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Chapter 131: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 131



On her way back to her room after finishing her external schedule.


"Scarlet, I'm coming in... Ah..."


As usual, Sylvia knocked on the door of the room next to hers, hoping to ease the fatigue of the day. However, she found the room empty, with no one there, and could only manage a bitter smile.


"…Right. She really did leave the mansion, didn't she, Scarlet..."


The one person in the household she could be at ease with, who had never once demanded anything from her, had left without giving her time to prepare.


When Scarlet suddenly told her last night that she was leaving the mansion, Sylvia thought, It's finally happening.


She had always known Scarlet disliked being indebted to anyone. So it was no surprise that she would eventually decide to leave.


After all, Sylvia had forcibly brought Scarlet to the mansion, unwilling to see her live in poverty in that shabby house.


There was no way to force someone to stay when they wanted to leave, so Sylvia had already decided to let her go if she ever expressed the desire.


But who could have imagined she would leave so soon?


"...Who the hell moves out like they're running away?"


She'd heard that Dolos had sent Scarlet compensation money, but she hadn't expected her to pack up and leave the mansion as soon as she got it, almost as if she were fleeing.


Shouldn't Scarlet have at least given her some time to prepare?


If she had, Sylvia wouldn't have had to cry and beg her not to go, like she did this morning...


No, even if she had had time, she might still have begged her not to leave, just like today.


Because,


"...I don't care about anything else; I just wanted to stay with her."


That was her true feeling.


Muttering this with a heart full of regret, Sylvia closed the door to the room where Scarlet had once stayed.


Even now, with Scarlet gone, she was overflowing with lingering feelings she couldn't suppress.


Scarlet had said she was precious to her.


That's why she didn't want to be a burden anymore, why she wanted to leave the mansion.


But Sylvia couldn't accept that reason at all.


If they were really that close, shouldn't they be able to bear any burden for each other?


Sylvia wanted that kind of relationship with Scarlet.


She wanted them to rely on each other, to be burdens to each other, to be able to complain and whine together.


To be such close friends.


But Scarlet never seemed to want to rely on her, almost as if she were obsessive about it.


As Sylvia sighed deeply, full of regret, and returned to her room, her phone rang from her pocket.


Seeing Yoon Si-woo's name on the screen, Sylvia tilted her head in confusion.


They had exchanged numbers after they rescued Scarlet together last time, to share updates about her, but they rarely contacted each other.


There had been no contact since she informed him that Scarlet was staying at the Astra mansion.


Wondering what this could be about, Sylvia answered the call.


"Yes, Yoon Si-woo. What's the matter?"


[Sylvia, Scarlet was staying at your mansion, right? Did something happen with her?]


"...Scarlet said she was leaving the mansion today, and then she left. Did you meet her?"


[Well, she asked if she could live at my place, and I said yes... Anyway, she's going to be staying with us from now on, but I was curious why she suddenly wanted to leave the mansion to live at our place...]


The new information made Sylvia's head throb.


...She left the mansion and went to Yoon Si-woo's house?


Holding her aching head, Sylvia asked Yoon Si-woo,


"...I don't know? She just said she got compensation from Dolos and that she was leaving the mansion. But of all the places she could go, why your house? Scarlet sure is peculiar. Did she say anything about why?"


[Uh?! W-well, when I asked... she said she felt safest near me... Anyway, if nothing else happened, I'll hang up now!]


The line went dead with a click, and Sylvia stared at her phone in bewilderment.


"...Huh? Why?"


Didn't she leave because she didn't want to be a burden?


So why go to Yoon Si-woo's place?


Does that mean it's okay to burden Yoon Si-woo, but not me?


Wait, does that mean Yoon Si-woo is a friend, but I'm not?


As a flood of thoughts raced through her mind, Sylvia eventually collapsed onto her bed.


Burying her face in a pillow to muffle the sound, she started thrashing about and whining.


"Ugh, Scarlet's such an idiot! I wanted her to rely on me too! Why does she feel safe with Yoon Si-woo and not with me? Be my friend too... Ugh..."


She wasn't angry at Scarlet.


She just felt wronged.


It stung that Scarlet, who never relied on anyone, seemed to have finally opened her heart to someone, and it wasn't her but Yoon Si-woo.


As she continued to whine in frustration, she felt her head heating up, so she decided to cool down by heading to the terrace in the hallway.


However, someone was already there.


"Oh, First Elder."


"Sylvia. Would you like a cup of tea?"


"...I won't say no."


She sat across from the First Elder, who was already drinking tea on the terrace, and accepted the cup he offered her.


Taking a sip following the tea ceremony etiquette she was now accustomed to, Sylvia felt the fragrance of the tea leaves calm her troubled mind.


But her mood was still sour, and she couldn't help but sigh, prompting the First Elder to speak.


"You seem deep in thought. Is it because of that child? I heard she left the mansion this morning?"


"...Yes."


Trying to pretend everything was fine in front of the First Elder, Sylvia couldn't hide her feelings, which showed in her response, and the First Elder, noticing this, chuckled softly.


"Hehe, just yesterday, she and I sat down like this, drinking tea and talking. I never thought she'd leave so suddenly."


"...I don't understand why she left so abruptly. It's not like anyone was mistreating her."


"...Hehe, indeed."


Sylvia's ears twitched at the Elder's response.


It was the odd feeling that her intuition picked up on, something that felt like a lie...


As she caught a glimpse of where the Elder's eyes had just passed, Sylvia's eyes widened as she asked him,


"Elder, wasn't there a pot with your cherished orchids here? Where did it go?"


The Elder gave a bitter smile as he replied,


"...Well, something must have gone wrong because it withered and died yesterday. So, I had Sebastian throw it away."


"...It withered suddenly? That's strange."


...It really was strange.


For them, the sudden death of a plant they nurtured without any apparent cause was nothing short of a mystery.


While the event itself was concerning, what bothered Sylvia even more was the strange feeling she had been getting from the First Elder.


As she focused on this feeling, she instinctively knew something.


He was hiding something from her.


Intuition could be an unreliable guide, but perhaps it was because she was the last remaining Star Spirit contractor in the world.


Sylvia knew that her intuition wasn't something to be ignored.


Recalling the losses she had incurred when she ignored this sense, and the gains when she followed it, Sylvia decided to investigate further. She downed the remaining tea in her cup and stood up.


"Thank you for the tea. I think I'll take a walk in the garden for a bit, so I'll be on my way."


"Is that so? You have to wake up early tomorrow, so don't walk for too long."


After bowing respectfully to the First Elder and leaving the terrace, Sylvia headed toward the servant Sebastian, who had assisted her with her schedule earlier.


"...Miss? What brings you here at this hour?"


"It's nothing serious. I heard the Elder's cherished orchid died yesterday. Did you throw it away?"


"The pot is on the cart in the garden. Since we also need to dispose of the pruned branches, I planned to discard everything together tomorrow... Is there something you need?"


"Don't worry about it. I'm just curious."


After hearing Sebastian's words, Sylvia headed to the garden, where she found a cart piled high with branches in one corner.


Looking inside the cart, she spotted a familiar pot nestled among the branches.


The orchid that had once looked so vibrant and healthy, almost like a painting, was now withered and completely shriveled, as if it had never been healthy at all.


What could have happened in just a few days to make such a healthy orchid wither away like this? As she lifted the pot to inspect it more closely and touched the dead orchid, 


"Eek?!"


—Crash


A sudden flash of light from her hand startled her, causing her to drop and break the pot she had been holding.


Though she was momentarily flustered by the broken pot, Sylvia quickly regained her composure, realizing that the pot was meant to be discarded anyway.


The important thing now wasn't that the pot had broken, but the cause of the strange phenomenon that had just occurred.


Taking a deep breath, Sylvia crouched down and reached out to touch the shattered pieces of the pot.


There was no reaction.


So...


Reaching out again, she touched the soil and the dead orchid scattered on the ground, and once again, light flickered from her hand.


She felt her expression harden.


Her ability—or more precisely, the power of the Star Spirit—had the ability to purify malevolent things.


The fact that it had reacted on its own meant that there was something within this pot that needed purification.


It could be miasma, or perhaps some ancient form of black magic or curse that had been around for ages.


To determine exactly what it was, she concentrated the light in her hand and picked up the dead orchid. She felt as though she could hear a scream emanating from the plant as it was purified in her grasp.


She gritted her teeth unconsciously.


This was a trace of a malevolent curse, filled with a deep-seated grudge.


Though it had faded over time, the lingering residue was still potent enough to be classified as a high-level curse—something that couldn't be obtained on the market.


Similar in effect to poison, but with the added benefit of dispersing into the air over time, it was a terrifying curse often used in the past for murders that left no evidence behind.


Why would such an artifact, something you'd only find in a textbook, be here...?


Sylvia concentrated, purifying the remnants of the curse as she grimaced, trying to figure out why this curse was here. Suddenly, it was as if the fragmented pieces in her mind began to click into place.


The conversations she had had with the Elder replayed in her mind.


—I needed time. Time to clean up the dirty, filthy things that are unworthy of Astra.


—I haven't heard from Sator recently.


—Hehe, just yesterday, that child and I sat down, just like this, drinking tea and talking.


A wave of nausea washed over her, and she covered her mouth.


The First Elder had been suspicious of Scarlet.


He had tried to kill her with a curse.


Perhaps he changed his mind, or maybe she noticed and thwarted his plan.


Ah, why hadn't she realized it sooner?


—There shouldn't be anyone in the mansion who would harass her.


The reason Scarlet had to flee the mansion as if she were running for her life.


—W-when I asked her, she said... she felt safest near me...


This mansion had never been a safe place for Scarlet.


Even if Sylvia was on her side, Astra was not.


So what had Scarlet been feeling the entire time she stayed here?


What had Sylvia, who had brought her to such a place, been doing to her all this time?


—Miss, all those plans were made for you.


—You are an irreplaceable existence to us.


Whom should she blame?


Astra?


Herself?


Or the fact that she was born into Astra?


Unable to find an answer, Sylvia looked up at the stars in the night sky and asked,


Why did it have to come to this?


But, of course, there was no answer.


Her outstretched hand blocked out the stars.


She could cover the stars with her hand, but the original sin named Astra could not be covered or hidden.


This realization made Sylvia sorrowful, and she quietly wept in the garden.


---------------------


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Comments

  1. Curses I've already reviewed it lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. btw i'm not forcing you, it's just bcz whenever i see a new rating or review it motivate me to translate and post more.

      Delete
  2. I don't really know why the elder decided to personally assassinate her inside the mansion, I thought he'd would kidnap her or some kind of 'accident' outside.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Far as he was concerned, he was just cleaning out the trash. Also, it's easier to cover up a crime that happened in your own living room than one done outside

      Delete
  3. This is the only story capable of using a romance misunderstanding with a dense MC as a way to uncover a murder plot lol

    ReplyDelete

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