"Master."
Caliburn spoke to me with a voice full of concern as I returned to the dormitory.
"That woman, Kaila..."
I nodded my head with a small smile.
"Yes, I know."
I already knew what Caliburn was going to say.
*Click. Click.*
While unfastening my tie pin and cuff buttons as I walked to the chair, I began to answer Caliburn's concerns with a subtle smile.
"She was using black magic."
"...You knew?"
"Yes, how could I not? Seeing that she can't use magic now, it seems she used quite a complicated black magic spell..."
"..."
"I was fortunate. I confirmed she couldn't use magic on the way back, so I also obtained definitive evidence."
Caliburn spoke with concern.
"She seems to have already crossed the line."
'The line,' huh.
I lightly traced the rim of the empty glass on the desk with my finger, filled it with water, and spoke to Caliburn.
"Do you know what kind of black magic it was?"
Unfortunately, there was no answer from Caliburn.
"That's a shame. If I knew what magic it was, I could have found a solution."
I knew it.
That Kaila had used black magic.
The undetectable magical power.
Yuria acting differently than usual.
And even Kaila's behavior.
Even a fool would know.
"Why did you leave her be?"
At Caliburn's questioning voice, I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back in the chair.
"Hmm... I wonder."
Why did I leave her alone?
If I had wanted to, I could have subdued her, collected evidence of her using black magic, and had Kaila punished. I could have even left her to die.
"I wanted to see how she might change."
"..."
"Since the Miss has changed, I thought perhaps she might change too."
"..."
"I left her alone thinking that if given a chance, she might at least feel some remorse, but I'm not sure."
"..."
"Well, I gave her advice, so now it's up to her to handle it."
I let out a languid sigh and squeezed my eyes shut, thinking that the rest was up to Kaila.
"Master..."
Caliburn asked me in a low voice.
"I think you trust people too much. You could be betrayed."
Caliburn's voice was mixed with many concerns and emotions.
It revealed undisguised hostility toward others, as if speaking of a life that had not been smooth.
In response to Caliburn's worry, I smiled slightly, waved my hand, and answered.
"Do you think I trust people easily?"
"Yes, from what I've seen, Master accepts everyone without fearing betrayal."
"..."
"The apostle of heretics, the academy's traitor, and even the villainess."
I waved my hand in denial.
I carefully admitted that sometimes I might seem like a pushover, but answered that I wasn't really someone who trusted people easily.
"No, I'm actually quite suspicious."
Hans.
Elysia.
And even Caliburn were people with potential, and I had placed 'restrictions' on them.
"I'm not as nice a person as you think, Caliburn."
"No. In all my life, I've never met someone like you, Master. You have a kind and righteous character..."
"Haha... Is that so?"
I smiled while looking at the moon shining brightly in the night sky.
"I'm worse than you think."
1. Before the midterm exam begins, find the villain trying to frame 'Shartia'. (2/3)
[Gortibun Kaila, Leogard Truller.]
...
Kaila entered the room with rough breaths, swallowing as she recalled what had just happened.
She hated the arrogant advice from someone who knew nothing.
"How did he know...!"
She had clearly confirmed there was no one around. How did that guy know?
"No... it can't be..."
Kaila, having been discovered using black magic, was feeling extreme anxiety.
'He must have just guessed...?'
'Right, there's no way he could know. He's not a god...'
'But still... why would he suddenly say such things...!'
If she reported Ricardo's words and actions to the faculty, the matter would grow larger. If that guy tried to catch her on the use of black magic, investigators would surely be dispatched!
*Grind.*
Annoyed by Ricardo's behavior that arrogantly crossed the line, Kaila ground her teeth to suppress her anger. She had completely forgotten that Ricardo had just saved her life.
Yes. Only herself.
In her standards, there was no room for others.
"Why... why interfere with something that's already done... So annoying...!!!"
Kaila, who had disliked Ricardo from before, clenched her fist with immense hatred toward Ricardo who kept interfering with her plans.
'Greed harms the body.'
'How dare he...'
From the beginning, Kaila felt no guilt whatsoever for what she had done. Of course, she didn't take Ricardo's advice to heart either.
To her, Ricardo's advice was nothing more than a professor's nagging that she didn't want to hear.
He wasn't any better than her, and he was just a butler to the Desmont Duchess, not even a noble.
Yes, just a commoner nobody.
Apart from being slightly more capable than other students, he was nothing special, so why was he meddling so much?
*Crack.*
She was sick of it.
The same went for Yuria.
A student from the Fixed Healing Department.
The world wouldn't collapse just because one commoner girl was ruined, so there was no need to feel guilty. The curse she placed on Yuria wasn't anything special either.
Walking in the opposite direction of the person you like.
Kaila thought that whatever dreams the man Yuria liked might have, how grand could they be?
After all, he was a commoner, just slightly better than the stones commonly found on the ground.
If Yuria liked Theo, then her intentions had been fulfilled exactly.
*Click.*
With the sound of biting her nails, Kaila hid her anxious heart.
Was she afraid?
"No."
She wasn't afraid.
She didn't understand why she should feel fear.
Everything was hers.
She didn't know who else in this world deserved to be loved if not her.
"It's all mine... everything."
She hated those who tried to bring her down by finding fault with her for no reason.
Yes, that was enough.
Because I am right.
So.
*Crunch.*
"I don't regret it."
Kaila's stubbornness began to grow stronger. She didn't even remember Ricardo's final words.
"I gave you a chance."
"..."
"You should take it. Otherwise, it will be beyond help."
Her stubbornness was growing, devouring the emotion of greed.
***
Yuria's madness was getting worse.
"Kill."
The voice in her ear felt increasingly sweet.
"Stop Shartia from becoming king... no, kill her!"
Desires were beginning to boil in the opposite direction of Ricardo's dream.
"Kill Shartia...! Kill the students...!"
Ricardo's wish was to make Shartia the emperor. Furthermore, he wished for the happiness and peaceful life of the novel's main characters, but because his dream was so grand, Yuria's black magic was manifesting with even greater power.
Naturally, the black magic was planting hatred toward Shartia in Yuria.
"Kill..."
Yuria began to develop a passion for disrupting peace.
Locked in her room, Yuria was pressing her ears and swallowing her breath.
"Stop."
With a desire to escape from the unbearable noise, praying for strength to overcome an incurable disease with no end in sight...
Just as Yuria's emotions, invisible to anyone, were about to plunge into darkness.
*Ding.*
With a cold ringing sound, the voice distorting Yuria's ears disappeared.
It had been a while.
[Q. Time to choose.]
The appearance of the blue window forcing a choice.
*
In a space unknown to anyone.
"Isn't this too harsh?"
A woman holding a mug of steaming hot cocoa expressed her concern to a pink-haired woman who was looking at the world beyond the window.
"Blocking the affection window seems cruel."
At the woman's question, the pink-haired woman shook her head with a subtle smile.
"It'll be fine. He probably knows too. Besides, he doesn't seem to be using the affection window I created very well."
There was regret in the woman's voice. Like a scientist expressing disappointment toward someone who wouldn't use her invention.
"Are you drinking cocoa again?"
"Yes."
"You shouldn't have too many sweets."
"It's fine."
The pink-haired woman let out a quiet sigh and looked at the world beyond the window with a cold expression.
"He's still kind though. I thought he would be different this time."
"..."
"He doesn't abandon anyone. Not me, not you."
"That guy has always been a fool."
"..."
The woman holding the cocoa spoke to the pink-haired woman with a calm expression.
"So what are you going to do?"
"..."
"Kill or save?"
The woman shrugged and said.
"Hmm..."
Evil for evil.
"It should be up to his choice. We can't interfere."
The woman was smiling.
"You know too."
The woman's eyes were languid.
"That he's not simply kind."