Chapter 80: You Are Not Allowed to Toy with Little Tina's Feelings and Abandon Her
The night had grown deep.
Most buildings had already turned off their lights, leaving only the streetlamps flickering to life one by one, casting a rcury-white glow that briefly illuminated the silent night.
When Shiltina snapped back to her senses from the conversation with Rast, she found that they had already wandered far along an unfamiliar branch of the Academy’s main avenue.
After turning a corner at the end of the street, a four-story dormitory clad in white tiles ca into view.
Shiltina stopped in her tracks, pausing before the bronze dormitory gate.
She instinctively turned her head to look at Rast.
If she rembered correctly, what seed like aimless wandering across campus had actually been subtly guided by Rast the whole ti.
In other words—
It was Rast who had deliberately led her here, to this dormitory with white tiles.
“Rast, do you know this place?”
“Mhm.”
Rast nodded.
“This is the dorm you lived in when you first entered university as a freshman.”
“Or to put it another way, it’s the student apartnt you once shared with Flan… isn’t it?”
“How do you know all this?” Shiltina blurted out.
“That’s why… you shouldn’t underestimate the determination of a host.”
Rast couldn’t help but smile.
“If I didn’t investigate a guest’s preferences, relationships, and relevant background info in advance… how could I ever provide flawless service?”
Of course—
He also didn’t underestimate the allure of her 「Infinite Blade」 Nightblade.
He silently added this in his heart.
…
On the other side, Shiltina’s gaze had already co to a halt on the dormitory in front of her.
This house with white walls and a green roof appeared rather plain compared to other dorms on campus, especially the villa provided to Twelve Seats of the Round Table like her.
However, this had indeed once been Shiltina’s ho.
In her earliest days at the Academy, she had spent a relatively warm and peaceful ti in this dorm—attending class inseparably with Flan, venturing into the Nightworld together, and making friends with other freshn.
Although, that ti didn’t last long.
With that in mind, Shiltina’s eyes landed on two adjacent windows on the edge of the dormitory’s third floor.
Warm orange light glowed from the windows on the other floors, but only those two windows had their rain guards lowered and the inside was pitch black, showing no trace of life.
This was only natural.
After all, the forr occupants of those two adjacent rooms had long since left—one had beco a target of public scorn and moved alone to the dorms provided by Lionheart House.
And the other… had recently fallen into an eternal slumber in the Nightworld.
Since moving out, Shiltina had passed by this place countless tis, yet each ti, she subconsciously avoided this part of campus that brought her painful mories.
She had never thought she would one day return.
And it was because of a boy who had nothing to do with this dorm.
“Why did you bring here?”
Shiltina looked at Rast beside her and asked softly.
Then, she saw the young man shrug in front of her.
“Because I thought, since you’ve chosen the path you walk now…”
“Then this is sothing you must face, sothing you must reconcile with.”
“Only by fully waving goodbye to the past can you embark on a new journey with no regrets.”
“And—”
Rast’s words paused slightly.
“According to my investigation.”
“Miss Flan… she seems to have left sothing here for you.”
“Flan?”
As she uttered those confused words, Shiltina saw that Rast had already walked up to the bronze gate and gently knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock—the sound echoed through the night.
Soon after, the door creaked open with a squeal.
A middle-aged woman, appearing to be in her forties or fifties, stepped out.
“You are… the student Rast I spoke with earlier on the chat app?”
The woman exchanged a few brief words with Rast.
Then, she looked past him and noticed the girl subconsciously hiding behind him.
“Shiltina.”
At the mont she saw Shiltina, a complicated expression surfaced on the woman’s face.
It was a reasonable reaction.
This middle-aged woman was the dorm supervisor, soone who had been close with Flan and several mbers of the raid team.
Anyone, upon seeing the girl accused by campus rumors of being the cause of a fellow student’s death, would find it hard to greet her with a smile.
Seeing the dorm supervisor turn and walk back into the building after noticing her, Shiltina couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of disappointnt.
Before, because she had no expectations, she hadn’t cared at all.
But now, having made up her mind to reconcile with the world, having begun to hope again… being t with such a cold reaction from soone once familiar made it impossible for her to remain unmoved.
Yet just a few dozen seconds later—
The supervisor ca back out holding a small box.
Then, to Shiltina’s surprise, she placed the wooden box in her hands.
“Take it. Flan asked to hold onto this for you.”
“Flan… left this for ?”
“Mhm.”
“Every ti Flan entered the Nightworld, she would hand a small box like this. She said if she didn’t return, I should find a way to pass it to you.”
“And this ti… that lively, lovable girl really didn’t co back…”
The woman’s voice grew slightly heavy: “At first, I planned to pass it through the student council, but at noon today, Rast contacted and said he’d bring you here himself.”
“I was half-skeptical, but… I didn’t expect you would actually co back—because of a boy I’ve never heard of.”
She placed the wooden box into Shiltina’s hands, then turned to leave.
Just before reaching the entrance, the dorm supervisor paused, then turned back with a complicated glance toward Shiltina.
“Also… I don’t know whether those campus rumors are true or false. I’m old, not as sharp in judgnt as you young ones.”
“But I do know this… At the very least, Flan, in her lifeti, never once resented you. Even in the face of malicious slander, she often defended you of her own accord.”
After those words, the woman’s slightly plump figure disappeared into the dormitory.
On the empty street bathed in night, only Shiltina and Rast remained.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
Rast’s gentle voice drifted by with the evening breeze.
Almost at the sa mont, Shiltina eagerly opened the wooden box.
Inside was a piece of pure white letter paper.
【Shiltina, if you're reading this letter, I’ve probably already died—fallen in the Nightworld’s Disaster Remnant.】
【Because if I had survived, I would have used the Academy’s 900th anniversary celebration as a chance to apologize to you in person, and give you this gift… whether you accepted it or not didn’t matter.】
【This raid on the Disaster Remnant was undoubtedly dangerous, so even if I or many others died inside, you shouldn’t bla yourself… We didn’t go in because of you, but because it was our own decision. Before entering, we had already co to terms with dying.】
【This might sound strange to you. Maybe in your eyes, I parted ways with you because of cowardice—too afraid of death to keep up with you.】
【But that’s not true. I was never afraid of dying. If I were, I never would’ve joined Starfall University, let alone the raid team.】
【The real reason we split… was because I couldn’t agree with your ideals. You cared too much about the results and ignored the process.】
【You never forced or anyone else to follow you. We were free to leave at any ti… But among all of them, I was the one who worried about you the most, because you never knew how to cherish yourself. You constantly put yourself in danger.】
【You were like a sword that had seen too many battles—chipped, worn, with tal fatigue long past its limit, yet never resting… If you kept going like that, one day you’d shatter.】
【I didn’t want to witness that mont. I wanted you to understand the importance of rest. I wanted the team to protect you. I wanted you to know that process and outco were equally important… and that’s why I fought with you so fiercely.】
【I never expected that one impulsive quarrel would be twisted, misquoted, and fanned by those with or without intent, eventually evolving into such terrifying rumors.】
【I tried countless tis to speak up for you—in the campus newspaper, through the journalism club… but it was all in vain. Once public opinion takes shape, people only believe what they want, ignoring the truth.】
【This was my own sin. My carelessness led to such bitter consequences.】
【I’m not saying all this hoping you’ll forgive . I know nothing I say can undo the pain I caused.】
【But even so, I still must apologize—and try to make ands.】
【I set up a trigger. The mont this box is opened, my statent of explanation will be sent to the journalism club and elsewhere…】
【No one listened when I explained while alive. Perhaps now that I’m dead, my words will carry more weight.】
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