Chapter 73: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 73

After Sylvia left, Scarlet stared quietly at the closed door, lost in thought.

She had told Sylvia that she never thought of her as a friend to sever their relationship.

She feared that if she continued the friendship while deceiving her, Sylvia would be deeply hurt when she died, and Scarlet wouldn’t be able to bear the guilt.

Though she unintentionally revealed her true feelings when she suddenly fell ill, it didn’t change the fact that Sylvia now knew she had approached her with an ulterior motive.

Sylvia despised people who approached her with the intent to use her more than anything.

So, Scarlet didn’t expect things to turn out this way.

She never imagined that Sylvia would suggest starting over and ask to be friends again.

Though it might be selfish, she felt both guilt and joy.

It felt like she was forgiven for everything she had done to Sylvia.

And it seemed that the time they had spent together wasn’t entirely false.

Sylvia Astra.

A girl with a pure heart who had experienced many things in her childhood, making her very cautious.

A kind child who went out in the rain without an umbrella to buy medicine because she was worried about Scarlet.

If she had nodded at Sylvia’s request, they could have truly become friends this time.

But she couldn’t nod.

It wasn’t because she didn’t want to be friends with Sylvia.

It was because she wanted to be friends with Sylvia, who was such a good person, that she couldn’t allow it.

During their conversation earlier, Scarlet’s body suddenly deteriorated, perhaps because the rain and various factors had disturbed her composure.

The witch’s voice kept echoing in her ears, telling her to burn everything, and she saw visions of flames rising from her body, accompanied by the burning pain.

But what was harder than the pain was seeing the flames from her body spread and burn Sylvia in her vision.

Fortunately, while she was tormented by that, Sylvia did something to bring her back to her senses, but it was tough.

Although she hadn’t remembered until now, she had always been tormented by such voices and visions.

The witch inside her was like a bomb.

A bomb that could not only harm her but also those around her.

Recalling Sylvia’s smile when she shook her head, Scarlet thought.

Although Sylvia smiled as if it were okay, the slight moisture in her eyes wasn’t from the rain.

She could clearly feel how Sylvia thought about her.

But she couldn’t guarantee that what she saw in the vision wouldn’t happen in reality.

Thinking of Sylvia, she decided she shouldn’t get closer to her.

That’s why she refused to be friends with Sylvia.

With a bitter smile, Scarlet looked out the window at the still-pouring rain.

She still hated the rain.

---

Returning to the mansion, Sylvia thought about what she could do for Scarlet.

To be honest, she wanted to change her entire living environment.

Scarlet wasn’t enjoying the three most important elements for human survival: clothing, food, and shelter.

Sylvia was dissatisfied with that.

She wanted Scarlet to live a more comfortable life.

But Scarlet was someone who didn’t like receiving help from others.

She even hesitated to let others carry her lunch tray, so she would likely refuse direct help.

So Sylvia pondered.

How could she help Scarlet in a way that she couldn’t refuse?

Then, recalling the scene when she brought medicine to Scarlet yesterday, Sylvia suddenly had a flash of inspiration that made her shiver.

Scarlet once said that if something came up that she couldn’t handle alone, she should ask for help.

Yesterday, Scarlet had no choice but to accept her help when she was given the medicine.

A state where she couldn’t refuse, couldn’t help but accept her help.

If she created a situation where Scarlet couldn’t handle things on her own and had to accept her help?

In that moment, Sylvia’s mind was filled with countless ideas.

She was startled by her own dangerous thoughts.

What was even more surprising was that most of these ideas seemed executable as long as they didn’t harm the family.

Money, power.

Being the heir to Astra meant she could use these things to her heart’s content.

Sylvia recalled a storybook she read as a child that said there are good and bad spirits living in everyone’s heart.

The story’s lesson was to listen to both sides and think carefully about which one was right.

And Sylvia knew that the voice in her heart right now was the bad spirit.

[Hehe, who cares about other people’s will! Just do whatever you want! Help your precious friend as much as you want and make her feel grateful to you! Then you can become friends! Imagine! That girl smiling at you!]

It was a very, very tempting thought.

Sylvia smiled, imagining Scarlet smiling at her, but then shook her head to clear her mind.

She almost fell for the bad spirit’s words, but she knew she couldn’t only listen to that side.

Sylvia also listened to the good spirit, who was shouting against the bad spirit’s words.

[Get a grip! Doing things without asking for others' opinions is practically a crime! Sylvia, you’re a good person, right? So, you shouldn’t commit crimes, should you?]

Sylvia snapped back to reality at those words.

Yes, what she was about to do was a crime.

Thanking the good spirit for stopping her from becoming a criminal, she decided to listen to its advice on what to do.

[Of course, you need to get permission!]

The word "permission" gave Sylvia a great realization.

...Yes, if she got permission, it wouldn’t be a crime.

The most moderate way to achieve her goal quickly took shape in her mind.

Sylvia made a phone call to get permission.

[Yes, Miss. What is it?]

She called Luke Aegis, whose number she had saved.

To ease her worries, she decided to confirm with him again.

“You said before that no one else in the family knows that Scarlet is an experimental subject, right?”

[Sator tried to conduct the experiments secretly without informing the family. Since Sator didn’t recognize her for a while, it’s almost certain the family doesn’t know the details. Did you call to ask that?]

“No. I called today about Scarlet’s living situation.”

That was enough.

Sylvia opened her mouth, thinking of ways to persuade him.

“I visited Scarlet’s place yesterday, and she was alone and sick with a high fever. She got better after taking some medicine, but what if she suddenly falls ill while living alone... Anything could happen.”

[...That happened? She shouldn’t have gotten sick... Well, her body is very weak, so who knows. That’s troubling. What should we do...]

“If it’s worrisome for her to live alone, why not find someone to live with her? There happens to be someone who knows her situation, is of the same gender, and is in the same class with an extra room... What do you think?”

A perfect plan where she could help Scarlet, Luke could ease his worries, and Scarlet could live in a good place.

Getting permission was a breeze.

“There’s one important thing. Please don’t tell Scarlet I suggested this. She might stubbornly refuse because we had a bit of a fight yesterday. It’s deceiving her, but... we can’t leave her alone, right?”

And with the landlord and guardian as accomplices, Sylvia’s plan couldn’t fail.

---

The next day, the rain stopped.

Feeling better because the rain had stopped, she enjoyed a refreshing morning, not hearing the alarm.

Since it was the weekend and she didn’t have to go to school, she enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and cleaned up when someone knocked on the door.

“Hmm... Good morning, Scarlet. Are you feeling better?”

When she opened the door, her guardian uncle stood there with an awkward smile.

“...What brings you here this morning?”

Scarlet tilted her head and asked, to which he scratched his head and answered.

“Well... I’m sorry to say this in the morning, but it seems you’ll have to vacate your room. The landlord wants you to move out...”

Scarlet, startled by the sudden news, said.

“Suddenly? Why...”

“Uh... Well, they said the building is too old and it’s being demolished. Anyway, let’s pack your things first. You don’t have much, so it won’t take long, right?”

Even so, informing her of such an important thing on the day of the move was outrageous.

Scarlet was furious at the ruthless landlord who didn’t consider the tenants’ rights at all.

“Then where am I supposed to stay...”

“I’ve contacted a few places. Don’t worry and just pack your things. And did you check your account? The landlord sent some money as an apology.”

Hearing that, Scarlet checked the number of zeros in her account and quietly packed her things.

They say financial compensation is the best way to treat anger issues...

After packing a few clothes and necessities into the bag her guardian had brought, she got into the car parked outside the house.

“So, where am I staying?”

“...You’ll find out when we get there.”

When Scarlet asked the guardian, who was sitting next to her instead of driving, he answered with a subtle expression and muttered quietly, “Did they really have to go this far...”

Wondering where she was going, Scarlet waited patiently until the car stopped, signaling their arrival.

Getting out of the car, she saw an incredibly large mansion.

“Welcome to Astra’s mansion, Scarlet.”

And there was Sylvia, smiling brightly.

Standing there in a daze at the unexpected situation, she found herself alone with her luggage as the car drove away.

She was cornered.

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