didn’t make him look like a fool," he said, glancing sideways at her. "He’s a fool."
Alia couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her after hearing Noah’s reply.
"That’s right..." she said between soft chuckles, nodding lightly. "But he’s still an adept magus, and you beat him so easily!"
Her voice carried a mix of amazent and excitent. The scene from earlier clearly hadn’t left her mind yet.
Her eyes shone brightly as she looked up at him, filled with admiration that she didn’t even bother trying to hide.
Then, puffing out her cheek slightly, she suddenly lifted her small fist and mimicked the motion she had seen earlier.
"Pah!" she said, swinging her arm forward dramatically as if she were throwing a punch.
She even exaggerated the movent, turning her head sharply the way Tou’s had snapped to the side.
Noah glanced at her and smirked.
"Well," he said casually, "That’s just because your big brother’s strong."
To emphasize his point, he raised one arm and flexed it.
The muscles in his arm tightened instantly, the peak of his bicep rising noticeably as he showed it off in a playful manner.
The movent made Alia’s eyes widen slightly.
Noah continued speaking as he lowered his arm again.
"Besides," he added calmly, "Tou couldn’t even aim properly."
He shrugged slightly.
"He was also taking way too much ti casting his spell. All that gave a chance to beat him."
Alia nodded repeatedly as she listened.
"Hmm... that’s true," she said.
Then, without warning, she suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
Her face lit up with a huge smile as she squeezed him happily.
"Big brother is so strong!" she said with excitent.
Noah chuckled softly at her reaction.
His hand instinctively rested on her head as he returned the smile.
For a brief mont, the tension from earlier seed to fade.
But then his expression slowly changed, a faint frown forming on his face.
"Lia," he said suddenly.
Alia looked up at him.
"How long has this been going on...?" he muttered. "And why didn’t you tell either or mom about it?"
The mont the question left his mouth, Alia froze.
Her arms loosened around him.
Slowly, she pulled away from the hug.
Her gaze dropped to the ground as if the pavent had suddenly beco extrely interesting.
She didn’t answer imdiately.
Her fingers fidgeted together as she stared downward, clearly unsure how to respond.
The cheerful mood from earlier disappeared almost instantly.
*
A few minutes later, the two of them were still walking down the quiet street.
But now Noah’s expression had completely changed.
A deep, annoyed frown sat firmly on his face.
His brows were furrowed, and his jaw was clenched tightly.
His hands curled into fists at his sides as he walked.
’Those idiots...’ he thought bitterly. ’How could they do this to her?’
Alia had finally explained everything to him.
She had told him how those girls had started bothering her so months ago.
At first it had only been small things—mocking her, pushing her around, making her do small tasks for them.
But slowly it had gotten worse.
They had begun forcing her to do their howork.
They had made her carry their books.
And whenever she hesitated or complained, they would threaten to hit her again.
Tou had only gotten involved recently.
Apparently the brown-haired girl had complained to her older brother about Alia "talking back," and he had shown up to "teach her a lesson."
Just thinking about it made Noah’s blood boil.
He clenched his fists even tighter.
Alia walked quietly beside him.
She could feel the anger radiating from him, and it made her feel both guilty and nervous.
But Noah’s thoughts continued to churn.
He had always believed Alia was doing fine at school.
He had never imagined she had been dealing with sothing like that behind his back.
And the fact that she had endured it silently for so long only made him feel even more frustrated.
His frown deepened.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he beca.
A part of him even felt like he had let Tou off far too easily.
All he did was give him two punches, and a broken wrist.
For what Tou had done to Alia, that almost felt insignificant.
Noah exhaled slowly through his nose, trying to keep the rising anger in his chest from spilling out again.
If he had known everything earlier, he doubted he would have stopped after those two punches.
His jaw tightened slightly.
The worst part, however, had been the threats.
Tou had told her more than once that he could easily make Noah’s life hell at the magic academy.
He had bragged about how he and others already had influence there.
How soone like Noah—an apprentice magus—could easily be bullied or isolated if they wanted.
And hearing that had shaken Alia more than anything else.
After that, she stopped resisting them, and started doing whatever they wanted.
Whether it was carrying their books, completing their howorks or even running errands whenever they ordered her to.
Alia hadn’t told Noah.
She hadn’t told their mother either.
Because in her mind, speaking up could make things worse.
If Tou beca angry enough, he might actually target Noah at the academy like he had threatened.
Believing that staying silent was the best way to protect Noah.
But what Alia didn’t know—
Was that Noah had already been facing far worse bullying at the academy himself.
Lloyd, Tou, and several other students had constantly harassed him there, pushing him around whenever they could.
The difference was that Noah had never spoken about it either.
He had endured it in silence, just like Alia had.
Thinking it was better not to worry his family.
Noah’s hands slowly clenched into tight fists as the realization sank deeper into his mind.
’It’s already bad enough that I was bullied...’ His eyes darkened slightly. ’But I never thought she was facing the sa thing.’
The thought made sothing cold settle inside his chest.
For years, he had endured humiliation at the academy while trying to keep moving forward.
But now things were different.
His fists tightened further.
’It’s good I found out about this early,’ he thought.
His gaze shifted slightly toward Alia, who was still walking beside him without noticing the storm brewing inside his mind.
’It’ll never happen again.’
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