Chapter 229: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 229
"It's been a while, Eva."
A girl with dark purple hair suddenly appeared in front of me, smiling faintly.
Among all the monsters I had encountered in this world, she was undoubtedly one of the top three most dangerous.
Startled like a cat, I instinctively leapt back to put distance between us, my wariness spiking. Flames ignited in my hands as I shouted at her.
"The Witch of Sloth...!"
"No need to be so scared. I didn't come here to fight you, Eva," she said, lifting her hands to show her palms as if to reassure me that she had no hostile intentions.
Although it seemed like she wasn’t planning to fight, I couldn’t extinguish the flames in my hands. She wasn’t the type of opponent to trust blindly, and provoking her would do me no good.
Seeing my guarded stance, the girl muttered with a hint of displeasure.
"Hmm, I don’t like this very much."
Are we going to fight after all?
As I prepared myself to react at any moment, she spoke again.
"Didn't I tell you my name last time? I'd prefer it if you called me by that instead of 'Witch of Sloth.'"
...Her name?
Thrown off by her words when I had been expecting a fight, I recalled the name she had mentioned before and said it aloud.
"...Beatrice."
She nodded in approval as I said her name.
"That's right, Beatrice. You can call me Bea, too, if you like. Other people may not, but since it's you, Eva, it's fine."
Beatrice looked oddly satisfied, even happy, to hear her name from me. It left me feeling confused. Why was she acting so familiar with me? Was she mistaking me for someone else—Evangeline, perhaps?
I decided to correct her.
"...I think you're mistaken. I'm not the 'Eva' you think I am."
"Huh? But you're Scarlet Evande, right? We met before."
Beatrice tilted her head, muttering as if genuinely puzzled.
"Are you under the impression that I'm confused? That's impossible. If you were the other Eva, you would have tried to burn me alive the moment you saw me."
Her words made it clear she could distinguish between me and Evangeline, which only deepened my confusion.
This was strange.
While Evangeline might have a connection with her, I certainly didn’t. There was nothing between Beatrice and me, no shared history that I was aware of.
As I mulled over whether there was something I didn’t know, Beatrice continued, speaking almost casually.
"I honestly didn’t expect things to turn out this way. Eva hated me so much, I thought she wouldn’t disappear until she’d killed me."
She was talking about Evangeline.
Watching her, I felt something surge inside me.
Before I knew it, I was shouting at her.
"...Stop."
"Hmm?"
"Stop calling her 'Eva' like that..."
My heart pounded.
From the moment I sensed her presence, my heart had been racing like mad. I had thought the feeling was fear of Beatrice, but now I realized what it really was.
It was anger.
The anger that Evangeline had harbored against Beatrice, the one who had ruined her life, had left a smoldering residue inside me.
"Why are you acting so friendly, calling her by a nickname, of all people... you!"
Having once been intertwined with Evangeline’s consciousness, I still held memories of the pain-filled moments she had endured.
Maybe that’s why Beatrice calling her "Eva," as if they were close, felt unbearably disgusting.
"Evangeline suffered so much because of you...!!"
My voice, brimming with rage, caused Beatrice to respond.
"Hmm, because of me, huh?"
She muttered with a strange expression, then looked at me, studying me for a moment before asking,
"So, you know what happened back then? Do you really think what happened to Eva was my fault?"
"Of course! If your demon beasts hadn’t killed those children, none of this would’ve happened!"
"True, that was the trigger. It makes sense for her to hate me."
Beatrice nodded as if acknowledging my point, then murmured softly.
"But, you know... Eva didn’t become what she did just because of me."
"What are you talking about?! It’s all your fault she ended up that way!"
"Heh, no, it’s not."
Beatrice’s low voice was almost dismissive, as though she were shifting the blame elsewhere, which made me shout in frustration.
"The fact that the demon beasts killed the children was just a spark. It could’ve been any accident. Do you really think Eva turned into what she was just because the demon beasts killed those kids?"
Beatrice shook her head.
"No. She ended up that way because people blamed and doubted her for no reason, just because she was different. No one stood up for her, so she was left isolated. Even if the children hadn’t died, if anyone had found out she was a witch, something similar would’ve happened eventually. Whenever something bad happened, they would’ve blamed the witch."
"That's just twisted logic!"
I shouted, unable to accept her speculative argument about something that hadn’t even happened.
She looked at me with a strange smile.
"Can you really say that wouldn’t have happened? You, who got kicked out of the city for being a witch?"
"That’s..."
Her question left me speechless.
After all, I had indeed been cast out for being a witch.
Seeing my reaction, Beatrice’s expression turned smug.
"Can’t say no, right?"
Beatrice continued,
"Someone could’ve stood by Eva’s side, but no one did. People find it easier to blame the witch because it’s what they’ve been taught their whole lives. It’s easier to just go along with it. No one takes the hard path when the easy one is right there. That’s the reason Eva ended up like that."
She let out a hollow laugh.
"The world is full of dull, boring people, and that’s why things turned out the way they did."
Her eyes, while seemingly focused on the world, appeared to reflect nothing.
They were like a bottomless pit—dark, without a single glimmer of light.
No hope, no anger, no sadness, no joy.
To be disappointed, one must have expectations. To feel anything, one must desire something.
But it seemed she had long since stopped expecting or desiring anything, as though nothing in this world could interest her anymore. All that remained in those pitch-black eyes was a suffocating sense of boredom and monotony.
Staring into those eyes, I realized I had been holding my breath.
The overwhelming presence emanating from Beatrice, despite her seemingly casual demeanor, was terrifying.
What was this feeling?
Even among witches, the difference between us was stark—like comparing a monster to another, much greater monster.
If I fought her now, I would lose. Absolutely.
My lips trembled as the enormity of her power sank in. But then Beatrice, having pulled back the ominous aura she had been emitting, gave a sly smile and said,
"Oops, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. Anyway, so what you're saying is, you don’t like me calling Evangeline 'Eva,' right?"
Still feeling crushed by the weight of her presence, I barely managed to regain my composure and swallowed hard.
Damn it, she must have noticed I was scared.
I nodded, not even bothering to hide it.
Beatrice looked at me with an odd expression and said,
"Alright then, from now on, I’ll call you 'Eva' instead of Evangeline. But only if you call me 'Bea' in return."
At her words, my face contorted in frustration as I responded.
"...I don’t think we’re close enough for that. Besides, why do you insist on calling me 'Eva'? I’m not the person you used to call that."
Despite knowing how powerful she was, I couldn’t bring myself to go along with her little game. I didn’t like her, and I wasn’t going to force myself to use that nickname for her. More importantly, I didn’t understand why she kept calling me "Eva."
Beatrice smiled slyly and muttered,
"Well, to me, you’re Eva now. Just like all the other Evas. You’ve been betrayed by people, hurt by them, and ultimately abandoned."
At her mention of being abandoned, my expression hardened.
I couldn’t deny the truth of it.
But something about admitting it made it feel all too real, so I bit my lip and shook my head, refusing to accept it.
"...I’m not abandoned. I still have friends who believe in me."
Beatrice chuckled and then glanced behind me, muttering under her breath.
"Well, we’ll see if you still feel that way after you see this."
With those words, Beatrice vanished, as if dissolving into the air.
I could still feel her presence nearby, which meant she hadn’t gone far, just hidden herself.
But why?
Confused by her sudden disappearance, I turned my head in the direction she had been looking.
"...Huh?"
And I saw them.
A group of people, armed, running toward me.
Their eyes were filled with malice, and they were all focused on me.
Bows drawn, arrows aimed in my direction.
"Everyone, fire!!"
A storm of silver hair.
A rain of arrows.
Amid that scene, laughter echoed, and a voice resounded.
Eva, Eva.
Even though you’ve changed,
The world hasn’t.
tfnc :33 Let's see how she gonna do to deal them XDD
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