Alpha Cassius Darkest Claim のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 71 - チャプター 80

Two weeks had passed…The house was quiet again, but not in the way it used to be.Annelise moved through the house like she no longer belonged in it. She woke up early, sometimes before the sun rose, and stayed in bed staring at the ceiling, her mind running in circles she could not escape. When she did get up, she kept herself occupied with small, meaningless tasks that filled the hours but gave her no sense of comfort. She avoided the rooms they had once shared so easily, avoided the painting room he had designed for her.She avoided him.Cassius noticed the difference.He noticed the way her body tensed whenever he got too close, the way her shoulders stiffened when his hand brushed against hers, the way she subtly pulled away as if his touch burned. He noticed the silence at dinners, how she barely touched her food, how she zoned out, her eyes drifting away from him like she was somewhere else entirely.He noticed the shift, but stayed quiet, never talking about it.He gave her s

“So you’re telling me you’re moving into the hostel on purpose?” Kelsey said as she leaned over the armrest, one long leg stretched out carelessly, her fingers running through her red hair as she stared at Annelise like she had just heard something ridiculous. “Voluntarily,” she added, raising a brow.Annelise let out a small laugh, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Yes. I want the full Uni experience.”“Bold,” Jasmine muttered from the seat behind, adjusting her seat belt, her tone somewhere between impressed and amused. “I could never. I like my personal space too much.”“Hostels build character,” Yvette chimed in, lifting her coffee cup slightly. “Also, statistically, people who live in campus housing tend to adapt faster socially during their first semester.”Kelsey glanced at her shaking her head. “There you go again always sounding like a walking documentary.”Yvette shrugged, completely indifferent. “Information is comforting.”Annelise smiled faintly, her eyes movi

ANNELISE POVThe mall doors slid open behind me and the evening air hit my face in a soft, cooling wave. My arms were already tired from the shopping bags, but I kept walking anyway, letting the rhythm of the city guide me back toward the hostel. Everything felt slightly louder than it should, footsteps, distant horns, overlapping conversations that did not have anything to do with me.I was adjusting the strap of one of the bags when I noticed the building across the street.It wasn’t fancy in the way malls or restaurants tried to be. It was simple, more intentional. A glass front with warm lighting spilling through, paintings visible even from outside. Some leaned against walls, others hung with careful spacing.An Art Gallery.I slowed without thinking. I didn’t plan to go in, I just crossed the street, and once I got closer, I couldn’t hold myself from going through the door. The moment I stepped inside, the atmosphere changed, It felt curated, like even silence had been placed on

“You’re late,” Kelsey announced immediately Anne stepped into the cafeteria with her tray.Anne stared at her for a second before dropping into the empty seat beside Jasmine. “I’m three minutes late.”“Exactly,” Kelsey replied dramatically, running a hand through her hair. “That’s enough time for abandonment issues to develop.”Jasmine snorted into her drink while Yvette calmly pushed a coffee toward Anne across the table.“I got you one,” Yvette said. “Your face looks sleep deprived again.”“Thank you,” Anne murmured honestly before taking a sip.The cafeteria buzzed around them with indistinct chatters, trays clattering against tables, chairs scraping across the floor. Students moved in groups. The girls had somehow already claimed the same corner table every afternoon like territorial little animals.Anne still wasn’t sure how she had become part of them so quickly.Maybe loneliness simply recognized loneliness in different forms.“I only have like thirty minutes,” Anne said after

The room was dark except for the faint glow leaking through the curtains from the campus lights outside.Jasmine slept deeply across the room, one arm hanging off the side of her bed, her laptop still slightly open beside her like she had fallen asleep in the middle of doing something important and simply forgotten to finish it.Anne lay awake staring at the ceiling as sleep wouldn’t catch up with her.She had closed her eyes over an hour ago, turned from one side to another, adjusted her blanket more times than necessary, but her mind refused to quiet down. Every thought seemed to lead somewhere she did not want to go, only to circle back again.Back to him… Cassius Vale.Her heart dropped to the pit of her belly at the thought alone.The silence around her only made it worse because there was nothing loud enough to drown him out. No conversations, no music, no distractions. Just her own thoughts moving restlessly through memories she could not stop revisiting.She remembered the mor