“Please, have a seat, Adeel.”
Avena extended her right hand, palm up, gesturing toward the chair in front of her.
“It’s Abar, Doctor.”
“Alright, Anar.”
“...Just call Adele.”
Sitting behind them, Ciel pressed her lips together beneath her mask. She couldn’t understand how Avena could keep a straight face throughout such an exchange.
“There’s no need to be overly cautious. The girl behind is my assistant,” Avena said, turning her gaze toward Adele. “What brings you here? Does the Redemption Society need my cooperation?”
“No,” Adele shook her head. “I... have already left the Redemption Society.”
“Oh?” Avena straightened her back slightly, leaning forward with an expressionless face. “Why? Did they kick you out because of your ntor’s incident?”
From her seat behind them, Ciel could tell—Avena wasn’t asking out of so ritualistic obligation. She was simply nosy, her curiosity far more intense than even a cat’s.
“No, I left on my own.” Adele shook her head before glancing at the masked girl behind Avena. She hesitated for a mont before continuing, “I saw your flyer at the Redemption Society, so I decided to co.”
“You’re here for psychological counseling?” Avena nodded slightly. “Alright. I can do that. This one’s on the house.”
She spoke with the composed deanor of a seasoned therapist—if one ignored the fact that she had driven away every patient who ca before.
Adele took a deep breath, about to speak, when she noticed the red-haired girl behind Avena had leaned in closer.
She finally couldn’t help but ask, “Is she from the Redemption Society? I think I saw her yesterday...”
Not everyone in the Redemption Society knew each other, especially since many mbers had been called in to help with the crisis today. Seeing Ciel’s mask, Adele had clearly mistaken her for one of them.
“No, she’s my friend. She caught dehydration syndro, so I went to the Redemption Society to get her a mask,” Avena explained. “Don’t worry about her leaking anything. You can trust her.”
Because she probably knows more than you do... Avena left that part unsaid. After all, she had promised to keep Ciel’s secrets.
Reassured by Avena’s words, Adele finally relaxed. She nodded. “I trust a ‘Listener.’ Also, miss, please take this—it’s the cure for dehydration syndro.”
Adele pulled out a small bottle containing a translucent, pale green capsule.
The cure was already available?
Ciel accepted the dicine but didn’t take it imdiately, instead tucking the bottle away and continuing to listen.
“I ca here today because of my ntor... Sherlon.”
Adele seed lost in thought for a mont before beginning to speak about what had been weighing on her heart.
She and her sister, Uris, had grown up in the church orphanage. Their parents had abandoned them, disappearing without a trace. At just five years old, Uris had carried her baby sister through the rain to the orphanage gates, saving both their lives.
Even as a child, Uris was clever, resourceful, and sociable—everyone liked her. Adele, on the other hand, had been a troublemaker since she could crawl, constantly getting into mischief.
When Uris reached school age, the church would co to the orphanage to select students. Naturally, Uris was chosen for the seminary.
This selection process happened every year. The most talented children were sent to religious academies. Those without theological aptitude were sent to church-run schools for general education, while the least promising ones were placed in decent factories to learn a trade. The church would periodically check in on them.
Once Uris entered the seminary, she disappeared from Adele’s life. Without her sister’s protection, Adele, forrly a troublemaker, beca withdrawn and quiet. She started studying harder.
But no matter how much she tried, her talent never seed to be enough. In the end, she was sent to a church school rather than the seminary.
Without the drive to enter the seminary, Adele lost interest in studying altogether.
After repeatedly failing her exams, the nuns at the church school deed her “unfit for academics” and assigned her to nial work at the church hospital.
It was there that she discovered her talent and passion for dicine. She could perfectly replicate basic bandaging techniques after seeing them just once.
Her talent caught the attention of the church hospital’s priests, who recomnded her to the Redemption dical Academy, which was closely affiliated with the church. There, she t Sherlon—her ntor—who personally introduced her to the Redemption Society.
Joining the Redemption Society brought her to Ansu, finally reuniting her with her sister. Grateful to both her ntor and the church priests, she vowed never to forget their kindness.
For several years, things went smoothly. Her innate dical abilities allowed her to excel in both practice and theory, enabling her to assist Sherlon in publishing nurous research papers.
These papers helped Sherlon obtain the “Plague Doctor” potion and finally overco a twenty-year-long bottleneck in his Reconstitution Ritual. At the sa ti, he guided Adele into the “Physician” transcendent path.
As she spoke, Adele took several deep breaths, her hands trembling as she covered her face.
“I... I didn’t know his research... was ant to spread ‘infectious dehydration syndro’... I thought he was just studying simple infectious diseases to reverse-engineer a cure and complete the ‘Plague Doctor’ ritual...”
At this, Avena turned her head slightly to glance at Ciel.
In Ciel’s eyes, she saw the sa shock.
The dehydration syndro... was Adele’s creation?
No wonder Sherlon’s research notes had so little detail on the virus. It wasn’t his work.
Yet despite that, he had completely claid ownership of it, reveling in its creation with such obsessive pride that even Ciel and Avena had been fooled.
For so reason, Ciel was reminded of overworked graduate students and research assistants from her past life. Poor Adele had been unknowingly exploited for years.
But the “infectious dehydration syndro” that Sherlon had written about with such devotion, referring to it as his “masterpiece,” was, to Adele, rely a “simple infectious disease.”
No wonder Sherlon had been stuck at the “Physician” stage for twenty years. He had likely realized he had no way forward on that path and had chosen to walk a route that sacrificed thousands of lives instead.
But even if Sherlon had successfully ascended, he would have beco sothing like “Crown Guard” Nia—his body deeply transford by the potion, with no hope of further advancent.
Adele no longer bore her usual cheerful deanor. She wasn’t the sa girl from the simulation who had hidden behind her sister while making faces at Ciel.
Now, she sat with her hands over her face, quietly sobbing.
She had likely been holding this in ever since she learned the truth two nights ago.
She hadn’t dared tell her sister. She hadn’t dared confide in anyone. The betrayal of her ntor, nearly being complicit in the deaths of thousands—she had carried it all alone.
Perhaps the whispering voices of her potion had grown too overwhelming, leading her to seek out Avena, an unaffiliated “Listener,” in search of solace.
Ciel and Avena remained silent, letting Adele cry.
Ciel simply didn’t know what to say, while Avena feared that speaking might push Adele over the edge into complete madness.
After dealing with several patients, Avena had developed so self-awareness regarding her therapeutic skills.
Gradually, Adele’s shoulders stopped trembling. She wiped her tears away and noticed Avena handing her a handkerchief.
“Thank you...” Adele took it and wiped her face. Taking a deep breath, she added, “I feel much better after saying all that.”
Looking at her determined expression, Ciel couldn’t help but ask, “Where are you planning to go after this?”
She was starting to worry whether Adele might turn herself in to the Redemption Society.
In such a case, Adele would almost certainly be judged as an accomplice.
If she surrendered out of guilt, she’d likely end up trapped in prison, slowly losing her sanity to the whispering voices of her potion.
She was simply too kind. If she lowered her moral standards just a little, many of her problems would be much easier to solve—that was Ciel’s personal philosophy.
“I’m going to Deton Manor.” Adele sniffled and answered.
“Deton Manor?” Avena blinked, struggling to follow her train of thought.
She turned to Ciel again, who mirrored her puzzled expression.
Neither of them had any idea what she was thinking.
“I’ve saved up enough money to buy the ‘Plague Doctor’ potion,” Adele said seriously. “I want to save more people, stop more ‘Plaguebearers,’ and atone for my mistakes.”
Hearing this, both Ciel and Avena felt a newfound respect for her.
They had misjudged her. Adele’s resilience and kindness far exceeded Ciel’s expectations.
Though she had seed unserious in the simulation, she was, at her core, a good person.
Her guilt had led her to leave the Redemption Society, but after crying her heart out, she had resolved to achieve redemption on her own terms.
“You’re going to Deton Manor right now?” Avena asked.
“Yes.” Adele nodded. “Right now.”
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