The door that seed like it would never open opened abruptly.
A single ray of light entered the dark room. Rosemary, who had her chin on the violin, froze with her neck bent like it was stiff.
Two sets of gold eyes locked. Rosemary’s face went slack.
“What are you doing here?”
How she wished that the one who had shown up was that elf. Then she could’ve taken out her frustrations on him.
“Did you hear ?”
It was big sis.
“W-why are you here, sis?”
“And what are you doing here at this ti?”
“T-taking a walk?”
“Why say it like a question if it’s just a walk?”
“Why not?”
Rosemary sniffled and tried to appear as nonchalant as possible. Now that the space was open, her ragged breathing settled and her eyes that had changed back to gold from rage began to glow blue again.
“Then why do you have your staff? You were about to use magic, weren’t you.”
“No? I only took it out because I felt like playing.”
“You think this is so soundproof booth?”
“That’s what I assud.”
Rosemary quickly put her staff away at Aether’s interrogation.
“Can you answer my questions, too, instead of just asking? What are you doing here so late?”
“... Well.”
Aether turned her eyes this way and that at the question, a hint of panic in them.
But Rosemary didn’t have any attention to spare to such detail, her mind restless from the thought that she might have been trapped here forever.
Big sis was now an ally or a neutral party, anyway. As long as she didn’t make a fuss, nothing else should happen.
Rosemary hurried out of the room and asked as she hid behind Aether.
“What is this room for, then?”
“It’s my lab.”
“Your lab?”
Rosemary tilted her head at the unexpected answer.
**This unexpected encounter had thinking for a mont.
As soon as I’d finished club activities with Lotte and Freyr, I rushed back to the Cultural Center to check on Verl. Then once I ca down to the basent, I could hear wailing about killing soone from down the hall.
When I listened closely, I could guess who the voice belonged to. Sensing that sothing was wrong, I ran at full speed.
I quickly opened the door to the hideout. When I looked around, so expired Blueberry was playing the violin.
Violin? Was I seeing things?
Tons of questions spun around my head like celestial stars in orbit.
First of all, why was Rosemary here?
Wondering if she was trying to kill Verl, I looked inside the room but found no traces of him anywhere.
Where did this bastard go this ti?
No, no. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions like this.
Since Blueberry was here, maybe he had sensed it and made a run for it first. Taking that into consideration, I talked with Rosemary for a bit. She quickly put her violin away and scurried over to hide behind .
“What is this room for, then?”
Rosemary dabbed at her wet eyes with her sleeve and looked up at .
... Right. She was claustrophobic.
I made up sothing in reply to Rosemary who was gazing at with a pout. This, too, was part of an act.
“This here’s the room that I requested from the school for conducting special tests. But the last ti I ca, soone had broken the door so I added reinforcent magic and made it close automatically if anyone unknown ca in.”
“Y-you did...?”
“Yeah. I was wanting to see who the culprit was, but....”
Should I push her a little bit?
“Was it you?”
“No?”
“But you’re the only one here who could break this tal door.”
“It’s my first ti coming here. Perhaps soone else broke it without knowing?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You know that I hate lying the most.”
Blueberry’s pupils shook fiercely.
“I-it was .”
Fidgeting, Rosemary reluctantly bowed her head.
“... I’m sorry.”
“Sure.”
I gently nudged Rosemary away from .
“I’m sorry! Please forgive !”
“I said I got it.”
She willingly admitted to it, to my surprise. I closed the door to the basent with a pleased smile.
It seed that Verl was already gone. He wouldn’t be coming back here except to talk with the chairman, I suppose. Based on that judgnt, I took Rosemary out to the central square where the fountain was.
The fountain water shimred in the dim moonlight, the weather fairly cold. The northern wind coming from the Elankaya Mountains brushed against my neck. I might get sick if I wasn’t careful.
“... Um, sis, aren’t you going to ask why I was there?”
“You must’ve been doing sothing. It’s not my business.”
“So are you forgiving ?”
“You said sorry, so.”
Everybody made mistakes, human or otherwise. They could unintentionally make excuses to defend themselves, even. But if they admitted it in ti and offered a sincere apology, it was only right to forgive.
And it would be too childish to kick up a fuss over sothing like this. Nuking soone just for breaking down a door, really....
Of course, it was a problem that she had put Verl in danger. But if I scolded her for this, I could be suspected. That ant that the best thing to do here was to stay composed and pretend that nothing was wrong.
Yeah, since it turned out this way, it would be better if I reverse-marked Rosemary.
This was the shift in thinking–to go from being watched to doing the watching. For my sake and also for Verl’s safety.
“It’s already this late.”
“Yes, it’s quite dark.”
“Why don’t you stay at the dorm tonight?”
“... Pardon?”
Rosemary questioned with wide eyes as if she hadn’t expected the offer, like she was asking why I was suddenly saying this right now.
“It’ll take over twenty minutes to walk back to the palace from here. You probably already know but the Empire isn’t as safe as you think. I don’t want sothing to happen on the way back at night.”
Rosemary snorted and replied.
“Sis, what does it matter if there’s so pervert?”
“I’m worried about the pervert, not you.”
“Wow, that hurts.”
“If rumors spread in the Empire that the Duke’s daughter dunked soone into nitric acid, whose loss would it be?”
“Still, that’s harsh.”
Sworn sisters, indeed. Look at her retaliating in the sa way as soon as I tease her.
“I still an it. I know you despite the Empire, but you can’t just go around killing people. This isn’t a battlefield.”
“It’s a battlefield to .”
I closed my mouth at the heaviness in her voice.
When Blueberry was human, her country had been destroyed by none other than the Empire. At the ti, this child had survived several near-death experiences and went through the process of ‘Corruption’ that all Golden-Eyed were susceptible to.
“Sis.”
Rosemary lifted a fist onto my shoulder.
It felt similar to but slightly different from a human, and it was heavy like it was a chunk of iron rather than flesh.
“If I had lived relatively comfortably like the others in elf country, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“.......”
“But I, because of these bastards here, everybody....”
“I know.”
“If nothing else, these Imperial citizens can’t ever be trusted, so you shouldn’t stay here for long. Those friends of yours could betray you one day.”
My eyebrow twitched at the last sentence.
It was ridiculous. Was she trying to create distance between and my friends?
Or was it to take back to the Demon Castle without incident? Right, it was probably this.
“If soone here that you trusted did sothing funny to you, what would you do then?”
It was a difficult question to answer. This one looked up at the moon shining bright yellow like her eyes and spoke.
“...... Then I’ll kill them all.”
I quickly covered my mouth. What did I just say?
I had ant to answer differently, like clear up any misunderstandings first or drink together while having a heart-to-heart like last ti.
Even for situations like Verl where you had to break a promise regardless of your intentions, I could take the circumstances into account. I considered the process more important than the result. So even if Lotte and Freyr did sothing disappointing, it wouldn’t be a purpose.
But that nonsense I had just said bypassed that whole thought process.
“Oho.... that sounded like you were back to your old self just now, sis.”
“No, that was just so bullshit. Even if sothing like that happens, I’m not going back.”
As far as it goes, Aether was neutral. She was neither on the side of humans nor the Demon King.
And I wasn’t on the side of this world.
There was no change to my original plan; I was going ho. I was going to write papers while having a beer. I was going to call my sister1 and tell her I was back. I was going to take a vacation and catch up on all my movies.
It felt good just imagining it. Woohoo.
Rosemary looked upset, as if asking why I wasn’t returning.
Well, what could I do? If the Demon Army got in the way of filling out the index, I would have to destroy them.
I also gave a wry smile and asked.
“So, are you coming or not?”
Footnotes
1. 'Unnie', interestingly
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